Michael Funk is the Founder and Executive Director of the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center in San Francisco. Established in 1996, SNBC provides engaging programs to 1,500 youth and 300 adults each year. In 2001, SNBC received a national award from the Washington DC-based Coalition for Juvenile Justice for its innovative work with youth in the juvenile justice system. The SNBC Urban Music Club was featured in the documentary film, Scratch, a Sundance award-winning film about the emergence of the DJ culture in the USA. Bamboozled.org, the youth web "zine" based out of SNBC, was one of five youth web sites nationally nominated in 2003 for the annual Webby Awards. SNBC is regarded as a national model for offering community and afterschool programming rooted in Youth Development, and is known for its innovative community media production programs and for integrating technology into its many activities.

SNBC has a high rate of staff retention ranging from program directors to line staff. Many of SNBC's core staff members have been with the organization between four and ten years.

Michael was the Founder of Experience Corps Bay Area in 1999. Started in 1995 as a pilot project in five cities, Experience Corps has grown to include more than 2,000 members in 20 cities across the country. As the leading model in outcomes-based literacy service by older adults, Experience Corps has a strong base of knowledge in the field of education and the program understands the means and messages needed to tap the time, talent, and experience of people over 55.

Michael is active in national and California policy issues including policy on afterschool programs and child welfare. Michael is the appointee of California Senate Pro-Tem Leader Don Perata to serve on the California Advisory Committee on Before and After School Programs and is an appointed member of the Executive Board of the California Afterschool Network. Michael is also a member of the Steering Committee of the California Community Technology Policy Group

In addition, Michael received an appointment to the California Public Utilities Commission Teleconnect Advisory Committee. He serves as one of two community based organization representatives for the entire state of California. This committee works to provide broadband opportunities to low-income communities in California, and specifically, to non-profit organizations that work in those communities.

SNBC and Experience Corps are both programs of Aspiranet, a statewide non-profit agency that addresses child welfare and community based programs with 30 locations and 500 employees. Michael works half time as Aspiranet's statewide Director of Policy and Partnerships.

Michael was raised on an Idaho potato farm, and was a certificated middle school science teacher and a high school coach. He was also an ordained minister for 13 years before moving into the field of non-profit urban community-based work, Youth Development, and public policy.