by Jeffrey Gersick

Last month, I spent three weeks introducing the 2009-2010 San Francisco City Hall Fellows to “all things San Francisco,” to ground them as they begin their extraordinary year-long adventure of simultaneously working in and studying local government. The three-week long orientation blended three different tracks: “Foundations” academic modules that addressed the fundamental concept of cities in general and San Francisco in particular, from historic, economic, sociological and environmental perspectives; “Governance” modules that introduced the primary policy issues currently confronting San Francisco; and professional skills development sessions designed to better equip the Fellows for public service careers. To examine the role cities play in our society and the evolution of the City and County of San Francisco, the Fellows met with Chief Economist for the City and County Ted Egan, Associate Curator of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society Kristin Morris, as well as City Hall Fellows’ National Director of Curriculum and University of Arizona Assistant Visiting Professor Jason Hayter. 

These sessions were not merely academic journeys down centuries of urban history, however. Ms. Morris's perspective on the post-war destruction of the fabric of African-American and Japanese communities in the Fillmore District and Western Addition through "redevelopment" served as a stark example of the difficult issues currently facing San Francisco as it fashions a comprehensive development plan for the Southeast corridor of the city that must avoid the mistakes of the past. San Francisco's renown commitment to social service delivery only functions as well as it does because of the unprecedented cooperation between government agencies and the extensive network of neighborhood organizations and NGOs that exist throughout the city. As a result, during orientation the Fellows got a broad overview of current San Francisco issues from those working most closely with residents and city government to deliver services and address local challenges. This also served to provide multiple perspectives on major policy issues: The Department of Public Health briefed the Fellows about San Francisco's cutting-edge mandatory health care ordinance, Healthy San Francisco. Subsequently, the Fellows also heard from a long-time HIV/AIDS activist about public health care issues, through the lens of HIV/AIDS activists who have worked in the field for decades.  To get a handle on local labor issues, Fellows spent time with the Senior Vice President for Policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce — focusing on the interests of the business community — and then with a chief organizer for the local SEIU — focusing primarily on preserving union jobs. 

The Fellows also learned the nitty-gritty of the administrative and legislative aspects of local government. Both President of the Board of Supervisors David Chiu and Supervisor David Campos briefed the Fellows on local legislative processes. They received an overview of San Francisco’s local government structure from the city’s Chief Administrative Officer. But the Fellows also saw how cities can interact effectively on a day-to-day basis with their constitutents. The Fellows toured the city’s one-stop “311” citizen’s access office. The "311" line is the integrated system for responding to resident issues (information on bus routes, pothole repairs, public inebriation, trash removal, etc.) that highlights local governments' new emphasis on customer service. Both the legislators and the administrators emphasized the elevated priority that San Francisco now places on customer service, candidly explaining that this mirrors a national shift in the perspective of local government operations. The Fellows also examined the public perception of city government and the role of the media in sessions with a San Francisco Chronicle columnist and a City Hall beat reporter. These sessions put a face on the theories of governing, and vividly demonstrated the human effects of every policy decision the city implements.  The Fellows’ local policy track concluded with a series of field explorations to districts and neighborhoods throughout San Francisco that culminated in a group presentation of the distinct character, demographics, positive attributes and challenges that exist in each area of the city. As a concluding exercise, this presentation allowed the Fellows to consolidate much of the information they'd gathered about the "state of the city" they were about to serve, and appreciate the eclectic nature of its citizens and the variety of needs that San Francisco local government must strive to meet. 

The third track of professional development sessions included training in effective interview techniques, fiduciary duty and ethics in the public sector, office protocol and professionalism in the workplace, race and class influences on public policy, “managing up” as a young professional, and a workshop by Full Court Press Communications Founder Dan Cohen on creating effective presentations and basic communications principles. This concentrated and intense experience was made possible only because of the incredible support and generosity of city officials and department heads, neighborhood organization leaders, professional service providers and an array of public servants from every sector. The goal of the Fellowship is to repay that investment by the entire San Francisco community through service to the host agencies and departments of the city throughout the year, and ultimately to continue that commitment for the duration of their individual careers in public service.