EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

May 25, 2016

Each heading refers to a specific policy area as reflected in the Commission’s Strategic Plan.

I.             Policy Leadership & Outreach on the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Ordinance

A.Annual Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California

On March 30, Associate Director Carol Sacco and Workplace Policy & Legislative Director Elizabeth Newman traveled to Los Angeles with staff from the Mayor’s Office, City Hall Fellows, and Department Fellows to attend the release of the 5^th Annual Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California by Mount Saint Mary’s University. The report highlights key indicators and demographics of women and girls in California, including education, employment, poverty, political leadership, women and business, health and wellbeing (physical and mental), violence, and veterans and women in the military. The research is used by those working to make a positive change in the status of women and girls throughout the state. Participants had an opportunity to hear Mayor Eric Garcetti speak about the Los Angeles' gender equity work, Commissioner Nancy Kirshner-Rodriguez spoke to the State Commission's role, and Musimbi Kanyaro, President of Global Fund for Women spoke to international advances for women and girls.

B.MTA Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Disparity Study

In February, Ms. Newman attended the public hearing on the MTA Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Disparity Study, which found substantial underutilization of Women Owned Businesses (WBE) in construction and professional services contracting. On April 5, Ms. Newman met with Virginia Harmon, DBE liaison for MTA, to share model practices for supply chain diversity. Ms. Newman attended the MTA Board of Directors meeting on April 19 to offer support for outreach and certification of WBE.

C.Mayor’s Women’s Summit

On April 21, City Administrator Naomi Kelly together with Mayor Edwin Lee and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf made the official announcement of the Bay Area Women’s Summit to be held at on June 21 at Moscone North. The event is co-sponsored by the Women’s Foundation of California and Executive Director Surina Khan also gave remarks at the announcement which was held at the Mayor’s Balcony in City Hall. Commissioner Julie Soo, Grant Management Fellow Richa Dhanju, Policy Fellow Liz Yang, and I attended the announcement together with other women Commissioners and Department Heads. Commissioners also attended the April 25 reception for the Bay Area Women’s Summit held at the Green Room of the War Memorial & Performing Arts Center. Registration for the Mayor’s Women’s Summit is now open, www.bayareawomen.org.

D.Gender Analysis of City Workforce

Ms. Yang is working with Ms. Newman to conduct a gender analysis of the city workforce in non-traditional work in support of Mayor Lee’s priority area to create opportunities for women in this well-paying public sector work. Ms. Yang will present her findings at the June Commission Meeting.

E.Women’s Well-Being Index

On May 2, Ms. Newman, Ms. Yang and I attended a presentation and discussion on a new tool developed by the Women’s Foundation of California and the California Budget and Policy Center. The California Women’s Well-Being Index is a composite measure of how women are doing by county on five dimensions: Health, Personal Safety, Employment and Earnings, Economic Security, and Political Empowerment. I encourage you to visit the website calbudgetcenter.org/resources/womens-well-being/ to experience the interactive, visual representation of how women across the state are doing on each of these important issue areas.

F.San Francisco Status of Women Report

The City Hall Fellows have completed the data gathering and analysis on the Status of Women in San Francisco Report, which they will be presenting to you tonight. Ms. Newman worked closely with the group to support and guide their research. Following the presentation this evening, the team will complete an Executive Summary to be distributed at the Mayor’s Summit next month.

G.           Kudos to Commission President Andrea Shorter, Honoree for Ignite

On May 11, Commissioner Breanna Zwart and I attended an awards ceremony hosted by Ignite to recognize President Shorter, among other strong women leaders in the community. President Shorter addressed a full house of women leaders and their allies, including many elected officials. Ignite is a non-partisan organization that builds political ambition among young women (14-22), with an emphasis on those who are underserved. Founded by Anne Moses who also helped get the Emerge training program for female Democratic candidates off the ground, encourages girls to seek and self-nominate for the kinds of leadership opportunities needed to possibly run for office.

H.           National Council of Jewish Women San Francisco Chapter Awards Ceremony

On May 15, I was asked to participate in the annual program of the National Council of Jewish Women San Francisco Chapter and present awards to this year's three honorees: Robin Brasso, JaMel Perkins, and Sylvia Yee. Ms. Brasso was recognized for her tireless advocacy for women, children, and families on numerous boards and organizations. Ms. Perkins, a founder of Partners to End Domestic Violence and a member of the Mayor's Task Force on Human Trafficking, was recognized for her exceptional leadership on domestic violence and human trafficking issues. Ms. Yee, Vice President of the Walter & Elise Haas Foundation, was recognized for her years of social justice work. Director of Women's Policy Minouche Kandel, Policy Fellow Shani Winston, and Commissioner Kirshner-Rodriguez also participated in the luncheon.

