Mayor Daniel Lurie has created a new director-level position to oversee the city’s efforts to raise private funds for public programs, like homelessness services and downtown revitalization.
Cynthia Wong will be the city’s first Director of Strategic Partnerships, a role that further cements the mayor’s commitment to public-private partnerships.
Wong has worked in philanthropy and investment since 2008, most recently as the head of strategy and operations at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the foundation established by the Facebook billionaire and his wife, a doctor, focusing on science, health and education. Wong is also the treasurer for SPUR, the urban policy think tank that Lurie has collaborated with.
Wong said she was “honored to step into this role at a moment of momentum for the city — fueled not just by City Hall, but by business, philanthropy, and community leaders investing in our future.”
Cynthia Wong. Photo courtesy of Becky Remmel Sanchez
Public-private partnerships, which often involve using philanthropic funds on joint programs with the city, “have the power to bring together the best of government, industry, and community resources to tackle complex challenges more effectively than any sector could alone,” she said.
The new position is itself funded through such a partnership, namely a $700,000 grant from Tipping Point, the grant-giving non-profit founded by Lurie that is still close to the administration. The grant will fully fund the position for two years and pay for half of the third year.
Wong would “align the growing number of public-private partnerships around programs and services that deliver results,” said Sam Cobbs, who succeeded Lurie as the CEO of Tipping Point in 2020. She will focus on three priority areas: housing and homelessness, economic revitalization, and “government effectiveness,” according to the job description.
Lurie has turned to public-private partnerships frequently in his first 12 months on the job. He has already raised around $50 million for his Breaking the Cycle initiative, a fund for city behavioral health and homelessness programs. The Downtown Development Corporation, a non-profit organization founded by allies of the mayor that hopes to revitalize San Francisco’s core, has raised another $60 million.
“We’re bringing together leaders from across industries and sectors to go all-in on San Francisco,” Lurie said in a statement.
Some are wary of the city’s deeper commitments to using private money, however, worrying that the interests of large donors could influence policy.
“I’m all for true no-strings-attached philanthropic giving, but I get nervous when billionaires start paying for positions in the government,” said Aaron Peskin, former president of the Board of Supervisors.
A similar debate arose last fall when Supervisor Rafael Mandelman proposed legislation that would allow supervisors to ask for donations to preferred causes, so long as they get permission and report any funds they collect. While some supervisors argued that the money could be directed to entities in need, others worried it introduced opportunities to buy a legislator’s good graces.
City officials must publicly disclose payments made to the government or a non-profit at their request.
So far, Lurie has courted philanthropy to support his priorities. “Breaking the Cycle” funds were used to expand the shelter system, add more medical resources to existing shelters, and offer apartments to rent to people that Lurie had banned from living in RVs.
The city also plans to use money from Breaking the Cycle to repair its permanent supportive housing and provide drug users with long-acting addiction medications.
The Downtown Development Corporation, meanwhile, has used some of its funds to pay for power washing of streets, downtown ambassadors, and loans for businesses to do capital improvements. Before the group was set up, the city received $3 million for street cleaning from Avenue Greenlight and Crankstart, funded by billionaires Chris Larsen and Michael Moritz, respectively.
The city has also received private dollars for other causes, including $9 million for a surveillance unit for the police department from Ripple Labs, founded by Larsen.