Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240713

And is more rehabilitative versus being as punitive as it is. Because we have a juvenile probation officer on site, i work with them intimately. I know the Decision Making process is not always the best. Our young people that are coming in are primarily africanamerican youth, and we work closely with them as well as the parents to make sure they get all their needs met. We work with most if not all communitybased organizations as closely in San Francisco to make sure the young kids are getting the services they need. I have been doing this for 20 years. I was so passionate and committed to doing it that i went back to school. So that i could find out more about what is impacting our young people. So for those kids that come to clark, 95 are impacted by at least one episode of trauma. Of that 95 , 85 are impacted by two or more episodes of trauma. Our young people need all of the adults in this city to reform, to reimagine, to do something very different for our young people. Your young people do not need to be in jail. And so i want to be a part of that perform process. I have had to go through one reform already and i no ewhat it takes. I am more than happy to provide my expertise and to be a part of this team so that the next generation doesnt have to go through what the current generation is going through. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Supervisor walton thank you so much. Next we have kimo and i dont want to butcher the last name, so i will call the first name only. Just for the record, it is withdraw seat 9. I misinterpreted that as the working regular joe. So now i am here. Thank you. Copy and paste everything denise said into my record. So i can just get to the real stuff. And like ron, i have admiration and respect and you will get somebody very with quality that has been doing this work, but unlike ron, i am going to tell you why i am better than all of them. I have i am a resident of San Francisco. District 10, by the way, and just want to make a comment that our District Supervisor walton, you make that chair look good. And thank you for your services. And my family lives in bayview. I am currently with ycd and re. Entry through ipo and prior to that i did work with sunset youth services. The length of Work Experience really came from when i was at cjcj. When i arrived, they had a project and when i got promoted under the leadership we expanded those diversion alternatives to i think six or seven additional programs. Two of which are adopted by the city. And again, it is not just myself, but my mentor who is still the executive director and through the collaborative efforts in working with cbos and like denise says, our colleagues of probation, sheriffs department, police, and the community to develop sort of the juvenile reentry unit which was just a Collaborative Team and then there was the league program. I hope that effort would speak volume in sort of, like, what i can bring to the disarming the differences and looking at the whys and why are we here. Because really folks are trailblazing and this is a big city, and it is really down to what is about these kids. Thank you. Supervisor walton thank you. Next we have valentina sedeno, seat two. Good morning, supervisors. Okay. I am honored to apply today for seat number two. An active member of the Mission Peace cla cla b rative and the financial collaborative and Justice Coalition and San Francisco nate frif the mission living in the bayview as well. And really speaking to just person who has been formally impacted by the system, multiple systems, and through the juvenile and foster care. I am still directly impacted with a personal Family Member still incarcerated. And it just engaging the whole criminal Justice System overall. I have lost my brother to incarceration as a lifer. He has been in at least 17 years and over 20 years the juvenile Justice System failed him. So i want to be part of working group that can help reform the systems and in the institutions and reimagining what real juvenile justice looks like and can be. I am a longtime advocate working over 22 years with nonprofits with mission girls, and now with ycd as Reentry Services program manager. So i just really want to be part of a working group that can help change the dynamics of the structure that currently has a mini institution prison like setting to stop further institutionalization of young people. I know firsthand the impact that it has on families. And i would rather invest our funds that we currently use to lock up young people to alternative detentions. So as a person personally effected by longterm incarceration, understanding the affects of the system involvement, i just feel i can bring a critical perspective to the working group and help shape and reform the system that is currently in place with a more rehabilitative approach. Thank you. Supervisor walton thank you. And next we would like to bring up dinky dinky withdrew. My apologies. Hence why we said with the exception in some cases. And i dont see hattie breed. She may be coming later. Julia thompson . Seat 3. Hello. I can speak, right . Supervisor walton definitely. Go ahead. I am julia thompson, born and raised in San Francisco, district six. I am 19 and i am formerly incars nated juvenile. I am incarcerated juvenile. I ampere to speak on my peers and spent ages 14 and 18 in and out of Juvenile Hall and group homes until age 19. Only one charge. I know i can be a great asset to this work group because the experience and knowledge that i have gained and have and my goals and intentions is to speak on my experiences to the adults in this group to get an insight on what juveniles go through and how the system actually can help us and help us and our families. And not just separate and isolate us. I have been a part of the bodies work with the young Womens Freedom Center and the Youth Law Center and meetings to better care