San Francisco Youth Commission
Minutes
Monday, January 9, 2012
5:15-8:00pm
City Hall, Room 278

There will be public comment on each item.

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Chair LaCroix called the meeting to order at 5:22pm. Commissioners present: Armstrong, Baer, Brodwin, Holloway, LaCroix, Liang, Marshall-Fricker, Ontiveros, Persky, Shackelford, Sun. Commissioners absent: Bonner, Carrion, Chan, Tu Mutch. Commissioners tardy: Yang (arrived 5:29pm). Staff present: Yedidia.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

There was no discussion or public comment.

Commissioner Holloway, seconded by Commissioner Marshall-Fricker, moved to approve the evening’s agenda. This motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. Monday, December 5, 2011 (Document A)

There was no discussion or public comment.

Commissioner Shackelford, seconded by Commissioner Armstrong, moved to approve the minutes to the Youth Commission meeting of Monday, December 5, 2011. This motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.

4. Public Comment on Items not on Agenda (Discussion Only)

Jeff Kaminsky, a Youth Commissioner during the 2010-2011 term, congratulated the current Youth Commission on its work—especially its campaign for free MUNI for youth—telling them that he has been following their work through the internet from New York, where he is currently a student.

5. Legislation Referred from the Board of Supervisors (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

There was none.

6. Presentations (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. Overview of Youth Vote Student Survey’s Interactive Data Website
Presenter: Peter Lauterborn, Youth Vote Student Survey Coordinator
http://yefsf.org/youthvote.html

There being no consistent internet access in room 278, Mr. Lauterborn deferred the bulk of his presentation to a subsequent Youth Commission meeting.

Mr. Lauterborn did, nonetheless, devote a few minutes to describing the position of Student Delegate, a public high school student who serves on the Board of Education and casts advisory votes. The Student Delegate is elected each year through the Spring Youth Vote Student Survey. However, in order to appear on the Youth Vote ballot, a high school student must declare her intention to run for the position. Mr. Lauterborn then asked Commissioners and members of the public to help spread the word about the position of student delegate to as many members of San Francisco’s diverse public school communities, such that the candidates running for Student Delegate can reflect the character of the school district’s students.

Public Comment:
Lyslynn Lacoste, Director of BMAGIC, asked about how she could help spread the word among young people who are served by the Bayview community based organizations.

B. Presentation on Revolution Hunger and request for suggestions and organizations to help build a San Francisco youth team
Presenter: Megan Emme, Revolution Hunger San Francisco Regional Coordinator
(Document B)

Ms. Emme provided a presentation on Revolution Hunger, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about worldwide hunger issues through the use of a youth- and user-friendly website (www.revolutionhunger.com) which asks visitors to fill out a personality quiz and subsequently categorizes them as a type of “Hunger Fighter.”

Ms. Emme explained that in Washington, DC, Minneapolis, MN and San Francisco, Revolution Hunger is also building “on the ground” teams of young high school students who will find ways to get other young people more involved in combating hunger (through, for example, canned food drives, trying to get the website to go viral and other methods). Youth will be paid a $300 stipend for their work as a team member.

Ms. Emme concluded by asking Commissioners if they could provide suggestions for organizations where she could help recruit students to join San Francisco’s incipient Revolution Hunger youth team.

Commissioners Armstrong, Ontiveros, Baer, Liang, Shackelford, Brodwin and Sun asked clarifying questions and offered Ms. Emme advice as to where to do more outreach. Among the organizations they suggested she reach out to were the Wellness Centers, Beacon Centers, Glide Memorial, the San Francisco Food Bank, St. Anthony’s, the Salvation Army, Enterprise for High School Students, Rafael House, the Homeless Prenatal Program, the Family Services Agency, and the Catholic high schools (which have well-developed community service requirements).

Public Comment:
Lyslynn Lacoste, Director of BMAGIC, asked how she could help spread the word among young people who are served by the Bayview community based organizations.

