2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
City and County of San Francisco
Minutes
Friday, December 10, 2004
9:30 AM-4:30 pm
Park Branch Library
1833 Page Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
Public comment will be heard before and/or during each agenda item.
Members Present Staff Present
President Andrea Shorter Executive Director Emily Murase
Vice President Angela Williams Executive Assistant Bernice Casey
Commissioner Andrea Evans Senior Policy Analyst Caroline Donnola
Commissioner Dorka Keehn Justice & Courage Coordinator Justine McGonagle
Commissioner Carolene Marks Policy Analyst Carol Sacco
1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL
Vice President Williams called the meeting to order at 9:43 AM.
President Shorter arrived at the meeting at 9:45 AM.
Commissioner Keehn informed members of the public that the Commission would follow items 1 through 5 in the
agenda before making introductions.
2. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
m/s/c (Williams/Keehn/Unanimous)
Action: Adopted agenda for COSW Retreat, December 10, 2004.
No public comment.
- APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Executive Assistant Bernice Casey read a correction to the minutes into the record.
m/s/c (Keehn/Williams/Unanimous)
Action: Approved amended minutes from COSW Meeting, November 17, 2004.
No public comment.
4. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Shorter thanked everyone for coming to the Commission Retreat. She recognized today as International Human Rights Day.
No public comment.
- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Executive Director Emily Murase directed the Commission to their packets for her full report reviewing the past Executive Director reports from August to present. Ms. Murase skipped a full report in lieu of time.
No public comment.
a. Introductions
Commissioner Keehn acknowledged the work of the Department in preparing for the Retreat. Ms. Keehn introduced the facilitator, Baillee Serbin.
Ms. Serbin gave a brief history of her background. She reviewed the rules of conduct for the retreat. Ms. Serbin informed everyone that she would be taking notes.
Department staff, Commissioners, and members of the public all introduced themselves.
- Review 2005 Calendar for COSW Meetings
President Shorter asked the Commission to review the 2005 calendar provided and change any Commission dates that conflicted with a holiday or scheduling.
The Commission changed the December 2005 Commission Meeting to December 14, 2005 and chose an annual retreat date of September 23, 2005, to replace the regularly scheduled September 2005 Commission meeting.
m/s/c (Williams/Keehn/Unanimous)
Action: Approved the 2005 Commission Meeting calendar.
- Efficiency Plan for DOSW
Executive Director Emily Murase reviewed the Efficiency Plan. She informed the Commission that the current plan did not reflect the inception of budget cuts. Ms. Murase told the Commission that the budget cuts were reflected in the Strategic Plan.
Commissioner Marks asked if the job library resource was being utilized by the public.
Executive Assistant Casey explained how the job library was used and the time it took for staff to maintain it.
Commissioner Marks asked about the complaints process and how many complaints the Department received.
Senior Policy Analyst Caroline Donnola said that the number of complaints the Department received varied.
Nina Jusuf, Executive Director of SFWAR, asked for clarification on the language used to describe the Violence Against Women (VAW) Programs.
Senior Policy Analyst Donnola said that the six categories of service had been combined into five areas with crisis line and legal assistance now making one category.
Executive Assistant Casey explained to the Commission that this current Efficiency Plan had been submitted to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors per their instructions in October and November respectively.
The Commission decided to review the Efficiency Plan once changes had been made to reflect the edits in the Strategic Plan.
- Strategic Plan & Charter Compliance
Charter Compliance
Executive Assistant Casey informed the Commission that the Department had reviewed the San Francisco Charter that applied to the duties of the Commission and the Department and had discussed what work the Department was able to do within current staffing constraints.
Commissioner Keehn reviewed the sections of the Charter Compliance with the Commission.
President Shorter stressed the importance of preserving staffing. She did not believe other City departments, such as the Department of Public Health, had to depend on interns to do the vital work of the department. Ms. Shorter said that the resources of the City had been cut short and it was very clear that the Commission and the Department have always made do. She said that there are some areas of the Charter we may not be able to accomplish. President Shorter stressed the importance of being able to do legislative work and the need for a legislative analyst position within the Department as described in Section 33.4 (c) of the Charter.
Executive Director Murase reviewed section d of the Charter. She believed that some aspects of the work could be accomplished by the CEDAW Committee.
Commissioner Williams said she would be working with the audit team to collect data needed to put together a Talent Bank.
Executive Director Murase said she would check with the Department of Human Resources regarding Section 33.4 (e) (1 & 2). She said that she would follow up with the City Attorney about Section 3.
Section 33.4 (e) (5 & 6) were moved to discuss under Public Outreach.
