No. 7-00
WHEREAS, in November 1991, San Francisco voters passed Proposition J – The Children's Amendment, establishing a baseline of funding for children's services, called the ``Children's Fund", which is overseen by the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families; and,
WHEREAS, the Children's Fund is used solely to provide services to children less than 18 years old, and services may only include child care, job readiness, training and placement programs, health and social services (including prenatal services to pregnant women), education programs, recreation, delinquency prevention and library services; and,
WHEREAS, the Children's Fund is supported by revenues from an additional property tax levy (equivalent to an annual tax of two and one-half cents [$0.025] per one hundred dollars [$100] of assessed value), and currently allocates over $14 million annually to children's services through the annual Children's Services Plan; and,
WHEREAS, the Department receives funding from the Children's Fund to expand such services as primary care, mental health, Child Health Disability Prevention (CHDP) nursing and prenatal care to children and youth in community-based settings; and,
WHEREAS, the Children's Fund will allocate approximately $602,000 to the Department in fiscal year 2000-01; and,
WHEREAS, the Children's Amendment has resulted in increased funding dedicated to providing services to and improving the quality of life for children and youth; and,
WHEREAS, a 1996 evaluation of the Children's Fund found that both youth and parents benefited from the programs funded under the Fund, and each expressed interest in additional programs in the areas of job training/employment opportunities (youth) and increased access to health care (parents); and,
WHEREAS, the Children's Amendment and the corresponding Children's Fund was approved for a ten (10) year period that is due to sunset at the end of fiscal year 2001-02, and San Francisco voter approval is needed to continue the Children's Fund beyond that date; and,
WHEREAS, the Department strongly supports continuation of the Children's Amendment to ensure continued access to services for this vulnerable population; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the San Francisco Health Commission supports continuation of the Children's Amendment beyond the statutory sunset of June 30, 2002; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the San Francisco Health Commission urges the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to adopt an ordinance placing continuation of the Children's Amendment on the November 2000 ballot for San Francisco voter consideration.
I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Health Commission at its meeting of June 20, 2000.
Sandy Ouye Mori, Executive Secretary to the Health Commission