Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking

Youth Trafficking Committee Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, February 7, 2018, 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

 

Co-Chairs: Ifasina Clear (Young Women’s Freedom Center) & Alia Whitney-Johnson (Freedom FWD)

 

Attendees

Jazmine Banks, Task Force Youth Advisory Board; Palmer Buchholz, Bay Area Legal Aid; Lydia Burstyn, San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking;  Rachael Chambers, Department on the Status of Women; Vincent Chetcuti, SF District Attorney’s Office; Saerom Choi, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach; Ifasina Clear, Young Women’s Freedom Center; Melinda Clemmons, Chronicle of Social Change; Elise Cole, SF Public Defender; Jen Daly, Legal Services for Children; Carly Devlin, Huckleberry Youth Services; Darian Eastman, Not for Sale; Tony Flores, San Francisco Police Department; Danielle Fluker, SF Adult Probation; Sabrina Forte, Bay Area Legal Aid; Lili Gamero, Mayor’s Office of Violence Prevention; Emily Hinsey, Love Never Fails; Minouche Kandel, Department on the Status of Women; Antonia Lavine, San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking; Lillyana Lonzanida, Task Force Youth Advisory Board; alix lutnick, RTI International; Rebecca Marcus, SF Public Defender; Paola Martin del Campo, Safe and Sound; Elisabet Medina, Safe and Sound; Angie Miot-Nudel, Larkin Street Youth Services; Alex Nocon, SF District Attorney’s Office; Jessica Scadron, Social Harmony; Tavi Taos, Task Force Youth Advisory Board; Jeanetta Toluao, Task Force Youth Advisory Board; Alia Whitney-Johnson, Freedom FWD; Karina Zhang, Family and Children’s Services  

 

I. Welcome, Introductions/Check-In, Agenda Review 

 

II. November 8, 2017 minutes were approved [Marcus/Medina]       

 

III. Announcements

• TGI JP: The Transgender, Gender-Variant, and Intersex (TGI) Justice Project is holding a Court Support session for Corrina, a trans woman of color who is being aggressively prosecuted. They are requesting participants meet on February 8 at 9:00 AM @ Room 705 at the Dublin – East County Hall of Justice: 5151 Gleason Drive, Dublin, California 94568.
• SFCAHT Teen Power Summit: The summit will take place on February 22 from 5-7 pm at the San Francisco Main Public Library to close out Human Trafficking Awareness month and recognize submissions to the writing and poster contest. Supervisor Katy Tang will be in attendance to award winners and provide a keynote speech.

 

IV. Annual Goals and Priorities

Alia Whitney-Johnson gave an overview of the Task Force Strategic planning session and recommendations from the evaluation. This year, the Youth Trafficking Committee will try leveraging in-person committee meeting time to do work sessions in breakout groups and will also work on a limited number of priorities/topics.

• Darian asked about the role of the Mayor’s Office in the Task Force, which was followed by a group discussion on the history of the task force and the infrastructure team that emerged from the strategic planning retreat

 

V. Youth Advisory Board Updates

Jazmine Banks shared the accords that the Youth Advisory Board (YAB) uses in their space to set some guiding principles for how Youth Trafficking Committee members can work together during meetings. Jeannetta Toluao shared recommendations developed by the YAB in response to the drafted Housing and Placement Work Group recommendations (included in Appendix 1, page 3 of these minutes), which included:

• Language accessibility - Youth should have input on key documents and the documents should minimize jargon; spell out legislation/acronyms or provide accompanying documents to enable youth to make informed recommendations.
• Provide more nuanced demographic breakdown when sharing statistics in recommendations.
• Expanding options for individuals aging out of systems and/or not currently in systems
  • Individuals should not have to be in trouble/identified in some level of risk in order to access services
  • Youth should be able to access critical service until the age of 30, especially for young people who were exploited as a young person
  • Include resources for undocumented individuals seeking services that may not feel safe adhering to program requirements
  • Have housing options that do not mandate additional program participation
• Center youth’s self-determination in options
• Having choice and options is a critical component to feeling empowered

