Sheryl Davis, the former head of San Francisco's Human Rights Commission, was arrested Monday on accusations that she ran a years-long self-dealing operation, steering millions in taxpayer dollars to her partner's nonprofit, using city funds to pay celebrity appearance fees, and directing public resources to promote her own children's book.
Prosecutors described what they called a "pervasive pattern of self-dealing" in an affidavit tied to the arrest. The New York Post reported that Davis allegedly used Collective Impact, a nonprofit run by her partner James Spingola, as a "slush fund" to bankroll events, celebrity bookings, and personal brand-building, all while earning roughly $350,000 a year from her city job.
The Dream Keeper Initiative, a $120 million program created after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020 to assist Black residents, was the pipeline. Between 2021 and 2024, Collective Impact received nearly $8.5 million in Dream Keeper grants. Prosecutors allege Davis directed more than $4.5 million of those funds to the nonprofit while maintaining financial ties to it and to Spingola, who shared a home and finances with her.
The spending details read less like a government agency budget and more like a concert promoter's ledger. The affidavit states Collective Impact paid more than $30,000, including hotel costs, for songstress Goapele to perform at two events. One of those was a January 2023 launch party for Davis' own children's book, Free to Sing, which alone cost $5,000 for the performance.
R&B artist Ledisi received a $5,000 honorarium. Rapper and producer D-Nice collected around $25,000. Crooner Emily King's fees and hotel ran past $25,000. A $20,539 "banquet buyout event" featured journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, best known for The 1619 Project.
In May 2023, the Human Rights Commission paid a $10,000 speaker fee to Sonya Curry, mother of NBA star Steph Curry, for an event called "Fierce Love & Joy." The commission also booked a $4,810.50 afterparty at International Smoke, the San Francisco restaurant operated by Ayesha Curry and celebrity chef Michael Mina. The event was billed on Instagram as a "critical dialogue" intended to create a "safe space for our young people." An Instagram post for the event featured Curry alongside educator Dee-1 and civil rights advocate Areva Martin.
That wasn't the first time International Smoke appeared on the tab. A $5,000 buyout of the restaurant was logged in October 2022.
The pattern of alleged misuse of taxpayer funds by a city official extended well beyond event spending. Purchases of $5,554.62 worth of copies of Sonya Curry's book were charged to the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families.
Davis didn't just pay celebrities with city money. Prosecutors say she used her position to build her own profile as an author, at taxpayer expense.
A prior audit found that Davis' department paid at least $6,000 to Varner PR to promote her book. She also frequently tapped PJS Consultants, a communications and branding firm, as she worked to raise her public profile. The audit noted that unspecified books weighing "more than 205 pounds" were shipped to a hotel in New Orleans during the Essence Festival of Culture.
Davis arranged the sale of 1,500 copies of her book to the San Francisco Public Library. An economic disclosure filing showed she earned up to $100,000 from book sales through publisher Book Baby in 2024.
The picture that emerges is of a city official who allegedly treated a taxpayer-funded equity initiative as a personal marketing engine, paying for publicity, shipping product across the country, and collecting six figures in royalties while still drawing her government salary.
The alleged self-dealing wasn't limited to books and galas. Davis signed contracts with the Homeless Children's Network worth more than $3.5 million. That nonprofit subsequently paid Davis' son $140,000 for what was described as "contract research" services. Fox News reported that prosecutors allege the payments went into an account Davis jointly controlled.
Davis is also accused of using public funds for her son's UCLA tuition, a detail that underscores how far prosecutors believe the alleged misuse reached into her personal finances.
The Fox News report added that a city audit flagged additional spending: a 30-night luxury hotel stay, more than 500 San Francisco Giants tickets, over $350,000 in catering and events, gift cards, and at least $75,000 used to promote Davis' personal brand, book, and podcast.
This is not the first time a public official entrusted with government funds has faced accusations of treating the treasury like a personal account. Similar patterns of alleged financial misconduct have surfaced in cases involving elected officials across the country.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins framed the case in direct terms. As the Washington Times reported, Jenkins told reporters:
"We have to hold government actors accountable, certainly when they are abusing the trust of San Franciscans, when they are abusing taxpayer dollars, and in this case using funds that are supposed to be targeted towards the black community... and that money was lost."
Jenkins also said investigators found that "Davis and Spingola's finances were completely intertwined, suggesting a deep personal relationship in which the financial benefits to Spingola resulted in a benefit to Davis." She stated plainly: "We did find that a portion of this money was spent in a manner that was self-dealing and was for her benefit."
Davis resigned from the Human Rights Commission in 2024 amid the mounting allegations. The department has since installed new leadership and launched reforms, including internal processes intended to prevent conflicts of interest.
Mayor Daniel Lurie has proposed merging the Human Rights Commission with the Department on the Status of Women to form a new body called the Agency on Human Rights. Whether that structural change would have caught or prevented the kind of spending described in the affidavit remains an open question.
The Dream Keeper Initiative itself was created under former Mayor London Breed as a plan to redirect police funding toward housing and support services for Black residents. The program's stated goals, equity, opportunity, community investment, make the alleged misuse all the more damaging to the residents it was supposed to serve.
Fraud cases involving public officials entrusted with community resources are not confined to San Francisco. Indictments in other jurisdictions have followed similar fact patterns: public money, personal benefit, and a paper trail that eventually caught up.
Several questions remain. The specific criminal charges filed against Davis have not been detailed in full. The affidavit's issuing agency is not identified in available reporting. The exact terms of the contracts with the Homeless Children's Network, the full identity of Davis' son, and the contents of the 205-pound book shipment to New Orleans are all unclear.
What is clear is the scale. Nearly $8.5 million in grants to a partner's nonprofit. More than $3.5 million in contracts to an organization that paid her son. Tens of thousands in celebrity fees. A publicly funded book-promotion operation. And a $350,000-a-year salary on top of it all.
The Dream Keeper Initiative was sold to San Francisco as a way to invest in Black communities after a national reckoning. If the affidavit's allegations hold, what the city got instead was a case study in how good intentions become a blank check when accountability disappears. It's a pattern that keeps repeating, officials wrap themselves in the language of justice while allegedly helping themselves to the funds.
Taxpayers funded a $120 million promise to lift up a community. The community deserved every dollar. The question now is how many of those dollars ever reached it.
