This city we must Work Together to protect our immigrant families. We must stand united in the face of intolerance and today with the opening of this new incredible Family Resource center were showing that San Francisco supports all residents. I want to thank sam reese here today for hosting us and acknowledge the latino parity coalition for providing families in need. And im delighted to be here to acknowledge the role they play in diverse families and the newest member is the El Centro Bayview, which will open applause which will open its doors this friday. And it is just such a beautiful facility. Im so excited with how welcoming it will be to the community. Since 2009 the centers have operated across the city providing Cultural Services to families and youth. And with the opening of El Centro Bayview, San Francisco can proudly say 26 centers are serving residents and neighborhoods throughout San Francisco. They will be specifically charged with providing services to immigrant communities who for one reason or another are unaware or hesitate to reach out for support or services. It is so important that these families step out of the shadows and receive the resources they need. We understand why they are weary to do so, they feel attacked, we hear the threats from our federal government every single day sadly. And just this monday President Trump ended the temporary protective status for our el salvador residents who came because of a devastating earthquake in their country. And similar to haiti and nicaragua and pushing families out for trying to make a better life for themselves or trying to tear them down or build walls will not make our country safer or stronger. The people who are a part of this country, the immigrants and the folks who are part of the communities is what makes our city and our country stronger. applause and we are here to remind residents in San Francisco, in this city you will always be defended, you will always be supported and we in San Francisco are a sanctuary city today, tomorrow and always. applause El Centro Bayview will be a place of community, a place where families can grow and thrive and children can reach their dreams. When we open the Resource Center were telling the administration we will not back down from our values here in San Francisco. We will stand strong, we will stand proud, we will continue to do all we can to put the resources into Resource Centers like this that are going to continue to support our families. This is so important. This is a major step in the right direction and im so grateful to our Many Community partners who make this work possible, the ones in the trenches doing the work working with our communities and families and at this time i want to bring up sam reese for some comment. applause and i was going to talk a little bit about Family Resource centers but somebody beat me to it. laughter excellent, youre hired. So good morning everyone. Before i say anything more, out of respect for someone who helped us lead the process for this site to become a reality, honorable mayor lee. Without his support we wouldnt be here this morning. With that being said, i would appreciate it if i could use one of my five minutes specifically in honor of mayor lee. A minute of silence, please. moment of silence thank you everyone. Much appreciated. So, we are here at the site called southeast families united. This is an early care and family facility, one of 11 Sites Mission operates in various neighborhoods in San Francisco. This site is introducing a Family Resource center with one goal in mind, that is to provide our children attending these classrooms with the necessary support for our families to thrive. It is the parent who is the First Teacher and the First Teacher must always be ready to engage with their child, to support their child, to nurture the child so he she can develop into an individual who is a contributor to our community and our society. The reality is that its not just what the child learns in the classroom, its also what happens at the home. Unfortunately, many, most of our families whose child is attending our classrooms here are experiencing significant barriers, significant challenges at home. And mostly because they have been through the eviction process. In San Francisco in the Mission District in the last 10 years weve lost 8,000 families. Thats a lot of folks. And yes, they have moved, they have relocated to counties outside of San Francisco, but the neighborhood of choice, there have been two neighborhoods of choice for families relocating, one is bayview Hunters Point and the other is the exselsior. Its no longer about families renting a room to live in, its renting a hallway to live in. That places significant issues on our families and the Family Resource center with a Competent Team will support these families as they move on to hopefully a better situation. So, i also want to say that im glad that our courts have stepped in to address the issue that was just identified by our mayor. But i also have another stark reality that i think we need to accept. Our core value at Mission Neighborhood centers with Early Head Start program is to prepare the child to enter school and succeed throughout so they can graduate and continue on to college and graduate. Now, the reality that were facing whether we want to accept it or not is in our prison system. Lets all understand one fact, fact of life that you cannot contradict, not 50, not 60, not 70, not 80 but more than 80 of our prisoners, of our men and women happen to be high school dropouts. Over 80 . Now, yes, its true at this site well only look after 52 children, but all the data that we have, every single report we have read, those children, children from low income families who have access to Early Education programs will most likely graduate and continue on to college and graduate from college. Thats our goal and with support from mayor breed, well make that a reality. In closing, i would like to acknowledge that this effort, our coalition and frc at this point is being introduced because of two other organizations with Mission Neighborhood centers at the lead, Good Samaritan community Resource Center. applause is one of our partners. Our second is Mission Economic association. applause so with that, i would like to thank the Mayors Office of Community HousingMayors Office of housing and community development. They keep changing the name. My apologies. laughter thank you very much. So i would like to introduce our next speaker, a client of Mission Neighborhood centers, a parent, anna spanish applause well have Translation Services for those who cant speak spanish. Thank you. voice of translator hello good morning. Im very grateful to be here to be here with everyone here at Mission Neighborhood centers. speaking french speaking spanish voice of translator my experience with missionary Neighborhood Centers is they have provided childcare for me and one of my daughters is there as well. speaking spanish voice of translator theres a lot of people here in our community that dont know a lot about the services here in our community. speaking spanish voice of translator a lot of the barriers that our Latino Community here face is not being able to speak english and just being afraid because they dont speak english. speaking spanish voice of translator many times we are in fear so we dont Seek Services because we dont have our immigration status in order. speaking spanish voice of translator our community here needs houses and jobs. speaking spanish voice of translator i think that if our community here was aware of more services, things would be a lot easier for us. speaking spanish voice