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
Agenda
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
5:00 P.M.
City Hall, Room 408
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Public comment will be heard before and/or during each agenda item.
Members Present Staff Present
President Andrea Shorter Rosario Navarrette, Deputy Director
Vice President Juanita Miles Bernice Casey, Executive Assistant
Commissioner Andrea Evans Caroline Donnola, Senior Policy Analyst
Commissioner Dorka Keehn Carol Sacco, Policy Analyst
Commissioner Carolene Marks
Commissioner Emily Murase
Commissioner Angela Williams
President Shorter called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m.
Commissioner Keehn arrived at 5:12 p.m.
No public comment.
Vice President Miles asked that the agenda be modified to ensure that Chief Hayes-White and District Attorney Harris are able to present when they arrive.
m/s/c (Marks/Murase/Unanimous)
Action: Adopted agenda for the COSW Meeting, Wednesday, April 28, 2004.
President Shorter reminded the public to fill out Public Speaker cards if they wanted to address the Commission and were not on the agenda. She reminded everyone to turn their cell phones off.
No public comment.
m/s/c (Murase/Miles/Marks/Shorter/Williams) (Evan-Abstains)
Action: Approved amended minutes for the COSW Meeting held Wednesday, March 24, 2004.
No public comment.
- PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Shorter reported on her meeting with San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and her staff on April 21, 2004 regarding sexual harassment in the school district and the media coverage of that harassment. Ms. Shorter believed that this meeting was the first of many between the school district and the Commission as they work together to insure the safety of all San Franciscans. Within the school district, an advisory council has come together to address the issue of sexual harassment in the school system and to discuss strategies of prevention. President Shorter thinks it would be helpful to have a Commissioner on the advisory council. She invited the Commission to attend the next council meeting which will be held May 5, 2004.
No public comment.
- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Executive Director Belle Taylor-McGhee was absent. The Commission read Ms. Taylor-McGhee’s report.
Commissioner Marks asked when the check from Verizon would be presented.
Deputy Director Rosario Navarrette explained that the $40,000.00 had already been presented two years ago to the Friends of the Commission on the Status of Women. Ms. Navarrette said that a press conference would be held in May around the cell-phone donation campaign. She said the date for the press conference had not been set.
No public comment.
- Violence Against Women (VAW) Programs
Senior Policy Analyst Caroline Donnola reviewed the process for the funding cycle Fiscal Year 2004-2007. She reported that on April 16, 2004, an independent Expert Review Panel presented their findings and gave their recommendations on the proposals submitted for funding for the Requests for Funding (RFQ). Ms. Donnola said the recommendations from the Review Panel were submitted to the Funding Committee which was made up of both Department staff and Commissioners. She reported that the Funding Committee could only reverse findings of the Expert Review Panel if the Funding Committee came to a unanimous decision.
Ms. Donnola informed the Commission that the Panel had also made recommendations about the RFQ process. She referred the Commission to the materials provided under Tab 4 in the Commission packets. Ms. Donnola reminded the Commission that the directive from the Mayor’s Office was to prioritize emergency and critical services in the next funding cycle. The Panel recommended to the Funding Committee that monies be set aside to do outreach to both the African-American and Latina community because there are not currently programs which provide population specific services to those communities.
President Shorter asked that the Commission and public hold their questions for Ms. Donnola for a later time so that Chief Hayes-White could speak.
a. San Francisco City and County Fire Department Chief Hayes-White
President Shorter welcomed Chief Hayes-White and congratulated the Chief on her appointment.
Chief Hayes-White thanked the President and the Commission for the invitation to speak before them. The Chief
gave a brief history of her 14 years of service with the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD). She was one of the first ten women hired in the SFFD. The Chief reported to the Commission that there is 13% female representation in the uniformed ranks, which is one of the highest in the country. Chief Hayes-White reviewed her first one hundred days in office and discussed the challenges facing all City agencies in the future due to budget constraints. Chief Hayes-White shared with the Commission the impact individual female firefighters have had over the year on San Francisco as well as the contributions of all firefighters. The Chief believes that the fire department has made a lot of head-way in setting the tone that the fire department is about professionalism, accountability and appropriate behavior. Chief Hayes-White discussed the issue of sexual harassment in the fire department. She stated that one of the missions of the fire department was to provide a work environment free of all types of harassment.
Commissioner Marks thanked Chief Hayes-White for her presentation and her attentiveness to issues important to women and girls in San Francisco.
Commissioner Keehn asked Chief Hayes-White what she believed to be the toughest issues facing women in the fire department and what the fire department was doing around recruitment.
Chief Hayes-White said that one issue facing the women is being in a workforce that is predominantly male-dominated and non-traditional. She said that many of the women coming into the fire department have undergraduate degrees and are very educated which allows SFFD to provide a higher quality of service to the public. The Chief believed that there was still work to be done in creating a more respectful work environment. Chief Hayes-White talked about the physical agility test that was adopted two years ago, which is more demanding with a lower amount of women passing. She believes the test is very job related. The Chief believes more women can pass the test but more mentoring needs to be done on the front end. Since February, the SFFD has been providing mentoring services to people who want to participate in the physical agility test.
Commissioner Keehn asked the Chief if a goal had been set to have a certain number of women in the fire department.
Chief Hayes-White said that no goal has been set. She would like to maintain that current numbers and have them continue to grow.
Commissioner Murase discussed the work the CEDAW Committee had done on gender analysis with city agencies. Ms. Murase used the example of Department of Public Works (DPW) which has women employed in non-traditional positions and their mentoring program with women on staff. Commissioner Murase thanked the Chief for bringing up the issue of sexual harassment and offered the services of the Commission and the Department to combat that issue. She asked Chief Hayes-White to submit any openings at SFFD to the Department’s Job Library.
Chief Hayes-White told the Commission about an employee program called UFSW, United Fire Service Women. UFSW is a working group that acts as a support network with branches of study groups that have 50% participation.
Vice President Miles asked what the outreach to women of color has been.
Chief Hayes-White said she would also like to see more people of color in the fire department. She said that 2% of the 13% of women in the SFFD are African-American women with a total African-American representation in the department of 10%. Chief Hayes-White is working with Black Firefighters Association in starting a youth firefighter academy in Bayview.
President Shorter thanked Chief Hayes-White for coming.
Ken Theisen, a member of the public, asked the Chief if SFFD employees received any specialized training on sexual assault and domestic violence.
Chief Hayes-White said that type of training has been included in SFFD curriculum.
No public comment.
c. Violence Against Women (VAW) Programs
Senior Policy Analyst Donnola resumed her presentation. She asked the Commissioners if they had any questions.
Commissioner Marks asked if this issue had to be voted on tonight or if it could be postponed to the next meeting.
Ms. Donnola reviewed the timeframe to get the contracts approved through the City system so that funding will be available July 1, 2004. She informed the Commissioners that if they did not vote on this issue at this month’s meeting that they would have to hold a special meeting because the May 20, 2004 Commission meeting would not allot enough time to complete the process by the July 1, 2004 start date.
President Shorter thanked Ms. Donnola and asked her to postpone the rest of the presentation until after District Attorney Harris had presented.
b. San Francisco’s District Attorney’s Office
President Shorter thanked District Attorney Harris for coming to speak before the Commission and speaking to the issues raised by the Commission.
District Attorney Harris discussed the work she has done in the past and is currently doing around the issues of violence and women and children. District Attorney Harris talked about the work being done to assist sexually exploited youth in San Francisco. District Attorney Harris stressed the importance of leveraging relationships between the private and public sectors, in particular in times of budget constraints.
