sf.citi is committed to providing ongoing updates about the latest community news and resources from the San Francisco tech industry and beyond.
Tomorrow, August 18, hear author and Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University, Eitan Hersh, and President of Emerge, A’shanti Gholar, discuss ways to make your vote count at our Local Matters event. Emerge is a national nonprofit that has recruited and trained 4,000+ Democratic women to run for office, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Chair of the California State Board of Equalization Malia Cohen, and California Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis.
Then on Thursday, August 20, see San Francisco Supervisor candidates for District 1 face off in the first showing of our 2020 District Debate Series. We’ll hear from candidates Andrew Majalya, Connie Chan, David Lee, Marjan Philhour, and Veronica Shinzato on their vision for the future of San Francisco.
Register for Our District 1 Debate
- 625,040 confirmed cases in California
- 11,246 confirmed deaths in California
- 71,977 confirmed cases in the Bay Area
*As of 9:00am PT on 8/17
COVID-19 Updates from the SF Tech Community
UPDATES FROM THE TECH COMMUNITY
We are sharing the latest COVID-19 resources from the San Francisco tech industry, as well other community-minded initiatives pioneered by sf.citi members.
- Facebook will soon roll out its voting information hub with election resources for U.S. voters. Appearing on both Facebook and Instagram, the hub will include useful information about state-specific vote-by-mail options, how to request mail-in ballots, and voting-related deadlines.
- Google partnered with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to send earthquake alerts to Android devices in California. The ShakeAlert system uses signals from more than 700 seismometers across the state and will give Android users in California a few seconds warning to drop and cover before the next earthquake.
- Salesforce is donating $20 million in annual grants to schools, most of which will support public schools in San Francisco and Oakland. The company is giving $9 million to the San Francisco Unified School District, $9 million to the Oakland Unified School District, and $500,000 each to the Indianapolis, Chicago, and New York school districts.
UPDATES FROM THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
- On August 12, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved building 1,100 new homes for the Balboa Reservoir housing project. Half of the units in this landmark housing project will be affordable housing, and another 150 units will be reserved for City College teachers and staff.
- On August 11, Mayor Breed announced a plan to create a Street Crisis Response Team pilot program to change how San Francisco responds to 911 and 311 calls for behavioral health emergencies. The program’s goal is to keep San Franciscans in crisis away from emergency rooms and criminal justice settings and instead direct them to behavioral health treatment facilities. Mayor Breed’s proposed two-year budget includes $4 million from the general fund for the pilot, which would feed into Mental Health SF, the City’s framework for improving the behavioral health response to people experiencing homelessness.
- On August 10, Mayor Breed, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, and Treasurer José Cisneros announced that all phone calls from San Francisco county jails are now free. This makes San Francisco the first county in the nation to “stop generating revenue from incarcerated people and their families through phone calls, commissary markups, or other services.” The City negotiated a contract with jail phone service contractor GTL to fix phone rates that will be paid for by the City of San Francisco and its taxpayers.
To stay up to date with all City of San Francisco updates, follow the Mayor’s updates here.
UPDATES FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
- On August 14, Gavin Newsom announced that California schools are receiving $5.3 billion in funds to support learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The learning loss mitigation funds will be divided among every local educational agency in California that applied—see how much emergency relief your school district will receive here. Governor Newsom also signed an executive order directing state agencies to bridge the digital divide.
- Last weekend, Dr. Sonia Gngell, director of the California Department of Public Health, resigned. Her resignation followed a data error in the state’s electronic case reporting system, which resulted in an underreporting of COVID-19 case counts.
To stay up to date with all State of California updates, follow the California Department of Health’s updates here.
SUPPORT OUR SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY
Every week, sf.citi will feature a different San Francisco nonprofit and share ways you can support its mission and work.
- 45 percent of San Francisco public schools do not have computer science offerings. Mission Bit is working to bridge that gap by providing free after-school computer science courses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mission Bit has transitioned its programming online and is gearing up for its second remote semester this fall. To continue preparing San Francisco youth for opportunities in tech, Mission Bit is recruiting computer science majors and tech professionals—sign up to teach and volunteer here.
Would you like to be featured in a future sf.citi community update? Tell us about your work in San Francisco by emailing jacqueline@sfciti.org.
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