f appointees that can help with that. we have someone who is well versed in data gathering and what's important there. we have someone who is well versed in human resources and who in the world of the contractor. people representing workers so we have -- what is so wonderful about this board we're coming together before finalizing this law to really bring all the voices to the table and find out what the best and -- the best most worth while method is for data collection and so i look forward to hopefully working with those other members to kind of further some of the goals and address some of the concerns i heard in the hearings about this legislation. >> thank you for your question supervisor tang. similar to my last question the board members would be charged with doing investigation work and what do you think needs to be in place

in terms of staffing and i am sure from the legislation how strong that is right now to enable you to be as strong on the committee. what is your sense of that? >> sure. it's a little difficult question since it's new and i'm not 100% what is available for it in terms of staffing. i certainly do hope to have a supportive staff. at the same time i feel that our goal is pretty straightforward and while it will take time going back to what i said about the diversity of the board members i think people will have some discrete goals and tasks in mind that they can do and bring it and come together and assignments to carry out and i am committed and my employer is behind my work on this board and so i feel it will be a really

effective and efficient way to reach the goal that the board was created for because people are coming together that have various levels of expertise and the pieces that need to be covered so a lot of it we will be able to function well and do as board members. >> thank you. i think you're the most enviable position of the applicants today and you come with great qualifications and you're the only applicant for the seat as well so i want to thank you to come in and your will to be part of this and your work already. i think it's great. >> thank you so much. >> i have a couple of questions. >> sorry supervisor cohen. >> correct me if i am wrong but were you one of the authors of the legislation or did you consult on the project and the language? >> i was part of the informal

working group that met to discuss the language, but i myself -- so yes, i was part of the group that consulted with supervisor campos' office on that point, but my involvement was pretty late in the game and after the legislation had basically been formulated, so but i just came in to share my thoughts with other members of the community and various advocacy groups. >> and how long are these terms? i don't see the city attorney here. >> they're indefinite terms. >> they're indefinite terms? >> yes, because the advisory board sunsets in 2017. >> okay. -- >> two year term. >> two year term. okay. let's assume you're on the body and you get another term so you have four years. tell me what you would like to see in the future? four years you sat on the body and what do you hope

to accomplish? >> sure. so i hope the primary purpose of this board initially will be to find the most effective way to put this equal pay legislation, this ordinance in place. i think that's the primary goal of the board. i don't know that a lot has been discussed about what will happen after the law goes into place. my hope is that the board will continue to hear from the community, from contractors and workers about how that data collection process is going. that if needed -- if we're needed to come up with ideas to tweak that collection process that we can do that and be involved in that, but really make sure that the initial work that we have done is effective and carried out in the way that is meaningful -- >> let me -- let me interrupt here. there is nothing

tangible or no cause and you would like to say in the next two years i would like to see this. >> again i think the board will -- the initial purpose is to come up with the language of the legislation that will actually -- that the human resources -- that will develop what the human resources -- sorry, what the human rights commission ends up collecting so we're going to be developing that piece of the legislation and that will go back before committees and the board of supervisors to be voted on, so that's the ultimate goal. >> does this legislation exist in any other municipalities or counties? >> i believe it does exist in new mexico in the municipality of albuquerque. and are in

talks with those folks. i believe supervisor campos' office has been in talks with how things have gone there and we're learning from them and kind of a communication line there to learn from that, and also on a federal level the executive order that president obama put into place requiring equal pay reports from federal contractors is somewhat similar to what this would be doing. >> okay. my final question is where do you see yourself professionally in five years? >> i see myself continuing to advocate on behalf of workers in this area. it's really my passion. it's something that i have done through my whole career dating back to law school and it's something that is a continuing need. i hope that legislation like this really makes the need less and that they're not as many people

coming forward with problems and work place violations but i want to be able and be there to members of the community when they're struggling with their employment and advocate for them. >> great. thank you very much. >> great. thank you. let's go on to our next applicant utuma belfrey. yeah, that's the -- >> good afternoon supervisors. if you don't mind if i could ask the people who have been sitting here to support me to stand up. some have to leave to go to work and may have to leave during my testimony so anyone that has support offed me please stand up. >> fantastic. thank you.

>> i apologize for that. >> if you could pull the mic up too. >> so public speaking isn't my best thing so i am utuma belfrey. i am an electrician in the construction trades and i have been in the union for 16 years as of april of this year, and prior to getting into the union i worked different -- i tried to -- i went through several different internships and things to build up my skills to be a electrician so i have almost 20 years experience. i always have -- i'm applying for seat number 3 which is a person with expertise in discrimination in the work place and that is part of the reason why i established -- i founded sustainable futures which say consulting company. i worked

with the port of oakland social justice. i worked as an independent contractor for the oakland port social justice for three years. i understand how to navigate employment issues from the government sector and the public and private and construction sector from grievance handling and advocacy. i worked with trade womens inc. and other organizations and that's one of the main focuses that i worked with collaboratively as far as advocating for women and also mentoring and assisting women and supporting them through processes of discrimination in the employment sector giving them choices because having -- not having a choice in the matter sometimes leaves you to

