**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR MONDAY, MAY 18**

Contact: Jennie Smith-Camejo, jennie.smith-camejo@seiu1021.org, (510) 710-0201

August 28. The date looms heavy over the seniors receiving outpatient mental health services at South East Mission Geriatric Services Clinic and over the LGBTQ and homeless youth receiving medical, sexual and reproductive, and mental health care at the Michael Baxter Larkin Street Youth Clinic and the Cole Street Clinic, as well as over the dedicated healthcare providers who offer those services. The San Francisco Department of Public Health under Mayor Lurie’s administration has slated these three clinics for closure this summer, claiming their patients can receive services at other, larger facilities. Monday, they will make their case to the Health Commission and SFDPH Director Daniel Tsai why they cannot just be moved from one column to another like numbers on a spreadsheet.

What: Seniors, LGBTQ youth, healthcare workers flood SF Health Commission Bielenson hearing to protest closure of clinics and cuts to programs for SF’s most vulnerable
When: Monday, May 18. Hearing begins at 3 p.m.; media availability with clients and healthcare workers from 2 p.m. (Spanish speakers available for interview)
Where: SF City Hall, Room 408

“The closure of ChPY (Community Health Programs for Youth) clinics doesn’t just represent a line item in a budget,” said Sophia Padilla, a behavioral health clinician at the Larkin Street Clinic who was denied time on the hearing agenda to give a formal presentation that challenges Director Tsai’s narrative on utilization numbers. “It represents the loss of dedicated, specialized staff, CBO relationships built on decades of advocacy, and low-barrier accessible services that meet marginalized youth where they are.”

“This clinic is very important for my mental health, and we are not going to allow it to be closed,” said South East Mission Geriatric Clinic client Patricia Fernandez at a rally outside the clinic Wednesday. “There are so many people here supporting us. DPH needs to prioritize this in the budget. It’s a human right, it’s important for senior patients, and it must be a priority.”

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SEIU Local 1021 represents nearly 60,000 employees in local governments, nonprofit agencies, health care programs, courts, and schools throughout Northern California, including seven private colleges and numerous community colleges. SEIU Local 1021 is a diverse, member-driven organization with members who work to make our cities, schools, colleges, counties, and special districts safe and healthy places to live and raise our families.