Mohawk tribe. Ogala sioux tribe. Osage nation. Pueblo tribe. Rosebud sioux tribe. [reading tribe names] mountain apache tribe. [applause] if you could all remained standing, will have the benediction. Ladies and gentlemen, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats, and if our wonderful native americans who have received their medals, would like to retire to their seats, i will not make you stand while i talk. [laughter] i will say good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and while you might be taking your seats again, allow me to say [speaking native american language] and i beg your forgiveness if i did not decode my greetings and i cannot produce greetings for all of the tribes that we have here today. Mr. Speaker, leader harry reid, leader nancy pelosi, distinguished guests, honorees, guests and families, we are very proud of you, and im very proud to be included today. Here during native American Heritage month, i have the great privi
Permanent residents to encourage them to get to the citizenship, enjoy all those benefits. Those benefits are numerous. Youre going to be able to situate yourself in better jobs. Youre going to get qualified for Training Programs that are only offered sometimes to citizenships. Youre going to always obviously we want to improve your language capabilities so that youre able to navigate these employment Training Programs and all the other engaging programs that we have. San francisco is the Innovation Capital of the world and in that way all of the different ethnicities that arrive in San Francisco of all different backgrounds need to be part of this innovation, because innovation is not about just one particular group of people. Its about everybody participating. And you should hear some of the tech kids that are in the city who want to hear from the chinese american community, the Southeast Asian american haunted, the african immigrant community, the latino immigrant community, Southea
Like mayor lee and the supervisor, im a proud daughter of american immigrants. They came to this country with odds stacked against them to build a Better Future for my siblings and my cousins. My father served in the army, but more important to him was that he served at every polling station in every election from the time he was legally able to do so. And at breakfast before every election was a very, very, very engaged, vivid, enlightened conversation about how my mother should vote, even though she didnt always agree with him, and that really it was our responsibility to comment on the things that mayor lee referenced. What kind of health care should we have . What should be the caliber of our schools . What kind of open space should we have . How should we use land . These are all very critical parts of our democracy and our voice, and im very, very proud on behalf of the San Francisco foundation to partner with the city, adrian and her staff, our Philanthropic Partners, but most o
Well, good morning, everybody. Thank you, adrian. I want to appreciate you, mayor lee, supervisor chiu, and really all of our Philanthropic Partners that are launching this extraordinary pathway to citizenship in San Francisco. The San Francisco foundation for over 60 years has held very central to its core mission the notion that we need to engage every citizen, every resident in order to make our democracy better. And all of the philanthropic organizations that are part of this Pathway Initiative likewise believe that our democracy is better when everybody is included in it. The San Francisco foundation is proud to be a leader and investor in this necessary work, bringing together the deep commitment of all of our immigrant communities, their partners, to assure economic mobility, education, health care access, and, of course, that they are civickly engaged. As the mayor and supervisor chiu said, we are a nation ~ and a city of immigrants. We are a testament to americas spirit of ris
Foundation, dr. Sandra hernandez and tessa rivera, [speaker not understood], Senior Program officer for immigrant rights and integration, walter and alise fund, also known as the haase senior fund. Pam david, the Wallace Alexander gabode foundation, stacey ma and thomas, concerned with immigrants and refugees represented today by felicia barto, deputy director. Also present today are commissioner canali vicechair of the San Francisco immigrant rights commission, city librarian, luis herrera, [speaker not understood], and clementine of the african advocacy network. So, let me provide first of all just a little bit of background on the initiative. In 2008 while serving as city administrator, mayor ed lee created the office of Civic Engagement and immigrant affairs, one of the first such offices in the nation. The intention was to better communicate with and engage our City Residents while providing opportunities for meaningful participation and particularly for under served and vulnerabl