April 27, 2011

COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
5:00 PM
City Hall, Room 408
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Members Present Staff Present
President Kay Gulbengay Executive Director Emily Murase
Vice President Julie Soo Senior Gender Policy Analyst Anu Menon
Commissioner Alicia Gamez Grants Administrator Carol Sacco
Commissioner Nancy Kirshner- Commission Secretary Cynthia Vasquez
Rodriguez
Commissioner Andrea Shorter

Excused: Rebecca Prowda


I. CALL TO ORDER/ AGENDA CHANGES
President Gulbengay called the meeting to order at 5:08 pm and requested to amend the agenda to move New Business up in the agenda.
Action: To approve the amended meeting agenda.
m/s/c (Kirshner-Rodriguez/Gamez/Unanimous)
No public comment.

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
President Gulbengay asked Commissioners to review the minutes from March 23, 2011.
Action: Approve minutes from March 23, 2011.
m/s/c (Soo/Simmons/Unanimous)
No public comment.

III. NEW BUSINESS

A. Update on Claire Joyce Tempongko Domestic Violence Homicide
Assistant District Attorney Liz Aguilar-Tarchi provided a briefing about the State Appellate Court decision to overturn the murder conviction of Tari Ramirez in the Claire Joyce Tempongko murder case. She thanked the Commission, Department, and community for continued support to ensure that victim rights are protected. Ms. Tarchi explained the 2-1 ruling by the First Appellate Court to overturn the conviction of Tari Ramirez, due to improper jury instructions. At the time of the trial, jurors were asked to measure Ramirez’s guilt or innocence based on how an average person would have acted under the same circumstances. Ms. Tarchi explained that later, after the trial, the courts changed the standard instructions. In the next week, the Appellate Court will decide if the opinion should be published. A published case can be cited, allowing attorneys around the state to cite this case as precedence. Ms. Tarchi explained that the District Attorney’s Office is in the process of working with the legal and advocacy communities to get letters and amicus briefs to urge review of this decision by the State Supreme Court.

Commissioner Shorter, Executive Director Murase, Ms. Tarchi, members of the community, and Clara Tempongko (mother of Claire Joyce) met with District Attorney George Gascon where he committed his office to doing everything in its power to see that Mr. Ramirez’s conviction is upheld. Mr. Ramirez will remain in custody during the review process.

Beverly Upton, Executive Director of the Domestic Violence Consortium, explained that she will help coordinate community efforts to continue to support the family and to advocate that the conviction be upheld.

B. Website for Commission Vacancies
Senior Gender Policy Analyst Anu Menon explained that, in 2007, the Department began the process of conducting a gender analysis of boards and commissions for the City to ensure diversity on Boards. However, the Department found that there was not a centralized listing of all the boards/commission, nor a centralized location with information on board/commission vacancies. The Department, together with the Mayor’s General Services Administration and Supervisor David Chiu, worked closely with the leadership of 311 to develop a website with all board/commissions information, vacancies, and current members. This will allow members of the public to learn more about City commissions/boards and how to apply if there is a vacancy. This will also allow the Department to more easily conduct a gender analysis every 2 years and to produce a report on the findings as mandated by the 2008 Charter Amendment by then Supervisor Jake McGoldrick. Commission Secretary Cynthia Vasquez attended a training for all commission secretaries to learn how to input information into the database, update information on commissioners, and conduct quarterly audits. The database will provide the names of Commissioners, the term dates, including when the Commissioners’ terms are over, whether or not Commissioners are compensated, who they are appointed by, information on the commissions/boards, and how to apply to fill a vacancy. The database will also gather information such as race, gender, and whether individuals identify themselves as disabled. The Department will have access to all of the data and will be able to analyze the information and produce a report on the findings. San Francisco is the 1st city in the country to develop such a database.

IV. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

A. Executive Director's Report
Dr. Murase directed Commissioners to her written report. Dr. Murase explained that Deloitte and Symantec, company partners our Gender Equality Principles Initiative (GEP), have granted the Department funds to update the GEP website. Dr. Murase announced that the Friends have secured the Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange for the October 17 CEDAW Awards Luncheon and will be looking to work with the Commission in designating a liaison to the Friends to ensure that this event is successful. Dr. Murase also reported that the Department partnered with the YWCA of San Francisco-Marin, the Older Women's League, and the Transition Network to host an older women workers policy roundtable on April 14 at the YWCA. A group of about 20 women gathered to participate in a workshop and discussed challenges facing older women seeking to enter the workforce.

