Board approves $17.9 million
for social programs

John Swett Elementary saved
from chopping block

By Aldrich M. Tan

April 18, 2006

The Board of Supervisors swiftly passed ordinances that allocates $17.9 million for various social programs.

"Same house, same call, the ordinance is passed," Supervisor Aaron Peskin said multiple times during the Tuesday's meeting.

An ordinance appropriating $6.4 million to violence prevention programs in communities impacted by violence passed on first reading. Representatives from various domestic violence organizations expressed gratitude and enthusiasm over the ordinance's passing.

"We feel great about the funding," said Beverly Upton, executive director of Partners Ending Domestic Violence and the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium. "We came late into the game but the Supervisors understand the impact of domestic violence in our city."

A variety of violence protection programs will receive funding from the ordinance. The Gum Moon Residence of the Asian Women's Resource Center, which shelters women affected by domestic violence, will use the funds to expand its housing program and provide emergency money for residents, executive director Gloria Tan said.

Women Organized to Make Abuse Nonexistent, Inc., a community based agency that assists battered women and their children, will use its funds to maintain a telephone support hotline, spokeswoman Roberta Tomer said.

"I am thankful that the Supervisors are taking the opportunity to use the budget surplus to bring the city's social justice organizations into the 21st Century," said Emberly Cross, coordinating attorney for the Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic.

The violence prevention program ordinance was not the only ordinance that passed with little protest. An ordinance to allocate $660,000 to support the John Swett Alternative School also passed

"This ordinance was a very reasonable response to an illogical decision by the school district to close a good school," Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said. "This mistake needs to be corrected."

The Board also passed ordinances that appropriates $250,000 to the Arts Commission, Cultural Equity Endowment Grants, and $10.4 million for Recreation and Parks capital projects.

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