Beckie Masaki, Executive Director at the Asian Women’s Shelter, asked the Commission and the Department to use the resources available in the community through the Partner Agencies to do work and to coordinate outreach efforts such as the public service campaign.
Justice & Courage Coordinator Justine McGonagle said that she had contacted W.O.M.A.N., Inc. to get their input on the public service campaign since their crisis line number was used in the campaign.
Beverly Upton, Executive Director at the Domestic Violence Consortium, said that if the community was more involved in planning that they could assist in helping to pull media together. Ms. Upton said that it would be helpful to know when the Commission and the Department were going to release public service campaigns so that the community could work together and not duplicate the work.
Beckie Masaki asked in what languages the new public service campaign would be released.
Justice & Courage Coordinator McGonagle replied the written resource guide was in Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Chinese, and English.
Commissioner Marks asked the status of the cell phones.
Justice & Courage Coordinator McGonagle said that several hundred phones had been give to agencies that provide services to domestic violence victims and that the response had been very positive.
Budget
Executive Director Murase informed the Commission that she had received a voice mail earlier in the morning from Noelle Simmons from the Mayor’s Budget Office stating that the Mayor’s Office would be cutting the VAW Grants Administrator position from the Department’s budget.
President Shorter and Vice President Williams said they would meet with the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to get a commitment to not cut the position.
Beckie Masaki said that the VAW Programs were a priority. Ms. Masaki said that the Partner Agencies could leverage a lot of resources on behalf of the Commission and the Department.
Commission Keehn echoed earlier statements about the need to meet with members of the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor to advocate on behalf of the Commission and the Department particularly for the staff position.
Beckie Masaki talked about the loss of Deputy Director Rosario Navarrette for the Commission, the Department, and particularly to the community.
Daisy Anarchy asked if Ms. Navarrette could be put into a restructured position at the Department.
Commissioner Keehn said that Ms. Navarrette had been cut so that she would be eligible for early retirement.
CEDAW
Policy Analyst Carol Sacco gave the Commission a brief report on the Status of CEDAW. She said that the CEDAW Committee had reconvened in September of 2004 and had reviewed the CEDAW five-year plan.
Commissioner Williams said that with the addition of new Committee member Maria Cora, the CEDAW Committee would begin to address women’s access to health care and work to move forward on the recommendations from the Women’s Health Plan. Ms. Williams said that more members were needed on the CEDAW Committee and asked the Commission to make recommendations.
Commissioner Williams asked what work had been done on telecommuting and asked that another Commissioner take over that area.
Executive Director Murase gave an update on what the Department had worked on and was planning on working on later in the year.
President Shorter expressed concerns about the accountability and legal issues associated with telecommuting.
Health
Executive Secretary Casey gave an overview of the trainings she had attended over the year and the community events focuses on health.
Commissioner Marks stressed the stressed for a survey to be done in Bayview/Hunters Point and suggested doing the work with another organization.
Maria Cora gave the Commission an update on the budget cuts to the Department of Public Health and the status of the Women’s Health Plan.
Commissioner Marks said the Commission and the Department should work on making the public aware of the impact cardio vascular disease and depression have on women.
Commissioner Keehn suggested that health be viewed through the CEDAW lense.
Dasiy Anarchy thanked the Commission for their recent work on the labor conditions of exotic dancers and asked that the Commission continue to make this work a priority in their Strategic Plan.
Executive Director Murase suggested moving the work of labor conditions of exotic dancers under the Violence Against Women aspect of the work.
Leadership
Commissioner Williams said she had focus points that she wanted to see developed under leadership which she would provide to the Commission at the next Commission meeting. She said she wanted to focus on: the glass ceiling, a City Audit using CEDAW, one-stop employment shop for women, and a women’s leadership luncheon.
Violence Against Women Programs
Senior Policy Analyst Donnola reviewed the VAW Programs. She said the Department was focusing on building a partnership with the communities. Ms. Donnola spoke about the staff transitions in the VAW position over the past two years and stressed a need to develop an institutional philosophy. She said that she enjoyed the work in building relationships with the Partner Agencies and believed that relationship building was important in the VAW position. Ms. Donnola provided examples of how she had worked with agencies to build capacity and future plans to do more trainings.
President Shorter thanked Ms. Donnola for her presentation and stressed the need for further capacity building.
Beckie Masaki thanked Ms. Donnola for continuing in the position and stated that unlike prior VAW administrators, felt Ms. Donnola took a big picture approach to the programs.
Justice & Courage
Justice & Courage Coordinator McGonagle reviewed the work Justice & Courage had accomplished in the past months and the partnerships that had been built.