for youth and families and solutions look like. I think Better Solutions would be talking about employment and housing opportunities for youth. I say employment and housing because from my own experience i was too young to have a real job and from others experience, having stable housing would have helped them focus on Different Things like education if the money they get for us being in there was given to us and in instead of in my case, i would have avoided finding a way to get it. Thank you, julie. Thank you. And now were going to go a little bit out of order. And call up miss Joanna Hernandez for seat five. Good afternoon. Good morning. Afternoon now. And thank you so much. I have to get back to work as a working parent. I am here to submit the application for seat five. It is really hard to speak about this very topic because as someone who is the founder of families understanding the system, a support group for parents to navigate such a confusing system, i started organizing this group when my son was in Juvenile Hall. And we approached Juvenile Hall to create the guide because there was no guide to navigate that Juvenile Hall system. Parents didnt know how to visit their child. I am born and raised in San Francisco. Started and grew up in the project and moved to the mission. And i have been working in the reentry field for about 20 years and the in custody director for five keys inside the county jails. And most importantly, i am here to speak on behalf of myself and my family. I feel that we need to not only interrupt but stop the generational incarceration. Its big and it is happening every day. And in my professional career i see more and more young people being transported from Juvenile Hall straight to the San Francisco county jails and i see firsthand the impact that it not only has on them but that it has on their children and their families and their mothers. My son was i saw firsthand the impact on how Juvenile Hall failed my son. I think my son would not be in jail facing a life sentence if it wasnt because of what happened at Juvenile Hall. The probation officer and the counselors, everything that was done there was not done in the correct way. I think that having the voice of the mother and someone with a professional experience can bring some big impact to the committee. Thank you. Supervisor walton thank you. And now we have danielle russworm, seats three and four. No danielle . Okay. Kandy kalani ifopo, seat four. K. I. Hello. Good afternoon. I just like to present myself my full name. Kandy kalani ifopo. And i prefer k. I. Why am i here today . I am here today before i continue, though, i am asking for the initiatives to be supported for me to step to the side for seat four or i have advocate there be another youth seat on this working group because in todays society, we need to have the balance and invest in Youth Leadership in this city. And i ask to be considered to be applying for seat one and two as well. And ls a member of the jjpa. And i wouldnt be doing that because if i didnt have the support and along with all the comrades behind me to have the power in my voice to say that as well. And so why i am asking that i be considered for seat one and two as well is someone who queer, a gender nonconforming person who has access and then all my folks back in Hunters Point and the district that i was born and raised in, what does it look like for me toed a to advocate and create access for all folks from the district to the mission to the point to the tenderloin. That is my goal. And what i want to contribute to this working group. I am someone who still lives here in Hunters Point. And i represent young kids who are Pacific Islanders who are next to the increase of being incarcerated. And someone who is formerly incarcerated myself and my goal here today is to intentionally be a part of this working group and bring intentional support and speak for those who cant be spoken for. And so i just wanted to finish off that i am glad that this is being created and that we are all here for the same reason. Thank you. Supervisor walton thank you. Magdalena apostol, seat five. Good afternoon. I really find it difficult to explain the reason i am here starting with the question, my expertise. There is no mother that has expertise in having an incarcerated child. I wish no mother ever gets one of these. Until you face it. Why am i here . Because we really need a change. I dont like the statistics out of the Juvenile Hall for two years. I dont want to repeat myself, but she was the only one that graduated high school. Although the provisional officer declared him a professional career criminal. He graduated high school and he was transferred to stockton. Right now two years over there. And i messaged him at 10 00 and i said, peter, today you will be talking. What would you change if you got the chance . So he said, mom, jail time is to find yourself, not to be peeking through the fence. And that is what most of us, we do here. Not him. The statistics is the things that i dont like. Out of 400 plus children in the stockton facility where our children out of San Francisco are getting transferred, no more than 50 take any classes. And no more than 20 are really studying. Why . The kids need jobs. And education. And we are the ones that are responsible for that. And my son had unbelievable change. I cant believe my eyes how much he changed for these four years to be fulltime student and full time working with a computer and science major. He said, the kids are fighting because they do nothing. They need simple cars, basic instructions, and computers. Give them three of them and make them busy. Thats it. They are not going to be fighting all day long. They are youngsters and they are teenagers. With all the money that ms. Ronen has said we do need to steer these kids and these 400 kids that do nothing, we just cannot afford it because they become again and again on the streets and get back to