Jose-Luis Mejia, a Young Adult Advocate at the City’s Transitional Age Youth Initiative, encouraged Ms. Emme to reach out to Wellness Centers and the youth organization CHALK.

7. Youth Commission Business (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. [Second Reading] Resolution 1112—03—Making TAY a Priority Population
Sponsor and Presenter: Commissioner Baer
(Document C)

Commissioner Baer introduced this item by reminding his colleagues that this resolution was first discussed at the Commission a month ago. He said that in revising the resolution, the Youth City Services Committee tried to be more specific about which TAY should be prioritized by the City; he also said that the Committee tried, in the words of Commissioner Tu Mutch, to “add a little more heart” to the resolution. Commissioner Baer then read the resolution into the public record.

Commissioner Ontiveros thanked Commissioner Baer and the other Commissioners who wrote the resolution for their strong work. He suggested that the Commission consider adding Child Support Services to the public systems listed in the Whereas clause beginning on line 1 of page 2.

Public Comment
Alma Ruznic, a Young Adult Advocate at the City’s Transitional Age Youth Initiative, thanked the Commission for drafting this resolution. Adopting the resolution is a small step, but an important one, she said.

Jose-Luis Mejia, a Young Adult Advocate at the City’s Transitional Age Youth Initiative, thanked the Commission for drafting the resolution and encouraged them to adopt it. He said that after adopting it Youth Commissioners and others should go forward and use it as a tool to continue to advocate for City departments to change their policies and procedures with respect to youth.

Commissioner Ontiveros, seconded by Commissioner Marshall-Fricker, moved to add Child Support Services to the public systems listed in the Whereas clause beginning on line 1 of page 2. This motion was adopted unanimously by acclamation.

Commissioner Yang, seconded by Commissioner Holloway, moved that the Commission adopt the resolution as amended. This motion was approved by the following unanimous roll call vote: Ayes (12) – Armstrong, Baer, Brodwin, Holloway, LaCroix, Liang, Marshall-Fricker, Ontiveros, Persky, Shackelford, Sun, Yang.

B. [First Reading] Resolution 1112—04—Supporting the Community Youth Center’s Bayview Youth Advocates Pledge Campaign
Sponsors and Presenters: Commissioners Ontiveros, Carrion, Holloway
(Document D)

Commissioner Ontiveros explained to his colleagues that the Community Youth Center (CYC), a youth service provider, has recently launched an afterschool program for high school students in the Bayview called the Bayview Youth Advocates (BYA). Some 12 young people from CYC BYA came to the Youth Commission’s Youth Justice Committee some two months ago explaining that they had launched a pledge campaign to change social norms among young people in the Bayview and make life more positive and healthy. CYC BYA had asked the Youth Commission to write a resolution commending this pledge campaign, as they wanted to get recognition from the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor and, ultimately, elected officials in Sacramento. The resolution currently being considered was a response to this inspiring request. He concluded by saying that the resolution was time sensitive and that he would be asking his colleagues to suspend the Youth Commission’s bylaws and adopt this resolution on its first reading.

Commissioner Holloway then read the resolution into the public record.

Public comment:
Chanelle Dorton, a youth participant in CYC BYA, said that she felt these pledges were feasible for young people and could change young people’s lives.
Jay Ly, a CYC BYA staff member, explained that the pledge campaign was born out of a discussion about how to improve the Bayview community. CYC BYA youth discussed problems including police brutality, gangs and drugs. Even though these pledges won’t change all of those problems, they will make change on an individual level.
Lyslynn Lacoste, Director of BMAGIC, said how inspiring CYC BYA’s work has been in the past months.
Jose-Luis Mejia, a Young Adult Advocate at the City’s Transitional Age Youth Initiative, congratulated the CYC BYA youth on their work. There are different ways of making change, he said, and making change on an individual level is a very important way to do so.

Commissioners Brodwin and Shackelford expressed excitement about supporting this resolution. Commissioners Persky, Yang, Liang and Armstrong offered suggestions. There was a lengthy discussion about how to amend the Resolved clause to make the resolution’s request to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors more specific.

Commissioner Ontiveros, seconded by Commissioner Shackelford, moved to suspend the Youth Commission’s bylaws to consider adopting this resolution on its first reading. This motion was adopted unanimously by the following roll call vote: Ayes (12) – Armstrong, Baer, Brodwin, Holloway, LaCroix, Liang, Marshall-Fricker, Ontiveros, Persky, Shackelford, Sun, Yang.

Commissioner Ontiveros, seconded by Commissioner Holloway, moved to amend the Resolved clause beginning on line 21 of the first page to read:

“That the Youth Commission urges the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Education to acknowledge and commend the Community Youth Center’s Bayview Youth Advocates with a certificate of recognition for their contributions to a healthier community and to acknowledge, endorse and act on this grassroots pledge campaign.”

This motion was adopted unanimously by following roll call vote: Ayes (12) – Armstrong, Baer, Brodwin, Holloway, LaCroix, Liang, Marshall-Fricker, Ontiveros, Persky, Shackelford, Sun, Yang.

Chair LaCroix, seconded by Commissioner Baer, moved to adopt the resolution as amended. This motion was adopted unanimously by the following roll call vote: Ayes (12) – Armstrong, Baer, Brodwin, Holloway, LaCroix, Liang, Marshall-Fricker, Ontiveros, Persky, Shackelford, Sun, Yang.

C. [First Reading] Resolution 1112—05—Supporting President Obama’s Summer Jobs+ Plan
Sponsors and Presenters: Commissioners Armstrong, Shackelford, Persky
(Document E)

Commissioner Armstrong provided her colleagues with some background on this resolution, explaining that just last week President Obama had announced an executive initiative to invest heavily in providing summer jobs for 16-24 year olds. This resolution, drafted by the Youth Employment Committee, simply asked the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor to formally acknowledge and comment this presidential plan and to consider doing something similar in San Francisco.

Commissioner Shackelford then read the resolution into the public record.

Commissioners Ontiveros and Baer asked clarifying questions regarding undocumented youth and the specifics of the plan, respectively. Commissioner Liang suggested including some San Francisco-specific data into the resolution’s Whereas clauses.

Public Comment:
Jose-Luis Mejia, a Young Adult Advocate at the City’s Transitional Age Youth Initiative, spoke at length about this resolution, explaining that he was in Washington, D.C. last week at the conference where Obama’s plan had been announced, as Jose-Luis had been invited to speak on a youth panel with young people from all over the country. He congratulated the Youth Commission on being so swift in paying attention to the federal government! He also explained that the conference and the Summer Jobs+ plan brought together business leaders, nonprofits and government. Jose-Luis suggested that the Youth Commission consider making amendments to the resolution that would call on the Mayor to do the following: to prioritize disconnected transitional age youth in his 17-point “Roadmap to Jobs and Opportunity;” to call on businesses to prioritize TAY throughout his entire administration; to call on San Francisco businesses to make a commitment to hiring young people this summer; to call on businesses who can’t make a commitment to offering youth jobs, to offer other kinds of opportunities to young people—for example, internships, job shadowing or mentorship; to include undocumented youth in a local youth jobs plan; to prioritize youth with multiple barriers to employment.

Commissioner Shackelford, seconded by Chair LaCroix, moved to suspend the bylaws and consider this resolution on its first reading. This motion was adopted unanimously by the following roll call vote: Ayes (12) – Armstrong, Baer, Brodwin, Holloway, LaCroix, Liang, Marshall-Fricker, Ontiveros, Persky, Shackelford, Sun, Yang.

Commissioner Shackelford, seconded by Chair LaCroix, moved to amend the resolution by adding after line 2 “Whereas, In San Francisco the majority of youth want a job during the summer, and Whereas, 91% of San Francisco’s young people want a job either during the school year, summer, or year-round,” and including after the word “plan” on line 5 of page 2 and “calling on businesses to commit to hiring, mentoring, or training San Francisco youth, particularly in the Transitional Aged Youth population of 16-24 year-olds with barriers to employment”

A serious discussion followed—with Commissioners Armstrong, Shackelford, Ontiveros and Yang leading the way—about the merits and problems with specifying which young people have barriers to employment.

Commissioner Ontiveros, seconded by Commissioner Yang, made a substitute motion that would include all of the data in Commissioner Shackelford’s motion but also specify those young people with barriers to employment as “including, but not limited, to formerly incarcerated youth, LGBTQ youth, disabled youth and undocumented youth.”

Chair LaCroix called for a vote on the substitute motion. This motion failed by the following roll call vote: Ayes (7) – Armstrong, Baer, Holloway, Liang, Ontiveros, Sun, Yang; No’s (5) – Brodwin, LaCroix, Marshall-Fricker, Persky, Shackelford.

Commissioner Shackelford, seconded by Commissioner Persky, moved to adopt the resolution as amended. This motion was adopted unanimously by the following roll call vote: Ayes (12) – Armstrong, Baer, Brodwin, Holloway, LaCroix, Liang, Marshall-Fricker, Ontiveros, Persky, Shackelford, Sun, Yang.

8. Staff Report (Discussion Only)

Yedidia told Commissioners that they had less than 6 months of regularly scheduled meetings as a Commission, and that he hoped they would take seriously their roles on the Commission and accomplish things in the time they have left. He reminded Commissioners about the Mid Year retreat, which was set for January 21 and 22. He invited Commissioners to help plan the retreat at two upcoming meetings (this Wednesday and, January 11 and Friday, January 13). He also invited Commissioners to come to a Youth Advocacy Day planning meeting on Wednesday, January 25. He announced to Commissioners that earlier in the day Mayor Lee had appointed Christina Olague to the seat of Supervisor for District 5 (upon former Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi’s swearing in as Sheriff one year before the end of his Supervisorial term). He concluded by showing Commissioners video of the 2000-2001 Youth Commission’s Executive Committee’s report to the Board of Supervisors. This Commission adopted 22 resolutions and made classroom presentations to over 1,000 students. He encouraged Commissioners to be inspired.

9. Committee Reports (Discussion Only)

A. Executive Committee; next meeting: Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 4:00pm-6:00pm, City Hall, room 345A
Chair LaCroix offered her colleagues four distinct ways of getting involved in the Free MUNI for Youth campaign, which would be reaching its legislative conclusion in the next month-and-a-half. Commissioner Yang encouraged her colleagues to help plan the retreat by participating in this week’s upcoming meetings. Commissioner Brodwin said she’d spoken with all of her colleagues about community outreach and that everyone was participating in outreach in some way.
B. Youth Justice Committee; next meeting: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 4:30-6:15pm, City Hall, room 345
Commissioner Ontiveros told his colleagues that the committee was drafting resolutions on getting incarcerated young people access to the yard at Juvenile Hall and on getting the Police Department to provide training to its officers on how to interact with youth.
C. Youth Immigration Committee; next meeting: Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 3:30-5:00pm, City Hall, room 345
Commissioner Yang explained that the committee would be meeting sometime before the mid year retreat to discuss policy recommendations..
D. Youth City Services Committee (Housing, Transportation and Recreation); next meeting, Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 4:30-6:30pm, City Hall, room 345
Commissioner Baer explained that at the next meeting
E. Youth Employment Committee; next meeting, Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 4:45pm, City Hall, room 345.
Commissioner Armstrong explained that the committee had resolutions in the works regarding requiring Youth Involvement Plans for big City events (for example, America’s Cup).
F. Student Support, Health and Facilities Committee; next meeting: Friday, January 27, 2012, 5:30-7:00, 555 Franklin St., 3rd Floor
G. Youth Advisory Council
Commissioner Shackelford explained to her colleagues that the Youth Advisory Council has been reviewing Requests for Proposals for small, community-based summits. They would be making recommendations for which summits to award money to in the coming weeks.

