Supervisor haney our clerk today is erica major. Madam clerk, do you have any announcements . Clerk [inaudible] and the board, the board of supervisors legislative chamber and Committee Room are closed. However, members will be participating in the meeting remotely. This precaution is taken pursuant to the various local and state orders and committee directives. Public comment will be available on each item on this agenda. Both channel 26 and sfgtv. Org are streaming the number across the screen. Each speaker will be allowed two minutes to speak. Comments or opportunities to speak during the Public Comment are available via phone by call 4156550001. The meeting i. D. Is 1464087451. Press pound and pound again. When connected, you will hear the meeting discussions but muted and in listening mode only. When your item comes up, press star, three to be added to the speaker list. When prompted to speak, speak slowly and clearly and turn down your television or speakers. Or you may submit comments by email to me, erica. Major sf. Gov. I have interpreters ready to assist in chinese and spanish. Interpreter i am the interpreter for todays meeting. I will now make the announcement in cantonese. [speaking cantonese language] interpreter and im the spanish interpreter. I will now make the announcement in spanish. [speaking spanish language] supervisor haney thank you. Madam clerk, will you please call the roll. Clerk thank you, mr. Chair. May we have a motion to excuse supervisor fewer before i take the roll . Supervisor ronen so moved. Hillary ronen. Clerk okay. As far as the roll [roll call] clerk mr. Chair, you have a quorum. Supervisor haney thank you. Madam clerk, will you please call the first item . Or actually, will you please call items 1 and 2 together . Clerk yes. Id number 1 is a hearing regarding how covid19 has impacted the schedules, policies, and the provision of services for San Francisco Unified School District and city college of San Francisco. Item 2 is a hearing to discuss how the city can assist the School District, teachers, parents, and children to start the school year successfully providing engaging in Distance Learning. Members who wish to call in, call 4155540001 and enter the meeting i. D. 1464087451. Press pound, and pound again to enter listening mode. And we have interpreters here to announce the meeting. [speaking cantonese language] interpreter thank you. [speaking spanish language] interpreter thank you. Supervisor haney thank you. Anymo any more announcements, madam clerk . Clerk that concludes the announcements. Supervisor haney okay. Great. We have two items on the agenda, the same two items we had two weeks ago. Obviously, things are changing so quickly and moving so quickly, including, most importantly, the start of school for sfusd and beginning of classes at ccsf, so we wanted to make sure to continue to hear these items, as we said, use this venue as an opportunity to get updates, to answer questions, to provide a space for solutions and collaboration. I do want to make sure that, with each of these committees, especially moving forward, that we have some level of focus in terms of where we are putting a lot of our energy and time. I do want to know, i think the last meeting went for about six hours, and we had many important conversations within that, but today, some of the folks who were at that meeting will not be with us today, although we have representation from all of the institutions again, and despite some of the time limits that some of them have, im going to do my best to make sure we hear from everything. Im going to flag some things that are important for today. Earlier this week, the budget identified 4. 3 million of funding for Community Hubs, and an additional 1 million for testing at the hubs. The hubs are going to play a key role for families and students for the next few months, and i do want at that make sure that we have time and focus to hear more about those Community Learning hubs, the coordination, and connections to the School District and educators, enrollment, and opportunities for Outdoor Education. I asked all of the presenters to talk a little bit about Outdoor Education. This is something weve had a little bit of education and interest in. It will happen in the Community Learning hubs, and thinking about how Outdoor Learning is factoring into how were thinking about our next steps collectively. We will have presentations from sfusd, ccsf, Community Hubs, and rec and park, and d. P. H. Will only be able to be here for the first hour. So again, i want to thank everyone for their hard work for the last few months in light of the challenging situation we are in. Im not sure if uesf is going to be here, but i want to make sure i always give an opportunity for our educators to provide updates, and i will make space if theyre going to now be here. Im just told that they are being referred to as Community Hubs, not Community Learning hubs anymore, so i note that. I will move forward to the presentations, but first, i want to open it up to any members of the committee to make opening comments. Just so you know, im going to start with ccsf, city college, because we did not hear from them last time. Supervisor ronen . Supervisor ronen thank you very much, chair haney. I just wanted