Ms. Harris explained the purpose of the work done by the juvenile division of her office as being weighted on rehabilitation and not punishment. The District Attorney referred to AReport on Girls in San Francisco, Benchmarks for the Future and the statistics surrounding girls in San Francisco in the juvenile justice system. Ms. Harris discussed the types of crimes girls are now being charged with and how that should be a cause for concern. The District Attorney stated that girls who come into the system are often pregnant or will become pregnant and require additional resources and education around family-planning and parenting.
District Attorney Harris said that 58% of the primary attorneys in her office when she took office were men and 67% of the managing attorneys were men. She reported that on May 1, 2004, when her reorganization takes effect, 60% of the managing attorney will be women.
Commissioner Murase said she was glad to see a more female-focused staff at the District Attorney’s office especially in regards to rape and sexual assault cases.
District Attorney told the Commission that there was a direct correlation of more women being part of law enforcement and domestic violence being treated as a crime.
Vice President Miles asked if a victim was allowed to see the perpetrator once he had been incarcerated.
District Attorney Harris said there was currently not a policy which addressed this issue. She said that more emphasis needs to be placed on rehabilitating the men instead of just punishing them as more women do go back to the perpetrator.
Commissioner Keehn asked about the criminalization of young sex workers and if there had been a change where the john was now being charged with sexual assault.
District Attorney Harris said that her perspective is the johns and pimps should be prosecuted not the worker. She believes another line of attack is through legislation.
Commissioner Marks thanked the District Attorney for coming and asked that District Attorney to work in partnership with other departments and agencies to ensure that the women and girls of San Francisco were receiving the services they need and were not falling through the cracks.
District Attorney Harris asked the Commission to advocate on her department’s behalf in the face of the current
budget cuts. She believes that when staff from her office is cut the City and County of San Francisco will be facing a serious public service issue.
Commissioner Keehn said that the Justice and Courage Panel will be meeting with the Mayor to discuss its priorities and advocating for the District Attorney’s Office is one of them.
President Shorter thanked the District Attorney for coming and the work she is doing around violence against women.
No public comment.
c. Violence Against Women (VAW) Program
Ms. Donnola returned to the podium to answer questions from the Commission.
Commissioner Marks asked who was on the independent Review Panel and how they were selected. Commissioner Marks wanted reassurance that SFWAR (San Francisco Women Against Rape) had adhered to guidelines set by the Department and whether the community was satisfied to that effect. Commissioner Marks asked if it was still possible for Women in Dialogue to receive funding based as an outcome of any presentations at this meeting.
Ms. Donnola reviewed the process of selecting an independent Review Panel. She said the Panel was made up of people who were independent of the Department, the Commission and all agencies who had submitted proposals. Ms. Donnola said that the process included reaching out to individuals who have experience dealing with human services, domestic violence, sexual assault and women and children. She told the Commission that all participants on the panel had to sign a Conflict of Interest statement and were instructed to review the proposals on face value. Ms. Donnola explained the use of the score sheet in rating the submissions for compliance.
Commissioner Marks asked again if the names of the individuals on the panel could be provided at a later time. Commissioner Marks again asked if SFWAR had adhered to some of the requirements and the suggestions that were made to them by the Department on behalf of the community. She asked if anyone was monitoring the agency.
President Shorter said that those questions were addressed during the Funding Committee process, which she and Commissioner Williams served on. President Shorter said that according to the Department staff, SFWAR is complying with all Department requests at this time.
Vice President Miles asked for some clarification on the $30,000.00 set aside for outreach.
President Shorter stated that the funds would be used to do outreach to specific community populations to help them become more involved in the funding process.
Commissioner Evans asked if there were specific groups that would receive the $30,000.00.
President Shorter said there were not specific groups in mind at this time.
Commissioner Williams moved to accept the VAW Funding Committee’s recommendations. Commissioner Marks seconded.
Deputy Director Navarrette explained that the amounts allotted for agencies are not necessarily the amounts requested but the amounts which fell within budget.
President Shorter reminded the public that there was a two-minute limit for public comment.
Public Comment.
