Photo courtesy DCYF

Rumors that Mayor Gavin Newsom is firing the head of the city’s Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), Margaret Brodkin is raising alarm among parents and community leaders.

Brodkin is a veteran youth advocate who has won praise as an accomplished and effective leader improving services for youth.

“It troubles me that they would consider replacing someone like Margaret who is so experienced and hasn’t done anything wrong,” said Dana Woldow, a mother of three and advocate for healthier food at public schools. “I don’t think anyone else can run the DCYF the way that Margaret has run it.”

Brodkin was the only official who “stepped up to the plate” and provided more than $200,000 in annual funding for salad bars and healthy meal choices in public schools, said Woldow, who recently signed a petition with 30 community leaders asking Newsom to keep Brodkin in her current post.

DCYF-funded services include youth employment and health programs, which Brodkin has greatly expanded to reach 44,000 San Francisco children ages 0–17 since her 2004 appointment by Newsom, said DCYF Communications Coordinator Jill Fox.

“Now there’s a wellness center at every public high school so that children can get health information and free check ups,” said Fox. “That (service) expanded from four to all 14 public high schools under Margaret’s watch.”

While the mayor has not denied rumors of an upcoming leadership change at DCYF, Brodkin is discussing a different position with the mayor’s Chief of Staff Steve Kawa, said Fox. What that position might be has not been confirmed, she added.

Brodkin declined to comment to El Tecolote about any leadership change.

Joe Arellano, a spokesperson for the mayor, responding in an email from El Tecolote wrote “we do not comment on personnel issues.”

The mayor’s office did not address additional queries from nearly a hundred protestors who braved the cold at City Hall December 23 in support of Brodkin, said Chelsea Boilard from Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth, an organization that Brodkin directed for 25 years prior to her post at DCYF.

The mayor’s silence on the issue has in no small part sparked controversy and theories about the potential repercussions if Brodkin were to leave her post.

At stake is the integrity of the Children’s Fund, given the current economic situation, said youth advocates. This fund totals more than $46.5 million, according to DCYF officials, and was created through a voter-approved city law that requires a percentage of property taxes to be spent on children’s services.

One of Brodkin’s achievements in her previous post as director of Coleman Advocates was pushing the initiative that created the Children’s Fund, said Woldow, who also co-chairs the San Francisco Unified School District’s Student Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee.

“The state’s economy is in the toilet,” said Woldow. She speculated that “It’s possible that the mayor wants to appropriate some of the Children’s Fund money and maybe he feels that he needs to get Margaret out of the way so that he might be able to spend the money on his priorities.”

In addition, City Hall is considering declaring a fiscal crisis, which would allow the mayor to redistribute rainy day funds like the Children’s Fund, said Boilard. “That means a potential threat of eliminating the Children’s Fund,” she added.

Other concerns are that the DCYF, which funds hundreds of grants and contracts for services by community based organizations, does not have a budget director and must chose between hiring for that position or a grants director, impairing the department’s ability to plan around policy and finance, said Boilard.

“And that choice coupled with the threat of the director leaving feels like the mayor’s office is dismantling the leadership of the department,” said Boilard.

Attempts to reach the mayor or his spokesman to clarify the situation were not returned. El Tecolote will continue to follow this story.