(ueat music) c1 good morning. welcome to "mosaic." i'm rabbi eric weiss and honored to to be your host this morning. our dear mayor of the city and county of san francisco has died. we would like to concerned our condolences to his family and dear ones and to the city and county of san francisco. we would like to talk with sher rein mcstat ten, the director and ramona davies of the committee with the city and

county of san francisco. welcome. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> our country and every municipality is looking at aging and all the ways of which the values of the country and a state and a local exercise those values into services and understandings of the way that people age and the kinds of services they need. i am wondering if you can give us a short history of what the department of aging and adult services is here. >> certainly. thank you. so san francisco has a long history of providing services for older adults and adults with disabilities and i thank we're a leader in that. the department has been around for a long time, but really came together with a lot of services in 2000. our biggest program is in-home support services which gives home care for 22,000 people in san francisco. but we do a lot of other

things, as well. >> the department is a department of 17 years old. >> yes. although the city was providing those services well before that, as well. >> what is new on the horizon? >> well, so there are a lot of things that are new but one of the things that is new and i think ramona and i can both speak to this is the dignity fund and maybe i'll turn it over to her and she can talk about how it started. >> okay. a group of service providers or those of us with a history of providing services came together and after chronic under funding of services, not the ability to meet the demand, we thought that a perhaps allegestrative kind of direction would be away to go to increase funding so we planned and got the proposn th ballot november of last year and that insured there would be

funding increases for those that are aging and adults with disabilities, so it is a huge sense of accomplishment. it worked its way toward getting to the 44 million current needs then so it is an incremental increase in the department's capacity to do that. >> so this is really a legislative and economic decision by the people of san francisco to really value the aging experience and to support it in different ways. >> yes. it was a fabulous win. we're very grateful that the population of san francisco understood that 25% of its population currently is over age 65 and adults with disabilities and by 2030 it will be 30%, so if we're not meeting the current needs, how

increasing demands without more money? >> and i think an up in tendnd consequence of the fund legislation was really more of attention to these issues. i'm thinking it certainly has helped our department rise above where it was in terms of visibility so it has been great in terms of that. while what you said it was not as much money, but it really has put the department kind of more in the spotlight than it was before. >> and so can you give a couple examples of what is a need and what is a service and what serves some of the vision gaps that the dignity fund hopes to fill? >> yes. >> you want to go with the priorities that were just determined? >> sure. well, i think there are a

number of priorities that were determined but the biggest funding -- i guess the biggest proportion of funding is nutrition so home delivered meals that is what a lot of it goes for, but there are many other things that are under funded and that need funding and i thank one is, i don't know, ramona, i mean when you talk about -- >> prescription. >> prevention and services needed by vets so there is some social services that are funneled into vets' care. >> there are things we haven't been able to fund as much before like home care that don't qualify for the state entitlement program and home services and also the under employment of older adults and adults with disabili. neeemplo means they need to be ready for

employment so they are pre- employment programs that could be funded. there are also actual employment subsidies that could be used for the dignity fund and then another big thing that has come up is housing subsidies. these are things we do fund on a very small scale. certainly, the need is really there and we're looking to maybe use digs ney ty fund dollars to fund more of those services. >> thank you so much. we're off to a great start. we're going to come back in just a moment here on "mosaic."

ramona. good morning. welcome back to "mosaic." i'm rabbi eric weiss and honored to be your host. we're in the middle of a conversation. welcome back ramona and sher rein. >> thank you. >> were we're talking about different priorities around providing services to san francisco's aging possibly, principally through the dignity fund even though they have given services through the city. you were talking about issues around nutrition and food,

preventing homelessness, issues around -- you didn't use the word isolation but that seems like the value system and division and ways in which elderly people and people disabled are under employed don't work enough or at their highest skill capacity. i am wondering in this system, how have you gone about identifying pockets of the population demographics of our population, how just on the most basic level do you actually find out what the need really is? >> so one of the things that the department has had to do as what we call the area agency on aging is real lie looking at demographics of the city and try to plan based on those demographics, but what the dignity fund legislation has done is to say that san

