San Francisco Youth Commission
Draft - Minutes
Monday, December 15, 2014
5:15-8:00pm
City Hall, Room 416
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

Jillian Wu, Lily Marshall-Fricker, Rosa Chen, Emily Guo, Luis Avalos Nuñez, Precious Listana, Joyce Wu, Noah David, Alex Berliner, E’mani Davis, Joshua Cardenas, Michel Li, Anna Bernick, Sophie Edelhart, David Zheng

1. Call to Order and Roll Call for Attendance

The meeting was called to order at 5:22 pm. All commissioners were present. No commissioners were absent. Staff present: Allen Lu, Adele Failes-Carpenter. There was quorum.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

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

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. December 1, 2014
(Document A)

Commissioner Avalos, seconded by Commissioner Edelhart, moved to approve the last meeting’s minutes. 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. Consent Calendar (Action Item)

All items hereunder constitute a Consent Calendar. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Commissioner so requests. In that event, the item will be removed from the Consent Calendar and considered as a separate item immediately following the vote on the rest of the items.
A. Referral from the Board of Supervisors, File No. 1411193: Resolution Urging the Municipal Transportation Agency to Implement Free Muni for Seniors and People with Disabilities
Sponsor: Yee
(Document B)

B. Support BOS File No. 141234: Resolution Affirming the Board of Supervisors Commitment to Equal Justice and the Right to Protest and Urging Reforms in National Policing and Judicial Practices
Sponsor: Supervisor Avalos
(Document C)

Chair Li explained the process for approving consent calendar items. Commissioner Chen gave context for the Free MUNI for Seniors and People with Disabilities resolution. Chair Li gave context for the Resolution Affirming the Board Commitment to Equal Justice.

Commissioner Edelhart, seconded by Commissioner Bernick, moved to approve the consent calendar. The chair called for public comment.

Jose-Luis Mejia urged commissioners to support for File No. 141234 and urged commissioners to do what they can to follow up and encourage youth to speak up in the moment of national outrage and attention towards policing issues, especially as it affects youth of color. He invited commissioners to an event being held by the Mission High Black Student Union.

There was no further public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

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

A. Overview of Transitional Age Youth San Francisco 2014-16 Policy Priorities Document
Presenter: Jose-Luis Mejia, Associate Director, TAY SF
(Document D)

Mr. Mejia thanked youth commissioners for their time. TAY SF came about as a result of youth commission and community predecessors who raised concerns regarding the needs of TAY. There was no focus or awareness of TAY needs. People saw issues with young people aging out of services. For instance, CARACEN has tattoo removal services that youth were not eligible for after they turned 18. These especially brought up barriers for youth who are in foster care who all of the sudden lost access to lots of support services. This resulted in a lot of organizations having to work very creatively to meet those needs. The youth commission pushed Mayor Newsom to address this. A TAY task force was created that included service providers and city departments .They conducted research and found data on the number of TAY, as well as TAY needs. They released 16 policy recommendations. TAY SF was created as an outgrowth of the task force to make sure that the recommendations were implemented.

Since then, TAY SF has gone through a series of iterations in structure. The Mayor’s office and DCYF invested in TAY SF and its staffing. TAY SF did not necessarily have the authority to get departments to implement the policy changes. TAY SF became part of the Mayor’s office and then returned to DCYF. Under a new directive from Mayor Lee, departments must create a deputy level TAY lead, make TAY a priority population, and the city must create a citywide TAY lead. Since then, we have gone through a process of revisiting the recommendations to see what progress has been made, and that resulted in the priorities document before the commission.

One of the key areas of priority is around data capacity building, quality and sustainability. The youth commission could really help with developing shared measurement frameworks for different city departments. The city needs to improve data collection and use by TAY serving organizations and agencies. This would promote quality standards for all TAY services. And another recommendations is provide training and capacity building for TAY providers.

Another priority is improving outreach and access, including: providing current, accurate information for all programs; use targeted outreach; develop a provider network; develop transition planning supports as they exit or transition. Right now, DPH funds the SF4TAY website which is a one-stop shop for TAY services.

The document includes a series of issue-specific recommendations in 4 areas:

Education: support and expand options for over-age under-credit and off-track students; provide support to strengthn current alternative education and reengagement; leverage existing services and/or establish comprehensive reengagement centers and a referral system for out-of-school youth. Los Angeles has several of these re-engagement centers. The National League of cities is looking at this issue right now.

Commissioner Listana asked a clarifying question about shared data management for TAY. Mr. Mejia explained this is something that a lot of city departments are intimidated by this enormity of this task. Mr. Mejia noted it is a good time to bring this issue up because the citywide council is being created after the new authorization of the children’s fund.

Workforce Development: Provide leadership and coordination of the youth workforce system; increase capacity building for partners to serve TAY; Engage employers from the youth workforce development system.

