San Francisco Youth Commission
Executive Committee
Minutes
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
6:45-8:30 p.m.
City Hall, Room 345
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

Members: Michelle Kong, Joshua Cardenas, DeAsia Landrum, Angel VanStark, Nicholas Persky

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

The meeting was called to order at 6:53 p.m. Commissioners present: Michelle Kong, DeAsia Landrum, Angel VanStark, Nicholas Persky. Commissioner absent: Joshua Cardenas. There was quorum. Staff present: Phimy Truong.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

There was no public comment. Commissioner VanStark, seconded by Commissioner Landrum, moved to approve the agenda. This motion was approved by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. October 2, 2013
(Document A)

There was no public comment. Commissioner Landrum, seconded by Commissioner VanStark, moved to approve the minutes of October 2, 2013. 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. Updates on Executive Officer Duties
i. Legislative Affairs Officer

Commissioner Cardenas was absent from this meeting, but had provided staff with a written report of his work up to date. Ms. Truong shared with commissioners that Commissioner Cardenas has been following legislation introduced by the board on a weekly basis, and has been tracking any possibly youth-related legislation with staff. Ms. Truong shared status updates on some legislation that Commissioner Cardenas was following including an update on recent commission referral responses. Commissioners agreed to wait until the first meeting of November to have more legislation referred, as the upcoming agenda looked full.

ii. Outreach team: Community Outreach officer & Media & Public Relations officer

Commissioners Landrum and VanStark shared that they would be presenting a proposal of their outreach plan to the commission at an upcoming meeting. Commissioners Landrum and VanStark shared that they were interested in improving the commission’s reach to youth who would not otherwise be connected to a service or organization. Commissioner VanStark spoke at length about boosting up the YC’s media presence, and measuring the commission’s reach by the numbers of youth engaged in commission related events. Commissioner Landrum spoke at length about youth town halls, outreach in all 11 districts to capture authentic youth feedback and issues, and host off site meetings.

Commissioners Kong and Persky provided feedback.

Public Comment
Mr. David Alex Renard asked about the commission’s media plan.

Ms. Truong provided the following staff suggestions: to include room in the proposal to collect feedback from the rest of the commission, to be prepared to answer questions from their peers, and to provide specific examples of the outreach plan, and be clear on expectations from commissioners, and how the outreach officers would be supporting their peers.

iii. All Executive Officers: working on accountability to other commissioners, following through on officers responsibilities, and action planning for committee goals

Commissioner Kong then asked her peers to review committee goals and be more intentional about how the committee will hold themselves accountable to the rest of the commission. Commissioners spent some time working on accountability measures and an action plan to support their peers. The following is a working draft of the committee’s goals: holding one on one meetings with their peers; hosting office hours at the YC office and be intentional about reaching out to other commissioners for support; rotate check in meetings with all commissioners; committee members should work on stepping back to create more space so that other commissioners can shine; affirmations; make space for healthy discussions at full meetings; develop a work plan with individual commissioners; have regular quarterly meetings; ask peers how they would like to be supported; and be a positive youth leader.

Public Comment
Mr. David Alex Renard suggested that commissioners take group leadership courses together. He suggested the commission look into participating in ToastMasters program.

B. Review parliamentary procedures

Commissioner Kong asked staff to review parliamentary procedures with committee members, as there were still some points of confusion. Ms. Truong passed out handouts of Rosenberg’s Rules of Order and answered clarifying questions from commissioners. Commissioners VanStark and Landrum asked clarifying questions related to substitute motions. Commissioner Kong asked for clarity on different examples of recommendations made for different types of legislation. Ms. Truong shared some examples of commission referral responses to a hearing that has been referred, to an ordinance that has been referred, etc. Commissioner Persky provided some feedback and helpful insight as a third year returning commissioner. Commissioners Landrum suggested that commissioners should be encouraged to write out their motions on paper before reading them out loud during meetings, as this would help make the motion clearer. Commissioner Persky stated that he could do a better job at managing discussion during referral responses. Ms. Truong explained that she would work on being more direct and stepping in to assist commissioners in their referral responses. Commissioners agreed that reviewing parliamentary procedures was really helpful and encouraged staff to do the same with other committees.

C. Setting the agenda for the full Youth Commission meeting of October 21, 2013

Commissioners reviewed and discussed the multiple requests for items on the upcoming full meeting agenda. Commissioners agreed that legislation referred should be included in the November agenda, as this meeting agenda had too many items. Commissioner Persky would like commissioners to leave the meeting on time. Commissioners then agreed to an agenda which would include the following items: basic standing items, a presentation on the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families (DCYF), the Children’s Amendment, Children’s Fund, and the Youth Empowerment Fund (YEFA); a presentation and request for support with the recruitment process for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission’s Equity Advisory Committee; a presentation on San Francisco’s Bridge to Success initiative and invitation to the kick off summit scheduled for November 8th, 2013; a presentation on the commission’s outreach plan; a motion to support and co-sponsor Youth Advocacy Day 2014; committee reports; attendance authorization for Commissioner Landrum, and absence explanation for Commissioner Kong.

There was no public comment.

Commissioner Persky, seconded by Commissioner VanStark moved to approve the agenda which includes all of the above items, to the October 21st, 2013 full Youth Commission meeting. This motion was approved by acclamation.

D. Work on forward calendar for department presentations at full Youth Commission meetings

As it was getting late in the evening, Ms. Truong suggested that commissioners table this item to the next meeting. Commissioner VanStark, seconded by Commissioner Landrum, moved to table this item. This motion was approved by acclamation.

6. Staff Report

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

Ms. Truong provided the following updates: the free MUNI for youth coalition’s youth lobby day has been confirmed for October 24th with youth groups meeting at City Hall at 4:00 p.m. to visit city official’s offices and share their experiences in the program; commissioners who were interested in attending will be meeting at City Hall at 3p.m. to help prepare for the meetings; YC staff is still recruiting for the D10 Youth Commissioner position; Commissioner Cardenas will be attending the Junior Statesmen of America (JSA) symposium on Friday, November 8th and would like one of his colleagues to join him; and commissioners will be receiving their business cards within a week.

Commissioner Kong expressed interest in attending the JSA event with Commissioner Cardenas. There were no further updates.

7. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.