About Us
Equity
One of DCYF's guiding principles is to provide equitable access to services for San Francisco’s most vulnerable young people and families. Our Charter states that we are responsible for “ensuring that children and youth with the highest needs receive maximum benefit from the Children & Youth Fund."
As a government agency that distributes public resources, we recognize our role in dismantling systems of oppression that impact the communities we serve. DCYF weaves equity as both a method and goal throughout our planning process to prioritize services for communities that present high service needs due to lived experiences at the confluence of multiple systems of oppression. We prioritize community engagement so that the voices of the City’s diverse communities guide our plans for allocating City resources, disaggregate data whenever possible to identify layered disparities to target with our funding, and fund community connected providers that demonstrate cultural and linguistic competence to increase the likelihood of services achieving the impacts we seek for communities we prioritize.
DCYF centered equity in our 2022 Community Needs Assessment:
Internally, DCYF ensures that our staff constantly explore the complex and ever-changing needs and experiences of the children, youth, TAY, and their families in San Francisco. DCYF engages in the San Francisco Office of Racial Equity’s (ORE) Racial Equity Action Planning process, which prompts us to critically examine our internal operations and ensure that our systems and practices align with our values. DCYF requires ongoing training for staff to learn about equity concepts and grow our understanding of how the groups we seek to serve experience conditions of inequity. These practices help DCYF focus our efforts on effective services and supports that bridge gaps in opportunity for the City’s marginalized communities.
Equity Committee
In addition to the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Team, DCYF staff members from various teams sit on our Equity Committee. The Equity Committee facilitates regular meetings to discuss equity in relation to DCYF’s work, advises the Racial Equity Action Planning Process, and implements projects to meet the department’s commitment to equity.
The Equity Committee led the process to adopt DCYF’s Land Acknowledgement:
