The support and guidance of former District Supervisor jane kim resulted in a project that always puts the community first. Please welcome former District Supervisor jane kim. Thank you so much. It has really been a long journey to get to where we are today. I just want to acknowledge a number of people who made this project, not just possible, but the project that is sitting before you today. A project that is going to achieve 40 affordable and middle income housing, including very lowincome housing. A project thank you for the applause. A project that is going to achieve open space and arts and also much needed housing here in San Francisco. But it took a lot of folks to get us here today. And first i want to acknowledge all of the members of our community. Particularly here in south of market who get involved and engaged on every single new development here in our city, because this is our neighborhood. Like many of the folks im about to acknowledge, i also live one block away from this development site, so it matters to me what we get to be a part of when we build this community. I want to acknowledge west bay filipino. Podco. Tenderloin Filipino Community association. And the mint mall resident building and their leader stefani. And of course, united players. [applause] the many years that we spent in putting this project together, i still remember the first meeting i had with hearse when they told me the project would be coming to me within a year or 14 months for approval. I smiled. About five years later we had them come before the board of supervisors, but there was a small group of folks that worked to make this happen. Now brookfield, jack and alexis and Karen Johnson and april ng and many of our Community Leader who told us what they wanted to see. Ensuring that as we build more housing and grow this neighborhood, that those who have lived here, can afford to live in this development as well. While 40 is not equal in every development, its important to know that 40 part of 5m is for formally erly formerly homeless. Its important as we build, to include those struggling, but working to live in the city. Im so proud of this project. Thank you to everyone involved. Especially the ladies. They were involved in the negotiation room. Alexis, april, karen, in the office, it was a pleasure to see this through. Thank you very much and congratulations to brookfield hearst. Thank you, former supervisor kim. United players says its takes a hood to save a hood. So organization has been active and participatory in the creation of the 5m program. Please welcome united players executive director rudy corpus. [applause] thank you, jocelyn. First of all, i want to say thank you, god, for giving me this opportunity to be here to share with you guys. And be up in here with the mayor, the arest of the you guys. When i walked in earlier today, several people asked me, what you doing here . I said i live here. Right down the block. Why shouldnt i be here . So i say that because, in order for us to stabilize our community where you have over 100 years of filipino history, you have to be a part of the decisionmaking that is happening in your community. So when you ask to take the hood to build the hood, i am the hood. Ive been here all my life. I used to run up and down these alleys down here and make bad choices, but im still here. Me and our organization and other organizations here like west bay, the oldest Filipino Organization on the west region, we been here. But its important for us to build relationships. To understand, to be a part of the solution and to be at the table with the people who are here also. Thats what community is all about, building relationships. We all going to agree . No, were not, but we got to sit at the table to figure out what is the best for our people that exist in this community right now. Otherwise, were not going to have no Filipino Community. You got a building right here, 90 of the people that live here is filipino. We have so many good ideas, but you have to make sure youre sitting with the people that is currently living here to build them bridges. Im into building bridges, not walls. If you want to come to a neighborhood where im at, come see me. Because were going to be here. Thats right, come see me. Matt is the District Supervisor, but im the godfather of this neighborhood. Believe that. So i finally want to say this to all my united players to did all the amazing work. We have over 200 kids right now, mayor breed, in this community that were working with. Kids from all over the community. They cant be because they have programming right now. So i want to say. I was asked to come here to be a part of this groundbreaking. We going to use this shovel right here. This is symbolic shovel and i share with you why. Green door, other ones, right, was also supported by the late mayor ed lee and the current mayor london breed and jane kim. We melted them guns down for mothers who lost their kids to gun violence. We put the gun parts in a furnace at 3,000. We melted it down and made 50 shovels. This shovel right here for the commemoration of Martin Luther king, had a 50th anniversary when he was assassinated in april, they planted a cherry tree. This is the shovel that was used. His greatgreat granddaughter used this, to plant a tree for Martin Luther king. Where him and his wife was buried. We