2.

(ACTION) Review and approval of March 14, 2007 meeting minutes

The minutes were approved as written.

(public comments)
There were none.

3.

Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission
There were none.

4.

(DISCUSSIOIN) Presentation by community representatives on issues of community needs, and community-driven, district based planning strategies, with possible recommendations for future actions.

Daniel Landry, representative of the African American Community Police Relations Board, spoke about the Community Peace Plan that they believe builds a comprehensive strategy for increasing peaceful streets. He encouraged others to look at supporting it.

Dr. Abner Boles, CEO of Westside Community Services, thanked the commission and dept for bringing the meeting to the community. He supported the Plan referred to by Daniel Landry.  He said a plan needs to have community ownership and a true partnership between the community and police. Violence response and district based planning are two direct areas his organization is committed to.

Shaquile Carpenter, street outreach worker spoke about his work with teens, and thanked the commission for coming to the community.

Comm Lingad Ricci asked what happened to the Chief’s report on the agenda, and the Secretary apologized for the absence of the item.

5.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Update activities to reduce Juvenile Hall population vis a vis JDAI.

The Chief concentrated on this for his report.

He presented this in the context of 8 core principles of the JDAI (collaboration, data driven, objective admission screening instruments, expediting case processing, continuum of detention alternatives, finding means of dealing with “special problem cases”, rigorous review of the facilities, and overarching, looking at racial disparities.)

The Chief reviewed a document passed out to the Commission at the meeting, which gave a snapshot of the population in the hall, broken out into various subsets (document attached). Briefly it showed increases in admissions (over 20%) during the same timeframe of last year and this. Also increases in daily population and length of stays. Felonies have risen, and the percentage of African Americans in juvenile hall also increased.

Comm Lingad Ricci asked how CBOs are being evaluated as to their effectiveness.  The Chief said they are short of staff to do this now.

(public comments)

A speaker from the SF Muslim Community Ctr asked about the “disparity” between murder and guns mentioned in the report. The Chief explained that that report only show one charge (the more “significant” one).

Mike Texata, case manager at SFGH, formerly with BAG, asked if these youth were repeat offenders.  The Chief said that 70% had at least one prior contact. This would imply that the Dept didn’t do a good job that first time to prevent a repeat.

James Bell, Exec Dir of W. Haywood Burns Institute, spoke about the impact of detention reform on juvenile hall numbers.  The main focus of this reform is who is being brought to the front door, and who is being detained. The next level of inspection is how long do they stay. Regarding the Dept’s data, he said he’d focus on the reform aspects and not on how to reduce numbers of African Americans in detention.  If reform is done correctly one of the inescapable results will be a reduction of their numbers. Detention appropriately used would ensure that only high-risk individuals are kept, while others are taken care of in the community in appropriate programs.

The barrier to such reform has been the fleeting cooperation and lack of consensus among partners (probation, courts, DA, PD, community)

Comm Queen asked how other jurisdiction have dealt with this lack of consensus and what would he recommend to move the agenda here. Bell said that there are only two ways to get reform.  External “heat” from the community, or internal “epiphany” –a partner of “power” who just makes it happen. Then they have to agree to do business differently.  This has not happened in SF, not everyone is on the same page with wanting to do detention reform, nor wanting to do business differently.

Minister Christopher Muhhamad said the Dept has an African American youth problem, a Latino youth problem and to a lesser extent an Asian Pacific Islander problem. He said that San Francisco has paid much lip service to the problem, but has not had the will to do something about it. He said that the African American Community Police Relations Board, 2 yrs ago visited and advocated for using LCRS and HVR as two preparatory/training sites for youth (they are under utilized now) He spoke about the success of a private Hunters Point school that sends youth to college. He said that the community is not able to absorb all the youth and properly monitor them. The facilities the Dept has can be used for this.  They proposed that to the Mayor then, but the City did not respond. He called for a task force of African American community folks who can advise the Commission and Chief Probation Officer on how to work with all ethnicities in the community.  He said that the City tends to study problems to death. They did that with the Community Relations Board plan for community policing, rejecting it and going to some outside consultant to study the problem.

He felt that the City wasn’t sincere in wanting to help African Americans.

