San Francisco Youth Commission
Youth Employment & Immigration Committee
Minutes
Thursday, October 24, 2013
5:30-7:00 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, Nicholas Persky, Jina Bae, and Michelle Kong

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

The meeting was called to order at 5:38 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 Persky, seconded by Commissioner Bae, moved to approve the agenda. This motion was approved by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. October 10th, 2013
(Document A)

There was no public comment. Commissioner Persky, seconded by Commissioner Kong, moved to approve the minutes. This 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. Overview of the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs with a focus on youth related initiatives
Presenter: Richard Whipple, Deputy Director of Programs, OCEIA

Mr. Whipple introduced himself to commissioners, and provided an overview of the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs’ initiatives. OCEIA works to promote civic participation and inclusive policies that improve the lives of San Franciscan residents, focusing on immigrants and underserved communities. OCEIA has multiple programs to improve linguistic and cultural barriers in the city, to ensure that residents have equal access to city services and information. OCEIA oversees the compliance of the language access ordinance, the community ambassadors program, the San Francisco Day Laborer’s program, and various outreach programs for residents. The department has also just started the Pathways to Citizenship Initiative is a three year public and private partnership between the city and philanthropic organizations to provide resources to organizations to promote citizenship and civic participation among San Francisco’s citizenship eligible immigrants.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions related to the number of DACA approved residents in San Francisco, and the language access ordinance. Commissioners also brought up barriers that are specifically related to monolingual communities. Commissioner Kong raised the issue of monolingual communities not feeling comfortable to make formal complaints with agencies that are not compliant with the language access ordinance.

Mr. Whipple thanked commissioners for their time.

There was no public comment.

B. Setting committee goals and developing an action plan

Commissioner Li asked her peers to start researching organizations to invite to present to the committee.

There was no public comment.

6. Staff Report

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

This item was tabled. There was no public comment.

7. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned 7:15 p.m.