San Francisco Youth Commission
Youth Employment & Immigration Committee
Minutes
Thursday, May 22, 2014
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 5:20 p.m. Commissioners present: Michel Li, Nicholas Persky, and Michelle Kong. There was quorum.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

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

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. Friday, April 24, 2014
(Document A)

There was no public comment. Commissioner Persky, seconded by Commissioner Kong made a motion to approve the minutes. The motion was approved 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)

A. Updates on project to survey Newcomer youth
Presenters: Commissioners Kong and Bae

Commissioner Kong and Ms. Truong shared the following updates: the survey has been finalized and approved, though due to the timeline of distribution lining up with end of the school year events, commissioners will work on distributing the surveys to all Newcomer students in August 2014; commissioners will work on distributing surveys to students at different youth programs over the summer to get a sense of students needs; commissioners will work on scheduling dates to visit different organizations and survey youth in person. Commissioners will be able to get the surveys translated to Spanish and Chinese for the distribution at school sites in the Fall.

B. Next steps on undocumented youth resolution

The resolution has been approved by the full commissioner. Commissioner Persky attended a District 1 meeting with his appointing official and the Mayor recently and shared information about the commission’s request to provide employment opportunities to undocumented youth. Persky shared that there will be an additional 20 employment slots reserved this summer for undocumented youth. Commissioner Li suggested visiting the youth organizations that have been selected to work with undocumented youth during SF Summer Jobs+. Li also suggested meeting with the city attorney to follow up on this.

C. Work on letter supporting Mo’Magic survey

Discussion on this item was limited due to Commissioner Bae’s absence. Commissioner Persky volunteered to work with Commissioner Bae on a letter of support for Mo’Magic’s youth employment survey.

D. Committee priorities moving forward

Commissioner Li asked commissioners to weigh in on discussions around minimum wage. Commissioner Persky suggested that the commission wait until finding more information on what the City’s proposal for minimum wage would be. He suggested that if a member of the Board or the Mayor proposes legislation on an increase, then the commission should request to have the legislation referred to provide comment.

Commissioners Li and Persky are working on a resolution recommending the City to provide additional scholarship and grants support for youth seeking application of deferred action. Currently the fee to apply and to re-new their deferred status, is over $400.

Commissioner Li asked her peers to have their schedules flexible this summer to continue youth employment priorities.

6. Staff Report

Ms. Truong shared the following updates:

-Commissioners will be presenting their policy priorities at the Board’s Budget and Finance committee on Wednesday, May 28th, 2014. Commissioner Li will be presenting on the committee’s priority.
-There will be a prep and review session for this presentation on Tuesday, May 27th from 4-6 p.m. at the YC office.
- Commissioners working with members of the Citywide Transitional Age Youth advisory board will be coordinating and leading youth advocacy meetings with Supervisors on the week of June 2nd to discuss the inclusion of disconnected TAY in the Children’s Fund reauthorization, and the increase of the actual fund. Commissioners Wu, Kong, and Sicairos have taken lead on youth engagement meetings.
- The Children’s Fund hearing will take place on Wednesday, June 11th at a Board committee meeting.

7. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 6:23 p.m.