KEEP THE PROMISE OF THE DIGNITY FUND
Background:
When San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition I, the Dignity Fund, in November 2016, they helped establish a path for stabilized funding for services & supports for seniors & people with disabilities. Key was the promise that funding would grow by $3 million each year, in part to keep pace with the growing number and needs of seniors and people with disabilities in San Francisco. But the Dignity Fund legislation, on insistence of both the Mayor’s Office and the City Controller, included language that the annual allocation could be suspended if the City's budget had a significant shortfall. At the time, the City budget was growing strongly and it didn’t seem so bad. And then the pandemic hit and the local economy slowed.
Now the annual allocation has been suspended for two recent years and it looks like it will be frozen for the foreseeable future. Yet the number and needs of San Francisco older neighbors and those with disabilities is still growing.
In San Francisco, older adults and adults living with a disability represent about 25% of the population. With 30% of this segment living alone, their health and well-being is further constrained due to poverty, declining health, and the ever-increasing costs of living in the City. The senior and disabled community of San Francisco was hit hard by the pandemic, struggling through the recovery, and needing continued services and support to preserve physical and social health.
That times are tough should not translate into leaving our most at-risk neighbors behind, but rather call to do more to lend a helping hand. With the many, more powerful entities vying for budget dollars, we ask that you “Forget Us Not.“
Starting during the pandemic, the annual allocation has been suspended and continues to be threatened while millions in funds have been awarded to other non-senior & disability related areas. This loss is cumulative. The annual allocation is added to the baseline and continues each year of the Dignity Fund legislation. Suspension of the allocation from FYS 21, 23, and 24 represents a loss of $123 million in services and supports for older adults and adults with disabilities.
Since its establishment in 2017, the Dignity Fund has funded real progress to fill in historic gaps in funding to communities of color, LGBTQ individuals, people with disabilities and neighborhoods which have historically been left behind. The Dignity Fund provides pragmatic solutions, with strong oversight, in the form of programs and services to support older adults and adults with disabilities in living well in community.
How You Can Support
The Dignity Fund Coalition and our community partners are once again needing to launching an effort to “keep the promise” made when votes supported the passage of the Dignity Fund by a very wide margin. Our campaign message is “Forget Us Not” as the budget deliberations get under way with the City Departments, the Mayor’s Office, and eventually with the Board of Supervisors. The goal is to restore the promised Dignity Fund allocations this year, and the years to come.
To help get our message across, we are looking to have little knitted and crocheted flowers in “forget me not” blues, and attaching stories on postcards of individuals who are struggling to continue living in their homes and communities with the help that the Dignity Fund funding could provide. Both will be part of deliveries and presentations during our advocacy to the Mayor, Supervisors, and other policy makers who can help us!
We need your help and here are four ways you can do it:
1
If crafts, writing, or public speaking are not ‘your cup of tea’, Help us with our "flower power" speakers (and crafts) outreach! Help find places to meet groups who could join our campaign in all the ways featured above, including a fun crafts circle.
2
Bring Our Message To City Hall
We are looking to have 100’s of flowers grow.
Help us create them!
Click here to Download patterns for the Forget Me Not flowers with 3 ways to create – knit, crochet, and paper flowers.
Here are links to two YouTube videos for details and instructions:
We are happy to provide material, printed instruction, and even hook you up with someone who can show you how!
If you want more information or need supplies, email us at
3
You may alternatively send in a message. As part of our campaign to restore funding to the Dignity Fund (which helps pay for senior and disability services in San Francisco), we would like to know why they are essential to you and your neighbors.
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Please send us a message that we can forward to the Mayor and Supervisors:
My Name is_____________ I am _____ years old and I live in __________. Services for seniors and people with disabilities are important to me because _____________________________
Email flowerpower@sfcommunityliving.org with your message to be added to our "forget me not" postcards and flowers.on text goes here
4
Planning and Outreach
The first stop in the budget process was at the Disability and Aging Commission meeting last Wednesday at City Hall Room which we attended along with community members, flowers in hand, sharing personal stories with the Commissioners so they may join us in urging the Mayor and the SF Board of Supervisors to restore the annual allocation of the Dignity Fund. We will continue our campaign and visit our elected officials in the coming weeks. If you would like to participate in the campaign, email flowerpower@sfcommunityliving.org
Just because it isn’t required by law doesn’t mean it is the fair and right action to take.
Create Materials For The Campaign
The short postcards that will accompany the flowers invite people to talk about why they are feeling forgotten and where more support could make all the difference.
Actively advocate on behalf of older adults and people with disabilities in San Francisco and join us to meet with Supervisors and deliver campaign messages.
To volunteer and get scheduled or if you would like more information, please email info@sfdignityfund.org.