COSW Meeting Information - January 27, 2016 - Supporting Documents
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
January 27, 2016
Â
Each heading refers to a specific policy area as reflected in the Commission’s Strategic Plan.
Â
I.           Policy Leadership & Outreach on the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Ordinance
Â
A. Â Â Â Â Â Cities for CEDAW Campaign
Commissioner Kirshner-Rodriguez and I spoke about our groundbreaking CEDAW work at the Association of California Commissions for Women conference held at the California State Library in Sacramento on Friday, January 22. Commission Secretary Herschell Larrick and Workplace Policy & Legislative Director Elizabeth Newman also attended.
Â
B. Â Â Â Â Â Gender Analysis of Commission and Boards
Public Policy Fellow Sarah Hyde’s completed Gender Analysis of Commission and Board Appointments, the highlights of which she presented in December, is provided to you in your packets tonight.
Â
C.      Women’s History Month Celebration
We will hold the annual Women’s History Month celebration on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 and kickoff Women’s History Month at the Board of Supervisors, and a Reception to follow where Mayor Lee and District Attorney Gascón will present to their honorees. The theme for 2016 is “Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government.”
Â
II.          Women’s Economic Empowerment
Â
A. Â Â Â Â Â Legislation
Â
1.          Our Children Our Families Council
Ms. Newman continues to monitor the work of the Our Children Our Families Council and advocate for gender considerations in the development of their outcomes framework measures and plans.
Â
2.          San Francisco Legislation
We are excited to participate in Supervisor Katy Tang’s Paid Parental Leave Taskforce. Ms. Newman attended the first meeting this afternoon. The group features leaders in the private sector, advocates, and government entities who will work to develop strategies and potential legislation to expand paid parental leave to all new parents in San Francisco. This effort will complement Supervisor Scott Wiener’s proposal, which appeared in the news last week. Ms. Newman is also monitoring Supervisor Norman Yee’s childcare funding legislation.
Â
B.          Gender Equitable Workplaces
Â
- Â Â Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance
Public Policy Fellow Richa Dhanju conducted outreach to businesses to educate employers about the Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance and encourage the implementation of family friendly workplaces to provide employees more flexibility to balance work and caregiving obligations. She will provide a report detailing this work at February’s Commission meeting.
Â
- Â Â Child Care Planning and Advisory Council
On January 13, Ms. Newman participated in a meeting with the Child Care Planning and Advisory Council to develop a Proposed 0-5 (Years Old) Citywide Early Childhood Plan.
Â
-    Hotel Council’s Women in Leadership Conference
I was invited to put together a panel on advancing gender equity in the workplace for the Hotel Council’s Women in Leadership Conference scheduled for March 4. Ms. Newman and I have been attending planning meetings and will lead a panel featuring data on gender equity in the workplace and best practices, including examples from past GEP Challenges and others in the hospitality industry.
Â
III.         Women's Health & Safety
Â
A.          Anti-Violence Against Women Programs
Â
1. Â Â Â VAW Prevention and Intervention Grants Program
Our Violence Against Women Partner Agencies continue to provide comprehensive violence prevention services to the community in the following categories: Crisis Line, Intervention & Advocacy, Legal Services, Prevention and Education, Emergency Shelter Services, Transitional Housing, and Anti-Human Trafficking. The Violence Against Women Prevention and Intervention Grants Program allocates almost $5.7M to safety net services. Associate Director Carol Sacco worked closely with the Partner Agencies to have Contract Amendments, revised grant plans and budget in place, and the additional funds encumbered and distributed. To date the Violence Against Women Partner Agencies have spent approximately $1.6M or 30% of total grant funding.
