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Youth Commission presents 13 budget priorities including lowering local voting age to 16 and support for homeless youth
Summary
The Youth Commission presented 13 priorities ranging from a proposal to lower the local voting age to 16 for municipal and school elections, to DACA fee assistance, park-equity analysis, police-youth training, and a push to declare 2015 the "Year of Recognizing Homeless Youth" with funding requests for TAY housing and services.
The Youth Commission presented its annual budget and policy priorities to the Budget and Finance Committee, outlining 13 items the commissioners urged the Mayor and Board to support. Michelle Lee, the commission chair, introduced the package and Josh Cardenas led discussion of the first priority: a charter amendment to lower San Francisco's legal voting age to 16 for municipal and school-district elections. Commissioners cited research suggesting earlier voting can foster lifelong participation and noted local and international precedents where lower voting ages have been adopted.
Other highlighted priorities included a request for grants to cover Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) application fees (the commissioners noted a $465 federal fee can be a barrier), an open-space equity analysis for park safety and access, mandatory youth-focused police training, six-month reviews of SFPD referrals to Child Protective Services, and timely youth-inclusive implementation of oversight bodies created by Proposition C.
Commissioners pressed for family-unity measures to support youth with incarcerated parents (including lowering independent visitation age to 16 in county jails and creating an online inmate locator), engagement of youth in community benefit agreements with large employers, and full funding of a transitional-age-youth (TAY) affordable housing plan to close a reported gap of 158 units. The commission also urged support for City College of San Francisco, a public hearing on anti-abortion banners on Market Street, and full implementation of Chapter 12N cultural competency training and LGBTQ youth tracking across youth-serving city departments.
Following the presentation, dozens of public commenters — including representatives from Larkin Street, Lyric, Project WHAT and youth advisory boards — described homelessness among youth and urged the Supervisors to fund housing, case management and prevention services and to declare 2015 the "Year of Recognizing Homeless Youth." The committee filed the Youth Commission priorities by motion and encouraged continued engagement during the budget process.
