Sales force. I couldnt be happier to host you all on this yard just opened for our new school year after four years in the making. It is a prime example of what investment in our Public Schools can look like. Four years ago, mark benniof, along with the mayors and superintendents from oakland and San Francisco, stood on this very same yard to celebrate the third year of the sales force grant. At that time, there was success to celebrate. Wifi in every middle school, computers and ipads available to every school, the established of the principals innovation fund. We may not have appreciated how much more celebrating there was to come. To date, weve now seen over 40 million invested in the students of San Francisco unified School Districts. [ cheering and applause ]. And 20 million invested in the students at oakland unified. [ cheering and applause ]. This has had incredible results in math, Computer Science, and College Readiness throughout both of these great cities. What i want to share with you today is what this means for presidio and what i observed seeing these transformations. Not just to our physical environments but to our students lives. Here is an example of what our community has seen since 2013. Increased Student Access to and interest in coding and robotics. Teachers and students collaborating in online environments in every classroom in our school. In addition to our beautiful new space, our community enjoys partnering directly with sales force volunteers who have supported our teachers throughout the school in creating welcoming environments for learning. We know that our students thrive when we can surround them with the support of everyone in the community, from teachers to volunteers to Corporate Partners to parents. Id now like to personally thank and introduce mark benniof coc. E. O. And chairman of sales force who has championed this great, incredible, amazing work for our students. [ cheering and applause ]. Thank you so much for coming today. Its a gorgeous day and always the hottest day when we do these announcements. I just want to say you have an amazing team up hear that i want to call out. We have principal dunbar. Thank you for everything youre doing. [ cheering and applause ]. And we have two of our fabulous mayors here in San Francisco and oakland, mayor breed and mayor shaw. Thank you. [ cheering and applause ]. And we have our amazing team here of our superintendents kyle and vincent, thank you for everything that youre doing. [ applause ]. We have anthony from the Sales Force Foundation too. Thank you, ebony. [ cheering and applause ]. Doing work like this really does take a team. One member of our team is not up here and were thinking a lot about him. That is ed lee. It was really mayor lee that had the vision that we felt so strongly about to work on the 12 middle schools. That was seven years ago and now we can see today here is this incredible manifestation of our middle schools getting rebooted and its in his memory that were doing this work. Lets remember him and lets say thank you as well to all of you for being here. Thank you for your support of our kids. Thank you to the kids also. So thank you guys for coming here. [ cheering and applause ]. One thing about doing this is the kids are always like, this is boring, when is it over . Its going to get worse before it gets better. [ laughter ]. I apologize. No, its okay . Youre interested in this . All right. All right. Then lets do it. Thank you, principal dunbar for welcoming us to this beautiful Presidio Middle School and to you and all the staff at presidio that make a difference for our kids. Thanks to our great partners and all of our leaders and great principals here. If youre a principal in San Francisco or oakland, would you just stand up and be recognized. [ cheering and applause ]. You know, these principals who are on the frontlines every single day in these schools and with these kids doing this leadership work. They have our best hopes with them. As part of our program, as our principal innovation program, gets 100,000 a year over the last seven years to do what they think they need to do for their schools. I admire their creativity and desire to improve the education of each school, but i just want to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the schools. Its so powerful. And i also want to thank the kids. Thank you for all of your hard work too and everything youre doing to have a great education. Because ill tell you, the best ideas for our schools come from our kids. As weve been working with the schools, of course we have ideas and our visions and we remember when we were in school or when we were in middle school, but what it means to be in middle school today is different than what i was when i was in middle school. Thank you to you guys for keeping us in touch with whats important and using your voices and also speaking your truth and saying what you really want for your school. Its the kids actually before you who have graduated and over there at George Washington high school who said that they wanted a new playground, that that was very important to them. You can thank them because they used their voices and said thats what they wanted. Thats why were here very much today. Keep in mind as you go forward that we want to hear from you, what youre doing. Were all