sharpen up what we do so we're actually providing the services that are going to be useful to the community wrathver than just providing the services we think might be useful to the community. ~ rather than >> thank you. any further questions? is there any public comments on this item? please indicate your support on a particular appointment. i'd like to put in my 2 cents for del seymour. i think he's very knowledgeable. he's passionate. and he understands the people here. i'd like to put -- >> and your name also? excuse me, sir, sir? alan? thank you, alan. thank you. hello, supervisors. my name is susanne [speaker not understood]. i'm the managing director of the cutting ball feeder which is located at 141 taylor street. i'm also on the board of the north of market tenderloin community benefit district and i'd like to offer my support for the candidacy of deleano seymour. [speaker not understood] and i've also taken it several times so i've been able to experience both the many connections that he has with the many organizations in our community and the effectiveness of the ways in which he's communicated both with nonprofit organizations and also local businesses. del has done an incredible job of bringing groups from twitter and yammer and san dusk. so, north of market or central market, large high tech businesses into our office and into many of these organizations around the community. i think he is incredibly capable of working across many different groups. so, he is able on his tour both to say hello and meet the people on the street one on one but he's also able to connect with those of us in business and nonprofit community in a way he understands what our concerns are. so, thank you for your consideration of his candidacy. >> thank you. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is martha ryan and i'm the founder and executive director of the homeless prenatal program. and i'm here to throw my hat into the ring for dan bowersox. what dan didn't tell you was when he left the tech industry, he actually volunteered the homeless prenatal program for about six months. he did an exquisite job there and we've been lucky to have him the last 2-1/2 years. and of the thousand families that he's housed over the last 2-1/2 years, more than 96% of them are still housed. he's an incredible listener. he cares about the people that he serves. and he is not a person that acts, but reacts, he acts. he gathers all the information he needs. he's bright. he's thorough. he cares. he has what you want for someone to sit on this -- in this seat. and i have written a letter of support which i will pass on to you here and good luck in your decision. good afternoon, rules committee. ♪ if i were a city carpenter and i was homeless would you save me and i thank you very much for all the help you gave me save my homelessness through loneliness save my homelessness through sorrow will you give me guidance now help me through tomorrow so, make a good appointment today doesn't anybody stay in one place any more it would be so kind to see more keys at more homeless doors and i sure hope this city road don't hope to lose me and we need some more help so please get it now we bring it now appointments today hey, hey, hey bring good appointments today he's a hard act to follow. supervisor, hi, amanda from the mayor's office of hope. i did want to take a chance to thank everybody who came forward to apply. it's exciting to see such qualified applicants for this body and take a moment to thank the staff at hso, megan owens and the whole team at housing and homelessness. the local coordinating board is really an essential body in our city. we work with them extensively and the membership is really important to us. i think their committee structure is functioning at a really high level right now and it's informing a lot of high level policy discussions we're having into entry into the system and strategic planning, thinking ahead. so, i just thank you in advance for your decision. it's not an easy one with the quail if i had applicants and thanks to all my colleagues at hsa for making it an exceptional body right now. thank you. ~ qualified >> thank you. i'm charles sommer. i want to put in a word for deleano seymour. i know him a someone who came into the dining room to eat. as he grew from homelessness, he brings his tours to the dining room and has shown a great lovely for st. anthony's. i believe deleano can provide a [speaker not understood]. >> thank you. ~ hello. so, my name is henry [speaker not understood]. i came from france five months ago to do a documentary about homelessness in the tenderloin. and when i was trying to understand how -- what are the issues with homelessness in the city, i was asking people who, who i can talk to to give me all the best, the best information and all the best advices to work on this project. when i asked people, everybody was telling me you should go see dell seymour. since i've known, del helps me do this movie, he knows what he's talking about. he's got all the knowledge and the experience, and you want somebody with good advice to help san francisco improve the life of homeless people and low-income people, you should choose del. >> thanks. >> thank you. seeing no more public comments -- come on up, then. i believe i'm connected. if you can show with the laptop. right there what i'm showing you is basically the bylaws. for me, it implies that the local homeless coordinating board should be the most creative and innovative body to help end homelessness in our city. and at this point i really feel that [speaker not understood] local homeless coordinating board has turned its back on the homeless. i feel their primary goal at this point is more to just get funding for the shelters and whatever programs. with that said, on top of it, they just lost two sunshine ordinance hearings regarding -- really basically regarding treating homeless activists with dignity and respect. so, i mean, the local homeless coordinating board has some major problems. so, part of my thing is i'm looking for someone with enough dream and vision besides getting funding for these programs, you know, something to help homeless spiritually and intellectly and then like the housing. and we have a problem where if you take -- if you look at a person that's in the city for 10 years, they keep siege ~ cycling in and out. that's a problem. we need someone who understands policy and procedure of these bodies. then we have a problem with attendance of the local homeless coordinating board because the attendance of the local homeless coordinating board has been very shaky. i fear some of them are really on the edge of being disqualified for being members because their attendance is so shaky. i just want to say we need a dream and a vision to help the homeless he escape poverty. i just really see that there are -- we should be coming up, that should be the body that is, you know, trying to help people live better, do better. create their own businesses, buy their own housing. >> thank you very much. were you up here to support any particular candidate? i do like the black guy, but i do wonder if he's strong enough to break past the stagnation of this body. >> thank you very much. any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> okay, colleagues. >> i have a question. >> sure. >> i wanted to know if there is anyone from the local homeless coordinating board here. hi. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i want to be clear i'm not an appointed member of the board, i'm a staff to the board. my name is megan -- >> perfect, megan, you're the person i'm looking for. can you tell me how many people serve on this body? >> nine. >> nine people total. today we have an opportunity to appoint one person to three vacancies? >> there is one currently. >> correct. can you describe to me the current composition of this nine-member body. >> members are appointed three ways. members appointed by the board of supervisors, one vacancy in that group. so, three persona pointed by the board of supervisors. one persona pointed by the mayor and one persona pointed by the city controller. of the three named by the board of supervisors he is kim arm buster. he has a drop-in center at glide foundation. the other persona pointed by the boer -- i'll run through all of their names because i don't know where all folks are appointed. board of supervisors laura guzman. wendy phillips. ken [speaker not understood]. and eric brown. >> actually what i'm trying to understand is to get -- i want to make sure we appoint the ones that is a healthy mix. since we have three men obviously i can't make a determination on the gender, but maybe we can talk about the background of the three different candidates. is there a member that's already on the body that serves this by population, their service provider or some way associated with the homeless community? >> great question. [speaker not understood]. board members have notice throughout the [speaker not understood] so it's single adults. >> thank you. my other question is what is the number of folk that have been homeless themselves that serve on this body? >> currently there's one member. >> just one. so, one out of 9? okay, thank you very much. no further questions. >> breed. >> thank you. how often does this body meet? >> this body meets monthly from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the first monday of the month. every board member is also expected to take a leadership role in one of the committees. committees meet bimonthly or quarterly. >> do we have any attendance information that you can provide us with to understand if there are some challenges with some of the members who are on the board in terms of attendance? >> of the folks who are currently on the board? >> yes. >> there are two members who have missed three meetings in the past year. >> board appointment? >> one member is board appointed, yes. >> is there a attendance requirement? >> there is a stipulation in the by laws, people will be approached about attendance. >> okay. and in terms of the board appointments, so, laura guzman is the co-chair? >> yes. >> and she's still on the board? >> yes. >> is she a service provider? >> she is. >> wendy phillips? >> wendy phillips has resigned. that's the appointment you're considering today. kim is a service provider. and eric brown. >> he is currently a recipient of continuing the funds. >> okay, this is a really tough decision for us because i feel that we have three incredible candidates and i'd like to appoint all of them, especially if there are some members on this committee that are not showing up for meetings, i think it's time that we give people an opportunity. so, i know we only have the opportunity to appoint one person but i don't want to miss out on the opportunity to lose the other two as a result. this is the first time where i feel like each and every candidate is pretty outstanding. so, i am very concerned about making a decision that could discourage any of them from continuing to participate. so, i just wanted to get some thoughts from my colleagues they believe would be a good person for this seat. i am justly not a supporter of the residency waiver, hardly ever. and in this particular case, i feel that it's something i would support. so, any of these candidates i would be happy to support. and i just want to get some thoughts from my colleagues on what they think. >> so, i share your opinion, supervisor breed. we have basically three outstanding candidates. each with their own strengths and perspectives that i could easily see bringing it assets into this body. and, so, it is a tough decision. if you would, breakdown the role of this body in regards to looking -- there was mention of looking at funding and looking at&tly it and so forth and being creative and so forth. how much time is actually dedicated to particular aspects of the role? >> that's a great question. i would estimate service is a minimum of 5 hours per month of hard time that folk are spending [speaker not understood] where they are taking a leadership role. during a time of year where our community is reapplying for continuum of care funds with a $23.8 million grant that we reauthorize annually and this board has direct oversight of, folks are spending 80 to 90% of their board's service on a ranked listed of projects, creating a fair and accurate process to score against each other. during the rest of the year this board is focused on advisory capacity. that's when the more creativeness comes in, [speaker not understood], focus on hearing from other expert groups about the situation of hunger, situation of housing stability, situations of mental health [speaker not understood] that impact homelessness. >> thank you. doesn't make it any easier. [laughter] >> so, thoughts? >> so, i've actually come to the conclusion that i'm going to be supporting mr. del seymour for a couple reasons. one, i'm most intrigued by his background. clearly he's demonstrated the strongest support here today with not only letters of support, but also persons that have come to show up for us to testify. we're talking about a man that has a breadth and depth of experience that far exceeds the other two gentlemen. we're talking over 10 years hand on experience. i also want to think about the composition of the board. if there's only one other person there that speaks from that same experience of having experienced hoochlessness. i think an additional voice to the board is actually a healthy complement and would provide a robust discussion as we continue to talk about homeless issues in san francisco. >> supervisor breed, any thoughts around a particular comment? >> yes, and i would definitely be willing to support supervisor cohen's recommendation. i think -- and i'd also like to look at the possibility of replacing members who are not attending meetings with some of the persons we have here today who are interested in serving. clearly various perspectives are needed. people take it for granted when they've been in a position too long. this is an important [speaker not understood] in our city where we want people who really care about serving on this body. ~ to make a difference. and i think dan, it was mentioned that he had volunteered for six months, which to me is a part of demonstrating your commitment to a particular issue. and also the other gentleman, gary was actively engaged while in law school on this particular issue. to me, that is a part of demonstrating your commitment to serving and resolving some of these issues. and genuinely helping people. so, i just want to look at -- i don't want them to be discouraged, but i do want to also support del because i do think we need someone on this body that has that direct experience, and he has been out there and he knows what it feels like. we need that diversity in terms of experience on this particular board. and i would like to direct staff to go back and look at replacement of those who are not attending the meetings. but today i'm happy to support the recommendation made by supervisor cohen. >> great. s >> we'll make a motion, then, and vote on t. for the two candidates who have not been selected, i think all three of us feel the same way. you are great candidates ~ and we want to note our appreciation for you to step forward and apply for these positions. it's not always the case where we have really 100% of the candidates stepping forward to be such qualified people. and i'm going to echo supervisor breed's words that don't be discouraged. there are going to be other opportunities and we really hope that you will step forward again. so, i'm hearing that there's a motion. is there a motion for del seymour? >> i think we need to make a motion first to waive the residency requirement. so, i'm happy to make that motion. >> i'm happy to second that motion. >> okay, it's unanimous. that motion passes. would you like to make -- >> sure. i'd like to make a motion that we appoint mr. del seymour to seat number 2 on the local homeless coordinating board. >> is there a second? okay, by consensus, the motion passes. [gavel] >> congratulations, mr. seymour. (applause) >> madam clerk, item number 4. >> item number 4, hearing to consider appointing four members, terms ending june 1, 2014, to the reentry council. there are four seats and 12 applicants. >> so, we received a large number of applicants for these vacancies and many of these applicants actually just came in. there's 10 more than noted on this agenda. to give everybody a fair chance at this, we wanted to make sure we have time to actually look at the applicant's resumes and so forth. so, i will be asking for a continuance of this item for -- to the next meeting to allow us to actually do a better job in looking at all the applications. colleagues, so, at this point are there some people here for this item that would like to speak for an applicant? i wanted to give you to do this since you're here, but understand we're not going to vote on anything today. so, you have two minutes to come up here as part of the public comment. >> i have a comment. i wanted to ask for clarification. >> go ahead -- hold on a second. >> so, mr. chair, you're asking us to continue the item entirely and not take any action on any of the particular item? >> yes. yes, i have not seen these other 10 applicants. >> so, -- >> and we did notify some of the people not to come. >> okay, because there was a time when we had filled one of the vacant seats with a member listed here and i came prepared today to make sure that he continues his service. will this delay his ability to continue his service? this term expired on july 17, 2013, for robert bowden. and i was wondering if this might impact his ability to serve in his current capacity. >> let me ask the city attorney. i believe when people term out of a committee and they haven't been replaced, they can continue? >> okay. >> so, there shouldn't be any issue about their continuation until we actually take a vote. is that correct? >> deputy city attorney jon givner. that's right for advisory bodies like this one. for bodies that are created by the charter, people whose terms have expired can only hold over for 60 days. but that 60-day rule doesn't apply to advisory bodies that apply to ordinance like the reentry council. >> so, i guess we can hear public comment and i can make some further remarks. i know we're going to discuss a continuance, but i am interested in not continuing seat 4 and appointing seat 4 in order to move that particular seat forward and narrow down the number of other appointments that we have on our list. so, i'd like my colleagues to take that into consideration. thank you. >> okay. so, yes, sir. good afternoon, my name is omar breed love. i'm here to speak on my own behalf and express my interest to be appointed to the reentry council. i am a former prison inmate, a former drug addict, former homeless person, and i have turned my life around and i want to thank the city of san francisco for identifying the need to address the importance of people coming out of prison and having the resources that are needed to get their lives back on track. in turning my own life around, i want to be part of the solution. i've been a part of the problem so long. i now want to be part of the solution and help -- i've taken away from the community for so long and i see this as an opportunity for me to be a part of the solution and help not only my life, but the lives of other people that have been in the same situation as i have, which helps not only the individual, but helps the family, helps the community as a whole because of the crime that's committed. and it helps the children because of the recidivism of parents going in and out of prison and stuff like that. so, i would just like to express my interest and put my name in the box and let it be known that i'm interested and that i be considered. thank you. >> thank you. >> excuse me, what's your name again? >> omar breed love. i'm not on this list. the clerk just told me my name is on the other list. >> you're one of the more recent -- >> yeah. >> thank you very much. any other public comments? come on up. my name is it james hooker. i represent the allen community development corporation in the western addition as well as the crease project which stands for conflict resolution education and employment services. first let me say that ~ i've been attending reentry council meetings for the last 26 months and i'm also a member of the m-3 movement as well as the alan's community development men's group. my interest is in expertise in employment and education for under developed and under served people. unfortunately, many of the candidates who are now coming out of prison were people that i was working with trying to keep them out of prison. we have a recidivism rate that's going to require that we have a successful, as i like to tell them, poster boys, who can effectively represent the communities in which they come from. the sheriff's department, public defenders office, all have qualified programs for reentry and what we'd like to see is the community become an equal partner in the reentry concept programs that are being developed and a key to that is going to be having representatives from the prison population. so, we look forward to your selection. i did speak with a gentleman who
and his name is kevin bass. he's not here today, but i do know that it's been two years since he's been out and this is something that he's really interested in. and once again, i a plot the fact that we're going to be getting four new candidates or at least three new candidates for the reentry council that will be representative of the [speaker not understood] supposed to serve. thank you. >> thank you very much. ♪ [speaker not understood] the city will softly dig and i know you're so all alone but you've got the tools to make it i know you're gonna take every opportunity and take it reentry love is all around no need to waste it you're gonna use all your tools you're gonna make it you're gonna make it after all city hall they're going to make it after all thank you. >> any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> colleagues, as i indicated, i would ask for a motion to continue this item to call of the chair. supervisor breed. >> okay. so, i realize there are other candidates, as i said before. when we, when we address the vacancy of seat 4 not too long ago, we heard a laundry list of candidates and at that time made the decision to appoint robert bowden and i'd like him to be able to continue in that seat number 4. and, so, i would like to prior -- before we make a continuance i would like to make a motion that we appoint robert baez ento seat 4. okay. so, it's been -- >> is there a motion and second? i have an opportunity to actually hear everybody and see everybody's application to weigh whether or not i would be supporting robert bowden. it's nothing against robert bowden. for me it's a process of being fair and also telling people that we will be continuing [speaker not understood]. >> so, mr. chair, i apologize. i do understand the fairness of the process and that there are applications that we had not necessarily received prior to today, but regardless of those applicants, the only reason as i said -- even considering moving this forward is because we did consider seat 4. we listened to a laundry list of candidates earlier this year. and we made a selection at that time, and i for one would like to see mr. bowden continue in that seat and i don't want to waste anyone's time by allowing other members to believe that there is a possibility, if there isn't. i just want to basically take that one off the table so i then give everyone else a fair shake in terms of some of the other seats listed here. that's my reasoning and i respect your decision, but i really definitely want to be able to move that particular seat forward. >> your reasons are well taken. [speaker not understood]. >> okay. >> i just want to note that for the record. so, let's have a vote. >> supervisor breed? >> aye. >> aye. supervisor cohen? >> aye. >> supervisor yee? >> no. >> the motion was to not proceed? >> it was to support robert bowden for seat 4, so, it passes. >> it passes. >> right. that means that now the seats that are in play are seats 1, 2 and 3. >> yes. >> correct. so, now i ask my colleagues for a motion to continue seats 1, 2 and 3. >> second. >> mr. chair, would you like to continue to the call of the chair or to our next rules committee meeting? >> to the call of the chair. >> thank you. >> okay. so, it by consensus passes. so moved. [gavel] >> okay. can you please call item number 5? >> item number 5, hearing to consider appointing eight members, for indefinite terms, to the food security task force. there are 8 seats and 8 applicants. >> so, we now want to invite paula joan to the podium to share more about the food security task force. hello, ms. jones. >> hello, good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for taking this item. again, my name is paula jones. i'm with department of public health and i'm director of food [speaker not understood] there. the item before you is nominations to the task force for the community members. and i just wanted to go through some of the raoxctionv that we have with task force. first of all, food security, according to our definition was that all of our residents will have [speaker not understood] at all times through the local nonemergency sources. and then i want to go through just what does food insecurity mean. that means not having enough money for food, skipping meals buying cheaper, less nutritious food, worrying your food will run out, not having a healthy place to buy food, not having a kitchen to prepare food and being hungry. these are some of the manifestations we know we have food insecure residents in every neighborhood in san francisco. certain populations have a higher food insecurity. lower households, seniors with disabilities, children, the unhoused. the food security task force was created and currently creates a plan for addressing food insecurity in san francisco, and we do this through tracking and publishing data on food program use and food need. we develop recommendations for policy program and funding. we also work together to develop pilot initiatives to improve food security. we also reach out to other groups and inform them of food security and also gather their information. i am currently a member oswald staff to the task force. it is also represented to the california food policy council. which is a council created comprised of local foot. we are reporting on food security. we'll be providing [speaker not understood], and we are working on organizing a hearing. the task force is comprised of city agencies and community representatives as well as a school district representative is invited. so, today [speaker not understood], all of the nominees are actively involved in food security work in san francisco and they regularly attend task force meetings. many of the nominees have previously been numbers for the task force and have been renominated. so, i'm going to take any questions and thank you for your support. >> okay. supervisor, are there any questions? no. thank you very much. okay, we will now hear from the applicants in the order they are listed on the agenda. so, let's see. first is karen gruneisen. hi, supervisors. i am not karen gruneisen, i am representing her today. i am liz [speaker not understood] at episcopal community services where karen is our associate director. and she apologizes for not being here today, but she's out of town at her nephew's wedding. karen just wanted -- >> she's missing this for a wedding? [laughter] i know. just a few points. karen previously was appointed to the food security task force in 2010 and has attended meetings for over three years. she seeks another appointment because she finds the work of the task force so beneficial to san franciscans who are food insecure, especially people who are poor and