San Francisco Youth Commission
Minutes
Monday, May 5th, 2014
5:15pm-8:30pm
City Hall, Room 416
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

Nicholas Persky, Michelle Kong, Joshua Cardenas, DeAsia Landrum, Angel Van Stark, Jina Bae, Anna Bernick, Sophie Edelhart, Monica Flores, Ramon Gomez, Michel Li, Lily Marshall-Fricker, Luisa Sicairos, Denesia Webb, Eric Wu, Joyce Wu, Ariel Yu

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

The meeting was called to order at 5:22 pm.

Commissioners present: Persky, Kong, Cardenas, Bernick, Edelhart, Flores, Gomez, Marshall-Fricker, Sicairos, Eric Wu, Joyce Wu, Yu.

Commissioners absent: Landrum, Webb, Van Stark, Li, Bae

Staff present: Adele Carpenter, Phimy Truong, Allen Lu

There was quorum.

Commissioners Li and Bae noted present at 5:40 pm.

 

 

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

Commissioner Joyce Wu, seconded by Commissioner Yu, moved to approve the agenda. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

 

 

 

 

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

 

 

A. April 7, 2014 (Document A)

Commissioner Edelhart, seconded by Commissioner Yu, moved to approve the minutes from April 7, 2014. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.
 

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

There was none.
 

5. Legislation Referred from the Board of Supervisors (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. [BOS File No. 140441] Charter Amendment – Children and Youth Fund; Commission on Children, Youth, and Their Families
Sponsors: Avalos; Campos, Cohen, Kim, Mar, Yee and Breed
Presenter: Office of Supervisors John Avalos, Eric Mar
(Document B)

Chair Persky welcomed Peter Lauterborn, legislative aide for Supervisor Eric Mar. Mr. Lauterborn explained that the reauthorization of the Children’s Fund is the most important legislation that the city has had. The Children’s Fund sets aside three cents for every hundred dollars of property tax collected. A three year allocation process decides what the needs are and how much to allocate to each service area. Then DCYF carries out a RFP process to allocate the funds. DCYF currently has a community advisory board with one youth member. They advise but have no direct oversight power.

The fund was created in 1991 and was a grassroots, community driven process. The children’s fund was renewed in 2000. The fund has strong support on the BOS, but it is still important that it is community-driven and this legislation represents community driven processes about how the legislation can be improved.

The 2014 measure has no sun set so that it would not have to be reapproved. We want to change from a three year to a five year allocation cycle. The legislation establishes a Commission on Children, Youth, and Their Families. It includes transitional age youth up to age 24 and increases the fund from three cents to five cents. The five year funding cycle will offer CBO’s more stability. This legislation would allow for the five year plan to be amended.

Commissioner Gomez asked what the nature of the amendments would be. Mr. Lauterborn explained that the set aside would stay the same, but the amendments would allow for shifting of funds to deal with emergent demands among youth.

The switch from a citizens advisory committee to a commission is to allow for more clear space for public input. A commission would have the power to assess the department director. The commission would approve a budget. Having a commission also raises the department’s status. The commission would have split Board of Supervisors and mayoral appointments. One of the BOS appointments would be a TAY youth. One mayoral appointee would be under age 18 and nominated by the youth commission.

Commissioners Bernick, Sicairos, and Yu asked clarifying questions. Mr. Lauterborn clarified that the number of commission seats could only be modified by voters. He encouraged youth commissioners to think about how they would engage the two youth seats on the commission. We want a DCYF commissioner to be accountable to other youth in the city. The commission would have two year term limits. He agreed to confirm whether the positions would be stipended.

The idea of including transitional age youth in the fund came out of an task force started by Mayor Newsom after a 2005 resolution from the Youth Commission. The fund would include supportive services, employment opportunities, education, etc.

