to hangout or come in from outside to get the tools they need to begin to resolve their homelessness. we have lots of programs and lots of educational and behavioral health supports that are here throughout the city. we are excited to be here with our partners to launch or to be a small part of the effort to address child trafficking. larkin street started years ago with huckleberry to fight youth trafficking. we know without intervention on the streets, children are at high risk for trafficking if we don't get to them soon. i think the most wonderful thing about this partnership is the prevention and the early intervention and the collaboration and us bringing together so many partners to work on this issue in a very profound way. we're excited to be here and excited to be a small part of it. and i am always honored and delighted to get to introduce our -- our mayor. mayor breed has been in office for just about a year now, right -- tomorrow? wow. [applause] >> she has been an active supporter of homelessness, of youth homelessness, of diamond youth shelter, which is one of the -- our part in this project, and so much more in the city to support young people to help all -- to help so many of us -- so many residents in san francisco thrive, and i am deeply honored to introduce you this morning, so welcome. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you. i am excited to be here. thank you, cheryl lynn, and thank you to larkin street for all the work that you continue to do to support young people in san francisco and huckaberry, i'm excited to have this organization as well as other organizations for partnering what we are announcing today, which is a $9.3 million grant from the department of social services for the state of california, which is absolutely incredible. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: this was a very competitive grant, and it was awarded to ten partnering organizations who helped to deal with the challenges that we know sadly so many of our young people face around sexual exploitation. in fact, in 2017 in san francisco, we had over 300 reported cases from young people of sexual exploitation. and in most cases, they were women of color and women from our lgbtq community. we know that just last year, cheryl lynn and the folks from larkin street, we announced the rising up campaign where we are determined and committed to end youth homelessness in san francisco, investing millions of dollars in providing the kinds of support and wraparound services that young people in order to get their lives on track. we know that all young people may not have that safety net, may not have that support. i did not have that support in my family. in fact, i was so lucky that i had a grandmother that took in my brothers and me and raised us. my grandmother was very strict, very focused, she determined to make sure she did everything she could to protect us. when young people don't have that safety net, when they don't have that support, when they don't have that protection, sadly, that's when they turn to predators and do things that they never thought they'd do. and this $9.3 million grant allows us to provide services and housing, and to track and find out what we can do better to keep this from happening in the first place. so i'm excite todd to see how is going to change the lives of so money youany young people i city. we are well on our way to addressing so many challenges that we know we face one at a time. it takes dedicated partners, it takes dedicated public servants, it takes dedicated people from the public community who care about addressing these issues, and so i want to thank each and every one of you for being here today. this is an amazing, amazing grant, and i am looking forward to the implementation and changes that i know are going to come forward as a result of this funding. thank you so much. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and with that, i'd like to introduce the director for the commission on the status of women, emily murase. [applaus [applause] >> commissioner murase: thank you so much, mayor. i wanted to recognize the mayor for empowerment of youth and her focused commitment to housing individuals who are homeless. as you know, commercially sexually exploited children are mostly homeless. it's really one of the root causes of this problem, and now, it's my great pleasure to introduce the executive director and founder of freedom forward, alia whitney johnson and doug styles, my second grade classmate and director of huckleberry youth program. please give them a warm welcome. [applause] >> good morning. thank you, cheryl lynn for hosting us this morning, and thank you, mayor breed and commissioner murase for the work that you do on behalf of young people in our community. i realize that commercial sexual exploitation is a story of failures. times that we have failed to meet young people's needs, and these young people have taken their needs into their own hands. times to fail to respond with compassion when they needed us has added to their story. but within this story is a story of incredible youth brilliances, a story of navigating the system, a hustle that is purposely resourceful, resilient. knowledge that is absolutely critical if we want to build a vibrant, healthy system that works for all. these are the voices that we are centering in this continuum. they deserve choices, and they deserve a system that works for them and a voice in what that system should be. by ensuring young people are a part of our design process, and that we build in feedback loops to honor their input, we believe we will build a more effective system of care for all. so what is this collaborative that we're building and here today to announce? through this grant, we're bringing together 11 community partners to develop a continuum of services that we hope will meet youth where they are, recognizing that meaningful change is rarely linear and needs to meet youth when they are ready. this continuum includes five major components as well as a protocol for navigating those components and a rigorous evaluation. we hope to openly share our successes learned, and if effective, to replicate what works across the state. the five components of this continuum include first, a drop-in center where youth will be able to access services under one roof whether or not they identify as being exploited or currently being housed in the continuum. second, a launch pad shelter for youth transitioning from life on the streets or unsafe living situations. third, a short-term residential treatment program. fourth, a new model of family-based foster care right here in their community with wraparound support. and finally, 24-7 response and emergency services. family first will be leading the foster and family services. we a our role will be to facilitate and coordinate services from across our community, bringing the best our community has to offer, remaining accountable to what youth want. in early 2020, we also aim to launch our family-based foster