to give you an update on the progress made from last hearing on all the todo list that i had created, together with the School District, dcyf, and d. P. H. So i did want to let you know that we did get 1 million for testing for both the staff at the Community Learning hubs as well as the children. What i asked d. P. H. To do is to write up the plan for what that testing will look like, and i can give a preview of that plan, but theyre refining it as they learn more about how the virus, you know, spreads in environments like the Community Hubs. So the way that it would work is staff would be tested prior to them starting and then every two months thereafter. Any child that is exhibiting symptoms of covid19 will be tested, and all will be eligible for free testing at the city testing centers. Thats the plan as of now. I personally think it should be a little bit more proactive and intensive than that, but at least we have somewhat of a clear plan on how we will surveil the Community Hubs so weve got a handle on testing. Turn out the state had some concerns about the 20children limit at each hub site, so they created a limit of 14 children at each hub. Thats the feedback weve gotten from d. P. H. , so that definitely seems more in line with the Safety Measures that weve heard about so far. What that means, though, is that dcyf needs to find even more locations than they already found to keep to that growing to that 6,000child goal that we have for these Community Hubs, so that remains a huge priority is finding the spots where we can host these hubs. In terms of Distance Learning, dcyf is still working on that, and theres still some negotiation. Ill just leave that there until we have some more information from the Teachers Union and the School District on that, but theres active work to make sure that any child with disabilities receives the services that they need in order to be able to engage in Distance Learning in a successful way. The the server that we talked about two weeks ago, were still trying to understand the priority population for the Community Hubs so that we can tailor the survey to those populations, so that is under works. The 4 million that chair haney mentioned that we were able to secure in the budget process is specifically going to be used to give additional pay to the nonprofit workers who are staffing the Community Hubs. Thats thats really great news because these workers are doing work above and beyond their Normal School activities and deserve to be compensated appropriately for the role that theyre going to be playing, and thats really exciting. And finally, ive asked the d. P. H. To really acknowledge that parentled hubs so separate from what the city is setting up for vulnerable communities, but parents that are working fulltime and have hired coops or fulltime child care to do Distance Learning, it makes no sense that we as a city would say that this is an activity thats not allowed when its practically impossible for the parents of Young Children who are working fulltime can help them engage in Distance Learning without Something Like this. Its sending a very, very confusing message that needs to be corrected, so we are in the process of changing the language around the guidance of how to keep those parentled hubs safe for all kids. And with that, i just wanted to make sure that i updated everyone on the todo list from two weeks ago, and im sure were going to create a todo list today that well update in two weeks, but all forces in the city, from the School District to the school board to the Educators Union to the board of supervisors are hard at work, and of course dcyf, if i didnt mention them, are hard at work making sure that these hubs are not only safe, successful, and established as soon as possible, but making sure were doing so in acco coordination with the School District, the school board, and the Teachers Union. Supervisor haney thank you, supervisor ronen, so much, for your incredible efforts. Im surprised youre not asleep. Yesterday morning at 2 00 a. M. , they finally voted on the budget, and i know that supervisor ronen was working hard to ensure that the Funding Priorities that we discussed in this committee and are essential for our funding for educators and our schools were part of that. So with that, if there are no other members of the community that want to provide introductory comments, we can jump to our presenters. And if our presenters would state their name and affiliation before they present, were going to start with Kristin Charles from city college. Thank you. I believe grace is going to be pulling up my presentation today. Hello, supervisors and trustees. I am Kristin Charles with city college of San Francisco. Thank you so much for this opportunity to fill you in on where we are with respect to fall instruction and services in light of the pandemic. I just want to acknowledge how challenging it is to make decisions and pivot under these circumstances for everyone, right . Our students, our faculty, our staff, our administrators, our trustees, everyone involved. All right. As you can see from this slide, were starting with all classes via remote Distance Learning. I just want to emphasize that remote Distance Learning is not the same classes as our city online but were