confinement that exacerbate the trauma and mental health issues. it is not an isolated incident. we know of three times in less than two years juvenile probation failed to follow the court order to release the young person. in each of the three circumstances the youth was african-american, three times probation did not release a child with a court order released. juvenile hall is what we need to start doing better. >> good afternoon. thank you, supervisors. i am with the young women's freedom center, now is the time for san francisco to lead the nation. the juvenile hall is expensive, costing over $13 million in 2018. it now sits two-thirds empty at a cost of $270,000 per youth. i know there has been a lot of

data talked about today. what i want to talk about is what works and what we know works. there was data presented around the harm of incarceration and that leads to understanding youth in the adult system. i want to talk about other things we know about, too. we know what works is keeping youth connected to schools and communities, not locking them up. what works delivering support of services to build on the young person's strength and reinforce interest, potential and self-determination. offering therapeutic intervention to target underlying trauma without incarceration. the outcomes of the interventions with better. research from columbia university finds teens not caught or given noncustodial

sentences do better in terms of employment and education than those incarcerated or removed from their community. this isn't a personal matter. i want be to say this isn't about us not liking people that work at enough mile hall. this is about -- juvenile hall. it is 2018 we know more than we did in 2004 and 2005 when the building was build and since 1950 when we got the juvenile hall. this is not personal. >> good afternoon. my name is palty lee from public defender's office. prior to jeff's death on february 22, a week before i had my management meeting with him. he was aware that we were working on reforming, total reform of the juvenile justice

system which involved closing down juvenile hall. as i left the office, jeff said, go for it. we have the lessing of justify. -- >> president breslin: of jeff. i am hear to talk about compassion and not confinement. colorado has made -- california has made great strides. the fact that california is now moving djj over to health and human services is a positive move. i think we are moving from that direction. we as adults made mistakes. perhaps or biggest mistake was using incarceration and building a new and larger jail that didn't work. i urge you to support the close juvenile hall resolution. it is an opportunity for us all as adults to right the wrong and

continue to move forward in the right direction and give youth a fighting chance to succeed. closing juvenile hall will allow us to create a sound and safe nurturing supportive environment. i will cut it short. i don't believe we should continue locking kids disproportionally especially african-american kids 62% on a given day locked up. do we want to marginalize youth of color by incarcerating them in great number. as supervisor walton said, we can do better, and i know we will do better. our office is committed. >> i am ashley. to believe in kids and to see kids be kids is why we are here.

it is our duty as young adult goes to protect kids from harm, harm being incarceration. we are not physically in the cell with them while they are away from their day-to-day life. while the child suffers we have to trust adults to supervise and nurture our kids, taking away the nature of love for the child. i believe in kids not cages. we need to trust in children. we need to invest in their passion and needs for the child to be a citizen of san francisco. children are our future and will be the light of our child. invest in leadership and believe in them. juvenile hall does not work. we know that this is not the way. to lock a child up we have alternatives, we know the answers to liberate us.

when we talk about experts, who are we considering? someone with a degree, not alive experience? thank you. >> good afternoon. i am a high school student formally detained in juvenile hall. i have been to juvenile hall 12 times from ages 12 to 15. there are cells. i am a high school student who wants to become a social worker to work with kids. being locked up is disgusting. being around girls with issues made my issues worse. no teenager should think suicide is normal. kids would do better if this had

a healthy and clean environment with adults to trust and the young women's freedom center helped me stay out of trouble. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am in the young women's freedom center. it has been six months since i have been in juvenile hall. i have been there multiple times. it was back-to-back to back until the freedom young women's freedom center visited me. my mom was a single parent and couldn't visit me. they put me on with a job when i got out. this program to empower women and to have sisterhood. i always grew up with girls hating me. i love you. it was a different experience for me. now, i am about to graduate in june. i just turned 18 shrieky have a job and i am applying for a

second job. i feel this is what we need. juvenile hall did not help me. we don't need juvenile hall. sitting in the cell tore me apart. all i wanted to do was go home. i couldn't see outside. the windows is blurry. you see a cell door. hearing that door shut is all i remember sitting on the concrete, cold. please shut it down, please just shut it down. thank you. >> i work at the young women's freedom center. i am the program director. i am somebody with experience at juvenile hall. i was in the older facility. the point is that i was a young person at 15 years old that experienced a lot of violence. sitting inside of that cell made

