Earth to Newsom: Don't fire top youth advocate

Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, one of our city's most respected community organizations, last week sent out an e-mail alert reporting rumors that Mayor Gavin Newsom had fired Margaret Brodkin as his director of the city's Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF).

Brodkin was head of Coleman Advocates for many years, until Newsom hired her in 2004, a move that was viewed as a strong statement that his administration would be a vigorous voice for children and families. Brodkin is nationally known as a fiery, effective children's advocate, and she has unparalleled knowledge and experience running and funding youth and family programs. This is not a job that you stick some patronage appointee in -- not if you care about children's welfare. And Newsom should take note that on the national stage President-Elect Obama is winning acclaim for choosing appointees who are not yes-men and suckups.

Now, after days of silence from the Mayor's office, Coleman Advocates and many voices in the community are urging him to deny the rumor and restate his commitment to children, families and strong leadership for DCYF.Here's a new memo from Coleman Advocates director N'Tanya Lee, which calls the notion of firing Brodkin "absurd and outrageous."

HAS MARGARET BRODKIN BEEN FIRED AS DCYF DIRECTOR?!!

ONLY MAYOR NEWSOM CAN REASSURE AN ANXIOUS PUBLIC

As we reported last Thursday, rumors have been flying that Mayor Newsom fired DCYF Director Margaret Brodkin. The idea is so absurd and outrageous, we have been expecting to hear a denial from the Mayor's office ever since. We've called and emailed every relevant person in the Newsom administration, including Steve Kawa, the Mayor's Chief of Staff. So far, we only have Margaret's firm denial that we published last week.

More than 100 people called us within 24 hours of last week's special Advocate Alert. They expressed their shock that this might even be considered by Mayor Newsom, and to share their commitment to rally for Margaret's continued effective leadership on children, youth and family services for San Francisco. We heard from national and local foundations, city officials, community activists, and from small and large providers of the city's most critical services to children, young people and their families. Thoughts ranged from the incredulous "Is the Mayor so disengaged that he thinks we'll watch 7 ½ hours of his State of the City [referring to the Mayor's new YouTube video address] and just sit on our hands if he fires Margaret?!", to the appalled and outright angry.

Coleman Advocates was thrilled when Mayor Newsom appointed Margaret to head DCYF in September of 2004, because she is clearly the most qualified candidate to not only run the Dept of Children, Youth & Their Families, but to serve as the Mayor's key staffperson to address the problems facing children from a citywide, inter-departmental, systems-change perspective. Four years later, her record of accomplishments speaks for itself (see three reports available on the DCYF website, www.dcyf.org: DCYF By the Numbers; DCYF Annual Report 2008; DCYF Three Year Report to the Mayor.)

On behalf of the thousands of people and hundreds of community-based organizations who respect Margaret's leadership at DCYF, we emphatically urge the Mayor's office to immediately issue a public denial of the rumor. We will be thrilled to make this public as soon as we receive it. We are ready to begin 2009 working full-steam ahead on a strong policy agenda for the city's children and families.

WHAT CHILDREN & FAMILIES NEED FROM MAYOR NEWSOM

As the economic crisis hits thousands of families, it is urgent that we have a mayor deeply engaged in solving the most pressing problems facing our city. As the Mayor considers his plans to run for Governor (or we hear, possibly Lieutenant Governor) in 2010, perhaps he needs a reminder that there is much more at stake than his political career. The city has the fourth most extreme economic and racial inequality in the nation; over 40% of the city's children are living in families who cant meet basic needs; and more than two-thirds of African American and Latino children live in extremely poor or low-wage working-poor families. Without significant city leadership and investment, the economic crisis will throw thousands more families into joblessness and homelessness, and many more young people will die needlessly from the street violence that erupts after years of economic, political and social neglect.

What we need from Mayor Newsom:

1. To publicly deny the rumor that Margaret is being fired from DCYF. Let's settle this and move forward.
   
2. To commit to a fair, transparent and accountable budget process that involves partnership with the community, collaboration with the Board of Supervisors, maintaining the integrity of the Children's Fund, and preventing cuts to the most critical children, youth & family services. In these tough economic and budget times, a fair and open process is more critical than ever. The Mayor could begin by promising to send the Supervisors his proposed budget a month early, to allow more time for significant public review and input.
3. To meet his promise to double the amount of affordable family housing in the city's pipeline by 2011. Given his opposition to Prop B, we need a plan that includes the policies, the financing, and the sites needed to meet this goal - not only to keep families in the city but to stop the new wave of family homelessness.
4. To jumpstart the stalled juvenile justice/alternatives to incarceration reform process he committed to more than a year ago. Keeping children out of our failed youth jails and prison systems is an essential part of any comprehensive violence-prevention strategy.
5. To develop a comprehensive strategy to reduce poverty among the communities of color where unemployment, poor housing, violence and unequal education opportunities are destroying our young people's chances for a decent life and a secure future as adults. The extreme poverty among so many Black, Latino, Pacific Islander and newcomer Asian families in the Southeast of the city must be a clear and visible funding and policy priority.

Let's start the New Year focused on the future of San Francisco's children! For more information, contact NTanya Lee, at 239-0161x13.

To contact Mayor Newsom and urge him to keep a strong and effective children's advocate as head of DCYF, e-mail gavin.newsom@sfgov.org or call 415/554-6141. He's on Facebook, too.