San Francisco Youth Commission
Youth Employment & Immigration Committee
Minutes
Thursday, November 7, 2013
5:00-7:00 PM
City Hall, Room 345
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

Members: Michel Li - Chair, Nicholas Persky, Jina Bae, and Michelle Kong

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

The meeting was called to order at 5:14 p.m. Commissioners present: Michel Li, Nicholas Persky, Jina Bae, and Michelle Kong. There was quorum. Staff present: Phimy Truong.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

There was no public comment. Commissioner Kong, seconded by Commissioner Persky, made a motion to approve the agenda. This motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. October 24th, 2013
(Document A)

There was no public comment. Commissioner Bae, seconded by Commissioner Kong, made a motion to approve the minutes of October 24th, 2013. This motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.

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

There were none.

5. Business (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

B. Continue drafting committee goals

Commissioners asked staff to provide an update on the recent Workforce Investment San Francisco Youth Council meeting. Ms. Truong shared supplemental documents that were provided at the Youth Council meeting, and provided an explanation on the varying ways the Youth Commission had participated with the Youth Council in the last several years. In recent years, the commission had not been actively engaged with this body. Commissioners spent some time reading through the charges of this body, minutes from previous meetings, and discussed how they can be engaged in the future. Commissioners will make time to attend this meeting with staff in the future. Commissioners also pored over documents related to San Francisco Summer Jobs+ initiative and the school district’s career technical education program. Commissioners then discussed goals related to the two youth employment initiatives and drafted exploratory research questions. Commissioner Li asked Ms. Truong to request a presentation from staff coordinating the career technical education program. Commissioners were excited to hear that the Summer Jobs+ report was nearing finalization and looked forward to getting an update at an upcoming full commission meeting.

Commissioners then entered a discussion on how they can meaningfully participate in assessing public sector youth employment opportunities. Commissioner Persky spoke about last year’s committee’s project in visiting youth employment programs throughout the year, and cataloging youth participant’s feedback on how to improve employment services. He also spoke about past committee members visiting and surveying community organizations funded to serve as doorway organizations to the SF Summer Jobs+ initiative. Commissioner Kong asked if her peers would like to work on a youth survey intended to capture all youth’s feedback on employment opportunities. Commissioner Persky asked if SFSJ+ was capturing feedback from youth employed through the initiative. Commissioners agreed to share the brief reports regarding SFSJ+ to their respective appointing officials.

Commissioners then shared updates on the organizations who will be presenting at the next committee meeting. Ms. Truong had invited Glenn Eagleson from the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families to come present on youth employment priorities in San Francisco, as well as services to aid immigrant and undocumented youth in the city. Commissioner Kong had reached out to the Chinese Progressive Action and will be working to get a presentation on CPA’s youth projects in engaging and advocating for immigrant youth and families. Commissioners all agreed to reschedule their December 5th meeting to December 3rd so that they can receive a presentation from the Jewish Vocation Services employment program manager.

There was no public comment.

6. Staff Report

A. Programmatic updates, reviewing upcoming events and capacity building workshops offered to commissioners

Ms. Truong provided the following updates: “Our Children, Our City” community input sessions are set to take place throughout November and December; staff and commissioners will be providing a presentation on youth civic engagement to Hospitality House on November 11th; staff will be setting up one-on-one meetings with all commissioners to check in on goals and training; and reminded commissioners to check in with their appointing officials’ offices.

7. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.