City Audit Exposes $4.6 Million Misspent by Dream Keeper Leader

Controller finds "unethical tone at the top" as taxpayer dollars funded luxury hotels and personal endeavors.

The Facts

A city investigation released Tuesday found that the San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) misspent $4.6 million in taxpayer dollars under its former executive director, Sheryl Davis. The audit from the Controller and City Attorney concluded Davis "knowingly violated city purchasing rules" and fostered an "unethical culture" to avoid oversight, according to Michael Barba at The Chronicle. The investigation reviewed $6.3 million in purchases from 2020 to 2024, finding questionable spending that included $38,000 on alcohol, a $6,800 luxury hotel stay for an instructor, and $8,000 for a nonprofit retreat with massage services, as reported by Gabe Greschler at The Standard.

The Context

Davis led the HRC when it was responsible for the Dream Keeper Initiative, a fund created by redirecting police funding to community organizations. She resigned in the fall of 2024 after reports revealed her undisclosed personal relationship with the head of Collective Impact, a major nonprofit recipient of Dream Keeper funds. The audit found Davis spent at least $75,000 on personal endeavors, and she remains under criminal investigation by the district attorney. The Controller's investigation represents part of ongoing scrutiny into how the city managed the Dream Keeper Initiative's substantial budget during a period when oversight mechanisms were reportedly circumvented through tactics like splitting invoices to avoid review thresholds.

The GrowSF Take

While the audit demonstrates that accountability mechanisms can work, it raises a more troubling question: why did it take five years for $4.6 million in obvious misconduct to be discovered? Davis systematically gamed the system—splitting invoices to avoid oversight, funding personal projects with taxpayer dollars—yet continued operating until 2024. This suggests fundamental gaps in real-time oversight that allowed flagrant abuse to continue unchecked. San Francisco needs automated spending alerts, mandatory quarterly audits for department heads, and whistleblower protections that encourage early reporting. The communities the Dream Keeper Initiative was designed to serve deserved better than a system that only catches misconduct after millions have been wasted.