culture and systemic needs of our community. thank you for your consideration, and if you have any questions, feel free to address me with them. thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much for applying. is there any questions for my murawski? thank you so much for applying for the seat. next, we will hear from peter thomas murray. >> great. can you see me and everything? >> chair ronen: yes. we can't see you, but we can hear you perfectly. >> okay. any way, my name is peter murphy, and i appreciate this opportunity to speak with you this morning. i mean, i think mental health sf is a wonderful project, and i'm really glad that it's getting close to fruition. i'm with the mental health

association of san francisco, and i would say that i -- well, i identify as an alcoholic and an addict. i've been clean and sober for around 25 years, through 12-step recovery, but i'm also very familiar with the principles of harm reduction and the -- the value of that. i'm not somebody that's going to try to, you know, i don't know, foist a 12-step recovery on somebody that's not ready or not interested in it, and i also identify with mental health challenges. i'd say for my whole life -- i'm in my early 60s now, and it's taken me that long to realize how my mental health and substance issues have impacted my life. i got clean and sober, didn't really address my mental health issues very well, so even though i was clean and sober, i would continue to still have issues and problems. and it's only in the last, say,

six, seven, or eight years that i've found mental health recovery that's been consistent. i believe in peer recovery, and the idea that -- a 12-step recovery to me is about one alcoholic or an addict helping another. mental health recovery or peer recovery is one addict or alcoholic providing a model of help for another. i think the idea of having universal access to mental health care is so important, and that a lot of our services now exist -- i've -- you know, i've heard the expression exist in silos, and i think that's true. i think we need to have a

comprehensive service so we can best address how to serve our community. i look forward to it, and yeah, if there's any questions at this time, i'm happy to entertain them, and i thank you for the opportunity, supervisors ronen, stefani, and mar. thank you so much. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. we really, really appreciate everything you had to say, and you applying to this position. is there any questions for mr. murphy? nope? thanks. thanks again for being here. >> clerk: mr. murphy, can i ask that you turnoff your camera, as it's been on during most of the meeting. >> oh, sorry. >> chair ronen: no problem. next, we'll hear from phyllis jones. >> hi, he have beeverybody. i just want to say thank you for this opportunity, and i'm really filled with gratitude, and it really helps the work

that i'm doing to be in a position to be able to give back. so for my personal experience, i am a young person of color. i just recently aged out of the t.a.y. system. i identify as african american and latinx. i spent my youth in and out of jail, mental health treatment facilities, and addiction facilities. i am formerly an i.v. drug user, and i currently have five years of sobriety, so i directly relate to the populations that we will be trying to make an impact with in this position, and in the last recent years, i have overcome those things myself, and i hope to bring that perspective to this position. in my professional life, i have

become rather successful. i am a student at san francisco state studying in the social work program. i also am a willie brown fellow, interning with h.s.h. my current role, i am a case manager for jail services, working with populations that are affected by drug abuse, have co-occurring disorders, homelessness, and are trying to navigate the criminal justice system. before this role, i worked for ucsf doing very similar work. i worked at a drop in center at 850 bryant, and i once again worked with those populations. so personally, for me, i have dedicated my life and the greater part of my 20s so far to apply what i have learned and make an impact on people

who are like me and going through similar situations. i hope that young people can see some of them in me, and it gives them hope and inspiration to per severe over what they are -- persevere over what they are going through. as a person of color and someone who experienced what i did early in my life, i offer a unique perspective and needed perspective to this position. i just want to thank you. all of the applicants have been amazing thus far, so i'm glad that we have some really good choices, whether it's me or someone else, to make choices in san francisco and all the communities that have been looked over. thank you so much. >> chair ronen: thank you so

much. you all are creating an impossible choice right now, but thank you for applying with your wealth of experience and understanding. any questions? if not, thank you so much for much here and for applying for the seat. we really appreciate you. >> thank you, guys. >> chair ronen: next, we will hear from charles ryan. charles ryan? not here, and i will give him another chance at the end. and next, we'll hear from kara chen. >> good morning, supervisors. >> chair ronen: good morning. >> my name is kara chen. >> chair ronen: hello. >> i am a deputy public

defender. i've been working as a public defender for 30 years, and i am currently the managing important for the san francisco mental health unit. it's an honor to advocate for miself-amongst the group -- myself amongst the group, and i think all of the applicants are so impressive. i serve as a member on the san francisco mental health board, now it's known as san francisco behavioral health commission from 2012 to 2017, and from 2015 and 2017, i was the chair for the san francisco mental health board. and also, i -- i serve on the jail -- reenvision jail replacement work group, and i also serve on the a.o.t., assisted outpatient treatment program on the implementation