me feel forgotten, alone, like i wasn't valued as a human being. i did not feel human in there. i served on a misdemeanor offense and did not get off until i was 18 and exited the system. i did not get support in the facility. with anything until after when i came in contact with women's organizations such as sage, young women's freedom, san francisco women against rape. i was outreach on the street. i got support from the unconditional love and support and i came back and was offered a job to work with young folks. who else is going to invest in my leadership? i believe in the mission of these organizations. horizon, all of the

organizations here, those are the people on the front lines doing the work. thank you. >> good afternoon, i am katie miller from the district attorney's office here to lend support to this important legislation. with the best of intentions, juvenile hall models don't reflect best thinking what the kids need to learn and grow and what our communities need to be safe. the da believes and i also believe we need a broad range of strategies for our kids. the bulk every responses and support should be in the community and we also need a small and secure facility for the small number of kids who need removed from the community for shorted periods much time. it doesn't mean we should do what we have always done.

we know a lot more today than what we built the building. i worked in the mayor's office when we built the building. we know that kids who don't feel safe can't learn. we know kids who are isolated have physical responses they carry with them the rest of their lives. it is time to ask ourselves questions what it should look like. it is an exciting process to embark upon. i would say we need to ask our else to do the same things we ask of kids, which is to try things that feel uncomfortable, do not be bound by turf and sides and not take things personally and to learn from his takes. that is all we ask the kids. we should commit ourselves to that. thank you. >> good afternoon. thank you, supervisor. i am the director of sunset

youth and co-chair for the juvenile justice providers association, jjpa. the jjpa is an association of 20 community-based justice serving organizations. we have been working for decades with juveniles in the system and inside juvenile hall, and we work could lab boratively together to share resources, knowledge, expertise, to not be engaged in turof stuff, to not be fighting over the glory or do what. this is about the kids. this is about the kids. we somebody gearing up for this for a long time. best practices which is somebody we are held accountable for every day in our work. we are heavily evaluated and expected to operate in best practices. best practices show locking up juveniles does nothing but harm

them. it is said over and over, you have the research and as much information on that. there is brain eye sense we -- brain science we didn't use to know and trauma information we didn't know. locking kids up deepens the damage done. we need to invest by dismantling the destructive systems but we need to look deeper to systems across the city. why certain communities are targeted, why certain communities have less than their equitable share, why communities are kept down. this is about justice and equity and this is a conversation that absolutely has to happen. it is not a personal fight. nobody is doing sour grapes. this is about saving kids and keeping families in the community. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors.

my name is brandy from coleman advocates. we organize families and youth touched by the school to prison pipeline. it is a known fact the root causes of youth in juvenile hall are lack of opportunities and support, education and so many other systems that don't support black and brown youth to the level that they should. we need to hold accountability to these systems, accountability should not be held solely on the young people to pushen them to prison and halt their youth. this is holding accountable to the systems in this case in this case the juvenile justice system and not about who works in the system but the system under serving and criminalizing and traumatizing our youth. we are here in complete support

of the juvenile hall shut down and we invest that money from power and healing because we owe that to them. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am michelle. i am the lead organizer at coleman advocates. on behalf of parent and youth organizers, i urge you to shut down juvenile hall and apply restorative practices to address the root causes of the problems. children that are struggling and crying out for help by lashing out at the world need supportive services not incarcerated for a cycle leading to poor outcomes. we do not live in a fair and just society. it is my strong opinion this is not a free country. there are children incancervated

in san francisco and in caland beyond because they were targeted because of the color of their skin or the zip codes they lived in. our courts are deeply flawed and in particular our juvenile courts lack transparency, account ability and over site. i urge you to dismantle the school to prison pipeline and invest money in increasing opportunities, decreasing achievement gap for low income students of color. thank you. >> good afternoon, i am with the institute of families. countless studies note most incarcerated youth have mental health problems. behavioral needs are not resolved by the time they are released and are expected to