I.             U.S. Department of Justice Roundtable on Religious Discrimination

At the invitation of Assistant U.S. Attorney Annemarie Conroy, I participated in a May 16 roundtable hosted by the Stanford University Law School on “Combating Religious Discrimination Today,” a new federal interagency community engagement initiative designed to promote religious tolerance, combat religious discrimination, and enhance enforcement of federal laws prohibiting religion-based hate crimes. The roundtable featured U.S. Attorneys from throughout California and Utah. In the audience were community advocates discussing how the federal government can better address the problem of religion-based and related harassment and discrimination, including the harassment of Muslim women because of their traditional dress.

J.            It’s Time Network

On May 17, the Department, the Office of the Mayor and the It’s Time Network launched the Mayor’s Guide to Accelerate Gender Equality that is based on the Mayors Roundtable that we co-sponsored with the It’s Time Network on the eve of the June 2015 U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting. A copy of the Overview and the full Guide are located in your binders this evening. If you would like to share it, there is a downloadable pdf version online, http://www.itstimenetwork.org/mayors_guide. Many thanks to President Shorter and Commissioner Kirshner-Rodriguez for joining us at the landmark event.

K.           Launch of Women's Resource Window at the Mexican Consulate of San Francisco

I was invited to speak at the May 18 launch of a new Women's Resource Window at the Mexican Consulate and Fiscal Analyst Natalie Alvarez joined me. The Resource Window is a permanent addition to the services offered by the Consulate and reflects a commitment by the Mexican Government, a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, to include gender responsive services throughout its operations, including diplomatic missions. The Resource Window builds on strong working relationships with Mujeres Unidas y Activas for immigrant women, anti-domestic violence services provider WOMAN, Inc., and batterer's invention program POCOVI. Special thanks to Paula Linares, Consul for Cultural Affairs and Adriana Gonzalez Felix, Consul for Protection & Legal Affairs, for their tremendous leadership on this innovative service.

II.           Women’s Economic Empowerment

A.Legislation

1.            State Legislation

Ms. Newman and Ms. Kandel continue to track and engage state legislation. Ms. Newman presented to the State Legislative Committee (SLC) on April 13. Per the Department's recommendation, the SLC voted to support SB 1063 to add race/ethnicity to the Fair Pay Act; SB 1015 to eliminate the January 17 sunset for Domestic Workers overtime protections; and AB 1848 to require local law enforcement keep data, and report on rape kits collected and analyzed.

Ms. Newman and Ms. Kandel continue to monitor the work of the Our Children Our Families Council and advocate for gender considerations in the development of their outcomes framework measures and plans. Their attention to this work has resulted in the inclusion of family violence and teen dating violence as indicators to the outcomes framework. Ms. Newman also met with the Alliance for Girls and some girls’ service providers to support their advocacy around the inclusion of key areas important to gender-responsive services in the City in the outcomes framework. The framework will guide the development and implementation of the 5-year plan to make the City a place where children, youth, and families thrive.

2.            Paid Parental Leave

Ms. Newman and I worked with Supervisor Scott Wiener and his staff to develop a first in the nation legislation requiring 6 weeks of fully paid parental leave. We participated in a press conference on April 4 on the steps of City Hall and the legislation was approved by the Board of Supervisors later that day. On April 21, Commissioner Soo, Ms. Newman, Ms. Dhanju, and Ms. Yang and I attended the Mayor’s signing ceremony for the legislation held at the Fisher Children’s Center at the Main Library. We can all be very proud of this landmark legislation.

B.           Gender Equitable Workplaces

1.Equal Pay Day

April 12 was Equal Pay Day, a day to mark the additional amount of time women have to work in the next year to make what their male counterparts made in 2015. Ms. Newman joined a livestreamed roundtable hosted by Glassdoor with Hillary Clinton, the Stanford University Clayman Institute's Lori Mackenzie, and representatives from the Gap, Inc., and the US Women's Soccer Team. Ms. Newman also attended an event with Hired to discuss its report on pay equity.

2.Gender Equitable Workplaces

On April 29, in partnership with Gap Inc., along with the Bay Area Council, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau, the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, and several other organizations, we hosted a successful half-day conference on equal pay for private sector employers at Gap Inc. The event featured speakers who shared institutional strategies and initiatives to advance pay equity. The strong coordination with the private sector resulted in a fantastic turnout of 115 attendees, most of whom were employers. Many thanks to President Shorter and Commissioner Kirshner-Rodriguez for participation in the event. Special thanks to Commission Vice President Deborah Mesloh and her dedicated team at the GAP for providing a great deal of logistical support and hosting this important event at the GAP headquarters.

