San Francisco homeless nonprofit paid official’s son $10K to make 5 slides for presentation: prosecutors

A homeless nonprofit paid the son of San Francisco’s top human rights boss $10,000 to prepare five slides for a panel his mother moderated — as she was signing city contracts worth millions to the organization, according to prosecutors.

Sheryl Davis, former head of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, was arrested Monday on a slew of public corruption charges stemming from her time leading the scandal-scarred Dream Keeper initiative, a $120 million plan to aid the city’s black communities.

Davis signed city contracts worth more than $3.5 million to Homeless Children’s Network, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides substance abuse counseling and other services to at-risk families — and prosecutors say the org then made “questionable” payments to Davis’ young son totaling more than $140,000.

That included a handsome fee of $10,000 to create “five presentation slides for a panel” that Homeless Children’s Network Executive Director appeared on, along with “answers to questions she could be asked.”

Davis’ son, identified in city records as Henry Davis, was paid $140,000 by the nonprofit over less than three years for research services.

Davis’ son has not been accused of wrongdoing, but the payments created “the appearance of impropriety and unfairness,” prosecutors noted.

He was allowed to “insert a description of work he would perform into contracts” and set his own pay schedule and price as part of the plum gig, per the affidavit.

Homeless Children’s Network made payments into an account held jointly by Davis and her son — creating a conflict of interest, prosecutors allege.

However, it is unclear precisely how much of the dubious payments came directly from city funds as the nonprofit’s records were “mostly paper-based and electronic records were not reliable,” according to prosecutors.

Davis was accused of a “pervasive pattern of self-dealing” while in charge of the Dream Keeper Initiative — resulting in 17 felony and two misdemeanor charges after an 18-month investigation by the San Francisco District Attorney.

Davis’ live-in partner, James Spingola, was also arrested on suspicion of four felony counts of aiding Davis’ actions.

Davis allegedly used Collective Impact, Spingola’s nonprofit, as a “slush fund” to “to help fund celebrity-studded events, restaurant buyouts, VIP tickets and other high-dollar expenses.

Her department split costs with Collective Impact to pay a $10,000 speaker fee to Sonya Curry, mother of Warriors star Steph Curry, roughly $27,000 to singer Goapele, $25,000 for rapper and producer D-Nice, and some $25,000 to crooner Grammy-nominated songstress Emily King, per the affidavit.

The former human rights chief didn’t disclose her close relationship with Spingola while directing city funds to his charity, according to ethics watchdogs.

Collective Impact received nearly $8.5 million in city grants between 2021 and 2024.

A prior audit found the ex-Human Rights Commission director also spent department funds on a $2.1 million party in Philadelphia involving an ice rink rental, DJ, floral arrangements and catering, $267,000 in gala tickets and sponsorships, and a $60,000 venue rental at the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center.

Collective Impact also paid “more than $45,000 to or on behalf of [Davis’ son] in 2023 and 2024,” prosecutors said.

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