here because of you. Were all here because we believe in each and every one of you. We believe in your future and we believe that you are going to create an amazing future. Weve had our chance. Our chance is over. [ laughter ]. Now its your chance. So were looking for you to be the leaders and to take us forward and hope fulfully. Im here as your neighbor, not just a c. E. O. When it comes to our Public Schools, a lot of people say they want to help but they dont know how to. Well, a few years ago ago, some of you heard this story before, i came over here, walked through the door, and i said to the principal, how can i help . What can i do . Thats a message for each and every one of us. The principal is the local c. O. Of that school. All we have to do is knock on that door and say, how can we help you . Every c. O. Can adopt a Public School. Every company can adopt a district. Every one of us can do something. I think that that is what is so powerful. Ultimately, its the connection with the principal thats so important the more work that weve done in the Public Schools, we just get reminded of that over and over again. In my mind, i always say how do i make presidio the best school on the planet . Each of us wants the best for our kids and make these the best schools that we can. So often its the principal that knows how to make that happen. Thank you to our principals. Thank you for what youre doing. This has been an amazing process for me. As ive been working on Presidio Middle School, ive had a lot of friends who have gone through this school and i didnt know that when i started the process. Ill tell them this story. Ive adopted this school and this is what were doing and so forth. Different friends of mine have said, i have went there, did you know i went there, one of our Board Members went there. The amazing thing happened is my mom came to me and said she was here for one year. [ laughter ]. Isnt that amazing . So my mom was here for one year. I dont know how she did that. I dont even know how that happened, but luckily i got some kudos from my mom when i said were working on Presidio Middle School. So we so stronger believe at sales force that were here for all of our stakeholders, not just the shareholders. Were here to serve communities, Public Schools, everyone who is part of San Francisco, oakland, or anywhere were doing business. Were thinking about the bigger picture. That is how we guide our companys management and our leadership. This is part of our mission. Thats who we are at sales force. Thats very much why for the last seven years sales force has forged really an unprecedented collaboration with the School Districts of San Francisco and oakland. We are happy to be their largest b benefactors to support them. Our journey has only started. We are at the beginning of what we can do with the schools. We are committed to the long term for our schools. We are there for our districts and for all of you. Its why we adopt Public Schools at sales force, 34 of them in the bay area. 100 around the world that have the same spotlight on them that presidio does. Here we have a commitment that every one of our Senior Vice President s at sales force has a adopt a Public School. Its part of their responsibility. This school is my school, so they lucked out. [ laughter ]. But a lot of the schools have the same level of attention and support. Our colleagues who i want to thank and who are here have given 4 million hours in volunteerism since we started the company. If youre a sales force employee, raise your hand so i can thank you. [ applause ]. Ill tell you, these results, its really working. We monitor if were doing the right things. We see these incredible results for San Francisco and oakland. For fulltime teachers for math and technology. A surge of kids who are enrolled in stem and Computer Science. More young women and more students of color. Higher attendance rates. Higher math scores. Higher grades. You guys all have to get higher grades now, isnt that good news . Thats what were expecting you to be in school more and have higher grades because of this. This year were going to give another 17. 2 million to San Francisco and oakland Public Schools. Incredible. [ applause ]. Im excited that weve given more than 67 million to these local schools. Congratulations to you. We are well on our way to giving 100 million to local San Francisco and oakland Public Schools. I hope that is just the beginning. [ applause ]. You know, i mentioned mayor lee and mayor lee is no longer with us, but our Work Together today is an homage to his life and legacy. We see the results of the partnership right here at presidio. When i adopted this school, i asked the students, what do you want . And they said, we want more fun. I said, well, what does more fun mean . Well, we want more fun at school. What does that mean . We want more computers, better networking, faster networks, better, faster wifi. And we want to have a better playground too. Is this a better playground . Yes. Did you like the prison yard that we had for you here before . No. We thought it was designed by one of the best prison yard design groups. You voted to change it, so we did. Where is ron who designed the playground . Right over here, ron. [ cheering and applause ] thank you, ron. Because when the kids said we wanted a new