Brodkin Has Earned Newsom's SupportDana Woldowbyline‚ Jan. 05‚ 2009What is Gavin Newsom thinking? That’s the question children’s advocates are asking themselves as rumors of the removal of Margaret Brodkin as Director of the Department of Children, Youth and their Families swirl around San Francisco like litter around Civic Center Plaza on a windy day. A licensed clinical social worker and grandmother of three, Brodkin, 65, served for 26 years as the executive director of Coleman Advocates for Youth, prior to being appointed to the top post at DCYF by SF Mayor Gavin Newsom in late 2004. Among her accomplishments at Coleman was getting the initiative called the Children’s Amendment approved by voters in 1991; described as a “fiscal bill of rights for children,” it created the Children’s Fund, a set aside establishing a baseline budget for services to benefit the youth of San Francisco. It was the first measure of its kind in the nation. As Brodkin said at the time, “Kids have been just so shortchanged. Even the most liberal, progressive politicians have been wonderful on the rhetoric and wanting to do the right thing. But when push came to shove and the resources were limited, they didn't want to waste political chits on a constituency that had no clout.” |