reintegrate to the community. the repeat rates have gone down when community-based programs focus on the needs. there is a disconnect when we expect youth in near isolation and expect them to reintegrate as participating young adults in our communities. instead many found the community system of care can be more successful to not only address the underlying mental health issues impacting young persons but promote restorative justice and intervention. it is remaining in the community and facing actions within the communities is far more impactful than a stay in a sterile building. we sat through the 911 hearing earlier where the need for multi-cultural and multi lingual

staffs is needed for calls lasting a minute or two. people were in crisis and needed someone in the community to provide support for the crisis. yet our young people when they are incarcerated are in crisis and need the support to get out of crisis. community-based solutions have been shown to promote community healing and resilience. that is because the families are the greatest stakeholders. it is not one size fits all because that isn't what youth have been responsive to. there is numerous interventions adapted by community organizations to reflect the cultural norms and values and traditions of the communities. >> good afternoon. i work at ucsf and co-chair the

soda tax advisory community. i am not here for those institutions. i am representing myself to tell you in 1989, i began working in juvenile hall to get young people released to the community and to provide alternatives to incarceration. the reason i began in 1989, i committed a violent act myself as air teenager and was looking at time. they took a chance on me and offered me an opportunity to redeem myself by serving my community. i have been doing that since then, 30 years. many of my friends and loved ones didn't have that opportunity. those who did, we have stayed engaged and serving our communities. i later learned after making friends with people who grew up on the west side of town our

experiences in the mission and bay were different from the friends who grew up on that side of town. they would be caught drunk driving, involved in violent situations and the cops would say let's take you home. be careful, boys will be boys. i have my children in private school. i have seen kids committing things that the public school would call the cops immediately on, three keep it quite. there is differential treatment for low income children. i am thankful the director has helped us get to this reduced number to be incarceratessed. it is time to keep our children. the community supports shutting it down. >> hello.

i am ryan. i am a probation officer. i want you all to know, there is about three minors incarcerated one is out in the community right now. they plotted a mass school shooting. you might want to call the kids' school to see if it is affected. a lot of kids coming through our doors, their home, parents and community failed them. we take them in and care for them. we make sure they are safe, get their meals and walk out of that door whenever it is time. you guys they are always blaming juvenile hall. that we are locking them up. our job is to follow the court orders. talk to the court. the court sets the rules. we are just doing our job to make sure they are safe inside. everybody always talks about

juvenile hall doing this or that. they came in broken already. stop saying we broke then. it is not us. on top of that juvenile hall is a place where it is like a time-out. they sit down, think about actions, decision making, create a plan instead of acting on impulse. on the streets they act on impulse. lives might be lost. you guys people talking about the cost. calculate how much -- i don't know. $100.10 years ago compared to now. we have access to doctors and therapy and a lot of people working there have experience in the streets and get knowledge of the mistakes they made. if you close down juvenile hall and you know if there is blood on the street because of that,

that is on your hands. >> next speaker, please. good morning, i am casey lee juvenile defender. i represented youth as public defender in los angeles since 23006 -- 2006. i moved here in 2012. i have gotten to see the juvenile hall up close and personal. many of the youth are there for nonviolent felonies or crimes. many of the crimes arise from poverty for or instability in the home. others are there for violating probation. the courts found it suitable to place the kids at home, but they violated it by missing curfew or running away or true and see. the practice of locking up the

keys not only fails to address the underlying issues but it harms them and is not cost-effective. there is very little intervention in juvenilehaum. juvenile -- juvenile hall. studies show after short term incarceration kids are less likely to get a diploma and likely to suffer mental and physical health issues into adulthood the they are less likely to be employable and the conditions of confinement exacerbate the mental health issues. we have had youth this year making multiple suicide attempts in the hall results in two incarceration. we have a shot to keep them in the communities and linking them to proper services.

this is decades of research showing this is much more effective at a fraction of the cost. i understand this will be a huge shift how things have been done. i am offer to assist in any way i can to make this a smooth transition. good afternoon. i am evett. i am a resident of district 9. i am the program director in the foster care and juvenile justice system. since 1950 we are could labberating with the staff. i am here to express concerns with regards to the proposed closure of juvenile justice center. i attended the meeting last wednesday. i was surprised by supervisor

walton. he said youth are spendings days locked in the room. i observe the school in the gym, playing chess during free time. they are unshackled and joking around. the counselors are experienced and behave like mentors. they no longer intervene when kids are being kids. supervisor walton said one teacher per subject. there is a subject teacher and special education inaddition to volunteer tutors. there is a opportunity to catch up on schoolwork in classrooms safer than the public schools i attended in the mission district. this is proposalled by this.

i am not in agreement with using information while failing to acknowledge the successes of the programs that exist in the jjc. ir agree with th the -- i am non agreement with the hasty decisions for large scale projects with a profound impact on the most vulnerable youth. >> i am mark. i am a counselor at juvenile hall for 13 years. i strongly recommend the board of supervisors legislation have an alternative plan in place before closing it down. there are many entities that service and support our youth, and we all will be affected in some way. if any alternative plan is not approved by the deadline our young people could be in a location outside of the city and

county further alienating them from the community. they must consider the legislation. no jurisdiction with the size and scope of san francisco has been taking such a drastic step towards closure. if we plan to be the model for different it should be also be a model for better. including a closing day on a facility is an at attempt to force the hand of those making the decision. it is the reality and it is really the tru truthfully the bt for the youth? 1304 alternative compliance b. application for alternate means

shall be equal to or exceed the existing standard. the people, youth, stakeholders of san francisco deserve that. the board of supervisors will be forever remembered for supporting the closure of the detention facility with no alternative plan in place. those watching us to fail. by setting ourselves up for success the juvenile commissioner says. next speaker please. >> good afternoon. i am kevin lewis a counselor at juvenile hall working there for 11 years. i worked with at risk youth in san francisco for over 18 years. i want to talk about the staff, counselors. to become a counselor they must

have a bachelor degree and psychological education. once hired as a counselor we go through core which is designed for juvenile counselors in california. they must complete 832pc course to become a peace officer. training continues throughout our careers. when hired we are to complete several hours yearly of training. trauma informed training, adolescent development, lbgq youth, cpr first aid and several types of ethics training. i could keep on talking about the straining i will be here longer than two minutes. these are implemented daily by counselors. we are not prison guards. i have been hearing the myths

believing that juvenile hall is like a prison. youth transported in shackles. that is false. youth are cuffed to fixed objects in their rooms most of the day and booked for misdemeanors. i just heard that youth are abused in solitary confinement. it is nonsense. i could keep going. these are not true. youth are men tuley unstable and two of the youth are robbing your constituents. the youth need a secure facility with staff to change their outlook on life. thank you. >> good morning. i have been a juvenile hall

counselor for about 10 years. i am wearing my star today because i am proud of the work that i do. if we have to restrain our supervisors are is there. there are laws and policies in place where we can barely even touch the kids without being supervised or monitored to hear we abuse the kids when we pour love into the kids, what the public is remembering is the old way. that is not what we do any more. we educate. we are educators, mentors. one of the speakers said before that we are not from the community. majority of us are from the community and example the community in which they can see. our staff are black and brown, which is a direct reflection of

our population. it is important for them to have role models. we offer structure and manners and to treat counterparts as equals. we have rival gang members watching spongebob together in the tv area due to the work we do. in shutting down juvenile hall is about youth, why is there no plan? we cannot afford to play around with the safety of the public, businesses and elderly and youth. youth are about 62% black and 21% hispanic. this population is shuffled through the majority of lives and left by the wayside and now they arthey are shuffled again. shutting down juvenile hall is not the answer.

>> before the next speaker we ask members of the public for the hearing respect the board's rule against applause. if you have to express your support for the speaker raise your hands or give thumbs up or down. thank you for your cooperation. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i am from the juvenile probation department. i have been here 20 years. prior to that i worked in the community as based advocate with case management working to create plans, incar rating youth or what have you. it is funny one of my colleagues mentioned training. today i had to leave because we are doing a training on commercially sexually exploited

children at juvenile hall right now for community-based agencies and probation staff and da public defender, what have you. i want to acknowledge what we are doing in the probation department. a lot of people forget when they get to juvenile hall like san francisco, it is the probation officers and some of the counseling staff to connect them with resources to be successful into the community. a lot of them know about it. it gives them a opportunity to think about those things. last thing i want to oblige you to read the chief sent you a letter a couple days ago. i want to make two recommends. i want to repeat those. board of supervisors should fund exploration and creation of modifications of existing vacant space within the juvenile hall to serve juveniles that require

in patient psychiatric care and medical intoxication and short term stabilization for homeless teens. they need a full analysis of the community programs that people are working with to make sure they are accountable, too. if you want pos and juvenile hall staff accountable the community base needs to be accountable as well. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am currently the assistant program manager for the youth advisory board program at larkin street youth services. we serve those with homelessness. i am in full support of the juvenile hauling closing by december 2021. i took time to read the legislation that you proposed. there is a work plan available to the public. what i want to emphasize in my public comment is how important

and crucial it is that we redirect our funds so that our black and brown youth can have the services that they deserve in order to have a form of liberation. a study found that detaining young people increases the likelihood they will be jailed by adults by 23%. in working with youth it is clear to me society needs to address the root of a larger issue. here you have the opportunity to alleviate the perpetuation of poverty, crime, incarceration by redirecting the funds in a productive manner such as funding current advisers such as the free don center and -- freedom center and to ride youth with employment opportunities,

job training, education and mental health support. thank you. >> good afternoon. thank you so much, supervisors to those who put so much time in the young women's freedom center. i am with the youth advisory board. we see every day what happens when we give resource goes to young people, when we treat young people with respect, look them in the eye, ask them what they need. we make them the experts. with audue respect to every person in the room that is working on behalf of the young people including those in the juvenile system i haven't heard a young person stand up to say i want the juvenile center to stay open. it has been serving me and all of the fellow youth around me.

not to say there aren't great programs happening there. we see a difference for the young people treated with dignity, asked what they need and we see them grow in self-confidence and self-determination. when we put them in leadership of their futures because they are the experts. for any of us here to serve young people who are our future, we need to ask what they need and we need to give them the resources, especially around leadership and mental health. we know that every time we have in our programs when we see people get resources for mental health we see them transform from a month to six months to a year to three years. we see the changes. thank you for making this important change for the future of san francisco. >> hello. i am the youth development

specialist for the san francisco youth commission. i am here to read a public comment from a commissioner who is in school. deei am josephine. i represent district four on the san francisco youth commission and serve as vice chair. in addition, i am a junior at lowell high school. we are a group of 17 youth representing the diverse needs of the city chartered by the voters to advise the board of supervisors on youth related policies like this ordinance. i am writing to share the youth commission support for closure of juvenile hall and give a youth perspective on this issue. the san francisco juvenile hall is inappropriately referred to as youth guidance center. the commission has advocated to expand alternatives to incarsservation through

legislation and priority publication. the juvenile hall costs $270,000 to keep a youth for one year. our city's budget would be better used for investment in alternatives for incarceration like community-based restorative practices. we advocated in our recent budget priorities resolution. through tease youth would -- these youth would rehabilitate and grow in a safe space unlike the current practice. thank you for your attention. i want to thank the supervisors for spearheading this along with the support with the young women's freedom center. i hope you vote for this ordinance for the sake of youth

in san francisco. >> i am the community partnership specialist at the san francisco youth commission and staff lead for transformative justice. i am here to read the public comment of natalie who is the youth commissioner for d9. i am the d9 youth commissioner unlike my supervisor to reenvision jail free san francisco. an april report showed that violent felony arrest of children have declined 87% since 1990. the city spends approximately $300,000 per child per year to lock them up and push them out of their communities. can you imagine if youth

families had access to that family for food, child care, transportation and shelter? the stress that comes from lifelong poverty, what could that do? mental health issues, substance abuse and trauma that they are inflicting. young people right now are asking for jobs, with caring cares and adults. this looks like access points and social workers that provides protective doctors for success. survival crimes should not be punished. young people should be held with compassion and grace. accountability that does not look like a label that puts the scarlet letter on their chest.

how can youth be free to drive if rehabilitation and accountability looks like and feels like canceled out? >> i am program manager of detention and reentry at young women's freedom center. closing down juvenile hall and investing in youth leaders is important. i have been going inside and i have witnessed not making the effort for families together when send to a group home. waiting for new places due to places not licensed and meeting the youth. i am here to advocate to invest in the future today. i was 17-years old. at 18 i was transferred to the county jail. at 19, i was in prison. i was released in 21.

juvenile hall did not invest. myself determination, how to advocate for myself is important to this day to invest in youth leaders. i support to shut down juvenile hall. thank you. >> hello, supervisors. i am kiley huffman, director of san francisco youth commission. since this committee is held during school and work hours i am speaking on behalf of the 17 youth commissioners. as stated in section 4.1.22. it is to advise the board of supervisors and mayor on issues relating to children and youth. abiding by the duty they advise the board of supervisors and mayor to shut down juvenile hall. the youth commission was

referred 190392 on may 6. they voted to support this legislation with writing a letter of support favoring closure. the youth commission strongly advices the board of supervisors and the mayor to shut down juvenile hall. it represents the youth in the community. they have been directly impacted by juvenile hall and those impacted by incarceration in general. young people with community organizations are leading the fight and we must listen to them. thank you for introducing this legislation and engaging the commission. we look forward to closing juvenile hall and allowing the youth to be held by community. thank you. >> i am a case manager visiting

young people incarcerated. the total number has decreased since the 1990s. the budget increased. in 2017 the amount of money to keep one person for two weeks, san francisco spent the same amount to keep one person in school for a year. when nonprofits decrease and do not meet numbers they lose funding. what has the budget increased for ineffective services? 675 young people released 2011 to 2012, they were arrested ang38% incarcerated. the disproportionate rates of people of color sky rotted. in san francisco in 2017, 55% were african-american and 28% were latino. by 16 they have a 20% less

likelihood to graduate by 19. this is detrimental for african-american and latino youth that have the lowest graduation rates. those who spent less than 30-days incarcerated have less outcomes. incarceration is ineffective to reduce crime. we are doing nothing to combat housing, hunger and poverty and police tactics that negatively impact communities of color. funding education increases public safety. funding school nurse also, mental health increases public safety. creating transparent police oversight increasing public safety. housing increases public safety. shut down juvenile justice system. >> good afternoon. i am alfred. i am here to basically say that

about a month ago i was in this same chamber and you were also presenting an award to jack for his 30 plus years of service towards juvenile justice and taking care of youth. i was directly affected by him and the omega boys club. they are a second family and they are services that come in to talk to us, to be real with us. i was there last night talking about the little impacts with the biggest blow backs. closing juvenile hall will have a very profound effect on youth today. i am only 18 years old. we are both in the freedom paired to children you may not know and say should it down by 2021. that is something i have never seen. we both had to fight for ourselves. we had to fight. i had to take a polygraph

examination six states away from my mother b by myself. that is how hard life can be. i don't appreciate you want to shut this down. four units are closed. one is dedicated to a merit center not open. i shook mayor ed lee's hand when he opened it. i was in there doing good. there are other people with the opportunity as well. those units that are closed. put resources in there. it is not just omega boy's club and counselors, it is anybody willing to volunteer and help. i took time out of finals to say don't shut it down because these children need help like i did. i relieded on them as second family. the counselors, omega and those in the education system trying to help me.

thank you. >> hello. i am debbie with the san francisco human services network to support closing juvenile hall. i want to express appreciation for the opening remarks, supervisor walton and other supervisors and all of the other commentors and especially the young people who gave personal testimony about their time incarcerated in juvenile hall. we know that incarcerated youth is ineffective and harmful and exacerbates trauma. it is fiscally responsible and has impacts on youth's of low income and fails to address the diverse reasons youth are sitting there in juvenile hall. the most important issue is how to achieve the best outcomes for the city youth. we believe noninstitutional community-based alternatives

provide the best investment. we support working group approach to harness the best experts to develop visionary solutions. they have a big challenge. we don't have a very long timeline to develop a new transformative approach to juvenile justice. we have to get implementation plans in place well before the closure deadline for the city budget and r.f.p. budget. we believe this group of people can do it, and we are encouraged this plan will ensure outreach through cb o, the community, through labor to make sure that everybody is engaged in developing that new vision. we thank you for bringing this forward and we are excited to engage as the process develops.