The fund increase is based on the idea that we want the city to make this commitment. Spending money always means it cannot be spent somewhere else. That is the nature of the budget. There has been some talk about how other baselines would be affected. The entire budget for baselines would be increased, so the Children’s Fund would be a bigger piece of a bigger pie. These other budgets would also go up because the overall budget has gone up in the city. This economic upturn is hurting a lot of people and the Children’s fund is directly aimed at addressing that. We have seven co-sponsors and only need six to put this on the ballot. We think there is broad support for this believe we will ultimately have unanimous support at the Board.

Maria Su, Director of Children, Youth, and Their Families introduced herself and said she was present to give feedback or answer questions about the legislation. Eric Wu asked about the Mayor’s recommendations and how they differ from the community recommendations. Ms. Su explained that the Mayor and Superintendent directed staff in the school district and DCYF to look at the PEEF and Children’s Fund renewal. During that process, one thousands residents were engaged, including the youth town hall that youth commissioners planned.

One of the biggest insights from the process was that students and parents are having a hard time navigating the bureaucracies associated with accessing services, ie, applying to multiple systems to get served. Having to reenroll in programs. This highlighted a need for more collaboration between the city and school district. This is the idea behind the Children and Family Council. The idea is we will have one council chaired and overseen by the Mayor and Superintendent and will be a centralized space for children’s services. The council would be tasked with coming up with common goals and outcomes for youth and children services. The council would set shared outcome frameworks. This has been introduced by Supervisor Yee and is supported by the Mayor. The Mayor also feels DCYF should strengthen its Citizen Advisory Committee.

Ms. Su explained that the goal of having a 7 member commission, rather than a 15 member citizen advisory committee does not serve the goal of transparency because it reduces the number of voices at the table. The CAC currently includes those who receive DCYF funding, but the commission would limit the membership to those not receiving DCYF funding. The mayor is currently negotiating 27 union contracts and is trying to increase the minimum wage, as well as a contract increase for non-profits for increases in the cost of doing business.

Mr. Lauterborn explained that the reason the commission was recommended to be seven members was to retain focus on the commission. The goal of transparency is not about how many are at the table. There are many ways for the other members of the community to engage commissions. We are advocating a smaller commission and bigger public engagement.

Commissioner Eric Wu asked whether the current CAC has budgetary oversight. Ms. Su explained that the commission proposed in this piece of legislation would be on categories, and not line by line, which is what the CAC currently does. Ms. Su explained she is not clear on what the difference in the budgetary responsibilities of the CAC vs. the commission would be.

Mr. Lauterborn explained that the commission would be a better point for public entry and oversight on the budget and making sure that the budget reflects the goals that have been set. This is best done by people who do not have a direct financial stake in the department.

Commissioner Flores asked how the Commission would engage the public. Mr. Lauterborn explained that one of the things that helps drive outreach is a body being empowered. If people do not have the power or status to make a particular change, it is harder to engage people. This was part of the thinking that went into the creation of the Youth Commission, and is why it is a national model.

Ms. Su noted that the Mayor is in agreement that the CAC should have split Mayoral and BOS appointments.

Commissioner Eric Wu asked about the general fund investment in transitional age youth. Ms. Su explained that it is difficult to tease out how much money is going toward the 18-24 year old population. There is a policy decision that we need to make on how services for 18-24 year olds are funded. That conversation needs to include more departments than DCYF. We need a coordinated policy conversation so that we reach common goals and outcomes.

Commissioner Kong reminded her colleagues that the commission already passed a resolution on the commission’s recommendations for the children’s fund. She motioned to attach the resolved clauses of the youth commission’s resolution on the Children’s Fund recommendations to the referral response for this legislation, Including:

“The San Francisco Youth Commission does hereby urge the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco to consider the following policy recommendations for the Children’s Fund:
• Allowing the use of the fund for transitional age youth to be served by existing youth-serving community programs and for serving the specific needs of disconnected TAY;
• Reserving 25% of seats on any body that is in charge of Children’s Fund oversight for youth, with half of the total youth seats represented by youth under 18 years old and the other half represented by disconnected transitional aged youth. These seats would be appointed and supported by the San Francisco Youth Commission;
• Proactively supporting and facilitating better coordination between the City, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and community based organizations serving youth by increasing the sharing of cultural competency best practices, making available complementary spaces for youth programs to convene youth town halls and meetings, and considering other potential points of collaboration;
• Resourcing youth leadership groups to design and facilitate annual youth town halls to identify their unmet needs, and to evaluate the programs and services they receive as part of the Community Needs Assessment and evaluation plan;
• Increasing the fund allowing services to provide for and support the unmet needs of youth, including disconnected transitional age youth population; and be it finally
The San Francisco Youth Commission has identified the following unmet services that should be prioritized and expanded in the Children’s Fund:
• Increase dedicated services, support, and employment opportunities for undocumented youth;
• Extend mentoring programs currently provided to juvenile detainees and probationers to transitional aged youth in the adult probation system;
• Increase support for 17 and 18 year olds transitioning between juvenile and adult systems, including support interviewing for eligibility for release and entry into diversion programs and community programs used as sentencing alternatives”

Commissioner Bernick seconded this motion.

Commissioner Eric Wu motioned to include a recommendation: “Youth commissioners recommend including stipends for the proposed commission. The youth commission is unique among city commissions in not having stipends for commissioners and it has posed challenges in maintaining diversity of representation and posed barriers to involvement for several qualified young people.”

Ms. Su explained that she supported Commissioner Wu’s recommendation to stipend commissioners.

There was no further public comment.

Commissioner Edelhart, seconded by Commissioner Gomez, motioned to support the legislation. The motion was passed unanimously by a roll call vote. Ayes: Persky, Kong, Cardenas, Bernick, Edelhart, Flores, Gomez, Marshall-Fricker, Sicairos, Eric Wu, Joyce Wu, Yu, Li, Bae. Commissioner Flores abstained from the vote on account of her relationship with DCYF.

Commissioner Eric Wu’s motion regarding stipends, seconded by Commissioner Bernick, was passed unanimously by a roll call vote. Ayes: Persky, Kong, Cardenas, Bernick, Edelhart, Flores, Gomez, Marshall-Fricker, Sicairos, Eric Wu, Joyce Wu, Yu, Li, Bae

Commissioner Kong’s motion to include the youth commission’s past recommendations regarding the children’s fund was passed unanimously by a roll call vote. Ayes: Persky, Kong, Cardenas, Bernick, Edelhart, Flores, Gomez, Marshall-Fricker, Sicairos, Eric Wu, Joyce Wu, Yu, Li, Bae

B. [BOS File No. 140442] Charter Amendment – Public Education Enrichment Fund
Sponsors: Kim; Yee, Avalos, Campos, Mar and Cohen
Presenter: Office of Supervisor Jane Kim
(Document C)

This item was tabled at the request of the presenter.

C. [BOS File No. 140443] Charter Amendment – Children and Families Council; San Francisco Children and Families Plan
Sponsors: Yee; Avalos, Kim, Mar, Campos, Cohen and Breed
Presenter: Office of Supervisor Norman Yee
(Document D)

Jen Lowe from Supervisor Yee’s office explained that the council was proposed because of the recent opportunities associated with the reauthorization of the Children’s Fund. The council is meant to bring coordination and planning for youth and children’s services across city departments and address family flight.

The body would be chaired by the Mayor and the Superintendent. The proposals made by this body would be evaluated by the controller’s office every four years. The exact composition of the council would be established through an ordinance. The council would be for planning, not for overseeing funds.

Commissioner Joyce Wu asked about the relationship between this proposed council and the proposed DCYF commission. Ms. Lowe explained that the council would not dictate what the commission would do, but commissioners would have a seat at the council, the goal of which is convening.

Commissioner Eric Wu recommended including Juvenile Probation Department in the departments including in the convening. Commissioner Eric Wu motioned to include the Juvenile Probation department in this legislation. Ms. Lowe explained that the legislation does not name departments in the charter amendment, but could be established in an ordinance. Commissioner Edelhart seconded.

Commissioner Bernick, seconded by Commissioner Joyce Wu, motioned to support this legislation.

