In the latest twist in an ongoing scandal enveloping City Hall, Mayor London Breed says she was aware of her department head’s “very close” relationship with a nonprofit executive that’s raised major questions about the mayor’s flagship program supporting the Black community.
On Friday, Human Rights Commission leader Sheryl Davis resigned after The Standard revealed she shared a house and car with nonprofit leader James Spingola of Collective Impact. Davis had signed off on $1.5 million in contracts directed toward Spingola, but had failed to disclose her connection to him to the city. Separately, a Chronicle report raised questions about a trip to Martha’s Vineyard that Davis may have inappropriately billed to the city.
The money for Collective Impact came out of the Dream Keeper Initiative, a pool of funds established in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020 intended to support San Francisco’s underserved Black communities. Nearly $300 million has been budgeted for the program since 2021, and Collective Impact has received $7.5 million — the second-highest allocation to any of the initiative’s grantees.
In a statement on Tuesday, Breed weighed in on the relationship between Davis and Spingola for the first time, saying she was “appalled” by the news last week and that “any misuse” of taxpayer money is “unacceptable.”
“I was aware that Sheryl Davis and James Spingola were very close friends,” Breed told The Standard. “That’s why I made it clear to former Director Davis on multiple occasions that she needed to wall herself off from all decisions related to Collective Impact. While protective measures were put in place, they weren’t implemented soon enough or to the extent necessary. As mayor, I take full responsibility because the buck stops with me.”
Breed said that she asked Davis to resign because of the revelations and that all Dream Keeper Initiative money has been frozen “until further notice.” Additionally, the controller’s office is undertaking a complete audit of the initiative “to preserve the integrity of the program.”
Davis, who joined the Human Rights Commission in 2016, is a former executive director of Spingola’s Collective Impact.
After signing off on three six-figure contracts for Collective Impact in 2021 and 2022, Davis informed the city that she was no longer going to be overseeing money being directed toward the nonprofit, citing her past employment there. However, Davis did not mention her relationship with Spingola in the disclosure form.
Candidates in the mayoral race running against Breed, including former Supervisor Mark Farrell and Board President Aaron Peskin, have called for federal investigations into the Human Rights Commission and Dream Keeper Initiative.
“Everything tells me this goes all the way to the top — to London Breed herself. And I don’t say that lightly,” Peskin said last week after Davis resigned.
On Tuesday, Farrell criticized Breed for waiting to disclose her knowledge of Davis and Spingola’s relationship.
“It speaks volumes that it took Mayor Breed nearly a week to acknowledge her awareness of the improper relationship and likely cronyism involving the head of her signature initiative,” Farrell said.
“Supporting the Black community is critically important, and this corruption is not a victimless crime — it has the greatest impact on those most in need,” wrote mayoral candidate and nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie in a statement. “It’s all part of the same City Hall insider formula, grow the system and exploit it for your personal benefit.”