where they are right now. Thank you very much. Supervisor walton thank you. Jane faalataina, seat 5. Forgive me if i mispronounced your last name. Good morning. My name is jane faalataina, seat five, and i have been a resident of San Francisco entirely all my life. Born in hawaii. Raised right here. And i am here to tell you my qualification for seat five. My qualification is the system impacted adult and now a mother of a son who is currently in youth authority. I am a prime candidate to voice the needs of my community. I am a proud Pacific Islander female who works to advocate to young adult youth who have experienced childhood trauma excuse me, i am pretty nervous, my first time, through Street Services as an employment trainee manager and instructor and case manager, i have worked experience of reaching out to communities and developing the skills to obtain and maintain employment. And the process of teaching and facilitating young adult youth and job training readiness, and in addition, i would like to implement my story in order to meet the young people where they are at in homes to redirect harmful behaviors and become a leader in the role model for our community. Why do i want to be appointed and what do i hope to accomplish . I am passionate and committed to the work i do, not only the work i do at Market Street but also in the community, and with my nephew and nieces and my family. And to prevent youth to experience similar hardship that run prevalent in our community. Thank you. Supervisor walton thank you. Ms. Sabrina hall, seat five. Hello, all. Aam sabrina hall and i am an american of the africanamerican parent advisory council. This is my second term on the Student Council at the Elementary School and members of mothers and fathers and green action and bayview. Also and a member of San Francisco Impact Partners working to end homelessness infrastructure. And because i am fresh out of a shelt we are my four kids. The reason why i wanted to be on this is i am a mother of someone affected by the juvenile Justice System. My 16yearold was in juvenile when she was 13 and now she is a mother of a sixmonthold baby. Prison data and court files show a link between School Truancy and crime. Nearly 60 of the kids incarcerated couldnt read at third grade level. These figures calculated by the tribune serve as a grim reminder that absence from school at the early age is often the first warning of criminal misconduct that can destroy young lives as well as burden society with cost of street violence, welfare and prison. The Environmental Protection Agency States Healthy School environments play an Important Role in the health and academic success of children. Exposure to environmental hazards in schools can negatively impact the health of children and school staff. UnHealthy School environments can also affect attendance. Children in minority, low income and other underserved populations as well as children with disabilities can experience higher exposures to multiple environmental contaminants. These programs have the added benefits of reducing absenteeism. I am on the student side council and this is from paul revere. All the students that are late from zip codes 94124 and 94110. As you can see i dont know if you can see that. The Justice System is buys yaed against youth of color. I believe that people need to start seeing that the adult court system ignores the environmental factors that affect adolescent behavior, especially from communities like district 10. We need to stop blaming the parents and the children for their behavior problems, and we need to look to see where the students are coming from. Many of the kids at these schools, they want more resources, more programs, and i am looking for a school right now for my daughter. Schools are segregated. And that is sad. They need more events and we need to reach out to the Community Like Shawn Richard and brothers against guns to volunteer in the schools. We need to just stop blaming our children and close down juvenile justice. We need to look into the environmental factors that is causing the mental issues with our students. I hope you guys consider my application. I do a lot of Community Organizing in my community. I am a supervisor at starbucks and i volunteer at tandem and put book boxes. I organized bayview night out at starbucks with mayor breed. And mothers challenge sfufd and organized coffee with a cop with the bayview officers. And i got malcolm x preschool and i am very involved in the community and schools as well as still involved in my san diego organizations because they also are with a plight out there as well. Supervisor walton thank you, sabrina. Thank you. Supervisor walton james lawrence, seat five. Good morning. Thank you for the time and consideration. After spending the last 25 years leading the development and distribution of some of the most Disruptive Technology of products on the market, i find myself now at the intersection of technology, diversity, and society. And i am the president of the board of faces itself and the San Francisco nonprofit. And their mission is to provide assistance to the impacted most by the Collateral Damage of technology. When i was made aware of serving on the closed Juvenile Hall working group, i got the same inner glow i got when we decided to bring a new product to market. Just something about it to be new and innovative and to make a mark on. This is very personal and i have two grandsons for the last four to five years and have been in and out of juvenile facilities and is personal to me. I know the Juvenile Hall has limitations and is time for a change. One of the key goals is to make sure they cast a wide met to have the message and procedures to have the practices back and is personal to me and appreciate your consideration. Thank you. And now mr. Lonnie holmes seats 5, 6, 8, and 9. Thank you. I am a little under the weather, but i will try to struggle through this. And i want to commend