Rachel West, the co-coordinator of In Defense of Prostitute Women’s Safety Project, asked the Commission to re-instate the grant of $10,000.00 for Women in Dialogue. Ms. West discussed the work her agency has done and said her agency was the only funded agency that provided advocacy to sex workers. She said that over the past six years Women in Dialogue has provided all correspondence requested by the Department in a timely manner and has never been late. Ms. West provided some background of the work Women in Dialogue does and gave each of the Commissioners documentation outlining their view on the RFQ process between Women in Dialogue and the Department on the Status of Women. She urged the Commission to take time to review the packet of information and the appeal from the community which is upset about the cut to Women in Dialogue. Ms. West also asked the Commission to consider the timeline which she believes outlines the errors on the part of the Department in the RFQ process.
Dr. Ruth Todasco, representing Women in Dialogue, discussed the history of Women in Dialogue with the Department and the Commission. Dr. Todasco said that there was a new requirement in the information packet for the RFQ which was not made to stand out. She said they worked very hard to meet all the requirements of the RFQ. Dr. Todasco said she received the minutes of the Bidder’s Conference on March 29, 2004, two days before the applications were due and had received no advance notice of the Bidder’s Conference. She said in the past her organization had been notified by e-mail and by post about the Bidder’s Conference but this time only received a call on the day of the Bidder’s Conference on March 15, 2004. Dr. Todasco asked that even if there was a rule in place for completeness of application that rule should be revisited if there was a bureaucratic error by the Department. She requested that their grant be reinstated.
Chandra Redack has worked with Women in Dialogue for the six years it has been funded by the Commission. Ms. Redack discussed the work being done by Women in Dialogue on a grass-root level. She said that all the funding was used to help the clients and discussed the volunteer outreach being done. Ms. Redack asked that the funding be reinstated.
President Shorter thanked the speakers and emphasized that neither members of the Commission nor the Department were questioning the merits of Women in Dialogue. She asked that the speakers speak to the specifics of the RFQ process.
Nedra Ruiz, an attorney, has worked with staff members from In Defense of Prostitute Women’s Safety Project for over twenty years. She talked about the work done to reduce violence against sex workers for the past two decades. Ms. Ruiz urged the Commission to reinstate the grant.
Lori Nairne, a nurse, works with In Defense of Prostitute Women’s Safety Project. She emphasized that the organization did not get notice of the Bidder’s Conference. Ms. Nairne said that the checklist provided by the Department did not highlight any new requirements. She said that an e-mail that was six months old was used to notify them about the Bidder’s Conference.
Avaren Ipsen, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, asked the Commission to re-instate the $10,000.00 grant and shared stories illustrating the importance of work being done by Women in Dialogue.
Steven Chester from Coalition on Homelessness asked the Commission to re-instate the $10, 0000.00 grant.
Norma Tecson from the Filipino-American Employment & Training Center thanked the Commission for the work it has done. Ms. Tecson said that her agency had been unable to submit its response to the RFQ because a City agency failed to provide a letter of reference which was one of the RFQ requirements. She asked that a special hearing be held so she could present the problem in detail to the Commission.
President Shorter thanked Ms. Tecson and asked her to provide written documentation to the Commission on the matter.
Mihoko Kochi from Crossroads Women’s Center read a letter of support for Women in Dialogue to the Commission.
Andre Rucker asked the Commission to re-instate the $10,000.00 grant. He stressed the importance of the work being done by Women in Dialogue in outreach to victims of violence.
President Shorter thanked all the speakers for their comments. She said that she had been apprised of the situation on Tuesday, April 27, 2004 and had spoken to representatives from Supervisor Tom Ammiano’s office regarding the issue. President Shorter said that the Commission would need to check facts from both sides to see what actually occurred.
Commission Murase asked if there was a staff response.
Ms. Donnola said that there was a great deal of details to go through and that it could take some time.
Commissioner Keehn asked if that discussion could take place at a later time.
Rachel West asked that the meeting be a public one so that Women in Dialogue could present.