only pursuit a lawsuit which i don't think most people who are discriminated against look for lawsuits. they just want to work and because i have had to make that choice personally over and over again i think i would be a great person to help create a program or help create this body. i mean to help to create strategies so the gray areas that women encounter where they're not getting the actual support, and they can't go to their union. they can't go to the employer and maybe legal representation is not what they want. i think i can bring to the table a lot of information and structure to this body or a lot of alternatives that we can support and increase and retain women specifically in this construction industry but i think i can help women in other

industries as well who face discrimination or whoever the case may be. i think that's all -- because i am only applying -- as far as the expertise and the experience. i have a bachelor's degree in young leadership and administration. i -- union leadership and administration. i have worked in the area to support individuals in our industry. i support and advocate people to live and work here in san francisco. i have grandchildren who -- i have two granddaughters. i have a god daughter who is here in the audience, and i would hope that my advocacy would help make things easier for them as far as dealing with discriminatory practices, dealing with racism, sexism or anything. i am

hoping as a san francisco native someone that plans -- not only born here but i plan on dying here and i hope that -- yes, i really do. i don't plan on leaving. >> that's a long time from now. [laughter] >> so you know i mean my children are grown. i have time to give back, and i would love to help educate, help support people coming behind me so that they don't have the bittersweet experiences that i had to experience, so they don't have to choose their piece of mind or just the right to work with you know the ability to provide for their family as opposed to their right to work in a peaceful environment just it to work and do the job you're required to do and that's the per

. >> >> purpose of the equal pay to ensure that women go to work and sustain the families and lifestyles and go home each day and my purpose behind applying for this position is just really that simple. >> thank you. supervisor tang. >> all right. again same question but just are there any steps or concrete goals that you have for the board if you're able to be appointed? some of the things you hope to accomplish there to carry out the spirit of the law that was passed behind this? >> well, i think the first steb has been meat to create this legislation and a oversight board. that is major because there are so many gray areas that the letter from supervisor campos touched on and i was

impressed. the fact that people are scared to choose between their job, creating waves or just keeping their head down and working as much as they can because when you're stuck in a situation that you have to choose pay your rent, eat, or if you say something you will be out of work i think most people will choose to eat so the gray areas would remove the hostility of an idea bringing -- like in all of the protected glasses whether gender or racial or inequality or whatever in all of the protected classes the burden of proof falls upon the plaintiff and that may not always be apparent. this legislation helps relieve that

burden on the plaintiffs. in the construction industry even though we get equal pay sometimes the hours we get is less so you may not see the disparity initially but over a period of a year you would recognize a disparity in race, gender, or whatever, whatever the protected class may be if that data was collected so i think it would be excellent to retain and support women in the industry but in any work place. if a person had a private contract with the city and they were a woman or they worked for a nonprofit organization it could be beneficial in many different sectors and not just the construction industry, but i think ms. aragone mentioned the

industry is high demand right now so that would be my focus if that was the case. >> supervisor cohen. >> thank you very much. a couple of questions for you. i appreciate the depth of knowledge that you have known about the body just in that last answer and last statement that you talked about the plaintiff's responsibility and how that actually complements or challenges work life for women in the trades so my question to you is after the first term which we established to be two years on the body if you're appointed what do you want to see? what should this board produce? what actions should it be taking, what directions? i am using that as a guideline to get your thoughts together but after two years then what? you're on the body what have you done? >> i think establishing a

strong set of -- like the body. i think the body collectively would establish like a process and would have the data to support whatever process we come up, and moving forward hopefully we can -- we would be able to see an increase in women retained on projects or women retained in employment, or maybe an increase in pay rate of women. i think that initially just the fact that the -- the very fact that this legislation passed that employers would get on board and begin to take notice, you know, and not have -- because some things are just cultural. right? some things are cultural and sometimes culture has to change and we in san francisco understand that better than any other city that sometimes cultures have to

change for the betterment of all, and so i think -- i would hope to see a change in the culture first and foremost and secondly a process that women would feel comfortable with and support and possibly advocate for whatever complaints they have if any but hopefully not. >> thank you. i have no other questions. >> okay. great. thank you for your presentation and interest. we will go on to the next person, tyra fennell. >> good afternoon. again i am tyra fennell. i would like to thank supervisor tang and supervisor cohen and committee chair avalos for considering me for seat one of the equal pay advisory board. i am proud that san francisco again is taking the lead on this very important

issue. i would bring a unique perspective to this committee and i have built consensus as an intervenor in public and private sectors and [inaudible] by the committee. i am the chair of the [inaudible] ymca and a small business owner and resident that works on advocacy efforts with businesses along the third street corridor. i have worked with seiu 1021 on issues of out migation in the african-american community and a member myself for five years. the community function is collect and analyze wage data to identify pay inequities. i want to sure we get sound results. however i will sensitive to employers and ensure questions that don't jeopardize the civil rights of their employees. i understand quantitative data has to be

