ROTARY LUNCHEON: The Home Free Project and Five Keys

Sunny Schwartz, co-founder of Five Keys, will tell us how the San Francisco County Jail launched a national movement with the first Charter School in the nation for incarcerated and post release adults.

Ms. Schwartz is a nationally recognized expert in Criminal Justice reform and author of the best seller, Dreams from the Monster Factory, published in January 2009. She has pioneered new policy initiatives for prisoners' programs and their reentry as well as alternatives to incarceration. Ms. Schwartz has worked in criminal justice for over 30 years. She was admitted to the California State Bar in 1985. While practicing criminal and civil law, Ms. Schwartz received numerous awards from the San Francisco Bar Association including “Outstanding Pro Bono Attorney of the Year” and “Attorney Excellence in Public Interest Pro Bono Service”. 

In 1990 Sheriff Michael Hennessey appointed Ms. Schwartz as the Program Administrator for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department. Ms. Schwartz directs the design and operation of prisoner programs in six county jails, which house a daily average of 2,700 men and women prisoners. She supervises over 150 teaching and treatment professionals, both sworn and civilian.

In 2003, Ms. Schwartz and Sheriff Hennessey founded Five Keys Charter School, which brings together a responsive curriculum that focuses on offender accountability, restoration, academic and family and employment skills that invest in the offender, victim, and community health and welfare. This speaker is part of our series of speakers on San Francisco Still Knows How.

Each luncheon ticket includes a three-course lunch. Tickets are $40 each; $35 for Club members who register online in advance (online registration closes at 5PM the day before the meeting). Payment by credit card or check is preferred. Tickets available for purchase only at the door.