group. and currently, i am also working -- serve on the san francisco sfpd crisis intervention work group with the community provider. and also, i cochair a work group from my -- that's work related, which is transitioning clients in jail, in custody, and inpatient from the acute facility or in jail into treatment. and i think, based on my work, i realize that -- the importance of participating in mental health sf in order to make sure that services and availability of services to be delivered to our clients and consumers in a dignified way, and i think that my knowledge base and my problem-solving skills will be -- enable me to serve the client population in a -- in an effective way. so i thank you for your

consideration, and -- and i think this is a great opportunity to participate because i think if sf -- san francisco, if we implement it in a way that is effective, i think we could be the model for the rest of the nation. so thank you very much for your time. >> chair ronen: thank you so much, miss chien. i just want to take a moment to thank you for all that you do. you are such an expert in the field in so many ways. just feel so grateful for all of your works. >> thank you. >> chair ronen: let's see...who is next? kate franza. she could not be present, but she sent an e-mail, so thank you so much. steve fields, are you here with us today? [inaudible] >> chair ronen: we can't hear

you, steve. are you on mute? >> not anymore, i hope. >> chair ronen: nope, now we can hear you. >> good morning, supervisors. it's an opportunity to say a large thank you, supervisor ronen, for being a part of the leadership on getting this essential reform moving right at a time when it's needed most, and the board of supervisors that supported the measure by 100%. it's -- this is an opportunity that working with the mayor's office and the board may not come around again, and so i'm excited about this. [please stand by]

>> what's been exciting in any career to get a chance to do programs that are based on the kinds of principles that i believe have to be core to the mental health if it's going to be successful. i think the biggest challenge facing all behavioral health

systems is the problem over recidivism. we have never seriously confronted that we have a cycling population of individuals who going into acute care, coming back to a community where there isn't adequate treatment, follow through and a dedication to recovery being a possible outcome if we build a continuum of care in the community. we're reliant inpatient. we have not made the deal we need to make to actually commit to a community-based system of care. no jurisdiction has try to put together this effort on a policy level. no other jurisdiction has the wealth of agencies and services and providers that we have. if we just find a way to work

together with a common vision of our outcome, we can attack recidivism and seriously change the course of what it means to a young person today who comes into an emergency room with a dual diagnosis problem that they need to have treated. i want to be in this from the beginning because i've been in it from the beginning. i bring to this group an experience of what it takes to stand up a program. what it takes to find the funding for a program, to leverage other resources. i have worked in the system of care my whole career and my dedication is to try to find ways to avoid the mistakest -- mistakes we made for decades to leverage the politics and the strategy and the resources for developing full articulated community treatment system of care, from the inside.

that's what i'm excited about -- working with the people i heard so far this morning -- this is really an opportunity. i don't want to miss it. i want to be in with this group working on solutions. thank you. any questions, i'd be happy to answer. >> chair ronen: i want to thank you so much. >> i started my 53rd year. >> chair ronen: that's incredible. thank you so much. very much appreciate you. i don't think there's any question. but thanks so much for being here today and for applying. really appreciate it. >> thank you supervisors. >> chair ronen: i understand that vitka eisen withdrew her

application. we'll skip over her. next we'll hear from monique lesarre. >> can you hear me? >> chair ronen: yes. we can hear you. good morning. >> thank you all so much. i'm going to read my comments because there's so much that i can respond to. good morning supervisors ronen, mar and stefani. i'm deeply grateful to be part of this conversation today. it is my honor to apply for the seat 6, 7 and 8. i had sleepless nights dealing with behavioral health department in san francisco, specifically around -- [indiscernible]. my frustration is lack of community that has been shown. i'm excited to work as a team to

engage mental health, substance and the community. as a long-term african-american resident of san francisco i worked on equity for all people. i'm the daughter of two parents that were impacted by mental health, ptsd, depression, anxiety and substance abuse, addiction, trauma, violence. as a survivor myself of trauma, i have dedicated my life to working to understand what my parents and family and went through and understand how to support and provide safety to people of healing. i work everyday to provide more resources for our community. i have my doctorate and masters degree in clinical psychology. my specific focus is on african-american mental health and wellness, especially intergenerational trauma and healing. in addition to my main job,

where our mission is to eliminate health in black and marginalized communities. i worked as a clinician with moms and children and day treatment and psychological services. i worked as a director of children youth and family services and as a mental health services director at california mental studies. i continue to be a tireless advocate in the san francisco

and bay area that actually serves the community effectively with chair and excellence. my engagement has been a volunteer on projects for the community as a volunteer-led -- [indiscernible] i volunteer regularly mentoring healings for communities. i thank you for your time and consideration. i agree with mr. jones, there's been amazing applicants. we must find a way to address recidivism. i really want to be part of the solution. thank you so much and if you

have any questions, i'm here. otherwise, thank you, amazing applicant and thank you so much. >> chair ronen: thank you so much for all your inspiration. thank you for being here and applying. i don't think there's any questions. next we will hear from aggie quinn. aggie quinn is not here. i will call one more time to make sure. next we will hear from andrea salinas.