developed as online classes from the beginning. There really is a significant difference there, and, you know, we are of course planning for inperson instruction in certain areas, pending state and local restrictions. You can see those areas listed there, mainly in the areas of Health Instruction and culinary arts and hospitality. And, of course, we are following department of Public Health guidelines to ensure the safety of our faculty, staff, and students, we will see where we end up with all of that. So in terms of providing support for faculty during covid to deliver remote instruction, we have a Community Canvas system, and all faculty with instruction assignments have been receiving instruction in Distance Learning, again, distinguished from Online Learning, online classes. Equity is really paramount and emphasized by the office of Online Learning and educational technology, and the ways in which they promote equity are listed here asynchronous instruction and flexible attendance. I want to point out that that is really important because many students have children at home and or they have others at home for whom theyre caring, and in many cases, they have limited wifi access, so this access is really important to them. Okay. We can move to the next slide. So i mentioned that, for our students, we are you know, we provided a welcome to canvas user module, which is embedded in each of the remote instruction classes. We also had a passport to canvas training that students could selfenroll in, we have a 247 canvas support hotline. We are also providing Online Library services, Online Tutoring Services also embedded into canvas, and weve posted tips for successful Remote Learning to help students be successful. All right. Next slide, please. With respect to Student Services during covid, we have essentially set up established a virtual campus on our website where students can access virt service counte v Service Counters via zoom, so theres help with registration, counseling, financial aid. We also are providing emergency aid to students through cash grants and safeway gift cards. Were also making Technology Available for students. We have a chromebook loan program. Were also providing them wifi hot spots. And i would just like to also comment i think we were also asked to talk about how the first week of school went. Were actually completing the second week of instruction at this point. As you can imagine, its a very busy time. Students are adjusting their schedules and adjusting to their schedules, and wed anticipate, you know, that theyll be doing that more than usual given that its remote. You know, its just a lot of unknowns right now. And of course, there have been some technical challenges, as one would expect, but we have a technical team, addressing issues as they arise. So there really are support systems in place to handle technical glitches, and this is really also why we emphasize asynchronous learning in combination with synchronous learning. If you have a zoom meeting, and thats your one chance to connect with students, thats an issue. The good news is that the technical issues that we encountered were limited in that time frame, so thats a good thing. So i just want to close by echoing supervisor ronen in the last meeting, in that switching to Distance Learning is an enormous task, and this certainly is unprecedented, and it puts educators at all levels in a very difficult place, you know, just profoundly difficult place. So were were so proud of what our faculty has been able to accomplish under these circumstances. I mean, generally, we always are, but especially now. So thank you for this opportunity. Supervisor haney thank you so much for that update, and sorry about a couple of weeks ago. No worries. Supervisor haney committee members, any question or comments anybody has for city college . Trusty randolph . Hello. First of all, i want to thank miss charles for all the work that shes done getting ready for Online Learning. This was new to all of us, and the scramble that faculty and staff and everybody had to do to move online i think two weeks, we got ready in two weeks. We moved up spring break and everything. But it doesnt come without issue. Yesterday, we had a really long board meeting, and one of the things that i learned about Online Learning is that, you know, doing everything online specifically during the fall semester when a lot of High School Graduates come to city college for the first time to experience college, having a sense of community and inperson support is incredibly important. I remember, you know, when i started community college, i was all on my own, and it was difficult, you know . I had two jobs, i had to figure out how to take classes, i had to figure out how to do homework on my own schedule. I had to pay rent, i had to buy food, and i almost dropped out because it was just so overwhelming. But because of the inperson support and my peers and faculty, i was able to make it, and then, here i am, you know, going to a fouryear university, getting my masters. And i am worried that that is missing for a lot of our students, especially students of color, who dont have that inperson support right now. So i know that all of us are working hard right now, but i know there is going to be some