Adult Trafficking Committee - March 9, 2018 - Minutes

Meeting Date: 
March 9, 2018 - 2:30pm
Location: 

 

Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking – Adult Trafficking Committee Meeting

 

Date: Friday, March 9th, 2018 from 2:30pm – 4pm

Location: Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus: 55 Columbus Avenue, SF, CA 94111

 

Attendees: Minouche Kandel (DSW), Victoria Chan (Advancing Justice – ALC), Beverly May (CAMTC), Cristy Dieterich (DPH – CHEP), Alix Lutnick (RTI), Randy Ly (SFPD)

 

Meeting Notes:

 

  1. Welcome/Introductions/Check-In., Agenda Review/Identify Minute Taker

 

  1. Update on the Healthy Nail Salon Program (Victoria/Minouche)
    1. Roll out of new content:
      1. SFE is planning 2 salon trainings at the end of March 2018 and hoping to roll out the labor/trafficking portion then (Victoria Chan is interested in joining this training)
    2. Google Ads
      1. Minouche has done some googling of nail salons in SF and there weren’t any individual nail salons that popped up on her Google search. Thus, it seems like no, or not much, nail salons purchase ads on Google to elevate/promote their business. Google has a program where non-government, non-profit organizations can apply for $10,000 in Googles ads. Can non-profit organizations on Task Force apply for the program to help elevate the recognized healthy nail salons?
      2. Victoria Chan will confer with her team and see if ALC can help
    3. Social media campaign:
      1. SFE currently have 48 recognized nail salons and their goal is  to have 55 salons by January 2019
      2. SFE is thinking about doing outreach to salons in districts with zero or few salons recognized in the program
      3. Possibly post SFE consumer awareness campaigns bus shelter advertisements in these districts to see if it increases salon recruitment
      4. Or, do a postcard mailing to all nail salons in the city (SFE is updating their database of salons as they are opening and closing all the time)
    4. Listing on Open Data:
      1. Yelp works with SF DPH’s Open Data to automatically “pull” health safety scores and upload them onto a restaurant’s Yelp page. Can Yelp do something similar to with DPH’s health safety score with the Healthy Nail Salon Program? I.e. add a badge or elevate nail salon businesses that are part of the Program?
      2. Megan Kalsman (SFE) is in contact with people in her Department about listing the recognized healthy nail salons on Data SF
  2. Update on Good Food Purchasing Program Efforts (Minouche)
    1. Supervisor Fewer’s office helped put the Good Food Purchasing Program on the agenda for one one of the Board of Supervisor’s’ Public Safety meeting in January 2018. The meeting was more of a hearing, which asked for input from the community with no legislation attached. There was great turnout from the Task Force (some organizations that participated/gave testimony in support of the Program include APILO, AWS, and Sisters Against HT. The next step is that the Sheriff’s Department and DPH (which each purchases much food for the jails and hospitals in SF) will have meeting to confer next steps. The Sheriff’s Department put out an RFP for vendor and as part of the RFP the agencies applying will have to provide the baseline data/assessment in required to do so. Supervisor Fewer’s office may in 6 months introduce legislation to require that the jails and public hospitals in SF participate in the Program.
  3. Increase input from adult trafficking survivor/trafficking affected individuals (Alix)
    1. As part of the INH funding evaluation of the Task Force, the Task Force must be survivor informed. Therefore, Minh Dang from RTI helped identify some sex trafficking survivors. Most of the survivors wouldn’t identify as survivors of trafficking, but if the definition is extended to those involved in commercial sex before or after 18 years old and felt coerced or forced, that can be a screening criteria.
    2. Recruitment already started and folks are getting paid $75/hour to share their professional expertise, and they can include this work in their resume. There is always food budgeted and exploring childcare now. There is also a $100 budget (up to $300 over 3 years) for professional development so folks can purchase business clothes, but the definition is loose.
  4. Assess labor trafficking in massage establishments
    1. Project CONNECT has done some work in outreaching to massage workers (talked to 8 women through the one-on-ones) since June/July 2017. All of the women have indicated labor exploitation and possibly trafficking. The women have all told Project CONNECT that they want a different job but lack the English and job skills). While CCSF does offer classes, most of the classes are at night and most of the masseuses have children. Most of them don’t have immigration barriers (either have visas or is U.S. citizen). Their biggest complaint is not about the pay, but rather the stigma and how they feel that they’re treated during inspections and by clients.  Folks look down on them, and make the assumption that they’re sex workers. They know that they can run away or call the police if something happens, but they’re afraid of not getting paid or that the employer may fire them. They believe that the police can’t really do anything because the clients leave. They want to protect themselves in the moment and not just have to rely on calling the police.
      1. Workers want to change jobs, but it’s difficult. If there is childcare, paid training/scholarships, and classes in Chinatown or in a community college that would be ideal
    2. SFPD: when SFPD goes into massage businesses, they send in a confidential informant/undercover person and 99% of the time they are solicited for sex. In terms of conducting inspections, SFPD has done about 100 in the time that Randy has been with the unit, and sending out an undercover is about 25 to 30 times. 99% of the time the undercover, who is tapped, is solicited for sex, and they will get a call out or they decline the sale (“I don’t want the massage”). SFPD never arrests or cute workers; they always release workers per Penal Code 849 b. Once SFPD flags an establishment, they document it in a police report and it’s up to the DPH if they want to follow up and/or issue administrative violations.
    3. Discussed the possibility of Project CONNECT doing the inspections with SFPD, but that may jeopardize trust building between workers and Project CONNECT. Maybe for future inspections, it will be helpful to bilingual staff to talk to the workers, instead of a phone line. 
  5. Setting next meeting agenda