>> good morning madam chair and supervisors. i will be honored to serve on seat 7. i'm a clinical social worker. we are the largest contract partner with d.p.h. providing services to 1200 individuals across our program. our clients has severe mental illness, many use substance, have complicated medical needs and are diverse. we are also the mental health provider with program dedicated to serving the mentally ill. we also provide substance abuse treatment through our staff

program. up until the pandemic, we had a lively social opening monday through friday. i serve as the supervisor to our lgbtq focus team and oldest program, community focused case management. we are organized and culturally focused team including our african-american focused team and latinx and korean focused team. we meet our clients where they are at honoring their particular experiences. i have been working as a case manager in san francisco for over 20 years. i always worked predominantly person of color. over the years i developed

expertise working with latino population. i'm aware of the unique needs -- [indiscernible] thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much for all your work and applying for the seat. really appreciate it. i don't believe there's any questions. now asking for kathleen johnson-silk. is she present? >> good morning. thank you, madam chair and supervisors. thank you for the opportunity to participate today amongst such an incredible group of applicants. my name is kathleen

johnson-silk. i was born and raised in san francisco. i'm a family therapist with focused on trauma and care. i'm applying for seat 7. i worked for 17 years with people in criminal system in diverse capacity. serving the behavioral health safety net and community organizing and prison rights litigation. i currently oversee 450 treatment beds in san francisco and up until march, had the distinguished honor of spearheading the implementation of the meth task force recommended drug sobering center in district 6. i see mental health sf has a tremendous opportunity to improve the system. one major problem is that the public behavioral health treatment can perpetuate trauma and depression of the criminal system. this can happen without intention or awareness but it does happen as treatment can

emulate and sustain damaging elements of the criminal system. i oversee treatment and supportive housing for people coming hope -- home after serving life sentences. things like the behavioral surveillance, stigmatizing terminology can trigger lack of control, reinforced dependence and loss of identity which recalls the ways of feeling and being they experienced. treatment is all too often another part of the poverty and incarceration cycle. mental health sf is an opportunity to address the systematic fault. i see an obligation to overhaul healthcare system to be less racist. as we move into a future where we are able to envision ways in which police departments can and

should be defunded, how jail and prisons can quickly reduce populations instead continuing to overcrowd to deadly capacities where black lives matter truly mean something, sf can show the rest of the world how we do it. thank you. >> chair ronen: thanks for applying. next we will hear from veronica forbes. >> good morning. >> chair ronen: we can't hear you. we still can't hear you. >> can you hear me? >> chair ronen: now we can. >> hi, i'm veronica forbes applying for seat 7. as formally homeless queer with mentally ill incarcerated father, i work to reduce

recidivism, prioritize public safety and enhance victim protection, provide trauma services and efficiently use san francisco's resources to divest from incarceration and depression. as lead medical social worker from kaiser transition team i know that funding program according to the positive outcomes pays for itself in fiscal savings by reducing high medical spending. i collaborated with jail psychiatric services and jail aftercare services as behavioral health where rereduce the use of criminal justice and mental health services with a net benefit by stabilizing patients. my goal is to further increase saving by cutting unnecessary jail time and fund more case managers. my other goal is to extend our county's practice of neighborhood courts, restorative justice and use of social

workers sentencing planners to defund our criminal justice system especially in our schools. juvenile criminality being the highest -- biggest predictor of adult criminality and males ages 15 to 24 having highest rates of arrest, it's why i created a pilot program for ucsf citywide focus. as a behavioral health specialist and the first program manager of navigation center, i know that federally funded employment, job training reentry programs, mental health team and protecting undocumented individual who report crimes can successfully reform our criminal justice system. i've also volunteered on campaign for the mental health sf to create a national model for universal mental health

care. it is for all these reasons that thank supervisors, ronen, stefani and mar and colleagues for their time. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. this is so difficult. you all are so amazing. thank you very much for all your work and advocacy. next, we will hear from aaron buchbinder. are you here? we will hear from oi-yee wong.

ms. wong available? then last but not least, sara shortt. are you here? there you are. good morning. >> good morning. i'm just super excited about mental health sf. i'm passionate about being involved in the implementation. i'll tell you why. i think it was probably when i graduated with my masters in social work about 20 years ago when i first started to understand some of the challenges with our mental healthcare system.

