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Rules Committee names three new members to Reentry Council after extensive candidate round
Summary
After hearing from a field of 20 applicants, the Rules Committee on Oct. 3 endorsed Stanley Goff, Joseph Calderon and Ernest Kirkwood for three open seats on the city's Reentry Council, citing lived experience and organizational ties. The committee also discussed representation and youth voices.
The Rules Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Thursday recommended three candidates for appointment to the city's Reentry Council after a lengthy public hearing that drew 20 applicants and multiple community endorsers.
Chair Supervisor Norman Yee moved the committee's consensus that Stanley Goff be advanced for Seat 1, Joseph Calderon for Seat 2 and Ernest Kirkwood for Seat 3. The committee voted to forward the recommendations to the full Board for confirmation.
The applicants who spoke at City Hall described a mixture of lived reentry experience and direct services. Stanley Goff said he had been incarcerated and later earned degrees that shaped his work advocating for education and post-release services. Joseph Calderon described 17 years served in state prison and his work in reentry counseling and youth programs; he told the committee he had experience preparing people for successful community reentry. Ernest Kirkwood, who testified about founding and chairing programs inside prison and coordinating reentry resource teams, drew supportive letters from local treatment providers.
Supervisors and staff framed the appointments against the committee's stated aim to improve representation. Reentry staff reported demographic data showing that about 56 percent of people leaving San Francisco jails are African American; speakers urged selecting appointees who bring racial, age and recent-release perspectives. Sarah Felicia Moore Jordan, reentry program coordinator, called for a seat that reflects both recently released people and younger voices.
Public supporters from treatment centers, faith groups and community organizations spoke in favor of several applicants. Several supervisors stressed the value of candidates who are already doing reentry work in the community, while others emphasized including people who had recently come home from incarceration.
The committee's action was procedural: the panel recommended the three appointees and will forward their names with positive recommendations to the full Board for a final vote. No additional formal policy decisions were made at the meeting on reentry funding or program changes.
Next steps: the Board of Supervisors will consider confirmation at a future meeting; appointees will take part in Reentry Council orientation and begin participating in subcommittees and ongoing policy reviews once seated.