Housing: Continue pipeline of housing for TAY to meet or exceed the 400 unit goal; diversify housing options for TAY; conduct a review of housing stock and effectiveness on a bi-annual basis. The experience for young people in these programs can really vary and it is important to evaluate that.

Health & Wellness: Integrate trauma-informed care into funding strategies; expand services to culturally appropriate violence prevention programs; expand access to outpatient and residential treatment options for youth suffering from mental health and substance abuse issues; Connect TAY with healthcare coverage. TAY SF is working with DPH on their trauma-informed initiative and participating in a train the trainer model.

The report has been disseminated. The Board has been briefed. TAY SF is convening working groups in these areas to help monitor and inform. They will be releasing annual report cards to report how the city is doing on its priorities.

Commissioner Edelhart asked whether TAY SF does work around TAY in the justice system. Mr. Mejia explained that the document does not focus on “populations” but “issue areas” or “needs.” There are young people who are justice-system involved who will have needs in the four pillars: housing, education, health, and workforce.

Commissioner Berliner suggested looking into offering expungement clinics for TAY. Commissioner Joyce Wu asked a clarifying question about the number of out-of-work undocumented TAY. Mr. Mejia explained it was an estimate as there is not clear data on undocumented youth because undocumented people are often trying not to be tracked by public systems.

Mr. Mejia explained that the CTAB is looking to focus on the needs of undocumented youth. There has been a pilot program in summer jobs plus to include access for undocumented youth. The CTAB’s goal is to double the number of youth who could be served by those slots and make them year round slots that are available to 150 youth. We also need to think creatively and outside the box to come up with sustainable solutions, for instance, a cooperative model for businesses that have more flexibility for paying undocumented people. The city could look into more ways to pay undocumented people. Right now incentives are being used but that is not a sustainable living. Not having “right to work” documents is one of the biggest barriers young people face. This could set an example for people in other cities.

Commissioner Joyce Wu asked about TAY SF’s work around DACA applications. Mr. Mejia explained that DCYF is funding a group of legal service providers (SFILEN) to help young people get enrolled in DACA.

Commissioner Listana asked about location for development of TAY housing. Mr. Mejia suggested that maybe setting aside units in the development pipeline, use of imminent domain, and other ideas for creating housing. This is one of the biggest needs but it is also the most expensive to fulfill. What types of policies could be utilized and what types of dollars leveraged to create more TAY housing units? Commissioner Listana asked how TAY can learn about available healthcare benefits. Mr. Mejia explained that the HSA is taking the lead on those efforts.

Mr. Mejia closed by invited youth commissioners to a celebration with the Children’s fund community coalition. It will be held Friday January 16th from 5-7:30 at Mission Neighborhood Health Center on Capp Street. One of the biggest challenges to serving TAY has been that TAY were not included in the Children’s fund, and so it is a huge victory that TAY are included in the new children’s fund.

There was no public comment.

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

A. [First Reading] Resolution 1415-AL-04—Resolution urging the Mayor and Board of Supervisors to lower San Francisco’s legal voting age to sixteen in municipal and school district elections
Sponsor: Commissioner Cardenas
Presenter: Dr. Anthony Bernier, Professor, San Jose State University
(Document E)

Commissioner Cardenas gave brief introductory remarks. A previous youth commission cohort took a position in 2005 on a piece of state legislation that allows counties to set their own voting age. The Board of Supervisors passed a subsequent resolution in support. The research supports lowering the voting age which would create a more democratic culture, increase voter turnout, and engage young people in the democratic process. Sixteen year olds have demonstrated high levels of volunteerism and civic knowledge. Whenever 16 year olds have been given the right to vote, they have participated heavily. Research shows that early voting creates a lifelong habit. It makes sense for people to be able to vote while they are engaged in civics lessons.

Commissioner Cardenas then read the resolution draft into the public record. He then invited Dr. Bernier forward to present on this issue.

Dr. Bernier introduced himself as a professor at San Jose State University. He has teamed up with Dr. Mike Males, who is a nationally recognized scholar on youth studies who has written five books on young people, including Framing Youth and Scapegoat Generation. He is currently a senior researcher at Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice. Dr. Bernier also works with Mr. Bill Bystricky who organized the campaign to extend the vote to 16 and 17 year olds in Takoma Park, MD. Dr. Bernier is a library school professor who specializes in services to teenagers and has authored books on youth.

Dr. Bernier explained that the electorate in San Francisco has been aging. There are three concerns that people raise when they oppose this issue: 1) Young people are not interested or engaged in politics and therefore lowering the voting age is a bad idea. Dr. Bernier’s rebuttal is that young people are as interested as adults in politics. Young people engage politics in conversations and through voting when actual issues of importance to them are concerned. 2) Young people will simply vote following their parents. Dr. Bernier’s rebuttal is that research finds 16-17 year olds study issues and vote independently. 3) Why can young people not just wait two years to vote? Dr. Bernier’s rebuttal is that engaging in political issues during school years increases youth confidence in ways nothing else does.

