Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, October 22, 2014 1:30 - 3:30pm City Hall, Room 305

1 Dr. Carlton B Goodlett Place, San Francisco, CA 94102

Attendees:

Stephany Ashley, St. James Infirmary; Mollie Brown, Huckleberry Youth Programs; B. Patrick Buckalew, Huckleberry House; Irene Casanova, Larkin Street; Sgt. Rodney Chan, SFPD SVU; Cristy Dieterich, DPH; Lt. Michael Dudoroff, SFPD SVU; Sister Marie Gaillac, NoCA Coalition Against Human Trafficking; Johanna Gendelman, FCS; Paul Henderson, Mayor’s Office; Allison Ipsen, DOSW; Minouche Kandel, DOSW; Antonia Lavine, NCJW; Sgt. Randy Ly, SFPD SVU; Donna Mandel, OLSE; Cate McCracken, Mayor’s Office Violence Prevention Services; Emily Murase, DOSW; Diana Oliva-Aroche, Mayor’s Office; JaMel Perkins; John Tsutakawa, FCS; Hedíana Utartí, AWS; Ana Villagrán, SF JPD

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from August 27 meeting were approved. [Casanova/Villagrán/all]

Super Bowl Committee Update

There was an update on the Super Bowl Committee’s work, and outreach to the Super Bowl Host Committee and participation in regional Super Bowl committee of South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking. There was discussion about involving hotel workers union, and Donna offered to find a contact.

SAGE Update

The Department of Public Health’s former contract with SAGE will go to St. James. St. James provides primary medical care to sex workers; mental health peer counseling; job training; hormone replacement; harm reduction (needle exchange, street outreach). This new grant will help them expand mental health and substance abuse services: expand access to acupuncture, massage, yoga, and other holistic therapies. St. James is working closely with SAGE staff to minimize any additional trauma to clients due to transition. In November individual therapy will be offered in the morning and evening. In January they will start offering group therapy. Medical care is available for ages 12 and up and for all genders. Clients have case managers and counselors. Languages on site: English, Spanish, limited Korean, Thai, and Turkish. Some skill building classes available to clients.

DCYF’s former contract with SAGE will go to Huckleberry. Huckleberry is in conversation with Department of Public Health to coordinate the response to CSEC as DPH is also hiring for CSEC. SAGE is no longer providing direct services.

There was a discussion of the challenges of managing public contracts: takes a lot of time and money taken away from services to manage the contracts. The city does have a non-profit task force that can help mentor.

CSEC Subcommittee Update

There was a change in state law that the child welfare agency can take jurisdiction of sexually trafficked youth even if they are not being abused by parent or guardian. Cities/counties opt in to the legislation as of July 1, 2015. One of the requirements is the welfare agency has to develop an inter-agency protocol, by July 1. The CSEC subcommittee has come to the conclusion that the child abuse hotline will be the first point of contact when children are identified as CSEC, and will cover all kids (i.e. out of county). The Child Welfare Council is working on a model protocol, with a final draft due in March. Family & Children’s Services is meeting to figure out how to create and implement the protocol that gets developed. They will begin with large CSEC 101 trainings, and move on to more specific trainings. HSA is looking at protocols from all over the state. HSA will be convening its own protocol development committee and will coordinate with this Task Force’s Child Sex Trafficking committee to avoid duplication.

Juvenile Probation Department has engaged Adrian Beckman in San Mateo county to do multiple 4 hour training sessions for JPD officers and JPD staff on child sex trafficking. Beyond the training, looking to putting together a panel for JPD staff. .

Sex Worker & Trafficking Subcommittee Update

The Police Department, District Attorney’s office, and Public Defender have been part of a group meeting with sex worker rights groups and other non-profits to discuss the creation of an immunity policy for sex workers reporting violence. The group includes: Community United Against Violence, LYRIC, SAGE, SF WAR, Victim Witness, and DOSW. The Police Department and District Attorney have made it clear that supporting victims of violent crime and increasing reporting is a priority for them. This would be groundbreaking policy: it does not appear that other cities or communities have a similar policy. The overall goal is cultural change: violently targetting sex workers is not acceptable. This policy would also protect sex workers who are trafficked.

Data Collection Tool

DOSW will be requesting the first set of data in January 2015, for the last six months of 2014. It was pointed out that the form refers to Mandarin as a “Chinese dialect,” so we should correct this. Once we collect data, we will put together a report that can be used to showcase the need, for funding conversations, etc.

Labor Trafficking Conference

SFCAHT hosting labor trafficking conference December 3, 2014, at the State Building. Overview of speakers, panel, and workshop was provided.

Next Steps

Next meeting will be on December 17, 2014 from 1:30-3:30 in City Hall, room 305.

Department Updates & Announcements

Various agencies gave updates and announcements.

There was a discussion of the need for better training for law enforcement at the academy on labor trafficking. Currently, if someone tries to make a police report about labor trafficking, the officers often don’t recognize the signs or there are still some gaps in understanding.

1 | San Francisco Department on the Status of Women