Ms. Donnola reviewed the timeline with the Commission. She explained that if the Commission did not vote on the funding recommendations at this meeting, the contracts would not be in place by July 1, 2004. She reviewed the contract process with the Commission.
President Shorter said the Commission had not determined if the review process had failed. She said there was no commitment, at this point, to fund Women in Dialogue and that any decision made had to be fair to all applicants.
m/s/c (Williams/Marks/Murase/Keehn/Evans/Shorter/Miles) (Marks Abstains)
Action: Approved the recommendations of the VAW Funding Committee to fund agencies for the 2004-2007 funding allocation period.
Commissioner Marks expressed concerns regarding SFWAR and wanted to get feedback from the community to ensure that SFWAR was in compliance.
m/s/c (Keehn/Shorter/Evans/Miles/Murase/Williams)
Action: Approved Commissioner Marks’ abstention.
Vice President Miles asked Ms. Donnola to act as point person to set up a meeting between the Commission and Women in Dialogue.
No public comment.
- Community Advisory Council
Community Programs Coordinator Priscilla J. Banks and Dr. Judith Luce from the Women’s Breast Care
Program at San Francisco General Hospital gave a presentation on the Community Advisory Council. Dr. Luce gave an overview of the cancer treatment programs at San Francisco General. Dr. Luce and Ms. Banks asked that one of the Commissioners serve on the Community Advisory Council. Ms. Banks reviewed the job duties and time commitment the position would entail.
m/s/c (Shorter/Williams/Unanimous)
Action: Appointed Commissioner Marks to serve on the Community Advisory Council.
No public comment.
- Sexual Harassment
Megan Dunn, from SEIU Local 24/7 and Chuks Oluka presented information on the alleged sexual harassment at the JP Morgan Chase building by Guardsmark Security. Mr. Oluka shared his story of working at the JP Morgan Chase building and the stories of some of the women who worked there.
m/s/c (Miles/Keehn/Unanimous)
Action: To write a letter of concern to JP Morgan Chase, Guardsmark and SFMOMA regarding the alleged sexual harassment.
No public comment.
CONSENT AGENDA
All matters listed hereunder constitute a Consent Agenda and are considered to be routine by the Commission on the Status of Women. They will be acted upon by a single roll call vote of the Commission. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the Commission so requests, in which event the matter shall be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered as a separate item. Members of the public may speak on each item listed on the Consent Agenda.
There are no items for the consent agenda.
7. OLD BUSINESS
- Justice and Courage Project
- Girls Committee
m/s/c (Miles/Murase/Unanimous)
Action: Moved Old Business items a) and b) to May 20, 2004 Commission Agenda.
No public comment.
- Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program
Lori Low from the Breast Cancer Fund thanked the Commission for allowing her to come and speak before them. She read a letter from Senator Ortiz in support of SB 1168. Ms. Ortiz gave the Commission an update on the Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program, SB 1168. She talked about the revision of SB 689 to the current SB 1168 and the impacts it will have on all Californians.
m/s/c (Marks/Keehn/Unanimous)
Action: To support SB 1168 with a letter of support.
No public comment.
a. CEDAW Report
Commissioner Murase announced the next CEDAW meeting would be on June 2 from 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. Commissioner Murase gave a synopsis of the Juvenile Justice Summit.
No public comment.
9. CLOSED SESSION
President Shorter informed the public that the Commission would be moving into Closed Session.
No public comment.
The Closed Session was pursuant to Government Code Section 54957 (b) and San Francisco Administrative
Code Section 67.10 (b): Public Employment: Nomination of Candidate(s)
Title: Executive Director
Commissioner Evans and Marks asked that the staff be informed of the decision as soon as the Mayor approves the
nomination.
m/s/c (Williams/Shorter/Unanimous)
Action: To disclose any or all discussion regarding the Closed Session.
No public comment.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT
No public comment.
President Shorter adjourned the meeting at 8:02 p.m.
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