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Supervisors back extension and equity updates to Family Violence Council
Summary
The Rules Committee voted to send to the full Board an ordinance by Supervisor Stephanie to extend the Family Violence Council’s sunset to May 1, 2024, add community seats and agency representatives, and require disaggregated data to track racial and other disparities in family violence.
The Rules Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to send legislation to the full board that would extend and revise the Family Violence Council, the city advisory body that coordinates responses to child abuse, elder abuse and intimate-partner violence.
The ordinance, introduced by Supervisor Catherine Stephanie, would push the council’s sunset date to May 1, 2024, expand community representation by adding three community-appointed seats, and add representatives from the Department of Police Accountability and the Human Rights Commission. It would also require the council to collect and analyze disaggregated data by race, ethnicity, gender identity, age and sexual orientation and establish a process to solicit feedback from communities most affected by family violence.
Stephanie told the committee the council’s most recent report (covering July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2019) documented racial disparities across forms of family violence and noted that 80 percent of clients seeking emergency shelter were turned away. “That’s 80%, way too high,” she said, citing increased hotline calls and service strain during the pandemic.
Kimberly Ellis, director of the Department on the Status of Women, said the department staffs the council and cited recent work with SFPD and the Department of Police Accountability on updated general orders and training for domestic violence investigations. Ellis said the council will issue a new report in May and expects to present findings to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee.
Several community leaders urged passage during public comment. Beverly Upton of the Domestic Violence Consortium and Jenny Pearlman of Safe and Sound praised the council’s work and said the pandemic has intensified service demand. The Youth Commission asked that some community seats be reserved for youth and transitional-aged youth and recommended data be disaggregated to better capture TAY and LGBTQ+ experiences.
Vice Chair Rafael Mandelmann moved to forward the ordinance with a positive recommendation; the committee recorded unanimous 'Aye' votes from Mandelmann, Supervisor Connie Chan and Chair Peskin. The item will proceed to the full Board of Supervisors for a final vote.
If approved, the changes would formalize the council’s focus on racial equity and expand its membership to increase community accountability and coordination across city departments and nonprofits.
