City and County of San FranciscoDepartment on the Status of Women

COSW Meeting Information - June 25, 2014 - Meeting Minutes

COSW Meeting Information - June 25, 2014

COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

4 – 6 pm

City Hall, Room 408

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place

San Francisco, CA  94102

Members Present
President Nancy Kirshner-Rodriguez                                        
Vice President Andrea Shorter
Commissioner Amy Ackerman
Commissioner Alicia Gamez
Commissioner Julie D. Soo                                    

Staff Present                                                                  
Executive Director Emily M. Murase, PhD
Fiscal & Policy Analyst Stephanie Nguyen
Executive Management Assistant Iris Wong 
Women’s Policy Director Minouche Kandel
Summer Interns: Celia Flinn, Sarah Scriven, Eva Morgenstein, Emma Williams-Baron
Gender Equality Principles Program Coordinator Tara Gamboa-Eastman

 

  1. CALL TO ORDER/ AGENDA CHANGES                              
    President Kirshner-Rodriguez called the meeting to order at 4:11 pm.
    Action: To approve the meeting agenda as proposed.                               m/s/c(Ackerman/Shorter/Unanimous)

 

  1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
    Action: To approve draft minutes from May 28, 2014.                             
    ​m/s/c (Ackerman/Gamez/ Unanimous)

 

  1. 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.
    Action: To approve the Consent Agenda                                                    
    m/s/c (Ackerman/Gamez/Unanimous)

    

  1. Public Comment
     
    1. Resolution Recognizing Blanche Blachman

Commissioner Ackerman, who nominated Ms. Blachman for this resolution, spoke about Ms. Blachman’s dedication in investigating how the city agencies in San Francisco responded to Ms. Tempongko’s murder by her boyfriend. Her work formed the foundation for the Justice & Courage Oversight Panel on Domestic Violence Policy Reform, and contributed to eliminating domestic violence homicides in San Francisco. A final report of the Justice & Courage Oversight Panel is scheduled to be released this fall.

Ms. Blachman thanked the Commissioners for their recognition, as well as her colleagues at the City Attorney’s office for their hard work.

Domestic Violence Consortium Executive Director Beverly Upton, Chief Deputy City Attorney Terry Stewart, and Chief Assistant City Attorney Jesse Smith spoke about Ms. Blachman’s achievements, and thanked the Commissioners for recognizing her tremendous achievements.

Commissioner Soo arrived a 4:28 pm.

 

  1. NEW BUSINESS

 

  1. San Francisco Early Care and Education Needs Assessment

Human Services Agency Administrative Analyst for Early Care and Education Policy Graham Dobson introduced San Francisco Child Care Planning and Advisory Council Coordinator Erica Maybaum, who presented on the findings of the recently published Early Care and Education Needs Assessment. Below are some highlights from Ms. Maybaum’s presentation.

  • 35% of San Francisco children under the age of 12 (approximately 25,186 children) are living in early care and education subsidy eligible families (those with incomes below 70% of the State Median Income – $67,401 for a family of three people).
  • 12% of children under 12 years old are below the federal poverty line ($19,000 for a family of three).
  • 78% of families in Treasure Island are headed by single women.
  • Between 2006 and 2012, there has been an increase of 3,391 slots for licensed care, either center-based or at Family Child Care homes.
    • Within Licensed Family Child Care, the largest increase in slots has been for children 3 – 5 year of age.
  • In 2012, the majority of subsidies come from San Francisco Unified School District and CalWorks.
  • The neighborhoods with the highest level of unmet need by age groups are:
    • Infant/Toddler – Inner Mission/ Bernal
    • Preschool – Bayview/ Hunter’s Point
    • School Age – Outer Mission/ Excelsior/ Ingleside

A full report of the needs assessment can be found here: www.sfcpac.org/file10032.html

Discussion focused on gathering data on foster children and LGBT families in future studies. The Commission thanked Ms. Maybaum for her presentation.

 

 

  1.       Presentation on 7th Arab Women Conference

Arab Cultural Community Center (ACCC) Executive Director Soraya Hosni introduced Programs Assistant Zaynha Hindi who gave a brief overview on the conference that took place on April 5, 2014 at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Since 2007, ACCC has held an annual conference to unite Arab women and allies from different ethnicities and genders, inviting artists to perform and community members to speak. It is one of just a few cultural centers in San Francisco that puts together a conference focused on women.

