where do we find that support? especially if we are away from our extended families and striking out in a new city. how do we find that? family support programs are poised to help. that is why they are here. those most commonly are family resource centers of which there are 24. there are other programs that support families in critical, meaningful ways. such as parents for public schools, which supports parents to have an active role in their children's education. we know empirically through data, national data, when parents are involved in schools, children and families do better. children, families, schools do better when parents are involved. another point to mention is that given that san francisco is a city of immigrants, many family support programs act as extended family for the families they are working with. for families who have now extended family here. they played a key role in

bridging that gap and supporting families to be healthy and strong. the second point to mention in terms of what the support network is doing is our policy platform on promoting family economic success. all this can be found at our website at sfsfsn.org the policy platform focuses on this key area of promoting family economics assess. as we -- family economic success. there was a gap in ones focused on the economic success. that is where our network came up with this policy platform which looks that supporting families economically through unit family support, two generations strategy. we're talking about supporting the parents to obtain the education and skills they need for jobs that provide living wages to support themselves and

their families as well as we're talking about supporting the children to be well prepared for future of learning and learning. that is what -- why our policy platform is very broad, including school readiness to supporting the improvement of english as a second language education for the many immigrant families in the city for whom esl is critical in obtaining jobs that can provide living wages for themselves and their families. this policy platform which was developed five years ago, hard to believe already, is not a document that lives on the shelves. it is actively implemented on a daily basis by the many stakeholders in the city who work on these issues. every year, we hold a forum in may. it will be a morning of may 18. save the day, which is the annual san francisco family's economic success forum that highlights and recognizes and awards the many people who have moved pieces of the platform forward in the previous year and

highlights the pieces we plan to move in the coming year. that is the way to keep this alive. economic issues are not going away for families. we have worked on these issues before the economic downturn when the situation became more serious. another entity to mention, give credit for, and highlight their work is the work of the san francisco family economic success worker. this is a unique collaboration of public agencies, private funders, and nonprofits committed to improving the economic well-being of families. the san francisco families support network is pleased to co-chair this with the office of financial empowerment. it is a public-private partnership that is working on advancing these issues around family economic success. this is no one department or organization's responsibility or band with a long period is a collective, collaborative effort that makes the difference. one of the products to highlight

is the work we have done around promoting and identifying what are the various kinds of benefits and services that many families qualify for, that they did not know the qualified for. we have identified 14 of those and created an entire site certification program that aims to get different sites across the city prepared and certified with being able to provide family support and access -- in accessing these benefits. everything from child care to healthcare, food stamps, park and rec scholarships. helping getting fat information in family's hands. we have trained 700 direct service staff on how to help families access these benefits. if you think about the impact of 700 staff working with thousands of families, this is critical. why does this matter? in terms of economic downturn, in terms of -- times of

downturn, family stress increases. when family stress increases, rates of child abuse and neglect and domestic violence increased also. this is data that is clear and have been recorded time after time. family support programs were already prepared to help families address the challenges of being a parent and starting new families. there are prepared to help families navigate the economic challenges they also face. such that one parent showed up at the front door of the family research center saying, i have never been unemployed in my life, where do i go? i do not have food to help my family. these are centers that were prepared to support them. in terms of what remains to be done, there are two points with like to make. consider referring the issue of family flight. as we know, families have free will. if they want to leave, they will leave. the goal is not to create a cage around the city and keep families here like zebras in is to provide what we would like to

focus on is how do we develop san francisco as a world-class city for families? what does it mean to be a world- class city for families? it means doing well by the families who will here already. as well as being a place where people believe they can start a family. this is a place that will support and be a thriving place for them and their young ones. families -- and that families can move to. as we attract families that say this is a great place with resources and support services and a great quality of life i would like my children to have. john avalos asked about assets. president chiu referred to millions of dollars spent. when we think about the resources, through programs -- 3 programs come to mind. preschool for all, a kindergarten to college, and the museum pass program. the family support network for

-- worked for several years to create a family museum pass modeled after boston's program that is available to any family at the library where they can check it out and take their family to different museums during the week. all these three programs are in need-blind and accessible by all families. able to be accessed by all families. how many cities have programs like that? the fact we have these kinds of resources is amazing. the fact that we have 61 different departments and organizations focused on supporting children and families, there is a lot going on here. in terms of the second point, the second point is what san francisco needs. a clear city policy platform suit -- for supporting our families. clear goals, outcomes, david chiu mentioned to measure both.

