1. CALL TO ORDER/ AGENDA CHANGES

President Kirshner-Rodriguez called the meeting to order at 4:10 pm

Action: To approve the meeting agenda.                                                       m/s/c (Soo/Ackerman/Unanimous)

Action: To excuse Commissioner Mesloh.                                                          m/s/c (Soo/Shorter/Unanimous)

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES                                                          

Action: To approve draft minutes from April 22, 2015.                                  m/s/c (Soo/Ackerman/Unanimous)

3. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT        

Dr. Murase provided the following highlights of her report.

1. US Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting, June 19 – 22

Mayor Lee has introduced a resolution entitled Accelerating Women’s Economic Empowerment, co-sponsored by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Baltimore Mayor and incoming President of the US Conference of Mayors Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, among several others. The Department is organizing a Mayors Roundtable event with the It’s Time Network on June 18 to discuss the policy themes touched on in the above resolution and engage mayors in the Cities for CEDAW campaign. So far, five mayors plan to attend.

2. Charter Amendment to Expand Parental Leave Among City Employees

Dr. Murase joined Supervisor Katy Tang at a May 19 press conference to announce the introduction of a charter amendment to expand parental leave for city employees for consideration on the November 2015 ballot. This represents the first part of a two part strategy. The second part will be to convene a task force to develop a proposal to extend parental leave beyond city employees. The Department will join the task force to explore this and other ways of making our city’s Paid Parental Leave more family friendly.

3. Alliance for Girls Conference

On May 20, Executive Director Murase and several staff participated in the 3rd Annual Conference of the Alliance for Girls.

4. Staffing update

Elizabeth Newman has been hired as the Workplace Policy & Legislative Analyst and a candidate has been selected for the Administrative Coordinator position. There will be five new summer interns starting June 1 who will be introduced to the Commission at the June meeting.

5. Mayors Campaign to End Bullying

Sarah Maya DeGuzman, PAAWBAC Public Policy Fellow, reported on her work on the Mayors Campaign to End Bullying. The campaign was composed of three components: 1)  screening of Lee Hirsch’s compelling documentary "Bully," 2) facilitating workshops on bullying and bullying-related issues with over 50 youth, and 3) the Anti-Bullying Solutions Generator, which was a collaboration between the Department and Caravan Studios that empowered over 25 young people to discuss and develop concrete projects to address bullying. Supervisor Julie Christensen presented award certificates to the Anti-Bullying Student Ambassadors.

6. Tea & Conversation with First Lady Anita Lee

Linda Calhoun, Friends board member and co-chair of the event, reported on the Tea & Conversation event, which featured a conversation between First Lady Anita Lee and philanthropist Noosheen Hashemi. The event was focused on 9 - 12 year old girls, with table leaders addressing Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM). Participants described their experiences working with the girls in attendance: Marlena Jackson, Research Scientist, Genentech and Founder, NexGENEGirls; Indiia Wilmott, Coordinator, Museum of the African Diaspora; Verna Liza Caba, Rooftop Girls; and Susanna Rojas, Executive Director, Mission Girls.

4. CONSENT AGENDA                                                                   ACTION                                    

1. Resolutions recognizing Cathy Campbell, Barbara Mark, and Melissa Sandgren for their service on the Board of Directors to the Friends of the Commission on the Status of Women.

Commissioners thanked the board members for their service and exceptional contributions. Commissioners noted the impressive caliber of women serving on the Friends board.

Public Comment

Ms. Linda Calhoun thanked Ms. Campbell for recruiting her to join the board and Ms. Sandgren for creating on-boarding material that was very useful.

Action:  To approve the Consent Agenda.                                                           m/s/c (Shorter/Soo/Unanimous)

5. NEW BUSINESS                                                                                                 

1. Affordability in San Francisco                                                   DISCUSSION                           

Ted Egan, Chief Economist at the Office of the Controller, presented data on jobs, housing, and inequality in San Francisco. Mr. Egan highlighted key trends in the data. Mr. Egan stated that the population of children has declined while the overall city population has increased. Compared to California as a whole, San Francisco has fewer people of parenting-aged, more people between 20-30 and over 60. San Francisco ranks 16th among 100 largest US cities for income inequality. Part of the reason is that there is a high concentration of wealthy individuals. Housing in San Francisco is the highest priced and fastest appreciating among the largest US cities. Low-income households are spending 46% of income on housing (HUD affordability target is 30%) and their income after housing is not keeping up with inflation. Growth industries have either high or low-paying jobs for workers with a lot or very little education while jobs for those in the middle are shrinking. A high number of low-income people have moved out, about 60,000 annually. Conclusions: 1) The innovation economy continues to grow and 2) Housing supply has not kept up with demand.