longterm impact on Student Outcomes and success. The likelihood of some students coming back in the spring or finishing their certificate or even transferring is incredibly low, and thats what i hope we can monitor, and i hope we can come up with some potential solutions. I know that these Community Hubs that most people put on, you know, the k through 12, but there are a lot of students who need those Community Hubs. Also, the first or second semester at a community college, i have no idea what that is going to look like, but the homeless that are attending city college that normally get the inperson support, none of that is happening right now. So there are students that need our support that cant be done virtually. So maybe over the next couple of weeks, while were dealing with this fall semester and i know that it looks Like City College is potentially planning to be all online for the Spring Semester, is we kind of think about how we can better support those students like me. Because i dont know that i would have made it in an allonline environment. I dont know where i would be today. If you lose your first semester, it impacts the rest of your life. So thats what keeps me up at night. I hope that maybe two weeks or a month from now, we can have some discussions what those solutions are for or needed for. I know that we are submitting our accreditation report which specifically has learning outcomes and objectives that can only be done in person, so what does that mean to our accreditation as well as ongoing support for our students. Programs like puente and arise, those are peer supports. How does that look like in an online environment . Id like to have some discussions on that. Because what weve learned in our meetings between the School District and the College Board and i know that chair haney was part of them in his time on the school board is that, you know, the programs that were doing collaboratively that make sure that High School Graduates can come to city college or even have programs during the summer to catch up, those are all impacted, so thats what i am i little concerned about, and i hope that we can get together and discuss. The question i have now is a followup from two weeks ago have we moved any further with the Community Hubs that we were potentially going to have at city College Locations . Is there an update in the conversations that i know dcyf has had with city college . Are we any closer to potentially doing something there . I dont know if dcyf is here, someone from city college can address the conversations that weve had . I would love to hear what the status is of those. This is leslie molloy, chief of staff to the chancellor of city college. We asked them for an informal written proposal so we can work through with our attorneys the response and what kind of real estate and space we can provide, so weve been waiting for that for a number of days, and as soon as we get it, well move quickly. Okay. Because the reason im asking is i think it would be great not only to help sfusd by opening up our centers, but also, i would like to see if theres an opportunity to open up those Community Hubs to our own students. Because i know that even during registration for our e. S. L. Classes, theres a lot of monolingual students who dont understand how to do registration or even attending e. S. L. Or other noncredit classes over zoom, so theres been a lot of challenges around just enrollment and registration for monolingual students. So i think Community Hubs specifically in chinatown would help kind of facilitate that inperson interaction. I know that there are guidelines from d. P. H. And others that need to be respected and adhered to, but i dont want i dont want us to lose that potential Opportunity One way or another, especially if the Spring Semester is going to be online again. Absolutely. Thank you, trustee randolph. Great. Thats all i have. Thank you. Chair haney. Supervisor haney commissioner moliga . Commissioner moliga thank you, supervisor haney. I just wanted to piggyback off of trusty randolphs comments. I agree. You know, i think the conversation does need to expand to prek to 14. Right now, its k through 12. I think we need to definitely think about the model from prek to 14. I also want to just mention that, you know, this learning laws thing, im glad that folks are talking about it at the secondary level. I think it really is a Public Health issue, and i think the burden right now is put upon the academic institutions to be able to identify these. But what it sounds like to me, its becoming a Public Health issue, right . And i think a collaboration between all entities to maybe form a task force with folks that are on both sides to really figure out what this actually looks like and how do we begin to identify [inaudible] the truth of the matter is we talked about this at our school board meetings. We have kids, young adults, folks that are pretty much, you know, spread across the city. And the challenge is how do we put eyes on all these folks, you know, how do we put eyes on all these folks, and how do we leverage everything from sfusd, from the city and county, you know, to reach all these families and students . And i dont think thats an isolated issue, right . I dont think thats definitely