Sheryl Davis, head of San Francisco’s embattled Human Rights Commission, resigned Friday morning after The Standard raised questions about spending for the Dream Keeper Initiative, a program she led.
On Thursday, The Standard reported that Davis had signed off on $1.5 million in contracts toward a nonprofit executive with whom she shared a home while never disclosing the relationship to the city. When presented with evidence of the connection, the mayor’s office said Thursday that Davis was on leave.
The Standard learned Friday that Davis is being represented by a criminal defense attorney, Tony Brass, who briefly served as a lawyer for Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao after the FBI raided the city leader’s home.
“Ms. Davis has submitted her resignation, effective immediately, and will fully cooperate with any investigation,” Brass wrote in a statement. “She has always prioritized service and commitment to her community, and will continue to do that now.”
The mayor’s office announced Friday that Mawuli Tugbenyoh, a staffer at the Department of Human Resources, would serve as acting director of the Human Rights Commission.
The Dream Keeper Initiative, which has directed tens of millions of dollars toward the city’s Black communities each year, was a flagship project of Mayor London Breed. It was first conceived in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.
In recent months, however, the program has been dogged by questions about transparency and whether funds were spent appropriately. The Standard reported in July that, among other issues, millions in funds allocated to the Dream Keeper Initiative had gone unspent, while some of the initiative’s partners had spent money in ways that raised eyebrows among city officials.
Board President Aaron Peskin, who has called for both internal and third-party investigations into the scandal, said in an interview with The Standard, “Everything tells me this goes all the way to the top. To London Breed herself. And I don’t say that lightly.”
The Standard’s investigation found that Davis approved contracts for the nonprofit Collective Impact, run by James Spingola, without notifying City Hall about their relationship. In addition to sharing a home address, Davis co-owns a car with Spingola. The arrangement appears to violate city rules requiring disclosure of personal relationships with recipients of city funding.
Spingola, who has led Collective Impact since 2020, was appointed by Breed to the Juvenile Probation Commission. The mayor’s office said Friday it did not have any updates about Spingola’s role at the commission.
On Thursday morning, The Standard asked Breed at a downtown event whether she had known about Davis’ connection with Spingola.
“I will be finally answering your question, but not right now,” Breed said. When pressed on the matter, Breed replied, “No means no. At another time.”
Collective Impact did not respond to a request for comment. One former board member who spoke on the condition of anonymity said she was “very surprised” by the revelations, calling Spingola “an amazing human.”
“No one ever knew that anything other than aboveboard behavior was happening,” said the former board member. “If I was still on the board, I would want to have a third-party investigation to really understand what happened.”
On Friday, Black leaders rallied outside City Hall and decried media coverage of the Dream Keeper Initiative that they said overwhelmingly focused on the program’s flaws rather than its many successes.
“They are going after to dismantle [Dream Keeper Initiative],” said Phelicia Jones, founder of Wealth and Disparities in the Black Community. At the same time, Jones and others advocated for increased transparency from the program, with Jones calling for an audit.
“We want to know where is our money and how was it spent,” Jones said.
Tugbenyoh, who was informed about the change of leadership in a call from the mayor’s office, said the appointment was “a bit unexpected.” He said the Human Rights Commission does important work, and that he plans to create more oversight to “rebuild the public’s trust in how those dollars are spent.”
“I know that he’s well prepared to handle the complexities of heading up the department,” said state Controller Malia Cohen of Tugbenyoh, who formerly worked for her as an aide.
Asked about the scandals surrounding the Dream Keeper Initiative, Cohen said, “I think everyone has to pay close attention to how every tax dollar is spent.”