i knew a bit about it before that. i do have an uncle who's chronically mentally ill. family has been working to get decent care for decades -- understood firsthand all the barriers and the challenges and the obstacles. but also how important it was for him to get decent care. care that emphasized things like harm restructure, care that was sensitive -- coordinated, compassionate. that's what we're talking about with mental health sf. i'm also excited about it because as a member of the treatment on demand coalition, we've been working on the issue of reform for behavioral health services for a few years now. it just so happen we were starting to -- talk to members at city hall about what can be done about this type of reform that was needed.

it coincided with the ideas with mental health sf and we thought, this is wonderful and we jumped in and got involved with working with supervisor haney's use supervisor ronen office and department of public health to actually craft something. having involved crafting the legislation and help pass the legislation, i have a real investment in making sure that it works effectively. my other reasons are, i spent three years in skid row in los angeles. i ran a homeless outreach program there. we had multidisciplinary teams. the teams included nurses and outreach workers, substance abuse counselors. it included mental health clinicians. that was a big part of the program. i learned so much about the role that mental healthcare on the

streets that will meet people where they are and will particularly work to integrate the issues of homelessness and mental healthcare -- how that played out, again some of the flaws and some of the amazing benefits that occur when people are approached not just by an outreach worker but someone who's trained clinicians and who can correct them to mental health services. that's where i started to see benefits, the way that housing is a mental health intervention. the way that housing intersects with mental health and behavioral health needs, in a way that's almost miraculous sometimes. after working on skid row, i started here in san francisco working at community housing partnership. we're a supportive housing provider.

i'm applying for seat 11 which is for supportive housing provider. that's when i continue to see that supportive housing makes all the difference in the world. it's not a silver bullet. but, when you can get people who are mentally ill or dealing with substance abuse issues off the streets and into good permanent supportive housing where they have the services on sight and they have the connection, the case managers and clinical support, mental health issues are absolutely also being treated through that method. it's one of the most effective methods so that people with get the stability they need to then be able to be successful in treatment. community housing partnership, we have 17 buildings across the city we primarily provide houses

to homeless folks. one of our main goals is to provide that type of stability so people can work on substance abuse and mental health issues and link them to the services they need and provide housing. i will definitely bring that housing perspective and the intersection and will have an eye out for that. other thing i can say, i've been on a lot of working boards and commissions within the city. that's on my resume. i'm member of the conservatorship working group. it's being now increased, expanded due to changes in the law. just would like to say that everyone who has spoken today,

seems so amazing and has great experience. i'm so ready to roll up my sleeve and put my qualification and experience and expertise into making a great program. i know we can do it. we talked a lot about various ideas people have, we've looked at national models. so many people come up with super resourceful ideas, based on direct experience, working in the system. that's what we need to make this program work. we have such dedicated supervisors, leaderships at the helm, supervisor as supervisor ronen and haney. i know that the department of public health is fully on board. we had enough considerations to- conversations to know they are ready to do this.

this is an opportune time that we can bring all these amazing people together to work from different perspectives to make an new day in san francisco. a new day with people with mental health issues and substance abuse issues will get treated with parity and will bring equity to the system rather than this whole long history we've had of segregation mental health and physical health. that's not the way of the world anymore. it's about integration and this program will do that. i'm just grateful for the opportunity to apply. i'm grateful that this process is moving forward. i'm excited to see what comes out of it.

>> chair ronen: thank you so much. appreciate you and all your work. now we're going to give one more chance for the people who weren't present the first time around -- i'll call all the names one more time. if you present, let us know. aggie quinn, cw johnson, darnell boyd, john smither, charles ryan, aaron buchbinder, oi-yee wong. any of those applicants show up? okay. seeing none. mr. clerk, hoping you can open up for public comment and if you'll excuse me for one minute, i will run to the restroom. supervisor stefani can take the chair. i will be right back. thank you.

>> clerk: members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item should call 415-655-0001. then press pound and pound again. if you haven't already done so, please dial star 3 to line up to speak. please wait for the system to indicate that you have been unmuted and you may begin your comment. do we have any speakers at this time? >> yes, there are two callers in the queue. >> hi members of the rules committee. i hope you pass supervisor ronen as soon as she gets back from the restroom. i really support sara shortt, i

have all the confidence in world that you will appoint her. i also want to see liza muraws murawski. she's my neighbor and i worked with her on issues. housing is a component to mental health. we need someone not only experience with mental health -- [indiscernible].

thank you very much. i yield my time. >> clerk: next speaker please. >> my name is joe wilson. i'm executive director of hospitality. i got accused by the technology. i was trying to testify in support of darnell boyd for seat 3. will acknowledge members of the

committee and especially supervisor ronen for her leadership on this important issue to really help redesign the city's mental health system. long overdue. darnell boyd, i believe, is an accomplished both consumer, advocate and activist in the community for many years. worked at power for a number of years. he's been an activist and advocate to the coalition of homelessness. he's a veteran. he is formall formally homeless. former member of hospitality and board of directors.

he has commitment to lifting up lived experiences in the community and with the struggle of mental health issues, i think reflects the need for us to recognize how important it is and benefit of viewing those who lived experience as assets, not liabilities. we need to invest in the least restrictive interventions possible. that often stimulates the unlimited possibilities of the

individual's own potential. that has collective benefits for us all. i want to acknowledge incredible depth and breadth of experience -- >> clerk: thank you. speaker time has expired. do we have any additional speakers? >> hi there. my name is eric. i'm speaking on behalf of philip jones for seat 3. i'm the mentoring and peer support program coordinator with jail behavioral health and reentry services. philip is a mentor working with our program. we work with most of the treatment court, behavioral health court, misdemeanor behavioral health court drug court, veteran's court and

mental health diversion. i want to speak up on behalf of philip. although, i think, he did really good job presenting. all of you did. philip had become a substance users when he was younger. he became homeless. he's bipolar as he had said. he's amazing with working with people really natural using motivations and interviewing. he joins with people in jail and guides them through the process of making it through the criminal justice system showing them how they can go on living accessing services and pursuing a dream of sobriety and stability to also reduce recidivism. he's a role model doing work at the cast, organizing the sort of entire lobby. he's respected in every court by

the judges, the lawyers -- all the social workers, case managers in the community as well as here in the jail. he's able to really inspire people to manage their own mental health issues. i just love to see philip fly, especially with him going to school, getting scholarships. he's tireless. that's about it. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker please. >> [indiscernible] >> thank you for letting me speak with you. i'm calling today to speak in support of liza murawski.

i understand the dedication, work ethic and the breath and depth knowledge she brings. i think they would make really invaluable memories on the implementation committee. i want to say to supervisor ronen, thank you so much for bringing this legislation forward. it's an amazing opportunity for san francisco and for our community, most importantly for our residents who are in such

dire need of reliable services. thank yru so much again, thank you for your time. >> clerk: next caller. >> it's sara shortt again. i wanted to comment on some of the folks that have applied who i think would be -- if i am appointed, great colleagues. the working group with me. these are people that i worked personally particularly with the treatment on demand coalition work that we've done. i would say that amy wong is remarkable and would be a great at representing the interest of labor and that's an important seat that the working group does have. andrea salinas is clinical

social worker who really knows the ins and outs of the system. kara ka wah chien has such good criminal justice background. steve fields he's been in the game a long time. really knows about the larger system. i don't think i heard anyone else who really knows that kind of the breadth of knowledge around department of public health functions, behavioral health services and the landscape the community mental health program.

finally, philip jones, i haven't worked with him. he struck me as having a very important viewpoint to bring to the table around particularly youth but also as a user of services, would be extremely important to have his reflection and advising -- it does seem like he's been in different parts of the system. he has that up-close knowledge. those are people that i wanted to reinforce, struck me as really important beneficial people to the body who would really be able to talk from -- >> clerk: speaker time has expired. do we have additional speakers? >> that completes the queue.

>> chair ronen: thank you so much. public comment is closed. colleagues, did you have any comments or questions? >> supervisor stefani: thank you chair ronen. just a few comments. first of all, thanks to your leadership and supervisor haney for the overhaul and the focus mental health in san francisco. i'm so glad that we all came to a consensus and moving forward. obviously we know this is something we struggle with. there's so many qualified applicants. i know three, shawn, sara and steve -- there's a treatment home in district 2 that i toured with steve. one thing that stood out to me, chair ronen and supervisor mar, i thought about the seats that -- sara shortt said something

about working with different perspectives. i'm looking at seat 6 about substance abuse, treatment providers and expertise of mental health treatment and harm reduction. also in seat 3, someone who identifies as having both mental health condition and substance abuse condition. for me, i think it's so important to look at all aspects of recovery and obviously harm reduction is one. i think fate-based programs has to be considered. i think a lot of people have the feeling that lot of these abstinence based program prograe somehow religious or something. i think that's a myth in needs to be dispelled. i was impressed by everybody.

