Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking Meeting

December 13, 2017                         1:30-3:30pm

Arnold & Porter, 3 Embarcadero Center, 8^th Floor, Broadway Room, San Francisco

 

Attendees:

Tara Anderson, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office; Hal Beck, Arm of Care; Frances Byrne, Freedom House; Gene Castro Rodriguez, SFDA; Rachael Chambers, Department on the Status of Women; Leah Chen Price, Tahirih Justice Center; Saeroim Choi, APLIO; Jennifer Daly, Legal Services for Children; Carly Devlin, Huckleberry Youth Programs; Cristy Dieterich, DPH Newcomers Health Program; Darian Eastman, Not for Sale; Abigail Ellis, Senator Dianne Feinstein; Elise Hansell, Department on the Status of Women; Emily Hinsey, Love Never Fails; Katie Hoch, Not For Sale; Mei Hung, Asian Women’s Shelter; Minouche Kandel, Department on the Status of Women; Diane Khuu, SF Police Department, SVU; Antonia Lavine, NCJW/SFCAHT; Sue Lockyer, Freedom House/SFSU; Rosalia Lopez, SFUSD; Alix Lutnick, RTI; Liz Magid, Legal Services for Children; Kim Maree, Arm of Care; Paola Martindelcampo, Safe and Sound; Beverly May, CAMTC; Elisabet Medina, Safe and Sound; Kristen Moore, SF Safehouse; Heidi Morales, SF Police Department, SVU; Emily Murase, Department on the Status of Women; Lucy Snowe, Department on the Status of Women; Mary Steiner, UNA USA SF; Alia Whitney-Johnson, Freedom Fwd; Nami Yokogi, Department on the Status of Women; Katherine Yoo, API Legal Outreach.

 

1. Welcome, Introductions/Check-In, Agenda was approved [Frances Byrne/Alia Whitney-Johnson]

Moment of silence observed for the late Mayor Lee; agenda approved.

 

2. Minutes from Oct 25, 2017 were approved [Beverly May/Leah Chen Price]

 

3. Review of draft of Human Trafficking in San Francisco Report

Minouche provided both a draft of the full report and highlights in a power point format. Task Force members recommended several areas of clarification:

• Language that qualifies what “at risk” means in the unduplicated CSEC data included in the report;
• Adding dates for accomplishments completed in 2016 and 2017;
• Identifying type of trafficking for District Attorney cases;
• Move U and T-visas from Police Department narrative to a data table to be more prominent (national numbers to include context);
• Break down of what can be done from the local, state, and federal level and how to move forward on this.

In addition, the following recommendations were suggested to be added to the report, which will be explored at the strategic planning retreat:

• Highest unmet need was housing, so how can we look through the tiers of housing approaches – push the funding for this to help agencies and get operational costs to make this a concrete number;
• Explore where the person was housed in the moment when they expressed the need – this is in part how to get a more specific approach
  • Including relevant statistics on homeless youth in SF (Covenant House report, SF Point in Time Homeless Count)
• Strategizing on how to help Task Force members have capacity to report more complete data;
• Creating space to highlight the issue from a young person’s experience: including (for example), “CSEC is not a term used by individuals who have that identity ascribed to them, this is a term used by agencies and individuals who are on the outside looking in”

 

4. Presentation on new Human Trafficking laws, Leah Chen Price

• In 2017, 7 human trafficking related bills were signed in California:
  • AB 1206 – Vehicle Impoundment Pilot Program
  • AB 1227 – Human Trafficking Prevention Education and Training Act
  • AB 260 – Human Trafficking Notice Law
  • SB 225 – National Human Trafficking Hotline text number
  • SB 230 – Evidence
  • SB 597 – Victim Confidentiality
  • AB 1384 – Trauma Recovery Centers

 

5. Agency Presentations
   1. San Francisco Unified School District, Rosalia Lopez

• Resolution passed in 2015 to build awareness for staff and students regarding human trafficking, including comprehensive training for staff, official SFUSD protocol, age-appropriate lessons for students;
  • Staff were trained in 2017;
  • Student curriculum to be implemented in 2018.
• Two elements: awareness and enforcement – both are challenging when approaching a robust program that follows and fulfills federal, state, and local mandates
  • Sometimes, there is a lack of faculty and programming for a specific health curriculum, which makes it harder to ensure that students are able to access this information
  • 201 training is essential for getting a more targeted response for school social workers and student support professionals
• SFUSD utilizes a Multi-Tier System of Support: Intensive (cases of individuals who have been identified), Targeted (parameters applied to identify), and Universal (all encompassing)
• Collaborators are very helpful for getting specific programming that includes necessary elements for youth-centric approaches: work especially in middle school and elementary school where this may be more sensitive
• Coordinated Plan of Support and Nurse reporting. Law enforcement can get involved in specific cases, and much of the staff would prefer not to get law enforcement involved.

 

2. San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking (SFCAHT), Israel Trip, Antonia Levine
   • SFCAHT had worked with National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) to undertake a number of projects to understand how to best exchange and enact best practices on human trafficking
     • This has led to the development of cooperative projects with international organizations and government bodies
   • A new project has been developed to work with the Israeli consulate to develop a program to bring law enforcement and advocates together in Israel to learn from best practices
     • The project was approved by the US Justice Department and was helpful in understanding the legal bodies at work to fight human trafficking in Israel
     • The delegation met with law enforcement, investigative prosecutors, US Marshals, lawyers, and more to understand replicable models that San Francisco could work from
   • One of the most important aspects of the trip was to see the projects that are taking place to ensure that survivors have a safe place to be housed, and are able to access a variety of needs based on that safety.
   • Upcoming events:
     • Kickoff Press Conference & Modern-Day Abolitionist Award Ceremony; Thursday, January 11, 2018; 10am-11:30 am; City Hall, Room 408
     • Closing Teen Power Event & Teen Poster Writing Contest Award Ceremony; Thursday, February 22, 2018; 5pm-7pm; Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Public Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco

 

6. Strategic Planning Retreat Update

Retreat will be in early February.Freedom Fwd has made funds available for a facilitator.This year’s facilitator, Carla Dartis, has expertise on human trafficking.