10. Attendance Review (Action Item)

A. Commissioner Carrion, Monday, December 5, 2011

In Commissioner Carrion’s absence, this item was tabled.

B. Commissioner Sun, Monday, December 5, 2011

Commissioner Sun explained that she had been a few minutes tardy to the December 5th meeting because of the bus.

Commissioner Shackelford, seconded by Commissioner Holloway, moved to excuse this absence. This motion was adopted unanimously by acclamation.

C. Commissioner Baer, Monday, October 17, 2011

Commissioner Baer explained he had been a few minutes tardy to the October 17th meeting because of MUNI.

Commissioner Armstrong, seconded by Commissioner Shackelford, moved to excuse this absence. This motion was adopted unanimously by acclamation.

11. Announcements (This Includes Community Events)

Chair LaCroix distributed the letter she had sent earlier that morning, which contained a brief response to his Roadmap to Jobs and Opportunity she had written with the help of Committee Chairs, congratulating Mayor Lee on his inauguration for his first elected term. She welcomed Commissioners’ feedback.

Commissioner Sun encouraged her colleagues to check out the upcoming teen programs (of which there are many!) at the Ortega Library, where she has been volunteering.

Commissioners Holloway and Brodwin invited Commissioners to the second annual Know Your Rights event at Lick-Wilmerding High School set for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, this Monday, January 16, 2012. The event would draw over 100 students from all over the city, and would include workshops on civil rights and social change—including a workshop on the Youth Commission!

12. Adjournment

Chair LaCroix adjourned the meeting at 7:50pm.

Any materials distributed to the members of the Youth Commission within 72 hours of the meeting or after the agenda packet has been delivered to the members are available for inspection—along with minutes of previous Youth Commission meetings and all supplementary information—at the Youth Commission office during regular office hours (9am to 6pm, Monday—Friday). The Youth Commission office is located at:
City Hall, Room 345
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 554-6446, Fax: (415) 554-6140
Email: youthcom@sfgov.org
www.sfgov.org/yc

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE SUNSHINE ORDINANCE
(Chapter 67 of the San Francisco Administrative Code)
Government’s duty is to serve the public, reaching its decisions in full view of the public. Commissions, boards, councils and other agencies of the City and County exist to conduct the people’s business. This ordinance assures that deliberations are conducted before the people and that City operations are open to the people’s review.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE SUNSHINE ORDINANCE OR TO REPORT A VIOLATION OF THE ORDINANCE, CONTACT THE SUNSHINE ORDINANCE TASK FORCE, please contact:
Sunshine Ordinance Task Force
City Hall, Room 244
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102‐4689
Phone: (415) 554‐7724, Fax: (415) 554‐5784
E‐mail: sotf@sfgov.org
Copies of the Sunshine Ordinance can be obtained from the Clerk of the Sunshine Ordinance
Task Force, at the San Francisco Public Library, and on the City’s website at
http://www.sfgov.org.

The ringing and use of cell phones, pagers, and similar sound‐producing electronic devices are prohibited at this meeting. The Chair may order the removal from the meeting room of any person responsible for the ringing or use of a cell phone, pager, or other similar sound‐producing electronic device.

In order to assist the City’s efforts to accommodate persons with severe allergies, environmental illnesses, multiple chemical sensitivity, or related disabilities, attendees at public meetings are reminded that other attendees may be sensitive to various chemical‐based products. Please help the City accommodate these individuals.

To obtain a disability‐related modification or accommodation, including auxiliary aids or services, to participate in the meeting, please contact Mario Yedidia, Youth Commission Director [phone: 415-554 6254; email: mario.yedidia@sfgov.org] at least 48 hours before the meeting, except for Monday meetings, for which the deadline is 4:00 p.m. the previous Friday.