San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced charges Monday against Sheryl Davis, former executive director of the city’s Human Rights Commission, and James Spingola, former head of the nonprofit Collective Impact, alleging that they misused roughly $350,000 in public funds intended for the Black community.
Davis faces 19 criminal counts, including felony misappropriation of public funds and felony perjury by certification. Spingola, who exited Collective Impact in October, is being charged with four counts of felony aiding and abetting a conflict of interest in a government contract. The two lived together as Davis was directing grants to Spingola’s nonprofit.
“We have to make sure that we hold everything accountable. Each and every day we file cases involving street crime, but people have to understand that accountability goes beyond what happens on the streets,” Jenkins said Monday, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
Davis and Spingola surrendered voluntarily and were booked into San Francisco County Jail, Jenkins said.
The charges — a result of an 18-month-long investigation — stem from the Dream Keeper Initiative, a program launched under former Mayor London Breed to funnel money into Black communities, which was managed by the Human Rights Commission. Prosecutors allege Davis steered nearly $8.5 million in Dream Keeper grants — and other city funds — to Collective Impact despite conflicts of interest that should have disqualified her from the decision-making process.
Collective Impact and Spingola received more than $3 million in additional funds through the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, prosecutors said.
Davis became head of the Human Rights Commission in 2016. | Source: Justin Katigbak for The Standard
Prosecutors allege Davis had two direct conflicts of interest.
First, according to the warrant affidavit, Davis and Spingola have lived together since 2015, share accounts at two banks, and have traveled together, paying for each other’s flights and hotel stays. Spingola wrote monthly rent checks to their landlord from the bank account where his Collective Impact paycheck was deposited, according to prosecutors.
“We are not alleging that they even had an intimate relationship,” Jenkins said, adding that the conflict-of-interest charges rest on the entanglement of their finances, not on any theory of a romantic relationship.
The second conflict relates to Davis’ continued financial involvement with Collective Impact after joining the Human Rights Commission. Prosecutors allege she remained a signatory on Collective Impact’s bank account, signed checks, authorized reimbursements to herself and used Collective Impact funds to pay Human Rights Commission expenses.
Jenkins also alleges that Davis’ son received direct financial benefits from organizations that received Dream Keeper money. Prosecutors say Davis signed four contracts awarding millions of dollars to the nonprofit Homeless Children’s Network while the organization was simultaneously paying her son more than $140,000 as an independent contractor between October 2021 and 2024. Those payments were deposited into a bank account held jointly by Davis and her son, according to the warrant affidavit.
Among the payments, prosecutors allege, he received $10,000 for helping the director of Homeless Children’s Network prepare five presentation slides for a panel on which Davis served as moderator and $40,000 for a two-month research project for which he was permitted to determine the scope of his own work.
Collective Impact also spent more than $45,000 on behalf of Davis’ son in 2023 and 2024, on payroll, rent, and graduate school tuition, prosecutors said.
Jenkins alleged Davis used a combination of city and Collective Impact funds to pay for personal projects, including hiring public relations firms to promote her personal brand and website, promoting and selling her children’s book, and upgrading flights. Prosecutors allege funds were used to purchase tables and VIP admissions to events in Beverly Hills, Martha’s Vineyard, and New York City, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Davis also directed spending through an entity called Megablack, described by Jenkins as a community initiative with no formal nonprofit status, no leadership structure, and no registration with the California secretary of state or attorney general’s office. Funds raised for Megablack flowed into Collective Impact’s bank accounts. Prosecutors allege Davis directed those funds toward expenses the Human Rights Commission would not have been permitted to make as a city agency, including payments for music artists, banquets, and a wine-tasting event.
Davis’ attorney Tony Brass said she has been forthcoming about her role as a city official with nonprofit connections.
“I have a lot of questions about the processes within the mayor’s office and the city attorney’s office,” Brass said. “This is a person who was asking for more transparency. She asked to be audited. She actively wanted to give up her power. And she has proactively announced her conflicts of interest. I’m very curious how they have a criminal case based on her conduct.”
Spingola left Collective Impact in October. | Source: Santiago Mejia/SF Chronicle/AP Photo
Representatives of the Human Rights Commission declined to comment.
Davis joined the commission in 2016 and quickly became an important figure in the city’s efforts to economically bolster Black communities.
Her role became more prominent in 2021, when Breed launched the Dream Keeper Initiative in response to George Floyd’s murder and placed it under the management of the Human Rights Commission.
Davis’ tenure there ended in 2024, when The Standard was first to report that she had signed off on city contracts worth at least $1.5 million to Spingola while the two were living together. The revelations created a scandal for Breed, who was in the middle of a reelection bid and said she was aware of the “very close” relationship between Davis and Spingola.
The district attorney’s office cited The Standard’s reporting in its arrest warrant.
Jenkins said the $350,000 of misused funds represents a combination of misappropriated Dream Keeper Initiative funds and Proposition Q funds administered through Davis’ department. Proposition Q allows city departments to bypass the need for a contract for the purchase of goods under $10,000.
Jenkins acknowledged the total could grow as the investigation continues.
Jenkins said the investigation involved more than 50 search warrants served on various entities, along with a large volume of emails between Davis and third parties. She said the probe began after her office received tips through its Public Integrity Unit and determined there was sufficient basis to open a criminal investigation. The investigation was launched after Davis had left office.
Jenkins charged Davis and Spingola with multiple felonies on Monday. | Source: Benjamin Fanjoy for The Standard
Jenkins declined to say whether Breed had knowledge of the alleged misconduct, noting only that charges were filed against individuals whom prosecutors believe committed crimes. She did not implicate Breed.
“If more comes out, those charges can be changed,” Jenkins said. “More can be added.”
“We have to hold government actors accountable,” Jenkins added, “certainly when they are abusing the trust of San Franciscans and abusing taxpayer dollars.”
Monday’s arrest follows other charges levied against figures in the San Francisco nonprofit world. Gwendolyn Westbrook, the former head of a homeless services nonprofit, was accused in February of misappropriating more than $1.2 million in public funds. In 2024, another former nonprofit executive, Kyra Worthy, was charged with 34 felonies for the alleged misuse of $700,000 in public funds.