Comm Lingad Ricci emphasized that our target is youth and not just one or another ethnic group.

Comm Fetiçō commented that the Commission is responsible for the Dept’s policies, but that everyone was responsible for the teaching of the youth in the community, through mentoring or good community services.

6.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Establishing a protocol for awarding Juvenile Probation Commission Commendations.

Comm. Woodson presented a draft of a process that Comm Beijen produced.  Comm Fetiçō had an alternate proposal draft.  Given the differences, Comm Woodson suggested the two be reviewed and a single proposal presented at the next full commission meeting.

Comm Rojas raised the idea that commendations could be named after certain people that would be given to people/orgs that reflected the qualities of the named commendation. Eg. the Cheyenne Bell award for exemplary community service.  Comm Woodson asked Comm Rojas to submit her ideas in writing and she would see how they might be incorporated.

(public comments)

There were none.

7.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Recommendations for specific spaces to be named in Juvenile Hall. Comm Rojas reviewed how this has been discussed in the past, and gave it to Comm Queen to update the most recent actions on that.  Comm Queen summarized that after about two years of discussion he, the Chief, and some counselors in juvenile hall inspected spaces being considered for naming in honor of Cheyenne Bell and Liz Aragon. They agreed that the community room should be named for Cheyenne and another space (a central gathering area where staff come into the facility) for Liz.

Comm Rojas moved for naming the community room for Cheyenne Bell, Comm Fetiçō 2^nd.  Upon voice vote, the motion carried 7-0.

Comm. Rojas moved for naming the reception space for Liz Aragon, Comm Fetiçō 2^nd. Upon voice vote, the motion carried 7-0.

(public comments)

Liz Jackson Simpson thanked the Commission for staying on top of this effort.  She spoke warmly of Cheyenne’s work and commitment to youth.

LaRita Hall also spoke in support of the motion.

Lonnie Holmes thanked the commission for advancing this.

8.

(DISCUSSION) Report on status (progress/problems) of CBO services/programs.

Lonnie Holmes reviewed that they are in the process of preparing an RFP for certain intervention programs.

Comm Lingad Ricci asked for a report of the types of jobs the training programs are preparing our youth for.  Holmes said that the current vocational programs are basically pre vocational prep and not specifically a job/profession skill based.  Comm Lingad Ricci wanted to have that report from the CBOs describing how they prepare youth for jobs. She mentioned a program she learned about from the Academy of Science, which was a job internship.  Holmes said that only two CBOs specifically are dealing with job training (YCD, Northern Calif Service League).

This issue was referred to the Program Committee for follow up.

(public comments)

There were none.

9.

(DISCUSSION) Discussion for resolution regarding the Gang Injunction.

Comm Queen reviewed that the Chief had mentioned in a previous meeting that he (the Chief) had had conversations with those advancing the injunction, and wanted to keep alert on how it would impact the Dept’s youth. Comm Queen asked if he had a written report on what has been done to ensure that.  The Chief said that there were no measurable impacts on the youth under Dept supervision. He would keep abreast of whether future actions might widen the net to juveniles.

(public comments)

There were none.

10.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Setting Commission retreat date.

A tentative date of June 30 was chosen. A site will be determined.

(public comments)

There were none.

11.

(DISCUSSION) Committee reports, other reports

·         Program committee

Comm Woodson reported that she will be getting briefed on the status of programs soon and will begin to establish a calendar for the committee.

·         Facilities committee

Comm Rojas reported that the two topics covered were the naming of the spaces in JH, and the current status of repairs and improvement plans for LCRS. The Chief had mentioned he wanted the committee to consider using the old temporary admissions building as the site for CARC. Comm Queen asked for it to be referred to the Program Committee to also consider letting CBOs simultaneously operate at the site. A time was arranged for Comm Queen and Rojas to tour the site with the Chief.

(public comments)

There were none.

12.

Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission

The Chief reported that he attended an event held by City Youth Now, in juvenile hall, where Michael Pritchard (a former counselor) and Robin Williams held an informal talk with the residents. He (chief) was very impressed with the reception they received from the residents.

13.

(DISCUSSION) Requests for future agenda items. 

There were none.

14.

(ACTION)  Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:16pm