1. Public Comment
None.

V. 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.

A. Resolution Recognizing Katherine Munter
B. Resolution Recognizing the Northeastern Law School
C. Resolution Recognizing Leola Havard
D. Resolution Recognizing Commissioner Edna James

Action: To approve the Consent Agenda.
m/s/c (Shorter/Soo/Unanimous).

Commissioners thanked Commissioner on Aging Edna James for all of her work and policy changes to benefit the lives of women and the citizens of San Francisco.

Executive Director Murase explained that the Peter Burnett Child Development Center will be renamed the Leola Havard Early Education Center to honor the first African American woman principal in San Francisco. Jerome Havard, son of Leola Havard, thanked the Commission for the recognition of his mother and her work. On behalf of his family his mother he expressed his sincere appreciation to the Commission for the honor.

VII. REPORTS

A. Women’s Human Rights
Ms. Menon reported that Deloitte had a group of senior staff members take the Gender Equity Principles web assessment and provide direct feedback on the user-friendliness of the website. Participants were impressed with the content and had suggested changes to improve usability. Senior executives of Symantec will take the assessment on May 16. Ms. Menon reported that the Northeastern University School of Law’s Legal Skills in Social Context (LSSC) program completed its project for the GEP at the end of March. The program assigns a "law office" of 14 first-year law students to public interest organizations for a year and has them complete a significant project for their community client. This is the second year we have participated in the program. The students developed a legal guide for the GEP and also created a set of metrics companies could use to quantify their progress on the GEP.

Commissioner Kirshner-Rodriguez expressed how important it is to strategically promote the work of the Department to our State representatives. Commissioner Gamez suggested communicating with professional women’s group in the City. Commissioner Soo announced that, in April 2012, Golden Gate University School of Law will be holding a women’s alumni event and that it would be great to showcase the important work that the Department is doing at that event.

B. Family Violence Council
Commissioner Simmons reported that at the last meeting of the Family Violence Council, members of the Youth Commission expressed the need to put together a taskforce to discuss health concerns. The Council agreed to support the formation of this Taskforce. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 18. Beverly Upton, Executive Director of the Domestic Violence Consortium, announced that the Council is working to develop an intervention program for child abusers because San Francisco is currently out of compliance with state mandates. The Council is hoping to schedule a meeting with the Department of Public Health to discuss collaborating and making sure the City is compliant.

C. Justice & Courage
The next meeting of the Justice and Courage Oversight Panel will be held on Wednesday, May 4 at 9 am at City Hall in Room 408.

D. Human Trafficking
Commissioner Kirshner-Rodriguez explained that the San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking (SFCAHT) brings community-based and government agencies together who have not historically worked together. Star Terrell will now be co-chairing the Collaborative on behalf of the Mayor’s Office. The Collaborative discussed their priorities that include addressing the challenges of sex and labor trafficking. It is also important to continue to the successful anti-trafficking awareness campaign as well as explore how to train the City’s front line staff on signs of trafficking. The Collaborative will be holding a strategic planning session to discuss how to best utilize this groups expertise and resources on May 16.
.
VIII. OLD BUSINESS

A. Strategic Plan Update
Executive Director Murase reviewed the strategic plan and goals, explaining that we are in year 2 of a 3 year plan. The Department recently had a staffing reduction and reviewed policy areas that needed further support to continue working. Commissioners suggested a variety of intern groups to work with. Many of the intern programs at the local universities would be able to provide the Department with more support as well as provide the intern with on-hands experience in government and working on policy issues.




IX. PUBLIC COMMENT
Commissionner Soo announced that she and Executive Director Murase would be performing in this year’s Vagina Monologues on May 13 at the Herbst Theater.

Commissioners congratulated Commissioner Prowda on the arrival of her new baby girl.

Executive Director Murase announced that, on Wednesday, May 11th, the Department will be holding the first planning group meeting to discuss the 5th UN World Conference for Women in an effort to have the conference hosted here in San Francisco.

X. ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn in honor of the survivors of the Japanese earthquake. Commissioner Soo noted that when San Francisco was ravaged by the 1906 earthquake, the nation of Japan was the single largest donor to the relief effort.
m/s/c (Soo/Gamez/Unanimous)
The meeting adjourned at 7:10 pm






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