Beverly Upton thanked Ms. McGonagle and Ms. Navarrette for their work on the Claire Joyce Tempongko Rally.
Ms. McGonagle discussed future projects including a Safety Audit and Filipina Advisory Committee.
Beverly Upton thanked Ms. Donnola for her work with the agencies and stressed that funding for women and girls was shrinking not only here in San Francisco but nationally.
Nina Jusuf thanked Ms. Donnola for her work.
Commissioner Keehn applauded the work by Ms. McGonagle and highlighted the work done by the Resource Committee.
Emberly Cross from the Restraining Order Clinic asked for clarification on the training the Department had done.
Ms. McGonagle reviewed the October 2004 training done in partnership with the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence on technology and safety.
Beverly Upton stressed the need to hold the City accountable for making services available in multiple languages as it is mandated to do. She stressed the importance of Commission and Department leadership. Under the area of visibility, Ms. Upton stressed the importance of reporting on the effectiveness of batterer programs and the fact that 500,000 batterers in California did not finish the required batterer program and that there was no enforcement to ensure these batterers were completing the program.
Girls
Policy Analyst Sacco reviewed the work done in the area of girls. She said that the Board of Supervisors had held a hearing in July on the high number of African-American girls in the San Francisco Juvenile Justice system.
President Shorter said that the Commission and the Department would be moving forward on this policy piece with the start-up of the Girls Issues Committee.
Friends
Vice President Williams reported on the status of the Friends of the Commission on the Status of Women. Ms. Williams said that some board members would be stepping down at the end of 2004. She said that Toni Wilson would be taking the lead. The issue with Friend’s 501.3 (c) status had been resolved. The Friends had received another check from Verizon. In the areas of visibility, the Friends would be putting on a luncheon for women leaders and could possibly undertake the intern program for the Department.
The Commission asked the Department to rework the Strategic Plan with their suggestions and to bring the revised plan to the January or February Commission meeting for approval.
e. Guidelines for Commissioners
The Commission discussed draft conduct guidelines.
m/s/c (Keehn/Williams/Unanimous)
Action: Approved guidelines for Commissioners.
No public comment.
- Visibility of DOSW and COSW
Vice President Williams discussed ways of improving the visibility of the Commission and the Department.
Commissioner Keehn suggested media training for the Commissioners and drawing attention to the batterers’ programs discussed earlier.
President Shorter suggested policy papers which would be one sheet of information and/or analysis from the Department on different policies that effect women. Ms. Shorter also asked the Commission to make a commitment that each Commissioner make one public presentation in the communities each month.
The Commission discussed how to use the media potential of the work currently being done with the public service campaign.
President Shorter stressed the importance of making connections with the communities.
No public comment.
7. PUBLIC COMMENT
No public comment.
m/s/c (Shorter/Williams/Unanimous)
Action: Adjourned meeting at 3:31 PM.
No public comment.
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The Board of Supervisors has amended the Sunshine Ordinance by adding provision 67A.1. The provision is effective as of January 21, 2001.
The ringing of and use of cell phones, pagers, and similar sound producing electronic devices are prohibited at this meeting. Please be advised that the Chair may order the removal from the meeting room of any person(s) responsible for the ringing or use of a cell phone, pager or other similar sound-producing electronic devices.
(Chapter 67 of the San Francisco Administrative Code)
Government’s duty is to serve the public, reaching its decision in full view of the public. Commissions, boards, councils and other agencies of the City and County exist to conduct the people’s business. This ordinance assures that deliberations are conducted before the people and that City operations are open to the people’s review. For more information on your rights under the Sunshine Ordinance, or to report a violation of the Ordinance, contact the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force at 415-554-7724. To obtain a free copy of the Sunshine Ordinance contact Donna Hall, Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, City Hall, Room 244, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, CA 94102-4689, phone: 415-554-7724, fax: 415-554-7854, email: Donna.Hall@sfgov.org. Copies of the Sunshine Ordinance can also be obtained from the San Francisco Public Library and on the City’s website at www.sfgov.org.
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Lobbyist Registration and Reporting Requirements
Individuals and entities that influence or attempt to influence local legislative or administrative action may be required by the San Francisco Lobbyist Ordinance [SF Campaign & Governmental Conduct Code § 2.100] to register and report lobbying activity. For more information about the Lobbyist Ordinance, please contact the San Francisco Ethics Commission at 30 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 3900, San Francisco, CA 94102; telephone (415) 581-2300; fax (415) 581-2317; web site: sfgov.org/ethics.