playground, we hired ron. He is one of the top playground designers in the world. Hes done a lot of amazing things. He came over here and he said, my vision of a School Playground is just a big pile of dirt that kids can play in and create whatever they want, that i admire the creativity of kids. And i thought maybe that wasnt going to go over very well. But ron is still after that idea. Then we came up with a huge vision for what the playground could be. Then the kids who were here before you said we dont like that. Thats not a very good idea. We said, fine, why dont we Work Together. So we created a class where those kids could work with us and ron. For a year they designed the playground you now have. So this playground is designed by the students of the middle school. That is pretty cool. If youre liking it and feeling like they made the right decisions, you should really congratulate them. If you dont like the decisions they made, theyre right over there at George Washington, and you can go talk to them about it. With a help of a grant at sales force, we teamed up with the schools Security Guard to start a new book club. Some of the students in the club were able to attend a book event with the author angie thomas. [ applause ]. Im trying to give you inspiration that everyone here can adopt a Public School. To walk down a few blocks from your house just like i did. To knock on the door of the principal just like i did and let that journey unfold for you. Its very exciting. The most important thing is to listen to the kids because they have the answers. They represent the future of our world. Thats why we do this work, so that they have the education they need to be successful in the future and to take care of us because were getting old. Were going to need you to take care of us. Thank you very much, all of you. Thanks to all of you for being here. Were so grateful to everyone. Thank you. [ applause ]. Mayor breed im next. Thanks to sales force and mark beniof and all the work that you have done to change lives in San Francisco. Whats so amazing about sales force and their incredible leader, mark, is that Public Service is embedded in what this Company Stands for. Its not providing software only, which is a great resource to have, but its making sure that we are all doing our part to give back and support our surrounding community. Im so proud youre a native san franciscan. We appreciate all you have done and will continue to do to improve the lives of all san franciscans. Thank you so much, mark. [ applause ]]. Mayor breed ive got to say mayor shaf thinks it is San Francisco and is surprised that the rich man is shining bright with the sun. Every now and then the sun shines on the west side of San Francisco. I cant help but go back to my time i spent in San Francisco. I wasnt probably as well behaved as some of the kids are here today. In middle school, i was a handful. In fact, id always have to go to our girls Counselors Office and say it wasnt me this time. The thing about the teachers and principal, they never gave up on me. They supported, encouraged, listened to me. School was my sanctuary. Coming from a community i lived in public housing. There was a lot of challenges in my community. I was so blessed to have incredible teachers, counselors and principals. I played french horn at franklin ben and i wasnt that bad at it. The opportunity to be a part of an Incredible Community was what inspired me to want to also give back. Because i wanted to make sure that every young person in this city had an opportunity to succeed and to do whatever they want to do in life. There are people who invested in me at a time when i didnt understand what it meant to support the efforts and the work that i was doing in school. Now i get it. They were preparing me for a better future. That is our responsibility. It is a responsibility that i dont take lightly. Sales force has been at the forefront of really investing, but also Holding Others accountable to do more to invest in our young people. We have the resources right here in San Francisco. There was a real disconnect between my community and what was happening downtown in the financial district. A real disconnect between all the possibilities that existed in this city. Its why i started opportunities for all, to make sure that every High School Student has access to a paid internship. I know sales force provides incredible internship opportunities so these young people can learn firsthand what happens in the world of finance, technology, or any industry they choose to be a part of. Whether they want to take over when mark retires in a couple of years. [ laughter ]. Mayor breed he says you have to take care of him on top of taking his job. Whether i mean, im term limit out eventually. Were going to need new mayors, councilors, principals. Were going to need the next generation to not only take over the world in all these amazing positions, but were also going to need you to save our planet. There is a lot of work to be done and it starts right here, making sure that no child is left behind, no matter their financial circumstances, no matter if they were raised like i was by my grandmother in public housing, no matter where they come from in the four corners of this city, we want to make sure that we invest in our young people and that they