Commissioners asked about the impact of raising the minimum wage. Mr. Eagan expects this to help as long as people have secure housing. Commissioners requested information with a gender breakdown.

Teresa Yanga, Director of Housing Development, presented on the work and programs of the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD). Ms. Yanga stated that affordable housing is very important to San Francisco. Rent increased by 15% in the last year and 67% of San Francisco households have incomes less than what is needed to pay for these increasing rents. The City is falling short of meeting housing needs with further diminishing resources for housing. MOHCD is working on housing for formerly homeless, renovating public housing, accelerating production of affordable housing, and providing down payment assistance. The City is addressing housing needs with $862 million for affordable housing and plans for 10,700 units by 2020. Mayor Edwin Lee is preparing a housing bond ballot measure for November 2015 to accelerate new and renovated housing and new programs for middle-income households.

Commissioners encouraged Ms. Yanga and MOHCD to include considerations of safety and transit access for women and families in planning affordable housing development. Commissioners asked if MOHCD included gender when tracking who is receiving support through its programs. Ms. Yanga affirmed that many programs do track gender and other characteristics of those served.

Dr. Maria Su, Director of the Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families (DCYF) presented on the programs to support families in San Francisco. San Francisco demonstrated commitment to children and families by passing Proposition C, the reauthorization of the Children’s Fund, with nearly three-quarters of the vote. The 25 year Children and Youth Fund was expanded to include disconnected Transitional Aged Youth and a new Oversight and Advisory Committee. Many families live between the poverty line and self-sufficiency standard preventing them from accessing certain services and support. DCYF offers programs and services for children of all ages from early care and education to youth workforce development. Last year, DCYF served 56,000 kids out of 112,000 total kids in San Francisco. Its summer programs help stunt the summer slide and will serve a projected 156,000 meals this summer through free lunch for kids. DCYF recently redesigned online resource guide for families, sfkids.org. As DCYF enters five year planning cycle, Dr. Su committed to considering demographic trends and gender equity in agency plans.

Commissioners discussed next steps to address affordability in San Francisco. Commissioners expressed interest in submitting follow up questions to presenters and requesting the data disaggregated by gender.

2. Family Violence in San Francisco                                             DISCUSSION                           

Department Policy Fellow Allison Ipsen presented on the 2015 5th Comprehensive Report on Family Violence in San Francisco which tracks the incidence of and response to child abuse, domestic violence, and elder abuse. Ms. Ipsen specified that the report is a draft that will need to be approved by the Family Violence Council before the final report comes to the Commission. Ms. Ipsen highlighted the trends in data over the years, which showed decreases in District Attorney filings in domestic violence cases, decreases in Police Department investigations into domestic violence, decline in referrals made to Family and Children’s Services for child abuse claims, and decline in elder abuse cases investigated by the Police Department. Data also showed increases in District Attorney convictions for Domestic Violence, increases in individuals served by transitional/permanent housing programs, and increases in elder abuse cases and substantiated child abuse cases.

Commissioners thanked Ms. Ipsen and Ms. Kandel for their work gathering this data. They suggested future reports compare data in San Francisco to other jurisdictions. They also encouraged soliciting responses from agencies to explain discrepancies in data and looking at the budgetary context. Commissioners recommended sending the final report to the Police Commission and other commissions.

Public Comment

Beverly Upton stated that none of the work of the Family Violence Council could be done without the Department on the Status of Women. She mentioned there were lots of ideas for recommendations but that the Council should prioritize looking at the Special Victims Unit, which may have too much on its plate.

Sylvia Johnson commented about child abuse issues and the police non-response.

6.  AGENDA FOR FUTURE COMMISSION MEETINGS                  DISCUSSION                             

Commissioners recommended gender analysis on the Department of Public Health and looking at Public Transit Safety. Commissioners discussed establishing a subcommittee on affordability issues. Commissioners Shorter and Soo expressed interest in serving on this subcommittee.

7. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT                                                    DISCUSSION                                  

8. ADJOURNMENT                                                                     ACTION                                       

Action: To adjourn meeting of May 27, 2015.                                                m/s/c (Soo/Ackerman/Unanimous)