CITIZENS' COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
FULL COMMITTEE MINUTES
Members of the Citizens' Committee on Community Development held their regular monthly meeting at the location and on the date indicated below:
Monday, February 23, 2009
1 South Van Ness Avenue, 5th Floor
Conference Room 5080
5:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 5:56 p.m. by Chair Linda Squires Grohe
2. Roll Call
Citizens' Committee Attendees:
Donald Frazier
John Lucero
Jordan Klein
Linda Squires Grohe
Nadine Burke
Nicole Rivera
Ralph Romberg
Ron Wong
Stephen Huey
Sujata Srivastava
Tom Ruiz
MOCD/MOH Staff Attendees:
Brian Cheu, Deputy Director, MOCI
Christina Garcia, Economic Development and Capital Program Director
Amy Tharpe, Director, Policy and Planning, MOH
Mike Cohen, Executive Director, OEWD
Rhonda Simmons, Director of Workforce Development, OEWD
Jennifer Matz, Deputy Director OEWD
Katerina Villanueva, MOCI
PUBLIC Attendees:
Rene Cazenave
3. Approval of January 12, 2009
Motion passed to approve the minutes of January 12, 2009.
Vote: Favored: 11
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 0
4. Director's Report
Brian Cheu gave the Committee an update on the process. The Committee hopes to vote on all the Sub-committee's recommendations today. If the Committee approves the recommendations, we will release the preliminary recommendation this Friday (2/23). Brian reminded the Committee that the Public Hearing on the preliminary recommendation will be held next Wednesday March 4th at 6:00pm at City Hall. Everyone will be emailed the room number. At the Monday, March 16th meeting the committee will have an opportunity to make any final changes. After that vote those become the final recommendations that will then be passed on to the Mayor. We will set a time for the Chairs and Sub-committee Chairs to formally present those recommendations to the Mayor. Then it becomes the Mayor's decision to adopt the recommendations or make changes. The Mayor will then transmit the final recommendations to the Finance Committee of the BOS to vote on in April.
5. Topics:
· OEWD Introductions
Brian Cheu introduced the senior leadership team of Economic and Workforce Development, Mike Cohen Executive Director, Jennifer Matz Deputy Director, and Rhonda Simmons, Director of Workforce Development. Brian ask the OEWD team to introduce themselves and tell the Committee a little about what their department does, how we will be working together, and allow the Committee to ask any question they may have.
Michael Cohen explained that OEWD is organized into three divisions: the largest division is Workforce Development, the second is Economic Development, which has two areas, Small Business and Small Business Assistances. The voters adopted a year ago a measure to create a Small Assistance Center that's located on the first floor of City Hall in the Treasure space. That group includes some business attraction and retention staff, the Film Commission, and a random odds and ends that fit generally within the rubric of Economic Development. The third is the smallest and works on large land use, planning and development issues in San Francisco, including Treasure Island, Hunters Point Shipyard, Candlestick Point, and the liaison on the Transbay project. OEWD interfaces with the Port, Planning Department, Department of Building Inspection, and the Redevelopment Agency..
Michael said this merger will create greater efficiency and do more with less, and particularly have less dependency on the General Fund. The areas where the rationale for the merger were most obvious for OEWD were two out of the three main areas that MOCI traditionally focused on, Neighborhood Economic Development, Workforce Development, Public Services is the third principal bucket. For Neighborhood Economic Development OEWD and MOCI were working in the same communities. In many cases we were funding similar programs, and in some cases the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing, and we didn't have the benefit of a broader strategic approach together, which is what this is all about. This is an opportunity to create efficiencies, greater coordination, and reduce some dependency from a administration prospective by combining resources, which will free up CDBG sources.
Rhonda Simmons said that Workforce Development receives $7.4M from DOL, and that's for City and County wide. The money comes in three pots: adult training, youth training, and dislocated workers training. Rhonda also manages Workforce Investment Board and the Youth Council, and both of those Boards have been reinstituted. The first meeting for the new Workforce Investment Board was held last week. Their mandated partners include Community Colleges, School Districts, Employers, CBO's, and Welfare Departments. They along with OEWD help set the policy agenda based on the labor market, and what job seeker need to do to get prepared for the labor market.
Rhonda oversees the Direct Service Programs, which consist of City Build, a pre-apprenticeship construction program that she run in partnership with City College Evans campus. They run two to three cohorts a year of about 50 to 60 students. To qualify the students must have GED or high school diploma, a driver's license, and be able to pass a drug test that helps them get into the construction trade. In addition to City Build, Rhonda's getting ready to launch a pre-pre employment program for folks who are 6th grade level or below (16% of San Franciscans don't have a degree).
The last program Rhonda oversees is Rapid Response, there are about two thousand people who have been laid off in San Francisco since December, and she's dealing with two thousand folks who have received Warren Notices, which are notices from private companies of fifty or more who have group layoffs. Individuals who are sent to her office are then connected to unemployment, benefits, or trainings.
