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Advisory council and Dignity Fund assessment draw attention to vacancies, outreach gaps
Summary
The DAS advisory council reported that the Dignity Fund Community Needs Assessment outreach concluded Sept. 30 with additional focus groups underway; the council also flagged recruitment and structure issues with advisory membership and expects a public hearing Oct. 15 on proposed restructuring.
Alan Cooper, speaking for the advisory council to San Francisco’s Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAS), reported that the Dignity Fund Community Needs Assessment’s surveys and forums concluded Sept. 30 and that staff are conducting focus groups over the following weeks. Cooper said DAS expects preliminary findings by the end of the calendar year and a final report in March or April.
Cooper summarized council discussion that outreach had been broad but that some populations — including Native American and Pacific Islander communities and people experiencing homelessness — may have been underrepresented. He said council members praised the outreach but recommended additional targeted outreach strategies for future assessments.
The advisory council and staff are also pursuing structural changes. Cooper said the current advisory body is intended to include both supervisor and commission appointees (he referenced a target of 11 supervisor and 11 commission members); at the time of the report there were two supervisor vacancies and six commission vacancies. A task force and staff proposal to restructure the Dignity Fund Oversight Advisory Council and the advisory council has been circulated; Cooper said a related hearing is scheduled for Oct. 15 and members of the public and commissioners are welcome to attend.
Commissioners discussed the difficulty of recruiting for advisory positions and the need to clarify application and nomination steps. Cooper described outreach steps currently used: applicants submit to DAS and staff follow up with supervisors when applicants represent an underrepresented district.
The advisory council report was informational; there was no commission action on the item during the meeting.
