The Board of Supervisors finds and declares the following:
(a) In order to create jobs in the City, assist employers to find and keep skilled workers, and assist the unemployed and underemployed to become economically self-sufficient, the City provides workforce development programs that are administered by many City departments.
(b) Local, state, federal, and private funds support the City’s workforce development programs. In order to obtain federal funds, state governors must create local areas and the chief elected official of the local area must form a local workforce investment board. (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, 29 U.S.C. sections 3101 et seq.) The California Legislature has adopted a statute implementing the federal workforce development program. (California Unemployment Insurance Code sections 14000 et seq.). The local workforce investment board must develop and submit to the governor a four-year plan to administer WIOA funds for local workforce investment programs (the “Local Plan”). The local workforce investment board in San Francisco is Workforce Investment San Francisco, commonly referred to as WISF.
(c) The Human Rights Commission and the Office of Racial Equity, created by Ordinance No. 188-19, developed a Citywide Racial Equity Framework, which identified workforce development priorities, including collection of race, ethnicity, and other demographic data from participants in City-funded programs in order to develop, implement, and evaluate strategies to advance the City’s racial equity objectives.
(d) The San Francisco Economic Recovery Task Force developed 41 policy recommendations through extensive stakeholder engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic response, including recommendations to centralize the City’s workforce development programs, establish program-level monitoring, and coordinate service to the City’s most economically vulnerable populations, including Black, Indigenous, and communities of color.
(e) Audits from the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office conducted in FY 2019-20 and FY 2020-21 identified the need for citywide coordination of workforce development programs, improved mechanisms for workforce program monitoring and reporting, and mechanisms for citywide workforce planning and management.
(f) An oversight committee comprised of City officers, employees, and workforce community representatives is needed to undertake long- and short-term planning for the City’s workforce development programs, to set goals and priorities for these programs, to coordinate workforce development activities among City departments, and to monitor their effectiveness.