National expert urges City council to shift from programs to systems to reach children at scale

Dr. Michael McAfee, vice president of programs at PolicyLink, delivered a keynote urging San Francisco leaders to move from isolated programs to systems that serve a defined population at scale. He stressed that population‑level goals require leaders to agree on baselines and indicators, to build what he called a "supply chain" of services and to align resources and accountabilities across agencies.

McAfee said his approach with Promise Neighborhoods is to declare the population to be supported, pick 10 results and 15 indicators across developmental stages, and hold partners accountable for those measures rather than measuring intermediaries by activity alone. He cited examples: Indianola, Mississippi, where early‑learning scale‑up occurred despite deep racial divides, and Minneapolis, where system leaders reduced time to housing placements by coordinating services.

During a facilitated Q&A, McAfee recommended focusing on disciplined processes (results‑based accountability), collecting baseline data for 19 indicators in the city's outcomes framework, and creating meeting containers that force focused conversations about indicators rather than generalities. He emphasized inclusion that places family contributions at the center: "Every time you let a person in this room that doesn't own a contribution, you're gonna manage their personality," he said, arguing for meaningful community ownership of measurable contributions.

Council members discussed implementation challenges: how to translate population measures into day‑to‑day practice, how departmental leaders can exercise ownership (for example, a superintendent taking responsibility for in‑school disciplinary decisions), and how to align RFPs and contracts to require partner data reporting. McAfee and councilors agreed year 1 should focus on process, shared data practices and building the working groups that will set baselines and targets in later stages.