what stands out to me is people in recovery. people that have dealt with that beast of addiction in hair -- their head. they know what it's like to overcome that. i think it's really hard for people that don't understand what it's like for people. it's not a will power thing. i just want to make sure the voices of recovery are heard. not at the expense of harm reduction because we know that is important too. i think peter thomas murphy touched on it. he bravely told us about his recovery and he's sober and he participates in 12 step program. he also sees the value of harm reduction. that one on one thing, alcohol to alcohol it's that peer thing. that has to be a component of this working group. it has to be something that's

respected. again, not at the expense of harm reduction. there are people in this world with substance abuse disorder that cannot take their drug of choice. that has to be respected. i think so many times it isn't. it's not to say that people who engage in an abstinence based program, once they do they relapse and it's a huge part of sobriety and it's a huge part of substance abuse disorder. lot of people relapse and they start up again and try in abstinence based program. there's nothing wrong with that. i think it's important that we have voices of also not only harm reduction, not only treatment providers but people who have that thing inside their head and everyday wake up in the morning and make a decision whether it's conscious or not, to not take their drugs. to not take that drink.

to know what it's like to pay that forward to somebody else. i think it has to be considered and we would benefit someone on the working group that really understands not only abstinence based programs but also knowing that's an attraction rather than promotion idea, that they are able to talk about in a way that's personal and helpful to the working group in our situation that we're facing. the working group and everybody on it would benefit greatly. one last thing about shawn buford, i worked with him for so

long. i know he applied for seat one. also the thing we've been talking about lately is looking to our fire department or others to take the emergency calls th t was long assigned to police department, how we want to steer away from that. how we know em6 can help us do that in the future. i think shon is uniquely qualified to lend his voice to that part of the conversation. it's crucial to the conversation having other people respond to mental health responses in a way that's effective. everyone i can say is so qualified. for me, i would like to recommend shon buford for seat one and make that motion. i don't know how everybody feels. i think that for me sticks out.

thank you to all those that came out today and applied. like chair ronen said, it's so hard. i want to thank those who shared their recovery with us. it's a brave thing to do. there's a lot of stigma around people that are in recovery and people who suffer from substance abuse disorder. i hope one day that people realize that recovering alcoholicses those with drug addiction are afflictioned with a disease like somebody with diabetes. it is a disease and there are ways to treat it and we have to look at all way. supervisor ronen, i want to thank you for your leadership and i'm looking forward to this moving forward. thanks. >> chair ronen: supervisor mar, did you have any comments? >> supervisor mar: thank you chair ronen for the incredible

leadership that you and supervisor haney have brought to the mental health sf campaign and working with all the community and labor stakeholders and mayor breed and d.p.h. on getting up to this point. it's such an exciting moment for our city to think that we can -- we're going to be moving ahead with such visionary and transformative approach to addressing such huge challenge for our city. thanks to all of the 23 applicas for the mental health sf working group. i'm impressed and blown away by all of the work that you all are doing in all of your different ways. this is an extremely difficult decision to make to figure out who we as a board will appoint

to the six seats. it's got to know that the mayor, there's additional seats that the mayor will appoint to. i appreciate supervisor stefani's comments and remarks. i would defer to you chair ronen since you been the most intensively working on this. >> chair ronen: thank you. i think for the first time on this board in the seat, i would appoint every single person who spoke today. it was a remarkable set of applicants. from the bottom of the heart, i'm saying that in a genuine way, there's not one of you that i would not appoint to this if we could appoint every single one of you.

there is really good news. the mayor and the city attorney have some additional appointments. particularly luceretia bolin. again, this is such -- i would make a motion to move forward and i want to speak to seat 1. i would actually move forward

amy wong for seat 1. the reason for that is not because shon buford wouldn't be amazing. if this goes forward, i'm extremely hopeful that the mayor will consider appointing him to the seat that he's qualified for. amy wong works very close with us while we were working to create mental health sf. she has such an incredible experience, particularly with the boarding care side of long-term placement for mental health. such a particular set of experience and knowledge that wouldn't otherwise be represented on the board. together with her labor, she's a

very active member and runs the only city care facility that we have. those are the reasons i would put forward amy wong name with some knowledge that i think we could all be really supportive of mr. buford with his appointment and hope that we get both of them appointed on this board. for seat 3, i would put forward philip jones. i never worked with mr. jones. you blew me away in your presentation today. hearing from some of the public commenters about you, and your particular personal experience mixed with your professional experience, it's so unique. if you are appointed, i will be

so looking forward to getting to know you better and working with you to implement mental health sf and to hear your voice on this committee. to seat 6 with a residency waiver, i would put forward steve fields. who has 52 years of experience. it's hard to beat. especially given his role he plays on the state level in terms of mental health reform and working groups. i think he can bring that statewide and larger knowledge of the system here locally and combine those so they work together. so many of our dollars that we spend on mental healthcare and substance use care comes from state. having that advocate and that's so knowledgeable and how to