Commissioner Kong motioned that the council include 25% youth seats, where one 18 year old or under is appointed by the youth commission and is receiving or has received Children’s fund services, and where a second TAY council member be appointed by the Citywide TAY Advisory Board, and that the council findings be reported to the youth commission. Commissioner Cardenas seconded.

There was no public comment.

Commissioner Eric Wu’s motion was passed by acclamation.

Commissioner Bernick’s general motion of support was passed by acclamation.

Ms. Lowe explained that the council would not solely direct the Children’s fund, but would direct children’s services across departments.

Commissioner Edelhart suggested not including the caveat regarding DCYF services in Commissioner Kong’s motion. Commissioner Kong made a substitute motion:The motion was passed by acclamation. Motion to have 25% of the council to be represented by youth, where one youth 18 years old or under would be selected by the youth commission and have received children or youth services, and one TAY representative to be appointed by the CTAB. The motion was passed by acclamation.
 

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

A. Presentation and request for support of Transitional Age Youth E.D. Network’s recommendation to invest in new TAY Services in the coming budget year
Presenter: Jodi Schwartz, Ilsa Lund, and Sherilyn Adams of Transitional Age Youth E.D. Network
(Documents E, F)

Jodi Schwartz, Executive director of LYRIC, and Sherilyn Adams, Executive Director of Larkin Street Youth Services introduced themselves. Ms. Schwartz applauded the work of the commission in including TAY in the upcoming Children’s fund legislation. She explained that the CTAB advises the city and DCYF on services for TAY. The TAY ED network works with TAY SF and the CTAB, coordinated providers, and advised the recent priorities document.

These budget recommendations are based on where providers have identified major gaps in services, as well as emerging trends. We have also provided analysis about the current budget city allocation to TAY services. There are federal and state programs that fund TAY services, as well as mandated services and services folded in with funding for youth under 18. This makes it difficult to determine what general fund dollars the city uniquely commits to TAY services. The Children’s fund, once reauthorized, will take effect in fiscal year 16-17. This funding proposal addresses the need for a “bridge” for TAY services until then.

Ms. Adams explained this is a two year budget ask that will be submitted to the Mayor. These represent a limited set of proposals prioritized by providers. The ask has been bucketed into four categories to match the funding strategies in the city’s TAY priorities document: Education & Employment, Housing, Health & Wellness. It includes centralized or multi-site educational reengagement centers. It also calls for intensive case management with longer-term subsidized employment options for 100 independent TAY, as well as 300-400 additional subsidized summer employment slots. The housing fund would allow a flexible fund to cover move-in costs and eviction prevention funds. The proposal would create a 15 bed transitional housing program and develop a 12 bed residential mental health and substance abuse treatment program. It would add five citywide TAY case management positions.This reaches $5M in the first year, and $6.685M in the second year as the residential program would be up and running.

Commissioner Sicairos asked whether the health and wellness category would include treatment for trauma issues. Ms. Adams explained that most of these services would be provided because young people have experienced trauma. Ms. Schwartz explained that the model of services being discussed usually prioritize peer leadership and employing people based in the communities they serve.

Commissioner Li asked whether the employment slots should be earmarked. Ms. Adams explained that the strategy involves giving providers flexibility in order to allow them to work with TAY in a variety of situations across a continuum of services. Some youth will need more educational support, others more employment support.

Commissioner Bae asked who the employment providers would be. Ms. Adams explained it would be a competitive process. Commissioner Bae asked whether the internship opportunities would include undocumented TAY. Ms. Adams explained that while workforce transitions are a different issue, the TAY served by the internships do and should include undocumented youth.

Commissioner Sicairos asked how these would cater to TAY with disabilities. Ms. Adams explained that this would be based on the providers selected, and the idea would be to select a group of providers working with diverse groups.

Ms. Schwartz explained that the effort to create a definition of TAY for the Children’s fund recommendations involved a lot of diverse voices ,and she hopes we can continue to draw from the outcome of that effort to define who disconnected TAY are.

Ms. Schwartz explained that one challenge is that DCYF is starting the next community needs assessment, and there is a question of whether the CF voted in 2014 can work with the community needs assessment now underway. There is a question of how assessment of TAY needs fit into that. This request represents an effort to plan ahead by asking for a two year bridge until the Children’s fund takes effect. This represents a comprehensive planning effort, rather than individual providers having to lobby during the add-back process.

There was no public comment.

Commissioner Sicairos motioned to support this request, seconded by Commissioner Eric Wu. The motion was approved by acclamation.

A recess was called at 7:16 pm. The meeting was called back to order at 7:24 pm.

 

 

7. Youth Commission Business (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. [First Reading] Resolution 1314—05—Employing Undocumented Youth in SF Public Sector Youth Workforce Programs
Sponsors and Presenters: Michel Li, Nicholas Persky, Jina Bae, and Michelle Kong
(Document G)

Commissioner Li read the resolution into the public record.

Commissioner Flores asked whether there were any other specific recommendations rather than the general urging. Commissioner Li responded that the issue has been under investigation and it has been difficult to come up with more specific recommendations. Chair Persky explained that they do outline strategies for payment in the resolution that perhaps should be included in the resolved clauses.

B. [First Reading] Youth Commission Budget & Policy Priorities for Fiscal Years 2014-2015, and 2015-2016
(Document H)

Commissioner Kong took over chairing on this item and thanked her colleagues for their work on the document. She explained no official action would be taken until a second reading at the next meeting.

Commissioner Eric Wu presented on “Fully Fund the Plan for Affordable Housing for TAY,” and explained that the city is progressing towards the goal of siting these units. We want them to continue their efforts and evaluate the effectiveness of TAY housing and supportive services.

Commissioner Kong presented on 12N and explained that this recommendation is about bringing funding and support for coordination and implementation of the 12N ordinance.

Commissioner Edelhart presented on Recommendations on the SFPD-SFUSD MOU, and explained that the MOU priority is about implementing the agreement that was put in place this year. There is a strong implementation plan in place and making sure this filters to the school level. We want to continue community meetings to improve implementation to work on priorities that may not be represented in the signed MOU.

Commissioner Cardenas read “Assist and assure that the police dept. follow through on commitment to the Youth Commission’s recommendation to provide police training on interacting with youth.” Commissioner Cardenas explained that this priority is based on feedback from the youth-police relations hearing held in March 2012. This priority calls for police training on interacting with young people. It would improve and enhance youth-police relations. This calls for training for both new recruits and advanced officers.

Commissioner Li read “supporting undocumented youth employment.” She explained it had much of the same contextual information as the resolution that had been read earlier.

Commissioner Persky presented on “Free MUNI for Youth.” This priority has been in motion since 2009 and came out of the commission’s youth city services committee. It was based on concerns regarding sky rocketing youth fares. A community based coalition won a lifeline program that failed due to administrative difficulties and pushed for Free MUNI for all youth, and won Free MUNI for low income youth. There are still few barriers to applying for those who lack income verification. The program has been a success. 31,000 youth have signed up (78% of eligible youth). Google made a major donation and the MTA board has made an institutional commitment to this program. 18 year olds are now going to be included. The main recommendation is to stay strong with the current program and continue the program including 18 year olds. Another recommendation is continuing collaboration between the school district and SF MTA to get youth signed up for the program. We also want to see this accessible to youth and not create administrative barriers for either youth or for MUNI and we want to see the verification process stays the same.

Commissioner Flores presented on “Support City College of San Francisco,” and explained that City College serves diverse communities in San Francisco amidst diminishing access to other affordable educational options. The accrediting commission has voted to revoke their accreditation for non-educational reasons. We are urging elected leaders to support the college, both by supporting democratic governance. This is ever more important as we are seeing heavy policing tactics at closed meetings.

Commissioner Eric Wu presented on the Children’s Fund and explained the youth commission had expressed support for TAY inclusion, a fund increase, and 25% youth seats on an oversight commission. We also support more coordination of services between the school district, the city, and community organizations.

