people in support services, a program that provides care so that seniors and persons with disabilities can stay at home. we are more than double the next highest county. part of what that is is we have older persons that grew up here, raised their children, and their children can't afford to raise their families here. they have moved to other communities, east bay, ariz., other states. it creates a tremendous isolation that relies on formal networks rather than more informal ones. there was a survey of seniors across 12 cities in the united states, only 24% of seniors have a child within 20 minutes of them. in most cities, it was over 40%. there were tremendous

implications for the support systems. we talked about the flight of families in terms of ethnicity. put it in the broader context here of the city's history. we have a tremendous influx of african-americans during the war. it started to decline about 1980. and especially the chinese rising at the same time. if you think about ethnic groups, often sociologists think about them competing for scarce resources. for most cities, it would be described as latino and african- american. when you look at the home buying patterns, even in 2000, only a

bare majority were african american anymore. you can see the asian, pacific islanders moving into the southeast part of the city. this breaks down race and ethnicity by age group. the bar is miners, the dark one on the right would be seniors. whites tend to be an old population. african americans are younger. asian/pacific islanders have the largest groups across the board but they also have a large number of seniors. latinos are very young, 14% of the population.

22 % of the children in the city. this shows between 1990, and this is another analysis that we did using the american communities survey from 2006 to 2008. you see the huge loss of african-american children. you see a huge number of african-americans. we have to point out, in 1990, you weren't able to put multiple choice. part of this, there is a huge loss of african-americans. we wanted to know where they went. other cities have had large losses of african-americans. oakland dropped between 1990 and

2008. richmond from 43 to 27. you look at where they went, and you see the suburbs between san francisco and sacramento is where many of the african- americans left during that time. for example, the number of african-americans grew by 33,000. antioch had 1700 african americans, today over 18,000. going back to the first chart, you saw white families leaving in the '60s and '70s. now we have african-american families moved into the suburbs. a lot of this movement occurred before the recession. many of these are working class

families. they have moved to the suburbs or the safety net is nowhere near as strong as in san francisco. the other concern about this with african-americans is that it shows the number of homeowners in san francisco. a lot of the phenomenon was that they've you have the largest of ownership rate for many years. a lot of homeowners cashed in their chips and moved out of the city. the show's the number of african american homeowners in the city. they have declined much faster. 37% fewer. one of the major concerns from

my department is isolation is a huge factor in terms of negative outcomes for low-income families and seniors as well, as i mentioned earlier. if families with resources moved away, who did not move? a lot of them are the families who did not have the resources to move away. not only are they struggling with fewer resources, but those are aunts and uncles and grandparents who live in antioch, and they have less social support. isolation is the second biggest factor after poverty for child abuse in the city. if you think about any negative outcome, youth violence, school dropouts, whatever, it is always aggravated when a neighborhood or community is homogenous in poverty. when there is only low-income people who live there. when it is not a healthy, diverse community. this is a very acute pressure

for low-income families in san francisco. this is income standards for families. the show's the top level -- this shows what the top level is. the next is the federal poverty level for family of three. the next one comes from a study done by the center for community economic development. it shows what it would cost to for that same family unit to have a no-frills lifestyle in san francisco. the yellow bar is the median income for single parents with two kids in san francisco. you have the average of almost 100,004 -- 100,000 for a family.

it is nothing but destitution. i want to point out in the governor's budget, the cuts to this amount being opposed -- proposed, the proposal by the governor is that there be two years lifetime for families. that if a parent wants to take time out to go to school, the parent is in a domestic violence situation, the clock still takes. currently they can have an exemption and stopped the clock while they stabilize their lives. the proposal is to remove even more threads to the safety net. >> a large part of a question in gauging how we're doing compared to other cities. do you have that data as well? isolation -- how we are doing vis-a-vis other cities is

important to look at. >> of course. the specific question you're asking we do not have, but we can do. we have done other comparisons with other counties in terms of public benefit and household types. we can look at families -- family households by income level. i work with bryan chu to do that. >> we will follow-up as well. thank you for being here. we appreciate it. we have a few more speakers. thank you, everyone, for bearing with us. next we have the director of coleman advocates. ms. walker. thank you for being here. thanks for sticking around. >> thank you for the opportunity to present this afternoon. supervisor elsbernd: or evening, almost. >> we have two members who

wanted to speak and share their stories. one had to leave. veronica garcia will sheer horror -- will share her story. >> good afternoon. my name is brought a garcia. i am a part of coleman advocates and the organizing effort under students making a change. i am a native of san francisco. i am a single mother of two children who are 7 and 10 years old. i am a full-time student at city college. i also work part-time making $12 an hour. i am a caretaker for my mother who needs a heart transplant. i am an example of the families that are struggling to survive in san francisco. an example of this is i am currently living with my parents because i cannot afford to live on my down in san francisco, $12 salary. my home has eight people living