an isolated issue. I think thats a good place where d. P. H. Can fall in line, you know, Public Health. Like, how does d. P. H. Fall in line supporting this thing behind learning for folks, because i do think its a Public Health issue. And i also just wanted to kind of give a highlight, you know, as much as, you know, a lot of this has, you know, really been challenging, the program, you know, for some kids, you know, has been really successful. The one challenge i hear from some kids is the enrollment process is a little bit difficult, right . So, you know, i think what folks was telling me is they were saying something, like, if you could build a more high School Friendly enrollment process, i think it would be able to streamline the process even more efficiently. So i think thats something we can probably Work Together on with sfusd and ccsf. But for the most part, i also hear kids that havent gone to school in a long time are showing up. Kids that are bullied are having more participation around online learns. So there definitely are some pros, but i definitely wanted to highlight that. Supervisor haney thank you, commissioner moliga. This is one of the things that i wanted to collaborate to make the Student Experience as good as we can right now. These are all of our students. I mean, theyre all san franciscans, you know . Theyre all touching different points in our system. When i think about, going back to trustee randolphs comments, the students and all the systems they touch all throughout San Francisco, the Single Parents and all the systems that they touch all throughout San Francisco, making sure they dont slip through the cracks, i think thats a really great opportunity for us, and i would just echo the comments earlier, figuring out if it is a task force or someone within this body to look at some of those touch points because its really about creating that safety net, that safety net right now that we can for our students, given that were in a virtual environment. I know its challenging for us, and i know it is for the supervisors right now, realizing that safety net for folks, realizing for those people that we serve, there are those intersections, so it would be good to map that out and think about some Creative Strategies because i dont see in the near future when were going to be out of this crisis. We are going to be online for spring and, you know, same thing with our sfusd and looking at, you know, whats happening in, you know, next year there. This is kind of like a new normal for us, so just really want to get ahead with the conversation about that and just thinking creatively because theres also the Mental Health piece, as well, just going to school and trying to navigate. I know were all in the middle of that, trying to go to work in the middle of a pandemic when theres wildfires and Everything Else. Theres an isolation piece to this, as well. I know for students, its a big part of their success at city college is being able to have that community, which is very challenging to be able to have that community online, you know, in this environment. So would love to think about our safety net and our shared safety net and think about how we can put our arms around our most vulnerable students right now. Supervisor haney thank you. Miss williams, is there or sorry. Miss charles, sorry. Abc charles, is there anything that you wanted to respond on this . It seems like theres a lot of questions and comments about how were reaching students who may fall through the cracks, what type of outreach that sfusd, you know, shared a lot with us, some of the different strategies that they have to stay in touch with students. I know its obviously a [inaudible] in terms of how youre addressing [inaudible]. Im afraid youre cutting in and out for me. Is that true for everyone else . Supervisor ronen yes. Okay. Supervisor ronen erica, should clerk you may want to turnoff your camera. Thatll help the connectivity. Supervisor . Supervisor haney i just wanted to turn it over to clerk sounds like he want going to say turn it over to the vice chair. Do you know whos the vice chair of the committee . Clerk it is supervisor fewer, so supervisor ronen im happy to play that role, so i dont mind filling in for her. Clerk okay. In the meantime, i will get in touch with supervisor haney and let him know how to call in. Supervisor ronen oh, are you back, supervisor haney . No. Are you back, supervisor haney . Nope . Okay. So it looks like theres nobody else on staff to speak. Is there any other comments . I think supervisor haney was around the middle of a thought, like, how do we formulate thoughts around how to keep students from slipping through the cracks. I dont know if we should wait for him to hop back on, but i dont know if abc charles or vice chancellor charles can speak to that piece. I know that theres representation from dcyf thats on the line, but i just dont want to lose that comment because i think its just so critical. So id be happy to speak to that. First of all, yes, what youre saying resonates with me in terms of thinking about how we can provide some hub structure, something akin to that for our students, and i think the idea of a task force to think about all the intersections. You know, unified students are our students. We share a lot of students. Unified parents are definitely or students, or are definitely our students, so we do share a lot of intersections in our world. I do want to think about the support that were providing [inaudible] limitations. One thing i think we are working on, in general, providing sort of the wraparound hug support, if you will, for students is something weve been thinking about for a long time precovid. One thing we have been working on through our reimagining the Student Experience initiative, or r. I. S. E. , which commissioner rudolph referred to, is our Student Success teams. Weve actually organized for students getting ready to come to our college, weve organized into academic and career communities, affinity groups, if you will, so we have developed groups in terms of career communities. This semester, we are having our first meeting of two our two teams our two concept teams. One in health and safety, and one in s. T. E. M. This includes counseling faculty, student aid advisors, librarians, student coaches, and others who are really coming together to provide that kind of support for students who will be working through our communication mechanisms for how that will work, and its really a very exciting development, and its been you know, other colleges have used this approach, as well. And i think it really holds a lot of promise, and its something, in particular, that becomes very critical right now but is always critical for our students. So and there are other efforts. Certainly, you know, the virtual Student Services counter is a big part of supporting our students. We had a day for students, letting them know were here as they walked through everything about the college, as well. We have a whole lot more, but i did at least want to mention that. Supervisor ronen i think we have chair haney back. Supervisor haney yes, im here. Can you all hear me okay . Supervisor ronen yes. Supervisor haney okay. So thank you, associate vice chancellor. We definitely appreciate it, and we will look forward to hearing from you again in a few weeks. And i did want to just i know department of Public Health has to learn in a couple of minutes, and so trustee randolph had a question a couple of minutes before they had to takeoff. Trustee randolph . Yeah. I was wondering if you had a chance to look at other colleges or campuses in regards to covid19, and if you issued feedback or recommendations for us . Yes, we have received the states guidance, and then, we also have, last friday, a week ago today, released our own guidance and directive for higher education. Thats in all institutions of higher ed and all Adult Education learning programs, as well, and i am very happy to circulate that all to you, but i believe city college has already received that and is preparing any of the plans necessary for all of you. Great. So i would love to see if we could have, maybe in two weeks or a month from now, once everybody had time to look at it or review it, if there is a way, chair haney, to maybe have some type of conversation or discussion here in how it interacts with everything . Supervisor haney absolutely, yeah. Well well bring that back for a couple weeks. Great, thank you. Supervisor haney great. So with that, i think well move to our next presenter. Our next presenter will be Mele Lau Smith from sfusd. Thank you, chair haney, and i think we have a hopefully a short slide deck for you, if that can be loaded. What i am just going to update on today is the presentation that we had at the board of education on tuesday and outline the roles that sfusd will take moving forward to collaborate with dcyf and the city in the Community Hub. So next slide, please. I wont spend too much time because weve talked about the Community Hub initiative a lot. So we know that its designed to provide inperson support and following the Public Health guidelines and being neighborhood based and focusing on our most vulnerable student populations. Next slide. We also know that dcyf is the main organizer in executing the initiative, including sf in demand, focal students and conducting registration, and that dcyf and other student partners are organizing and providing the staffing, technology, and materials for the Community Hub. Next slide, please. We also know that the Public Health guidance currently requires that schools remain closed, and that as we School Districts continue to that we all, sorry continue to limit contact with people not in our household, which is really vital for us to flatten the curve and to get back to all the inperson things that we really desire strongly to do. We also want our focal students to have access to learning support opportunities in person, and we do, as sfusd, continued to plan for gradual return in a hybrid form, and we are primarily focusing on Elementary Schools at this time when data and science indicate its safe to do so. Next slide. [please stand by] we do want to sink up any space with the gradual return because we know how disruptive it is to be in one place one week and another place another week, were trying to coordinate that. Thats probably what well do with scheduling and Distance Learning materials and things like that. And we do hav have state and fel grants for after school programs. Those fund lz no will not be usr the Community Hubs. Money of our community bases organizations that support our after school progranses ar proge working at the school days. We all talked about many times before, health and staift bein g the primary goal. Some Additional Guidance that has allowed us to address the cohort side. Testing capacity and cohorts that are being developed around buPublic Health. We have to talk about who our agreed upon population for those community spots and what data is needed to identify those students and how we Work Together to get to those numbers. And just a continued conversation of locations how can they be acceptable thins this is a neighborhood based strategy and what does an acceptable out Reach Program look like. We have continual forms with our Community Partners to support students and families well look to that structure to continue to support the c bos to support student nz the hubs. Were always hope to go get more Technology Support and Family Resources will continue to be at the forefront of our planning. I already said were going to keep working with d c yf and continue to Work Together on this. Its very great to have the board of edto be to spo be so positive and in support. Thank you. I see that supervisor ronan has a question. A few questions. Why is fsusd not pursuing and looking at offering it. We are look kining into it. We are not offering it right now. If you could explain why. We have agreements with our labor partners and need to understand what buildings will be used, what buildings will continue to be open. We are also working through that with our administrators principal. We should have a lot of those yeses answereanswered in the nef weeks to identify that. Theres a lot of work that has to be done at school sites to be prepare it to be ready. Were trying to focus to open for elementary students. Students receiving special education education learning. That doesnt mean that we wouldnt have any hubs in them. We have to make sure they are ready. If we needed that school site to be open for hybrid learning. We have to have an exit plan. Educators are providing the learning and whatever we can do to help them engage in Distance Learning. Thats our first priority. I think we have a meeting in three weeks or something. Im sure well have an update of where we are in that thinking. You kind of answered a little bit of my question. Is sfusd looking to pursue a limit waiver to allow students with disabilities to cam back and learn in person on campus. We havent had that discussion with the board yet. I know thats something were all thinking about. That guidance just came out tuesday. We have to wrap our heads around what that means and wait for guidance from the department of Public Health. I dont have an answer for you but its high on our list to have discussions. Ill keep asking the same questions every week. Its high on our list of things to do. I know its only been two weeks. Im wondering how participation is going. Do you have any data on participation. You mean in terms of Distance Learning . The great thing about what we are doing is taking attendance. We know that immediately whether students are engaging. We dont have that, well make sure that well provide that information in our next presentation. I dont have it off the top of my head. You dont have exact numbers. But do you have general. Par wer were getting a ls from families asking how to engage. I would say that its more than the spring. I really dont know. I appreciate the question. Some really positive feedback. Id use that tech line. It is amazing. People answer immediately if not get a response back. I really want to appreciate it. Its working so well. Thank you so much. Thank you. The amazing people who are the architects behind it who designed it. We got the grant and put all of the resource nz people instead of people. It is an area that were looking to enhance with more support. Weve expanded it to students which is great. Were getting a lot of calls from students on how to navigate the system. Theres a few great things. A lot of time, i dont know if you know this but in the budget you also did support additional funding for more resources for the resource link. Its all part of the budget process. Thats great. It makes sense that it really is, ive only heard fantastic feedback about it. The other things i know folks always ask is we do have buy los angelebilingual staff on it. We have a Language Line for the many many other languages sm you donlanguages. You dont have to. You can immediately someone on call for translation, were developing all those types of enhancements to make it work today is the end of the second week of school. Educators are going above and beyond. Were hearing about challenges for students. Educators are pretty exhausted. Distance learning is so different from in person teaching and learning. Certainly not our choice. Were doing what we can. Each student deserve ses a quality education. I wanted to add some Additional Information based on chief smiths report a couple of Different Things s things. Seven hundred of our members requested access because they have some challenges of other working people and parents. Thats going to start probably next week with the phase of a little over a hundred of them. They