Full_Commission
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MINUTES OF MAY 26, 1999 REGULAR
MEETING
1. Roll Call
The meeting was called to order by Comm. Julian at 5:37 pm. All commissioners were present at the gavel,
with the exception of Comm. Hale, who was elsewhere on the
premises. He joined shortly after the
meeting's beginning.
Comm.
Julian began by reporting on two meetings held this morning. The first was by the Juvenile Probation
Department on disproportionate minority confinement (DMC), and the 2nd was a 25
yr anniversary for community development.
He noted that Comm. Chuck's organization, Cameron House, was a
recipient of an award at the anniversary celebration. He also noted that Comm.
Chuck was himself a recipient of a Community Hero award from KQED, during
Asian Pacific American Heritage month festivities.
2. Review of April 28, 1999
meeting minutes
Comm. Julian made a few
editorial revisions: middle of pg 1, changing "premature" to "too early to
tell", and on p. 2, eliminating
parenthetical phrase [...despite failure], and changing ‘He' to ‘The Chief'. With these corrections, the minutes were
approved.
3. Chief Probation Officer's Report:
a. Budget Information (operating and capital)
The
Mayor's office will deliver the city's budget to the Bd of Supes on June
1. Chief Williams has asked to
meet with the Mayor's Finance Office to review the Department's budget.
Currently the Department is attempting to meet with the Commission's Finance
Committee to update them on the progress to date.
b. Progress
report
Christmas
in April will return June 12 or 19 to continue doing the painting, until it is
complete.
The
Department's key control policy has been changed (now there are four policies)
and will be implemented soon (expected to begin June 1)
c.
Highlights of the month
There
were two events held by the Department.
Monday they participated in a satelite down link of a program organized
by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, dealing with
girls in the juvenile justice system. The second event was referred to by Comm.
Julian, the one day conference on DMC. They hope to take the comments and
ideas brought out in this conference and come up with new ways to address this
issue in SF.
Chief
Williams ended with mentioning letters of commendation for the work of PO
Michael Smith at the Bethel AME church, and PO Lisa Smith in her work
organizing a Department softball team for the Children's Fund, on May 1.
d. Review of
April monthly statistical data;
The
Chief asked if Commissioners had any questions regarding the stats. Comm. Shimko asked for clarification
of pg. 13 which showed over population numbers, as opposed to the avg. daily
population report of 117. Ans. Pg. 13
shows a one day snapshot of the hall.
e. Emerging
Issues/upcoming events
The
Chief reported that sometime in July they hope to hold a one day conference
dealing with the Balanced and Restorative Justice model.
At the July
Commission meeting, he hopes to report on the results of the Department's 98/99
action plan.
The Chief
requested to have a discussion with the Commission regarding what they might
want to establish as priorities for the Department for the upcoming fiscal
year.
Comm.
Julian commended the Chief and the Department on the DMC conference.
Cheyenne
Bell commented that both conferences were well attended and that they hope to
produce a product as a result of the conference, that the community could
assume responsibility to go forth with.
She thanked her division staff and other Department staff who helped
make the conferences possible.
Comm.
Arámburo commended the Chief. She
felt he posed very provocative and challenging questions regarding what we were
doing in this area and what needed to be done in the future, collaboratively.
4. Discussion/Action Items:
a.
Consideration and possible action on Program Committee's recommendation re:
community based program contracts renewal.
Comm.
Hale recounted that the Program
Committee had met and reviewed the Department's report on the CBOs, and had
recommended that all contracts be renewed.
He mentioned that the CBOs were asked how the Department could be of
more help in their work, but noted that they had all done good work.
Some of the
CBOs raised the issue that they were still at less than fully funded levels
(eg. Peer Counseling) and needed to be brought up to parity. Comm. Hale said he assured them that
the Department would do whatever was possible to resolve this issue.
Comm.
Shimko had thought the RFPs were due out this year. Ans.
No. next year.
Comm.
Arámburo commented that the
Department and agencies have come a long way since the time she was originally
on the Commission.
Comm.
Jackson-Drake also commended the Department for its technical support of
the agencies. She was pleased at the
report.
Public
Comment: Maurice James of Morrisania
West, commended C. Bell and the Department.
C. Bell
acknowledged her staff for their work, and mentioned that the concerns
regarding underfunding of programs were being discussed with the Chief.
Comm.
Shimko asked whether the 5% of contract amounts was still being withheld
for evaluation costs. Chief Williams
said that it was his desire not to take program service funds for
evaluation. He will look elsewhere to
pay for evaluation.
Jose
Esteva, thanked everyone, and then mentioned the leather shop he was starting,
and asked for the Commission's assistance in getting two machines for about
$10K.
Jacob Smith
of Bay View Hunter's Point Fdn Youth Services, thanked the Department for its
support.
Fia
CarloValentino, Office of Samoan Affairs (OSA), thanked the Chief and
Department.
Robert
Chan, dir. Of Chinatown Youth Center (CYC) also thanked the Department.
Enola
Maxwell, Potrero Hill Neighborhood House also thanked the Commission, with
special attention to the Peer Counseling program.
Comm.
Julian noted that Potrero Hill Neighborhood House was also a recipient of a
community development award.
Louella
Lee, Vietnamese Youth Development Center (VYDC), also thanked the Department.
Lonnie
Holmes, spoke off mike and his comments were not picked up, but basicaly
thanked everyone.
Comm.
Julian thanked the providers, on
behalf of the Commission and said that it is always nice to receive positive
feedback now and then.