 

 

VI. Breakout Sessions: Prevention and Housing

Alia Whitney-Johnson led the prevention breakout. The work group identified that they wanted to focus this year on enabling youth to access services without adults always serving as the gatekeepers of knowledge. The discussed creating a youth app to navigate services, that may build upon information available through 1degree.org. They brainstormed questions and topics they want to explore through a series of youth focus groups in partnership with different community partners, utilizing task force time.

 

Elisabet Medina led the housing breakout. The work group built on recommendations made by the Youth Advisory Board including language, assumptions made about approach to systems, and the challenges with the law and financing projects.

 

VII. Closing

Appendix 1

 

Housing and Placement Recommendations

 

Goal: As a city, we can simplify housing and placement options for children, teens, and transitional age youth that meets their needs, maintains important relationships and connection to community while reducing harm and risk of exploitation.

 

Objective: By presenting recommendations and aligning on goals, the members of the Youth Trafficking Committee can advocate for resources to bring these recommendations to life.

 

Summary of Current Housing and Placements Efforts in SF:

 

• Support for Youth in Child Welfare
  • Child Welfare has developed a Resource Family recruitment workgroup, comprised of HSA staff and volunteers which meets monthly:
  • Child Welfare has contracted with Resource Development Associates to host a series of focus groups to gain insights into youth experience, family recruitment and support.

• Support for Homeless Youth
  • San Francisco was selected as one of ten Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project communities (through HUD), and therefore eligible for $2.9 million to create a coordinated entry to programs that prevent and address youth homelessness.
  • The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing brought together a wide array of government agencies, service providers, funders, landlords, academics, stakeholder groups, and, most importantly, homeless and formerly homeless young people to create a community plan to prevent and end homelessness in San Francisco.

 

Housing & Placement Options Matrix

 

	Under 18	18-24
Out of System	-Bio family/extended family -Friends -Non-relatives -Runaway Homeless Youth Shelters (up to 21 days)	-Bio family/extended family -Friends -Non-relatives -Shelters -Transitional Housing Programs
In System	-Resource Families -Child Protection Center -Congregate care (group homes) -Kinship Care -Probation placements -Juvenile Hall	-Transitional Housing Programs + Foster Care

1. Recommendations to support system-involved youth:
   1. Engage survivors and youth impacted by exploitation in the creation and implementation of any new CSEC-specific programs, including but not limited to:
      1. Taking part in the design of new programs by providing input and course corrections in the planning process.
      2. Providing peer support for caregivers of exploited youth.
2. Develop a plan for in-county placements including promising practices for working with CSEC.
   1. An emergency shelter for non-minor dependent youth.
   2. Research components of successful models in other states that provide intensive training to families and wrap them in support such as CHANCE in Florida and HART in Connecticut.
   3. Partner with out-of-county Foster Family Agencies to build capacity with Resource Families outside of SF and develop a regional approach.
3. Cultivate Resource Families that would enable youth to stabilize with a caregiver.
   1. Consider Special Care Increment for Resource families willing to accept CSEC.
   2. Continue to monitor AWOL data, planning around AWOL behavior and cross-reference with CSEC screening over time.
   3. Research how other jurisdictions have encouraged FFAs and Resource Families to take and retain at risk and exploited youth.
4. Recommendations to support youth out of system:
   1. Provide trainings to Family Resource Centers in San Francisco to support the parents of CSEC youth, in order to stabilize the family as a whole.
   2. Ensure CSEC screening and staff training happen for all youth homeless Navigation Centers, to take action when CSEC is identified.
   3. Develop a platform that would enable youth to have real-time knowledge of bed and housing availability and resources.
   4. Develop housing options that have low barrier requirements for intake and triage