you for the work that you have done on this project and in terms of closing Juvenile Hall. I have been involved with juvenile for some time and i want to pay homage to bell and Probation Department and assist the folks that are here today with the programs that you are familiar with are the development of what we have done and using tanna funding to expand the program that you have in front of you. In addition to that, i am a native san franciscan and i am here because i think its important that not only you continue the legacy of miss cheyenne bell, but the legacy of the programs that have been going on for over 20 plus years. I created many of the programs in terms of Home Supervision programs and in the 90 utilization rate for many years. And additionally, more importantly, i am proud of the programs we did inside Juvenile Hall and whether its having the barber programs, mentoring program, and g. E. D. Programs and before the funding considerations took in and took the toll, if you will. Let me say this that there are many Program Modalities consistent with rehabilitation that can be utilized for individuals in a confined setting that i think that we can utilize not only to transition into individuals out of a confinement situation into the community and we have the in the last 25 to 30 years. With that said, i will stop there. I used to go in and out of juvenile but not so much because i was violent. I used to cut school a lot. I used to do a little petty theft and stuff and going in and out of juvenile for me as a young person was just i didnt like it. I didnt want to go back anymore and then i was asked by a probation officer, what can we do to help you. I said, well, i need a job. My first job was the San Francisco foundation and when i got in there my mentor was carole tatum, she first set me down and was like you know how to read and write and it wasnt good. So she made sure five days out of the week, two days out of that week i had to read and do reports for the San Francisco foundation. That part right there saved me and then my son is a product of hunterspoint he was born in 88. He experienced juvenile. One thing i want to say about the system and being people, it take adults to help you. I might get emotional but its a wonderful officer that my son to be dead because he called me on the phone a couple of times. I never even had met him. He was just like vanessa, im about to do something and i guarantee you he is still off the streets. And when my son got in custody, he was like mom, i didnt have them drugs on me. But just because i got the intervention that we about to get him off the streets for you vanessa. He would have been killed the night that officer espinoza. This was personal to me. Nobody deserves to be locked up but its just going to take some real people to get out here and talk to our children. Our children need people to talk to them. They dont need to be locked up. They need someone to understand them. They need someone like espinoza to say we got you guys. Lets do something else. They can really help our kids do better because they dont want to steal and we are selling drugs and doing all kinds of things and so we got to do and i will be ive been working on a sun mate buzz i a because im ay Health Workers and i am also a member of city college. When i heard from Nate Williams and eddy i put the curriculum cost selling me is not your friend and i would like to implement before school is out in 2020. So that we can get these kids on a better journey of understanding felonies can really ruin your life. Its just not locking up. They can get lack of jobs and housing and other things that theyre going to need when they stop being young. Please, consider all of us if you can, to do something with you to help us move this agenda. We cant do it. You cant do it by yourself. The working group, i would recommend there be like a chair for that seat for someone and that person is and we want to say these kids because if we dont do better by the next generation, when we grow older its going to be our fault. Thank you. Andrew couples. Seat 6. Good afternoon. Appreciate the opportunity to be here. Id like to start by picking up what you all said to start this and congratulate your board for the vision and foresight for what you are doing but most importantly for the fortitude. My 30 years of experience is the hardest thing is to change this system. Its like a sailboat on the bay is easy to turn and Aircraft Carrier is not. So the fortitude is what is really going to be important for this board moving forward. My name is andrew couples, i am an architect and ive been doing justice work for my entire career. I do it because i believe car techture and art is a science and social science and that we can make a difference. We can make a difference in how we treat people with dignity and respect. Ive had the fortune to work on two of the cutting edge facilities for juvenile justice, new beginnings in washington d. C. Which i believe some of you have visited and the new campus kill pan trick. I have a career doing planning. Im working in nebraska, colorado and ohio and my mantra has been do more and build less. If you talk about the cost in terms of dollars of operations and dollars for construction, the more important cost is the cost in terms of Human Capital and the cost to youth, families and our communities. But when we do need to build, we need to think about the basic human condition and Human Dignity in how we create a environment which is supportive of traumaresponsive care and what were trying to accomplish and kind of the watch words are small and in the sense of nature and feeling the sun on your skin, which you cant do under current Juvenile Hall. More important and as important of how we treat the youth and residents is the environment we create for our staff because itt allows them to do the job we expect them to do in terms of care and custody rather than custody ex control. So, why aim here today . Im here because i followed this as the board is developed because i believe it is a transformative opportunity. Its a transformative opportunity to define not only what the system of the future and how smaller facilities fit within that system. Regardless of the outcome with all the qualified applicants you do have, we stand ready to support the board and to support the working group in anyway we can. Thank you. Thank you. Now we have molly wardbrown. Seat six and seven. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for your courage. We do not have enough brave politicians and i appreciate you for yours. Im here because i wanted to make sure you had enough candidates. Certainly its not a problem and you have phenomenal candidates. My feelings will not be hurt if im not chosen. I actually am much more interested in serving on a interim working group looking at who these kids are right now and how do we reduce these numbers right now. We dont have enough transparency in the data. Were not getting it from probation. We know theyre foster care kids and kids who have run away from group homes and we can shrink these numbers right now and ease their pain right now and were not doing it and it would be helpful if we can get that going. My skills set is really around data analysis, program design, program implication, ive done group homes and ive worked with the foster care system and i helped design the program out of huckle berry. I worked with multiple systems and i know how to use different funding streams and government systems. And hold them accountable. One of the things i think weve not done a good job of with j. P. D. Is hold them accountable. Theres just zero way to get in there and to see what theyre doing with these kids. And you have a room full of people who have been doing this for years. We know exactly what we need to do with these youth. Im independent. I left my job and i would love to devote any interview to this and so, i am love the opportunity to help and. Thank you for the help. Meghan. Negotiate an. No meghan. Sarah kearney seat seven. Ive never done anything like this so well see how it goes. My name is meghan my legal name is zar a im here because i love these kids and ive been a social worker now for 16 years and ive spent my career working with young people in education or in the justify nile Justice System. For my it started in college when i had a internship in new york and i was so impacted by the intensity of this experience that i have been doing some version of justice work since. About 15 years ago i started working in new york city at the institute of justice in a pilot Drug Treatment Program with youth some of the highest substance users in the system. Its known new york city and nation wide for working to improve the Justice System in anyway possible. They use research and data to work to solve problems of the Justice System. In 2008, like a few people before me, i started to work at huckleberry where i was the primary therapist for 11 years. I provided individual and therapy to young families. A big part of my job was collaborating and partnering with agencies and city departments and including sfpd and cps and nonprofit throughout the ensure my clients were getting the best possible support. Six months ago i transitioned to usd to support of two our county alternative high schools the youth chance and Counseling Center and all of those students are facing different barriers to education including justice involvement, homelessness, substance abuse, family stressors, Community Violence and poverty. As a current employee of the School District with an extensive history of supporting young people in the Justice System i have a unique perspective and voice and there are so many layers to closing juve nal and i would love to look at data to help with the possible solutions. Thank you. Thank you. Seat 7. 7 gina castro rodriguez. Im reading a statement for gina castro rodriguez. Dear board of supervisors, thank you for considering my application to serve on the closed Juvenile Hall working group. I worked with children, youth and adults in the delinquency dependency and criminalJustice System for 25 years. And im a psychologist, professional at the university of San Francisco and have a private practice here in San Francisco and serving youth and young tempts who have experience inner personal and Community Violence. I was executive director of Youth Justice Initiative a San Francisco non prove h profit housed at serving youth and young for and involved in the Justice System and those incarcerated across the state in the department of justice facilities. During that time, i have expanded my expertise and developed programs, policy and resources for young people in the area of the Mental Health and Trauma Informed Services including my dissertation on the relationship between sexual trauma and risk taking and delinquent behavior i have the division and parallel Justice Programs for the San Francisco District Attorneys Office and overseeing services to 860,650 victims of Violent Crimes each year and sentencing plans for 400 justice involved people and in this role i utilize lies my expertise and experience and understanding the effects of trauma and Mental Health issues to assist the criminalJustice System and being responsive to trauma development, gender identity. Social economic. I present nationally and internationally as a expert in tram a. Delinquency, culture humility and victimology and published in these topics in professionals journals. If a board is appointed to the jewel knifjuvenile working groud bring my knowledge of working with Mental Health and trauma issues for juvenile justice help to develop strategic recommendations for the future of juvenile. Sincerely dr. Gina castrorodriguez. Thank you. And new york cit and now david david is not here right now. Dan. Supervisors. Thank you for this opportunity to present. I just want to say thank