Chief
Williams said that the Bd of Supes is planning to hold a Departmental
budget hearing for 6/12 (to be confirmed later), and commented that it would be
good for the Bd of Supervisors to hear comments of this new cooperation and
effectiveness in the work, from other than the Department.
Comm.
Shimko commented that what is occurring now is far and away different from
what she faced when first arriving on the Commission.
Comm.
Jackson-Drake said that she felt many of those men at Santa Rita prison
wouldn't be there now if they had programs like the ones being operated now in the
juvenile system.
Comm.
Hale recalled a scatological comment that a professor of his used to
say. He reviewed some of the concerns
of the CBOs: more computerization, more educational programs with the SFUSD,
family oriented services, wages and more staff, gaps in services and services
to females, assigning POs longitudinally (following the same probationeer from
beginning to end), an increased presence of the probation Department in the
community, leadership forums--how to develop future leaders, mental health issues.
Comm.
Jackson-Drake moved to renew the contract of Intensive Home Based
Supervision (IHBS) provider, BayViewHuntersPoint Foundation (BVHP). It was seconded. The question was called,
and upon voice vote, passed 6-0, with Comm. Hale abstaining due to
conflict of interest.
Comm.
Jackson-Drake moved to renew the contract of IHBS provider, Morrisania
West. Comm. Shimko seconded.
The question was called, and upon voice vote, passed 6-0, with Comm.
Dupré abstaining due to conflict of interest.
Comm.
Jackson-Drake moved to renew the contract of IHBS provider CYC. Comm. Dupré seconded. The question was called, and upon voice
vote, passed 6-0, with Comm. Chuck
abstaining due to conflict of interest.
Comm.
Hale moved to renew the contracts of IHBS providers: OSA, VYDC, Potrero
Hill Neighborhood House, and RAP. Comm.
Dupré seconded. The question was
called, and upon voice vote, passed unanimously.
Comm.
Hale moved to renew the contracts of
non IHBS providers: Ella Hill Hutch Center, YWCA, SF Boys and Girls Home,
Huckleberry Youth Sservices. Comm.
Dupré seconded. The question was
called, and upon voice vote, passed unanimously.
Comm.
Shimko moved to renew the contract of
Home Detention program provider, BVHP Fdn.
Comm. Dupré seconded. The
question was called, and upon voice vote, passed 6-0, with Comm. Hale
abstaining due to conflict of interest.
b.
Consideration and possible action to
approve Program Committee's recommendation to contract with Davis Ja and
Associates.
Comm.
Hale reported that this item was
moved to the full Commission for action as the Committee did not have adequate
time to deal with it. Davis Ja briefly
explained what the work would be. His
firm was a part of the Challenge Grant proposal submitted to the Bd of
Corrections, which demanded a thorough evaluation section, with strict
guidelines. They are going to run
comparisons between intervention groups and random assignment control groups
over the course of the 3 yr grant, at start up/6/8/12/16/and 24 mos intervals, with
a pool of about 80 youth per year, to assess whether the newly designed program
(under Challenge Grant) works or makes a difference.
Concerns
were expressed by Commissioners as to the use of control groups. It was required by the Bd of Corrections.
Comm.
Hale moved to approve entering into a contract with Davis Ja &
Assoc. The question was called, and upon voice vote, passed unanimously.
5. Public Comment on any matter within the
subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile
Probation Commission.
Kent Eagleson, Dir. Of SF Boys and Girls Home, thanked the Commission,
the Chief, Cheyenne and her division staff.
He urged the Commission to expand the YWCA Girls Mentorship program. He also uged the Commission to encourage the
schools to continue providing educational services to the youth in the system
(eg. having the special school at the shelter).
Comm.
Shimko commented that the educational program for these youths is of
imperative importance, and asked if there were any more pro active means open to
the Commission/Department that could result in better services.
Comm.
Arámburo expressed her disbelief in
the disparate policies in the schools (eg. some schools not allowing books to
be taken home) Eagleson said that Linda
Davis (acting Superintendent) needs more help to target this population for
more services.
Comm.
Chuck asked if the Department was
ever asked to work with the SFUSD on collaborative programs?
Chief
Williams said he is a member of the district's Task Force on African
American students achievement. Beyond
that, no.
Comm.
Julian reviewed that he and former Commissioner Breyer had met with the
schools regarding an absenteeism project.
Comm.
Shimko asked for an update on that project, if it was still going on.
Comm. Hale recounted
that the public schools could not meet the demands that the State Colleges had
asked when they raised their admissions requirements. He said that there needs to be creative solutions, like using
volunteers from the greater community (his example was the DA's office putting
volunteers into classrooms to teach a couple of hours a day).
6. Unfinished business
none
7. New
business
Comm. Julian mentioned that
he attended another Deputy Probation Officers' Association meeting, and found
the dialog continues. He intends to
attend future meetings and hopes for more progress.
Comm.
Shimko asked whether the June Commission meeting was going to be in YGC or
in the community. Comm. Julian
proposed doing the June meeting at YGC and securing Galileo HS for the fall. Comm. Shimko asked whether the
Commission could hold another retreat.
(Possible site, Treasure Island)
Comm.
Dupré reported that he attended a graduation ceremony at Log Cabin Ranch
last Sunday. It was very positive.
Susan
Kim, Director of the Youth Commission, made a few brief comments on the Youth
Empowerment Conference held May 22, and the Department's support of it. She also expressed her concen for the
control groups in the evaluation procress.
Comm.
Arámburo asked the Chief to repeat the quote he used at the closing session
of the conference. He admitted he saw
it on a motivational poster. It read
"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. In fact it's the only thing that ever has."
8. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned
at 7:10 pm
