Mayor Lee tells supervisors city is expanding language access, piloting participatory budgeting and targeting services in OMI

Mayor Edwin Lee told the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on April 23 that San Francisco has strengthened language access for limited‑English residents, has launched a participatory budgeting pilot in one district and is coordinating multiple city agencies to address increased violence in the Ocean View/Merced/Ingleside (OMI) neighborhood.

Lee opened the special policy discussion by citing the city’s emergency‑planning and public‑safety posture after the Boston attacks and then outlined city programs that he said aim to improve access for people with limited English, increase public participation in budget decisions, and expand youth and reentry services in neighborhoods that have experienced spikes in violence.

Why it matters: San Francisco’s population is highly multilingual, city officials said, and supervisors said language access, civic engagement and neighborhood public‑safety responses are central to residents’ ability to reach city services, to take part in local decisions and to reduce violent crime affecting young people.

Lee described several existing and planned language access measures, including the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Rights (created in 2009), a Language Services Unit that supplies translators for emergencies and public meetings, a community ambassadors program that deploys bilingual staff in neighborhoods, and a planned community interpreter certification program to launch later the same year. He said departments including the Police Department and Department of Public Health have increased translated notices and outreach.

Supervisor Maher, who represents a heavily immigrant district, pressed Lee to explain how well first‑responder and other “tier 1” departments comply with the Language Access Ordinance enacted in 2009. Lee said the city is a national model in many respects but acknowledged some departments still struggle and that efforts to train language‑access liaisons and to fund community organizations are ongoing.

The mayor also described a participatory budgeting pilot in one supervisor’s district that allocated $100,000 for resident‑proposed projects. Lee and supervisors said the pilot produced several community‑supported projects and that the mayor’s office, the controller and community groups vetted proposals for feasibility; supervisors asked for a budget committee hearing to assess lessons learned and to consider expanding the model.

Supervisor John Avalos pressed the mayor for an update on services for OMI after recent shootings that disproportionately affected young African American men. Lee listed specific programs and commitments by city departments: targeted case management and youth services funded by the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families; expanded outreach and summer employment opportunities from Recreation and Parks and the Department of Public Works; reentry and aftercare planning with juvenile and adult probation and Superior Court partners; and an upcoming neighborhood violence‑prevention plan to be delivered to the supervisor in May.

Supervisors asked for additional detail on measurable outcomes, timelines and staffing for many of these programs; Lee and staff said the city would continue to work with community groups and report back on program rollouts and results.

Ending: Supervisors signaled general support for stronger language access and for experimenting with civic engagement tools such as participatory budgeting, while several members asked for oversight hearings or briefings to follow up on implementation, costs and the neighborhoods most affected by violence.