have successful. Thats what today is about. Yes, it is a significant contribution, larger than any weve received in the city, but its a personal commitment from mark beniof and sales force, many of our officials and others, to do better, to make sure we are taking care of our young people every single day. It matters. Its the difference between what happened in my family. I became mayor and, sadly, my brother is still incarcerated. I lost a sister to a drug overdose. This is the same family, the same community. What a difference it makes when you make the right investment. So lets make sure that we listen to what mark is talking about. All of the companies out there in San Francisco, were coming for you so that you can take care of our kids and our future. [ cheering and applause ]. Mayor breed we all have to start taking responsibility for everybody elses kids too. Thats what today is about. I want to make sure that ten years from now that these young people are prepared for the future, theyre prepared to take over our jobs. I can tell by the look in their eyes that theyre going to do just that. So today is a celebration. Thank you all so much for joining us here today. At this time, i want to introduce my sister from across the bay. Shes making it happen in oakland and shes doing great things every single day on housing, on education. Im just so grateful to have a partner to address so many of the challenges that we know we face in some incredible cities by the bay. Ladies and gentlemen, oakland mayor, libby schaaf. I brought the oakland weather with me. It is so good to be here in our bay area. We may have two cities, but we have one bay. We have one bay area. We know that we rise or fall togeth together. Also in memory, since you invoked the memory of our mayor ed lee, someone who lived the values of regionalism. One thing i hope you all know about the mayors of oakland and San Francisco is we are homegrown girls and we are graduates of our Public School system. [ cheering and applause ]. Now, i want to pile on to londons challenge to the corporate community. There is a lot of talk these days about shareholder responsibility, how that is a thing of the past and we need to move on to stakeholder responsibility. I challenge other companies to do what sales force has done. That is put your money where your mouth is and put your love where your money is. The fact that sales force does not just Pay Lip Service to the idea of Corporate Responsibility but they invest deeply and they invest with humility. I dont know if ive ever heard a c. E. O. Use the word listen so much in a speech. I know you have not heard a lot of c. E. O. Speeches, but i have. Its not a verb that comes up often. Sales force approaches this partnership with our School District with a huge sense of humility, with a curiosity and a desire to learn from you young people who are the stakeholders. That is something that i think has made you successful in business, but it is also making you a success in our community. The fact that you dont just write a check, look at the love of all these blueshirtwearing geeks in the back row. Notice they let the kids sit in the shade and they are roasting in the sun back there. That is love. Now, i want to talk about what excites me so much specifically about the investment in oakland. Young people, we throw around this 8. 7 million. Let me say it in the long form 8,700,000. Okay. Think of a stack of 1 bills. Thats some serious cash. That is just this year. I just want to recognize that since you began partnering with oakland, you have increased your investment every year. [ cheering and applause ]. Since london had a go back in your time machine, youre going to have to indulge me a little bit too. We all can picture in our minds that teacher, that teacher that changed our lives, that teacher who is the reason that we developed the confidence, the vision, maybe the hutspah to be where we are today. What excites me about this years investment from sales force is a new focus on teacher recruitment and retention. [ applause ]. Teachers like ms. Ducatz. She was my Dance Teacher at skyline high school. When i started running for mayor, she would show up at all my events. She would raise her hand and inform everybody that would listen that when i was in high school i choreographed a dance number where i literally leapt off a tall structure into the trusting arms of my fellow dancers and that she knew i was going to be a great mayor because i have always been a risk taker. There she was. My High School Teacher tracked me down to support me for running for mayor in my hometown a lot of decades later. Trust me, my young friends, when i went to high school, i took typing class. There were no computers. There was no internet, no facebook, no snapchat, no fortnite, none of that stuff. And yet, when i became the mayor and visited my Old High School campus, it didnt look a lot different. Now sales force has changed that with a deep investment in Computer Science. You all probably dont know what a typewriter is, do you . Do you know who a typewriter is . I see a blank look right there. Its all right. Its all right. You dont need them anymore. Yeah, you. I am also truly excited in our investment in our newcomer population. I am extremely proud to be possibly the most unapologetic city mayor in america. [ applause ]. We know that our region thrives because of its commitment to inclusive diversity, and we recognize that while everyone in this expensive bay area is struggling, there is a special need from our families who are fleeing oppression, violence, and seeking opportunity in this country. We want to welcome them and help them be successful and thrive in our communities which we want them to feel is home. In oakland, we know that, like San Francisco, we struggle with homelessness. And yet, when we look at our Homeless Population of our students in schools, half are newcomer, uncompanied minors. That is something that deserves our serious attention, love, and care. Thank you for investigating in th that. [ applause ]. Finally, i want to recognize your continuing investment in middle schools. Middle school was miserable for me. It was a hard time. And yet, it is one of the most crucial turning points in our life, when you find your identity, where you start to dream big, where you start to see your future unfold before you. As i introduce our next speaker, i will share something personal because i know shes going to go into a little bit more depth about the oakland investment. One little fun fact about the two of us. I see you, principal. We are both the mothers of middle school, Public School students in oakland. So to our incredible, heroic middle School Principals, this investment could not be more deserved than by the leaders that take care of not just our babies, but literally our babies. Its my pleasure to introduce to you the superintendent of the oakland unified School District, kyla johnson. Trammell. [ applause ]. Thank you all for being here. I want to give a shout out to my tour guide so i could see the campus. Thank you for your hospitality and touring us around. If you can repeat after me. I am because you are. I am going to flip that a little bit. I am because we are. This was an old african proverb that my grandmother said to me a lot. It resonates in terms of why were here beyond the cameras, beyond all the lights. Really what i believe is in marks heart and all of our hearts is that we are much Better Together than we are as individuals. When we all come together with our brilliance, when we come together with our resources, when we come together with our determination for these students, we can do impossible things. I truly believe that. If theres anything that you all get out of today. Its, one, that i believe mark has not only set forth a vision, but actually a pretty concrete model in terms of how corporate can work hand in hand with School Districts. I think theres so much more we can do if we Work Together. I want to talk a little bit some of the journey weve been on in oakland, specifically around middle schools. I want to give a shout out to some of my middle School Principals, superintendent. I know there was a lot of them that worked together with mark. So the listening isnt lip service. Its really him coming and listening to what are the needs in the schools. Oakland and San Francisco, we have similar challenges, but there are differences. There is a different context. He really took the time, hours, to really listen for us to craft the best way to use the resources so that we would have impacts. So we really decided that we would focus on middle school, knowing that ultimately we want our kids to graduate, not only prepared for college, not only prepared for work, but prepared to be thriving, productive citizens. So really wanting to have a deep investment in middle school, knowing how critical that adolescent time is, to prepare kids to actually be their best selves in high school. Were starting to see some gains in math achievement. We focused on investing and professional development for teachers. Across the united states, its very challenging to actually recruit math and science teachers. Particularly right now in the bay area to retain. Who believes that living in the bay area is expensive, raise your hand. Okay. So were working creatively, the mayor, corporate, Public School systems to figure out how can we make a place . We cannot can thriving cities unless our Public Servants can afford to live in the city. Am i right . That is a problem that we all need to take ownership of, and mark is doing that with us in terms of really developing pipelines. In terms of preparing kids for the world of work, weve really focused on having not only a few Computer Science classes in some of our middle schools, but really thinking of a clear pathway. We know for students that look like me, we want to give them exposure early and be able to see themselves as future marks, entrepreneurs, anything they want to be in middle school before they get to high school. So weve grown from having Computer Science classes in two of our middle schools, access to 82 schools to now over 1,750 students in our middle schools and working on improving the rigour of those programs. Im a big believer that Computer Science is a language, just like spanish, just like french. So whether a kid goes into stem field, thats great, but we want all kids to understand the devices that theyre using and how they work. That is a right every kid should have as part of their education. When were thinking about what education should be in the future. Were now on the pathway to have that as an