Commissioner Wu also presented on the priority to establish a homeless bill of rights. The idea with this priority is to stop trying to address homelessness by criminalizing it. Due to the inclusion of youth in the homeless count, we now know that there are many homeless and unsheltered young people in the city.

Commissioner Edelhart presented on the priority to investigate the needs of and expand services for children of incarcerated parents. The justice committee is working on a hearing on June 19th for this priority. We hope this hearing will focus on: need for additional support services, family impact in sentencing, housing stability, data collection, and visiting policies.

Commissioner Persky presented on the “Youth Voice” priority, which addresses the Brown Act and the public’s rights to give testimony on public matters. While in policy this allows everyone to participate, in practice youth are barred from this because they are required to be in school. This would apply to the Board of Supervisors and youth serving city commissions and would require scheduling youth specific items at afterschool hours. The Youth Commission would be responsible for outreaching to be certain that youth show up at the meetings in question.

Commissioner Yu presented on the disability awareness priority. This is aimed at supporting students in general education in learning more about students in special education and closing the gap between students. We are recommending including this in the P.E. curriculum. The SFUSD staff recommended asking for a hearing and formal inquiry in this regard.

Commissioner Persky presented on the “18 year old youth fare” priority. This priority is independent of including 18 year olds in Free MUNI for youth. It is about the youth fare in general. 75% of high school seniors will turn 18 during the school year and currently must pay the adult fare. AC transit and Golden Gate transit consider youth 5-18.

Commissioner Cardenas presented on “Following up on urging against the arming of juvenile probation officers.” He explained that the justice committee wants to reaffirm its position against arming juvenile probation officers, which was not in this year’s budget, but has been confirmed by Chief Nance to still be on the table.

Commissioner Eric Wu motioned to include support for the TAY ED network’s budget supplemental recommendation in the priorities document. Commissioner Persky suggested including in the second reading rather than taking action tonight.

 

 

 

 

8. Staff Report (Discussion Only)

Staff reminded commissioners to reach out to their appointing officers regarding their plans for next year and shared upcoming events and outreach opportunities.

 

 

 

 

9. Committee Reports (Discussion Only)

 

 

A. Executive Committee, Chair Michelle Kong

Commissioner Kong announced recent press and public appearances. The priorities document will be presented to BOS on May 28th. Supervisor Breed wants to earmark 2.1 M for rehabilitate public housing units that are not currently habitable. This legislation will be referred. UESF is proposing a teacher salary raise.

B. Youth Justice Committee, Chair Sophie Edelhart
Commissioner Edelhart invited commissioners to the police commission meeting Wednesday to support DGO 7.04. She also reported that Angela Chan was not reappointed to the police commission and explained this will make the youth commission’s police priorities more difficult. Former commissioner Chan is holding a community meeting Thursday.

C. Immigration & Employment Committee, Chair Michel Li
Commissioner Li explained they had received a presentation on DACA from CYO. They are looking at the minimum wage proposals and are working on the newcomer student survey and hosted an event with educators for fair consideration.

D. Education, Health & Wellness Committee, Chair Ariel Yu
Commissioner Yu explained the committee met with youth who are doing disability awareness work in SFUSD and are working on the resolution regarding disability awareness.

E. TAY, Housing, and LGBT issues Committee, Chair Eric Wu
Commissioner Wu invited commissioners to the housing town hall on Wednesday. Commissioner Sicairos, Bae, and Kong were planning to attend.

F. Youth Advisory Council, Representative Joyce Wu

Commissioner Joyce Wu explained they debriefed focus groups at the last meeting and talked about children’s fund priorities.
 

10. Attendance Authorizations (Action Item)

A. Request for authorization of absences

i. Commissioner Angel VanStark, Monday, April 7th, 2014

Commissioner Van Stark was not present so the item was tabled.
 

11. Announcements (This Includes Community Events)

Commissioner Gomez wished the commission a happy Cinco de Mayo.
 

12. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:49 pm.