you for this legislation and this move to close juvenile issue an issue that many of us have been working on for many years and thank you to democracy it did. I appreciate it. And am the executive district of an agency founded here in San Francisco back in 1986. Our mission to reduce societys use of incarceration as a solution to social problems. Its all we do. Ive been involved in closing youth correctional facilities from hawaii to the district of colombia and other places in between. This is something we know something b i want to reiterate something that poly said earlier, this closing knew nile hall is a doable thing and were not talking that many kids. The problem is the bhutto cratic process that move kids in a productive way and move them out to the community into services that can address their needs. Anyone tells you that we dont have the resources in San Francisco to address it the needs of these kids dont know what theyre talking about and many people in this room that ive known and ive worked with for many years and ive come to know recently represent an extraordinary array of talent and this is the talent we need to tap into as we reform this system and move to reforming this system. This is all we do i was on the board for 20 years and ive been involved in every jewe juvenile Justice System. I can tell you all the reports and i would like this opportunity as i enter the twilight of my career to see this happen. I would like to be a part of it in some way. Thank you very much. Now we have mr. Chris lanear. Seat 9. Hello. Thank you for having me. I would like to be considered for seat six. Ill tell you about my background and why that make sense. I think the educational component to any new revised and rehabilitative setting is crucial. I have spent 25 years in education and i worked for San Francisco unified School District for 20 years as a special education teacher, behavior specialist and specialist supervisor. I led a team that opened our communitybased Transition Program for youth with disabilities. And it is my time ive been a principal at Juvenile Hall and weve made extraordinary strides in the last seven year. Im fortunate to have an amazing team of teachers that are experts and in working with these specific youth and during my time there for the first time gained full is credit indications as a high school which didnt, it wasnt in place prior to my arrival and its crucial to be acknowledged in that way by wakk. A allows our credits to be transferable to all schools throughout the state which has been a big piece of success knowing what theyre doing there really counts and manners. Ivory designed the structural standards there to really touch on the Students Experience with trauma and ive helped our staff with trial form practices and id like to note that one of the biggest outcomes of that is we have the lowest suspension right of any jewel knife hall in the state of california. In the last three years its been zero. Because what wore doing in school is something the kids want to part in and find value in. We also kind of get them back on past as students upon exit. We have transition specialists that follow them to make sure they get what they need and that communication month amongst the schools as students transition in and out of any program is crucial so there are no gaps in their education. When you are building a new setting for use its going to have educational component. There is a lot specific to court schools. Ive been wellversed in that and i think that being part of the planning process and knowing what those ed codes are and what were obligated to provide for youth is important up front as opposasopposed to what happens r the fact. I would like to be considered for seat six and six nine im a member of the United Administration of San Francisco. Im happy to answer questions or if you need followup im available. Thank you so much. Next lauren papalia. Seat 9. Good afternoon. Im a district nine residents and im also a teacher with five key schools and programs. So the past seven years i taught in custody students in county jails two, four and five. During my tenure ive spent with transitional age youth. Many of whom have come up in the juvenile Justice System and the teachers at the jail have come to recognize wide Side Learning Center is a learning school. Because of this, i have dedicated my teaching to social justice classes focusing on Restorative Justice and juvenile justice. Just to echo what supervisor mar said earlier, i believe this sort of justice will be critical as a move away from incarcerate rating our youth. For the past yearandahalf, i have also been teaching youth in the community, many who have prior or current involvement and my experience as a teacher in the jails has given me a particularly understanding of the many structural impediments Justice System involved in this individuals encounter and the support they need to suck said. As an educator, what i would like to do as part of this group is help come up with innovative ways to educate these kids and my experience working with men and women in the jails, what i have earned that kids are veiled in schools. Im talking about before theyre suspended or expelled and sent on their way along this prison pipeline im talking about the failure of schools to offer relevant petagoie. It does not resinate with learners and in this case kids who are overwhelming of color will not inspire educational growth. This is something that i have experienced firsthand in the jails and have worked in collaboration with my colleagues developing curriculum and seeing amazing results. This comes from adults m. Were who 40, 06 and 30yearsold so i believe with youth sky is the limit here and its not about teaching kids how to meet standards. We know these kids are not standards and we know that standards are biased. I am interested in allowing kids to see a force of empowerment to reshape the way they see themselves and this