Meeting Information

Full Commission

Immigrant Rights Commission Meeting

City Hall - Room 305

October 14, 2008

Minutes

Commissioner Jamal Dajani (Chair) convened the meeting at 5:35 p.m.

I.  Roll Call

Members Present:  Jamal Dajani (Chair), Gilberto Alexander, Elahe Enssani, Vera Haile, Solomon Jones, Greg Chew, Angus McCarthy, Toye Moses, and Alan Mok.

Members Absent: Jay Gonzalez (excused) and Sam Ng (excused)

II. Approval of Minutes:

Commission approved the minutes of September meeting.

III. Public Comments: No public comment.

IV. Presentation

            A. USCIS:

Ms. Rosemary Melville, District Director and Ms. Rosemarie Fan of the USCIS reported to the Commission about the redesigned (new) test for citizenship.  In the interest of creating more standardized, fair, and meaningful naturalization process, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) redesigned the naturalization test.  The new test, with an emphasis on the fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, will help encourage citizenship applicants to learn and identify with the basic values we all share as Americans.

The major aim of the redesign process was to ensure that naturalization applicants have uniform, consistent testing experiences nationwide, and that the civics test can effectively assess whether applicants have a meaningful understanding ofUS government and history.

The USCIS piloted the new test with an overhauled English reading and writing section, as well as new history and government questions in ten (10) sites across the country.

For more information on the new naturalization test, applicants can visit the website: http://www.uscis.gov/newtest.

            B. Shake It Up SF:

            Ms. Krista Slanker of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management (DEM) shared with the Commission about the citywide earthquake drill on October 21, 2008 at Noon. 

            On October 21, 2008 marks the 140^th anniversary of the 1868 Hayward earthquake, the first great “San Francisco earthquake” and one of the most damaging earthquakes in the nation’s history.

            The Shake It Up SF is a coordinated series of small independent drills designed to engage businesses, schools, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations and residents.

            For further information regarding preparation for the disaster, residents can visit the website: www.72hours.org.

            C. San Francisco Coalition for Asylee, Immigrant and Refugee Services (SFCAIRS)

            Ms. Patricia Erwin, Program Manager of the Newcomer Health Program discussed with the Commission about the newly established San Francisco Coalition for Asylee, Immigrant and Refugee Services (SFCAIRS).

SF-CAIRS is a coalition of organizations serving the San Francisco Bay Area asylee, immigrant and refugee community and its service providers. SF-CAIRS is a multidisciplinary body with representation from city government, community based organizations, employment, immigration and health care providers, educational and vocational training organizations and other support services.  We are dedicated to:

• expanding knowledge  and access to health, employment, social, education and legal services;
• supporting advocacy efforts through coalition-wide networking, information sharing, cross-referrals and community education; and,
• Identifying and addressing challenges faced by immigrants at personal and societal levels.

D. EAS Revision Update:

Mr. Tomas Lee, Director of the Office of Language Services (OLS) provided the update of the revision of EAS.  According to Mr. Lee, the outgoing Board of Supervisor's President Aaron Peskin, due to time constraint would not be able to pass the legislation before he leaves office but, the OLS remained optimistic that once we have new supervisors on board and after the election, they will probably be very interested in helping our immigrant constituency in their respective district and us complete the process, to sponsor and adopt passing legislation to revise the EAS ordinance as we planned to do.

V. Neighborhood Meeting:

The Outreach Committee came up with an action plan for the outreach in the Mission neighborhood. The Outreach Committee had a well designed plan to reach out to different groups, residents and city departments to ensure the success outcome of the meeting.  The Commission wants to build the momentum based on the commitment and successful efforts in reaching out to the immigrant community and its members and staff for the last neighborhood meeting in Richmond.

The neighborhood meeting will take place at The Women’s Building on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

VI. Officer Election

            Commissioner Punongbayan indicated that he will not seek the second term as Vice Chair of the Commission.

The Commission voted to official nominates the following Commissioners for the Chair and Vice Chair positions:

* Nominee for the Chair:                        JAMAL DAJANI

* Nominated for the Vice Chair:             FELIX FUENTES

            The election will be held at the December meeting of the Commission.

VII.  Director’s Report

1. Letter to City Departments regarding 2008 EAS Annual Compliance Report:

At the last July meeting, the Commission approved the final version of the 2008 EAS Compliance Report.  Staff prepared the letters to Tier 1 city departments to inform them that the Commission approved their reports. These letters also highlighted any missing information and requested the city departments to include them in their 2009 EAS Compliance Report.

      2.   Day Labor Program Contract:

The City Attorney’s Office is currently reviewing the extension contract for Day Labor Program.  Staff received the program invoices for July, August and September 2008.

      3.   Meeting/Information:

            a. San Francisco Coalition for Asylee, Immigrant and Refugee Services (SFCAIRS):

            On September 15, 2008, I attended the meeting of the San Francisco Coalition for Asylee, Immigrant and Refugee Services (SFCAIRS).  At this meeting, the Coalition would like to learn more about the Immigrant Rights Commission and its activities.

            b. MTA Board Meeting

            On September 16, 2008, I attended the MTA’s public hearing session and raised the concerns regarding the bilingual signs on the MUNI buses.  The very next day, Mr. Nathaniel Ford, Sr., Executive Director of the MTA called and thanked us for raising the important issue and indicated that MTA will work with the Commission to address the issue as soon as possible.

On September 25, 2008, I met with Virginia Harmon, Manager of Equal Opportunity & Diversity for MTA about the issue.  Ms. Harmon agreed that the bilingual signs will be installed on all new hybrid buses as soon as possible.

            c. Census 2010 Planning Meeting:

As you know, the City needs to begin to align the energies to ensure that we will have a great participation rate in the Census 2010.  The Mayor has asked Edwin Lee, City Administrator to convene a working group that will help identify the members of San Francisco Complete Count Committee.

VIII. Committee Report

a.       Executive Committee

The next meeting of the Committee will take place on November 19, 2008 to plan for the December meeting of the Commission.

b.      Program & Access Committee

The next meeting of the Program & Access Committee will take place on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM to discuss the next steps for the EAS Revision.

c.       Outreach Committee

The Outreach Committee will work with staff to produce a summary report of the neighborhood meeting and present it to the Commission for its review.

IX. Adjournment

            Commissioner Haile moved to adjourn, and Commissioner Jones seconded.  The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m.