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DAS updates: online resource directory, Dignity Fund plan and a disability cultural center with housing
Summary
Department of Disability & Aging Services briefed the joint meeting on an upcoming Online Resource Directory, a Dignity Fund services and allocation plan (FY2024–2027) and progress on a Disability Cultural Community Center at Grove and Van Ness with ground‑floor services and over 100 housing units above.
The Department of Disability & Aging Services (DAS) told the Mayor’s Disability Council and Disability and Aging Commission that it will launch a public Online Resource Directory (currently in testing), pilot a closed‑loop referral system for partner community‑based organizations, and publish a Dignity Fund services and allocation plan to guide funding decisions for FY2024–2027.
DAS Executive Director Kelly Dearman described the Disability Cultural Community Center under construction at Grove and Van Ness, developed in partnership with The Kelsey. “The center will be located in the Civic Center on Grove and Van Ness. The center will be on the ground floor; housing will be on top,” Dearman said. She said the housing includes more than 100 units, of which roughly one quarter will be designated for low‑income people with disabilities, and that procurement for a service provider is underway with an RFP expected in March and on‑site services to begin in 2025.
DAS also reiterated the Benefits & Resource Hub intake at 2 Goff Street, a helpline at (415) 355‑6700 (available Monday–Friday, 8AM–5PM), and that departmental public reports (strategic plans, needs assessments, demographic analyses) will be published on SFHSA/DAS websites. Kelly said listening sessions and community input—one earlier session and another scheduled for Feb. 23—will inform the RFP and program design.
Questions and community responses at the meeting focused on signage for ASL and visual accessibility, the content of listening sessions, where prior survey results are posted (executive summaries are available on the DAS site), and how the Ed Roberts Campus informed design ideas. DAS staff said they are working with communications and intake teams to add accessibility symbols and to improve web and phone intake for people with different needs.
No procurement awards or formal contract approvals were made at the meeting. DAS invited continued community input during the listening sessions and said it would circulate RFP details after community input is compiled.