begins with unlearning the idea of oneself as a criminal no child should identify this way. I will work in any capacity to promote that is selfaffirming and engaging and liberating and i would be thrilled with any opportunity to support this effort. Thank you for your time. No damon. Id like to make a note. I did receive an email. He may not have been aware of todays meeting. I did send him an email and i did telephone him however, his email indicated he did not know about todays meeting for some reason. Thank you. Cindy aguilar. Seats 10 and 11. Hello, my name is Cindy Aguilar and i am representing as a councilor staff at Juvenile Hall right now and i want to tell you about my professional and personal. I was born and raised in San Francisco. Raised in mission and now reside in the bay view and i did tell you i live and breathe San Francisco because i am a product of San Francisco and i am first generation. I came from immigrant parents, navigated San Francisco pretty much alone when you are parents dont know english. I do want to tell you a little bit like ive i really took advantage of the offerings that the city had for youth. I was involved in youth works, my eat program and so fourth. Went off to college, graduated from san jose state with a major in sociology, came back and wanted to give back to my community. Came back and worked in the nonprofit field. I worked over six years in non profits, i worked at Jamestown Community center, mainly under like Youth Employment and i did a lot of work in after School Programming and then summer programming. And i did a lot of design, developing and implementation on programming. Here and lives working parttime at Juvenile Hall. After i finished my time with james down i moved on and got a masters in human development, concentration and leadership and education and i went full time and ive been at the hall over 12 years and so i hold call cases of having this lens of the nonprofit and the lens of actually working in the hall. I guess my main purpose of being a part of the working group is to just, what did work and what hasnt been working. And the peck terese comes from my personal me professional dedicating my professional career to the youth of San Francisco. And yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Just one quick question. Do you agree with this legislation to close Juvenile Hall . I believe that there needs to be change. We are working in an ant equated system and there are so many practices and systems that are not uptodate. Ive worked in after school time and there is so everyday theyre learning and its not that and they picked training and i know that because i work with people that work with kids. I was a director. As a director, i picked and chose what the issue is here. Why is whatever the issue is its like ok there are new innovated ways of working with youth. And thats what i do at work. And then ive seen kids grow over the years. We address, what are is the root cause that made them come in . Is it anger or them being confused. Whatever that cause was and work with them. Sometimes you dont have a parent to work with them and its leadership, developing their confidence as a person. I think thats the main thing. How do we develop these kids . You cant change their environment. You cant. Theyre going to go back to the same environment. You can change their mind set. Thats what ive been doing. I mainly work with the females. Not everyone does that. Everyone holds a different role within one child. I definitely see changing need to happen and leadership needs to happen and give other opportunities and people that can have these schools to have more successful kids and its doable and i just because i seen it in the nonprofit and inside the hall with few eye hides kids but weve been working on that with them and weve worked with anger and we tack eld that and they need to be ok. Thank you. Seats 10 and 11. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is debra bill. Hi. As you know, i worked, i still work for jewel knife hall where were considered the bad people now. Even though were not. The system is bad. We got some really good folks there. I had to interject that. Me included. Ive been there the last 35 years. I believe due to all the positions ive held during that time, i would be a asset to this community because i can speak not many topics regarding the upcoming changes and ive been able to work with three generations of families, good and bad. Thats a good thing and a bad thing. We know the cycle is generational. I do have a wide perspective and understanding the community as a whole. Ive worked with my all my life. From the time i was 12 years o i have a12yearsold. Ive worked with thre prek to. I just think i have a good understanding of behavioral science of kids through 18. My passion and love is for the youth in our community and i would love a seat on this board to provide my unique perspective and experience on the best methods moving forward with your program. I do believe in the closure . Yes, i do. I believe tha that and i believe locking kids is not the way to reform. I mean, i raised three kids on my own and i never spanked them or locked them up and theyre great people. I believe there is alternative ways of dealing with youth. We have to start in the family. Thats the main thing. Im going to help present a way to find out how we help the families involved in our communities. And one last thing, i wanted to hetch to create a more safe and less punitive program for our kids and ill be here to help if im chosen in your efforts to cree tivcreate that system and e our kids get what they need and ultimately the city of San Francisco should be save and thriving for a better tomorrow. Thank you. Samuel carr, seats 10 and 11. Im not samuel carr. He had some things he needed to address with his son at school. Which personally, i admire that priority. Sams experience in jewe juve nl call started. He took a ged, went t