integral part of our curriculum in middle school. Finally in terms of our newcomer population thats growing leaps and bounds. We want to support our students to be their best selves. With this partnership we have developed for supports for students in terms of mental health, any other wraparound services. So when they enter the country they can be as successful as possible. Those are some of the concrete examples in the way this partnership has helped us. I want to challenge you, when you look around the world, you really do see the village here. You see some of our teachers and principals that are here. Obviously what were all here for, which are students. But i see folks from nonprofit. I see elected officials. I see corporations. So again, when were all with the gifts that we have, with the resources and the talents that we have when we come together, we really can support all of our students in both cities. Thank you all for the investments and thank you all for being here. [ applause ]. Without further ado, i would like to introduce my partner in crime on similarly dr. Matthews was raised in San Francisco. So we both have the privilege of leading School Districts. He is the former state administrator and superintendent in san jose and now the wonderful superintendent of San Francisco. He is my friend and my mentor. So i would like to bring him to the mic. [ applause ]. Good afternoon, everyone. Im going to try that again. Good afternoon, everyone. This is an exciting afternoon, an exciting day. I want to thank sales force for not only what youre doing this year, but the last seven years. Its been amazing to watch this happen over time. Actually, one of our principals, hes in the back, i want, charles, if you can stand up just for a second. [ applause ]. I just wanted you to place a face with the many middle School Principals who are sitting in this room today. Think about the challenge that theyre presented with. Six years ago our Community Came together and we created a vision of where we wanted our students to be and what we wanted our graduates to look like. We called that vision 2025. We were all in agreement that this is what we wanted, but we knew we would not be able to get there without significant changes in how our schools operate. We knew there is no way we could make that happen with just the public dollars that we had. Sales force came in and they listened. You heard that earlier. They listened to what we were saying. They made the commit to support that vision, that every student would discover their spark along with a strong sense of self and purpose and graduate ready for college and career. Weve been able to go much further much faster because of this partnership with sales force. We would not have been able to get where we are today without that partnership and without sales force coming in and being that partner with us. With the investments from sales force in stem, we created the nations first prek Computer Science program and we strengthened our math instruction. Sales force is helping us transform the middle School Experience for our students by encouraging principalled innovation and enabling more handson student learning. As i said earlier, this does not happen without sales force being there. The results speak for themselves. Our district is the first urban district in california to exceed 50 proficiency in mathematics. Im going to wait for the [ applause applause. [ applause ]. Under the new common core aligned assessments, the number of students studying Computer Science over the last five years has grown from 700 students, five years ago it was 700 students in San Francisco unified studying Computer Science to 25,000 today. [ applause ]. One of the things that you need to understand is when we had 700 students in Computer Science, most of those students were white or asian males. Today those 25,000 students are reflective of our demographics of our district, more latino students, more asian students, more women. So lets give that a big round of applause. [ applause ]. You heard a bit about my background. Ive had the pleasure and privilege this is my 14th year of being a superintendent. There is supposed to be a gasp because i just cant possibly be that old. There you go, i like that sound. 14th year of being a superintendent in four large urban School Districts. In each and every one of those previous districts, my hope and what i prayed for was a Strong Partnership with the community partners. Sales force is not only the best partnership that ive ever seen. It is actually the model for what these partnerships should look like. From the bottom of my heart, i thank you. I thank each and every one of you. This is what it takes to make it happen for our young people. Being involved, standing shouldertoshoulder, listening, rolling up our sleeves, and making it happen. So thank you to you all. [ applause ]. Now its my pleasure to introduce the chief philanthropy officer for sales force, ms. Ebony beckworth. [ applause ]. Thank you, dr. Matthews. I have the honor and privilege of wrapping this up and bringing this home, and i promise to be brief. [ laughter ]. Hi, marks mom. [ laughter ]. So i just want to say and im sure you all feel the same that i am so inspired to be here today celebrating this partnership, celebrating youth students, and celebrating our