in it which is multigenerational, now. i share a room with my two daughters which can imagine is pretty crowded. and because we do not have space, they have to do their homework on the bed which is where i also do my homework. another example is the fact that the cost of rent is ridiculously high. the waiting lists for affordable housing or ridiculously long. even though i qualify for for housing, i have not been able to obtain it. moreover, what one can be paid for a job does not suffice the income needed to live in the city. as much as i am -- i love san francisco i am forced to look for other cities to move to. despite my hardship, i am committed to give more opportunity to my family. this should not mean i should be forced out of my city to make that happen. so i'm going to read. good afternoon, my name is

evelyn. i have been a member of coleman families while being active in the affordable housing and education campaign. since birth, at been raising my grandson while his mother finishes school. i became all too well known about the challenges that children face, especially african-american boys who, every day -- who face every day in schools and in some neighborhoods within the city. wanting a better future for my grandson, i became aware of the schools where he would obtain his education. as a parent and a grandparent, i wanted more for him since his mother struggles in school due to lack of support she received in public education during her fault -- third and fourth grade -- during her middle and high school years. most of our kids are overlooked in and passed on as not being able to go on and succeed in a four-year college and those who

do struggle to catch up with their students because they did not receive the educational corp. to perform level needed to succeed when obtaining a degree. realizing this, i am fighting the school -- finding a school for him so he can achieve his goals in life, securing the future. education is not an option but the key to being successful in my family. after searching for an affordable home and a landlocked -- a landlord to accept section a, i was forced to look across the bay. every part of my life was in the city. my doctor and school. the commute was very costly. we left home early in the morning even driving and returning late. when taking part -- bart, my grandson was sleeping and complaining of being tired. his health turned for the worst.

we have to accept a home in hunters point area near the shipyard with assistance by section 8. i could not live in san francisco. it has been difficult finding a place we can afford and able to live on and i unsafe neighborhoods where he can play without worrying he would get shot or killed because he wanted to go outside to play or ride his bike. since then we have found a better place to live. crime and safety is a big problem. i watch children walking to and from school witnessing gunshots and death each and every day. they go to school and try to learn. although some teachers and schools have tried to return to the classrooms are overcrowded and teachers are not trained to help. all the children fail. i know a child goes through their kindergarten years and on through third grade only once. when the school system fails to educate them, to build a jail for them when they reach a certain age says volumes to

where their party lies and i feel that here at coleman, we've fight to make that change. there many parents and grandchildren -- grandparents raising children. -- there are many parents and grandparents raising children. all children are not being given the chance to get the right access to even apply or necessary -- necessary knowledge of how to get the help they need to do better in school and stay at of our penal system. better yet, the more. i am working so our kids have the opportunity to enter into the job market and afford a home in the city they live in. thank you. >> thank you for those stories and sharing that. >> hello, supervisors. i appreciate this hearing and making the space to hear from

the voices of parents who are struggling to survive and stay in san francisco. we handed out a report. in 2008,: released a report -- coleman released a report. in the report, we looked out the subsets by income. we looked at four different level incomes for families in san francisco and found we believe all children have the right to secure future in their own city and our findings say that is not the case for all children and in particular, for two-thirds of children looking at extremely poor, low-wage working, and middle income families. who in 2000 made up 66% of san

francisco families. based on the 2000 census. we're talking about families making less than 120%. this is in 2008 before the recent census numbers. we have not done their across tabulations for the 2010 census numbers. based on what we're looking at we can assume there is a lot of similar trends. we have found that middle-income families, defined as 80% to 120% of ssmi, are priced out of home ownership. we have had conversations about that in the last couple of hours. we want to make sure the stories and priorities and policies of the city are not only focused on middle income families but are focused on extremely poor and low-wage working families when we are deciding what policies we are putting in place to try to

curb family flight. these are the families who are in overcrowded and substandard living conditions. if they're lucky, they get this -- they get subsidized housing. this is the distribution of families with and racial and ethnic groups. when we're looking at those for your income groups, it was striking to find that -- those four income groups, it was striking to find the concentration by race. there is a concentration of black families with and the extremely poor income group. a concentration of latino families with and low-wage working and white families with an upper income and asian families with a middle-class income. these are the lines of race and class in san francisco.

>> are you planning to update this for the 2010 census? >> we have not done across tabulations for race and income for the most recent. what i am referring to is 2010 census numbers. if you look at the second half of the page, the number of upper-income children have increased by over 5000 in the last 20 years. other income groups of children have decreased significantly. this is based on the recent city economist report that was done for the housing hearing a couple of weeks ago. if you look at the chart at the bottom, some of these numbers we have talked about. i can skim over them. we're looking at an increase in terms of the child population. the child population is becoming increasingly young, white, and wealthy. i think that before closing this