access those dollars is so important. to seat 7, i would put forward, this is an extremely hard choice. we have so many qualified applicants. i would put forward andrea salinas to seat city. citywide case management plays such an important role in our system of care in san francisco. i believe they, case manage close to 70% of the cases that we have here in san francisco and because of that unique role that they play and then salinas' incredible 20 years of experience on the front lines, providing case management and especially with those that are touched by the criminal justice

system. we know are so many individuals that are living with mental illness and substance abuse. she is the right person for this seat at this time. for seat 8 i would put forward dr. monique lesarre. we are in a moment in our city's history where we are paying special attention and grappling with failing the black community and african-american community in ways that we're finally making up for in sort of radical and new ways. i think we're all very proud of that work. dr. lesarre is the leader this that work. we know that the

african-american community is disproportionately impacted. that's because of trauma inflicted by this country on this community in a very particular way. her experience and voice on this implementation working group, i believe is essential. last but not least, i would recommend sara short shortf of r seat 11. her knowledge of permanent supportive housing intersect with wellness and stability for those living with mental illness and substance use is unique. that's the possible possible cht i would recommend. knowing that we have the opportunity to advocate for many others of you to be seated to the working group by the mayor

and the city attorney. then finally, every one of you is over qualified to serve on this working group. not having a vetoin -- seating s not mean you cannot participate. there will be opportunity for public comment and share your expertise and guidance with this working group. this is a historic moment in the history of san francisco. i do believe with your help, we're going to create the best system in the country. we're going to create a model that we can share and that other cities and counties can replicate throughout the united states. i cannot thank you all enough for your daily work, for your willingness to serve. with that, mr. clerk, i know we have two different motions on seat 1. maybe if we could -- did you want to say something?

>> supervisor stefani: you made your motion and obviously, i support shon in that role. i did make the motion. with the mayoral appointment, hopefully that will work out. i'm willing to respect your appointments that you said. i know that -- i really think that shon will be great. but sam-- >> i appreciate that. are you willing to withdraw your motion? >> yes but with my support still very much on record. >> absolutely. i hope we can work together because i am very hopeful that

the mayor sees in shon what you and i see in shon which is someone that should be on this body. i think this might be a moment where we can have it both ways. very much hoping that's the case. i certainly will be working to hopefully see that as a reality. i know that the mayor has great respect for mr. buford. i have a feeling that we'll be able to see that happen. with that, i really appreciate your willingness to do that supervisor stefani. i share your passion and respect for mr. buford and believe that hopefully we can work together to share that respect with the mayor and these appointments. mr. clerk, did you get my motion on all those seats? >> clerk: i did get it. we have amy wong seat 1, philip

jones seat 3. steven fields seat 6, andreas salinas seat 7, monique lesarre seat 8 and sara shortt seat 11. >> chair ronen: can we have a roll call vote? [roll call vote] the motion passes without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you so much mr. clerk. again, thank you so much. what an amazing group of candidates and leaders and this work in our community. we appreciate you all. thank you. mr. clerk, please read item

number 4. >> clerk: appoint -- it's a motion to appoint supervisor rafael mandelman, term ending december 1, 2021 to the california state association of counties. do we have any speakers on this matter? >> there are no callers in the queue. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. i'm happy to make a association

to -- motion to send this item forward with positive recommendation. please take a roll call vote. [roll call vote] motion passes. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. please read item number 5. >> clerk: hearing consider appointing one member for investment term to the food security task force. i wanted to mention that ms. monique was accidentally appointmented to the seat last week which is not a vacant seat. we have scheduled this matter to appoint vacant seat 9 which has the same qualifications. i apologize for this error. >> chair ronen: no problem. thank you very much for flagging it for us. we can this up for public

comment. >> clerk: members of the public who wish to speak on this matter can dial 415-655-0001. please dial star 3 to lane up to speak. a system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. please waive to the system that you have been unmuted. do we have any comments for this item? >> there are no callers in the queue. >> chair ronen: okay. thank you very much so much. then if i could make a motion to send this item forward with positive recommendation. can we please take a roll call vote on that motion? [roll call vote] the motion

passes without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. any other items on the agenda? >> clerk: that completes the agenda for today. >> chair ronen: thank you. have a good day everyone. see you soon.

