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Meeting Information



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Immigrant Rights Commission

 

Immigrant Rights Commission

Minutes of Meeting on May 13, 2002


The Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) meeting was held on Monday, May 13, 2002 at San Francisco City Hall in Room 416, at 5:00 P.M.

I. Roll Call:
Members Present          Diana Lau, Isabel Huie, Medea Benjamin, Juan Berumen arrived at 6:15pm, Joaquin Gonzalez, Emi Gusukuma, Vera Haile, Joseph Nwadibia, Richard Ow, Marlene Tran, Houston Zheng, Commissioner Tran left 6:20, Commissioner Haile left at 6:15pm. Commissioner Ow left at 6:50pm.

Members Absent          Phu Nguyen

Others Present          Dang Pham, Executive Director
          William Chan, Deputy City Attorney

II. Approval of minutes:
          Commissioner Gonzalez moved to approve the minutes, which was seconded by Commissioner Haile. The minutes were adopted unanimously.

III. Public Comment:
          Karen Hart, Private Industry Council of the San Francisco Refugee Coordinator and County Refugee Coordinator for San Francisco, spoke to the commission about the drastic decrease in Federal dollars for refugee employment services. Ms. Hart indicated that the Council provides employment and acculturation services over 200 refugees requiring a service budget of $835,000. She asked the Commission for assistance with funding.

          Inna Paulua from the Employment Director with the Jewish Vocational Services (JVS), stated that the decrease funding to her organization would adversely affect immigrants. The JVS provides job placements and training services for disadvantage population, including non-English speaking refugees, youth and adult with disability, adult with disability. A budget cut reduce the services that JVS provides to the refugee population. She asked the Commission for support their group.


Juan Ramon Cardona, Executive Director of CARECEN addressed the Commission on the funding cuts by the City for immigration services. He met with the Policy & Legislation Committee to work on the Resolution to support funding for CARECEN. He stated that service providers to immigrants and advocacy organizations have been disappearing due to a lack of funding support. Each year the demands for immigrant programs are increasing. Mr. Cardona would like the Commission to urge the Board and the Mayor not cut the funding for the immigrants.

Marcia Perez, the Legal Director of CARECEN, spoke in support of the resolution urging the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to maintain funding for CARECEN.

Samuel Contreras, a former client of CARECEN, spoke in support of the resolution urging the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to maintain funding for CARECEN.

Margi Dunlap from the International Institute of San Francisco (IISF) spoke to Commission regarding the federal government’s effort to restrict the ability of refugees to re-settle in the US after September 11. She asked the Commission for assistance in this issue.


IV. Draft a letter to Michael Jeffries, Chair & CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch:
Commissioner Ow moved to adopted letter.
Commissioner Gonzalez moved to amend the resolution to state how serious this issue is & that the IRC has great concerns over these allegations that we heard and want to have more clarifications from them by inviting them to the meeting. Commissioners move to adopt the letter as amended. The Commission unanimously adopted the letter, as amended.

V. Draft a letter to the Police Commission addressing the growing problem of immigration consultant fraud in the Bay Area:
Commissioner Ow moved to adopted letter. Commissioner Haile seconded this letter and was adopted unanimously.

VI. Resolution urging the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to provide supplemental funding to the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) to keep providing legal services to immigrants without disruption or reduction from its current levels.
Commissioner Haile proposed the following amendments: Delete 1st page lines 22 and 23 on 3rd page, lines 4,5 and 6.
Commissioner Gonzalez proposed to amend the title of the resolution to read as follows: “Resolution urging the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to continue supplemental funding to the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) to keep providing legal services to immigrants without disruption or reduction from its current levels.”
Commissioner Gonzalez move to approve the amendments, which was seconded by Commissioner Nwadibia and was approved unanimously. Commissioner Haile moved the resolution as amended, which was seconded by Commissioner Nwadibia. The Commission adopted unanimously the resolution, as amended.


VII. Resolution urging the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors and the Department of Human Services to maintain existing funding levels for the Asian Pacific Islander programs such as the In Home Visitation program, which provide culturally relevant and sensitive services to the City’s immigrant population.

          Mai Mai Ho, the director of the Asian Perinatal Advocates (APA), spoke in favor of the resolution. She informed the Commission that the program Home Visitation Program serves 5 Asian sub groups and is the cornerstone of APA. The Program makes the first contact with builds a bridge between the agency and at risk immigrant families.

          The program provides new families receive three in-home visits in their first month, drawing the families out of isolation and into the community by offering emotional support and additional services. The extended family support model has proven highly successful for Asian Pacific Islander families.

          The In Home Visitation Program is the primary child abuse prevention program for API families in San Francisco. It is also the only hospital based in-home support program in California specifically serving high-risk Asian newcomers in transition and has proven to be cost-effective and successful.
          In the current fiscal year, the City provided $75,000 to help support the program. However, for the next fiscal year, the Mayor’s office has indicated the City would not be able to provide the same funding as the current fiscal year due to economic downturn.
          Mai Mai Ho proposed the following amendments: (1) page 1 on line 23 should read: “Whereas, The In Home Visitation Program provides in home counseling addressing problems spanning from social isolation, neglect, cultural adjustment, substance abuse, behavioral/emotional health problems, single parenthood, criminal involvement, housing, and under-employment; and,” (2) page 2 line 13, should have a right parenthesis after “community.”
          Commissioner Gonzalez proposed to amend the title to read as follows: “Resolution urging the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors and the Department of Human Services to maintain existing funding levels for Asian Pacific Islander programs, such as the In Home Visitation program, which provide culturally relevant and sensitive services to the City’s immigrant population.”
Commissioner Benjamin moved to amend the resolution with the proposed changes, which was seconded by Commissioner Gusukuma and approved unanimously. Commissioner Gusukuma moved to adopt the resolution, as amended, which was seconded by Commissioner Berumen. The Commission unanimously adopted the resolution, as amended.

Special Meeting:          Commissioner Lau asked for a special meeting to talk about the retreat and to finish the May’s agenda. The Commissioners agreed to hold a special meeting on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 from 5-7pm. Commissioner Lau wanted to address the 4 goals in the retreat: 1st Immigrant Summit, 2nd Increase participation in the community, 3rd translate EAS, 4th become a good referral source.

Pride Parade:          Director Pham past out the sign in sheet to see how many Commissioners can participate in the parade. Commissioner Ow made a motion to participate in the parade, which was seconded by Commissioner Huie. The Commission unanimously approved the motion.

Summit:          Commissioner Lau reported that she joined Director Pham that morning to meet with Jack Moshbacher to look at the rooms at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Director Pham proposed two dates for the summit, Saturday, September 14th or Thursday, September 19th. He stated that the Mayor suggested that the IRC hold the summit on a Saturday to have a better turn out. Commissioner Gonzalez moved to have the IRS Summit on Saturday, September 14th, which was seconded by Commissioner Ow. The Commission unanimously approved the motion.

Adjournment:                    The Commission meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.