homeless. karen has coauthored the food security task force reports and chairs one of the subcommittees on the needs of seniors, people who are homeless and who live in s-r-os. and as you know, ecs serves over 14,000 homeless [speaker not understood] annually. karen brings the experience of ecs's clients to the food security task force table. and i'm happy to answer any questions about karen. [laughter] >> thank you, liz. any questions? seeing none, thank you. okay. >> anne quaintance. good afternoon, supervisors breed, yee, and cohen. i am currently being renominated to the food security task force. i am the chief operations officer of meals ask on wheels of san francisco. i know you know what we do there. we serve over 2,500 seniors with two meals a day. we served [speaker not understood] in addition to social services. our client needs and visitor services as well. [speaker not understood]. and the contracts unit as well as nine years at the san francisco food bank, five years running a food cooperative before that. i'm also the long term [speaker not understood] and the jewish community regulations council. i've been bringing work to the task force as well as the work we're doing there is critical. i think there is a lot we're doing right. there is more we need to do to address those needs. [speaker not understood]. i really guarantee and ensure all san franciscans have access to food security. i think one of our opportunities i'd like to bring this year's [speaker not understood] is an opportunity to present hospitalization and readmission by partnering and contracting with health plans and hospitals to bring more nutrition services to folks and i think that will help the city overall. and i do believe that a public private partnership like the food security task force ha done work over the years and we look forward to making a presentation at a hearing in november to really tell us all about city-wide and by board of supervisors district as well, the needs that are there. so, any questions? >> seeing none, thank you very much. next on the agenda is theresa olle. good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for having me. i'm terry olle. i'm the associate director of policy and advocacy at the san francisco and marin food banks. i'm being nominated as a community member to the food security task force. in my role at the food bank i work on policies and programs at the local and state level to make sure that low-income and food insecure residents of san francisco and marin counties are having access to the food that they need. as you well know, the food bank's main role is to bring in and distribute 45 million pounds of good every single year through a vast network of organizations that rely on us for food for their programs as well as pantries that operate in neighborhoods and schoo, to brick food to people who need it most. i have the luckiest job of being able to leverage that amazing work by taking a bit of a step back and thinking what are the policies that we have in place locally and at the state level that effect people in a way before they get to the point of meeting the services we provide in the majority of our i wouldctiontion. and in that role being part of the security task force has been a really incredible experience because i think what we're doing in san francisco is not unique, at least very high level of having the kind of public-private meetings where we are discussing how we each are providing a role and having a collective impact on food insecure residents of our local area. one of the main issues that i work on at the state level is actually cal fresh, a food stamp program which as you may know is functioning at a very low level statewide. we're the worst performing program in the entire country and that creates in and of itself a real gap in the access that our residents in san francisco have to getting resources in their hands that they can turn around and use immediately to buy healthy and nutritious food and to live healthy lives. so, that's something that a number of us at the task force are focused on and one of our main goals is making sure we as a local city and as a community are bringing in -- taking advantage of all of the programs that are out there that are federally funded, that are funded so that we are not only lifting up those who really need those resources, but also that we at the city are thinking of the larger system of food and helping people have access to it. thank you. >> supervisor breed? >> thank you. and i just want to personally thank you for the work that you do at the food bank when i was the director of the african-american and art culture complex, it's the place where we got healthy food for our program, where we got free snacks and fruit and other things that really has helped to deliver great services and making sure our children eat healthy more consistently. so, it's really a vital program not only to the african-american art and culture complex, but also to many of the programs that serve low-income children around san francisco. so, i just want to mention that and thank you. thank you. i'll take that back to our program staff. >> thank you. next is bruce mcken i. ~ mc kinney. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is bruce mc kinney and i'm the free meals program manager at the glide foundation, glide memorial. you know, we're serving right now about 2,500 meals every day 7 days a week, 365 -- 364 days a year and as i said, three meals a day. besides being program manager of the meals program, i'm also responsible for nutritional [speaker not understood] in the ad drive and in our community. responsible from really changing what glide has been doing in the past from a caloric meals program to a meal oriented program and really working with our community and with other agencies to work on areas especially in the tenderloin in our community to really be able to give them access to food besides just at glide. and, so, truly for the past four years i've been attending the meetings [speaker not understood] who was a voting member of the task force. i have been working on the subcommittees in dealing with a disaster planning and food procurement and dealing also with the s-r-os and with the seniors. i believe what i can bring and what glide brings is really a voice of the community, a voice of the tenderloin and being able to -- because hunger in san francisco is varied and as people said, it's in each community, and the tenderloin is a very unique community. and that's it. thank you. >> thank you. next up would be deloris mc gee. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is deloris mc gee and i work for community living campaign. i am a community connector for oceanview, merced heights and ingleside. our connectors are strategically located throughout the city. but i am in the omi. what i basically do is provide services and resources for seniors so that they can age in place in their homes. and what we found out is that the seniors in our community were not able to take advantage of the food that was distributed through the pantry. so, we developed with the community, community living campaign developed a food delivery program and we delivered the food twice a month to seniors and people who are disabled so that they can have nutrition -- not just food, but nutritional food. we wanted to make sure that they had fruit and vegetables because we feel that just because you're old you do not have to be unhealthy. so, we want a healthy aging population. once we got our food program up and running, other neighborhoods decided that they would like to take advantage of what we were doing. we developed a food program in park merced and university park. as of june 21st, we started our first program in the bayview district and we already have a waiting list because the need is so great. we also are working with the richmond district. we've been contacted by the hispanic community and visitacion valley. because of the health conditions of the samoan communities with chronic illnesses, we will be moving into that community. so, what we are doing is city-wide. and i have been serving on this committee for the last four years. the work that we're doing on this committee, we are able to connect with other agencies, which we weren't able to do that before. my community does not have a supermarket. so, this is why it's so important that we provide food for the seniors. also, i heard on the news that south of market in the bayview district will be closing soon so the seniors there would definitely need the food. so, i'm happy to serve on this committee. especially i get a chance to find out about all the politics. you know, when a person thinks of food, they don't think of the politics that's associated with it. so, since i've been sitting on this board, i got a chance to really understand more about food insecurity because of politics and it should not be that hard to feed people. thank you. any questions? >> seeing none, thank you very much. >> thank you. next up is hilary seligman. hi, my name is hilary seligman. i'm a primary care doctor at san francisco general hospital and i'm also a faculty member at the center for vulnerable populations there. i spend about a third of my time doing outpatient and inpatient primary care in hospital medicine at san francisco general and the rest of my time i spend on research advocacy and policy around food insecurity issues and education around medical students, residents and other faculty members about the [speaker not understood] and food insecurity and health. i have been attending the task force meetings for the last five years or so and have assisted in a number of projects. the first of which was looking at the prevalence of food insecurity and at san francisco general hospital, something that had not been done before. and the other is doing a very basic nature and analysis of the free and low cost -- the free meals available in san francisco. there is in the list of seats here the requests that we have, the representation of health and health care on the food security task force. i think that is a unique position as the food security world has come to understand the implications of food insecurity on health and i think that is the role that i have been able to play at the task force over the last couple years, bringing that unique perspective. thank you. >> okay, thank you very much. next up is charles sommer. good afternoon, supervisors. charles sommer. i'm the manager at the dining room at st. anthony foundation where i've been the last 14 years. as you know st. anthony's serves 2,500 meals a day, we're approaching [speaker not understood] meals served since 1950. i am relatively new to the task force though i have been attending the last year. but i have been working for over 10 years in collaboration with project open hand, glide, san francisco food bank and many other organizations, meals on wheels better to [speaker not understood] food service in the tenderloin and the city. it is important to me to serve not only be a voice for st. anthony's on this, but also to look at food access and nutrition for our seniors and our poorest of the poor that are being served from all over the city and the tenderloin and to help be a part of creating better access for them. >> okay. thank you. >> thank you very much. i guess the last one will be simon pitchford. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is simon pitchford. i am currently the director of [speaker not understood] project open hand. as many of you know, project open hand has been one of the main aids provider in san francisco, close to 30 years. we serve over 3,000 meals to people with hiv and other critical chronic illnesses in the city of san francisco. and complement the work that meals on wheels by providing [speaker not understood] meals at 19 sites around the city of san francisco to seniors. roughly serving over 2800 seniors every day. my interest, i'm a scientist by background so i'm particularly interested in the link between food insecurity and health care. so, i've been responsible at project open hands for bringing collaboration with colleagues [speaker not understood] to understand the outcomes of the services we provide in a quantitative fashion. and currently like many of us are trying to come up to speed on the affordable care act since that is going to have specific implications for basically meals that we provide, third-party reimbursements. as the affordable care act gets implemented, particularly in its relationship to ryan white. i'm fairly new to the task force ~. i also served on the tenderloin hunger task force, the steering committee, a number of subcommittees [speaker not understood]. like many, obviously the community relationships are critically important at the food security task force in addition to having connection to many of the city agencies because there's a lot of interaction between [speaker not understood] and the city agencies. and that's proven invaluable in the generation of data that will go into the various reports that you'll be seeing in the near future. so, thank you for your consideration. >> thank you very much. i guess that's the -- end of the 8 applicants. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> colleagues, any thoughts? would you like to -- would anybody like to make a motion to forward these appointments to the food board with recommendations? >> [speaker not understood] speak a little bit to the work that the eight candidates are doing. what's interesting, if you don't know, i represent the bayview community and certainly the last week-and-a-half has sent our office [speaker not understood] with the news the fresh and easy grocery store is closing. and it was a really low blow, frankly, and it really took the wind out of our sails. the community members were very excited to have fresh and easy in the neighborhood when opening up. but what is very refreshing is that there seems to be at least there's 8 folks here that are applying to help what i consider to be continuing to lead the charge, to help me to bring healthy food options to what we call a food desert. and i just want to say thank you for your service whether you're working at a nonprofit, whether you're working for a for profit agency or even if you're volunteering your time. this is something that you're interested in. the need is so great that we have a desire to have everyone at the table. so, just wanted to say thank you and recognize you for that. so very grateful from everyone that's doing everything, from working with seniors down to supporting nonprofit and youth organizations. absolutely critical. also want to acknowledge the exciting work we've been doing, even bringing liquor stores in bayview into introducing the owners, showing them that there's a way they can make a profit by selling more than just beer, wine, liquor, chips, cup of noodles and all the other stuff that is sold at the other store, the convenience store. and we've had some really great partners, the department of public health as well as our friends from kaiser and a few other nonprofit organizations that are on the ground. and just on behalf of the southeastern neighborhoods, i just want to say thank you for your help and that it is recognized and very, very greatly appreciated. and i may be calling on you if we begin to rally to figure out what we're going to do now that fresh and easy has left a huge hole in the neighborhood. also may need a rallying -- have another rallying cry when i think about visitacion valley community that also has no grocery store. so, it's very interesting how we can live in such a wealthy country, such a wealthy city and still parts of our city not have access to healthy food options. to highlight an even further level of irony, we've got the produce market in the bayview district and we also have the -- oh, shoot, terry? the food bank, thank you. and the food bank. we have these two amazing assets but yet no grocery store. it's just amazing. so, but those two aspects have been phenomenal partners in stepping up and filling the gaps and providing particularly produce and vegetables to the neighborhood [speaker not understood]. so, i just wanted to go on record and say thank you. >> it's actually quite amazing. as i'm listening to who you represent and so forth, just individual need from your organizations, all the great work they do individually. it just goes to show you how important this particular task force is to have such a collection of organizations and individuals that care about these issues. i've worked for several of the organizations that you represent including st. anthony's, two child care centers in the tenderloin. and i took it over, my organization took it over years ago from another organization that was going to give it up and part of it was that the state wasn't giving us enough funding to feed our kids and i turned around and asked st. anthony's can you help with this? this is serving the community here, we're going to lose it. so,
keys at more homeless doors and i sure hope this city road don't hope to lose me and we need some more help so please get it now we bring it now appointments today hey, hey, hey bring good appointments today he's a hard act to follow. supervisor, hi, amanda from the mayor's office of hope. i did want to take a chance to thank everybody who came forward to apply. it's exciting to see such qualified applicants for this body and take a moment to thank the staff at hso, megan owens and the whole team at housing and homelessness. the local coordinating board is really an essential body in our city. we work with them extensively and the membership is really important to us. i think their committee structure is functioning at a really high level right now and it's informing a lot of high level policy discussions we're having into entry into the system and strategic planning, thinking ahead. so, i just thank you in advance for your decision. it's not an easy one with the quail if i had applicants and thanks to all my colleagues at hsa for making it an exceptional body right now. thank you. ~ qualified >> thank you. i'm charles sommer. i want to put in a word for deleano seymour. i know him a someone who came into the dining room to eat. as he grew from homelessness, he brings his tours to the dining room and has shown a great lovely for st. anthony's. i believe deleano can provide a [speaker not understood]. >> thank you. ~ hello. so, my name is henry [speaker not understood]. i came from france five months ago to do a documentary about homelessness in the tenderloin. and when i was trying to understand how -- what are the issues with homelessness in the city, i was asking people who, who i can talk to to give me all the best, the best information and all the best advices to work on this project. when i asked people, everybody was telling me you should go see dell seymour. since i've known, del helps me do this movie, he knows what he's talking about. he's got all the knowledge and the experience, and you want somebody with good advice to help san francisco improve the life of homeless people and low-income people, you should choose del. >> thanks. >> thank you. seeing no more public comments -- come on up, then. i believe i'm connected. if you can show with the laptop. right there what i'm showing you is basically the bylaws. for me, it implies that the local homeless coordinating board should be the most creative and innovative body to help end homelessness in our city. and at this point i really feel that [speaker not understood] local homeless coordinating board has turned its back on the homeless. i feel their primary goal at this point is more to just get funding for the shelters and whatever programs. with that said, on top of it, they just lost two sunshine ordinance hearings regarding -- really basically regarding treating homeless activists with dignity and respect. so, i mean, the local homeless coordinating board has some major problems. so, part of my thing is i'm looking for someone with enough dream and vision besides getting funding for these programs, you know, something to help homeless spiritually and intellectly and then like the housing. and we have a problem where if you take -- if you look at a person that's in the city for 10 years, they keep siege ~ cycling in and out. that's a problem. we need someone who understands policy and procedure of these bodies. then we have a problem with attendance of the local homeless coordinating board because the attendance of the local homeless coordinating board has been very shaky. i fear some of them are really on the edge of being disqualified for being members because their attendance is so shaky. i just want to say we need a dream and a vision to help the homeless he escape poverty. i just really see that there are -- we should be coming up, that should be the body that is, you know, trying to help people live better, do better. create their own businesses, buy their own housing. >> thank you very much. were you up here to support any particular candidate? i do like the black guy, but i do wonder if he's strong enough to break past the stagnation of this body. >> thank you very much. any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> okay, colleagues. >> i have a question. >> sure. >> i wanted to know if there is anyone from the local homeless coordinating board here. hi. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i want to be clear i'm not an appointed member of the board, i'm a staff to the board. my name is megan -- >> perfect, megan, you're the person i'm looking for. can you tell me how many people serve on this body? >> nine. >> nine people total. today we have an opportunity to appoint one person to three vacancies? >> there is one currently. >> correct. can you describe to me the current composition of this nine-member body. >> members are appointed three ways. members appointed by the board of supervisors, one vacancy in that group. so, three persona pointed by the board of supervisors. one persona pointed by the mayor and one persona pointed by the city controller. of the three named by the board of supervisors he is kim arm buster. he has a drop-in center at glide foundation. the other persona pointed by the boer -- i'll run through all of their names because i don't know where all folks are appointed. board of supervisors laura guzman. wendy phillips. ken [speaker not understood]. and eric brown. >> actually what i'm trying to understand is to get -- i want to make sure we appoint the ones that is a healthy mix. since we have three men obviously i can't make a determination on the gender, but maybe we can talk about the background of the three different candidates. is there a member that's already on the body that serves this by population, their service provider or some way associated with the homeless community? >> great question. [speaker not understood]. board members have notice throughout the [speaker not understood] so it's single adults. >> thank you. my other question is what is the number of folk that have been homeless themselves that serve on this body? >> currently there's one member. >> just one. so, one out of 9? okay, thank you very much. no further questions. >> breed. >> thank you. how often does this body meet? >> this body meets monthly from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the first monday of the month. every board member is also expected to take a leadership role in one of the committees. committees meet bimonthly or quarterly. >> do we have any attendance information that you can provide us with to understand if there are some challenges with some of the members who are on the board in terms of attendance? >> of the folks who are currently on the board? >> yes. >> there are two members who have missed three meetings in the past year. >> board appointment? >> one member is board appointed, yes. >> is there a attendance requirement? >> there is a stipulation in the by laws, people will be approached about attendance. >> okay. and in terms of the board appointments, so, laura guzman is the co-chair? >> yes. >> and she's still on the board? >> yes. >> is she a service provider? >> she is. >> wendy phillips? >> wendy phillips has resigned. that's the appointment you're considering today. kim is a service provider. and eric brown. >> he is currently a recipient of continuing the funds. >> okay, this is a really tough decision for us because i feel that we have three incredible candidates and i'd like to appoint all of them, especially if there are some members on this committee that are not showing up for meetings, i think it's time that we give people an opportunity. so, i know we only have the opportunity to appoint one person but i don't want to miss out on the opportunity to lose the other two as a result. this is the first time where i feel like each and every candidate is pretty outstanding. so, i am very concerned about making a decision that could discourage any of them from continuing to participate. so, i just wanted to get some thoughts from my colleagues they believe would be a good person for this seat. i am justly not a supporter of the residency waiver, hardly ever. and in this particular case, i feel that it's something i would support. so, any of these candidates i would be happy to support. and i just want to get some thoughts from my colleagues on what they think. >> so, i share your opinion, supervisor breed. we have basically three outstanding candidates. each with their own strengths and perspectives that i could easily see bringing it assets into this body. and, so, it is a tough decision. if you would, breakdown the role of this body in regards to looking -- there was mention of looking at funding and looking at&tly it and so forth and being creative and so forth. how much time is actually dedicated to particular aspects of the role? >> that's a great question. i would estimate service is a minimum of 5 hours per month of hard time that folk are spending [speaker not understood] where they are taking a leadership role. during a time of year where our community is reapplying for continuum of care funds with a $23.8 million grant that we reauthorize annually and this board has direct oversight of, folks are spending 80 to 90% of their board's service on a ranked listed of projects, creating a fair and accurate process to score against each other. during the rest of the year this board is focused on advisory capacity. that's when the more creativeness comes in, [speaker not understood], focus on hearing from other expert groups about the situation of hunger, situation of housing stability, situations of mental health [speaker not understood] that impact homelessness. >> thank you. doesn't make it any easier. [laughter] >> so, thoughts? >> so, i've actually come to the conclusion that i'm going to be supporting mr. del seymour for a couple reasons. one, i'm most intrigued by his background. clearly he's demonstrated the strongest support here today with not only letters of support, but also persons that have come to show up for us to testify. we're talking about a man that has a breadth and depth of experience that far exceeds the other two gentlemen. we're talking over 10 years hand on experience. i also want to think about the composition of the board. if there's only one other person there that speaks from that same experience of having experienced hoochlessness. i think an additional voice to the board is actually a healthy complement and would provide a robust discussion as we continue to talk about homeless issues in san francisco. >> supervisor breed, any thoughts around a particular comment? >> yes, and i would definitely be willing to support supervisor cohen's recommendation. i think -- and i'd also like to look at the possibility of replacing members who are not attending meetings with some of the persons we have here today who are interested in serving. clearly various perspectives are needed. people take it for granted when they've been in a position too long. this is an important [speaker not understood] in our city where we want people who really care about serving on this body. ~ to make a difference. and i think dan, it was mentioned that he had volunteered for six months, which to me is a part of demonstrating your commitment to a particular issue. and also the other gentleman, gary was actively engaged while in law school on this particular issue. to me, that is a part of demonstrating your commitment to serving and resolving some of these issues. and genuinely helping people. so, i just want to look at -- i don't want them to be discouraged, but i do want to also support del because i do think we need someone on this body that has that direct experience, and he has been out there and he knows what it feels like. we need that diversity in terms of experience on this particular board. and i would like to direct staff to go back and look at replacement of those who are not attending the meetings. but today i'm happy to support the recommendation made by supervisor cohen. >> great. s >> we'll make a motion, then, and vote on t. for the two candidates who have not been selected, i think all three of us feel the same way. you are great candidates ~ and we want to note our appreciation for you to step forward and apply for these positions. it's not always the case where we have really 100% of the candidates stepping forward to be such qualified people. and i'm going to echo supervisor breed's words that don't be discouraged. there are going to be other opportunities and we really hope that you will step forward again. so, i'm hearing that there's a motion. is there a motion for del seymour? >> i think we need to make a motion first to waive the residency requirement. so, i'm happy to make that motion. >> i'm happy to second that motion. >> okay, it's unanimous. that motion passes. would you like to make -- >> sure. i'd like to make a motion that we appoint mr. del seymour to seat number 2 on the local homeless coordinating board. >> is there a second? okay, by consensus, the motion passes. [gavel] >> congratulations, mr. seymour. (applause) >> madam clerk, item number 4. >> item number 4, hearing to consider appointing four members, terms ending june 1, 2014, to the reentry council. there are four seats and 12 applicants. >> so, we received a large number of applicants for these vacancies and many of these applicants actually just came in. there's 10 more than noted on this agenda. to give everybody a fair chance at this, we wanted to make sure we have time to actually look at the applicant's resumes and so forth. so, i will be asking for a continuance of this item for -- to the next meeting to allow us to actually do a better job in looking at all the applications. colleagues, so, at this point are there some people here for this item that would like to speak for an applicant? i wanted to give you to do this since you're here, but understand we're not going to vote on anything today. so, you have two minutes to come up here as part of the public comment. >> i have a comment. i wanted to ask for clarification. >> go ahead -- hold on a second. >> so, mr. chair, you're asking us to continue the item entirely and not take any action on any of the particular item? >> yes. yes, i have not seen these other 10 applicants. >> so, -- >> and we did notify some of the people not to come. >> okay, because there was a time when we had filled one of the vacant seats with a member listed here and i came prepared today to make sure that he continues his service. will this delay his ability to continue his service? this term expired on july 17, 2013, for robert bowden. and i was wondering if this might impact his ability to serve in his current capacity. >> let me ask the city attorney. i believe when people term out of a committee and they haven't been replaced, they can continue? >> okay. >> so, there shouldn't be any issue about their continuation until we actually take a vote. is that correct? >> deputy city attorney jon givner. that's right for advisory bodies like this one. for bodies that are created by the charter, people whose terms have expired can only hold over for 60 days. but that 60-day rule doesn't apply to advisory bodies that apply to ordinance like the reentry council. >> so, i guess we can hear public comment and i can make some further remarks. i know we're going to discuss a continuance, but i am interested in not continuing seat 4 and appointing seat 4 in order to move that particular seat forward and narrow down the number of other appointments that we have on our list. so, i'd like my colleagues to take that into consideration. thank you. >> okay. so, yes, sir. good afternoon, my name is omar breed love. i'm here to speak on my own behalf and express my interest to be appointed to the reentry council. i am a former prison inmate, a former drug addict, former homeless person, and i have turned my life around and i want to thank the city of san francisco for identifying the need to address the importance of people coming out of prison and having the resources that are needed to get their lives back on track. in turning my own life around, i want to be part of the solution. i've been a part of the problem so long. i now want to be part of the solution and help -- i've taken away from the community for so long and i see this as an opportunity for me to be a part of the solution and help not only my life, but the lives of other people that have been in the same situation as i have, which helps not only the individual, but helps the family, helps the community as a whole because of the crime that's committed. and it helps the children because of the recidivism of parents going in and out of prison and stuff like that. so, i would just like to express my interest and put my name in the box and let it be known that i'm interested and that i be considered. thank you. >> thank you. >> excuse me, what's your name again? >> omar breed love. i'm not on this list. the clerk just told me my name is on the other list. >> you're one of the more recent -- >> yeah. >> thank you very much. any other public comments? come on up. my name is it james hooker. i represent the allen community development corporation in the western addition as well as the crease project which stands for conflict resolution education and employment services. first let me say that ~ i've been attending reentry council meetings for the last 26 months and i'm also a member of the m-3 movement as well as the alan's community development men's group. my interest is in expertise in employment and education for under developed and under served people. unfortunately, many of the candidates who are now coming out of prison were people that i was working with trying to keep them out of prison. we have a recidivism rate that's going to require that we have a successful, as i like to tell them, poster boys, who can effectively represent the communities in which they come from. the sheriff's department, public defenders office, all have qualified programs for reentry and what we'd like to see is the community become an equal partner in the reentry concept programs that are being developed and a key to that is going to be having representatives from the prison population. so, we look forward to your selection. i did speak with a gentleman who asked me to come forward and his name is kevin bass. he's not here today, but i do know that it's been two years since he's been out and this is something that he's really interested in. and once again, i a plot the fact that we're going to be getting four new candidates or at least three new candidates for the reentry council that will be representative of the [speaker not understood] supposed to serve. thank you. >> thank you very much. ♪ [speaker not understood] the city will softly dig and i know you're so all alone but you've got the tools to make it i know you're gonna take every opportunity and take it reentry love is all around no need to waste it you're gonna use all your tools you're gonna make it you're gonna make it after all city hall they're going to make it after all thank you. >> any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> colleagues, as i indicated, i would ask for a motion to continue this item to call of the chair. supervisor breed. >> okay. so, i realize there are other candidates, as i said before. when we, when we address the vacancy of seat 4 not too long ago, we heard a laundry list of candidates and at that time made the decision to appoint robert bowden and i'd like him to be able to continue in that seat number 4. and, so, i would like to prior -- before we make a continuance i would like to make a motion that we appoint robert baez ento seat 4. okay. so, it's been -- >> is there a motion and second? i have an opportunity to actually hear everybody and see everybody's application to weigh whether or not i would be supporting robert bowden. it's nothing against robert bowden. for me it's a process of being fair and also telling people that we will be continuing [speaker not understood]. >> so, mr. chair, i apologize. i do understand the fairness of the process and that there are applications that we had not necessarily received prior to today, but regardless of those applicants, the only reason as i said -- even considering moving this forward is because we did consider seat 4. we listened to a laundry list of candidates earlier this year. and we made a selection at that time, and i for one would like to see mr. bowden continue in that seat and i don't want to waste anyone's time by allowing other members to believe that there is a possibility, if there isn't. i just want to basically take that one off the table so i then give everyone else a fair shake in terms of some of the other seats listed here. that's my reasoning and i re
really definitely want to be able to move that particular seat forward. >> your reasons are well taken. [speaker not understood]. >> okay. >> i just want to note that for the record. so, let's have a vote. >> supervisor breed? >> aye. >> aye. supervisor cohen? >> aye. >> supervisor yee? >> no. >> the motion was to not proceed? >> it was to support robert bowden for seat 4, so, it passes. >> it passes. >> right. that means that now the seats that are in play are seats 1, 2 and 3. >> yes. >> correct. so, now i ask my colleagues for a motion to continue seats 1, 2 and 3. >> second. >> mr. chair, would you like to continue to the call of the chair or to our next rules committee meeting? >> to the call of the chair. >> thank you. >> okay. so, it by consensus passes. so moved. [gavel] >> okay. can you please call item number 5? >> item number 5, hearing to consider appointing eight members, for indefinite terms, to the food security task force. there are 8 seats and 8 applicants. >> so, we now want to invite paula joan to the podium to share more about the food security task force. hello, ms. jones. >> hello, good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for taking this item. again, my name is paula jones. i'm with department of public health and i'm director of food [speaker not understood] there. the item before you is nominations to the task force for the community members. and i just wanted to go through some of the raoxctionv that we have with task force. first of all, food security, according to our definition was that all of our residents will have [speaker not understood] at all times through the local nonemergency sources. and then i want to go through just what does food insecurity mean. that means not having enough money for food, skipping meals buying cheaper, less nutritious food, worrying your food will run out, not having a healthy place to buy food, not having a kitchen to prepare food and being hungry. these are some of the manifestations we know we have food insecure residents in every neighborhood in san francisco. certain populations have a higher food insecurity. lower households, seniors with disabilities, children, the unhoused. the food security task force was created and currently creates a plan for addressing food insecurity in san francisco, and we do this through tracking and publishing data on food program use and food need. we develop recommendations for policy program and funding. we also work together to develop pilot initiatives to improve food security. we also reach out to other groups and inform them of food security and also gather their information. i am currently a member oswald staff to the task force. it is also represented to the california food policy council. which is a council created comprised of local foot. we are reporting on food security. we'll be providing [speaker not understood], and we are working on organizing a hearing. the task force is comprised of city agencies and community representatives as well as a school district representative is invited. so, today [speaker not understood], all of the nominees are actively involved in food security work in san francisco and they regularly attend task force meetings. many of the nominees have previously been numbers for the task force and have been renominated. so, i'm going to take any questions and thank you for your support. >> okay. supervisor, are there any questions? no. thank you very much. okay, we will now hear from the applicants in the order they are listed on the agenda. so, let's see. first is karen gruneisen. hi, supervisors. i am not karen gruneisen, i am representing her today. i am liz [speaker not understood] at episcopal community services where karen is our associate director. and she apologizes for not being here today, but she's out of town at her nephew's wedding. karen just wanted -- >> she's missing this for a wedding? [laughter] i know. just a few points. karen previously was appointed to the food security task force in 2010 and has attended meetings for over three years. she seeks another appointment because she finds the work of the task force so beneficial to san franciscans who are food insecure, especially people who are poor and homeless. karen has coauthored the food security task force reports and chairs one of the subcommittees on the needs of seniors, people who are homeless and who live in s-r-os. and as you know, ecs serves over 14,000 homeless [speaker not understood] annually. karen brings the experience of ecs's clients to the food security task force table. and i'm happy to answer any questions about karen. [laughter] >> thank you, liz. any questions? seeing none, thank you. okay. >> anne quaintance. good afternoon, supervisors breed, yee, and cohen. i am currently being renominated to the food security task force. i am the chief operations officer of meals ask on wheels of san francisco. i know you know what we do there. we serve over 2,500 seniors with two meals a day. we served [speaker not understood] in addition to social services. our client needs and visitor services as well. [speaker not understood]. and the contracts unit as well as nine years at the san francisco food bank, five years running a food cooperative before that. i'm also the long term [speaker not understood] and the jewish community regulations council. i've been bringing work to the task force as well as the work we're doing there is critical. i think there is a lot we're doing right. there is more we need to do to address those needs. [speaker not understood]. i really guarantee and ensure all san franciscans have access to food security. i think one of our opportunities i'd like to bring this year's [speaker not understood] is an opportunity to present hospitalization and readmission by partnering and contracting with health plans and hospitals to bring more nutrition services to folks and i think that will help the city overall. and i do believe that a public private partnership like the food security task force ha done work over the years and we look forward to making a presentation at a hearing in november to really tell us all about city-wide and by board of supervisors district as well, the needs that are there. so, any questions? >> seeing none, thank you very much. next on the agenda is theresa olle. good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for having me. i'm terry olle. i'm the associate director of policy and advocacy at the san francisco and marin food banks. i'm being nominated as a community member to the food security task force. in my role at the food bank i work on policies and programs at the local and state level to make sure that low-income and food insecure residents of san francisco and marin counties are having access to the food that they need. as you well know, the food bank's main role is to bring in and distribute 45 million pounds of good every single year through a vast network of organizations that rely on us for food for their programs as well as pantries that operate in neighborhoods and schoo, to brick food to people who need it most. i have the luckiest job of being able to leverage that amazing work by taking a bit of a step back and thinking what are the policies that we have in place locally and at the state level that effect people in a way before they get to the point of meeting the services we provide in the majority of our i wouldctiontion. and in that role being part of the security task force has been a really incredible experience because i think what we're doing in san francisco is not unique, at least very high level of having the kind of public-private meetings where we are discussing how we each are providing a role and having a collective impact on food insecure residents of our local area. one of the main issues that i work on at the state level is actually cal fresh, a food stamp program which as you may know is functioning at a very low level statewide. we're the worst performing program in the entire country and that creates in and of itself a real gap in the access that our residents in san francisco have to getting resources in their hands that they can turn around and use immediately to buy healthy and nutritious food and to live healthy lives. so, that's something that a number of us at the task force are focused on and one of our main goals is making sure we as a local city and as a community are bringing in -- taking advantage of all of the programs that are out there that are federally funded, that are funded so that we are not only lifting up those who really need those resources, but also that we at the city are thinking of the larger system of food and helping people have access to it. thank you. >> supervisor breed? >> thank you. and i just want to personally thank you for the work that you do at the food bank when i was the director of the african-american and art culture complex, it's the place where we got healthy food for our program, where we got free snacks and fruit and other things that really has helped to deliver great services and making sure our children eat healthy more consistently. so, it's really a vital program not only to the african-american art and culture complex, but also to many of the programs that serve low-income children around san francisco. so, i just want to mention that and thank you. thank you. i'll take that back to our program staff. >> thank you. next is bruce mcken i. ~ mc kinney. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is bruce mc kinney and i'm the free meals program manager at the glide foundation, glide memorial. you know, we're serving right now about 2,500 meals every day 7 days a week, 365 -- 364 days a year and as i said, three meals a day. besides being program manager of the meals program, i'm also responsible for nutritional [speaker not understood] in the ad drive and in our community. responsible from really changing what glide has been doing in the past from a caloric meals program to a meal oriented program and really working with our community and with other agencies to work on areas especially in the tenderloin in our community to really be able to give them access to food besides just at glide. and, so, truly for the past four years i've been attending the meetings [speaker not understood] who was a voting member of the task force. i have been working on the subcommittees in dealing with a disaster planning and food procurement and dealing also with the s-r-os and with the seniors. i believe what i can bring and what glide brings is really a voice of the community, a voice of the tenderloin and being able to -- because hunger in san francisco is varied and as people said, it's in each community, and the tenderloin is a very unique community. and that's it. thank you. >> thank you. next up would be deloris mc gee. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is deloris mc gee and i work for community living campaign. i am a community connector for oceanview, merced heights and ingleside. our connectors are strategically located throughout the city. but i am in the omi. what i basically do is provide services and resources for seniors so that they can age in place in their homes. and what we found out is that the seniors in our community were not able to take advantage of the food that was distributed through the pantry. so, we developed with the community, community living campaign developed a food delivery program and we delivered the food twice a month to seniors and people who are disabled so that they can have nutrition -- not just food, but nutritional food. we wanted to make sure that they had fruit and vegetables because we feel that just because you're old you do not have to be unhealthy. so, we want a healthy aging population. once we got our food program up and running, other neighborhoods decided that they would like to take advantage of what we were doing. we developed a food program in park merced and university park. as of june 21st, we started our first program in the bayview district and we already have a waiting list because the need is so great. we also are working with the richmond district. we've been contacted by the hispanic community and visitacion valley. because of the health conditions of the samoan communities with chronic illnesses, we will be moving into that community. so, what we are doing is city-wide. and i have been serving on this committee for the last four years. the work that we're doing on this committee, we are able to connect with other agencies, which we weren't able to do that before. my community does not have a supermarket. so, this is why it's so important that we provide food for the seniors. also, i heard on the news that south of market in the bayview district will be closing soon so the seniors there would definitely need the food. so, i'm happy to serve on this committee. especially i get a chance to find out about all the politics. you know, when a person thinks of food, they don't think of the politics that's associated with it. so, since i've been sitting on this board, i got a chance to really understand more about food insecurity because of politics and it should not be that hard to feed people. thank you. any questions? >> seeing none, thank you very much. >> thank you. next up is hilary seligman. hi, my name is hilary seligman. i'm a primary care doctor at san francisco general hospital and i'm also a faculty member at the center for vulnerable populations there. i spend about a third of my time doing outpatient and inpatient primary care in hospital medicine at san francisco general and the rest of my time i spend on research advocacy and policy around food insecurity issues and education around medical students, residents and other faculty members about the [speaker not understood] and food insecurity and health. i have been attending the task force meetings for the last five years or so and have assisted in a number of projects. the first of which was looking at the prevalence of food insecurity and at san francisco general hospital, something that had not been done before. and the other is doing a very basic nature and analysis of the free and low cost -- the free meals available in san francisco. there is in the list of seats here the requests that we have, the representation of health and health care on the food security task force. i think that is a unique position as the food security world has come to understand the implications of food insecurity on health and i think that is the role that i have been able to play at the task force over the last couple years, bringing that unique perspective. thank you. >> okay, thank you very much. next up is charles sommer. good afternoon, supervisors. charles sommer. i'm the manager at the dining room at st. anthony foundation where i've been the last 14 years. as you know st. anthony's serves 2,500 meals a day, we're approaching [speaker not understood] meals served since 1950. i am relatively new to the task force though i have been attending the last year. but i have been working for over 10 years in collaboration with project open hand, glide, san francisco food bank and many other organizations, meals on wheels better to [speaker not understood] food service in the tenderloin and the city. it is important to me to serve not only be a voice for st. anthony's on this, but also to look at food access and nutrition for our seniors and our poorest of the poor that are being served from all over the city and the tenderloin and to help be a part of creating better access for them. >> okay. thank you. >> thank you very much. i guess the last one will be simon pitchford. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is simon pitchford. i am currently the director of [speaker not understood] project open hand. as many of you know, project open hand has been one of the main aids provider in san francisco, close to 30 years. we serve over 3,000 meals to people with hiv and other critical chronic illnesses in the city of san francisco. and complement the work that meals on wheels by providing [speaker not understood] meals at 19 sites around the city of san francisco to seniors. roughly serving over 2800 seniors every day. my interest, i'm a scientist by background so i'm particularly interested in the link between food insecurity and health care. so, i've been responsible at project open hands for bringing collaboration with colleagues [speaker not understood] to understand the outcomes of the services we provide in a quantitative fashion. and currently like many of us are trying to come up to speed on the affordable care act since that is going to have specific implications for basically meals that we provide, third-party reimbursements. as the affordable care act gets implemented, particularly in its relationship to ryan white. i'm fairly new to the task force ~. i also served on the tenderloin hunger task force, the steering committee, a number of subcommittees [speaker not understood]. like many, obviously the community relationships are critically important at the food security task force in addition to having connection to many of the city agencies because there's a lot of interaction between [speaker not understood] and the city agencies. and that's proven invaluable in the generation of data that will go into the various reports that you'll be seeing in the near future. so, thank you for your consideration. >> thank you very much. i guess that's the -- end of the 8 applicants. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> colleagues, any thoughts? would you like to -- would anybody like to make a motion to forward these appointments to the food board with recommendations? >> [speaker not understood] speak a little bit to the work that the eight candidates are doing. what's interesting, if you don't know, i represent the bayview community and certainly the last week-and-a-half has sent our office [speaker not understood] with the news the fresh and easy grocery store is closing. and it was a really low blow, frankly, and it really took the wind out of our sails. the community members were very excited to have fresh and easy in the neighborhood when opening up. but what is very refreshing is that there seems to be at least there's 8 folks here that are applying to help what i consider to be continuing to lead the charge, to help me to bring healthy food options to what we call a food desert. and i just want to say thank you for your service whether you're working at a nonprofit, whether you're working for a for profit agency or even if you're volunteering your time. this is something that you're interested in. the need is so great that we have a desire to have everyone at the table. so, just wanted to say thank you and recognize you for that. so very grateful from everyone that's doing everything, from working with seniors down to supporting nonprofit and youth organizations. absolutely critical. also want to acknowledge the exciting work we've been doing, even bringing liquor stores in bayview into introducing the owners, showing them that there's a way they can make a profit by selling more than just beer, wine, liquor, chips, cup of noodles and all the other stuff that is sold at the other store, the convenience store. and we've had some really great partners, the department of public health as well as our friends from kaiser and a few other nonprofit organizations that are on the ground. and just on behalf of the southeastern neighborhoods, i just want to say thank you for your help and that it is recognized and very, very greatly appreciated. and i may be calling on you if we begin to rally to figure out what we're going to do now that fresh and easy has left a huge hole in the neighborhood. also may need a rallying -- have another rallying cry when i think about visitacion valley community that also has no grocery store. so, it's very interesting how we can live in such a wealthy country, such a wealthy city and still parts of our city not have access to healthy food options. to highlight an even further level of irony, we've got the produce market in the bayview district and we also have the -- oh, shoot, terry? the food bank, thank you. and the food bank. we have these two amazing assets but yet no grocery store. it's just amazing. so, but those two aspects have been phenomenal partners in stepping up and filling the gaps and providing particularly produce and vegetables to the neighborhood [speaker not understood]. so, i just wanted to go on record and say thank you. >> it's actually quite amazing. as i'm listening to who you represent and so forth, just individual need from your organizations, all the great work they do individually. it just goes to show you how important this particular task force is to have such a collection of organizations and individuals that care about these issues. i've worked for several of the organizations that you represent including st. anthony's, two child care centers in the tenderloin. and i took it over, my organization took it over years ago from another organization that was going to give it up and part of it was that the state wasn't giving us enough funding to feed our kids and i turned around and asked st. anthony's can you help with this? this is serving the community here, we're going to lose it. so, to the credit of organizations like st. anthony's stepped up, sent the kid a good 7 or 8 years free of charge until my organization was able to raise enough funding to turn things around so that we were able to get the type of food that's a little more appropriate for little kids, but -- it was a life safer and i want to commend all your work. so, once again, i'd like to ask for a motion to forward the recommendations. ~ saver >> i'd like to second that motion. is that a motion? >> i make that motion to forward the 8 names that have been brought to us to the full board. >> madam clerk, do we need to assign the seat numbers for each of the individuals? >> okay, all right. well, i'd like to make a motion to assign karen gruneisen to seat number 1 and anne quaintance to seat number 2. theresa olle to seat number 3. bruce mc kinney to seat number 4. deloris mc gee to seat number 5. hilary seligman to seat number 6. charles sommer to seat number 7 and simon pitchford to seat number 15. >> is there a second? >> second. >> very good. by consensus, the motion passes. [gavel] >> congratulations. >> thank you very much. items 6 and 7 are coming up. what i'd like to ask for an indulgence of my colleagues to allow me to switch the order of them. it seems a little more logical to me that we hear what the shelter monitoring committee actually does and then reports. then go ahead and look at the appointees, okay? so, is that okay with my colleagues? >> sure. >> item number 7 first. >> item number 7, hearing to consider the quarterly reports of the shelter monitoring committee. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is keith deniz, i'm the vice-chair of the shelter monitoring committee and i'm here to review the materials sent to you on monday, 9 september. the shelter monitor committee is an independent vehicle charged with monitoring the shelters and resource centers in the city and we are made up of 13 members consisting of homeless or formerly homeless individuals and who also are employed or nominated by service providers. our seats are filled by the mayor's office with three seats, the board of supervisors with six seats, the local homeless coordinating board with four seats. the officers, the chairs and vice-chairs and staff meet regularly with [speaker not understood] dph to have an open line of communication and improve effectiveness. [speaker not understood] due to only having one staff member and made up entirely of committee members, we did 34 of the 38 assigned visits. during these visits we found 89 violations most of which sites corrected within 7 days. i would also like to note that st. joseph's family shelter was inspected twice during this period and no violations were found at all. there were 157 standard of care complaint forms filed. 32 by committee members, 58 by clients. most complaints were discharged or satisfied by the site or the committee with only 17 having to be forwarded to dph. in march and april of 2013 the committee visited mission
he's a hard act to follow. supervisor, hi, amanda from the mayor's office of hope. i did want to take a chance to thank everybody who came forward to apply. it's exciting to see such qualified applicants for this body and take a moment to thank the staff at hso, megan owens and the whole team at housing and homelessness. the local coordinating board is really an essential body in our city. we work with them extensively and the membership is really important to us. i think their committee structure is functioning at a really high level right now and it's informing a lot of high level policy discussions we're having into entry into the system and strategic planning, thinking ahead. so, i just thank you in advance for your decision. it's not an easy one with the quail if i had applicants and thanks to all my colleagues at hsa for making it an exceptional body right now. thank you. ~ qualified >> thank you. i'm charles sommer. i want to put in a word for deleano seymour. i know him a someone who came into the dining room to eat. as he grew from homelessness, he brings his tours to the dining room and has shown a great lovely for st. anthony's. i believe deleano can provide a [speaker not understood]. >> thank you. ~ hello. so, my name is henry [speaker not understood]. i came from france five months ago to do a documentary about homelessness in the tenderloin. and when i was trying to understand how -- what are the issues with homelessness in the city, i was asking people who, who i can talk to to give me all the best, the best information and all the best advices to work on this project. when i asked people, everybody was telling me you should go see dell seymour. since i've known, del helps me do this movie, he knows what he's talking about. he's got all the knowledge and the experience, and you want somebody with good advice to help san francisco improve the life of homeless people and low-income people, you should choose del. >> thanks. >> thank you. seeing no more public comments -- come on up, then. i believe i'm connected. if you can show with the laptop. right there what i'm showing you is basically the bylaws. for me, it implies that the local homeless coordinating board should be the most creative and innovative body to help end homelessness in our city. and at this point i really feel that [speaker not understood] local homeless coordinating board has turned its back on the homeless. i feel their primary goal at this point is more to just get funding for the shelters and whatever programs. with that said, on top of it, they just lost two sunshine ordinance hearings regarding -- really basically regarding treating homeless activists with dignity and respect. so, i mean, the local homeless coordinating board has some major problems. so, part of my thing is i'm looking for someone with enough dream and vision besides getting funding for these programs, you know, something to help homeless spiritually and intellectly and then like the housing. and we have a problem where if you take -- if you look at a person that's in the city for 10 years, they keep siege ~ cycling in and out. that's a problem. we need someone who understands policy and procedure of these bodies. then we have a problem with attendance of the local homeless coordinating board because the attendance of the local homeless coordinating board has been very shaky. i fear some of them are really on the edge of being disqualified for being members because their attendance is so shaky. i just want to say we need a dream and a vision to help the homeless he escape poverty. i just really see that there are -- we should be coming up, that should be the body that is, you know, trying to help people live better, do better. create their own businesses, buy their own housing. >> thank you very much. were you up here to support any particular candidate? i do like the black guy, but i do wonder if he's strong enough to break past the stagnation of this body. >> thank you very much. any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> okay, colleagues. >> i have a question. >> sure. >> i wanted to know if there is anyone from the local homeless coordinating board here. hi. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i want to be clear i'm not an appointed member of the board, i'm a staff to the board. my name is megan -- >> perfect, megan, you're the person i'm looking for. can you tell me how many people serve on this body? >> nine. >> nine people total. today we have an opportunity to appoint one person to three vacancies? >> there is one currently. >> correct. can you describe to me the current composition of this nine-member body. >> members are appointed three ways. members appointed by the board of supervisors, one vacancy in that group. so, three persona pointed by the board of supervisors. one persona pointed by the mayor and one persona pointed by the city controller. of the three named by the board of supervisors he is kim arm buster. he has a drop-in center at glide foundation. the other persona pointed by the boer -- i'll run through all of their names because i don't know where all folks are appointed. board of supervisors laura guzman. wendy phillips. ken [speaker not understood]. and eric brown. >> actually what i'm trying to understand is to get -- i want to make sure we appoint the ones that is a healthy mix. since we have three men obviously i can't make a determination on the gender, but maybe we can talk about the background of the three different candidates. is there a member that's already on the body that serves this by population, their service provider or some way associated with the homeless community? >> great question. [speaker not understood]. board members have notice throughout the [speaker not understood] so it's single adults. >> thank you. my other question is what is the number of folk that have been homeless themselves that serve on this body? >> currently there's one member. >> just one. so, one out of 9? okay, thank you very much. no further questions. >> breed. >> thank you. how often does this body meet? >> this body meets monthly from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the first monday of the month. every board member is also expected to take a leadership role in one of the committees. committees meet bimonthly or quarterly. >> do we have any attendance information that you can provide us with to understand if there are some challenges with some of the members who are on the board in terms of attendance? >> of the folks who are currently on the board? >> yes. >> there are two members who have missed three meetings in the past year. >> board appointment? >> one member is board appointed, yes. >> is there a attendance requirement? >> there is a stipulation in the by laws, people will be approached about attendance. >> okay. and in terms of the board appointments, so, laura guzman is the co-chair? >> yes. >> and she's still on the board? >> yes. >> is she a service provider? >> she is. >> wendy phillips? >> wendy phillips has resigned. that's the appointment you're considering today. kim is a service provider. and eric brown. >> he is currently a recipient of continuing the funds. >> okay, this is a really tough decision for us because i feel that we have three incredible candidates and i'd like to appoint all of them, especially if there are some members on this committee that are not showing up for meetings, i think it's time that we give people an opportunity. so, i know we only have the opportunity to appoint one person but i don't want to miss out on the opportunity to lose the other two as a result. this is the first time where i feel like each and every candidate is pretty outstanding. so, i am very concerned about making a decision that could discourage any of them from continuing to participate. so, i just wanted to get some thoughts from my colleagues they believe would be a good person for this seat. i am justly not a supporter of the residency waiver, hardly ever. and in this particular case, i feel that it's something i would support. so, any of these candidates i would be happy to support. and i just want to get some thoughts from my colleagues on what they think. >> so, i share your opinion, supervisor breed. we have basically three outstanding candidates. each with their own strengths and perspectives that i could easily see bringing it assets into this body. and, so, it is a tough decision. if you would, breakdown the role of this body in regards to looking -- there was mention of looking at funding and looking at&tly it and so forth and being creative and so forth. how much time is actually dedicated to particular aspects of the role? >> that's a great question. i would estimate service is a minimum of 5 hours per month of hard time that folk are spending [speaker not understood] where they are taking a leadership role. during a time of year where our community is reapplying for continuum of care funds with a $23.8 million grant that we reauthorize annually and this board has direct oversight of, folks are spending 80 to 90% of their board's service on a ranked listed of projects, creating a fair and accurate process to score against each other. during the rest of the year this board is focused on advisory capacity. that's when the more creativeness comes in, [speaker not understood], focus on hearing from other expert groups about the situation of hunger, situation of housing stability, situations of mental health [speaker not understood] that impact homelessness. >> thank you. doesn't make it any easier. [laughter] >> so, thoughts? >> so, i've actually come to the conclusion that i'm going to be supporting mr. del seymour for a couple reasons. one, i'm most intrigued by his background. clearly he's demonstrated the strongest support here today with not only letters of support, but also persons that have come to show up for us to testify. we're talking about a man that has a breadth and depth of experience that far exceeds the other two gentlemen. we're talking over 10 years hand on experience. i also want to think about the composition of the board. if there's only one other person there that speaks from that same experience of having experienced hoochlessness. i think an additional voice to the board is actually a healthy complement and would provide a robust discussion as we continue to talk about homeless issues in san francisco. >> supervisor breed, any thoughts around a particular comment? >> yes, and i would definitely be willing to support supervisor cohen's recommendation. i think -- and i'd also like to look at the possibility of replacing members who are not attending meetings with some of the persons we have here today who are interested in serving. clearly various perspectives are needed. people take it for granted when they've been in a position too long. this is an important [speaker not understood] in our city where we want people who really care about serving on this body. ~ to make a difference. and i think dan, it was mentioned that he had volunteered for six months, which to me is a part of demonstrating your commitment to a particular issue. and also the other gentleman, gary was actively engaged while in law school on this particular issue. to me, that is a part of demonstrating your commitment to serving and resolving some of these issues. and genuinely helping people. so, i just want to look at -- i don't want them to be discouraged, but i do want to also support del because i do think we need someone on this body that has that direct experience, and he has been out there and he knows what it feels like. we need that diversity in terms of experience on this particular board. and i would like to direct staff to go back and look at replacement of those who are not attending the meetings. but today i'm happy to support the recommendation made by supervisor cohen. >> great. s >> we'll make a motion, then, and vote on t. for the two candidates who have not been selected, i think all three of us feel the same way. you are great candidates ~ and we want to note our appreciation for you to step forward and apply for these positions. it's not always the case where we have really 100% of the candidates stepping forward to be such qualified people. and i'm going to echo supervisor breed's words that don't be discouraged. there are going to be other opportunities and we really hope that you will step forward again. so, i'm hearing that there's a motion. is there a motion for del seymour? >> i think we need to make a motion first to waive the residency requirement. so, i'm happy to make that motion. >> i'm happy to second that motion. >> okay, it's unanimous. that motion passes. would you like to make -- >> sure. i'd like to make a motion that we appoint mr. del seymour to seat number 2 on the local homeless coordinating board. >> is there a second? okay, by consensus, the motion passes. [gavel] >> congratulations, mr. seymour. (applause) >> madam clerk, item number 4. >> item number 4, hearing to consider appointing four members, terms ending june 1, 2014, to the reentry council. there are four seats and 12 applicants. >> so, we received a large number of applicants for these vacancies and many of these applicants actually just came in. there's 10 more than noted on this agenda. to give everybody a fair chance at this, we wanted to make sure we have time to actually look at the applicant's resumes and so forth. so, i will be asking for a continuance of this item for -- to the next meeting to allow us to actually do a better job in looking at all the applications. colleagues, so, at this point are there some people here for this item that would like to speak for an applicant? i wanted to give you to do this since you're here, but understand we're not going to vote on anything today. so, you have two minutes to come up here as part of the public comment. >> i have a comment. i wanted to ask for clarification. >> go ahead -- hold on a second. >> so, mr. chair, you're asking us to continue the item entirely and not take any action on any of the particular item? >> yes. yes, i have not seen these other 10 applicants. >> so, -- >> and we did notify some of the people not to come. >> okay, because there was a time when we had filled one of the vacant seats with a member listed here and i came prepared today to make sure that he continues his service. will this delay his ability to continue his service? this term expired on july 17, 2013, for robert bowden. and i was wondering if this might impact his ability to serve in his current capacity. >> let me ask the city attorney. i believe when people term out of a committee and they haven't been replaced, they can continue? >> okay. >> so, there shouldn't be any issue about their continuation until we actually take a vote. is that correct? >> deputy city attorney jon givner. that's right for advisory bodies like this one. for bodies that are created by the charter, people whose terms have expired can only hold over for 60 days. but that 60-day rule doesn't apply to advisory bodies that apply to ordinance like the reentry council. >> so, i guess we can hear public comment and i can make some further remarks. i know we're going to discuss a continuance, but i am interested in not continuing seat 4 and appointing seat 4 in order to move that particular seat forward and narrow down the number of other appointments that we have on our list. so, i'd like my colleagues to take that into consideration. thank you. >> okay. so, yes, sir. good afternoon, my name is omar breed love. i'm here to speak on my own behalf and express my interest to be appointed to the reentry council. i am a former prison inmate, a former drug addict, former homeless person, and i have turned my life around and i want to thank the city of san francisco for identifying the need to address the importance of people coming out of prison and having the resources that are needed to get their lives back on track. in turning my own life around, i want to be part of the solution. i've been a part of the problem so long. i now want to be part of the solution and help -- i've taken away from the community for so long and i see this as an opportunity for me to be a part of the solution and help not only my life, but the lives of other people that have been in the same situation as i have, which helps not only the individual, but helps the family, helps the community as a whole because of the crime that's committed. and it helps the children because of the recidivism of parents going in and out of prison and stuff like that. so, i would just like to express my interest and put my name in the box and let it be known that i'm interested and that i be considered. thank you. >> thank you. >> excuse me, what's your name again? >> omar breed love. i'm not on this list. the clerk just told me my name is on the other list. >> you're one of the more recent -- >> yeah. >> thank you very much. any other public comments? come on up. my name is it james hooker. i represent the allen community development corporation in the western addition as well as the crease project which stands for conflict resolution education and employment services. first let me say that ~ i've been attending reentry council meetings for the last 26 months and i'm also a member of the m-3 movement as well as the alan's community development men's group. my interest is in expertise in employment and education for under developed and under served people. unfortunately, many of the candidates who are now coming out of prison were people that i was working with trying to keep them out of prison. we have a recidivism rate that's going to require that we have a successful, as i like to tell them, poster boys, who can effectively represent the communities in which they come from. the sheriff's department, public defenders office, all have qualified programs for reentry and what we'd like to see is the community become an equal partner in the reentry concept programs that are being developed and a key to that is going to be having representatives from the prison population. so, we look forward to your selection. i did speak with a gentleman who asked me to come forward and his name is kevin bass. he's not here today, but i do know that it's been two years since he's been out and this is something that he's really interested in. and once again, i a plot the fact that we're going to be getting four new candidates or at least three new candidates for the reentry council that will be representative of the [speaker not understood] supposed to serve. thank you. >> thank you very much. ♪ [speaker not understood] the city will softly dig and i know you're so all alone but you've got the tools to make it i know you're gonna take every opportunity and take it reentry love is all around no need to waste it you're gonna use all your tools you're gonna make it you're gonna make it after all city hall they're going to make it after all thank you. >> any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> colleagues, as i indicated, i would ask for a motion to continue this item to call of the chair. supervisor breed. >> okay. so, i realize there are other candidates, as i said before. when we, when we address the vacancy of seat 4 not too long ago, we heard a laundry list of candidates and at that time made the decision to appoint robert bowden and i'd like him to be able to continue in that seat number 4. and, so, i would like to prior -- before we make a continuance i would like to make a motion that we appoint robert baez ento seat 4. okay. so, it's been -- >> is there a motion and second? i have an opportunity to actually hear everybody and see everybody's application to weigh whether or not i would be supporting robert bowden. it's nothing against robert bowden. for me it's a process of being fair and also telling people that we will be continuing [speaker not understood]. >> so, mr. chair, i apologize. i do understand the fairness of the process and that there are applications that we had not necessarily received prior to today, but regardless of those applicants, the only reason as i said -- even considering moving this forward is because we did consider seat 4. we listened to a laundry list of candidates earlier this year. and we made a selection at that time, and i for one would like to see mr. bowden continue in that seat and i don't want to waste anyone's time by allowing other members to believe that there is a possibility, if there isn't. i just want to basically take that one off the table so i then give everyone else a fair shake in terms of some of the other seats listed here. that's my reasoning and i respect your decision, but i really definitely want to be able to move that particular seat forward. >> your reasons are well taken. [speaker not understood]. >> okay. >> i just want to note that for the record. so, let's have a vote. >> supervisor breed? >> aye. >> aye. supervisor cohen? >> aye. >> supervisor yee? >> no. >> the motion was to not proceed? >> it