Public Schools. This is really amazing work were doing and its so important. As mark said, we really want to issue a call to action to all c. E. O. S and to all companies to adopt a public goal. We feel that its so important. Yes. Id like to thank all of the speakers for being here today. We know that this work wouldnt be possible without us working and partnering together. I would like to thank all of the sales force people for being here. And last but not least, i would like to give it up to the students, not just the Presidio Middle School students, but all the students who make up our bay area. Lets give it up to them. All right. Thank you all for being here and have a wonderful afternoon. Thanks, everyone. [ ] [ ] i am the supervisor of district one. I am sandra lee fewer. [ ] i moved to the Richmond District in 1950 mine. I was two years old. I moved from chinatown and we were one of the first asian families to move out here. [ ] when my mother decided to buy that house, nobody knew where it was. It seems so far away. For a long time, we were the only chinese family there but we started to see the areas of growth to serve a larger chinese population. The stress was storage of the birthplace of that. My father would have to go to chinatown for dim sum and i remember one day he came home and said, there is one here now. It just started to grow very organically. It is the same thing with the russian population, which is another very large ethnic group in the Richmond District. As russia started to move in, we saw more russian stores. So parts of the richmond is very concentrated with the Russian Community and immigrant Russian Community, and also a chinese immigrant community. [ ] i think as living here in the richmond, we really appreciate the fact that we are surrounded three natural barriers. They are beautiful barriers. The presidio which gives us so many trails to walk through, ocean beach, for families to just go to the beach and be in the Pacific Ocean. We also also have a National Park service. We boarded the Golden Gate NationalRecreation Area so there is a lot of activity to do in the summer time you see people with bonfires. But really families enjoying the beach and the Pacific Ocean during the rest of the time of year. [ ] and Golden Gate Park where we have so many of our treasures here. We have the tea garden, the museum and the academy of sciences. Not to mention the wonderful playgrounds that we have here in richmond. This is why i say the richmond is a great place for families. The theatre is a treasure in our neighborhood. It has been around for a very long time. Is one of our two neighborhood theatres that we have here. I moved here when i was 1959 when i was two years old. We would always go here. I love these neighborhood theatres. It is one of the places that has not only a landmark in the Richmond District, but also in San Francisco. Small theatres showing one or two films. A unique they are unique also to the neighborhood and San Francisco. Where we are today is the heart of the Richmond District. With what is unique is that it is also Small Businesses. There is a different retail here it is mom and pop opening up businesses. And providing for the neighborhood. This is what we love about the streets. The cora door starts on clement street and goes all the way down to the end of clement where you will see Small Businesses even towards 32nd. At the core of it is right here between here and 20 tenth avenue. When we see this variety of stores offered here, it is very unique then of the any other part of San Francisco. There is traditional irish music which you dont get hardly anywhere in San Francisco. Some places have this long legacy of serving ice cream and being a hangout for families to have a sunday afternoon ice cream. And then also, we see grocery stores. And also these restaurants that are just new here, but also thriving. [ ] we are seeing restaurants being switched over by hand, new owners, but what we are seeing is a vibrancy of clement street still being recaptured within new businesses that are coming in. That is a really great thing to see. I dont know when i started to shop here, but it was probably a very, very long time ago. I like to cook a lot but i like to cook chinese food. The market is the place i like to come to once a year. Once i like about the market as it is very affordable. It has Fresh Produce and fresh meat. Also, seafood. But they also offer a large selection of condiments and sauces and noodles. A variety of rice that they have is tremendous. I dont thank you can find a variety like that anywhere else. Hi. I am kevin wong. I am the manager. In 1989 we move from chinatown to Richmond District. We have opened for a bit, over 29 years. We carry products from thailand, japan, indonesia, vietnam, singapore and india. We try to keep Everything Fresh daily. So a customer can get the best out a bit. Normally during crab season in november, this is the first place i hit. Because they have really just really fresh crab. This is something my family really likes for me to make. Also, from my traditional chinese food, i love to make a kale soup. They cut it to the size they really want. I am probably here once a week. Im very familiar with the aisles and they know everyone who is a cashier cashier here i know when people come into a market