October 01, 1999

TIME: 4:00 pm

PLACE: City Hall, Room 421

1. Call to Order and Roll Call: Commissioners Present: Arreguin, Barnes, Baxter, Bolden-Kramer, Bonilla, Castillo, Devine, Durkee, Lau, Talton-Alunan (10). Absent: Barker, Cottonham, Ervin, Geodzhayev, Pang, Strohlin, Yee (7). Staff present: Susan Kim, Mario Balcita, and Jessica Smith.

2. Motion to approve agenda: Motion to approve agenda seconded and approved.

A. Discussion and possible action re: Strategy to Address Upcoming City Elections. Commissioners first brainstormed what outcomes they wanted to come of their actions around the upcoming city elections. Brainstormed outcomes included: Education on Juvenile Justice Ballot Measure; Educate youth regarding elections; Educate candidates regarding youth needs; Train young people to educate candidates; Register 18-23 year olds to vote; increase participation; Increase understanding of importance of voting; Increase visibility of Youth Commission - make Commission more known to youth so they'll participate; Present views of candidates to young people; Act as liaison between young people and government.

Next Commissioners brainstormed a list of steps they could take to attain these outcomes. These steps included: Increase media/outreach efforts; Endorse Coleman's Children and Families Mayoral Forum; Assist with Youth Vote and the press conference; Sponsor a youth focused party on election night; Create voter guide targeted to 18-23 year old voters; Sponsor a District Attorney round table forum; Send memo to Department of Elections asking about their efforts to involve young people in the upcoming elections. Commissioners voted to do all of the listed activities, and they agreed that media and outreach would be integrated into all of their upcoming activities.

Since the Commission voted to endorse Coleman Advocate's Mayoral Forum at their previous meeting on September 27^th, they brainstormed candidate questions to send to the organizers of the event. The issues they wanted candidates to speak on were: Putting a Beacon Center in all middle schools; Putting low cost, sliding scale child care in all elementary schools from 7 am to 6 pm.; Getting more money for health clinics in high schools; Creating more options for young people to get off street corners and into productive places; Decreasing youth violence in San Francisco; Making SFUSD more technology/computer literate; Preventing racist/hate crime violence; Better educating students on higher education options; Improving school sites in San Francisco; Increasing gang prevention efforts; Improving the relationship between the police department and young people; Getting ethnic studies in San Francisco high schools; Making City government more accessible to young people; Supporting an LGBTQ youth shelter, and ensuring they find a sustainable site; Making housing projects safer for families. Commissioners agreed to send Commissioner Barker to represent them at the upcoming Coleman planning meeting.

Commissioners Lau, Devine, Pang, and Ervin are already assisting with Youth Vote in their respective schools, so it was agreed that they would continue their work and participate in the press conference after Youth Vote is completed.

Next, Commissioners began planning an election night party for youth, to celebrate youth participation in the electoral process and create a youth friendly space. They set the date for Tuesday, November 2, and set a tentative time of 6-9 pm. The next identified step was to find a site for the event. Suggested sites included Roccapulco, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, The Cell, and The Justice League. Commissioners Castillo and Durkee agreed to work together to find a site for the event, and Commissioner Durkee agreed to be the point person for this event.

Commissioners then began planning the creation of a youth friendly voter's guide to distribute to 18-23 year old voters. Commissioners decided the guide should include photos of the candidates, their responses to 10-15 questions on specific youth policy issues, and a brief summary about each office. Commissioners plan to get a list of 18-23 year old voters from the Department of Elections and mail them the guide. Commissioner Barnes agreed to bring a tentative list of questions to the Youth Commission meeting on October 4^th, and Commissioners Barnes and Lau agreed to be the point people for this project.

Commissioners also began planning a District Attorney Round Table Forum. They wanted to educate young people about the candidates for District Attorney, bring youth juvenile issues to the forefront, and give young people an opportunity to address the candidates. Commissioners began brainstorming possible sites for the event, and agreed on SF Main Library, Mission High School, and City College as their first choices. Youth Commission staff will follow up to find a site for the event. They also agreed on October 20^th and October 27^th as dates to propose to candidates, from 5:30-7 pm. Commissioner Devine agreed to write a letter to all the candidates and invite them to the forum.

Commissioners then brainstormed a format for the D.A. forum. They decided combine elements of a traditional debate with a question and answer period from young people in the audience. They also brainstormed different ways to gather questions; they decided to collect questions beforehand and during the meeting on question cards that Commissioners could screen and group in categories, and also take questions directly from the audience. Commissioners would also think of their own backup questions. They discussed looking at how other groups have organized forums to get ideas, and a facilitator still needs to be selected. Finally, Commissioner requested that Commissioner Barker be the point person for the Content/Agenda of the forum.

Commissioners also brainstormed how to increase turnout through outreach. They set a target audience at 250-300 people, and agreed to get a list from the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families to help with outreach. They decided to have one outreach point person, Commissioner Strohlin, but divide up the outreach work between all Commissioners. Commissioners set a timeline for the forum: Friday, October 8: Have date set, candidates confirmed, site set, and agenda and facilitator set; Tuesday, October 12: Have outreach flyer ready, press release ready, and begin outreach for event; Oct. 12 till event: do outreach and PR for event.

Staff agreed to draft a memo to send to the Department of Elections to ask how they are involving young people in the electoral process by October 8^th.

5. Announcements: Commissioner Bolden-Kramer announced Out of the Closets and Into the Sheets, a young women's health fair at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy on Saturday, Oct. 16.

6. Public Comment: No public comment.

7. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 6 pm.