3.Childcare

On May 11, Ms. Newman met with the Office of Early Care and Education’s interim Director Michele Rutherford and Senior Policy Analyst Graham Dobson to learn more about their proposed Citywide Plan to ensure all families have access to quality early care and education and that all early education workforce participants are fairly valued as professionals. Ms. Newman will join an OECE working group around developing strategies to bring compensation to par with teachers in K-3 settings and aligning the value with the importance of caregiving and early education.

4.Janitors

Board of Supervisors President London Breed requested a response from the Department on what the City is doing to protect the primarily immigrant women janitors’ workforce from physical and economic exploitation, sexual harassment, and displacement. Ms. Newman and I met with the Department of Human Resources to discuss the sexual harassment of janitors last fall. We met yesterday with the Janitors’ Union and were briefed on some of the issues and recommendations. We will keep you updated as this matter progresses.

III.          Women's Health & Safety

A.           Anti-Violence Against Women Programs

1.VAW Prevention and Intervention Grants Program

Our Violence Against Women Partner Agencies continue to provide comprehensive violence prevention services to the community in the following categories: Crisis Line, Intervention & Advocacy, Legal Services, Prevention and Education, Emergency Shelter Services, Transitional Housing, and Anti-Human Trafficking. The Violence Against Women Prevention and Intervention Grants Program allocates almost $5.7M to safety net services. To date the Violence Against Women Partner Agencies have spent approximately $3.6M or 64% of total grant funding.

We are nearing the end of the first year of the current three-year funding cycle for the VAW Partner Agencies, and Partner Agencies have been reminded of year end deadlines and are working to ensure they meet goals and deliverables. 

Ms. Sacco is also in the process of compiling the required documents in order to enter into Grant Agreements for FY 2016-2017 to ensure a smooth transition into the next fiscal year.

2.Request for Proposals for Arab and Muslim Services

The Department issued a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) for domestic violence prevention and intervention services to the Arab and Muslim community, with services to be delivered over the next two fiscal years, aligning with our current VAW Prevention and Intervention Grants funding-cycle. The RFP was released Friday, April 22 and applications were due Friday, May 6. Due to low response we have decided to reissue the RFP. The Commission will be asked to vote on funding recommendations at a future Commission Meeting.

3.Citywide Non-Profit Monitoring and Capacity Building Program

The Citywide Monitoring Committee is coming to an end for the current fiscal. Approximately 140 non-profit contractors participated in either a self-assessment or site visit as part of the Citywide Nonprofit and Fiscal Compliance Monitoring Project. Ms. Sacco represents the Department on the Steering Committee and participated in the monitoring of a number of shared non-profit contractors. She was the lead monitor for the following organizations: Justice and Diversity Center – SF Bar Association, La Casa de las Madres, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Jewish Family and Children’s Services and Asian Pacific Legal Islander Legal Outreach.

The goals of the Citywide Non-Profit Fiscal and Compliance Monitoring Committee are to improve the quality and consistency of the City’s fiscal and compliance monitoring of non-profits by standardizing procedures across departments and the decrease the administrative work and eliminate duplication of efforts for both non-profits and City departments.

4.Americans with Disability Act

Ms. Sacco serves as the ADA Coordinator for the Department as part of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires that all public entities with 50 or more employees designate at least one employee to coordinate its efforts to comply with and carry out its obligations under Title II of the ADA. The Mayor's Office on Disability (MOD) is the City's overall ADA Coordinator, and is tasked with ensuring that all City services, programs and facilities for the public are accessible as required under the ADA.

The City and County of San Francisco is unique in the fact that in addition each department has a designated ADA Coordinator who serves as the liaison to MOD to coordinate compliance efforts. Ms. Sacco attended the five session ADA Coordinator training this spring provided by the Mayor’s Office on Disability and was provided an overview of ADA, effective communication, reasonable accommodations and how to respond to ADA investigations and complaints.

Later this year, the Department will host an Annual Partner Agency meeting on ADA compliance for our funded agencies. You are welcome to join us. Details to follow.

B.           Domestic Violence

1.            U.S. Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women Grant: Bayview High Lethality Domestic                                                                                 Violence Response Team Pilot Project

As you know, the Department received a 3-year US DOJ OVW grant in the sum of $750,000 to pilot a High Lethality Domestic Violence Response team. For this grant, we have partnered with the San Francisco Police Department, the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, the Bayview YMCA, the Glide Women’s Program, and La Casa de las Madres to set up a response system based at the Bayview YMCA and supported by the partnering agencies. San Francisco was just 1 of 3 California counties that were awarded grants out of the total 44 grants awarded nation-wide. Ms. Dhanju has been coordinating this effort expertly, with the support of Ms. Kandel and Ms. Alvarez. There will be a press event once services are finally in place.

