>> ok. good afternoon. welcome to our special rules committee meeting for march 29, 2012. today, we're joined by supervisor farrell and

supervisor weiner. we want to recognize the staff at sfgtv. >> please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices. items will appear on the april 8 board of supervisors agenda. item #one -- hearing to consider appointing four members, terms ending february 19, 2013 and february 19, 2014, to the workforce investment community advisory committee. >> thank you. we did contact all the applicants to date and i believe they are all here. i want to call you up in the order you are listed on the agenda. if you could just speak briefly

as to your experience and why he would lead to serve on this committee, and take a few minutes to do that. first, we have dion-jay brookter. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i wanted to take the stand today to introduce myself. my name as dion-jay brookter, born and raised in fresno, california. from grammar school to high school, i distinguish myself academically and athletically. eventually, this dedication paid off in 2001 when i earned a full athletic scholarship to play football in utah. while attending the utah state university, i distinguish myself

on the field, in the classroom, and within the community. upon commencing from utah state university, my interest was sparked in joining corporate america. i worked for major corporations, world savings, which is now wells fargo. i realized my true calling for service of others, leaving the corporate world behind, in 2007. it was one of my many off-campus experiences. i served as a hurricane katrina a volunteer. returning to fresno, the career development institute gave me my first nonprofit opportunity. assisting the previously incarcerated population with a reentry back into our communities. while working full-time, i pursued obtaining my master's

degree in business administration in order to better serve and understand the needs of the employers. in 2009, i received a phone call from one of my mentors. he spoke about a city full diversity and a city with communities in need. i had a decision to make. leaving behind my position as a workshop facilitator in a city -- are relocated to northern california. i currently hold the position as director of operations in the southeast sector of san francisco. i currently of receipt seven programs and a staff of 30. it is hard to serve dislocated workers and at risk use, but we have been able to participate 51% of our participants.

it has helped me make this possible. as you can see, i've worked in a variety of roles and positions in the non-profit and corporate arenas. i have a well-rounded and the understanding of the market place. i have worked with and for nonprofits, small-business is, and charter schools. i've also worked with and for large fortune 500 corporations. it would be my honor to serve on the advisory committee, alongside my colleagues. thank you for your time. supervisor kim: thank you. thank you for applying. i'd just wanted to ask you, i noticed your position is director of operation any managed the ongoing seven

nonprofit. >> absolutely. supervisor kim: you don't actually provide direct training, it so if you could speak as to why you think he would be a good adviser on our work force investment group. >> i do not involved in the actual day-to-day training, i am the one on the back and that puts together the entire program. sitting down with a participant, sitting with their needs are, looking out our curriculum, i've been able to instill in my staff that these are the needs of the participants. this is how we run the program. they are able to go forth and kind of employment that. i definitely think that shows my leadership skills. and also the empowerment that i give my staff as well as the rest of my colleagues when taking on projects. supervisor kim: have you ever resided in san francisco? >> i have not. supervisor kim: are there any

other questions? supervisor wiener: we frequently have multiple good candidates than we have positions. this issue comes up a lot in terms of requiring a residency waiver. if you have a good san francisco residence, the question of why it should go to a non resident, most of us are pretty flexible. there are times when it is appropriate. can you speak to that a little bit in terms of why you think not living in san francisco you would merit a seat more than someone who lives here? >> when i look at my colleagues, i knew they are all well qualified. when i came to san francisco, my lens was a little bit different. i was an outsider looking at an amazing city. that was one of the questions when i came to san francisco.

would in my background, especially with schooling, it allows me to listen. i do not -- i have listened to the participants, the community, i am able to do that with no judgment outside of wanting to develop and design and help make the best work force system here in the city. i would love to move to san francisco eventually. when i moved to the bay area, i was not able to afford it. i think that is why i would be well qualified. supervisor kim: i would like to call up liz jackson-simpson. after liz, matthew poland. >> good afternoon. thank you for this opportunity. -liz jackson-simpson and i am

the -- my name is liz jackson- simpson. i has been in the social justice field for over 30 years. i have been blessed to lead a number of citywide national initiatives to support use development and workforce activities. -- youth development and workforce activities. those are some handouts for a number of initiatives i have been able to serve. many of them exist today. one of those initiatives is what is called jobs for youth. it was a large city-wide private sector-public sector initiative that helped place over 1500 young people in private-sector employment opportunities and courted over 60 community-based

organizations. city college, private industry council, and the top 30 corporations in the city all contributed to it. it was a private sector funded initiatives. today, it is known as match bridge. it has won national acclaim. it led to the next initiative, the youth opportunity grant. this initiative was led by the department of labour. got to infuse -- thought to infuse resources into amenities.