Â
2. Â Â Â Citywide Non-Profit Monitoring and Capacity Building Program
The Citywide Monitoring Committee is underway for the current fiscal year, and met in early October to identify and assign responsibility for shared non-profits that will undergo fiscal compliance monitoring during FY 2015-2016. Approximately 140 non-profit contractors will undergo either a self-assessment or site visit as part of the Citywide Nonprofit and Fiscal Compliance Monitoring Project this year. Ms. Sacco represents the Department on the Steering Committee and will participate in the monitoring of a number of shared non-profit contractors. Citywide monitoring of non-profits will begin in January and should be completed by March. She will be the lead monitor for the following organizations: Justice and Diversity Center – SF Bar Association, La Casa de las Madres, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Jewish Family and Children’s Services and Asian Pacific Legal Islander Legal Outreach.
Â
The goals of the Citywide Non-Profit Fiscal and Compliance Monitoring Committee are in-part, to improve the quality and consistency of the City’s fiscal and compliance monitoring of non-profits by standardizing procedures across departments and the decrease the administrative work and eliminate duplication of efforts for both non-profits and City departments.
Â
3. Â Â Â One Billion Rising
Please save the date for the One Billion Rising event on Friday, February 12, 4 – 5:30 pm at the Women’s Building, Community Room, 3543 18th Street, San Francisco. This year, the Department will partner with Mission Neighborhood Centers – Mission Girls to assist in the planning and execution of a successful One Billion Rising event. This event is to be inspirational and empowering for youth and adults alike.
Â
4.    Partnership with the Treasurer’s Office on Financial Coaching for Domestic Violence Survivor
On December 17, I gave opening remarks for an event at City Hall to spotlight Treasurer Jose Cisneros’ initiative “Domestic Violence Survivor Financial Coaching Pilot,” a new component of the Treasurer’s San Francisco Smart Money Network that was made possible through a grant from BALANCE. We heard about the tremendous positive impact of the program from survivors of La Casa de las Madres.
Â
Â
Â
5.    Screening of “The Hunting Ground” Documentary on Campus Sexual Assault
On December 14, the Department was one of the co-sponsors of a screening of The Hunting Ground, organized by the District Attorney’s Office and shown at the main library. The film exposes the problem of sexual assault on college campuses.
Â
B. Â Â Â Â Â Human Trafficking
Â
1. Â Â Â Presentation to Women Funders
On December 10, Ms. Kandel met with a group of 8 women who belong to a funding circle of the Women’s Foundation to talk about human trafficking in the Bay Area and funding issues.
Â
2.    Mayor’s Task Force on Human Trafficking
The Mayor’s Task Force met on December 16. Alexandra Lutnick of RTI and Minh Dang, a survivor and anti-human trafficking advocate, have obtained a federal grant from the National Institute of Justice to evaluate the Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking. The goal is to build a peer infrastructure on how human trafficking task forces are looked at and what works well.
Â
3.    U.S. Attorney’s Executive Briefing on Human Trafficking
On January 11, Ms. Kandel and I joined Commissioner Julie Soo at the 5th annual Executive Briefing on Human Trafficking organized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and attended by 150 mostly law-enforcement officials from throughout the Bay Area. Commissioner Soo spoke about non-traditional approaches to pursuing traffickers, including state licensing and other administrative measures. Ms. Kandel presented on the “No Traffick Ahead” campaign, and I presented on the Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking and on a panel about the Super Bowl.
Â
4. Â Â Â San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking 2016 Human Trafficking Awareness Month Kick-off
On January 12, I served as emcee for the 2016 Modern Day Abolitionist Awards Ceremony as part of the month-long awareness month kick-off by SFCAHT. We presented awards to Assistant U.S. Attorney Annemarie Conroy, Supervisor Katy Tang, and Attorney General Kamala Harris. The event also featured remarks from Acting U.S. Attorney Brian Stretch, Homeland Security Special Agent in Charge Ryan Spradlin, FBI Special Agent in Charge David Johnson, U.S. Health and Human Services Regional Administrator Robert Garcia, and Regional Bermejo for the U.S. Secretary of Labor Elmy Bermejo. Media outlets that covered the event included ABC, CBS, and KTVU. It was impressive to see so many federal agencies come together for the kick-off.
