A state law approved by voters on Election Day will reduce tough sentences for some felonies. But it could also provide a financial windfall to local community courts, which divert people with mental illness out of the criminal justice system. Part of a special report on homelessness and mental health in San Francisco, in the fall 2014 print edition. Stories rolling out online throughout the fall.
Category: Social Services
Posted inCommunity, Homelessness, Housing, Social Services
Homeless People of San Francisco Speak Out
The San Francisco Public Press interviewed people living in the city without housing as they gathered at the Mission Resource Center and the S.F. Night Ministry open cathedral Sunday service at United Nations Plaza. They shared their experiences about lacking a permanent place to live.
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Law & Justice, News, Open Government, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services
Q&A: The Role That Culture Plays in the Response to Domestic Violence
Orchid Pusey, interim director of the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco, says cultural differences can have a big influence on the attitudes and responses to domestic violence. She talked with San Francisco Public Press reporter Ruth Tam about the challenges facing service providers in the city. This story appeared as part of a special report on domestic violence in the Fall 2012 print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Law & Justice, News, Open Government, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services
Mirkarimi Case Brought Spotlight to Domestic Violence in San Francisco
As the city’s Ethics Commission debated whether Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was fit to hold his elected position this past June, the complex game of personality, politics and procedure eclipsed larger policy questions about the city’s approach to handling thousands of cases of domestic violence each year. But advocates for victims said the hearings generated wider awareness of the problem of domestic violence.
Posted inArts & Culture, Domestic Violence, Public Safety, Social Services
Different Person, Different Life: A Survivor’s Account of Domestic Violence in San Francisco
An illustrated account of one domestic violence survivor’s story of abuse and rescue in San Francisco, which appears in the Fall 2012 print edition of the San Francisco Public Press. Dan Archer did the illustration and reporting, with reporting and research help by Ruth Tam.
Posted inCity Hall, Law & Justice, News, Open Government, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services
Despite political nature, Mirkarimi case in San Francisco brings spotlight to domestic violence
In a hearing room in City Hall last week, reporters scrambled to get play-by-play reaction from followers of suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, sporting blue-and-white “Stand With Ross” stickers, and organized opponents, with purple signs saying, “There’s no excuse for domestic violence.” The complex game of personality, politics and procedure has for the most part eclipsed larger policy questions about the city’s approach to handling thousands of cases of domestic violence each year. But as the city’s Ethics Commission continues to debate whether Mirkarimi is fit to hold his elected position, advocates for victims say the hearings are helping generate awareness about the wider problem of domestic violence, and the needed response from social service agencies and law enforcement.
Posted inLaw & Justice, Public Safety, Social Services, Technology
State, tech companies forge alliances to combat sex trafficking
Last year, California Attorney General Kamala Harris joined attorneys general across the country in declaring war against Backpage.com, a free classified website run by Village Voice Media. The officials threatened legal action if the site didn’t stop running ads for adult services, some of which have been linked to underage sex trafficking. But while Harris took a confrontational tone with Backpage – which has since balked at shutting down its adult pages – a more cooperative dynamic has emerged this year between the attorney general and online companies.
Posted inCommunity, Homelessness, Social Services
Helping the homeless at S.F. public library
A medley of people wait for the San Francisco Public Library to open in the morning. Students on a deadline. People who really need a library book. Retired folks. And people checking email. As the doors open, patrons stream into the atrium at the main branch near the Civic Center in downtown San Francisco. Some head to their favorite reading nook; others to computers to start surfing the Web.
Posted inEconomy & Business, Education, Media, Social Justice, Social Services, Transportation
Sharing skills during the holidays
With the holiday festivities swiftly approaching in a year marked by global protests over economic inequality, people in the Bay Area are turning to alternate, community-based means of exchanging goods and skills. Collectives like the Timebank help people circumvent buying gifts with money during the holidays. “The systemic way in which the economy works undermines every good that we try to do,” said Mira Luna, co-founder of the local nonprofit Bay Area Community Exchange, an organization that has been facilitating trades of talents and commodities using time rather than money as the currency. “There’s a lot of underutilized resources and a lot of needs out of there.”
Posted inFood Systems, Social Services
S.F. food providers scrambling to find money to pay for fresh goods as federal funds disappear
Because of the economic meltdown, an increasing number of San Francisco residents are finding themselves hungry and in need – and the agencies that would normally help fill those bellies are drastically cutting what they can provide. San Francisco social service agencies face another hard-hitting blow, as the San Francisco Food Bank, which supplies more than 400 local organizations with the majority of their food, is still reeling from the loss of federal funding.