>> you're watching coping with covid-19 with chris manners. today's special guest is michelle jeffers. >> hi. i'm chris manners, and you're watching coping with covid-19. today's guest is michelle jeffers. she's the chief of programs and partnerships with the san francisco public library, and she's here to talk with us about some exciting new developments at the sfpl and how the library has been managing during this pandemic. michelle, thank you for being on the show. >> thank you, chris, for having me. >> likewise. let's talk about the program

the library's just rolled out, the curbside pickup program called sfpl to go. can you tell us how it works for those that aren't familiar with the process? >> sure. it's a three step program. you would request an item like you normally do. you would go into your library account, and say, i want to read becoming, by michelle obama. so you would click on request this item. now the one trick this time is you need to click on the one that shows it's available right now at the mainor excelsior branch. once we get -- main or excelsior branch. once we get going bigger and bigger, we'll be available to everybody. but you pick out a magazine, a movie, or a c.d., you click on request it.

if you don't have the internet, or you don't have an on-line library account, you can call us and say, i want to select this book, or you can say, help me with a book. you can say, what are some scandinavian mysteries, and we'll find you something right now. we go and pull it off the shelf. we'll call you, we'll send you a piece of mail, or we'll e-mail you and tell you it's ready to pick up. and then, you'll lineup outside the library. we have little dots on the ground to tell you where to lineup. you'll come up, tell us your name and the last fewour digit of your library card number, and we give you your package, and you go on your way.

>> how do you return items? >> a lot of people have been holding onto items since march. you can return your items -- at the main, for example, we have three doors, and we have a separate door where it's the return door, you put it into a bin there. we don't touch the items for 96 hours. that's the quarantine period for the items. so we will wait four days and then touch them or check them back in for you. as you know, san francisco public libraries did away with late fines last year, so there will be no fines on what you returned, no matter how late it is. >> that's fantastic. you mentioned that you can call in, and that actually leads right into my next question, which is now the library has been focused on addressing the digital divide. can residents still access the library's wifi, and what's the tech tuesday program?

>> yes. the wifi is on at all of our 27 branches and our main location, and you have gone to those locations and seen people using the wifi or, you know, on the perimeter around the building. separate from requesting a book, you can also call us to ask reference questions, and we've answered a lot of questions. i've asked them for some examples of some of the questions that they're getting, because they're trying to be helpful and be a friendly voice on the phone for everybody who calls. i thought some of the really funny ones were someone asked, is it shorter to raft from san francisco to alcatraz or san francisco to treasure island? and after that, they said, what's the phone number for the coast guard because i think they should come with me. or another favorite was -- they didn't have internet, but they asked, can you look me up on google earth and see if it

looks like i'm growing weed at my house. but we get those types of questions, but also the normal things, like when is this book coming out? many of them were, when are you going to open for curbside service? we answer those questions, and have been there since march, trying to answer questions from the outside world. next, we're trying to do meetings on zoom, teaching people how to use resources. many people had never checked out an e-book through the library system or downloaded music through the library system, so we're trying to show them those tools, as well as other tools that they might need. we've shown people on zoom how to use zoom, how to join a conversation and a chat group on zoom. those have been really popular as people have really taken to

asking for help with technology through technology to get more technology savvy. >> i urnnderstand as the libra is still closed, you've still been able to give away children's book. how is that working and how many books have you given away so far. >> there's been a request from sher sheryl davis on the library commission. she had a list of books that she wanted to give out to san francisco students, k-12, so she made a request, and we gave out almost 10,000 books to be distributed to kids in san francisco. we've also worked with the human services agency in the city to make sure that people are living in shelters, including family shelters have books because they can't use the library, so we've given out just thousands of books that way, too, and we're continuing to get in more books.

these are not library books that you have to return, these are to fill a home library for people, knowing that the library isn't as accessible as it used to be. we're waiting for a delivery right now, 47,000 books to distribute to students that might be coming in through the community learning hub and some other community-based organizations to keep kids reading when they're at home. >> that's an impressive number of books. finally, i understand all city workers are also disaster service workers, and that they made a significant effort to the city's response during this pandemic. >> i'm proud of the library staff because they've really staffed up. and at times, sfpl library staff have made up nearly hat of the deployed disaster workers in the city.

we've been doing contact work, so they've been using those library skills to help track down people who might have been exposed to the virus through other exposures, moving through that process, which is really important to helping stem the spread of it. we have a huge staff working through the san francisco marin bank who work at the top of the city, distributing food, making sure our city has nourishment and food, especially in areas where food is not as accessible in certain areas of the city. we have people working at testing site. we have people translating, doing outreach work, designing some of the signage -- you know, we have some graphic designers on the library staff that are doing that kind of work. we just really try to fill in

and use our staff to the fullest extent possible anywhere the city needs us. >> i know that everyone in the city appreciates the work that sfpl has done to help out during this pandemic. well, thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming onto the show, and thank you so much for joining us today. >> oh, sure. any time. come back to the library. >> i'll be sure to. and that's it for us today. we'll be back with more covid related information shortly. you've been watching coping with covid-19. for

>> supervisor fewer: the meeting come to order. this is the september 23, 2020 rescheduled budget finance and committee meeting. i am sandra le