The theme for this year’s conference was “The Power of Women.” Speakers from around the world shared their insights and conducted interactive workshops with participants, focusing on the following areas:

  • Empowered Arab Women’s Health
  • Nourishing Ourselves
  • Legacies for Our Daughters
  • Visions for Arab Womenhood
  • Jewelry Making
  • Exploring Our Relationship with Empowerment
  • Empowerment through Understanding of Entity
  • Arab Women and Social Movements
  • Empowering Our Communities at Home
  • Renaissance of Arts in the Arab World

This year’s conference also highlighted the “Take on Hate” Campaign, a multi-year, grassroots campaign of the national network of Arab American communities, which challenges the growing prejudice and persistent misconception of Arab Muslim Americans. Another highlight was the Young Leaders Award given to Eslah Alowdi for outstanding accomplishments in leadership in the community. She was awarded $500 scholarship to support her college career and her dream of becoming a pediatrician.

 

  1. OLD BUSINESS

 

  1.        Gender Equality Principles Initiative

Dr. Murase gave a brief update of the Gender Equality Principles (GEP) Challenge, which is in its second year.  Dr. Murase stated that staff will be focusing its efforts in the Challenge, and that corporate roundtables will go on hiatus for the time being. The Department is currently reaching out to companies who are interested in the challenge, and Dr. Murase asked Commissioners for their input on companies they should encourage to apply.

Discussion focused on the direction that GEP will take and this year’s strategic plan. Commissioners expressed interest in discussing the future of GEP in upcoming Commission meetings.

  1. Public Comment:
    1. Roberta Guise, Co-Chair of Public Policy for AAUW, expressed support for the GEP Initiative, stating that technology companies are now turning their attention on gender disparities.
    2. Sarah Hicks-Kilday of the San Francisco Childcare and Providers Association commented that childcare jobs tend to have low wages, and a majority of people who take childcare positions are women.
    3. Robin Brasso supported Ms. Hicks-Kilday’s comment and stated that it is important to change the mindset on childcare jobs and pay equity.
    4. Nicole Plata, Community Empowerment Specialist at the Mental Health Association of San Francisco, introduced the Fire Within Program, which provides mentorship to youth enterprises and industry leaders. She stated an interest in partnering with the Commission on this project.

 

  1. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT  

Dr. Emily Murase directed Commissioners to her written report. Below are the topics that were highlighted:

  1. Family Friendly Workplace Ordinances

In the proposed budget, Mayor Lee allocated $75,000 to conduct outreach around the Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance. Legislative Director Elizabeth Laferriere was recognized for her role in developing the original request.

  1. U.S. Department of Labor Regional Summit on Working Families

Dr. Murase, President Kirshner-Rodriguez, and Ms. Laferriere attended the White House Summit on June 23.

  1. Violence Against Women Community Needs Assessment

The results of the study will be presented to the Commission in July.

  1. Domestic Violence Training for Department of Child Support Services (DCSS)

Director of Women’s Policy Minouche Kandel delivered several trainings at DCSS on how to recognize and respond to suspected domestic violence.

  1. Children’s Fund Renewal

The Department has analyzed the first draft of the Children and Youth Fund Charter Amendment and submitted recommendations.

  1. Budget Presentation

Special thanks to Fiscal and Policy Analyst Stephanie Nguyen for compiling an informative budget presentation for the Board of Supervisors last week.

  1. Summer Interns

The Department has four summer interns this year.

  1. Celia Flinn – Claremont McKenna College; she is working on a memo about prevention methods for domestic violence for youth and college students.
  2. Eva Morgenstien – Smith College; she is working on a report comparing the amount of domestic violence homicides in cities and other types of homicides.
  3. Sarah Scriven – Duke University; she is working on the Cities for CEDAW Campaign.
  4. Emma Williams-Baron – Reed College; she is working with Ms. Laferriere on legislation, Gender Analysis of Departments, and Healthy Mothers Workplace Coalition.

 

  1. REPORTS

 

  1. Cities for CEDAW
    President Kirshner-Rodriguez attended the US Conference of Mayors last week, and the spoke at the Women’s Caucus on the Cities for CEDAW Campaign. The resolution supported by Mayor Edwin Lee, Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, and Mayor Mary Ann Lutz of Monrovia passed out of the Social Criminal Justice Committee with 7 additional mayoral cosponsors.

 

  1. Family Violence Council
    The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 3, 3 – 5 pm at City Hall Room 305.

 

  1. Justice & Courage
    A draft of the Justice & Courage Final Report has been completed, and will be presented to Commissioners at the July meeting.

 

  1. General Commission Business
    The Joint Commission Meeting with the Health Commission is confirmed for Tuesday, September 16, 4 – 6 pm at 101 Grove Street, Room 300.

 

  1. ADJOURNMENT                                                                 
    President Kirshner-Rodriguez adjourned the meeting.
    Action: To adjourn the meeting.                                                                    
    m/s/c (Gamez/Shorter/Unanimous)

Meeting was adjourned at 6:40 pm.