2010 Community Congress: Develop a Progressive Agenda for San Francisco

2010 Community Congress: be part of San Francisco history!
Posted on August 13, 2010 by sfcommunitycongress

Saturday, August 14, 9am – 5pm, and Sunday, August 15, 9am – 1pm
University of San Francisco, Fromm Hall (please note change of location), at Parker and McAllister, directly behind St. Ignatius Church (Muni lines 5, 21, 31, and 33). See USF map at http://www.usfca.edu/campusmap/. This event is wheelchair accessible. Light lunch will be provided. Thanks to a grant from the USF Jesuit Foundation for support.

The Community Congress will bring together community activists, residents, workers, artists and thinkers seeking to create a progressive vision for the future of San Francisco. The impetus behind the convening of the Congress is to bring people together in a way that moves us beyond our particular “silos” and areas of specific concern to create a more unifying policy framework and shape the agenda of elected officials. The Congress will convene in two sessions. On Saturday we will break into groups to discuss, debate, augment, and amend area-specific policy recommendations. People with interests in more then one area are encouraged to move between groups. On Sunday, the entire Congress will reconvene for further amendment and eventual adoption of proposals. The four area-specific breakout groups are:

1. Health and Human Services
2. Public Transportation / Muni
3. Affordable Housing & Tenant Rights
4. Community-based Economic Development

Included below are some of the preliminary recommendations developed by the San Francisco Human Services Network (human services), Council of Community Housing Organizations (housing), SaveMuni (public transportation), and an informal working group that has convened discussion over the last six months on economic development. These proposals are offered as a starting point for further discussion, as well as inviting new/additional proposals. On Sunday we will reconvene in common to finalize and hopefully adopt a set of concrete policy recommendations, as well as ideas regarding continuation of this collective process. The final Congress document will be published in local Bay Area publications and media.

Beyond this weekend’s Congress, we hope to continue a process of broad-based dialogue that continues to link various area and concerns. Some ideas that have been suggested so far include: reconvening in March of 2011 in preparation for the Mayor’s race; an ongoing forum for ongoing discussion and generation of new ideas; and a list and web site to keep people updated and informed through brief monthly communiqués.