included. however i will keep it simple and have business owners create a narrative and how they form the pay scale. in addition to the work of the alternatives of the [inaudible] metrics system i would like them to think of effective strategies instead of a punitive one. for example asking a business owner who is proactive with page equity and share best practices to develop comprehensive metrics and advising them to do so is a great bay to -- when developing metrics this data doesn't tell the whole story. [inaudible] is an example to provide the committee with that whole story. in my role -- in my current role i create cultural enrichment programs to cultivate economic growth and partnerships and marketing strategies and metrics to evaluate outcomes. again i have a lot of experience being

consensus and achieving positive outcomes among vastly different interests often turning i have tree on thetic sidewalks in collaborative ones. i hope to bring this skill to the committee. i am seeking and urge canning the cohort to be active on issues that benefit women and equal pay is on the top of the list: i am sensitive of this and female in low and medium earning communities. my desire to serve on the equal pay advisory board is granted and also take into consideration my letter of support. thank you and if you have any questions. >> thank you. supervisor tang. >> i actually think that you answered most of my questions in terms of what you would like to see from the board so only if

you want to elaborate on that. >> i do want to point out that i am a woman and i know equal pay is heavily a female issue at the forefront of a lot of our female politicians and stakeholders. however equal pay also -- we have to take into consideration other demographics affected by this and i want to say men of color is one of the demographics and the lgbt is one of the demographics and i would urge the committee to look at some of the constituencies that are not the at forefront of the issue but often impacted by it. >> thank you. supervisor cohen. >> my question and a standard from the previous question before so after two year term what do you see the board being able to produce? >> well i think the important

thing is creating a system to bring them in as a partner and i think at the end of the committee's work i would like to see that comradery and the models based on that. i looked into supervisor avalos' thoughts on expanding thoughts the data collection to businesses that receive tax breaks so i think one thing to look at because of the size of the businesses we're looking to collect data on i think we have to be careful around that too because we don't want to penalize the mom and pop and smaller businesses or encourage them to lay people off so they're under the margin of error with the businesses we're going after so at the end of the process i would like to iron out -- the devil is in the details and i would like to work on that so we're getting equitable data

and not targeting the small business owners. >> why do you see yourself in five years? >> i like to create projects that go into marginalized areas and bring it to life so i working with a arts festival on bay area hunters point and in an industrial space and bay view and in general getting a influx of people coming in and people want to see life in the areas they reside so in five years i would like to see that festival called art of san francisco thriving. i would like to see jennings with lighting and bike lanes and art and cultural bubbling up and see members of the community working to produce that so that would be an ideal place to be in five years.

>> thank you. >> thank you. i would like to thank you for reminding me about what i said about that and i appreciate that. i don't have any questions but i appreciate you being here and we will go on to our next person. thanks. >> thank you. >> marisa diaz >> >> good afternoon. i work with gender equity and in the work place. i when i came to city hall to testify in support of the bill before the board of supervisors neighborhood services and safety committee hearing. i am so thrilled that this bill has become law and i am eager to contribute to its success as a member of the

equal pay advisory board. i have dedicated my professional and academic career on working on behalf of of women and women of color and latino women. >> >> representing women in removal proceedings and representing women who face sex discrimination in work. i am actively involved in legislative advocacy in support of the fair pay act of 2015 with state senator hannah beth jackson introduced this week on february 24. this work which is included in the research and legislative drafting has informed my in-depth understanding of california's persistent gender pay gap where women overall make 84 cents and latino and african-american

make 64 cents on the dollar respectively and lower than supervisor campos' statements said in terms of the national pay gap. i care deeply about my san francisco community and the issue of pay discrimination against women and especially against women of color. i would apply my skills and knowledge and commitment to the equal pay advisory board in order to develop an effective and efficient system of monitoring contractors compliance with equal pay laws on the books for over 50 years now. thank you so much for consideration of my application and i will answer any questions that you have. >> thank you. supervisor tang or supervisor cohen. >> let's switch it up. >> no, i think it's fine and ours is a hybrid question anyway. >> it is a hybrid. now you're an author of the legislation. >> no. i was involved in informal working groups but in october i came on board. >> all right. so tell me

where do you see yourself in five years? >> so i'm a new attorney. i graduated in 2013 from stanford law school and i went to school to do public interest work and i landed in an ideal place and i would like to do this work and a staff attorney in the bay area and where i want to stay. >> after the first term my work isn't done and i want to do more time so tell me then should this board not sunset in 2017 -- critical caveat and two years time is not much time. what you are going to produce? what are you looking to accomplish? i . >> i think on the basic level what i hope the board can

accomplishes coming up efficient effective data collection tool that is cognizant of the way businesses collect the data they also have and how we can encourage them to collect more and a tool that would enable the human rights commission to actually use that to see if there is pay discrimination going on against women and women of color and other people mentioned it's an issue for men of color who make less than white men and to develop a concrete law if they violate the law and to expand on that and see what other types to refine that tool and how we can advocate in ways to promote ways that businesses can check themselves also without the city having to become involved and also i think just to inform the discussion in the city about the issues. i

think san francisco prides itself on being a diverse environment but this type of discrimination happens everywhere and recognizing that and using the tool to broaden the discussion in the community and how we can prevent is it important and i hope that would be part of what would happen in the long-term.