care pilot. as many of you in this room now, problems in foster care often lead teams to being moved around -- teens to being moved around, isolated, surrounded by only professionals, far from loved ones and the people who they care most about. all of this instability and lock of connection makes an environment that's ripe for exploitation. we plan to pilot a new model of foster care that will provide stable family homes right here in their community and will wrap youth and families with both the professional support that they need as well as a real emphasis on the relationship with family and friends that youth want in their lives. this pilot will engage a great team of providers in what they do best, including family builders, west coast children's clinic, huckleberry youth programs, and this pilot will also include additional caregivers, who provide what grandmas do, like what mayor breed talked about, so often, aunties and grandmas show up to support our youth. as i step back and think about building a community where every young person can experience all that it means to be free, i want to end today with a quote from a young person who grew up right here in san francisco and was interviewed by our friends at the elements freedom center. she said, freedom is when we reach back and pull the next sibling with us because we see your brilliance, and we know that you will shine when surrounded by real love. let us pull each other with us, and let us all move forward with love as we move forward. thank you very much, and it is my pleasure to introduce doug styles, the executive director of huckleberry youth program [applause] >> thank you, alia. thank you, mayor breed. thank you, my classmate, emily. thank you to larkin for hosting this fabulous event. it's an incredible group of people for this collaboration that's been brought together. what we need to start with is that trafficking, sexual exploitation happens here in san francisco. these are our children. it is a systems issue, not an individual issue. no one chooses to be exploited. trafficking and exploitation inhibit the entire community from thriving. that's why we've all come together to change the trajectory of lives of young people affected by trafficking and exploitation and to prevent others from becoming more deeply involved. in 1967, huckleberry youth programs established the first youth shelter for run aways in the country, addressing reasons why people found themselves on the streets of san francisco. unfortunately, our 52 years of experience, we have seen too many young people commercially sexually exploited and too many young people at risk of human trafficking. but every day, we also experience the resiliency of young people. this project is an attempt to bring together various experts from various fields to provide the needed supports for young people to heal and to provide the chance and the necessary tools to reduce the risk of further exploitation. as one of the partners in this project, huckleberry youth programs will provide case manager and mental health support to divert young people to a safe and healthier life. our experience, working with adolescents in challenging situations, whether it's mental health counseling, juvenile court diversion, we know that young people thrive when they direct their own future. our process is to listen to each youth, hear their hopes and dreams, regardless of their current situation, to traem thtraem -- treat them as human beings and become a catalyst for changes. huckleberry youth services will be part of the crisis team to provide services to young people when are they need it the most. we'll be able to work with young people to maintain their current living situation, and for those with less permanent housing, a placement coordinator will help determine a safe living environment for their future. we will provide residential counseling staff. finally, if emergency shelter is needed, huckleberry house will provide temporary safe home environment. as a native san franciscan myself, raising my daughters in this city, i am very proud to see this collaboration come together and very excited to work with this incredible group of people. i look forward to a future where we no longer need these services or these programs. when all of our children are safe, healthy, treated justly, and are well educated. but we have a lot of work to get there. by working together with the support from the california department of social services, i believe we can build a stronger community. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much, doug and alia. in closing, i want to introduce the san francisco continuum team, the department of the status of women, just give a wave. huckleberry, youth and family services, family builders, west coast children's clinic, edgewood center for children and families, claire's house, learning for action, berkeley human rights center, and of course larkin street youth services. [applause] >> finally, i want to give a shoutout to the mayor's office of human tracking. through these bodies, san francisco has odd voe indicated for critical services. through this grant, we're going to be tackling homeless service and housing options. i want to thank the housing advisory board and youth advisory committee for putting this all together. thank you for joining us. [applause] >> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their business in the 49 square files of san francisco. we help san francisco remain unique, successful and right vi. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> i'm one of three owners here in san francisco and we provide mostly live music entertainment and we have food, the type of food that we have a mexican food and it's not a big menu, but we did it with love. like ribeye tacos and quesadillas and fries. for latinos, it brings families together and if we can bring that family to your business, you're gold. tonight we have russelling for e community. >> we have a ten-person limb elimination match. we have a full-size ring with barside food and drink. we ended up getting wrestling here with puoillo del mar. we're hope og get families to join us. we've done a drag queen bingo and we're trying to be a diverse kind of club, trying different things. this is a great part of town and there's a bunch of shops, a variety of stores and ethnic restaurants. there's a popular little shop that all of the kids like to hanhang out at. we have a great breakfast spot call brick fast at tiffanies. some of the older businesses are refurbished and newer businesses are coming in and it's exciting. >> we even have our own brewery for fdr, ferment, drink repeat. it's in the san francisco garden district and four beautiful muellermixer ura alsomurals. >> it's important to shop local because it's kind of like a circle of life, if you will. we hire local people. local people spend their money at our businesses and those local mean that wor people willr money as well. i hope people shop locally. 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