SFPD and JUSTIS are moving forward on developing a mobile phone app that SFPD officers will be using in the field to screen domestic violence victims for indicators of high risk/lethality.

On May 11, staff and I met with Susan Merritt, Chief Information Officer of the San Francisco Police Department to brief her on the mobile phone app. You will recall that she presented to the Commission when she first arrived to her position 5 years ago, after a very successful career as an IT consultant with Accenture. At that time, she had many bold recommendations for the direction of IT at the Police Department. I am very pleased to report that in her short tenure so far, she has implemented a Crime Data Warehouse that has fundamentally disrupted an overwhelmingly paper-based legacy database and record-keeping system. We look forward to partnering with her team on building out the mobile phone app to help police officers assess domestic violence cases for high lethality.

2.2016 California Association of Public Information Officials Award for Domestic Violence Awareness Campaign

On April 13, Ms. Kandel was in Lake Tahoe for the 2016 Excellence in Communications Awards Ceremony of the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO). CAPIO awarded the Department an Award of Excellence Gold Medal in the category of Crisis Communication/Public Safety for our October 2015 Domestic Violence Awareness Campaign “LearnWhatToDo.org.” Special thanks to Ms. Kandel for leading that campaign.

3.Mandatory Medical Reporting of Domestic Violence

On May 6, Ms. Kandel attended a meeting to continue working on revising policies for how police respond to reports of domestic violence submitted by health care providers.

5.Mother’s Day Press Conference

On May 6, President Shorter, Commissioner Olga Ryerson, and Department staff participated in the annual Mother’s Day Press Conference on funding for VAW grantees. 

6.Safer Schools Sexual Assault Task Force

Supervisor Jane Kim’s Safer Schools Sexual Assault Task Force Ordinance passed at the full Board on first reading on May 10. The Department is named in the Ordinance as staff for the Task Force, and the Department has informed Supervisor Kim and the Mayor’s Office that it would require additional funding to be able to staff the Task Force.

7.Shelter Monitoring Committee – Imminent Danger Policy

On May 10, Ms. Kandel participated in a meeting of the Shelter Monitoring Committee, to discuss the Human Service Agency’s draft Imminent Danger Policy, which creates guidelines for homeless shelters on when they can deny services to a domestic violence survivor in shelter.

8.            Shalom Bayit Annual Event

On May 17, Ms. Kandel and Commissioner Kirshner-Rodriguez attended the annual event for Shalom Bayit, an anti-domestic violence service provider that serves Jewish victim survivors. Ms. Kandel spoke about the changes to laws that have advanced the protection of those experiencing domestic violence.

9.            Family Violence Council

On May 18, Ms. Kandel presented a draft of the 2015 Family Violence Council Report at the Family Violence Council meeting. The Council is in the process of finalizing recommendations to add before a final vote on the report. Also at the meeting, the Mayor’s Director of Violence Prevention Diana Oliva-Aroche recognized the tremendous contributions of Adult Probation Officer Sunny Schwartz who will shortly be retiring after a long and distinguished career dedicated to developing restorative justice programs at the Sheriff’s Department and starting the 5 Keys Charter School for inmates. Ms. Oliva-Aroche read a mayoral resolution proclaiming May 18, 2016 Sunny Schwartz Day in San Francisco!

C.Human Trafficking

1.Public Outreach

On March 22, Ms. Kandel presented to about 20 high school members of SWEAR, a young women’s group at the Urban School in San Francisco, regarding the “Prioritizing Safety for Sex Worker” policy she is helping to develop, and also about the work of the Department. She then met with about 20 seniors in a service learning class at Urban to talk about careers in social justice

On May 2, Ms. Kandel presented to about 50 participants at the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence’s statewide conference. She co-presented with Dr. Alexandra Lutnick, who participates in the Sex Work and Trafficking Policy Impact Committee of the Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking. The presentation was “Finding Common Ground to Address Violence Against Sex Workers.”

2.Meeting with Delegation from Bangladesh

On April 4, Ms. Kandel hosted a delegation of four representatives from Bangladesh, who were visiting the U.S. to learn about our anti-human trafficking efforts. Ms. Kandel shared information about the Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking.

3.Super Bowl Debrief

Also on April 4, we hosted a meeting of the Super Bowl Committee of the Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking to debrief outreach activities around the Super Bowl. The committee agreed to continue its work by focusing on ongoing training within the agendas of other committees.

