Committee approves ordinance to create citywide workforce-alignment committee

SAN FRANCISCO — The Government Audit and Oversight Committee on Thursday approved an ordinance to establish a Committee on City Workforce Alignment to coordinate the city’s workforce-development programs and funding.

President David Chu, the ordinance’s author, told the committee the city needs a centralized planning function after a Budget and Legislative Analyst review found about $67,500,000 in workforce-development funds — roughly two-thirds from local sources — are spread across multiple departments without a unified set of performance measures. "We need an analysis of labor demand around town," Chu said as he outlined a requirement for a citywide assessment, a mapping of existing programs and standardized metrics.

Severn Campbell of the Budget and Legislative Analyst Office summarized the office’s review of the 2007 management audit and follow-up findings, saying the workforce system remained fragmented and lacked consistent outcome measures. "At that time we recommended a citywide workforce planning committee," Campbell said, urging a multi-year strategic plan and annual updates.

Under the ordinance, the new committee would include representatives from the mayor’s office, Board of Supervisors, and major departments that deliver workforce services — the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), the Human Services Agency (HSA) and the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF) — and may also include the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) and Public Works (DPW) where appropriate. The measure would remove provisions in Chapter 30 of the Administrative Code judged by the Budget Analyst to be unworkable and refocus the code on policy goals, allocations and performance metrics rather than centralized budgeting authority.

Rhonda Simmons of OEWD told the committee her office will staff the group, produce year-end reports and lead coordination efforts while maintaining existing program services. "We work with most of the nonprofits that are doing workforce work in the community," Simmons said, adding OEWD supports the legislation.

Supervisor Chu said the ordinance would preserve department-level decisionmaking while producing a coherent citywide picture of services, target populations, budgets and outcomes. The ordinance would also elevate the Workforce Development Community Advisory Committee’s membership to executive directors or chief officers, increase the body’s size, and allow the mayor to appoint half of its members; the new advisory membership rules would take effect Oct. 1.

A motion to pass the ordinance was made and the committee approved it without objection. The item will proceed to the full Board of Supervisors.