San Francisco Youth Commission
Youth Justice Committee
Minutes - Special
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
5:00-7:00pm
City Hall, Room 278
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

Members: Sophie Edelhart-Chair, Ramon Gomez, Joshua Cardenas, Denesia Webb; Part-time member: Monica Flores

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

The meeting was called to order at 5:18 pm. Commissioners present: Webb, Edelhart, Cardenas; Commissioners absent: Flores, Gomez; Staff present: Adele Carpenter, Phimy Truong

There was quorum.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

Commissioner Cardenas, seconded by Commissioner Webb, moved to approve the agenda. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

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

There was none.

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

A. Overview and Update on the Project WHAT Survey Effort
Presenters: Project WHAT youth leaders

Project WHAT youth leaders, Desirae Sotto, Daniel Zechoo, Jessica Calderon, Arvaughn Williams, Cecilia Nicole Galeano, and Azizi Lloyd gave updates on the Project WHAT survey they developed for youth with incarcerated parents.

Of 100 surveys, findings included that a large number of youth had witnessed their parent’s arrest, and that many of these arrests were violent. Many of them were forced to move on account of their parents’ incarceration.

It was more difficult to reach out with the survey because there are limited support service spaces dedicated to the needs of youth with incarcerated parents. Also, there is a lot of stigma and many youth felt uncomfortable taking the survey unless they had a one on one conversation with youth from Project WHAT.

Project WHAT is creating a series of focus groups based on the survey results. The first was held with SF Children of Incarcerated Parents. The next will be held with the Center for Young Women’s Development.

Project WHAT has also been lobbied against solitary confinement, funding construction of a new jail in San Francisco, and for the Fair Chance ordinance. They have been working with the “Get on the Bus” visiting program and they presented to probation officers.

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

A. Work on committee priority: Investigation into the needs of youth with incarcerated parents

Youth Commissioners and youth from Project WHAT and BLING had a discussion about the best way to investigate the needs of youth with incarcerated parents in San Francisco, and what the city could do. Youth commissioners explained the purpose and nature of a BOS hearing as an awareness-raising and fact-finding tool.

They discussed the following questions: Why might it be helpful to have a hearing? What would the possible goals of a hearing be? Among the reasons discussed, they spoke about how underrepresented the issue is; how deeply emotionally scarring parental incarceration is to youth; how parental incarceration affects other life outcomes for youth; the lack of awareness and support; the lack of academic support such as tutoring; the need to increase awareness and find alternatives to incarceration as well as expand resources; that there is no where to go with this issue, no one is responsible for it; that there is a lack of communication between prison officials and families and that sometimes families do not find out when parents have been moved, fallen ill, or died; there is a need to get decision-makers involved in this issue.

Commissioner Webb, seconded by Commissioner Cardenas, moved to request a BOS hearing on the issue of the needs of youth with incarcerated parents.

Project WHAT youth registered support. There was no further public comment.

The motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.

B. Follow up and next steps

Youth Commissioners and Project WHAT youth leaders discussed the following questions: What city departments would we want to interview or have present? What questions would we ask them? What members of the Board of Supervisors and/or BOS committee would we want a hearing held in? What is the best timeline for a hearing?

Youth commissioners discussing drafting a motion urging a hearing to be held in Spring 2014. The committee agreed to hold a special meeting on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 from 4-6 pm to discuss this issue further.

There was no public comment.

6. Staff Report

There was none.

7. Items to Report to Executive Committee (Discussion Only)

Commissioner Cardenas agreed to share relevant updates with the executive committee.

8. Executive Committee Report (Discussion Only)

There was none.

9. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:06 pm.