of translator i hope that together here in this community of bayview, together we can all do more. speaking spanish voice of translator many times in my case i live here in the Bayview District but have had to go to the Mission District to get services. speaking spanish voice of translator thank you for opening the center and for it being able to support me and to Work Together. end of translation applause so our San Francisco latino parity and Equity Coalition consists of 21 member organizations and included in those 21, the executive director is joining us this morning and is the next speaker. applause good morning. Today is a good day. Like a few days recently, when were able to come together and not only celebrate the opening and expansion of services to latino families in San Francisco and immigrant families, like we heard our mothers talk about how important it is to have access to services in your community and not have to travel, which is always difficult when you have children, especially if youre taking Public Transportation and this is a long time coming. The Latino Community has been part of the Bayview District for decades and has been underserved and so this space creates an opportunity to build a community and black and brown and multicultural alliances, mainly with low income families in our cities. Were proud of the advocacy that resulted in Additional Resources granted by mayor lee so we could be here today expanding services to our children and families and make the best investment a city can make, in our children, youth and families. And were happy to say justice is ruling in favor of our youth once again and of whats right. San francisco has been a pillar in the nation and even internationally in terms of expanding protections for immigrant communities, making sure that our city is a city that affirms a value that were a city for everyone. We know this ruling today will only lead us to a greater victory for the dreamers, because they are one of our citys, our nations greatest assets. Theyre bilingual, theyre bicultural. Today were investing in our most precious assets, our children, youth and families. Congratulations and let the work continue. Thank you mayor. applause thank you for the words. And also mayor london breed, thank you for being with us this morning. It is greatly appreciated. And with those words, also thank all of you for joining us this morning and this press conference now is closed. Thank you very much. Thank you. applause we think over 50 thousand permanent residents in San Francisco eligible for citizenship by lack information and resources so really the project is not about citizenship but really academy our immigrant community. Making sure theyre a part of what we do in San Francisco the San Francisco pathway to Citizenship Initiative a unique part of just between the city and then our 5 local foundations and Community Safe organizations and it really is an effort to get as many of the legal permanent residents in the San Francisco since 2013 we started reaching the San Francisco bay area residents and 10 thousand people into through 22 working groups and actually completed 5 thousand applications for citizenship our cause the real low income to moderate income resident in San Francisco and the bayview sometimes the workshops are said attend by poem if san mateo and from sacking. We think over restraining order thousand legal permanent residents in San Francisco that are eligible for citizenship but totally lack information and they dont have trained professionals culturally appropriate with an audience youre working with one time of providing services with pro bono lawyers and trained professionals to find out whether your eligible the first station and go through a purview list of questions to see if they have met the 56 year residents arrangement or theyre a u. S. Citizenship they once they get through the screening they go to legal communication to see lawyers to check am i eligible to be a citizen we send them to station 3 thats when they sit down with experienced advertising to fill out the 4 hundred naturalization form and then to final review and at the end he helps them with the check out station and send them a packet to fill and wait a month to 6 weeks to be invited in for an oral examine and if they pass two or three a months maximum get sworn in and become a citizen every single working groups we have a learning how to vote i mean there are tons of Community Resources we go for citizenship prep classes and have agencies it stays on site and this is filing out forms for people that are eligible so not just about your 22 page form but other Community Services and benefits theres an economic and safety Public Benefit if we nationalize all people to be a citizen with the network no objection over 3 million in income for those but more importantly the city saves money 86 million by reducing the benefit costs. Thank you. Ive been here a loventh i already feel like an american citizen not felt it motorbike that needs to happen for good. One day i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, for liberty and justice for all. Youre welcome. singing . clapping. introduce the San Francisco field officer director ribbon that will mirror the oath raise your hand and repeat the oath i hereby declare on oath repeating. Citizens cry when they become citizenship to study this difficult examine and after two trials they come back im an american now were proud of that purpose of evasion so help me god please help me welcome seven hundred and 50 americans. speaking foreign language. she wants to be part of the country and vote so much puppy. You know excited and as i said it is a long process i think that needs to be finally recognized to be integrated that is basically, the type of that i see myself being part of. Out of everybody on tv and the news he felt that is necessary to be part of community in that way i can do so many things but my voice wouldnt count as it counts now. Its everybody i hoped for a bunch of opportunities demographics and as you can see yourself theres a good life for everyone. Thats why. You have people from all the walks that life and theyre standing in water 8 hours to be an american citizen and contribute to the city and thats really what makes this worthwhile. Good morning. Its such an amazing, wonderful, wonderful morning. Thank you for coming to this incredible event. Im the director from the office of the mayor. I want to do a few House Keeping notes beforehanding it over. I want to thank the office, our incredible leader here who made the event possible. And the partners at jon stewart company. I know i see kathryn back there, the amazing people. Thank you for your leadership. applause and the community of infrastructure and investment, nadia, you are somewhere here. Thank you so much for the investment in the Amazing Development and the Mayors Office of housing and community development. Thank you for coming here. So without further adue, we want to start the celebration this Ribbon Cutting, this amazing moment, we have our Supervisor Malia Cohen and mayor london breed here. First, i want to bring up our director to kick us off. applause thank you very much for being here this morning. This is a really, really important time for me and for all of us. As a child growing up here in Hunters Point, i actually played on this very spot where were standing. Which is a surprise, that our Childcare Center is now here. We lived right there in the building right there in the place right here we were playing as children, my sister and i, who is the cofounder and there was a lot of housing in this area here. When we opened up the center and