this is a clear focus for what needs to be done for our families and gives us that ability to be focused on what we need to do collectively. everyone being on the same page. linking together. when we look at other cities, this is something that is not [unintelligible] boston, the same land size as us and has a slightly higher population, they started something called countdown to kindergarten and number of years ago. it is a model and a brilliant program on uniting the city around what does it take to get children ready for school? it is something that was brilliantly conceived to focus on what different sectors can do pray what can families do to get children ready for school, what can the city do to support children, what can schools due

to be ready for those children and families coming to them? everyone's role was clear in this plan which was part of a large public awareness campaign that created an environment in a city that people were focused on how is boston preparing its children for school? this program, this initiative was so successful it changed into something called thrive in five. it is akin toou our first five program. we already have these things that other cities took time to develop. how can we come together and look at what we can do collectively? that being said, the san francisco family support network books for to working with everyone to ensure san francisco is a city that values and promotes family's well- being. our children deserve no less. thank you.

supervisor farrell: thank you for your comments. ok. supervisor dufty, thank you for being here. for those left, we have one more speaker and we will open up for public comment. thank you for taking the time to stick around. supervisor dufty: i will say my kid starts t-ball at 5:30 p.m. i cannot stop without acknowledging supervisor elsbernd as a dad. we almost built puc headquarters without child care because the people who do the cost-cutting plans decided that was a great way to save money. i would encourage you to look carefully at everything that has the name transbay terminal

on it. they do not have a very aggressive child care plan. i wanted to empower you both as dads to be active child care dads. we need more of them here. let me say that i am the director of housing opportunity partnership and engagement. our role and responsibility in working for mayor lee is to look at all our housing services whether they are shelter supported housing and looking for better outcomes for individuals and families. that live in those housing services provided by the city. to the extent we do better by families in those housing services and enable those families to become more self- sufficient and successful. we are a city that is more welcoming of families of all incomes. what coleman has articulated is extremely important and i have talked about a black agenda for the san francisco and that is something i get to do in my role. we recognize where we -- we're

not where we should be in terms of federal housing -- we're not where we should be. we do have great organizations whether it is the family support network for co -- or coleman or others. we have a great jobsno now program. we have to link so families can live to success. i think it is also recognizing there have been new directions at the federal level around rapid rehousing and looking at what we have done in san francisco. the traditional model has been to take an evicted family and put that family into family shelter and to move that family into housing as is possible. no matter how great disservice is, the experience -- no matter how great the service is, the experience is breaking to families. we're trying to maintain some

stock of housing so we can move a family directly in there and address their needs. i think being engaged and i want to commend you and your colleagues but particularly you for staying here without a doctor at this hearing because this is not easy. you are looking at it from what is not working because the numbers are not working in our direction. to a certain extent, being a politician, you have to champion what is working. you have to get the message out there about a city government that is in partnership with our school district and is providing resources and i think doing an unprecedented job of supporting public education without trying to control the decisions made by that school district. that is something that is to be commended. what you are doing is using this hearing as another step on a path of trying to guide our city with the initiatives we have had like kindergarten to college and other things that speak to an aspirational city that wants to be welcoming to families. i do not think we have to put families against one another

whether it is middle income, working class, families that are on the economic margins. this is not one pipe that will be carved up. this is something where we need to engage and get our faith- based institutions, i just had a meeting talking about getting churches more involved in supporting families that are at risk in a crisis -- and iraq crisis. this is a great endeavour that you have embarked upon. it is important to recognize the successes that are taking place and the ways in which we're doing a good job. there is ways to be insisting that things like child care matter. 50% of the families that want licensed child care cannot get it because the capacity is not there. every day, you have the opportunity to ask our corporate partners that are making philanthropic investments. you have the opportunity to ask the government decision makers and to ask agencies who are coming here saying we need funding, to ask them to work

with one another in a more coordinated fashion and that is what my agenda is. to focus in on the services we provide to do a better job. the advocates will tell you we do not have the size of homeless families we do in new york city. even from a proportional basis, it is smaller here and we ought to be able to do a better job. we have lost so much african- american population and that is bad, but we ought to be able to do better by those families. we have a commitment to change the way things happened. i'm extremely excited on my 13th day in this job to be here and to have the opportunity to work with you. i want to say knowing you both extremely well, i appreciate your commitment and with no individuals coming here and opportunities we have, we're not stopping the journey here. this is another step and deryk -- i appreciate being part of it. pro cote thank you. thank you to the speakers who

are still here. we're opening up to public comment. i have a number of speaker cards. if anyone wants to speak, please come up. you can line up up here. it is for 30 p.m. for 39 pm -- 4 clack 30 p.m. -- 4:30 p.m. >> thank you. there are five families in my building. we have six children under the age of 5, a seventh on the way. i do not have any children. i am here for the six parents who had to work today and could not come. and wanted to ask you for help. we're in a bad position. we need help with mortgage help and condo conversion. you are aware of how that works.