such as this, it looks like an asian supermarkets, which it is and sometimes it can be intimidating. We dont speak the language and many of the labels are in chinese, you may not know what to buy or if it is the proper ingredients for the recipe are trying to make. I do see a lot of people here with a recipe card or sometimes with a magazine and they are looking for specific items. The staff here is very helpful. I speak very little chinese here myself. Thinks that im not sure about, i asked the clerk his and i say is this what i need . Is this what i should be making . And they actually really helped me. They will bring me to the aisle and say this is battery. They are very knowledgeable. Very friendly. I think they are here to serve not only the Asian Community but to serve all communities in the Richmond District and in San Francisco. [ ] what is wonderful about living here is that even though our july is a very foggy and overcast, best neighborhood, the sleepy part outside on the west side is so rich with history, but also with all the amenities that are offered. [ ] as latinos we are unified in some ways and incredibly diverse in others and this exhibit really is an exploration of nuance in how we present those ideas. Our debts are not for sale. A piece about sanctuary and how his whole family served in the army and its a long Family Tradition and these people that look at us as foreigners, we have been here and we are part of america, you know, and we had to reinforce that. I have been cure rating here for about 18 year. We started with a table top, candle, flower es, and a picture and people reacted to that like it was the monna lisa. The most important tradition as it relates to the show is idea of making offering. In Traditional Mexican alters, you see food, candy, drinks, cigarettes, the things that the person that the offerings where being made to can take with them into the next word, the next life. Keeps u. S us connects to the people who have passed and because family is so important to us, that Community Dynamic makes it stick and makes it visible and it humanizes it and makes it present again. When i first started doing it back in 71, i wanted to do something with ritual, ceremony and history and you know i talked to my partner ross about the research and we opened and it hit a cord and people loved it. I think the line between engaging everyone with our culture and appropriating it. I think it goes back to asking people to bring their visions of what it means to honor the dead, and so for us its not asking us to make mexican altars if they are not mexican, its really to share and expand our vision of what it means to honor the dead. People are very respectful. I can show you this year alone of people who call tol ask is it okay if we come, we are hawaii or asian or we are this. What should we wear . What do you recommend that we do . They say oh, you know, we want a four day of the dead and its all hybrid in this country. What has happened are paper cuts, its so hybrid. It has spread to mexico from the bay area. We have influence on a lot of people, and im proud of it. A lot of tim times they dont represent we represent a lot of cultures with a lot of different perspectives and beliefs. I can see the city changes and its scary. When we first started a lot of people freaked out thinking we were a cult and things like that, but we went out of our way to also make it educational through outreach and that is why we started doing the prosession in 1979. As someone who grew up attending the yearly processions and who has seen them change incrementally every year into kind of what they are now, i feel in many ways that the cat is out of the bag and there is no putting the genie back into the bottle in how the wider public accesses the day of the dead. I have been through three different generations of children who were brought to the procession when they were very young that are now bringing their children or grandchildren. In the 80s, the processions were just kind of electric. Families with their homemade visuals walking down the street in San Francisco. Service so much more intimate and personal and so much more rooted in kind of a Family Practice of a very strong cultural practice. It kind of is what it is now and it has gone off in many Different Directions but i will always love the early days in the 80s where it was so intimate and son sofa millial. Our goal is to rescue a part of the culture that was a part that we could invite others to join in there there by where we invite the person to come help us rescue rescue it also. Thats what makes it unique. You have to know how to approach this changing situation, its exhausting and i have seen how it has affected everybody. Whats happening in mission and the relationship with the police, well its relevant and its relevant that people think about it that day of the dead is not just sugar skulls and paper flowers and candles, but its become a nondenominational tradition that people celebrate. Our culture is about color and family and if that is not present in your life, there is just no meaning to it you know . We have artists as black and brown people that are in direct danger of the direct policies of the trump a administration and i think how each of the artists has responsibilitie responded ss interesting. The common