>> good afternoon. maureen wash been with the center for juvenile justice in strong support for the legislation which was made possible because of san francisco's robust array of community-based services that meet young people where they are at and provide high-quality care outside of a traumatizing setting. i thank the sponsors for leadership and vision. thank you. >> i am joseph tanner, staff at juvenile hall. all of the horror stories i have heard since i negotiated the contract for the two unions, pec and sciu. the horror stories of kids locked up. after 30 years at the hall i have not seen a kid in shackles.

i have seen them in handcuffs. since 2009 i have had a young father's program to talk about children especially when they have no idea what to do with the child and they are young themselves. i have been in the girls unit. two of the young ladies that talked to you came from my program. when i hear there are no programs that are functioning, that is not quite true. perhaps there is only one or two staff members. i am definitely one of the staff members within side programs. that young man that just spoke came from my program in unit one when he was housed with me. in collaboration in talking about labor, i have not been at any of the meetings concerning how to get these kids jobs. each supervisor knows this is a union town. without union support and help

it is difficult to get these kids any jobs. i would like to be part of this, but i haven't heard. the only thing i have heard is the anythinthe negatives that a. >> please respect rule 1.3 against applause in the chamber. >> i am the field representative of local 10-1. part of the route is juvenile probation dent. we have 150 members that work there. i have been the rep for six years. the vast majority, 70 or 80 are counselors. i want to urge the supervisors. i want to include the staff in reform or changes that happen up there that move forward. i think these counselors i know them well and they are dedicated to the youth.

like ms. austin said most of the youth locked up are black and brown. the counselors are black and brown. they have people to relate to and mentor them. reforms it would be a tragedy to not have them working with the youth in the city. we are also concerned that we don't want good union jobs contracted out to maybe non-profits or groups that aren't union as well. that is the concern we have as labor. we don't want work contracted out. we support what is best for youth and reforms. we ask labor be part of the process and we not have people dedicated their lives with the kids given the system as it is. they didn't create it. they have been working as hard

as they can to serve the kids as it exists now. let's keep them employed in the city. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is corey monroe. i am in support of keeping juvenile hall open and part of the omega programming. when i am at juvenile hall on monday and wednesday. i have been going since 1988 speaking to young people. it helps young people out. we have a lot of young people. some will slip through the cracks and have strong chases. i am worried if the young people have serious cases they will go to juveniles in different counties and be treated wrong. there is a lot of black and brown staff at juvenile hall and

they talk to them about life changes. over the years i have seen a lot of young men and women you see work for dpw and longshoremen were former clients of juvenile hall and it had a big impact on their lives. i was looking at the situation in oakland where they shut down things. people have to go to court in dublin california. it is affecting families and keeps them away from families. i am afraid that will happen if we close he juvenile hall. we want to make it a safe environment and let's keep it open to keep helping the young people in san francisco. this is a small city, it is not

a small city. it is san francisco and crime will happen. give the youth a chance in juvenile hall. >> i am jordan davis. i am in support of shutting down juvenile hall. i was not going to come together. i want t to talk about white privilege. when i was 14 years old i got into some serious trouble. thankfully i didn't go to juvenile hall because i was white in the closet presenting as male if i were transgender i would be rotting in a new jersey prison by now. this has made me reflect on my past and why i need to support the closure of juvenile hall. it is racist, it is classics,

homophobic and there is a better way. we have a whole task force to help ease the transition, a lot of programs that could be invested in to help people in trouble and help people when they need it. positive reinforcement works. negative does not. i know what negative reinforcement as a child is. believe me had i been in juvenile hall i probably wouldn't be helped at all. i would be a lot worst. it is time to shut it down. it is easier to lift a child up than to fix a broken adult. juvenile hall creates broken adults. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am ki. i am someone third generation