there is a flyer there for some of bart outreach materials. it served over 5000 people in all of those communities that lived in disenfranchised communities. we were successful in placing young people into training programs, supported a number of community-based organizations, placed young people into college and into work force efforts. i have also then the director of the community programs division for the san francisco juvenile probation department. it provided more than just supervision services. i extended my portfolio to provide this sort of justice types of programming to support young people in the wake of employment, education, family support services.

i held that position for over six years. i went to work for the ymca of san francisco for a number of years. i manage the urban services. we provided social services. today, i serve as the executive director of the youth guidance committee. we serve as the intermediary for the juvenile justice system in placing young people in work force. we have four pretty stable staple programs. we have a school, the early morning studies academy. we provide services to young people in detention and in communities. we serve 150 young people engaged in the juvenile justice system, a foster care system, and have been marginalized from the education system. we graduate 80% of all of our constituents.

100% of our young people are enrolled in a community college upon graduation. the new directions employment program serves about 200 young people a year. we place young people in the advanced training, subsidized employment, a private-sector employment. a candidate for the administration of dpws. we play 65% of our young people. all of those are engaged in the juvenile justice system. we also have a scholarship program with emphasis on state universities and running number of after school programs. some of the alternative schools. i said that because we are very familiar with how to work. i have a very talented staff that is multi-cultural and small darling will. we are familiar with working with individuals who have been ostracized, never worked, and

present multiple barriers to employment. and so, lastly, i have been an architect for the summer youth employment program. it places thousands of young people from various communities with multiple barriers to employment. i believe that experience can be an asset as well to support what it takes to prepare a disenfranchised individuals who work multi barriered. i have had experience with the private sector. supervisor kim: thank you. if i could asking a question. i think it is important to have someone who can speak to youth employment on this committee. one of our areas we have been active in is working with tech

companies that are moving into district 6. one interesting how this to employ young people in the summer. do you have any thoughts around how to build those partnerships? >> there are various ways we can engage young people into employment. i am sure they have a number of entry-level positions that they either vend out, or vendors they work with, or office assistant positions that many of our young people can qualify for. by demonstrating to them the depth of [no audio] there are a number of tax credits. there are many tools out there that we can possibly use. supervisor kim: are there any

other questions? thank you so much. matthew poland, and then we have winnie yu. >> my name is matthew poland. i am thankful to be the current director of match bridge, which is now a program of united way of the bay area and serves young people 16 to 24 in work based learning opportunities such as jobs and internships. i would like to share with you some of the reasons i think i would make a positive addition to the committee. i have over nine years of experience providing employment and workforce development services to youth and adults with disabilities and other barriers to employment. my experience includes both

program management and program design. i helped create a program for people with epilepsy and traumatic brain injuries. eight of the nine years of my work force experience has been with working with people with disabilities trade currently, i help with the strategic planning process for growing the program and we will be growing outside of the city and serving more usyouth in the future. it is a group of nonprofit agencies, government agencies, that meet monthly to share best practices, to network, to benefit from a professional -- to a network. we did that in 2009. i love the membership in outreach and grew the group from seven or eight to about 19

member agencies and 30 or 40 different representatives from the agencies. as part of the coalition, i was the organizer for industries in 2009. the workforce development summit, which was here in san francisco, in 2010. those conferences brought together nonprofit, government, business for a day of networking, professional development around a work force related and employment related issues. initiatives i am interested in, and this was mentioned a few minutes ago, it is summer youth employment. right now, we are planning a very large summer program, in gauging the private sector and leveraging the private sector relationships. united way had hosted community conversation for the white house council on communities solutions. we are still a lot of business leaders to step up and higher youth for the summer.

we are really excited about that. i love to work with other members on the committee of making that a more successful program. another thing i feel i bring to the committee is my experience in working with people for -- but disabilities. understanding the nameeeds. the kind of accommodations they need. i feel like i can bring that to the table. i currently am enrolled in the master of public administration program at san francisco state university. for my experience, i am highly interested any cross-section of workforce development. i plan to further my education and my career in that direction. i believe it would be a great way for me to leverage that experience. to be able to advocate for the community on and workforce issues. i would appreciate your consideration. supervisor kim: