DOS Commission votes to continue remote meetings and approves slate of grant modifications for older adults and disabled residents

The Department of Services (DOS) Commission voted to continue meeting remotely under AB 361 and approved a series of grant and contract modifications that will expand services, devices and staffing for older adults and adults with disabilities across San Francisco.

President Martha Knudson opened the meeting by citing the Brown Act and recent executive orders that permit teleconferencing during a state of emergency, asking members of the public to "have patience and expect delays and gaps during the meeting." The commission subsequently adopted a resolution with findings under AB 361 authorizing continued teleconference meetings; no public callers registered for comment on the item.

Executive Director Kelly Dearman highlighted program updates in her report, including a pilot Collaborative Caregiver Support Team launched with the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to connect in-home care to residents in permanent supportive housing. "The preliminary allocation is $3,360,000 for DOS," Dearman said of the department's draft American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation, which staff said will be available until Sept. 30, 2024 and will require commission approval once the California Department of Aging finalizes guidance.

Commissioners then considered a package of funding actions (Items A–K) drawn from Board of Supervisors add-back allocations and other local sources to increase program capacity across community partners. The commission approved each modification by roll call vote. Key actions include:

- Visitation Valley Neighborhood Association: new grant to provide community services at 66 Raymond Ave (11/01/2021–06/30/2023) for $45,000 plus 10% contingency (total not to exceed $49,500). Presenter Lauren McCaslin said the program will serve primarily low-income, monolingual Chinese-speaking residents in District 10.

- SF Connected modifications: $500,506 additional plus 10% contingency to expand device procurements and training across grantees (Community Living Campaign, Community Tech Network, Conner House and Self-Help for the Elderly). The package includes procurement of tablets with data plans and expanded Chinese- and Spanish-language digital literacy training.

- Bayanihan Equity Center: $198,130 additional plus 10% contingency to hire a housing caseworker and increase social services, outreach and translation capacity to meet rising housing-assistance demand.

- Self-Help for the Elderly (adult day services): $425,973 additional plus 10% contingency to hire an additional social worker and rehabilitation aide, boost therapy hours and add approximately 1,500 annual service hours at the adult day center; remote services will continue to include virtual exercise, telephonic health monitoring and meal deliveries.

- LGBTQ+ compassionate services (Curry Senior Center and Shanti Project): $274,638 additional plus 10% contingency to add an LGBT program manager at Curry and another care navigator at Shanti to address pandemic-driven increases in demand for peer support and isolation-prevention services.

- ADRC language-capacity increases: $313,525 additional plus 10% contingency to add Chinese- and Spanish-language staffing at Aging and Disability Resource Centers to reduce wait times and serve consumers closer to home.

- LEAPS data-management / APS system modification (Jump Technologies): $177,255 additional plus 10% contingency to customize dashboards and clinician access, enabling clinical triage, shared client files and charting features for public-health nurses and CQI staff.

- Central Latino de San Francisco nutrition programs: $581,592 additional plus 10% contingency to provide culturally appropriate nutrition supports (including 9,098 annual breakfast meals and 3,900 supplemental grocery bags) to food-insecure enrolled consumers.

- RAD supportive-services enhancements: $177,472 additional plus 10% contingency to reestablish resident community participation programming (cooking, exercise and resident-led events) in senior housing sites.

- Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center: $186,028 additional plus 10% contingency to support reopening, increased staffing and program expenses at co-located community centers.

- Shanti Project care navigation and peer support: $92,160 additional plus 10% contingency to support the ManaMe scheduling app, volunteer tracking and ongoing peer-support services.

Commission discussion touched on tradeoffs between in-person access and public health. Commissioner Nelson Lum urged staff to track participation data, saying "since we've gone through the Zoom process the public participation has really disappeared," and said hybrid meetings should be prioritized when safe. Executive Director Dearman responded that staff are exploring hybrid options but noted the department cannot return to in-person meetings until vaccine-mandate and other requirements for commissioners and staff are addressed.

All action items were approved by roll call. Staff described monitoring and reporting mechanisms — monthly GetCare reports for device and training deployments under SF Connected and annual ad hoc reports for device distribution — and said acceptance of ARPA or similar one-time funds will require future commission approvals and planning because those dollars expire.

The meeting closed with staff and commissioners offering holiday thanks and the commission adjourning.

Votes at a glance: the commission approved the minutes from Oct. 6, 2021 and adopted the AB 361 teleconference findings; items A–K (grant and contract modifications described above) were approved by roll call with commissioners present voting to approve each measure.

Next steps: staff will return with detailed plans and, where required, formal acceptance ordinances or contract documents for commission approval (Dearman said staff will present ARPA spending proposals and finalized California Department of Aging guidance when available).