we bring it now appointments today hey, hey, hey bring good appointments today he's a hard act to follow. supervisor, hi, amanda from the mayor's office of hope. i did want to take a chance to thank everybody who came forward to apply. it's exciting to see such qualified applicants for this body and take a moment to thank the staff at hso, megan owens and the whole team at housing and homelessness. the local coordinating board is really an essential body in our city. we work with them extensively and the membership is really important to us. i think their committee structure is functioning at a really high level right now and it's informing a lot of high level policy discussions we're having into entry into the system and strategic planning, thinking ahead. so, i just thank you in advance for your decision. it's not an easy one with the quail if i had applicants and thanks to all my colleagues at hsa for making it an exceptional body right now. thank you. ~ qualified >> thank you. i'm charles sommer. i want to put in a word for deleano seymour. i know him a someone who came into the dining room to eat. as he grew from homelessness, he brings his tours to the dining room and has shown a great lovely for st. anthony's. i believe deleano can provide a [speaker not understood]. >> thank you. ~ hello. so, my name is henry [speaker not understood]. i came from france five months ago to do a documentary about homelessness in the tenderloin. and when i was trying to understand how -- what are the issues with homelessness in the city, i was asking people who, who i can talk to to give me all the best, the best information and all the best advices to work on this project. when i asked people, everybody was telling me you should go see dell seymour. since i've known, del helps me do this movie, he knows what he's talking about. he's got all the knowledge and the experience, and you want somebody with good advice to help san francisco improve the life of homeless people and low-income people, you should choose del. >> thanks. >> thank you. seeing no more public comments -- come on up, then. i believe i'm connected. if you can show with the laptop. right there what i'm showing you is basically the bylaws. for me, it implies that the local homeless coordinating board should be the most creative and innovative body to help end homelessness in our city. and at this point i really feel that [speaker not understood] local homeless coordinating board has turned its back on the homeless. i feel their primary goal at this point is more to just get funding for the shelters and whatever programs. with that said, on top of it, they just lost two sunshine ordinance hearings regarding -- really basically regarding treating homeless activists with dignity and respect. so, i mean, the local homeless coordinating board has some major problems. so, part of my thing is i'm looking for someone with enough dream and vision besides getting funding for these programs, you know, something to help homeless spiritually and intellectly and then like the housing. and we have a problem where if you take -- if you look at a person that's in the city for 10 years, they keep siege ~ cycling in and out. that's a problem. we need someone who understands policy and procedure of these bodies. then we have a problem with attendance of the local homeless coordinating board because the attendance of the local homeless coordinating board has been very shaky. i fear some of them are really on the edge of being disqualified for being members because their attendance is so shaky. i just want to say we need a dream and a vision to help the homeless he escape poverty. i just really see that there are -- we should be coming up, that should be the body that is, you know, trying to help people live better, do better. create their own businesses, buy their own housing. >> thank you very much. were you up here to support any particular candidate? i do like the black guy, but i do wonder if he's strong enough to break past the stagnation of this body. >> thank you very much. any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> okay, colleagues. >> i have a question. >> sure. >> i wanted to know if there is anyone from the local homeless coordinating board here. hi. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i want to be clear i'm not an appointed member of the board, i'm a staff to the board. my name is megan -- >> perfect, megan, you're the person i'm looking for. can you tell me how many people serve on this body? >> nine. >> nine people total. today we have an opportunity to appoint one person to three vacancies? >> there is one currently. >> correct. can you describe to me the current composition of this nine-member body. >> members are appointed three ways. members appointed by the board of supervisors, one vacancy in that group. so, three persona pointed by the board of supervisors. one persona pointed by the mayor and one persona pointed by the city controller. of the three named by the board of supervisors he is kim arm buster. he has a drop-in center at glide foundation. the other persona pointed by the boer -- i'll run through all of their names because i don't know where all folks are appointed. board of supervisors laura guzman. wendy phillips. ken [speaker not understood]. and eric brown. >> actually what i'm trying to understand is to get -- i want to make sure we appoint the ones that is a healthy mix. since we have three men obviously i can't make a determination on the gender, but maybe we can talk about the background of the three different candidates. is there a member that's already on the body that serves this by population, their service provider or some way associated with the homeless community? >> great question. [speaker not understood]. board members have notice throughout the [speaker not understood] so it's single adults. >> thank you. my other question is what is the number of folk that have been homeless themselves that serve on this body? >> currently there's one member. >> just one. so, one out of 9? okay, thank you very much. no further questions. >> breed. >> thank you. how often does this body meet? >> this body meets monthly from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the first monday of the month. every board member is also expected to take a leadership role in one of the committees. committees meet bimonthly or quarterly. >> do we have any attendance information that you can provide us with to understand if there are some challenges with some of the members who are on the board in terms of attendance? >> of the folks who are currently on the board? >> yes. >> there are two members who have missed three meetings in the past year. >> board appointment? >> one member is board appointed, yes. >> is there a attendance requirement? >> there is a stipulation in the by laws, people will be approached about attendance. >> okay. and in terms of the board appointments, so, laura guzman is the co-chair? >> yes. >> and she's still on the board? >> yes. >> is she a service provider? >> she is. >> wendy phillips? >> wendy phillips has resigned. that's the appointment you're considering today. kim is a service provider. and eric brown. >> he is currently a recipient of continuing the funds. >> okay, this is a really tough decision for us because i feel that we have three incredible candidates and i'd like to appoint all of them, especially if there are some members on this committee that are not showing up for meetings, i think it's time that we give people an opportunity. so, i know we only have the opportunity to appoint one person but i don't want to miss out on the opportunity to lose the other two as a result. this is the first time where i feel like each and every candidate is pretty outstanding. so, i am very concerned about making a decision that could discourage any of them from continuing to participate. so, i just wanted to get some thoughts from my colleagues they believe would be a good person for this seat. i am justly not a supporter of the residency waiver, hardly ever. and in this particular case, i feel that it's something i would support. so, any of these candidates i would be happy to support. and i just want to get some thoughts from my colleagues on what they think. >> so, i share your opinion, supervisor breed. we have basically three outstanding candidates. each with their own strengths and perspectives that i could easily see bringing it assets into this body. and, so, it is a tough decision. if you would, breakdown the role of this body in regards to looking -- there was mention of looking at funding and looking at&tly it and so forth and being creative and so forth. how much time is actually dedicated to particular aspects of the role? >> that's a great question. i would estimate service is a minimum of 5 hours per month of hard time that folk are spending [speaker not understood] where they are taking a leadership role. during a time of year where our community is reapplying for continuum of care funds with a $23.8 million grant that we reauthorize annually and this board has direct oversight of, folks are spending 80 to 90% of their board's service on a ranked listed of projects, creating a fair and accurate process to score against each other. during the rest of the year this board is focused on advisory capacity. that's when the more creativeness comes in, [speaker not understood], focus on hearing from other expert groups about the situation of hunger, situation of housing stability, situations of mental health [speaker not understood] that impact homelessness. >> thank you. doesn't make it any easier. [laughter] >> so, thoughts? >> so, i've actually come to the conclusion that i'm going to be supporting mr. del seymour for a couple reasons. one, i'm most intrigued by his background. clearly he's demonstrated the strongest support here today with not only letters of support, but also persons that have come to show up for us to testify. we're talking about a man that has a breadth and depth of experience that far exceeds the other two gentlemen. we're talking over 10 years hand on experience. i also want to think about the composition of the board. if there's only one other person there that speaks from that same experience of having experienced hoochlessness. i think an additional voice to the board is actually a healthy complement and would provide a robust discussion as we continue to talk about homeless issues in san francisco. >> supervisor breed, any thoughts around a particular comment? >> yes, and i would definitely be willing to support supervisor cohen's recommendation. i think -- and i'd also like to look at the possibility of replacing members who are not attending meetings with some of the persons we have here today who are interested in serving. clearly various perspectives are needed. people take it for granted when they've been in a position too long. this is an important [speaker not understood] in our city where we want people who really care about serving on this body. ~ to make a difference. and i think dan, it was mentioned that he had volunteered for six months, which to me is a part of demonstrating your commitment to a particular issue. and also the other gentleman, gary was actively engaged while in law school on this particular issue. to me, that is a part of demonstrating your commitment to serving and resolving some of these issues. and genuinely helping people. so, i just want to look at -- i don't want them to be discouraged, but i do want to also support del because i do think we need someone on this body that has that direct experience, and he has been out there and he knows what it feels like. we need that diversity in terms of experience on this particular board. and i would like to direct staff to go back and look at replacement of those who are not attending the meetings. but today i'm happy to support the recommendation made by supervisor cohen. >> great. s >> we'll make a motion, then, and vote on t. for the two candidates who have not been selected, i think all three of us feel the same way. you are great candidates ~ and we want to note our appreciation for you to step forward and apply for these positions. it's not always the case where we have really 100% of the candidates stepping forward to be such qualified people. and i'm going to echo supervisor breed's words that don't be discouraged. there are going to be other opportunities and we really hope that you will step forward again. so, i'm hearing that there's a motion. is there a motion for del seymour? >> i think we need to make a motion first to waive the residency requirement. so, i'm happy to make that motion. >> i'm happy to second that motion. >> okay, it's unanimous. that motion passes. would you like to make -- >> sure. i'd like to make a motion that we appoint mr. del seymour to seat number 2 on the local homeless coordinating board. >> is there a second? okay, by consensus, the motion passes. [gavel] >> congratulations, mr. seymour. (applause) >> madam clerk, item number 4. >> item number 4, hearing to consider appointing four members, terms ending june 1, 2014, to the reentry council. there are four seats and 12 applicants. >> so, we received a large number of applicants for these vacancies and many of these applicants actually just came in. there's 10 more than noted on this agenda. to give everybody a fair chance at this, we wanted to make sure we have time to actually look at the applicant's resumes and so forth. so, i will be asking for a continuance of this item for -- to the next meeting to allow us to actually do a better job in looking at all the applications. colleagues, so, at this point are there some people here for this item that would like to speak for an applicant? i wanted to give you to do this since you're here, but understand we're not going to vote on anything today. so, you have two minutes to come up here as part of the public comment. >> i have a comment. i wanted to ask for clarification. >> go ahead -- hold on a second. >> so, mr. chair, you're asking us to continue the item entirely and not take any action on any of the particular item? >> yes. yes, i have not seen these other 10 applicants. >> so, -- >> and we did notify some of the people not to come. >> okay, because there was a time when we had filled one of the vacant seats with a member listed here and i came prepared today to make sure that he continues his service. will this delay his ability to continue his service? this term expired on july 17, 2013, for robert bowden. and i was wondering if this might impact his ability to serve in his current capacity. >> let me ask the city attorney. i believe when people term out of a committee and they haven't been replaced, they can continue? >> okay. >> so, there shouldn't be any issue about their continuation until we actually take a vote. is that correct? >> deputy city attorney jon givner. that's right for advisory bodies like this one. for bodies that are created by the charter, people whose terms have expired can only hold over for 60 days. but that 60-day rule doesn't apply to advisory bodies that apply to ordinance like the reentry council. >> so, i guess we can hear public comment and i can make some further remarks. i know we're going to discuss a continuance, but i am interested in not continuing seat 4 and appointing seat 4 in order to move that particular seat forward and narrow down the number of other appointments that we have on our list. so, i'd like my colleagues to take that into consideration. thank you. >> okay. so, yes, sir. good afternoon, my name is omar breed love. i'm here to speak on my own behalf and express my interest to be appointed to the reentry council. i am a former prison inmate, a former drug addict, former homeless person, and i have turned my life around and i want to thank the city of san francisco for identifying the need to address the importance of people coming out of prison and having the resources that are needed to get their lives back on track. in turning my own life around, i want to be part of the solution. i've been a part of the problem so long. i now want to be part of the solution and help -- i've taken away from the community for so long and i see this as an opportunity for me to be a part of the solution and help not only my life, but the lives of other people that have been in the same situation as i have, which helps not only the individual, but helps the family, helps the community as a whole because of the crime that's committed. and it helps the children because of the recidivism of parents going in and out of prison and stuff like that. so, i would just like to express my interest and put my name in the box and let it be known that i'm interested and that i be considered. thank you. >> thank you. >> excuse me, what's your name again? >> omar breed love. i'm not on this list. the clerk just told me my name is on the other list. >> you're one of the more recent -- >> yeah. >> thank you very much. any other public comments? come on up. my name is it james hooker. i represent the allen community development corporation in the western addition as well as the crease project which stands for conflict resolution education and employment services. first let me say that ~ i've been attending reentry council meetings for the last 26 months and i'm also a member of the m-3 movement as well as the alan's community development men's group. my interest is in expertise in employment and education for under developed and under served people. unfortunately, many of the candidates who are now coming out of prison were people that i was working with trying to keep them out of prison. we have a recidivism rate that's going to require that we have a successful, as i like to tell them, poster boys, who can effectively represent the communities in which they come from. the sheriff's department, public defenders office, all have qualified programs for reentry and what we'd like to see is the community become an equal partner in the reentry concept programs that are being developed and a key to that is going to be having representatives from the prison population. so, we look forward to your selection. i did speak with a gentleman who asked me to come forward and his name is kevin bass. he's not here today, but i do know that it's been two years since he's been out and this is something that he's really interested in. and once again, i a plot the fact that we're going to be getting four new candidates or at least three new candidates for the reentry council that will be representative of the [speaker not understood] supposed to serve. thank you. >> thank you very much. ♪ [speaker not understood] the city will softly dig and i know you're so all alone but you've got the tools to make it i know you're gonna take every opportunity and take it reentry love is all around no need to waste it you're gonna use all your tools you're gonna make it you're gonna make it after all city hall they're going to make it after all thank you. >> any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> colleagues, as i indicated, i would ask for a motion to continue this item to call of the chair. supervisor breed. >> okay. so, i realize there are other candidates, as i said before. when we, when we address the vacancy of seat 4 not too long ago, we heard a laundry list of candidates and at that time made the decision to appoint robert bowden and i'd like him to be able to continue in that seat number 4. and, so, i would like to prior -- before we make a continuance i would like to make a motion that we appoint robert baez ento seat 4. okay. so, it's been -- >> is there a motion and second? i have an opportunity to actually hear everybody and see everybody's application to weigh whether or not i would be supporting robert bowden. it's nothing against robert bowden. for me it's a process of being fair and also telling people that we will be continuing [speaker not understood]. >> so, mr. chair, i apologize. i do understand the fairness of the process and that there are applications that we had not necessarily received prior to today, but regardless of those applicants, the only reason as i said -- even considering moving this forward is because we did consider seat 4. we listened to a laundry list of candidates earlier this year. and we made a selection at that time, and i for one would like to see mr. bowden continue in that seat and i don't want to waste anyone's time by allowing other members to believe that there is a possibility, if there isn't. i just want to basically take that one off the table so i then give everyone else a fair shake in terms of some of the other seats listed here. that's my reasoning and i respect your decision, but i really definitely want to be able to move that particular seat forward. >> your reasons are well taken. [speaker not understood]. >> okay. >> i just
so, let's have a vote. >> supervisor breed? >> aye. >> aye. supervisor cohen? >> aye. >> supervisor yee? >> no. >> the motion was to not proceed? >> it was to support robert bowden for seat 4, so, it passes. >> it passes. >> right. that means that now the seats that are in play are seats 1, 2 and 3. >> yes. >> correct. so, now i ask my colleagues for a motion to continue seats 1, 2 and 3. >> second. >> mr. chair, would you like to continue to the call of the chair or to our next rules committee meeting? >> to the call of the chair. >> thank you. >> okay. so, it by consensus passes. so moved. [gavel] >> okay. can you please call item number 5? >> item number 5, hearing to consider appointing eight members, for indefinite terms, to the food security task force. there are 8 seats and 8 applicants. >> so, we now want to invite paula joan to the podium to share more about the food security task force. hello, ms. jones. >> hello, good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for taking this item. again, my name is paula jones. i'm with department of public health and i'm director of food [speaker not understood] there. the item before you is nominations to the task force for the community members. and i just wanted to go through some of the raoxctionv that we have with task force. first of all, food security, according to our definition was that all of our residents will have [speaker not understood] at all times through the local nonemergency sources. and then i want to go through just what does food insecurity mean. that means not having enough money for food, skipping meals buying cheaper, less nutritious food, worrying your food will run out, not having a healthy place to buy food, not having a kitchen to prepare food and being hungry. these are some of the manifestations we know we have food insecure residents in every neighborhood in san francisco. certain populations have a higher food insecurity. lower households, seniors with disabilities, children, the unhoused. the food security task force was created and currently creates a plan for addressing food insecurity in san francisco, and we do this through tracking and publishing data on food program use and food need. we develop recommendations for policy program and funding. we also work together to develop pilot initiatives to improve food security. we also reach out to other groups and inform them of food security and also gather their information. i am currently a member oswald staff to the task force. it is also represented to the california food policy council. which is a council created comprised of local foot. we are reporting on food security. we'll be providing [speaker not understood], and we are working on organizing a hearing. the task force is comprised of city agencies and community representatives as well as a school district representative is invited. so, today [speaker not understood], all of the nominees are actively involved in food security work in san francisco and they regularly attend task force meetings. many of the nominees have previously been numbers for the task force and have been renominated. so, i'm going to take any questions and thank you for your support. >> okay. supervisor, are there any questions? no. thank you very much. okay, we will now hear from the applicants in the order they are listed on the agenda. so, let's see. first is karen gruneisen. hi, supervisors. i am not karen gruneisen, i am representing her today. i am liz [speaker not understood] at episcopal community services where karen is our associate director. and she apologizes for not being here today, but she's out of town at her nephew's wedding. karen just wanted -- >> she's missing this for a wedding? [laughter] i know. just a few points. karen previously was appointed to the food security task force in 2010 and has attended meetings for over three years. she seeks another appointment because she finds the work of the task force so beneficial to san franciscans who are food insecure, especially people who are poor and homeless. karen has coauthored the food security task force reports and chairs one of the subcommittees on the needs of seniors, people who are homeless and who live in s-r-os. and as you know, ecs serves over 14,000 homeless [speaker not understood] annually. karen brings the experience of ecs's clients to the food security task force table. and i'm happy to answer any questions about karen. [laughter] >> thank you, liz. any questions? seeing none, thank you. okay. >> anne quaintance. good afternoon, supervisors breed, yee, and cohen. i am currently being renominated to the food security task force. i am the chief operations officer of meals ask on wheels of san francisco. i know you know what we do there. we serve over 2,500 seniors with two meals a day. we served [speaker not understood] in addition to social services. our client needs and visitor services as well. [speaker not understood]. and the contracts unit as well as nine years at the san francisco food bank, five years running a food cooperative before that. i'm also the long term [speaker not understood] and the jewish community regulations council. i've been bringing work to the task force as well as the work we're doing there is critical. i think there is a lot we're doing right. there is more we need to do to address those needs. [speaker not understood]. i really guarantee and ensure all san franciscans have access to food security. i think one of our opportunities i'd like to bring this year's [speaker not understood] is an opportunity to present hospitalization and readmission by partnering and contracting with health plans and hospitals to bring more nutrition services to folks and i think that will help the city overall. and i do believe that a public private partnership like the food security task force ha done work over the years and we look forward to making a presentation at a hearing in november to really tell us all about city-wide and by board of supervisors district as well, the needs that are there. so, any questions? >> seeing none, thank you very much. next on the agenda is theresa olle. good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for having me. i'm terry olle. i'm the associate director of policy and advocacy at the san francisco and marin food banks. i'm being nominated as a community member to the food security task force. in my role at the food bank i work on policies and programs at the local and state level to make sure that low-income and food insecure residents of san francisco and marin counties are having access to the food that they need. as you well know, the food bank's main role is to bring in and distribute 45 million pounds of good every single year through a vast network of organizations that rely on us for food for their programs as well as pantries that operate in neighborhoods and schoo, to brick food to people who need it most. i have the luckiest job of being able to leverage that amazing work by taking a bit of a step back and thinking what are the policies that we have in place locally and at the state level that effect people in a way before they get to the point of meeting the services we provide in the majority of our i wouldctiontion. and in that role being part of the security task force has been a really incredible experience because i think what we're doing in san francisco is not unique, at least very high level of having the kind of public-private meetings where we are discussing how we each are providing a role and having a collective impact on food insecure residents of our local area. one of the main issues that i work on at the state level is actually cal fresh, a food stamp program which as you may know is functioning at a very low level statewide. we're the worst performing program in the entire country and that creates in and of itself a real gap in the access that our residents in san francisco have to getting resources in their hands that they can turn around and use immediately to buy healthy and nutritious food and to live healthy lives. so, that's something that a number of us at the task force are focused on and one of our main goals is making sure we as a local city and as a community are bringing in -- taking advantage of all of the programs that are out there that are federally funded, that are funded so that we are not only lifting up those who really need those resources, but also that we at the city are thinking of the larger system of food and helping people have access to it. thank you. >> supervisor breed? >> thank you. and i just want to personally thank you for the work that you do at the food bank when i was the director of the african-american and art culture complex, it's the place where we got healthy food for our program, where we got free snacks and fruit and other things that really has helped to deliver great services and making sure our children eat healthy more consistently. so, it's really a vital program not only to the african-american art and culture complex, but also to many of the programs that serve low-income children around san francisco. so, i just want to mention that and thank you. thank you. i'll take that back to our program staff. >> thank you. next is bruce mcken i. ~ mc kinney. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is bruce mc kinney and i'm the free meals program manager at the glide foundation, glide memorial. you know, we're serving right now about 2,500 meals every day 7 days a week, 365 -- 364 days a year and as i said, three meals a day. besides being program manager of the meals program, i'm also responsible for nutritional [speaker not understood] in the ad drive and in our community. responsible from really changing what glide has been doing in the past from a caloric meals program to a meal oriented program and really working with our community and with other agencies to work on areas especially in the tenderloin in our community to really be able to give them access to food besides just at glide. and, so, truly for the past four years i've been attending the meetings [speaker not understood] who was a voting member of the task force. i have been working on the subcommittees in dealing with a disaster planning and food procurement and dealing also with the s-r-os and with the seniors. i believe what i can bring and what glide brings is really a voice of the community, a voice of the tenderloin and being able to -- because hunger in san francisco is varied and as people said, it's in each community, and the tenderloin is a very unique community. and that's it. thank you. >> thank you. next up would be deloris mc gee. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is deloris mc gee and i work for community living campaign. i am a community connector for oceanview, merced heights and ingleside. our connectors are strategically located throughout the city. but i am in the omi. what i basically do is provide services and resources for seniors so that they can age in place in their homes. and what we found out is that the seniors in our community were not able to take advantage of the food that was distributed through the pantry. so, we developed with the community, community living campaign developed a food delivery program and we delivered the food twice a month to seniors and people who are disabled so that they can have nutrition -- not just food, but nutritional food. we wanted to make sure that they had fruit and vegetables because we feel that just because you're old you do not have to be unhealthy. so, we want a healthy aging population. once we got our food program up and running, other neighborhoods decided that they would like to take advantage of what we were doing. we developed a food program in park merced and university park. as of june 21st, we started our first program in the bayview district and we already have a waiting list because the need is so great. we also are working with the richmond district. we've been contacted by the hispanic community and visitacion valley. because of the health conditions of the samoan communities with chronic illnesses, we will be moving into that community. so, what we are doing is city-wide. and i have been serving on this committee for the last four years. the work that we're doing on this committee, we are able to connect with other agencies, which we weren't able to do that before. my community does not have a supermarket. so, this is why it's so important that we provide food for the seniors. also, i heard on the news that south of market in the bayview district will be closing soon so the seniors there would definitely need the food. so, i'm happy to serve on this committee. especially i get a chance to find out about all the politics. you know, when a person thinks of food, they don't think of the politics that's associated with it. so, since i've been sitting on this board, i got a chance to really understand more about food insecurity because of politics and it should not be that hard to feed people. thank you. any questions? >> seeing none, thank you very much. >> thank you. next up is hilary seligman. hi, my name is hilary seligman. i'm a primary care doctor at san francisco general hospital and i'm also a faculty member at the center for vulnerable populations there. i spend about a third of my time doing outpatient and inpatient primary care in hospital medicine at san francisco general and the rest of my time i spend on research advocacy and policy around food insecurity issues and education around medical students, residents and other faculty members about the [speaker not understood] and food insecurity and health. i have been attending the task force meetings for the last five years or so and have assisted in a number of projects. the first of which was looking at the prevalence of food insecurity and at san francisco general hospital, something that had not been done before. and the other is doing a very basic nature and analysis of the free and low cost -- the free meals available in san francisco. there is in the list of seats here the requests that we have, the representation of health and health care on the food security task force. i think that is a unique position as the food security world has come to understand the implications of food insecurity on health and i think that is the role that i have been able to play at the task force over the last couple years, bringing that unique perspective. thank you. >> okay, thank you very much. next up is charles sommer. good afternoon, supervisors. charles sommer. i'm the manager at the dining room at st. anthony foundation where i've been the last 14 years. as you know st. anthony's serves 2,500 meals a day, we're approaching [speaker not understood] meals served since 1950. i am relatively new to the task force though i have been attending the last year. but i have been working for over 10 years in collaboration with project open hand, glide, san francisco food bank and many other organizations, meals on wheels better to [speaker not understood] food service in the tenderloin and the city. it is important to me to serve not only be a voice for st. anthony's on this, but also to look at food access and nutrition for our seniors and our poorest of the poor that are being served from all over the city and the tenderloin and to help be a part of creating better access for them. >> okay. thank you. >> thank you very much. i guess the last one will be simon pitchford. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is simon pitchford. i am currently the director of [speaker not understood] project open hand. as many of you know, project open hand has been one of the main aids provider in san francisco, close to 30 years. we serve over 3,000 meals to people with hiv and other critical chronic illnesses in the city of san francisco. and complement the work that meals on wheels by providing [speaker not understood] meals at 19 sites around the city of san francisco to seniors. roughly serving over 2800 seniors every day. my interest, i'm a scientist by background so i'm particularly interested in the link between food insecurity and health care. so, i've been responsible at project open hands for bringing collaboration with colleagues [speaker not understood] to understand the outcomes of the services we provide in a quantitative fashion. and currently like many of us are trying to come up to speed on the affordable care act since that is going to have specific implications for basically meals that we provide, third-party reimbursements. as the affordable care act gets implemented, particularly in its relationship to ryan white. i'm fairly new to the task force ~. i also served on the tenderloin hunger task force, the steering committee, a number of subcommittees [speaker not understood]. like many, obviously the community relationships are critically important at the food security task force in addition to having connection to many of the city agencies because there's a lot of interaction between [speaker not understood] and the city agencies. and that's proven invaluable in the generation of data that will go into the various reports that you'll be seeing in the near future. so, thank you for your consideration. >> thank you very much. i guess that's the -- end of the 8 applicants. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> colleagues, any thoughts? would you like to -- would anybody like to make a motion to forward these appointments to the food board with recommendations? >> [speaker not understood] speak a little bit to the work that the eight candidates are doing. what's interesting, if you don't know, i represent the bayview community and certainly the last week-and-a-half has sent our office [speaker not understood] with the news the fresh and easy grocery store is closing. and it was a really low blow, frankly, and it really took the wind out of our sails. the community members were very excited to have fresh and easy in the neighborhood when opening up. but what is very refreshing is that there seems to be at least there's 8 folks here that are applying to help what i consider to be continuing to lead the charge, to help me to bring healthy food options to what we call a food desert. and i just want to say thank you for your service whether you're working at a nonprofit, whether you're working for a for profit agency or even if you're volunteering your time. this is something that you're interested in. the need is so great that we have a desire to have everyone at the table. so, just wanted to say thank you and recognize you for that. so very grateful from everyone that's doing everything, from working with seniors down to supporting nonprofit and youth organizations. absolutely critical. also want to acknowledge the exciting work we've been doing, even bringing liquor stores in bayview into introducing the owners, showing them that there's a way they can make a profit by selling more than just beer, wine, liquor, chips, cup of noodles and all the other stuff that is sold at the other store, the convenience store. and we've had some really great partners, the department of public health as well as our friends from kaiser and a few other nonprofit organizations that are on the ground. and just on behalf of the southeastern neighborhoods, i just want to say thank you for your help and that it is recognized and very, very greatly appreciated. and i may be calling on you if we begin to rally to figure out what we're going to do now that fresh and easy has left a huge hole in the neighborhood. also may need a rallying -- have another rallying cry when i think about visitacion valley community that also has no grocery store. so, it's very interesting how we can live in such a wealthy country, such a wealthy city and still parts of our city not have access to healthy food options. to highlight an even further level of irony, we've got the produce market in the bayview district and we also have the -- oh, shoot, terry? the food bank, thank you. and the food bank. we have these two amazing assets but yet no grocery store. it's just amazing. so, but those two aspects have been phenomenal partners in stepping up and filling the gaps and providing particularly produce and vegetables to the neighborhood [speaker not understood]. so, i just wanted to go on record and say thank you. >> it's actually quite amazing. as i'm listening to who you represent and so forth, just individual need from your organizations, all the great work they do individually. it just goes to show you how important this particular task force is to have such a collection of organizations and individuals that care about these issues. i've worked for several of the organizations that you represent including st. anthony's, two child care centers in the tenderloin. and i took it over, my organization took it over years ago from another organization that was going to give it up and part of it was that the state wasn't giving us enough funding to feed our kids and i turned around and asked st. anthony's can you help with this? this is serving the community here, we're going to lose it. so, to the credit of organizations like st. anthony's stepped up, sent the kid a good 7 or 8 years free of charge until my organization was able to raise enough funding to turn things around so that we were able to get the type of food that's a little more appropriate for little kids, but -- it was a life safer and i want to commend all your work. so, once again, i'd like to ask for a motion to forward the recommendations. ~ saver >> i'd like to second that motion. is that a motion? >> i make that motion to forward the 8 names that have been brought to us to the full board. >> madam clerk, do we need to assign the seat numbers for each of the individuals? >> okay, all right. well, i'd like to make a motion to assign karen gruneisen to seat number 1 and anne quaintance to seat number 2. theresa olle to seat number 3. bruce mc kinney to seat number 4. deloris mc gee to seat number 5. hilary seligman to seat number 6. charles sommer to seat number 7 and simon pitchford to seat number 15. >> is there a second? >> second. >> very good. by consensus, the motion passes. [gavel] >> congratulations. >> thank you very much. items 6 and 7 are coming up. what i'd like to ask for an indulgence of my colleagues to allow me to switch the order of them. it seems a little more logical to me that we hear what the shelter monitoring committee actually does and then reports. then go ahead and look at the appointees, okay? so, is that okay with my colleagues? >> sure. >> item number 7 first. >> item number 7, hearing to consider the quarterly reports of the shelter monitoring committee. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is keith deniz, i'm the vice-chair of the shelter monitoring committee and i'm here to review the materials sent to you on monday, 9 september. the shelter monitor committee is an independent vehicle charged with monitoring the shelters and resource centers in the city and we are made up of 13 members consisting of homeless or formerly homeless individuals and who also are employed or nominated by service providers. our seats are filled by the mayor's office with three seats, the board of supervisors with six seats, the local homeless coordinating board with four seats. the officers, the chairs and vice-chairs and staff meet regularly with [speaker not understood] dph to have an open line of communication and improve effectiveness. [speaker not understood] due to only having one staff member and made up entirely of committee members, we did 34 of the 38 assigned visits. during these visits we found 89 violations most of which sites corrected within 7 days. i would also like to note that st. joseph's family shelter was inspected twice during this period and no violations were found at all. there were 157 standard of care complaint forms filed. 32 by committee members, 58 by clients. most complaints were discharged or satisfied by the site or the committee with only 17 having to be forwarded to dph. in march and april of 2013 the committee visited mission neighborhood resource center, nnrc, multi-center south [speaker not understood]. there were a combined total of 261 people seeking reservations,
can we have a motion to excuse supervisor cohen? >> so moved. >> second, and you're done. can we move item 5 to the full board without objection? >> yes, so moved. >> okay, so moved. madam clerk, item 6. >> item number 6, ordinance amending the municipal elections code, sections 100, 110, 200, 205, 220, 230, 260, 335, 500, and 590, and adding section 810, to: incorporate state law provisions governing community college and board of education candidates; change deadlines for withdrawal of candidacy and candidate qualification statements; change the public inspection period for candidate materials; change requirements for petition circulator badges; delete the requirement that a disclaimer appear before board of supervisors' arguments in the voter information pamphlet; incorporate state law provisions governing signatures in lieu of filing fees; reinstate candidate filing fee provisions; and make other technical amendments. >> mr. chair, is this the amended proposed amended resolution that was just handed to us, not the one that we have in our possession, correct? >> that is correct. >> okay. >> and i can explain further, supervisor breed. >> thank you. >> please do. >> thank you. thank you very much, chair yee. andrew shen, deputy city attorney. good afternoon again. at the request of the director of elections, there are a few minor amendments and what i just distributed to the committee, just to highlight them to you, i've actually colored them in yellow. and i can explain this. really basically one set of changes that causes some further amendments to be made. as you recall, at the last rules committee meeting on this legislation, one of the main purpose of these recent changes is to change the nomination period specifically to clarify that it only applies to candidates and the mayor and the board of supervisors. some of the deadlines were changed in the [speaker not understood] of the committee to be considered. upon further consideration in preparation for today's hearing, we noticed one of the relevant nomination periods, the e 171 through e 146 after we consult an election calendar, we found out that e 171 date are the 171st day before election day actually fell on a saturday. obviously we didn't want to create a nomination time period where the first day on the option of the candidate filing on the first day when actually show up to city hall, the department of elections and find out it's closed. we wanted to move it a day friday in which the candidate could actually file the required papers. so, we actually wanted to shift the nomination period by simply one day up, the same time frame, 25-daytime frame and simply move it up so the first day of the time period would fall on a friday. the thus the e 172 date. that resulted in amendments to the -- result in amendments marked on page 3 lines 17 and 18. and it caused a further change because the time frame for the withdrawal capped da -- candidacy 121 time period needed to be adjusted to account for that shift. and those amendments are found on page 5 line a and page 6 line 22. ~ line 8 i apologize for these minor technical changes. the director of elections is also here to explain further background if the committee so wishes. i also want to ~ also explain that these changes are not substantive so the committee can forward them to the full board after today's meeting. >> thank you for the explanation. let's see. mr. [speaker not understood], is this something that we have to do annually to change the dates because of whether it falls on a saturday or not? >> no, no. these days are annually fall on the same day. so, it would be friday every year. the nomination period would be [speaker not understood]. >> got t okay, thank you. any other questions? seeing none, okay. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, any thoughts? can we move this item forward? without any objection? >> i first would like to make a motion to amend the current ordinance to the proposed changes that we just received. do i need to specify what those changes are? okay, thank you. >> okay, thank you. second? seeing no objection, so, again, can we move this item forward to the full board without objection with the amendments? >> so moved. >> okay, moved and seconded, with no objection, it moves. item 6 -- item 7, actually. >> item number 7, hearing to consider appointing one member, term ending july 17, 2013, to the reentry council. applicant [speaker not understood] withdrew his application therefore we now have one seat and 10 applicants. >> thank you. i believe jessica [speaker not understood], the director of the reentry council is here to say a few words about the reentry council. >> thank you so much, supervisors, for hearing this item today. i'm jessica [speaker not understood], reentry division of adult probation and [speaker not understood]. thank you for considering appointment to fill seat 4. the purpose of the reentry council is to coordinate our local efforts to support adults returning from our county jails, state prisons and federal prisons. we are empowered to identify funding at the local, state, and federal level so that we can bring to these issues to identify programs that work, barriers to safe and successful reentry, and to identify the unmet needs of the populations. some of our recent projects include an analysis to the justice reinvest initiative, looking at how we can better use our resources to protect public safety and reduce recidivism, and how we can improve policies that reduce the collateral consequences of criminal conductions [speaker not understood] to housing and employment. the council is composed of 123 members, department heads of the public safety agency and health and human service partners. 7 appointments, three by the mayor, four by the board of supervisors that are reserved exclusively for formerly incarcerated individuals. among these seven members, at least two have had experience providing services to individuals returning to the system. at least one has been released in the last two years. at least one has served multiple terms and at least one be between the ages of 18 to 24. today you are considering appointment to seat 4, someone who has spent more than one term in custody. you have a brief memo in front of you containing the candidates today three of whom are here and anxious to speak before you. we will be back before you in july to seek appointment or reappointment of all four members because all of those term are ending in july. today is just for the unexpired portion of one of those terms. page 2 provides [speaker not understood] of the admin code which codifies the reentry council. and the last page outlines reporting relationships of council. i just want to note there are many subcommittees where we have dozens of opportunities for individuals to work with us and, so, regardless of the outcome of today's difficult decision, i just want to let you know i'm looking forward to working with all the applicants in whatever capacity possible going forward. lastly, just want to underscore how important these appointments are. the eligibility requires that these individuals have personal experience of having been in the system because we know how people with direct experience bring unique expertise to policy discussions. that said, the applicants before you today bring much more than just this personal experience. they have the best and diverse professional and personal qualifications. thank you so much for considering them today. >> thank you very much for the explanation. so, i'll call to see if you are here or not. bradley reiss, are you here? here. >> come on up. if you want to make a statement. good afternoon, everybody. my name is bradley reiss, i'm a san francisco native, formerly incarcerated obviously. and i've been out for several years clean and sober. i currently work -- i currently work for the [speaker not understood] charter school associated with the sheriff's department, cj5, flagship facility of the sheriff's department in san bruno, chairman of the [speaker not understood]. for the last several years i have been the voice and ears of people that are still incarcerated, placing hundreds of people into programs. and i'm here, excited about this appointment. i was here for the last appointment. i did not get elected for it so i'm really looking forward to getting elected this time. i feel like i'm a great candidate for it with my previous criminal history and more importantly what i'm doing now the last several years in the community of san francisco, helping people reenter the community one day at a time. thank you very much. >> supervisor cohen, do you have a question? >> yes, i do, thank you. can you tell me, i might have missed it in your presentation, what kind of work are you doing within the reentry community now? so, part of what i do in custody with the inmates every day is we do planning for reentry -- >> planing? planning, reentry planning. everybody who is going to get out, we make them do -- we help them assess them and do a reentry plan so they can better navigate through the system once they get out, they're able to stay out. we meet with them. my colleague has a clothing store, we give clothing to. we meet them at meetings. we stay connected to them once they're out of custody. >> is that paid work or volunteer work? that's volunteer. that's after 4:00. >> thank you very much. i have no further questions. >> thank you. okay. >> is dennis kinkle here? hi, how are you? as you well know, i have a term or multiple terms, quite a few of them actually. [speaker not understood]. i'm from sacramento. when i got placed here, i didn't know anybody, i didn't know anything. i've learned of opportunities that san francisco has and taking full advantage of them. i've came a long ways because of the resourcing that you guys have and i believe that i could help other people that are coming out of this system and bring something worth to what you guys have brought to me to them. because it is possible. that's what it's all about for me, helping somebody that's been -- i've been in prison after prison, federal, you know what i mean? so, if i could do it, anybody can. they just got to know how and they don't know how, and i do, i believe i can help other people to learn how and take the right steps to, to turn their life around. >> okay. are you finished? yes. >> great. supervisor cohen? >> how do you help people now? right now, i had like this great support system. i'm not involved in no organization. i work at a good will, which is an organization. i'm full time there. and they bring in jrts, which are job readiness training people. and they have like -- they need direction. i give them directions, i give them support. i tell them like all the opportunities good will has, st. anthony has, glide has, what a gd does for them. because without gd, you can't really -- you can't even get a job without a gd. i go to school now. i'm a full-time nighttime school through san francisco college, city college and looking forward to going on to state. so, i mean, i just know of all the resources. >> i have a question. how did you find out about this seat? i was advised through good will at first, and then my probation officer is dan zarita, and i mentioned it to him. and he pushed it forward, told me go ahead and go through with it. that i'd probably be a good candidate for it. at first i wasn't really sure what all it was for, what it was about. and after i studied and seen -- like i just recently came across a book that's from the reentry council of all the opportunities that they have from san francisco resourcing and stuff. and i just believe there's a lot more you could add to it. and other directions from halfway houses that they -- it's kind of difficult being in certain places, certain rehabilitation centers. if you really are trying to better yourself, they make it like -- it's almost like they're against you. so, i mean, there's like -- i have ideas that would help the people that are there and directions which way to go when they do have. like they have these things called dars, getting out of a halfway house. if they're used properly and they really want to rehabilitate and get a job and go forward with their life and leave prison behind, there's so many ways to do it here. >> thank