Jennifer Matz said her department tries to figure out ways to support businesses to help create jobs and create revenue. They authorized their State Enterprise Zone, a program that originally ran out of MOCD, and was transferred to Economic Development. It was a very underutilized credit that businesses were not taking advantage of. It's a State Income Tax Credit that businesses are eligible for, for hiring certain disadvantage workers, or other behaviors if they're located in the enterprise zone. This program was set to expire, but was re-upped. They have doubled its uptake in the first full year. A major part of what her teams does is to let the business know these tax credits are available. They also leveraged the state program and created an expanded and made really consistent a local enterprise zone payroll tax exemption for hiring the same classification of folks with multiple barriers to employment including ex-offenders, veterans, and folks coming off of various welfare programs.
The Small Business center was something folks had been clamoring for. For years it was something we tried to move through the legislative process; it turned out to be a ballot initiative. One of the immediate needs they saw with this coming economic crisis six months ago is something they long wanted to do was to make more credit lending available to small businesses. Today, Christina posted an RFP for partnership with a community lender to run a revolving loan fund with current CDBG money that wasn't being deployed. It's those kinds of programs that we want to work together on that will support businesses without costing the City or the general fund. The Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative (NMI) is currently in nine different neighborhoods, with part time Corridor Mangers that work to provide those businesses with the support they need in the corridors after doing a needs assessment, to determine what the community need to thrive.
· Presentation and Approval of Sub-Committee Recommendations
Housing
60 proposals received; 28 recommended for funding for a total of $1,893,900.
The following CCCD members with the following conflicts of interest did not vote:
1. John Lucero – MEDA
A motion to approve the Housing Sub-Committee recommendations was passed.
Vote: Favored: 10
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 1
Economic Development
Jennifer Matz presented an overview of the neighborhood economic development program overseen by OEWD, including the Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative. Ms. Matz suggested that the CCCD revise its initial recommendation to increase the support for the Community Initiative Fund, which supports the corridor managers for the Excelsior, OMI and Portola, by $70,000. It was suggested that $25,000 could be taken from the MEDA recommendation, $25,000 from the Renaissance Entrepreneurship recommendation, and $10,000 each from the Children's Council and Wu Yee Children's Services. After discussion the Committee moved the initial recommendation.
35 proposals received; 22 recommended for funding for a total of $1,690,865.
The following CCCD members with the following conflicts of interest did not vote:
1. John Lucero – MEDA
A motion to approve the Economic Development Sub-Committee recommendations was passed.
Vote: Favored: 10
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 1
Public Services
87 proposals received; 55 recommended for funding for a total of $2,444,500.
Per the memo from Brian Cheu, it was recommended that the amount not initially allocated be given to SF Study Center for $75,000; Good Samaritan for $35,000; and API Wellness Center for $27,240. The committee moved the initial recommendation with this revision.
The following CCCD members with the following conflicts of interest did not vote:
1. John Lucero – MEDA
2. Stephen Huey – APL Wellness Center
A motion to approve the Public Services Sub-Committee recommendations was passed.
Vote: Favored: 9
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 2
Planning and Capacity Building
12 proposals received; 5 recommended for funding for a total of $125,000.
A motion to approve the Planning Sub-Committee recommendations was passed unanimously.
Vote: Favored: 11
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 0
Workforce Development
44 proposals received; 30 recommended for funding for a total of $9,996,325.
Per the memo from Brian Cheu, it was recommended that the amount not initially allocated be given to United way for $60,000; Hearing & Speech for $28,000; APA Family Support for an additional $20,000; and Tenderloin Health for $27,329.. The committee moved the initial recommendation with this revision.
The following CCCD members with the following conflicts of interest did not vote:
1. John Lucero – MEDA
A motion to approve the Planning Sub-Committee recommendations was passed.
Vote: Favored: 10
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 1
Capital
29 proposals received; 13 recommended for funding for a total of $1,600,060.
A motion to approve the Capital Sub-Committee recommendations was passed unanimously.
Vote: Favored: 11
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 0
Public Space Improvements
4 proposals received; 1 recommended for funding for a total of $500,000.
A motion to approve the Public Space Improvements Sub-Committee recommendations was passed unanimously.
Vote: Favored: 11
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 0
Emergency Shelter Grants
18 projects renewed; 1 additional recommended per memo from Brian Cheu (The Mary Elizabeth Inn) for funding for a total of $932,663. The second additional agency in the memo (Community Awareness and Treatment Services) was not recommended because in the interim period after the memo was drafted it was determined that the services would not be eligible under ESG HUD guidelines.
A motion to approve the Emergency Shelter Grant recommendations was passed unanimously.
Vote: Favored: 11
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 0
6. Chair or Sub-Committee Report
None.
7. New Business
Jordan Klein asked that the Committee be kept up to speed on the CDBG economic stimulus dollars. Brian Cheu stated that those dollars would likely be prioritized for economic development specifically, under the guidance of Michael Cohen and Jennifer Matz.
8. Issues for consideration at future meetings
None.
9. Public Comment
Rene Cazenave suggested that CCCD members be included in the Consolidated Planning process.
11. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 6:52 p.m.