and passing on to our executive director, i wanted to draw attention to the last for the third page. this chart is looking at by race with the change in the child population has been. we heard from dan kelly at hsa, very similar to what he is saying. every racial group has decreased except for white and mixed-race children. most shockingly, the african- american population especially because of their lower numbers in san francisco. we would argue the city's policies and practices have contributed to this trend. coleman fought for the children's fund. we believe in open space in parks. those things will not be the defining factor for what keeps the family in san francisco if they are struggling to survive. when we're looking at economic policies, we have to consider

families and extremely poor, low-wage working, and middle income families when we're making those decisions. thank you. supervisor farrell: thank you. >> i want to talk about key priorities. and key recommendations that we're hoping that will be considered here. move children out of poverty with a priority of the needs of 45,000 children growing up and 20,000 extremely poor and low- wage working families, part i is those first. invest in affordable. focus the vast majority of limited housing resources on building a four -- permanently affordable housing. invest in a secure future for 100,000 children with the priority being build affordable

family housing, prioritizing poor and low wage working families below 80% sfmi. prepare all sfusd children for college and living wage work. invest in a stronger safety net for families and create concrete pads out of poverty and create jobs. as chelsea stated, it is important to note that while there has been economic development policy initiatives, it is not focused on families and children in the city. when there has been policies focused on that, it has been targeted toward middle income families and not poor and low- income families. it is important to know that we need to figure out how to take into account all families, especially these poor and low- income households who are cleaners, who are folks that are

in our hotel rooms, they are drivers to the buses, they take care of our children in the child care system. there cashier's and waiters. we highlight the tourism here, we need to figure out how to make these individuals for working hard every day, sometimes to jobs, to be able to live here and drive. we're interested in the mayor's job priorities. we will be advocating for job policy opportunities to include job access before -- for low- income families including youth. while unemployment is improving for some, it is not necessarily for the black or latino communities. the unemployment rate has hovered around 20% for blacks and 14% for the latino community. we support solutions for today and tomorrow. there is a lot of talk about the high-tech industry jobs. even involving young people in

those. what are the pathways to make sure that low-income and working families children and youth can get into those jobs, whether today or tomorrow? summer jobs are available often but they tell black and latino children and teenagers they are not qualified. there is no plan to help them get qualified for the upcoming next year. finally, we focus on education. it is a social justice issue. there has been talk about education, affordable housing, and jobs. we do not think that one is better than the other. the focus the city needs to figure out of court -- a better relationship with the board of ed and make sure our children are qualified to go into college. veronica talked about, she is at cities college -- city college. it takes longer to get out. in closing, we hope this is not

a one time opportunity to hear what the statistics are going on in san francisco but figuring out real, true policy solutions that can move and include the voices of communities of color that are most impacted. as someone who is new to the city, i am concerned on a regular basis, especially around the black families and if there will be any black families for my organization to organize in 10 years. thank you. supervisor farrell: thank you for coming and speaking for the stories. especially thank you for your time today. we appreciate it. moving along, we have to folks left. -- two folks left. andrew, thanks for coming. supervisor dufty, we will do shortly. >> thank you. i am the director and co-founder of the san francisco families support network.

the network is a membership based organization made up of the various stakeholders in the family support field. those include public departments, public foundations, and community-based organizations focused on supporting san francisco's families. our mission is to work collectively to achieve quality programs, coordination of resources, and policies that support all san francisco families. our vision is san francisco made by brand by healthy, strong, and the first family supported by accessible, well coordinated, high-quality resources and services and by policies that value and promote their well- being. we could not be happening -- happy -- more happy about the fact you have called this hearing and we thank you for doing that. we as a family support network for all about coordination and collaboration. it has been said that san francisco does not so much a

lack resources as it lacks coordination. hence, the need to work together and come together. which is where you found today. especially thinking before supervisors who were here today. -- thanking the four supervisors who were here today. all of you have records of supporting families which is key to the success of these initiatives. we want to thank kathrin stephanie -- katherine stephanie. we are covering some points here. why families believe and what the network is doing. and talk about the success workgroup and talk about what remains to be done collectively. in terms of white families live, -- why families leave, the issue of family flight has been

going on since the 1960's. families told us through city surveys, especially the ones conducted every two years. there are three main issues. the cost of living, the cost of housing, and the perceived quality of the public schools. those are the three top schools repeatedly mentioned by families. supervisor farrell: do you have those surveys done after -- year after year? >> we have so many that have been conducted recently -- frequently. you have heard organizations that have conducted data. we do not lack for services -- for sources or information. the issue of why so many families exit at age 5, at age five is when people are entering that schools or -- and they do not get their choices or

they are uncomfortable and they leave. also housing. when your child is 5 years old, you need another bedroom by now. maybe you started to have another child at this point. your family is growing. that is where the housing becomes a squeeze which is why families leave around age five. those are the main reasons why 5 seems to be the tipping point. in terms of what the san francisco met -- network and its membership is doing, we are and network of 61 different members. the majority of them are family support programs. family support programs support families. as because -- as basic as that is, it is fundamental to families succeeding. two of the most important roles, being a parent or partner or spouse, we received no training for whatsoever. maybe we are fortunate