Â
5. Â Â Â Presentation to the Port Commission
On January 12, Ms. Kandel and I presented on the “No Traffick Ahead” campaign to the Port Commission. The Port agreed to post some of the No Traffick Ahead posters, and help distribute the No Traffick Ahead palm cards.
Â
6. Â Â Â Presentation at Wells Fargo
On January 13, Ms. Kandel was part of a panel on human trafficking at Wells Fargo, attended by about 150 employees of Wells Fargo (some in person and some remotely).
Â
7. Â Â Â Meeting with Israeli Anti-Human Trafficking Coordinator
On January 15, we hosted a meeting of members of the Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking with Merav Shmueli, Israel’s human trafficking coordinator. Special thanks to Roberta Guise who facilitated the connection with Dr. Shmueli.
Â
8. Â Â Â No Traffick Ahead Collaborative
The “No Traffick Ahead” ad campaign launched in San Francisco the week of January 18 and a press event was held on January 21, featuring Supervisor Katy Tang, Sharan Dhanoa of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking, Betty Ann Boeving of the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition, Survivor Regina Evans, and Casey Bates of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
9. Â Â Â State-wide Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts
Women’s Policy Director Minouche Kandel is part of a working group headed by CAST in Los Angeles that is proposing state legislation to decriminalize human trafficking related crimes for minors.
Â
C. Â Â Â Â Family Violence Council
The Family Violence Council has established an elder justice committee, and Ms. Kandel attended the first committee meeting on January 6. The Justice and Courage committee of the Family Violence Council is continuing to work on improving follow up when a suspect is gone on arrival, and updating the form used by medical providers to report domestic violence to the police.
Â
IV.        Department Budget & Administration
Â
A.          Budget
I will be reviewing the budget proposal for FY2016-2017, 2017-2018 this evening. On January 19, Ms. Sacco organized a budget briefing for VAW Grants Partner Agencies that included presentations by Marisa Pereira Tully and Laura Busch of the Mayor’s Budget Office, and myself.
Â
B.          Fiscal Analyst Position
I am very excited to report that Natalie Alvarez has accepted the fiscal analyst position. She comes to the Department with years of finance and accounting experience. She is scheduled to start work on February 16.
Â
C. Â Â Â Â Â Â Welcome New Fellows
We are pleased to announce that Richa Dhanju, PhD will continue at the Department as the Federal Grants Manager until June of this year. Ms. Dhanju will work on the Department of Justice – Office of Violence Against Women Federal Grant to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforcement of Protection of Orders Program.
Â
Elizabeth (Liz) Yang has joined us as the Pacific Asian American Women Bay Area Coalition (PAAWBAC) Fellow until June. Ms. Yang is a recent graduate from the University of California San Diego with a Masters of International Affairs. She will be working closely with Legislative Director Elizabeth Newman on Gender Equality in the Workplace and planning the Equal Pay Day Conference in April this year.
Â
D.         Staff Wellness
In continuing efforts to protect our record of zero workers compensation claims, four staff members have had adjustable keyboards installed at their workstations so that they can work either standing or sitting.
Â
V.          Calendar
Events organized by the Commission and Department are in italics. Events are in San Francisco unless otherwise noted.
Wed, Jan 27                    Commission Meeting, 4 – 6 pm, Room 408
Fri, Feb 12                       One Billion Rising for Justice, 4 – 5:30 pm, Women’s Building,                        Community Room, 3543 18th Street
Wed, Feb 17                    Family Violence Council Meeting, 3 – 5 pm, 400 McAllister                             Street, Room 617
Wed, Feb 24                    Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking General Meeting,                      1:30 – 3:30 pm, City Hall Room 305
                     Commission Meeting, 4 – 6 pm, Room 408
Fri, Mar 4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Hotel Council Women in Leadership Conference,
                     8:30 am – 1 pm, Sheraton Palace Hotel
Mar 13-17Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â NGO Commission on the Status of Women Forum, New York
Wed, Mar 23                   Commission Meeting, 4 – 6 pm, Room 408