On Thursday, February 18, the HRC held a community meeting in the Bayview Hunters Point district.

Over 350 individuals from the Bayview Hunters Point community attended and engaged the Commission on a wide variety of topics. Their concerns ranged from the lack of job opportunities and new business creation, to a need for more visible and proactive City services in the south east sector.

The meeting was touted as a great success by Commissioner Linda Fadeke Richardson. “In my opinion and the opinion of the public, this was one of the best meetings ever,” noted Commissioner Richardson. She added that, “Going out into the community is one of the best ways we can demonstrate the expertise of this Commission,” and that through such meetings in the community, “the HRC staff will be better able to convey the mission of this important Agency.”

The next meeting that will be held out in the community will be on April 22nd in Chinatown. For more information about this meeting, please refer to the article about the Chinatown meeting in this newsletter.

The HRC is pleased to announce that its next regularly scheduled meeting will be held in Chinatown. Everyone in the community is invited to meet the HRC’s Commissioners, learn about the programs and services that the HRC provides, and to address the HRC’s Commissioners on any items or concerns you may have regarding the HRC’s programs and services.

This meeting presents an opportunity for us to hear from you about the issues that you would like the HRC to address!

Please RSVP to Janel Wong by email at: Janel.Wong@sfgov.org, or by phone at: 415-252-2532. Reservations are recommended, but not required.

Event Flyer in English: www.sf-hrc.org/ShowDocument_EN
Event Flyer in Chinese: www.sf-hrc.org/ShowDocument_CH

The HRC is proud to announce the launch of DiversitySF, a collaborative project with the Department of Technology to improve the HRC’s technology systems and processes in order to increase contracting opportunities for small local businesses. The project is divided into two major phases. The first phase will conclude in August with a recommendation report that will evaluate various technological options available to the HRC for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the City’s Local Business Enterprise Ordinance. (PDF, 397 KB)

For more information on DiversitySF, please contact Boris Delepine, at 415-252-2504 or boris.delepine@sfgov.org.

DiversitySF Project Overview: Project Overview (PDF, 397 KB)

The staff of the HRC were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Commissioner August Longo on April 6th, 2010. Commissioner Longo served as an HRC Commissioner since September 2008 and was co-chair of the Commission’s LGBT Advisory Committee, where he was a tireless advocate for people with disabilities. Prior to his service on the HRC, August Longo was a member of the Mayor’s Disability Council and the San Francisco Transportation Authority’s Citizen’s Advisory Committee.

HRC Executive Director Theresa Sparks described Commissioner Longo’s death as a “great loss for the City.”

Bay Area Reporter Article: http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=4693

A public memorial in honor of Commissioner Longo will be held at City Hall on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 5:30 pm.

The SF HRC is at the forefront of policy development and implementation in housing transgender people according to gender identity and not anatomy. Since 1997, transgender women have been housed in the women’s domestic violence shelters. Since 2000, staff member Holy Old Man Bull (Marcus Arana) has been working with SF’s Human Service Agency and all City-funded homeless shelters to provide training and address complaints of discrimination under Chapter 12C (which mandates that City-funded entities may not discriminate against members of the public). Other jurisdictions have followed SF’s transgender shelter housing model, such as Atlanta, GA.

On March 25, 2010, Holy Old Man Bull testified at a Board of Supervisor’s Government Audits & Oversight subcommittee hearing on anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) harassment in SF’s homeless shelters. (The hearing is on SFGTV at http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=11&clip_id=9711).

From 2000 through 2010, the SF HRC addressed at least 40 recorded complaints, with 26 coming from transgender shelter residents; dozens of other complaints were handled through phone calls, site visits, and trainings. In 2003, the SF HRC issued policies for the housing transgender shelter residents, and in 2008 issued HRC brochures providing community education on this complicated issue. For more information about the testimony, visit the Bay Area Reporter’s article at http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=4667.