francisco needs to do a robust needs assessment to find out what people want, what people need, to really look at the demographics of the city and make sure we're moving equitable to providing service as cross the city. so what we're doing this year is that robust needs assessment and we have hired a contractor to work with us, so we're doing a variety of things. we have done a number of community forums and done one in each district. we did a very robust survey of older adults and adults with disabilities and caregivers and providers in the city and that just ended and we have done a phone survey and now we're embarking on a series of focus groups to really get out what the needs are. i'm excited as the director of the department to find out what

people want and need. and to see what we currently do meshes with that or if we need to make some changes. >> you're it middle of all this so maybe it is too soon to tell but do you have anything that has been affirmed or surprises or things that you're discovering along the way? >> i don't think we have an accurate description yet of what is trending. we have some hints and information, knowing where to go and what service might be appropriate has come up as an ongoing theme and that is a long standing theme and you can go up and down california and hear that same theme, so there is that. there is help in the home. people just not understanding what their needs may be and then where to go to meet those needs. hopefully, we will get more detail than that out of this robust process. >> so it is a hint that maybe

it may or may not be true that people need to become more anticipatory about their own aging and in some ways come to understand what they need in the future that they don't need now? >> that is part of it, and i think -- i think that some of it has to do with us not wanting to think about aging and i think -- i think there is a lot ages in society. but we need to figure out ways so we can be a more anticipator and see how we're going to care for ourselves in older age or how we're going to care for each other. >> san francisco is famous for the ways in which it takes a beautiful i'd like the need for the rights of the lgbt community or the needs for women's rights for confronting

issues around racism, about ages and on and on and how to get into the trenches of an issue and to provide services, apply monis and have a robust nonprofit community, et cetera. can you talk about the kind of ages you see and the ways in which the city and county are on the forefront of looking at what it means, even the word dignity fund says a lot. other words could have been chosen but dignity is a word that is jam packed with values and vision and life affirming understanding of what happens as we age into the world. >> sure. it is a meaty question. >> i know. >> well, i can start i guess. i think -- i guess i feel very fortunate to work in san

francisco. i think when i travel across country and one national board that looks at aging services i'm very -- i realize how san francisco does exactly what you say. we are really at the forefront of these issues and thinking ahead often. but i actually also think that ages is so embedded in our society that people don't want to talk about it. one of the things we're doing as a department is look at kind of what it means to reframe that conversation. there has been a lot of work done. there is an organization called frame works and looking to reframe aging and we think about how we talk about aging. being much more deliberate and using language, thinking about older adults, talking about

older adults and aging instead of thinking about people being frail and aging in the best way they can. it doesn't mean looking at aging and saying it is all glowing and it doesn't mean people don't get sick or we're not going to acknowledge that, but there are ways to talk about it in a way that we can really just talk about strengths and focus on that. >> we will take a quick break and we'll come right back to continue this conversation with sha rein and ramona. come right back to "mosaic."

c1 good morning the welcome back to "mosaic." i'm rabbi eric weiss and honored to be your host this morning. we're in the middle of a conversation about the dignity fund with sherene the director of adult services and ramona

who is the chair of the dignity fund oversight and advisory committee. >> welcome back. >> thank you. >> before the break we were having a wonderful conversation about how the value system really articulates itself in the trenches and you were going to continue that conversation ramona. >> sherene mentioned and described the efforts that were being taken to look at ages and how to address it and reframe it. it is also as a demographic demonstrated that i talked about earlier, this is a social justice issue, and given the contributions that aging persons and persons with disabilities make in the community, it is important that their needs be attended to addressed. i did want to point that out. all of us are aging so it isn't as if we reach a magic number and then become old. we need to be preparing and

looking at it as family members for ourselves and for those of us that we care about. my career was in aging services and suddenly i'm there, and the preplanning, the conception shullizing ahead of time, what will it take to meet my needs as i change? >> what marks all social justice movements if you can use that word is that somebody sees something, it is on the street or in their family or in their circle of intimate friends and they start to talk about what they see. and somebody else says i see that, too. then there is a way in which the conversation move toss a different level of what can we do about this and what needs to be changed. what is the next step? then from there lots of things happen. maybe in a neighborhood, in a family, in a circle of friends, in alarm jer community, and so i am wondering if you can speak

ramona, a little to that development within the concept of the dignity fund itself. what was the earliest conceptions and how did something become a ballot measure? we know signatures happen and we write something and we vote but there is a lot that happens before we get to that point. >> the dignity coalition formnd and it was predominantly service provideders, people on the front line that knew and were frustrated by who could not be served. who is being left out. so coming together and identifying west more who has said who did you choose to fight for? and so we chose to fight for those that have been left behind, current program criteria leave them out. there is not enough service to meet the demands or the needs. so that is the vision. it was the an uh-huh that was

so personal or observed. it was experienced. it was an experience yen shul learning by a group of folks that have grown teared of the underfunding and inability to address needs. >> that is fascinating. when we talk about underserved needs, it means there are some government programs that provide services and those are based on criteria that might have to do with something about your demographic or your income level. >> income level. >> or your capacity to go about what daily needs are ought box getting dressed, feeding yourself, getting about city, so those kinds of criteria of civic engagement if i can use that word are part of what is at work. are you saying the criteria aren't expansive enough for the need that exists out there? >> one of the things we do know, well for some programs we have await list so we know

there are people that desire those services and can't access them. the other thing we know is we're not done with the needs assessment, is that particularly for middle income people in san francisco, middle income older adults and adults with disabilities, often they don't have the income to pay for the services that they need and so we see that there is a gap there. whereas, people sometimes people can qualify for state funded programs, medical funded programs, people in middle income can't access those programs. >> so the dignity fund is pay attention that. >> yes. >> we have to take another quick break but we will be back in a moment here with sherene and ramona. please join us back here in a moment on "mosaic."

good morning. welcome back to "mosaic." i'm rabbi eric weiss and honored to be your horse. your host. >> they are here for the

dignity fund oversight and advisory committee. welcome back. >> thank you. >> sherene, what else is new? >> well, so i would be remiss if i didn't mention that mayor edly was really a proponent of older adults and adults with disabilities and it is just a sad week for us. >> yes. >> but one of the things he did was wrote to the world health organization to say that san francisco is interested in being designated as an age- friendly city. what that has allowed us to do is work as a city to insure that all of our planning that way do has an age and disability friendly kind of lens to it so we have had a task force that has been working on this the last year and looking at various domains, what we call domains including transportation and the built environment buildings and social services so as we move forward we can think about our

strengths and how we're being accessible for them and to insure all our planning processes include that disability and age-friendly lens so it is exciting and i think hope philly san francisco cans will see this in the ensuing years. >> people always talk about the legacy of leadership and compare different things about the personality of somebody and the work they did in an office, but wherever those reflections go, what a marvelous legacy that edly did that for the aging population in the city and county of san francisco. >> yes. >> and is there anything else that is new happening in the department that would be important for people to know about? >> they can access the services of the department. ramona mentioned that often people don't know where to go for services and we have one phone number where people can access all of the services of the department. and really ask questions if

they have an older adult or a person with a disability in their life that needs services or they don't know where to go. the phone number is (415)355- 6700. we call it the dos benefits and resource hub and people can call in and ask any questions about an older adult or an adult with disability and we have staff there to answer questions. >> i know when people talk about a social justice issue and about meeting need there is -- the people who need the services, but there are also people who want to give the services. i know that some of our viewers will be people who are going to think, i would like to do this kind so is out there and wants to throw their hat into the ring to work, to volunteer, then do they go to the city and county san francisco resource

department? how do they do that? >> well those people can call dos as well. i know certainly the local senior centers and other services in the communities really need help too so people can go to their local senior center or another service like that in the community but they are certainly welcome to call the same phone number. >> wonderful. sherene, ramona, believe it or not, we're out of time, but thank you. we hope this time together has given you a new perspective on aging in the city of san francisco. thank you so much for being with us here.

live from the cbs bay area studios. this is kpix 5 news. >> breaking on kpix 5 news, shots fired at a bar in walnut creek overnight, what we know so far. a massive fire near lake tahoe tripled in size in a matter of hours. will smoke from that fire make its way to the bay area? oaklands chinese area wanting to put a stop to violence against asian americans. breaking news out of walnut creek, one person is dead and three were hurt.