use soil from a man who was lynched because he looked at a white woman and they said, you cant look at white women. They use his remains because they burnt him. And they threw him in the ground of the river. The mothers who lost their kids to gun violence, we melted it down and made this shovel. Then when i came back to San Francisco, we used this shovel when mayor ed lee died. And we planted this tree. The Mahogany Tree by the library. So this symbolic shovel is being used to plant things that are really special. So now we breaking ground with this to plant this building right here. So everybody is doing something positive and productive and constructive is with this right here. May the earth again be free. In the bible it says, that swords would be turned into plow share. This is one right here. So you cannot touch nothing unless you using all the right energy and the spirit of love that came from m. L. K. , Martin Luther king, jr. , mayor london breed. This is made out of guns, you all. This is going to break ground for our community and our people. Im always here to acknowledge my filipino people and everybody from this community that has been here. Because when im done finished speaking and breaking ground, guess where im going . Walking right back to my neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you, rudy. Thank you to all our speakers. As you can see, we have plenty to grow here. And as we all together break ground, its a special momentous occasion. So before we move on with our program, wed like to ask our speakers to take a celebratory photo down here by the trees. Because we have plenty of room to grow as a community together. But also wanted to share with everyone as we celebrate together, we have amazing artwork that is done and we have bags, so please join us in the continuous making of art together with the community. And at this time id like to ask the speakers to walk down. Mayor breed going to turn the dirt. Okay. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [cheers and applause] [ ] good morning, everyone how are you all . So, welcome. Im with the Hotel Council and i want to welcome you all to our first love our city. Its the second love our city event but its the first one that is a tourism and Hospitality Industry have helped organize. So today we have over 700 people here in also waiting out in the neighborhood. [applause] im joined by our chair of our board, mr. James lamb who is here with us today. [applause] and this event is hosted by the Hotel Council of sf travel but it really came together because of a lot of different people working on the event and i want to thank mayor breed and the city of San Francisco and her team for partnering with us on this love our city event. So please give a big hand to them [applause] we also couldnt have done it without our partnership with the Public Works Department and larry stringer and darlene prom, fromand i want to thank all of m fork working with us. Raichal gordan as well. Their team has been incredible to work with. We also have, you can see the signs out here today, im going to call off and make sure we recognize the groups as well. Each of our groups cbd. [applause] our tenderloin cbd. Our fisherman warf cbe and our embarcadero and financial district group. And last but not least our soma groups. [applause] we know that you all clean up all youre long and daily around your hotels and businesses. And it really is a 24 7 job. We want to thank you for everything that you are doing. We also want to thank wreckology. They sponsored our tshirts so thank you for working with us. [applause] a special thank you as we look out on the hyatt region see for sponsoring us with breakfast as well. Thank you very much. If that was designed to bring us to Work Together and partner with the city and our mayor has announced in the last, since she took office, an incredible amount of programs, new funding and new resources all to help clean this city and help make this city safer. So i want to thank the mayor from our hospitality and Tourism Industries for making sure shes doing everything that she is doing. Lets give her a big round of applause. [applause] and last but not least our partners at sf travel who have come together to work with us on this event as well. Its my pleasure to introduce our mayor, london breed. Thank you good morning, everybody now, i will troy to be short because i would love for you all to get out there and do what you came here to do and clean up San Francisco let me just start by saying thank you. We know that we have a lot of challenges in San Francisco. We have far too many People Living on our streets. We have far too many challenges with housing and housing affordability. I know our Small Businesses are struggling. The city is finally making the kinds of investments that i hope will make a difference in your everyday lives as you work in this great city. I was born and raised here and i grew up in public housing. You know, my grandmother, when we were kids, she would make us go out and clean up. She would always say clean it up. Ike like mama, why, would want to clean up. You know how kids are. We would should i look, its our responsibility to keep our community clean. Now here, take this bucket and put water and soap and clean up. You know, at the time as a kid you are like i dont want to do this but then, as you