(a) The Working Group shall have the following powers and duties in the work focus areas described below:
WORK FOCUS AREA # 1: Based on data review, conduct a needs assessment for youth detained in Juvenile Hall. To conduct this assessment, the Working Group shall:
(1) Establish a “Needs Assessment subcommittee” to conduct a confidential review of juvenile delinquency case files to the extent that review is authorized by the Court. The Needs Assessment subcommitee shall consist of the following four Working Group members: the Public Defender or the Public Defender’s designee (Working Group Seat 13); a representative of a community-based non-profit that serves juvenile justice-involved youth and that is a member of the Juvenile Justice Providers Association (Working Group Seat 1 or 2); an expert in youth mental illness (Working Group Seat 7); and an expert in juvenile justice reform (Working Group Seat 8): 1
(2) Request that the City Attorney petition the Court and request that the Court authorize the Juvenile Probation Department to allow Needs Assessment subcommittee members to access to1
data contained in juvenile delinquency files and related juvenile records in the possession of the Juvenile Probation Department for the purpose of conducting the needs assessment.
(3) Submit formal requests for aggregate, de-identified statistical data regarding the children detained in Juvenile Hall from the following departments and agencies: the Juvenile Probation Department, the Department of Public Health, the San Francisco Unified School District, and the Human Services Agency. The data requested shall include, but not be limited to: race, gender, age, charged offense and level, sustained offenses and level, disposition, length of stay in custody, number of prior delinquency contacts, number of probation violations or bench warrants, child welfare system involvement, disability status, prior school records that identify educational disbilities, mental health status, and prior referrals to community-based programs and services. The Juvenile Probation Department, Department of Public Health, and the Human Services Agency shall respond to data requests within two weeks of receiving the request.
(4) Identify gaps in existing community-based programs and services.
(5) Evaluate the use of risk assessment tools, both quantitatively and qualitatively, to ensure that all young people who are eligible and safe to be released are in fact being released.
(6) Create plans to transition youth leaving Juvenile Hall to appropriate, local non-institutional settings.
WORK FOCUS AREA # 2: Plan and design a small, rehabilitative and education-focused center for the placement of detained youth (“Center”). In developing the plan and design, the Working Group shall:
(1) Analyze best practices for the administration and management of small rehabilitative non-institutional settings for youth, which may include consultation with designers, architects, experts in alternative models, and mental health and youth development experts. The analysis also may include examination of existing programs in other counties, states, or countries that have demonstrated rehabilitative success.
(2) Collaborate with the Real Estate Division, the Capital Planning Committee, and local community-based organizations to identify local land or existing buildings that may be used for this Center.
(3) Create an implementation plan for this Center.
WORK FOCUS AREA # 3: Determine the community-based residential or day-programs that need to be created, expanded, or reinstated to effectively serve wards of the Court and persons alleged to come within the jurisdiction of the Court who are not ordered detained by the Court. To make this determination, the Working Group shall:
(1) Promptly identify a housing option in the City for youth who, following arrest or release from detention, cannot return to their homes, to replace the Catholic Charities San Francisco Girls Home Shelter closed in 2018 and the Boys Home Shelter closed in 2019.
(2) Identify existing community-based day programs and housing options that may be expanded.
(3) Identify new services or programs, including day services and housing options, which are needed to serve vulnerable youth populations.
(4) In consultation with DCYF, the Department of Public Health, the Juvenile Probation Department, and the Human Rights Commission, create funding plans to ensure both the expansion of existing programs with a demonstrated record of success and the creation of new programs. The programs should include mental health services, educational services, employment opportunities, and mentoring opportunities, which are culturally-relevant, trauma-informed, strengths-based, and rooted in the local community. Where possible, these services should be available to youths’ family members.
WORK FOCUS AREA # 4: The Working Group shall develop a plan to transition Juvenile Hall staff to jobs in other City departments or jobs with the San Francisco Unified School District or the alternative Center.
WORK FOCUS AREA # 5: Develop trauma-informed, culturally relevant transition plans, specialized services, and housing options for vulnerable youth exiting detention, including young women, gender non-conforming and LGBT youth, African American youth, immigrant, youth,1 foster youth, homeless youth, and mentally ill youth.
WORK FOCUS AREA # 6: Develop a reinvestment plan that redirects funds historically allocated for Juvenile Hall to community-based alternatives to detention, the Center, and additional mental health and academic support programs for juvenile justice-involved youth.
WORK FOCUS AREA # 7: Develop policy recommendations for the Police Department, the Juvenile Probation Department, and CARC, which divert youth who have been arrested from the juvenile justice system to alternative, community-based programs and support systems.
WORK FOCUS AREA # 8: Develop policy recommendations for the Juvenile Probation Department that transform the department supervision model into a strengths-based framework so that young people are not sent to detention for probation violations, including technical violations or violations for low-level offenses.
(b) In carrying out its duties, the Working Group shall: 1) collaborate with the Mayor’s Juvenile Justice Reform Blue Ribbon Panel; and 2) consult with the Capital Planning Committee, Real Estate Division, Child Welfare Division of the Human Services Agency, Child Crisis Division of the Department of Public Health, the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, Youth Commission, the Police Department, and the San Francisco Unified School District. The Working Group shall invite a representative of each entity identified in this subsection (b) to all Working Group meetings.
(c) Subject to the fiscal, budgetary, and civil service provisions of the Charter, and to the extent consistent with open government laws, the Working Group shall investigate juvenile justice best practices by visiting other jurisdictions and request that the Director retain subject matter experts, as needed.
(d) Reports. The Working Group shall prepare and submit a report every six months that describes the Working Group’s progress in fulfilling the duties set forth in this Section 5.40-6. The first report shall be due six months after the effective date of the ordinance in Board File No. 190392, creating this Article XL
. The Working Group shall submit each report to the Board of Supervisors, along with a proposed resolution to accept the report. The Working Group shall also submit each report to the Mayor, any City department or office responsible for a program identified in the report, and the Director. The Working Group shall submit the final plan to the Board no later than June 1, 2021, detailing the final steps needed to close Juvenile Hall by December 31, 2021. The plan shall be accompanied by a proposed resolution accepting the plan, and the Board may act by resolution to accept, reject, or modify the plan. Each report shall be available to the public, and the Director.1
shall post each report on the Human Rights Commission’s website. (e) In carrying out its duties, the Working Group shall receive prompt and full cooperation and assistance from all City departments, offices, officers, and employees. All components of City government shall promptly produce all records and information requested by the Working Group, unless prohibited from doing so by state or federal law.
(Added by Ord. , File No. 190392, App. 6/28/2019, Eff. 7/29/2019)
