Organizations and our neighborhoods. Our organizations help residents and provide Wraparound Services and resources but at a minimum level due to resources. Were helping them find jobs and get healthy and thriving in their own neighborhood. We need your help. We cant do this alone. Homelessness is a huge program in San Francisco and we need others to get jobs to provide for their families to ghet the off the streets. This funding is crucial to help us meet our goals and we ask you for funds to help us end homelessness. Thank you. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is lucio rivera, and i would like to thank you, but i would like to thank Hillary Ronen for her fight to save the restaurant temple, and thats what im speaking out for. Some of us, we dont have anyplace else to go when it comes to the mission district. Weve got a place right there where we call home. And if the red building goes away, there goes our place, our sanctuary, a place we can go and feel safe. Since 2006, this organization has been right there, as Spanish Speaking monolingual immigrants, asylum seekers. Where are we going to go . As crazy as it sounds. Weve only got two places to go another one that i forget, which is latinas in action. But the point is very simple. This is our house. We go there from monday to tuesday to be a family because sometimes we dont have no family around us, so i think its time to put culture, to put community, and legacy of our money. Save the red stone temple. Thank you. Good afternoon members of the board of supervisors. My name is mario paz. Im the director of the Family Resource center. I serve on the planning and action committee, but im also a member of the Family Resource alliance, its an alliance of 26 Family ResourceCenters Across the city of San Francisco, and im chairman of the immigrant rights commission. I think you heard from some of our families earlier how important it is to support programs for our families with children. Immigrant families put their hopes and dreams into their childrens future. Its important that we support these programs across the city so immigrant families can continue to live in the city and continue to thrive. I want to thank president yee in particular for being a champion in Early Education in San Francisco. We know its the best investment we can make. Please support that. The second biggest challenge for families after housing is the cost of child care, so please continue to support that. Last, id just like to say as vice chair of the immigrant rights commission, youve heard a lot of issues of our immigrant communities. Theyre under attack, theyre under a lot of fear. This is the time for us to standup for our San Francisco values. Im very proud of this city and you to being champions of immigrant rights in approximate our community. Thank you, supervisors. Thank you for listening to us. Im juneau dumas. Im here to speak on behalf of the Family Resource alliance. Im the parent of a daughter with significant disabilities, and she has a fine life because she has access to services. I was not born knowing how to Access Services for her. I learned how to Access Services through the Family Resource center. Families must have access to information, education, and support to help their Children Research their potential. Think of it as a gathering place, whether it is in a specific neighborhood around a specific issue, like disabilities or homelessness or domestic violence. Families need Family Resource centers to learn how to parent and build their skills. Research shows that families who thrive are core communities who thrive. You have lucked out. You have 26 amazing Family Resource centers who can help you create a thriving community. Theres just a little challenge. San francisco is costing more and more while at the same time an organization like support for families is literally serving thousands of families every year, hundreds more than last year, and hundreds more than the year before. We need realistic Financial Support to keep moving forward. Help us help you, support your amazing f. R. C. S. Thank you. Good afternoon, supervisors. I am here on behalf of the Family Resource initiative. My name is isaiah palmera, and a parent of three children. My baby is a cancer survivor. Chemo has caused a lot of intellectual delay and disabilities. Family resource has helped me navigate resources, education and just my own advocacy for my own children. They have amazing staff who are also parents with children who have special needs. It is so key and vital for me and other families that are like mine. It is so hard to see the staff that are there and to be retained because of the living increases of wages of housing and all that. However, we know that with increase in funding to these 26 resource centers, we know that they can continue serving our families. Thank you for these allocated funds, and god bless for all that you do. Thank you. Good afternoon, supervisors, and thank you for working through lunch. My name is diana pang, and i am born and raised in San Francisco. I work at Chinatown Community center, and we are excited to share and empower with our arab and muslim members in the student. I want to tell you about and thank you for your continued support of the arab Mothers Community e. S. L. And Life Skills Program that is freetor everyone operating as a t. L. In district 6. In a little bit, you will hear a bit from arab mothers who are community partners, service providers, educators, advocates, talking in solidarity about this. So today, id really urge you to support and continue supporting, fully funding this incredibly life changing program. This budget is approved by the a. P. I. Council and the budget justice coalition. And i want to thank many of the board of supervisors who are doing so. For close to a decade, this class has operated on a bare bones budget, and we are every single day, youll see 50 immigrant refugee women in hijabs, mostly arabic, and shuffling their kids through the maze of open air drug dealing, and feces. This is a space with complimentary child care and culturally empowering Arab Community engagement. Whats significant is ive not seen anything like it. The class am i up . [inaudible] ill continue where she left off. My name is kate robinson. I run the Safe Passage Program through the Tenderloin Community benefit district, and today im here to support full funding of the womens e. S. L. Class out of 201 turk. I worked for chinatown c. D. C. As Resident Services coordinate i dont remember at 201 coordinator at 201 turk for many years and recognized that this program which was once part of the Arab Community center which no longer has programming, about eight years ago, the funding was lost for this program through a. C. C. And witnessed what it looks like when a Community Comes together to retain a service that really benefits the community. It was chinatown c. D. C. , and one of the organizations you will hear about after that kept this class going to bridge the divide from lowincome families to city college. Weve seen the success of this program, bringing over 20 women from this class to being students at free city college. When you look at this program, you would think its a fully funded operation. Its really a labor of love and deserves that funding to be a full operation. Thank you. Hello. Good afternoon. My name is bashar, and im originally from yemen, and i now live in the tenderloin neighborhood. I fully support this class for arabs mothers. This class was crucial for me because i would walk down the street without knowing how to communicate with people. Its opened a lot of opportunities. For example, i have met facetoface with the people i need to talk if i have problem without interpreter. Second, i have i know how to find a Good High School for my daughter. Third, i was a volunteer at Tenderloin Community school to help translate for arab mothers, and finally, i feel strong in this class and happy to learn more. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is awa, and i am originally from yemen. Now i live in tenderloin. I am a mother of three kids. I support fully funding this class for arab mothers. This class is important to me because first it has improved my english. Second, they teach me money things about my life. For example, how i can vote and understand the important issues like what a proposition is, and why they are important in our life. Housing. Another example is how i can find a good school for my kids. Third, i was able to become a Community Leader and learn how to teach parents about strengthening sons. I help teach this class for 14 weeks and made money. Finally, i helped teach the on people about the school board and how to vote as a noncitizen, so this class is important to us. Thank you so much. Hi. Good afternoon. My name is shaina. I am originally from egypt, and i live here in San Francisco in downtown San Francisco. And i support the e. S. L. Class arab woman class. We need your support. The class needs more teachers. The class youre not just learning english, its help us for us as a woman. It help us communicates as a people. Okay sorry. And we need more support because we are in this class learning how to use our voice. We didnt have enough education before, and now, we can communicate with people. And for my personality a, meeting with mr. Matt haney to discuss my housing problem, and now i can communicate with people very well than before. Thank you for your support. Please keep this program and free child care for us. Thank you. Hi. My name is abda. Im speaking on behalf of mr. Sal devine. This class is important to me because it helps me to speak english, so i was able to take the class which are all in english for child care. Also, this class helps me to get work in child care, and this class helped me to open my first bank account. Im proud to join this class. Actually, this class very important for arab mothers, not only english but also life skills. Please support funding the women e. S. L. And life skills class for arab mothers. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is christine cordero, and i am the founder and teacher of the arab mothers and Life Skills Program in tenderloin. I thought it would be really important for several of my students to come up and address you to show you this program really works. I cant tell you how proud i am of them and how much progress theyve made over these years. The goal of this program is really not just to be a bridge to city college but to be a bridge to other learning and to become confident, contributing members and citizens. As i said, theyve come so far, and in addition to you know, to english, many people ask, why dont these students just go to city college . For two reasons. One, we provide free child care, which is really important. Secondly, in addition to the child care, this has a live skills component, which city college doesnt really have. And even though many of the women have gone on to city college, they come back for the life skills component because english is more than language. Its really important to become culturally competent and linguistically competent, and i think these women are a testimony thats possible. Secondly, the goal of the program is to have them become confident young women, and fourth, to become contributing citizens so they can help their communities become Even Stronger and more integral part of this community. Thank you for your attention, and we support fully funding this program. Thank you. Good afternoon, supervisors. My names rachel chen. I also work for china down c. D. C. Im here today to support the e. S. L. Class because i think the class is really important to the community. I think for most students, this is the only class they had attended since coming to the u. S. , and for most of them, its the firstclass and the First Education theyve ever received in their whole lives. For example, the teachers that teach this program, its not just an e. S. L. Program but its a culturally sensitive onestop Services Program so that students can obtain information to community, understand their rights and really, like, get connected with their community and also get Supportive Services from us. And as an immigrant and also english learner, i have faced the same challenges as most of the students and, you know, coming to the u. S. With really limited english, feeling isolated and really have a difficult time adapting to american culture. So i think today is really inspiring to see that many of the students have achieved many milestones. Theyre today able to speak and write english, really participate in Different Community events, and also, the kids schoolwork and become a role model and use their education, also language skills, to help other immigrants in the community, so please support this e. S. L. Program. Thank you. [please stand by] resulted in between the Resident Community and members of the class. Something that members regularly participate in. Recently members of the class on their children also attended coasts and filter to chinatown with a private tour and discussion of the art exhibit. It was a really engaging chance for them to connect with other aspects of chinatown cdc has an organization and to explore new parts of San Francisco. Not only have members been able to participate in events, the skills they have gained from the class has led them to be proactive and take more of a leading role in organizing these events. Multiple women have reached out to me to help with projects for my work. Most notably the toy giveaway for the citywide celebration of ramadan here at city hall. In the arts and crafts session for youth. Its been a wonderful opportunity working with the women on the projects that benefit their children. I believe the class was a key component in bolstering this with the greater tl district 6 community. Good afternoon, with chinatown cdc. One of the things that struck me is apparently a city hall insider a couple of days ago told a reporter from Mission Local that today was going to be the waiting room for mother teresa. What struck me is you see this is not the case. These people have advocated for themselves. These people at times have created programs for themselves. These people have educated themselves and are here not to, you know, demand your, you know, your generosity but really to advocate for principles and needs of the community. You will see it from our, you know, incredible mothers and parents that raise children, all across the city. You know, it is really, to me, inspiring every day. When i work here at city hall, as a legislative aide, when i worked in the community, it is inspiring to see what the community does and how the community reacts. The community sees a need, and has made this dsl life skill class that is incredible. For 20 years you will hear from my colleague, angela, who has been working with a family for over two decades. I think that is what i take away from budget Public Comment today which is like, you know, our community is resilient and knows what it needs. Thank you very much. [speaking native language] hello supervisors. I live in chinatown. I am asking you to support Family Housing vouchers, the budget includes vouchers in the funding. [speaking native language] hello, i, myself, have a house with four people, two kids and a husband. You know, my husband sleeps on the floor. There isnt any room for him to sleep on. My kids need to do homework on the floor as well. We have two put files on a desk in our room. My son asks me, mom when are we going to move to a different house it is not that we do not want to move out, we just cant afford any place else for us to go. So, here we are. That includes 50 vouchers for families. Families that are currently in shelters waiting for permanent housing. We asked for hundred thousand, getting our section 8 housing, as well as looking for housing. We thank you for your support. [speaking native language] hi, supervisors, my name is chan. I am living in the sl units and with families together, we are here to ask you to support funding for the family vouchers. For us low income families it is really important because we live in the small rooms, so we have everything put into our small room, we do not have any space for us to move around in the room even. [speaking native language] our kids do not have a space to do the things. They have to do homework, they have to play on the bed. [speaking native language] we have a bunk bed, myself and my husband sleep on the bottom. I think every kid should have enough space for them to sleep comfortably. They should have a life where they feel free, and they have a better space to live. Safety is another of our concerns. We have a middle aged lady on our floor. Sometimes she keeps things that we feel not very safe for our kids. [speaking native language] in the middle of the night she will move the furniture and make loud noise, also she can yell in the middle of the night. [speaking native language] at one point she told them the piece of furniture down the stairwell. We were really scared. [speaking native language] thank you for your comments. [speaking native language] hi supervisors. I come from chinatown. Support us for 5. 6 million for our Housing Voucher Program. [speaking native language] the people, myself, my daughter, and my grandkids, in a tiny room. [speaking native language] so, my daughter has really poor health. She is sick. She works really hard. But the daughter told her, you must take a break, you must rest. She had to take care of the family, she cannot even take care of herself. She is becoming having worse health conditions. This is the situation we can move out, even we tried, but it is impossible. We cannot answer my daughter when she asks when we can move out . [speaking native language] we ask for the funding, 5. 6 million to help the families move out. Thank you. [speaking native language] thank you for the funding supporting our sro and the homeless families. [speaking native language] good afternoon, supervisors. I am from the chinatown sro collaborative and im here to ask for support for the 5. 6 million for the Voucher Programs for the families. [speaking native language] i have two children and we live in a small unit. We do not have a kitchen and bathroom in our unit, therefore we have to share the communal kitchen and bathroom with other families, in the building. Every time we have to use the facilities we have to line up for it. In the room there is no space for families. [speaking native language] my children have to do their homework in the bed because the room is too small and often times when they play together they might hurt each other, they might bump into each other and at one time my son was playing with my daughter, and he bumped into something, and got hurt, and therefore her son asked her mom, when can we move to a bigger place . [speaking native language] my husband, he works very hard for the family, and his health is getting worse. His age is also very soon to get retired as well. [speaking native language] my hope for support to fund for the 5. 6 million for the Housing Voucher Program so all of the families can move out of this living condition. Thank you so much. [speaking native language] good afternoon supervisors. My name is sue young. Im here to ask for support for the 5. 6 million to go to the sro Housing Voucher Program. [speaking native language] i live in a small unit we have a small bed in the room and there is actuallymy family to move around. My daughter has to do homework in the bed and theres no bathroom in my unit so we have to live up every time we have to use the bathroom and there is no space in the unit, due to privacy reasons, because there is no bathroom in the unit, my daughter cannot change her clothing in the unit and she has to go into the bathroom. [speaking native language] because a lot of us are low income and we cannot afford to move out to rent the market housing, in the market right now. [speaking native language] i urge the supervisors to fund the Housing Voucher Program so a lot of these families can move out to a better housing situation. [speaking native language] i was one of the lucky families who was able to use the Voucher Program to move out to a better housing. Now i live in a three bedroom apartment. [speaking native language] even my daughter now, because there is more space and more privacy, her grades have improved and she has a lot of space to do homework. She even 1 5 the place in one of the drawing competitions are yet im very lucky. I also want other families to be as lucky as i am. Thank you. [speaking native language] good afternoon, supervisors. I am from the chinatown collaborative. Im here to ask for support for the sro Housing Voucher Program. [speaking native language] i have a family of four, we live in a very small unit and and, my son is seven years old and my daughter is 17 years old. They eat and they do homework in a very tiny room that we all live in right now. [speaking native language] we eat and we do homework in a tiny room and even when they take about they have to line up for it. For normal families they may able to get to bed around 10 pm. But because we have to line up for the shower room we have to sleep past 12 am. We waste a lot of time lining up for the communal bathroom. Even to use the kitchen we have to line up for at least three hours. [speaking native language] i am here to urge your support for the sro Housing Voucher Program so we can move up to the unit and to have Better Living conditions for my children. Thank you very much. [speaking native language] good afternoon, supervisors. I am a member of the united collaborative. [speaking native language] i am here to urge you today to allocate 5. 6 million to help a family to create a subsidy program. [speaking native language] my husband and my son immigrated here in 2014 and every since then we have lived in this tiny unit. If one person gets sick in the household, everyone gets sick. [speaking native language] i remember very clearly not too long ago i got sick for over three month i got my son sick. When i got better i got sick again. I wasnt able to work for that time because i had to pay a friend it was a hard burden on me and my husband. We were really stressed out. [speaking native language] [speaking native language] my son is now 14 years old and has been america for over five years. Hes really tall now, because we have a very limitedone our units come he often has to bend down in a very tiny low chair and table to do his homework. As a mother, it breaks my heart to see that i was unable to provide better for my son because he needs to study. I want him to have a bright future. [speaking native language] therefore all of the mothers came out today to urge the supervisors to help our children in sro. Thank you. [speaking native language] hello supervisors, my name is tina. I am here to urge supervisors to allocate 5. 6 million for the sro Housing Voucher Program. I have two children, one is a threeyearold and one is 20 months old. [speaking native language] a family of four we live in a tiny sro unit. Im not sure if you know, my unit is only able to sit a bed and nothing else. My children basically do everything on the bed. Eat, play, do their homework, and sleep. [speaking native language] our daily life is waiting in line for everything. The bathroom, the kitchen, everything. [speaking native language] we work very hard, almost every day. Asking the supervisors if you can help us . [speaking native language] my children saw a meant Mental Health person in the bathroom come he doesnt know who the person is aware came from. And now he is scared to go to the bathroom again. [speaking native language] section 8 voucher is our only hope. I hope supervisors can support us. Please help over 400 households in chinatown to move out their units. Thank you. [speaking native language] hi supervisors, my name is gina. [speaking native language] i am urge you to allocate 5. 6 million for the section 8 program. [speaking native language] i am a family of three, our room only fits one bed, nothing else. Not only is my room very tiny, theres also no window in my unit. My room is right across from the garbage room, so every day we have to suffer from the smell. Because of this it has put a lot of stress on my family. Because of this unhealthy condition, my family often get sick especially my young kids. [speaking native language] because of this housing condition, my husband has developed a depression. [speaking native language] i been suffering every day because of this i dont see a future for my family. [speaking native language] my son is only nine years old, i really want to provide him housing, but because of the housing crisis and the rent is so high, even though i worked really hard, not able to move out. The voucher is our only hope so i urge the supervisors to help us. You. [speaking native language] hi supervisors. [speaking native language] i live in chinatown and at the same time i am also an organizer. I am here today to urge you to support the 5. 6 million budget act. I hope that the supervisors would really kill care about the crisis we face in the city. [speaking native language] there was a time my unit housed five people. It was very embarrassing for us, because there is no room for us to change. We can even hear each other breathing. There are about 30 units in our building. It is very common to see people fight over the kitchen. I am not sure if you knew there was a case where a fight over a stove turned into a real fight where people got injured. [speaking native language] the comments you just heard are a tip of the iceberg. There are also many other issues and concerns that we were able to talk to you about today. I am here today to urge you to support the 5. 6 million and helping the voucher for the families. So that our families are able to move out to permanent and stable housing. We hope that you can support 25 vouchers for Homeless People in a shelter. Also 100,000 for the collaboratives to help families looking for housing and filling out applications. [speaking native language] you heard what we have gone through so we would really hope to have y s