get older, its just a part of who you are. I find myself doing it in my community, doing it where i used to work at the African American culture complex and really feeling good about the investment that ive made and also the example that ive set for other young people to be better stewards of San Francisco. So what you all are out there are doing is not just picking up trash and erasing graffiti and painting, you all are stewards for San Francisco. You are taking care of the city. You all are showing how much you love San Francisco and other people when they see you doing what you are doing, theyre less likely to drop that trash on the ground and actually take it to the trash can. It does make a difference. So i want to thank all of you and all the Community Business districts and the people who are out there every single day. I especially want to thank the department of public works and the many thousands of employees because they are out on the streets everyday. Downtown street teams and so many other folks trying to keep San Francisco clean, green and beautiful. I love our city. I know you all love this city. Thank you for showing your love by taking care of San Francisco today for this amazing event. Have a wonderful time out there thank you so much, mayor. Id like to introduce from district 6 our supervisor matt haney who will be working with the groups as well. Please help me welcome supervisor matt haney. Thank you, thank you. How is everybody doing this morning make some noise if you love our city [applause] make noise if you are ready to pick up a broom and do some cleaning today who would have thought we could call this a cold day in San Francisco. Were glad the temperature came down a little bit but its still a Beautiful Day to demonstrate to everyone in our city we care and were going to do some cleaning up. Im the supervisor of district 6 and i want to give a special shout out to the different communities and cbds of district 6. The tenderloin where i live, soma, union square, everyone who is here, we really appreciate how much you do everyday. I see folks here from the hotel. Make some noise if you are representing the hotels in our city. This is a city that is still a worldclass destination. People come here from all over the world. We want to make sure that when they come here, they understand that theyre going to have an incredible experience and theyre going to see clean and safe streets and theyre going to see the people of San Francisco care about our community. Thats what you are demonstrating today. I want to thank mayor breed for the investments shows made in making our streets cleaner. If you look out there, theres things we can do. We need more trash cans on our streets, we need more bathrooms that are open for longer hours, and we need more street cleaning and deep cleaning and so what you are doing today is not just demonstrating to your residents that you care, you are demonstrating to us, the city, that you care and we need to do more as well. Lets get out there today. Im going to be in the tenderloin and pick up a broom and i just want to say thank you all so much. Have fun. Lets love our city. [applause] thank you supervisor haney. Next id like to introduce our partner from sf travel. We have the share and the board of sf travel with us, mr. Peter gamez. [applause] wow good morning, everyone. This is a great day for us. As many of you know im the board chair and this is one of the issues weve all rallied for all year. This is a special day for all of us. Thank you everyone for coming out and joining the hospitality and Tourism Industry to love our city. Together, here today, we are showing the strength of our industry and the collective passion and commitment we share for San Francisco. I want to thank firstly our awesome mayor breed, im also a native San Francisco an and i completely relate to you how we took pride in all of our neighborhoods and the importance of cleaning our streets. Your leadership and commitment for cleaning our streets and keeping us safe and were very thankful. Were proud to partner with the department of public works. The total council of San Francisco and many of our Community Partners to do tour part to keep San Francisco clean, safe, and welcoming to all. Together, we are a gene that gives back to the city we love and we can not be more excited to work side by side to make San Francisco the most wonderful destination in the world. Thank you. Last id like to introduce the director of public works and his team is a group weve been partnering with on this. [applause] all right are we ready to go to work all right let me begin by joining all the speakers here to thank all of you for coming out to help keep our city clean. Love our city everyday, right everyday the Public Works Department and many city agencies do this everyday but i can tell you, your coming out means a lot to us. You are giving us the extra hands and the extra help that it needs to continue to make our city be the destination where people come and enjoy and people clean up and make our city the most beautiful city in the world, right. San francisco ill be really short. Today we have over 45 different sites. Some people are going to be painting poles, weeding, cleaning, some are going to be sweeping. All that is going to make a difference. The number one thing that when you leave here is, when you are out there, please, be safe. Safety is a high priority. Weve been having these events for over 20 years and we have not had a single incident. How do you be safe . All of you in different work teams and every work team has got someone who will be wearing a vest like me who will be showing you what to do. If you see something that you are in doubt of whether its glass or needle or something in your mind is doubtful, just ask that person and they will deal with it appropriately and they will work with you. Other than that, enjoy yourselves. Its a nice day. Again, im very appreciative for everyone coming up. Lets have fun love our city everyday [applause] thank you. Thank you, very much. Before we close out, were going to do a group picture. Stay where you are. No one move. Just stay still for a minute and well take a group photo. I love that i was in four plus years a a rent control tenant, and it might be normal because the tenant will for the longest, i was applying for b. M. R. Rental, but i would be in the lottery and never be like 307 or 310. I pretty much had kind of given up on that, and had to leave San Francisco. I found out about the San FranciscoMayors Office of housing about two or three years ago, and i originally did Home Counseling with someone, but then, my certificate expired, and one of my friends jamie, she was actually interested in purchasing a unit. I told her about the housing program, the Mayors Office, and i told her hey, youve got to do the six hour counseling and the 12 hour training. She said no, i want you to go with me. And then, the very next day that i went to the session, i notice this unit at 616 harrison became available, b. M. I. I was like wow, this could potentially work. Housing purchases through the b. M. R. Program with the sf Mayors Office of housing, they are all lotteries, and for this one, i did win the lottery. There were three people that applied, and they pulled my number first. I won, despite the luck id had with the program in the last couple years. Things are finally breaking my way. When i first saw the unit, even though i knew it was less than ideal conditions, and it was very junky, i could see what this place could be. Its slowly beginning to feel like home. I can definitely you know, once i got it painted and slowly getting my Custom Furniture to fit this unit because its a specialized unit, and all the units are microinterms of being very small. This unit in terms of adaptive, in terms of having a murphy bed, using the walls and ceiling, getting as much space as i can. Its slowly becoming home for me. It is great that San Francisco has this program to address, lets say, the housing crisis that exists here in the bay area. It will slowly become home, and i am appreciative that it is a bright spot in an otherwis job. My name is heather im an society engineer start as an interim about the knowing that and after completed my certificates i received my professional engineering licenses and became a an social engineer i work on a chain of multi engineering we work on a plan through conduct and take ownership and are involved from the beginning to the he said end i take a lot of pride. Where you, you planning on uss this. At the top. At the top of interference. Its regarding ive been given more challenging projects working as a designer on smaller projects to tuvenl managing project im a huge go property of getting revolved in jerry, it is a field that month women dont know about the more educated theyll apply for college i love the professionals and the projects i work with its very. Hi my name is jason jones a xaefrp and communication capture at the San FranciscoWater Department i hnlt a high volume of calls and Radio Communications i enjoy coming to work i still find it challenging i still learn everyday and im going to have the level of activity if zero to 60 in a matter of minutes i take bride pride in handling the emergencies. Have are you available the work order is 2817827 thats one of the great things of sfpuc they offer work shops to help you get ahead you have to care about the job and go above and beyond to find out as much as you can the three puc i so no Glass Ceiling the opportunities we will never be anything okay. I needed that. [laughter] how many of you needed this day . [ cheers ] [applause] yeah. All of us together pretty much saying youre not going to take our country away from us. Nor are you going to take our future away from us. And were going to take it back. [applause] im so excited that i get to be your emcee for this afternoon. Youre about to hear from a couple of super powerful, amazing women. And to introduce them is a powerful woman in her own right. A San Francisco native, a health care expert, entrepreneur for 24 years, an awardee of the 30 working mothers of the year. Janet lang is Kaiser Kaiser pere president and a major bad ass in her own right. Please welcome janet lang. [applause]. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh Kaiser Permanente is in the house today. Hello [cheers and applause] good afternoon, everyone. You know, i was so excited to be joining you today. And i was coming to the conference and i saw the theme was to be invincible. I took a minute to take a look at the dictionary to say what are some of the other ideas and themes behind the word invincible. And what stood out for me was indestructible, unbeatable, and absolutely too powerful to overcome. All right yeah thats right. [applause] those are fighting words. So i asked myself, so what exactly are we fighting for . So i have four principles that i think that were fighting for. The first is that were fighting for recognition, that there is economic value in the role that women play in raising families. [applause] thats right. Thats right. The second is that were fighting for equal pay for equal work. Its very simple. [applause] the third is that being a woman does not limit our opportunity or our voice. And then, lastly lastly, we must be in a society where women are free from oppression and physical violence. [applause] so at Kaiser Permanente i want you to know that leaders like myself and our workforce of over 79,000 believe in these four tenets strongly. We understand that women are Decision Makers for the health care for their family, youre mothers and youre sisters, youre wifes and partners and daughters. You make these choices for your family and we listen to you. You have a very important voice. The second is that we employ, i said earlier 79,000 people here in northern california, 70 of those employees are women. Very proud to say that. [applause] but i also want you to know that women have opportunity at kaiser to become executives. So we have eight were a national organization. And there are eight president s. And the president s run everything that happens in our organization. We produce the money, we take care of our members, we provide your care. And we manage a workforce of over 200,000. Of the eight president s at Kaiser Permanente, five are women. Five women president s. [cheers and applause] and in most companies of our size, with over 200,000 employees, fortune 100 companies, you will see the executive ranks have about on average 15 women. And at Kaiser Permanente we have 47 . 47 of our Vice President s, our executives, our president s are all women. And so there you have it. Kaiser permanente represents being fighting for all of the things that youre here today to talk about. We believe in women being indestructible, unbeatable and too powerful to overcome. And so i have the pleasure now of introducing two women who embody that. And im going to talk a little bit about them. You know them so theres not a lot to say. Theyre going to come out together. Of course, is our very own mayor london breed, who is the 45th mayor of the city of San Francisco. [cheers and applause] and and the first africanamerican woman mayor in our city. So she has a lot of firsts behind her name. We know her as a native san franciscan as well, raised by her grandmother in the Western Addition of the public housing. And she has fought for many of our citys most challenging issues that our community and our citizens face. Safe, clean neighborhoods. Affordable housing. Particularly her leadership recently around homelessness and she fights for equitable Education Opportunities and for services for Vulnerable People in our communities. The second woman that im introducing, of course, is our speaker of the u. S. Representatives house is nancy pelosi. [cheers and applause] 31 years. 31 years, not just elected, one of the first women to be elected, but also speaker of the house for over 16 years. She served three terms now, which is a pretty big deal, given all of the changes that happened over three decades. And i personally want to thank her. Shes known for many, many things. Many initiatives, investments in college aid, clean energy, helping veterans and small business. But i personally want to thank her for her leadership of the Affordable Care act. [applause] you know, 5 million more people in the state of california have Health Insurance and access to care because of her. So shes made a difference in our country that will last she leaves a legacy in our country under her leadership. So please join me in welcoming these two wonderful, wonderful women to the stage. [applause] respect find out what it means to me just a little bit respect oh, a little respect oh, yes just a little bit hello, ladies. [applause] are you having a good time today . [ cheers ] now we have our special guest here joining us. Our leader, our speaker, the woman who basically is the only woman with courage in this country right now. Speaker nancy pelosi [applause] so, speaker, thank you so much for being here. We so appreciate your time. And we just want to have a conversation because we want to know who is nancy pelosi. And i think that youve been out there, we see you out there fighting the good fight, standing up to donald trump. Doing what you do best to try and really move our country in the right direction. But we also know that you have a long history in the world of politics. During a time where it was difficult for women to even get engaged. Your dad served as mayor of baltimore, your brother served as mayor of baltimore. You raising five kids ran for office and became a congresswoman for San Francisco. [applause] so tell us about tell us about those early years and how challenging it was at that time for women, because you were breaking barriers even back then. Thank you very much, madam mayor. First, i want to congratulate you on the great job that you are doing as mayor of San Francisco. [cheers and applause] im so very, very proud of you. And now it appears your reelection is quite obvious. As you gain even more standing in our city and i know our city is your focus. Youre a National Example of whether its Public Education or Affordable Housing or issues that relate to gun safety, the list goes on. Theyre stories you can tell from personal experience. And i want everyone in this room to know that personal stories are the power are the power. I remember when i first met the may, he was is she was a star at city hall. My daughter christina said she was also an officer of the California Democratic party. Christine is here with a Ruth Bader Ginsburg scarf on today. [applause] and then you were involved in emerge and i know suzie beal is very much a part of this. You took all the steps. And now to be the mayor of this great city, to bring your experience and your values. So i hope in the course of our conversation, as i share my story, youll share another generations story, your own. And im sure youre doing it in the course of this very important meet. Its wonderful. Wonderful to be in San Francisco on any given day, but to be here with all of these women, these invincible women. We have our bracelet. Its quite an honor. I have to just tell you, though, it is a curious time in our country. And the time for women to be invincible has never been more important, even though this year we will congress we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of women having the right to vote. [applause] thats a good thing. As we do so, we have over 100 women in the house of representatives. 91 of them are democrats. 106, 91 are democrats. But they represent the beauty, the diversity of america. And when women first got the right to vote, we still had much more work to do to make sure extended to women of color and people of color across our country. So again i thank you for the opportunity to share some thoughts on that subject. When women got the right to vote, the headline said women given the right to vote. No, women fought, women were starved, women starved themselves, marched, advocated for decades before the right to vote came. And now we have to do some of the same things to. In the course of our revolution, when times were dark, thomas payne said the times have found us. We believe the times have found us now again to save our democracy. To save our democracy. [applause] and the role of women in all of that is very, very important. So know your power. Its fabulous to see the strength of it all here. But understand how necessary that is. So i thank you for your leadership, your involvement, your courage to be invincible. Thank you. [applause] now 100 years may seem like a long time. But it wasnt that long ago in our history when we basically took the right to vote and were celebrating that 100year anniversary, but were still in the midst of a lot of inequities that women face in this country. I know you have been a leader around equal pay. So tell us a little bit about your work and what youre doing to help address the inequalities and the pay gap for women and men. Well, i appreciate you asking that, because one of our top items on our agenda, when we came in as the new majority in congress, was to pass the fair pass act, equal pay for equal work. And its still stunning to me to see people voting against that. And Mitch Mcconnell in the senate is saying im the grim reaper, its not going to see a vote in the senate. But i say to him, this may be you may think its dead, but its alive and well in the public. So i appeal to you, because no good thing happens with the outside mobilization. We can maneuver to pass the bill in the house, to get it through the senate and the president , to sign it is absolutely essential, for us to have the outside mobilization. Know your power. Weigh in. I mean, who would vote against such a thing . The republican members of congress. I know this isnt a partisan [laughter] but it was amazing to see. And tied to that, which were going to bring up in a couple of weeks, is raising the minimum wage to fight for 15. 15 an hour. [applause] that affects women in the workplace as well. But when you think of the fact that women are not paid for the same amount of work as men, and what it means not only to the well being of their families, but what it means to their pensions and their retirement and the rest, its so very, very unfair. We can correct it, we passed the bill, rosa was the author of it. And now we just have to get it past the senate. Lincoln said public sentiment is everything. With it you can accomplish anything with it. In order for the public sentiment to weigh in, the public needs to know. So tell a friend, call in, especially into some of you are not from california. Call home. Tell those people call the republican senators. So bring up to bring up the bill. Its a threshold we must cross. We must cross. And that, along with a number of challenges that youve been dealing with for decades in the house of representatives, you work with a number of president s and, of course, we had a great time working with president obama and we truly miss him now more than ever. And i just i just wanted to understand because we watch you on the news. And we in my mind, i dont know about you, but im like how is nancy pelosi sitting there with a straight face, when [laughter] when some of those things are being said. I just wonder, well, what is going on in her head. And you, classy as always, try to hold him accountable. Madam speaker, what is going on in your head . [laughter] with all of that . Well, thank you for bringing up president obama and valerie jarrett, whom you had this morning was so [applause] so spectacular. So spectacular. I love her. And shes really a powerful force in our country. I have to just say this about the occupant of the white house. [laughter] [applause] its really important to recognize that, again im just stating a fact, this isnt political or partisan. That the republicans in congress, house and senate by and large agree with him on almost every subject. Im not associating them with his behavior. But i am associating them with his policy. So before he even became president , they were where they were on being an antiwomens right to choose, lgbtq rights, the climate change, gun safety, fair immigration, fairness in our economy, diminishing the disparity in income between our haves and have notes in our country. Theyve been on the wrong side of both of those issues for a long time. So his coming in just hes their guy from a policy standpoint. So when we had our election 18, as i said to the candidates, something similar to what ill say to now. Dont even mention his name, just talk about you. I say this to the women here, as you aspire to perhaps run for office, supporting those who do, as we sit here with this magself success magnificent Success Story with our mayor london breed. Heres the thing. What is your i keep saying to the members. We have to distinguish our why. Why are we here . What is our vision for the country. What do we know about the subjects that we can make a difference in the legislation. How do we intend to do this. Are we strategic in our thinking . And show your sincerity, your connection to your constituents in terms of their fears and hopes and apprehensions and aspirations. Dont talk about him. But the fact is that when you present where you are on the issues, you will make a very strong distinction between the republicans in congress and the democrats in congress. And the republicans in congress are very much aligned with the president of the United States on these issues. Thats really sad news that i have to convey to you. So when people say how come theyre not speaking out . Well, hes their guy. Hes their guy. But they also have taken an oath of office to support and defend the constitution of the United States. And were hoping that will weigh in on their decisions, as we go forward. So when you say when youre sitting there, hes the president of the United States. I respect the office that he holds. I think i respect it more than he respects it. But, anyway, i respect the office that he holds. [laughter] and we have to try to find Common Ground. Our founders went back and said we are you know, the times have found us. They also gave us guidance in this respect. They couldnt imagine how many we would be, how different we would be. They always knew we strived to be one. So for the good of the people, we have to always try to find Common Ground. Stand our ground. Stand that would be thomas jefferson. Stand our ground like a rock. So you try to say, well, infrastructure, building a Green Infrastructure for the future. Green, infrastructure for the future. Lowering the cost of prescription drugs, he says he wants to do those things. Lets try to find Common Ground on that. But at the same time we must mobilize outside. We would never have passed the Affordable Care act or save the Affordable Care act without the outside mobilization. I thank for her kind words. But it was the outside that made that happen. Again know your power. Be invincible. Weigh in on these things, because the public is it is the peoples country. We the people and for the people. And most importantly for the children. So thats what i think when im sitting there, among other things. [laughter] yeah. [applause] well, speaking of knowing your power, it happens to be the name of the book that you wrote know your power. And part of knowing your power, of course, is knowing who you are and what you stand for. And i know that this had to come from somewhere. And so tell us because as i said earlier, you know, you have been doing this incredible work since at a time when there werent a lot of women who were actively engaged in the political world. And not until recently are we seeing incredible organizations that are coming like emerge and emilys list and other organizations that are helping to support and encouraging and pushing women to run for office. But you didnt have organizations like that. You stepped out on face and really got actively engaged. And you also did it while raising five kids. I mean, im still trying to understand how thats even possible. So tell us a little bit about how you discovered, you know, your voice and your power and what motivated you in the early years to really step out and to do this type of work. Well, i appreciate what youre saying. But the fact i was raised in a political family, as was mentioned. I was raised in a political family. We were taught that Public Service is a noble calling. And that we all had a responsibility to for the community. It wasnt about politics so much as about Civic Engagement and politics as part of that. And so i never had any intention whatsoever of running for public office. None whatsoever. But i did feel responsible to make some contributions. So i volunteered and one thing led to another. But ill just tell you this story about how i went from kitchen to congress. One of the paths through it. [laughter] so im at home, with five kids, running around, little kids. All of this. I get a call from the then mayor joseph alioto. He says, nancy, what are you doing, making a big pot of pasta. [laughter] no, mr. Mayor, im reading the new york times. [laughter] he used to come in the afternoon in those days before all of the technology. And my kids are playing there. And this is after school. And he said, well, im calling for ask you to serve on the library commission. [ cheers ] so i say to him, and he said because i know you love the library, kids and you all hang out there and everything. We go there all the time, help with the books, this or that. This is this is almost 40 years ago. So i said, no, mr. Mayor, dont give me that appointment. I love the library. Ill doing that. I dont need to be recognized as the Library Commissioner. And this man, not known as a feminist, but nonetheless said to me, nancy, youre doing the work, get the official recognition for it. And that was one of the best messages that i had. [applause] he said and, of course, no man would have ever said that. Dont appoint me, ill just carry the books around. [laughter] so i say that to the mayor, because her path was commissioners as well. So many of you here. But that official recognition, lo and behold i had a vote on the commission. People cared what i thought. We were putting meetings out in the neighborhood. You know, we were doing things differently. And it was empowering. It was empowering. But it was my First Official involvement was to be a Library Commissioner in San Francisco. But that that message it was so clear. As a woman, you especially should receive the official recognition for the work that youre doing. So then one thing and another, ive become chair of the California Democratic party, this or that. Burton, the congressman from this area, takes ill, she encourages and insists that i run for congress. There it is. And theres some steps in between. [laughter] but then i go to congress. And i really didnt want to go. I mean, ive never thought about running for office. I was basically a very shy person. Still am in certain respects. People dont believe that. But anyway. So i go to my daughter alexandra, who was the youngest, she was 16, about to go into senior year. Its around january, february and so she would be going in september. I say, alexandra four of them were already in college, because the five were born almost to the day six years. Thats why i like to talk to my colleagues about a womans right to choose. [laughter] when you have a five babies in six years, you come talk to me about it. [laughter] [applause] can you believe these men standing in line to prohibit a womans right to choose. Come on come on dont get me started. Go ahead. Get started [laughter] i go to alexandra, mommy has been invited to run for congress. It will be better when youre in college. But i love my life. And so if you want me to stay here with you, ill be gone like three nights a week. I mean, i have to even win yet. I dont even know if im going to win. But i have to decide whether to run. Any answer is okay. If you want me to stay with you, thats fine. She says, mother, get a life. [laughter] i had never heard were talking over 30 years ago, i never heard the expression before get a life. [laughter] what teenage girl wouldnt want her mother gone three nights a week. [laughter] so there i went. Another life. And then when i got there, never intended to run for leadership. But then people came to me and said, run for leadership. And when my name was put out there that id run for leadership, the men said, who said she could run. Poor babies. [laughter] [applause] poor babies. So i believe this was like around 2000. Why dont you just make a list of all of the things that the women want and well do them for them. Oh double poor babies. [laughter] [ please stand by ] encouraging women, prochoice women to run, so now, we have this. And i say to the members our diversity is our strength. This caucus is over 60 women, people of color, lgbtq. Our diversity is our streng strength. Our unity is our power and its that powerun that i bring to the table with of the United States. Cheer cheer. [cheers and applause] one of the Biggest Challenges were facing is the threat to our Reproductive Health and whats happening all over the country. Y. Ital feels like were going backwards, especially with the laws thatur are getting passed n placespe like georgia and a numr of other states, in utah. Itsas devastating and we know ultimately, the changes to these policies will mostly impact poor women and women of colour and it has had a devastating impact on the morale of just, i think, women in general, because here we are trying to push for equity and make sure that we have an seat attr the table and a number of othere issues. Now we have to go back and fight a battle that we fought and won in the 1970s. Its like were going back to the dark ages here. I just wanted to know your thoughts about whats going on with this and your just where do we go from here and how do we push this thing back . Youve said it exactly right. Of course, you put it in a frame of pay equity. I always like to