4.Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking

On April 27, there was a meeting of the Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking.  Policy Fellow Maria Tourtchaninova presented preliminary data for the 2016 Report on Human Trafficking in San Francisco. Tonight Ms. Tourtchaninova will present the preliminary data to this Commission. Ms. Kandel presented a preview of the on-line human trafficking training that has been created to run on Stanford’s on-line educational platform. Leda Rozier from SFMTA discussed the planned human trafficking training for certain SFMTA staff with which the Department is assisting.

On May 4, Ms. Kandel, 4 other members of the Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking, and myself took a field trip to Juvenile Probation’s Log Cabin Ranch and Hidden Valley properties to explore possible sites for a shelter for trafficked young women. While those sites were not appropriate for a shelter, the trip elicited some insights into trying to find other underutilized institutional space in the region, and the need for a regional solution to the shelter issue. Special thanks to Juvenile Probation Chief Allen Nance, Deputy Chief Paula Hernandez, and Assistant to the Chief Sheryl Cowan for hosting us that day.

5.Commercially Sexually Exploited Children Steering Committee

On May 5, Ms. Kandel participated in the Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) Steering Committee run by Family and Children’s Services, which is creating protocols to run the new CSEC Multi-Disciplinary Team.

D.Family Violence Council

1.Child Abuse Awareness Month Event

On April 5, the Department helped the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center to organize the 2^nd Annual Child Abuse Awareness Month event on the steps of City Hall. With Deputy Director of Family & Children’s Services Sylvia Deporto as emcee, the event was very well attended not only by advocates who address child abuse but those who work to end other forms of family violence as well. Key speakers included Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Safety Paul Henderson, Founder of Partners in Prevention and co-owner of the Touchless Divisadero Car Wash Patty Shimek, and Executive Director of the Child Abuse Prevention Center Katie Albright. I also spoke about the importance of early intervention. For the first time, City Hall was lit blue to mark this event.

2.Department Head Meetings

On April 12, Ms. Kandel was part of a meeting with Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, along with other members of the Family Violence Council. Sheriff Hennessy has committed to instituting a program to review domestic violence restraining orders that they serve for mentions of firearms, so that there can be a concerted effort to get guns out of the hands of abusers. This was one of the recommendations in the Family Violence Council’s 5 Year Plan.

On April 15, Ms. Kandel was part of a meeting with Chief of Adult Probation Karen Fletcher, along with other members of the Family Violence Council. The meeting focused on lethality assessment in domestic violence cases, batterer’s intervention programming for Chinese speaking offenders, and creating written protocols for gone on arrival cases.

IV.          Department Budget & Administration

A.Budget

Ms. Alvarez and I have been working closely with Mayor’s Budget Analyst Laura Busch on next year’s budget proposal, but final decisions are still pending. The Mayor will be announcing his budget on June 1. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to review the Department’s budget on Wednesday, June 8

B.Summer Internship Program

The Department will be hosting three undergraduate interns this summer. They will be introduced at the June Commission meeting.

C.Job Posting

The Department has posted the Women’s Policy Director position (1824 classification) which had been a 3-year project-based position. Now that the term is coming to an end, I am required to post it as a Civil Service position. For further details, go to www.sfgov.org/dhr.

V.           Calendar

Events organized by the Commission and Department are in italics. Events are in San Francisco unless otherwise noted.

Wed, Jun 8     BOS Budget Hearing: DOSW Budget, 10 am, City Hall,
                       Legislative Chamber

                       World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, 4 – 6:30 pm, Veteran’s
                        Building, Green Room. RSVP:
                        https://www.eventbrite.com/e/world-elder-abuse-awareness-day-commemoration-tickets-23634089197

Tues, Jun 14     White House Council on Women & Girls Conference,
                          Washington D.C., http://www.theunitedstateofwomen.org/

Tues, Jun 21       Bay Area Women’s Summit, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, Moscone
                            Center North. $100 per person. FREE babysitting available.
                             Register at www.bayareawomen.org.

Wed, Jun 22         Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking General
                              Meeting, 1:30 – 3:30 pm, City Hall Room 305

Wed, Jun 29          Commission Meeting, 4 – 6 pm, Room 408

Wed, July 27           Commission Meeting, 4 – 6 pm, Room 408

Wed, Aug 24          Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking General
                               Meeting, 1:30 – 3:30 pm, City Hall Room 305

                             Commission Meeting, 4 – 6 pm, Room 408

Wed, Aug 31      Family Violence Council Meeting, 3 – 5 pm, 400 McAllister  
                            Street, Room 617

                                       Wed, Sept 28      Commission Meeting, 4 – 6