After SF Dream Keeper Scandal, Supervisors Call for Urgency in Releasing Funds

San Francisco supervisors on Thursday grilled city officials tasked with overseeing spending plans for Mayor London Breed’s Dream Keeper Initiative, an ambitious social equity program that has landed at the center of a spiraling scandal at the Human Rights Commission.

It comes amid an increasingly tense election cycle in which multiple candidates face allegations of ethical lapses and follows several major City Hall scandals that have cracked open during Breed’s tenure — including allegations that former HRC director Sheryl Davis was misspending public funds.

Davis resigned last month after reports that she had overseen and signed off on problematic spending of Dream Keeper funds, including a lack of documentation and overpaying in some cases by tens of thousands of dollars. Breed spearheaded the initiative to steer tens of millions of dollars from law enforcement budgets to programs aimed at providing job training, homeownership opportunities and other social and economic support for Black San Franciscans.

Thursday’s hearing was called by Supervisors Ahsha Safaí and Aaron Peskin, who are both running to unseat Breed for mayor.

“Let’s be clear, there was a whistleblower complaint and some of those allegations seem to have been validated,” Peskin said. “What I am trying to do here is to be transparent. I think that aids in our collective goal, which is to change health outcomes [and] economic outcomes in a community that has long fought for and deserved it.”

The mayor has paused funding for future contracts with the Dream Keeper Initiative — though existing contracts are still active — while an investigation into the potential misspending is underway. Still, supervisors and officials who spoke on Thursday suggested there is widespread support in City Hall for preserving the program.

Preston pressed the Human Rights Commission’s interim director, Mawuli Tugbenyoh, for a timeline on when funding could be released for programs that are meeting the city’s standards. Tugbenyoh, who was tapped to replace Davis last month, said a timeline is not yet available.

“It feels like there is a lack of urgency on that [creating a timeline] compared to what I hear from community-based organizations and folks receiving services. People are going to literally lay off staff or have already because funding is paused,” Preston said. “There should be a timeline with an initial review … and do that with urgency.”

The initiative, which passed unanimously in 2021 and was inspired by the protests over the police killing of George Floyd, has aimed to redirect $120 million to address systemic racism in San Francisco. The city’s Black community faces disproportionate challenges, including having the lowest household income and lowest rate of homeownership among all racial groups.

Several supporters spoke during the meeting’s public comment in favor of continuing the funding. One Black resident said she was able to successfully launch her own consulting firm with the program’s support.

Others criticized the way city officials and media have focused scrutiny on the program, which also funds food security, after-school and extracurricular activities for youth and other programs for the Black community.

“You have villainized the black community through DKI,” said Phelicia Jones, a longtime civil rights and community advocate for the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. “People are scared about how the Chronicle will see them and scared how the Standard will see them, and it’s not fair to the Black community. This is a smear campaign against Mayor Breed.”

Tugbenyoh shared several changes that the Human Rights Commission has introduced following Davis’ resignation. Those include bringing on a financial support team from the Controller’s Office to assist with accounting oversight and suspending the commission’s Authority to make purchases without a competitive bid process, so all procurement must now go through the Office of Contract Administration.

Tugbenyoh also shared that the Human Rights Commission has still not selected anyone to temporarily oversee the Dream Keeper Initiative.

“I am losing sleep over getting this money out. I know that community organizations have been in a bit of a holding pattern for a number of months,” he said. “There certainly is urgency on my part and my staff’s part to get these funds out.”

An earlier version of this story said Thursday’s hearing was called by Supervisors Dean Preston and Aaron Peskin. It has been updated to reflect that the hearing was called by Supervisors Ahsha Safaí and Aaron Peskin. It has also been updated to reflect that the mayor, not the city as a whole, paused funding for the Dream Keeper Initiative.