you. >> thank you. next person would be jamie brewster. are you here? >> does that mean they're withdrawing or just not here? >> just not here. kathleen culhane? she had a family emergency. >> thank you. malik wade, are you here? >> and malik, as i'm sitting here, he literally stepped out [speaker not understood] he'll be back in a moment. >> we'll give him an opportunity. michael santos, come on up. hello, supervisors. my name is michael santos. i am recently released from prison. i began serving a prison sentence in 1987 when i was 23 years old. as a consequence of some bad decisions i made as a young man, i served 25 consecutive years in prison. in fact, i'm still in prison right now. i am a resident of the halfway house on 111 tier street. while i was incarcerated i earned an undergraduate degree and master's degree from accredited universities and published numerous books on the subject of preparing for successful law abiding life upon release. i am currently working with golden state lumber whose corporate offices are in petaluma and has three lumber yards here in bay area. we're opening another one and i'm working with the employer to change their corporate policy to -- hiring policies that prevent them from hiring felons. i have launched a program to help people prepare for success upon release and i would like very much to work with the san francisco reentry council since this is going to be my home. i was recently appointed a lecturer at san francisco state university where i'll be teaching on the subject of architecture of imprisonment beginning in the fall semester. my journey through prison has been longer than my life outside of prison, but because of the experience i've had in serving terms in prisons of every security level, from united states penitentiary, medium security prison, [speaker not understood] prison and recently minimum security camp, i know the system. ~ better than i know living in society. but the work i've done has helped me land on my feet and i'd like to share those experiences with others. >> thank you. any questions? seeing none, thank you. thank you. >> next person is noel, noel valdivia. [speaker not understood]. >> robert bowden. how are you doing this afternoon, supervisors? my name is robert bowden. i grew up in san francisco and north carolina, i spent 16 years of my life being incarcerated from age 12. i got released from prison in 1997 and i promised god if he gave me another chance, i promised my family that this time that i wasn't going to go back. that's been 15 years ago. many times when i got out, i wanted to change, but i couldn't find no resources. so, the home boy hotline i found myself in 2005, and we call it 72 hours of hope because a lot of times when you get out, you have $200 and promise god, promise your family, promise your girl, your kids, and temptation kicks in, you can't find no resources even though you want to, you try, just temptation kicks in because, you know, i call it 72 hours of hope. so, at the home boy hotline that i founded, what i do we often -- i have a son [speaker not understood] and what i did, i was walking through the tenderloin when i got out. i couldn't really find no job. the third day i walked past a shelter 39 fell, it was 24-hour place where you can just go. i went inside there and i asked the gentleman, please give me a job. i told him my story, told him i'd do whatever i could, start from the bottom. he gave me a job and it changed my whole life. when i walked out, he told me come back the next day i was hired. when i walked out of there, i said i was going to find me some [speaker not understood] in this community and that's what i did. so, what i did, i developed a website, home boy hotline, i went and got the 501(c) (3) and i found 20, i got 10 to 25 employers all over the bay area that's willing to hire people, to shelter, in the tenderloin, i got a couple telemarketing places. also i deal with on the private industry council in oakland, i deal with western community center, i deal with hospitality house, downtown in san francisco. these places help you get your resume together. and what i did also, i went and found all the websites that would offer job training. i just put everything on one website, any type of place that would help you with a legal resource and housing, i found a place in oakland, let you stay there for 18 months and you can get truck driving skills, construction trade. upon release a lot of people don't want to go back to the same environment but they don't have a choice. [speaker not understood]. and home boy hotline is not [speaker not understood] bias, race bias, it's for men and women. i go to juvenile halls. i go to prisons, also i go to 1 11 taylor and i go to a halfway house and do a presentation every three months to let them know what the home boy hotline is based upon. i get letters all the time from prisoners and phone calls. i really didn't know nothing about the reentry council to be honest with you. i work real close with the healing circle, women in the community have been victimized by violence and their children, and matty scott, you know, kept encouraging me telling me to come apply. that's why i applied for it. to be honest with you, the reason that i feel as though i'm qualified for this seat is i think a person that's trying to transfer back into the community in transition, and trying to change, can only be affected by someone who has changed and transitioned because i consider myself a walking miracle. i'm dedicate today this reentry because i want to be a source of inspiration and i want to provide a source for my community. i help restore this community. when crack came, i was right there on leavenworth. i feel bad about that because there were kids affected by my profits. i have nieces and nephews in the western district and bayview right now. i want them to be proud of their uncle when they speak of me. that's very important. i want my mother and grandmother and them to be proud of me. so, my success is based on me helping somebody else be successful. and that's why i'm here today. and i really do think if you a -- appoint me, that i could do what i do on a bigger scale. i got a 501(c) (3) but never got it going because -- dealing with grant writers has been an obstacle for me. i didn't want that to stop what i was doing. so, i continue to do it. right now in september, god's will, i'm going to go to school for grant writing myself. if just kept waiting on the grant writers, i don't think i would be where i'm at with my organization right now. right now my organization is throughout all the correctional facilities of california. i get calls and letters all day. so, we start off small, but each year the numbers grew and i'm proud to say last year we have 62 people gained employment and housing. [speaker not understood]. >> supervisor cohen? >> thank you. just as a point of clarification. you're employed as a telemarketer and hvh is a nonprofit that like a labor of love? excuse me? >> so, your nonprofit, is that your full-time work? no, i do it on the side. you know, i'm the founder. i work there, i do it on the side, but i work somewhere else. >> okay. that's what i was trying -- i have like -- i be on the radio. i get volunteers to come in and help me. i had somebody help me build my website. what i do, people ka contact me, i do assessment of their needs, fill out a form, what exactly do you need. i have them go to the website first and see if you find anything on there you need, housing, job, have them first try to find out what would you do so we can get a resume done for you and after that i have volunteers work with me when we develop the caseload, we checkup on them every three days and then biweekly. we keep checking on them until they find what they need. that's how we've been doing it. none of them was paid. it's all volunteers. they come and they go. >> supervisor breed. >> thank you. i just wanted to know, what are -- i know you mentioned it earlier in your presentation, but can you just give me an example of some of the job opportunities that you've been able to help people achieve? i've got a couple people job at the shelters, downtown in san francisco, the place where i work at telecom p ink, they hire people every day. i've been getting a lot of people jobs there. i refer a lot of people to the private industry council downtown oakland. they've been going through a program broken through barriers. most of the people, i send them to the western community edition program or either through breaking barriers council. i'm just like a one stop. that's all i am. ~ tion i tell them i can't get you no job, but i can help you get your resume together, direct you toward some job training ask things of this nature. >> so, do you, do you have an estimate of, for example, with the people that you mention, 60 or so jobs, do you know what's the longest time frame any of those persons has held onto those jobs, do you keep track of any of that information? i can't say i'm aware of how long they held onto it, but i have heard people come back, they come back sick months later, nine months later and they are still working. ~ six they're thank furl. i do a fund-raiser once a year and sometimes they come back and speak at the fund-raiser. >> so, in terms of housing -- yes, ma'am. >> -- what do you do, what kind of housing are you helping people to access? well, i provide them with a place called men of valor. it's a program in oakland. you can stay there 18 months and get [speaker not understood] and forklift certification. that's the only housing opportunity i have at this time. and also i work with the shelters if they don't have no place to really stay. i work with the shelters and i got a rapport with all the shelters downtown, i can get them a shelter bed until they can find some permanent housing. that's what i do. >> so, for full time of course you work. yes, ma'am. >> and you do all of this in terms of volunteering, you spend a lot of hours out there developing relationships with people -- yes, ma'am. >> -- to provide housing and to provide employment for people who have just been released from prison? yes, ma'am. the phone number, the 24-hour hotline is my phone number. >> you're quite popular. i mean, i'm just -- you know, i mean, i'm blessed to be standing here, you know what i mean? so, i feel i owe my community this. this is where my mom and them saw me a long time ago that i didn't see. you know what i mean? so, i'm blessed to stand here today and to be able to help somebody. so, i don't -- i mean, you can say [speaker not understood]. >> what are you hoping to bring to the reentry council that could make it better than what it is now? well, just to -- the emotion of the temptation that a person is faced with, the emotion that i'm still faced with every day, the challenges that a person is faced with when they get out, you know what i'm saying? a lot of people want to change, but they're full of guilt and shame and disappointment, you know, wrote all those letters to your family and stuff, you have no money coming in the house and you feel shameful. so, my thing is to be able to bring to them how you can overcome this shame and how to help a person deal with the shame and understand if you're making $1.25 a day, $8 is a come up. so, i'm here to let them know how to transfer that to the public and to transfer that to people when you're talking to them. it's the passion about how successful you can become and how not to try to get a -- you know, you can't get a $25 job a lot of times overnight and the public don't owe you nothing. >> and are you serving the residents from all over, from san francisco, from oakland, from
know, not having a strong mother or father in their household, and this is a good chance when i was benefiting back in the late '80s down in the tenderloin, that that child was being affected by my benefits. so, that ain't nothing i'm really proud of. so, this is my way of trying to redeem myself, ma'am. >> thank you. yes, ma'am. >> thank you. stephen fields, are you here? come on up. so, the reason i'm interested in becoming part of the reentry council, it's something that i've always wanted to do, but i didn't really have the time for. some of my successes here in san francisco is that i piloted a program with the juvenile corrections programs at a youth guided center. piloted a program called principle collaborative centers here for youth here in san francisco, helping youth out in bayview and hunters point area. people who are marginalized with a lot of disparity, helping them to get into different programs. from there, i worked with the adult populations here in san francisco for over the past 10 years, helping people to get into treatment centers throughout the city of san francisco. most of my work is very much targeted here in san francisco. i currently am a program manager here in san francisco. i also am a certified treatment counselor and currently attending college out at san francisco state university, applying for graduate school to become a social worker. i worked with the mayor with the court systems. aye i'm more familiar with the probation department. i am familiar with the reentry and i am very familiar with incarceration. i served time both in state and federal facilities in the united states. for me, it's been a life journey, but it's everything that's allowed me to become who i am today, which is a person who loves to reach out and help another person get his life back on track. some of the things i've experienced here in san francisco is homelessness, long-term drug addiction, all those problems i've overcome. today i work in and out of the county jails, out of san bruno, [speaker not understood] brightvthv. i currently supervise intern counselors who try to go out and change people's lives and touch their lives in a way that reduces recidivism here in san francisco. i participate actively in writing grants for different -- for different programs that our agency can go out and reach more people over the years. i probably have helped, i'll just say modestly hundreds and hundreds of people. that's about it. >> supervisor breed. >> did you get [speaker not understood]? >> i saw your name. do you have any questions? supervisor cohen? >> i'm sorry, can you tell us how you heard about the reentry program again? i heard about the reentry council. i was working for jeff hadachi in the public defenders office. >> what were you doing at the pd office? reentry counselor, social worker. i heard about the program, i attended one of the very first sum its for the reentry council. i was actually a client of the reentry social worker here in san francisco in the very early beginning stages. and it was just something that, you know, for me it was about giving back and learning something different. at that time i was interested in studying recidivism and i was also interested in studying research articles on disparity and why people ended up trapped and going back and forth into jails and prisons. >> and your application indicates that you've attended meetings, you're familiar with the process and the procedures at our reentry council. you attended meetings before? i'm sorry. >> have you attended any reentry council meetings? i have attended reentry council meetings and find them very interesting. i like to keep my finger on the pulse of what is a.m. going on here in the community in regards to formerly incarcerated persons, their rights in regards to job applications and the different things that are of major concern for people who are incarcerated. for instance, the right to vote here in the city of san francisco for people who are incarcerated and people who are currently out in the community, different issues like that that allow us to be more proactive in the community. and also to gain back some of the vital components of life that i think are important for helping people who have been formerly incarcerated. >> thank you. >> thank you. you're welcome. >> toni scott, are you here? i'm going back to malik wade. has he stepped back in? okay. i think those were the only ones that were listed. is there any public comment for this item? you have two minutes. good afternoon, my name is [speaker not understood]. i work for the reentry navigator program here in san francisco which assists individuals who have prior convictions [speaker not understood] training or employment. and i'm here today in support of dennis kinkle's application for a seat on the reentry council. i have known dennis now for over a year. since he came into the soma one stop and became a participant in the reentry navigator program, during that year i have seen him evolve. he has achieved his ged in less than three months. he was hired as a transitional employee and then based on his exemplary work was hired as a permanent employee at good will. he completed a warehouse training program and now has been invited back to speak to current students to provide them with insight about his experience and his advice back to his employer good will and [speaker not understood], but, one, volunteering his artistic abilitieses, his time and materials to paint holiday decorations at good will, which gave him a chance to find employment. and he has volunteered to be a speaker in speaker's bureau [speaker not understood] council subcommittee is working to form. i've learned a lot from him. he is experienced reentering several communities and is always willing to share his thoughts what works and what doesn't and i think he would bring a valuable perspective to the reentry council given he has taken advantage of so many services here in san francisco. and has made them work. and i support his application and [speaker not understood] each of the candidates have great things to offer so i hope that they will continue to work with the reentry council. thank you for your time. >> thank you. are these new, supervisor cohen? >> yes, i would like to [speaker not understood] one more. i'm sorry, public comment is over. >> let me close this. is there any more public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> just a couple questions about just the composition of the -- and the makeup of the reentry council. >> sure. >> i've been listening. the'ly katetionvindications from the applicant and on the website. it looks like seat 4 is the only one that is allowed -- i'm sorry, seat 4 is the only one that's vacant today. >> correct. >> out of the list of folks we've seen today, are we allowed to vote on only one person? >> correct. >> so, can you talk to me a little bit to help me make my decision about the makeup of this council? >> um-hm. absolutely. well, 16 of the 23 members are appointed by virtue of their seat. so, the district attorney, the public defender, head of public health, et cetera, the seven formerly incarcerated individuals, three are appointed by the mayor, four by the board of sups. the other appointee [speaker not understood] who is appointed by the mayor. ron aloe [speaker not understood] was appointed by the board of supervisors which is the chair we're filling. [speaker not understood] is one of the other board appointees. eddie [speaker not understood] -- >> he is mayoral, right? >> yes, mayoral appointee. stephen low is one of the board appointees here. as is kim courtney. so, it is stephen, jerrold and kim courtney are the three other appointees with leslie, eddy, and then one other gentleman appointed by the mayor. so, the kind of range of experiences, the range of ages, some gender diversity with two women, about 13% of the people involved in the criminal justice system are women. so, it's not so much disparity to have only two of the seven appointees be women, with jerald miller, african-american, and three asian american representatives. >> i'm sorry, you said one african-american, three asian, two women? >> yes, two women. >> and in terms of kind of comparison to the population, as you probably know, about 60% of ~ the individuals incarcerated are african-american, with latinos and asian americans comprising a significant minority. in san francisco, the disproportionality is three times the rate of the san francisco resident population, which is actually slightly higher the national average. so, that's one issue that we're looking at. >> supervisor breed. >> okay, are you finished with your -- okay. this is probably one of the most challenging decisions i've ever been faced with as a member of the board. mostly because this impacts the people that i care about, the people i grew up with. the candidates that have come before us have been really -- i'm really, really impressed with your qualifications, but more importantly, i'm really impressed with all of the work that you are all doing in the community to try to help someone else. this means really a lot to me because as supervisor, one of the things that i want to look at is ways in which we can help to change lives, especially for those who are coming out of [speaker not understood] and making sure that they have access to opportunity, especially employment and housing which we know there are numerous barriers to issues of that nature. and with that, i definitely want to move forward with the recommendation of robert bowden because i know him, and i know exactly what he's out there doing in terms of the work in the community and the impact on the lives, especially those that i have worked with for many, many years. i think that that voice is actually missing on the reentry council, the voice of someone who's come up through the experiences that i've witnessed, the experiences many members of my community, selling drugs, going to prison, homicides, all of these things that sadly destroy a community and which destroyed my home, the western addition. and i think that the fact that i remember when he first started this program, and oftentimes you hear people talk about what they're gonna do for their community, and he's out there doing it. and although i know that other members of this council -- i mean, other applicants here are doing the exact same thing in terms of doing something to give back, the voice of what i'm looking for for this particular reentry council is a voice that will help me further my mission of helping those who are released from prison really adapt to coming back to society, especially in san francisco, and becoming a part of the community, a part of transforming the community. and i think mr. bowden will bring that voice. and i'm really excited about just all of you here and i wish that there were opportunities for you to serve in a capacity like this. and i hope that we get a chance to see you again if other seats become available. i'm not sure exactly what my colleagues are interested in doing, but my support is 100% behind mr. bowden, and i hope he will be considered for the full board. >> thank you, supervisor breed. i have to say that this is probably the most qualified set of people for any of the seats i've seen so far in my short life on the board of supervisors. each one of you would bring a lot to this reentry commission. and unfortunately we only have one seat. i wish we could have all of you. you know, regardless of who is going to be selected, i really hope you keep your interest up. it seems that you're doing things anyways, but as seats become available, please reapply. you folks are just amazing. so, i pretty much could select any one of you. i'm listening to my colleague, supervisor breed's comments, and [speaker not understood]. so if we were to open for nomination right now, you're nominating mr. bowden, i will second that. >> thank you. >> supervisor cohen? >> thank you very much. i appreciated jessica's work -- appreciate jessica's work with the reentry council. i've been on the board for three years and have watched closely the reentry council, the work that they've done, the reporting that they've done were important, particularly in this hour post realignment, which is a really critical time for us in california, particularly here in san francisco. and i have growing frustrations with realignment [speaker not understood]. i understand this happened at the state level, but it's frustrating because i've had three shootings this week in the district, one of which was an officer involved shooting. you think about last weekend how many shootings happened across the bay area. i think there were five shootings in four days. and when i talk to other colleagues in other counties, they, too, are experiencing an uptick in violence, particularly around gun violence. so, the way i see the reentry council as being another partner as a tool in this discussion on how we decrease the recidivism rate, particularly young boys from going into a life of crime. and begin to -- a reentry council is a part of a body that helps us with the discussion around how do we support those men and women that are coming back into our community so that they can get jobs, find housing, reconnect with their children, reconnect with their families. and, so, i share the same concerns with my two other colleagues. that said, i think michael santos stood out the most for me. as i struggle to try to find my words, when i think about the composition of the reentry council, what i think is lacking is a latino male. and, so, that is why [speaker not understood] is attractive to me. and you yourself discussed, jessica, what exactly african-american and latino being second to the number -- to the ethnic group that populates our jails. and i think mr. santos, is interesting because he's obviously [speaker not understood] can write, he has a quality to be able to inspire other folks, not just latino men, but also have the ability to inspire people and transcend the race and ethnic identities that many of us have and operate with. so, i would like to put forth and nominate mr. michael santos today for consideration by this body so that we can make our recommendation to the full board. so, i'm not sure procedurally how we get out of this little conundrum because i think there are two names and two motions on the floor. mr. deputy city attorney? >> good afternoon. deputy city attorney andrew shen. i think just to summarize where the committee is right now, there is a motion to move forward with recommendation mr. bowden and i believe that motion was seconded by chair yee. there is also an in addition a motion by supervisor cohen to forward michael santos to the full board. in terms of what we can do, we can certainly take a roll call vote on the motion regarding mr. bowden, and i guess in terms of disposition of supervisor cohen's motion, if there is a second. if there is no second to your motion, supervisor cohen, it would simply fail lack of a second and we can do a roll call vote with respect to mr. bowden. >> thank you very much for that clarification. >> so, i think the next step is is there a second or not for supervisor cohen's motion. >> so, we'll take a roll call vote on mr. bowden. >> on the motion, supervisor breed? breed aye. supervisor cohen? cohen no. supervisor yee? two ayes and one no. >> mr. bowden will be forwarded to the full board. thank you once again. all of us appreciate every one of you that have applied. and please keep up the good work that you're doing. thank you very much. we're going to move into -- hold on, let me say this first. can you please call items 8 through 17? >> mr. chair, item numbers 8 through 17 are items regarding existing litigation. would you like to adopt a motion to move into closed session? >> thank you. before we entertain a motion to convene this closed session, is there any member of the public who wishes to speak on items 8 through 17? good afternoon, supervisors. today you are reviewing a whistle blower retaliation settlement titled dr. derek kerr versus ccsf. i'm the plaintiff and i didn't want to sue the city. but dr. maria row aver owe and i stumbled upon wrongdoing ~ in involving laguna honda's ceo that we just couldn't ignore. after notifying the whistle blower program, i received a unique permanent layoff and dr. rovero was harassed. we reported the retaliation to the ethics commission, but ethics did nothing to protect my career. instead, they told me to get a lawyer. then ethics took over two years to complete their investigation. in retrospect, the lawsuit was our only hope because ethics has not sustained a single whistle blower retaliation claim since it was founded. not one. many studies have shown that reprizals against whistleblowers are common with rates up to 90%. but with our ethics commission, the retaliation rate is always zero. that's why we are here today. we hope some benefit will come of this and offer two suggestions to prevent future lawsuits. number one, ask why the ethics commission dismisses every retaliation complaint it receives. and two, ask the controller's whistleblower program to perform a whistleblower satisfaction survey. thank you for your time. >> thank you. hi, supervisors. i'm maria rovero, i'm the silent partner in the lawsuit you're going to be reviewing. dr. kerr and i blew the whistle on laguna honda gift fund and also tainted department health contracts. then after 20-year careers at laguna honda, i was believed and forced out of my position and he was terminated. and therefore, the $750,000 settlement for wrongful termination that you are going to be reviewing. ~ bullied. barbara karosi is the ceo of laguna honda and she admitted she made the determination to terminate dr. kerr. what is the message you receive when the [speaker not understood] who retaliated is still in office? to same it shows you condone whistle blower retaliation and violate laws that protect whistle blowers. it shows you accept executive who pilfer funds at laguna honda. violating what supervisor campos has said is a sacred trust. it shows that you condone spending public funds on rigged contracts given to cronies. it shows that you'll accept driving out ethical and committed workers from laguna honda and replacing them with towedies who rise to the top because they don't dare ask any questions about the problems there. ~ it also shows that you support a culture of dishonesty and incompetence about laguna honda. barbara karosi said she stands by her determination to [speaker not understood] dr. kerr [speaker not understood]. clearly, martha karosi doesn't get it and hopefully you guys are take this into consideration. thank you. good afternoon. my name is rita o'flynn. i am affiliated with san franciscans for sunshine. i have exposed [speaker not understood] in the lead hazard program. in in terms of the city's settlement proposal for dr. kerr's lawsuit, the city is really getting off cheap. dr. kerr is a well respected physician with a long history of service at laguna honda who uncovered fraud, waste, and abuse and mismanagement of funds specifically intended for the disadvantaged patients served by the city at laguna hospital. rather than thanking dr. kerr for going above and beyond in his care for patients, he was fired, was robbed of his career and more importantly the patients of laguna honda were robbed of the excellent care that dr. kerr provides. like many who hope to avoid legal action and secure swift and impartial judgment by the alternate avenues offered by the city, dr. kerr sought administrative remedy in the form of a complaint to the ethics commission. and like many others before him, dr. kerr's complaint was dismissed and it was dismissed in spite of considerable and compelling evidence to the contrary to the finding of the ethics commission. fortunately, dr. kerr was able to secure the services of an attorney to fight for his rights. many are not able to do so and the city seems to be relying on this, viewing its citizens as perfect victims. dr. kerr has been lied to and lied about and when the what the city put dr. kerr through this whistle blowing activity is beyond appalling. quite frankly i think you should not only award him his settlement, but i think you should also award him attorney's fees. they should be awarded at the standard low start rate and they should be trebled to send a message to city employees that this type of retaliation will not be tolerated. thank you. >> thank you. seeing no other public comment, public comment is closed. colleagues, is there a motion to convene in closed session after a five-minute break? >> so moved. >> so moved. we'll reconvene for closed session in five minutes. >>please stand by; meeting in recess >>please stand by - meeting in closed session >> okay. colleagues, can i have a motion to not disclose what happened in closed session? >> i think you need to wait until linda say -- can we go ahead? okay. he so, deputy city attorney andrew shen to report back on the committee's discussion during closed session. the committee has moved forward unanimously the first nine settlements on their agenda, items 8 through 16. and has also moved to continue item 17 to the call of the chair. >> thank you. colleague, can i have a motion to not disclose what happened in closed session? >> so moved. >> moved and seconded. so, it moves forward. okay. >> thank you very much. >> madam clerk, is there anything else on the agenda? >> no, mr. chair. >> okay. then this meeting is adjourned. [adjourned]
come back the next day i was hired. when i walked out of there, i said i was going to find me some [speaker not understood] in this community and that's what i did. so, what i did, i developed a website, home boy hotline, i went and got the 501(c) (3) and i found 20, i got 10 to 25 employers all over the bay area that's willing to hire people, to shelter, in the tenderloin, i got a couple telemarketing places. also i deal with on the private industry council in oakland, i deal with western community center, i deal with hospitality house, downtown in san francisco. these places help you get your resume together. and what i did also, i went and found all the websites that would offer job training. i just put everything on one website, any type of place that would help you with a legal resource and housing, i found a place in oakland, let you stay there for 18 months and you can get truck driving skills, construction trade. upon release a lot of people don't want to go back to the same environment but they don't have a choice. [speaker not understood]. and home boy hotline is not [speaker not understood] bias, race bias, it's for men and women. i go to juvenile halls. i go to prisons, also i go to 1 11 taylor and i go to a halfway house and do a presentation every three months to let them know what the home boy hotline is based upon. i get letters all the time from prisoners and phone calls. i really didn't know nothing about the reentry council to be honest with you. i work real close with the healing circle, women in the community have been victimized by violence and their children, and matty scott, you know, kept encouraging me telling me to come apply. that's why i applied for it. to be honest with you, the reason that i feel as though i'm qualified for this seat is i think a person that's trying to transfer back into the community in transition, and trying to change, can only be affected by someone who has changed and transitioned because i consider myself a walking miracle. i'm dedicate today this reentry because i want to be a source of inspiration and i want to provide a source for my community. i help restore this community. when crack came, i was right there on leavenworth. i feel bad about that because there were kids affected by my profits. i have nieces and nephews in the western district and bayview right now. i want them to be proud of their uncle when they speak of me. that's very important. i want my mother and grandmother and them to be proud of me. so, my success is based on me helping somebody else be successful. and that's why i'm here today. and i really do think if you a -- appoint me, that i could do what i do on a bigger scale. i got a 501(c) (3) but never got it going because -- dealing with grant writers has been an obstacle for me. i didn't want that to stop what i was doing. so, i continue to do it. right now in september, god's will, i'm going to go to school for grant writing myself. if just kept waiting on the grant writers, i don't think i would be where i'm at with my organization right now. right now my organization is throughout all the correctional facilities of california. i get calls and letters all day. so, we start off small, but each year the numbers grew and i'm proud to say last year we have 62 people gained employment and housing. [speaker not understood]. >> supervisor cohen? >> thank you. just as a point of clarification. you're employed as a telemarketer and hvh is a nonprofit that like a labor of love? excuse me? >> so, your nonprofit, is that your full-time work? no, i do it on the side. you know, i'm the founder. i work there, i do it on the side, but i work somewhere else. >> okay. that's what i was trying -- i have like -- i be on the radio. i get volunteers to come in and help me. i had somebody help me build my website. what i do, people ka contact me, i do assessment of their needs, fill out a form, what exactly do you need. i have them go to the website first and see if you find anything on there you need, housing, job, have them first try to find out what would you do so we can get a resume done for you and after that i have volunteers work with me when we develop the caseload, we checkup on them every three days and then biweekly. we keep checking on them until they find what they need. that's how we've been doing it. none of them was paid. it's all volunteers. they come and they go. >> supervisor breed. >> thank you. i just wanted to know, what are -- i know you mentioned it earlier in your presentation, but can you just give me an example of some of the job opportunities that you've been able to help people achieve? i've got a couple people job at the shelters, downtown in san francisco, the place where i work at telecom p ink, they hire people every day. i've been getting a lot of people jobs there. i refer a lot of people to the private industry council downtown oakland. they've been going through a program broken through barriers. most of the people, i send them to the western community edition program or either through breaking barriers council. i'm just like a one stop. that's all i am. ~ tion i tell them i can't get you no job, but i can help you get your resume together, direct you toward some job training ask things of this nature. >> so, do you, do you have an estimate of, for example, with the people that you mention, 60 or so jobs, do you know what's the longest time frame any of those persons has held onto those jobs, do you keep track of any of that information? i can't say i'm aware of how long they held onto it, but i have heard people come back, they come back sick months later, nine months later and they are still working. ~ six they're thank furl. i do a fund-raiser once a year and sometimes they come back and speak at the fund-raiser. >> so, in terms of housing -- yes, ma'am. >> -- what do you do, what kind of housing are you helping people to access? well, i provide them with a place called men of valor. it's a program in oakland. you can stay there 18 months and get [speaker not understood] and forklift certification. that's the only housing opportunity i have at this time. and also i work with the shelters if they don't have no place to really stay. i work with the shelters and i got a rapport with all the shelters downtown, i can get them a shelter bed until they can find some permanent housing. that's what i do. >> so, for full time of course you work. yes, ma'am. >> and you do all of this in terms of volunteering, you spend a lot of hours out there developing relationships with people -- yes, ma'am. >> -- to provide housing and to provide employment for people who have just been released from prison? yes, ma'am. the phone number, the 24-hour hotline is my phone number. >> you're quite popular. i mean, i'm just -- you know, i mean, i'm blessed to be standing here, you know what i mean? so, i feel i owe my community this. this is where my mom and them saw me a long time ago that i didn't see. you know what i mean? so, i'm blessed to stand here today and to be able to help somebody. so, i don't -- i mean, you can say [speaker not understood]. >> what are you hoping to bring to the reentry council that could make it better than what it is now? well, just to -- the emotion of the temptation that a person is faced with, the emotion that i'm still faced with every day, the challenges that a person is faced with when they get out, you know what i'm saying? a lot of people want to change, but they're full of guilt and shame and disappointment, you know, wrote all those letters to your family and stuff, you have no money coming in the house and you feel shameful. so, my thing is to be able to bring to them how you can overcome this shame and how to help a person deal with the shame and understand if you're making $1.25 a day, $8 is a come up. so, i'm here to let them know how to transfer that to the public and to transfer that to people when you're talking to them. it's the passion about how successful you can become and how not to try to get a -- you know, you can't get a $25 job a lot of times overnight and the public don't owe you nothing. >> and are you serving the residents from all over, from san francisco, from oakland, from -- all of these people coming out of san francisco county jails or where are they coming from? mostly county jails, penitentiary right now. i just got a lot of resources in 916 and 70 7. right now i done stretched the home boy hotline to 916 and 71 7. we mostly been dealing with oakland and san francisco, but not even two weeks ago i got a lot of resources from the sacramento area. ~ i don't have a lot of resources in los angeles, but i know people down there that i refer them to if they're from los angeles. >> so, this is a very organic-style operation in that you just do whatever you have to do? yes, ma'am. i'm just trying to -- just trying to do my part, ma'am. like i said, i really -- i feel bad about the things that i did in this community and the threat that i had on people's family with crack cocaine. i know i had affect on people's family. you know, when i see the things, the wildness of the children that come from, you know, not having a strong mother or father in their household, and this is a good chance when i was benefiting back in the late '80s down in the tenderloin, that that child was being affected by my benefits. so, that ain't nothing i'm really proud of. so, this is my way of trying to redeem myself, ma'am. >> thank you. yes, ma'am. >> thank you. stephen fields, are you here? come on up. so, the reason i'm interested in becoming part of the reentry council, it's something that i've always wanted to do, but i didn't really have the time for. some of my successes here in san francisco is that i piloted a program with the juvenile corrections programs at a youth guided center. piloted a program called principle collaborative centers here for youth here in san francisco, helping youth out in bayview and hunters point area. people who are marginalized with a lot of disparity, helping them to get into different programs. from there, i worked with the adult populations here in san francisco for over the past 10 years, helping people to get into treatment centers throughout the city of san francisco. most of my work is very much targeted here in san francisco. i currently am a program manager here in san francisco. i also am a certified treatment counselor and currently attending college out at san francisco state university, applying for graduate school to become a social worker. i worked with the mayor with the court systems. aye i'm more familiar with the probation department. i am familiar with the reentry and i am very familiar with incarceration. i served time both in state and federal facilities in the united states. for me, it's been a life journey, but it's everything that's allowed me to become who i am today, which is a person who loves to reach out and help another person get his life back on track. some of the things i've experienced here in san francisco is homelessness, long-term drug addiction, all those problems i've overcome. today i work in and out of the county jails, out of san bruno, [speaker not understood] brightvthv. i currently supervise intern counselors who try to go out and change people's lives and touch their lives in a way that reduces recidivism here in san francisco. i participate actively in writing grants for different -- for different programs that our agency can go out and reach more people over the years. i probably have helped, i'll just say modestly hundreds and hundreds of people. that's about it. >> supervisor breed. >> did you get [speaker not understood]? >> i saw your name. do you have any questions? supervisor cohen? >> i'm sorry, can you tell us how you heard about the reentry program again? i heard about the reentry council. i was working for jeff hadachi in the public defenders office. >> what were you doing at the pd office? reentry counselor, social worker. i heard about the program, i attended one of the very first sum its for the reentry council. i was actually a client of the reentry social worker here in san francisco in the very early beginning stages. and it was just something that, you know, for me it was about giving back and learning something different. at that time i was interested in studying recidivism and i was also interested in studying research articles on disparity and why people ended up trapped and going back and forth into jails and prisons. >> and your application indicates that you've attended meetings, you're familiar with the process and the procedures at our reentry council. you attended meetings before? i'm sorry. >> have you attended any reentry council meetings? i have attended reentry council meetings and find them very interesting. i like to keep my finger on the pulse of what is a.m. going on here in the community in regards to formerly incarcerated persons, their rights in regards to job applications and the different things that are of major concern for people who are incarcerated. for instance, the right to vote here in the city of san francisco for people who are incarcerated and people who are currently out in the community, different issues like that that allow us to be more proactive in the community. and also to gain back some of the vital components of life that i think are important for helping people who have been formerly incarcerated. >> thank you. >> thank you. you're welcome. >> toni scott, are you here? i'm going back to malik wade. has he stepped back in? okay. i think those were the only ones that were listed. is there any public comment for this item? you have two minutes. good afternoon, my name is [speaker not understood]. i work for the reentry navigator program here in san francisco which assists individuals who have prior convictions [speaker not understood] training or employment. and i'm here today in support of dennis kinkle's application for a seat on the reentry council. i have known dennis now for over a year. since he came into the soma one stop and became a participant in the reentry navigator program, during that year i have seen him evolve. he has achieved his ged in less than three months. he was hired as a transitional employee and then based on his exemplary work was hired as a permanent employee at good will. he completed a warehouse training program and now has been invited back to speak to current students to provide them with insight about his experience and his advice back to his employer good will and [speaker not understood], but, one, volunteering his artistic abilitieses, his time and materials to paint holiday decorations at good will, which gave him a chance to find employment. and he has volunteered to be a speaker in speaker's bureau [speaker not understood] council subcommittee is working to form. i've learned a lot from him. he is experienced reentering several communities and is always willing to share his thoughts what works and what doesn't and i think he would bring a valuable perspective to the reentry council given he has taken advantage of so many services here in san francisco. and has made them work. and i support his application and [speaker not understood] each of the candidates have great things to offer so i hope that they will continue to work with the reentry council. thank you for your time. >> thank you. are these new, supervisor cohen? >> yes, i would like to [speaker not understood] one more. i'm sorry, public comment is over. >> let me close this. is there any more public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> just a couple questions about just the composition of the -- and the makeup of the reentry council. >> sure. >> i've been listening. the'ly katetionvindications from the applicant and on the website. it looks like seat 4 is the only one that is allowed -- i'm sorry, seat 4 is the only one that's vacant today. >> correct. >> out of the list of folks we've seen today, are we allowed to vote on only one person? >> correct. >> so, can you talk to me a little bit to help me make my decision about the makeup of this council? >> um-hm. absolutely. well, 16 of the 23 members are appointed by virtue of their seat. so, the district attorney, the public defender, head of public health, et cetera, the seven formerly incarcerated individuals, three are appointed by the mayor, four by the board of sups. the other appointee [speaker not understood] who is appointed by the mayor. ron aloe [speaker not understood] was appointed by the board of supervisors which is the chair we're filling. [speaker not understood] is one of the other board appointees. eddie [speaker not understood] -- >> he is mayoral, right? >> yes, mayoral appointee. stephen low is one of the board appointees here. as is kim courtney. so, it is stephen, jerrold and kim courtney are the three other appointees with leslie, eddy, and then one other gentleman appointed by the mayor. so, the kind of range of experiences, the range of ages, some gender diversity with two women, about 13% of the people involved in the criminal justice system are women. so, it's not so much disparity to have only two of the seven appointees be women, with jerald miller, african-american, and three asian american representatives. >> i'm sorry, you said one african-american, three asian, two women? >> yes, two women. >> and in terms of kind of comparison to the population, as you probably know, about 60% of ~ the individuals incarcerated are african-american, with latinos and asian americans comprising a significant minority. in san francisco, the disproportionality is three times the rate of the san francisco resident population, which is actually slightly higher the national average. so, that's one issue that we're looking at. >> supervisor breed. >> okay, are you finished with your -- okay. this is probably one of the most challenging decisions i've ever been faced with as a member of the board. mostly because this impacts the people that i care about, the people i grew up with. the candidates that have come before us have been really -- i'm really, really impressed with your qualifications, but more importantly, i'm really impressed with all of the work that you are all doing in the community to try to help someone else. this means really a lot to me because as supervisor, one of the things that i want to look at is ways in which we can help to change lives, especially for those who are coming out of [speaker not understood] and making sure that they have access to opportunity, especially employment and housing which we know there are numerous barriers to issues of that nature. and with that, i definitely want to move forward with the recommendation of robert bowden because i know him, and i know exactly what he's out there doing in terms of the work in the community and the impact on the lives, especially those that i have worked with for many, many years. i think that that voice is actually missing on the reentry council, the voice of someone who's come up through the experiences that i've witnessed, the experiences many members of my community, selling drugs, going to prison, homicides, all of these things that sadly destroy a community and which destroyed my home, the western addition. and i think that the fact that i remember when he first started this program, and oftentimes you hear people talk about what they're gonna do for their community, and he's out there doing it. and although i know that other members of this council -- i mean, other applicants here are doing the exact same thing in terms of doing something to give back, the voice of what i'm looking for for this particular reentry council is a voice that will help me further my mission of helping those who are released from prison really adapt to coming back to society, especially in san francisco, and becoming a part of the community, a part of transforming the community. and i think mr. bowden will bring that voice. and i'm really excited about just all of you here and i wish that there were opportunities for you to serve in a capacity like this. and i hope that we get a chance to see you again if other seats become available. i'm not sure exactly what my colleagues are interested in doing, but my support is 100% behind mr. bowden, and i hope he will be considered for the full board. >> thank you, supervisor breed. i have to say that this is probably the most qualified set of people for any of the seats i've seen so far in my short life on the board of supervisors. each one of you would bring a lot to this reentry commission. and unfortunately we only have one seat. i wish we could have all of you. you know, regardless of who is going to be selected, i really hope you keep your interest up. it seems that you're doing things anyways, but as seats become available, please reapply. you folks are just amazing. so, i pretty much could select any one of you. i'm listening to my colleague, supervisor breed's comments, and [speaker not understood]. so if we were to open for nomination right now, you're nominating mr. bowden, i will second that. >> thank you. >> supervisor cohen? >> thank you very much. i appreciated jessica's work -- appreciate jessica's work with the reentry council. i've been on the board for three years and have watched closely the reentry council, the work that they've done, the reporting that they've done were important, particularly in this hour post realignment, which is a really critical time for us in california, particularly here in san francisco. and i have growing frustrations with realignment [speaker not understood]. i understand this happened at the state level, but it's frustrating because i've had three shootings this week in the district, one of which was an officer involved shooting. you think about last weekend how many shootings happened across the bay area. i think there were five shootings in four days. and when i talk to other colleagues in other counties, they, too, are experiencing an uptick in violence, particularly around gun violence. so, the way i see the reentry council as being another partner as a tool in this discussion on how we decrease the recidivism rate, particularly young boys from going into a life of crime. and begin to -- a reentry council is a part of a body that helps us with the discussion around how do we support those men and women that are coming back into our community so that they can get jobs, find housing, reconnect with their children, reconnect with their families. and, so, i share the same concerns with my two other colleagues. that said, i think michael santos stood out the most for me. as i struggle to try to find my words, when i think about the composition of the reentry council, what i think is lacking is a latino male. and, so, that is why [speaker not understood] is attractive to me. and you yourself discussed, jessica, what exactly african-american and latino being second to the number -- to the ethnic group that populates our jails. and i thk