Supervisors Fund Participatory Budgeting to Community Ambassadors in 2021-23 City Budget

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After some 30 hours of negotiation, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors finalized the city’s $13.2 billion two-year budget.

The city’s eleven supervisors allocated funding for a range of projects and programs citywide and across neighborhoods. Each supervisor was also free to allocate $1 million as they saw fit through a process called “addbacks.”

District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar and District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safai, whose districts cover the greater Ingleside neighborhood, funded many projects and programs, the two-year city budget shows.

District 7 Budget Items

The supervisors budgeted $355,230 over the next two years to increase affordable housing on the west side of the city in Districts 1, 4 and 7.

Melgar allocated her $1 million of addback funds on the following:

Over two years, $300,000 will be allocated to the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development to hire an outside consultant to help the Planning Department facilitate a community-led housing and land use planning process.
Over two years, $100,000 will be allocated to the Juvenile Probation Department for programming.
Over two years, $500,000 will be allocated to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency for District 7 Participatory Budgeting projects focused on Vision Zero traffic safety improvements.
$30,000 will be allocated to the Human Services Agency to provide service providers focusing on seniors with nutritional food programming and bilingual support.
$58,500 will be allocated to the Office of Economic and Workforce Development for the District 7 Economic Recovery Fund.
$10,000 will be allocated to the Human Services Agency to provide senior citizen service providers in the neighborhoods surrounding Stonestown and Lakeshore Acres with safety seminars, weekly classes, and personal safety devices.
$1,500 will be allocated to the Human Services Agency to provide gloves, hand sanitizers, masks, face shields, flashlights, and other items to be used in case of an emergency for service providers focusing on seniors in the neighborhoods surrounding Stonestown and Lakeshore Acres.

District 11 Budget Items

New community ambassadors and continuity of service for the Filipino community were two major budget items allocated for District 11.

The supervisors agreed to spend $317,012 to continue funding services for immigrant, transitional age youth, workers and families in the Filipino community, concentrated in Districts 6 and 11, but also throughout the city over the next two years.

The supervisors agreed to spend $4,692,000 over the next two years for community ambassadors for high-need areas not covered by Mayor London Breed’s ambassador plan. District 4, District 5, District 9, District 10 and District 11 will have ambassadors.

For his $1 million in addbacks, Safai allocated funds to the following:

$75,000 will be allocated to the Department of Children, Youth and their Families and the Public Utilities Commission for youth arts and culture.
$350,000 will be allocated to the Department of Children, Youth and their Families for Black, Indigenous and People of Color-centered programming, capacity building and support.
$25,000 will be allocated to the Human Services Agency for BIPOC-centered planning with the Jobs NOW program.
$50,000 was allocated to the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development for a Latinx community convening.
$75,000 will be allocated to the Department of Public Works for neighborhood greening and beautification initiatives.
$15,000 will be allocated to the San Francisco Department of Public Health for community-based organizations to hold a convening on mental health.
$225,000 will be allocated to COVID-19 relief for seniors and residents with disabilities.
$185,000 will be allocated to the San Francisco Unified School District for extra-curricular activities and programming.