SEC. 16.127-5. OUR CHILDREN, OUR FAMILIES COUNCIL; RESPONSIBILITIES.
§ 16.127-5
The Our Children, Our Families Council must develop a Citywide Children and Families Plan every five years that aligns services across City departments, the School District, and community partners, with equity analysis and outcomes frameworks to prioritize children and families with the greatest needs.
The Council's job is to create a plan every five years that brings together all the city services, schools, and community organizations that help children and families. The plan should make sure services are easy to access, focus on fairness (especially for low-income neighborhoods), include measurable goals, and coordinate better between different departments so families don't have to navigate a confusing system. The Board of Supervisors will review how well the City is doing every year, and the Controller will evaluate the plan's results every five years.
- Complex:The section contains multiple interrelated responsibilities, timelines, and cross-references (to the CCNA, DCYF, SFUSD, and Article IX) that create dependencies and layers of accountability across different agencies.
- Controversial:The requirement to prioritize services to 'children and families with the most need' and conduct equity analysis of services across neighborhoods involves value judgments about resource allocation that reasonable San Franciscans may debate.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) In order to ensure that all children in every neighborhood, especially those neighborhoods with the greatest needs, have access to the resources to achieve, the Council will be responsible for developing a Citywide vision, Citywide shared priorities, Citywide program goals, and Citywide best practices for addressing those needs.
(b) The San Francisco Children and Families Plan. The Council, with support from the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families (“DCYF”) and the Initiative, shall craft a San Francisco Children and Families Plan (“the Plan”) and identify relevant goals and strategies to align and coordinate the services to children and families provided by City departments, SFUSD, and community partners and to maximize support for children and families. The Mayor shall invite SFUSD to participate in the planning process for the Plan. The Plan shall be responsive to the Citywide Community Needs Assessment (“CCNA”) in Section 16.127-9 and consider the following elements:
(1) Ease of access for children, youth, and families in receiving services;
(2) Educational milestones developed by SFUSD and youth development milestones developed by DCYF and the Council;
(3) Existing quality of service benchmarks established by City and SFUSD departments;
(4) Framework for a basic needs infrastructure, including, but not limited to, housing, transit, and job placement resources; and
(5) Fairness in prioritizing the delivery of services to the children and families with the most need.
The Plan shall also include an equity analysis of services and resources for children, youth, and families. The Council shall develop a set of equity metrics to be used to compare existing services and resources in low-income and disadvantaged communities with services and resources available in the City as a whole. The Council may draw upon metrics used by departments including DCYF, the Department of Early Childhood (or any successor agency), and SFUSD. Other City departments and commissions shall provide information and data to assist the Council, the Initiative, and DCYF to draft the Plan. To ensure the Plan accomplishes its purposes, the Initiative shall propose recommendations and accountability measures to include in the Plan on how City departments and commissions can streamline processes, reduce duplicative data collection, improve data sharing across City platforms to simplify the navigation of City services for children, youth, and families, and establish standardized performance metrics where City departments or commissions provide overlapping or shared services to children, youth, and families.
(c) No later than May 1, 2016, and every fifth year thereafter, the Council, with support from the Initiative, shall develop and adopt a set of proposed Citywide outcomes for services to children and families, including an outcomes framework (“Outcomes Framework”) responsive to the evolving needs of the community. No later than July 1, 2016, and every fifth year thereafter, the Council shall prepare and adopt a Children and Families Plan for the City, which shall include a comprehensive assessment of City policies and programs, both public and private, addressing the needs of children and families in San Francisco, and policy-level recommendations for making the City more supportive of children and families. The Council shall emphasize solicitation and incorporation of community input in the development of the initial Plan and subsequent Plans.
(d) No later than October 1, 2017, and each year thereafter, the Board of Supervisors shall conduct a noticed public hearing to review the Council’s performance and the City’s overall progress under the current Plan and to update interested parties on the status of the next Plan.
(e) All City departments that serve children, youth, and families shall consider the Plan in developing their own strategic plans to make the City more supportive of children and families. The Controller shall provide guidance to City departments about how to incorporate the findings of the CCNA and the Plan into their proposed budgets under Article IX.
(f) Planning. Following the adoption of im- plementing legislation under Section 16.126-71 , the Mayor shall appoint members to the Council and the Council shall convene to make initial deci- sions regarding staffing, organization, and imple- mentation. The Council shall also begin planning for the start of the five-year planning cycle in Fiscal Year 2016-2017. The Council may recom- mend, and the Board of Supervisors may approve by ordinance, changes to the due dates and time- lines provided in this Section 16.127-5.
(g) Coordination of Stakeholders. The Council shall ensure that various community groups, agencies, and organizations responsible for providing support, including the City, SFUSD, and community partners, work together in aligned, coherent, and effective ways.
(h) Coordination of Departments. The Council shall facilitate cooperation and coordina- tion between relevant departments of the City and SFUSD to maximize alignment and improve outcomes for children and youth. The Council shall oversee development and implementation of a data-sharing agreement between SFUSD and relevant City departments. The Council, in co- operation with the Board of Supervisors, the San Francisco Board of Education, and community groups, shall work to ensure that funds spent to benefit children and families are targeted to those most in need of specific services and that the funds are used strategically to leverage and com- plement existing and anticipated federal, state, and local resources.
(i) Continued Autonomy of City and SFUSD. The Council will be a policy coordinating body dedicated to improving coordination between the City and its departments, SFUSD and its departments, and community-based organizations funded by those agencies. While the Council will make recommendations to the City and SFUSD, the City and SFUSD will each retain its full inde- pendence and authority regarding programmatic and funding decisions.
(j) Evaluation. Every five years, the Con- troller shall review the Council’s operations and the Plan. The Controller shall submit the results of the review to the Council, the Board of Super- visors, and the Board of Education. The Council shall consider the results of the Controller’s re- view in the preparation of the next Plan. The Council shall also report to the general public on the Council’s efforts and achievements through the creation of an annual San Francisco Children and Families First Progress Report. The Progress Report shall provide the results of the efforts of the City, SFUSD, and the community to serve children and families under the Plan, measured against quantifiable standards and metrics and in light of the Council’s previously-adopted goals and priorities.
(Added November 2014; amended by Proposition J, Approved 11/5/2024)
CODIFICATION NOTE
1. So in Proposition C, approved November, 2014.