supervisor farrell: we are. thanks, next speaker. >> i am here today as part of the san francisco parra political action committee but i am the president of friends of -- valley. i would invite you to come to the farmers' market to see the number of strollers and ankle biter is running around. it is quite great. earlier you asked what are things that the board of supervisors can do to help talk about the great things that are going on in san francisco unified and with families in general. i was thinking about that. a couple things that are happening, there was talk about

strings attached to the rainy day fund. that tends to be can -- conversations around proposition h funding and strings attached to that. the way the public or parents perceive their children being used whether it is a perception correct or not, there's a perception children are being used to forge a political want as opposed to honoring the public to be supporting what the voters have. it is so much easier to get out by muni then it is to get a child to get a stroller on many. that says something. when the joint committee for the board of supervisors and education has not met or was canceled 75% of the time last year and has not met yet this year, that says something about

what the priorities are. i would encourage you to think about those things. there is a new funding measure that is being supported by the pta called our children, our future. that will bring in $1,000 per student. i would love to see the board of supervisors support that. >> hello and good afternoon. i am the chair of the san francisco youth commission. the commission is concerned with families -- family flight. our -- scope is not limited to that. what affects the adult population definitely affects children. we are not talking about youth

jobs or transportation patterns. we need to prioritize our families because they include young people. they include adults. we as a city think about these things together, that is how we can best address family flight. i want to say on behalf of the commission, we're looking forward to your policy proposals and how we can provide input. we want to do a similar hearing on family flight and invite other young people to come up with ideas how to address this on a policy proposal. we have a list of things the commission is doing on this issue. we can provide that for you as well. we gave it to the director. thank you for holding this hearing. supervisor farrell: thank you. >> i work with the bernal heights neighborhood center. this issue is incredibly important for the vibrancy of

the city and the future of san francisco. i wanted to highlight the fact that all city departments identify housing as being one of the principal factors of why families cannot stay in the city. that said, the mayor's office of housing have identified that funding for housing with a cut to redevelopment has diminished. hopefully, we can get some of that back at some point during this election season. that would be great to be able to find affordable housing for the people who are struggling to stay in san francisco. what i wanted to say is our policies are also kind of pointing as in the direction we're not heading toward. we want to keep families in san francisco. the performance art that was released said market -- the rate housing has exceeded the goals the general plan has for housing production.

shows we're heading in the wrong direction if our mission is to retain families in san francisco. considering market reproduction is not producing housing to affordability levels that will keep this families here. if we do not get our policies in line in order to stem the production of market rate housing and increase the production of affordable housing, lot of this will not matter. if we do not have people who can afford to live here, we do not have parents who can advocate for better education or resources because they cannot afford to stay here. housing should be viewed by our policy makers and the population as a right and not as a commodity which i feel like it has been looked at. in san francisco for a long time. thank you. supervisor farrell:. -- supervisor farrell: thank

you. next speaker. >> thank you. i am so pleased the government audit and oversight committee is taking on this task as -- on family flight. as much as these statistics, but to thousand eight -- 2009, eight reach of contract, one nuisance. 2010, 173 breach of contract, no nuisance. 2011, 195 breach of contract, one nuisance. up till now, there is over 350 people who have received three date notices. if this government audit and oversight committee is sincere about trying to keep people in san francisco, i would hope you

would try to keep everyone in san francisco, not the super- rich. not the super-well-off. being of low-income, fixed income, ssi, social security, disabled, senior citizens, all those individuals who do not matter to this group because mark farrell, sean elsbernd, david chiu voted for high- density and to destroy parkmerced. they started their huge sweep of evicting all bus. where we to go? you are part of the problem. you are the problem. i wish you would -- there is no safety net for us. i wish you'd fix it. we need a safety net to stay here. we are born and raised here,

acculturated here. we want to stay here. supervisor farrell: thank you. public comment is closed. i want to thank the speakers who stuck around and the people who spoke in public comment. and catherine and my colleagues. this is a huge and complex issue. multifaceted. it is not something we can fix overnight but it is something that hopefully people know now we will focus on in a big way and i look forward to working with everyone here today. members of the public who could not work on policies and proposals to make a difference in the future. thank you for coming. madam clerk, colleagues. any other items? could i make a motion to continue to the call of the chair? we can take that without

objection. madam clerk? >> no other matters. supervisor farrell: thank you. we're adjourned. there is really, only one boy... one girl... one tree...

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