The Takoma Park example shows that teenagers are interested in participating in democracy. At this point, 72% of all voters in Takoma Park support youth voting. In the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, 85% of registered 16 and 17 year olds voted.

While this effort would not extend voting rights in presidential elections, it would in extend those rights in many of those political decisions that affect youth’s daily lives the most: schools, libraries, police, and other local issues.

Commissioner Avalos explained that one of the biggest barriers to voting is poverty and disenfranchisement. How would this address that? Dr. Bernier explained that one of the places in which people are most enfranchised in these discussions is while they are in school, and he acknowledged this is a bigger issue than voting age alone.

Commissioner Bernick asked if this would allow youth to vote in local representative elections. Commissioner Cardenas confirmed that yes, it would.

Commissioner Li asked whether there is any data about the interest of youth in San Francisco in voting. Commissioner Cardenas expressed that the success of the young voter’s forum demonstrates this interest, as well as youth in other cities. Commissioner Cardenas explained that youth are already very civically engaged in San Francisco and would be even moreso if they had the right to vote. Commissioner Li suggested adding that information into the resolution would be helpful. Commissioner Cardenas also talked about the success of the Youth Vote initiative. In 2005, young people were able to vote in municipal elections in the mock election. 85% of youth participated.

Commissioner Listana recommended including all of the information about the extension of voting rights to 16 year olds in one section.

Commissioner Cardenas invited further feedback and asked commissioners to join in the writing of the second draft of the resolution. If San Francisco were to lower the voting age, it would set an example for other Bay Area cities and major cities.

Dr. Bernier explained they are working with the Oakland youth commission.

Commissioner Li asked for an update on the process from Commissioner Cardenas. Commissioner Cardenas explained that Supervisor Avalos expressed support. Commissioner Cardenas asked that youth commissioners discuss this with their appointing officers, once approved. Commissioner Cardenas expressed he would also like to reach out to Coleman Advocates and other organizations.

There was no public comment.

B. [First Reading] Letter in Support of District 5 Local Merchants Accompanying Youth
Sponsors: Commissioner Avalos Nuñez
(Document F)

Commissioner Avalos gave an update on the youth workforce initiative from Mo’Magic, a district 5 youth organization. Commissioner Avalos read the letter into the public record.

Commissioner Bernick motioned to suspend the bylaws to adopt upon first reading. Commissioner David seconded. There was no public comment. The motion was passed by acclamation.

Commissioner Cardenas, seconded by Commissioner Berliner moved to approve the letter of support. There was no public comment. The motion passed by the following roll call vote:
Ayes: Jillian Wu, Rosa Chen, Emily Guo, Luis Avalos Nuñez, Precious Listana, Joyce Wu, Noah David, Alex Berliner, E’mani Davis, Joshua Cardenas, Michel Li, Anna Bernick, Sophie Edelhart, David Zheng No’s: Lily Marshall-Fricker
C. [Second Reading] Resolution 1415-AL-03—Providing Fee Waivers for Eligible San Francisco DACA Applicants
Sponsors: Immigration & Employment Committee
(Document G)

Members of the Employment and Immigration committee read the resolution into the public record. There was no public comment. Commissioner Edelhart, seconded by Commissioner David, moved to approve the resolution. The motion was passed by acclamation.

8. Committee Reports (Discussion Only)

A. Executive Committee

Vice Chair Edelhart offered an update from the executive committee and reminded commissioners about the upcoming mid-year retreat in January.

B. Housing, Environment, and City Services Committee

Commissioner Chen provided the update for her committee, explaining they would be working on the year of the homeless youth resolution and preparing for the children’s outdoor bill of rights legislation.

C. Immigration and Employment Committee

Commissioner Joyce Wu shared the committee was looking into youth aspects of community benefit agreements and worked on updating the DACA resolution.

D. Youth Justice Committee

The Youth Justice committee update was provided by Commissioner Berliner. She updated her colleagues that the committee is working on a youth roundtable proposal and would be hosting project what at an upcoming committee meeting.

E. Youth Advisory Council

The last Youth Advisory Council meeting was cancelled due to the storm.

9. Staff Report (Discussion Only)

Staff shared updates regarding mid-year retreat attendance; the anti-sexual harassment training; meetings with appointing officers; new CDCR visiting guidelines and the closing public comment period; office closures during the holidays; the NEN awards January 30th; Youth Advocacy Day youth leader applications.

10. Announcements (This Includes Community Events)

Commissioner Berliner invited youth commissioners to an invite in support of Chelsea Manning. Commissioner Bernick invited youth commissioners to a holiday party with Youth Warriors.

11. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:31 pm.