westbound work withing a total of four schools. They are not guaranteed in their own schools based on the capacity that she touched on. Elementary schools arent being used because of the possibility of the hybrid model at the Elementary School level. We havent started negotiations yet but well be doing that soon. I want to make it cheer tha clet there needs to be a balance between what families need. We know the district has worked hard to provide these work spaces. I want to make sure that this doesnt become that educators are taking up space where we could we having children in those spaces. We are talking about four schools and a few more might be added. There are about a hundred and twenty work sites in sfusd. Because of the potential implications for Public Education. This isi have a lot of respect and admiration for the hard working folks who are working in Community Based organizations, and parks and rec and libraries to provide opportunities for students. But we also know, this is not about them. I want to front load that. We also know there are forces out there, particularly under the current federal administration that would like to dismantle Public Education all together. We need to make sure that the plans were put innin in place e base on an extreme emergency situation and not Building Blocks for replacing Public Education teachers and trained educators with folks who work also work hard with students but its a dir different situation. Were calling them Community Hubs and not learning hubs. I dont think its pair know yas can be a continuing conversation. I thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you for raising all of those questions and concerns. I do want to flag and maybe we can ask this which d c yf and rec and parks come up what are the options that could be available or are available to educators who are also challenges with provide sg provg Distance Learning to their own children as they provide Distance Learning to others. I want to ask about that. I did have a question which i think is prepared to talk about this. We had a lot of questions about Outdoor Learning and Outdoor Education and how that is being considered or assessed as we think about potential hybrid models in the coming months and maybe chief smith may want to comment o on that as well. Many parents and teachers have been organizations around Outdoor Education, and questions about that. Just wanted to get your thoughts and how youre thinking about that. Sure, yeah. We are getting a lot of questions about Outdoor Education. I wish we had an answer. In six weeks time well have this many Outdoor Education. Were really trying to provide quality Distance Learning. Its hard on everybody. That is also at the for fron fof our planning. Its the grace and compassion. Were moving as quickly as we can. We know thats an option. Were looking at Outdoor Education. We know thats something thats coming. Just to chime in. Well be able to provide an update in the next week or two, its more of a technical thing. I know its really not the most glamorous topic. She is figuring out how to move furniture around, we cant really open up the outdoor space until we can move our things indoor and outdoor to make it safe. Its a tease tedious task. Well be able to provide that update to you likely in two weeks with something more concrete. Thank you. I appreciate that. Well get updates on engagement and attendance. Im sure youll be presenting that regularly to the board of education and we would love that have more information about that as well. Community members any questions before we move to our next presentation. Thank you all again. We greatly appreciate all of the work and the perspective and the approach a youre going about it with grace and compassion. Thank you president solmam for being here and your Critical Partnership in this. I believe we have director sue here. Thank you again for joining us for another Committee Meeting and for all the work that youre doing. It looks like its not working. Sorry. I apologize supervisors we are having some technical issues. We can see it now. Oh, you can. For a minute. You got it . Perfect. Good morning. Thank you for again inviting me back to share updates on our Community Learning hubs mish hus initiatives. For the sake of public members who are tuning in today i wanted to very quickly go over the initiative a little bit more information about the initiative before i give you an update. On july 23 our mayor agreed announced that the city will be standing up Community Hubs to support our highest need children. Her announcement it will take a village to address the wide range of learning needs of our children. Trying to get them through this pandemic. A village is what we ended up creating. I wanted to emphasize that these Community Hubs are not shadow school. Theres no intention to recreate school in these hubs. Our staff are not certified teachers. Were relying on the great exert ees oexpertise of sfusd teacher. These hub hads are meant to give stability at a highly disruptive moment in their lives and our lives as parents. We created these Community Center it support learning for children. Several key factors for these hubs are that they will have more stable cohorts of young people. The hubs will focus on Building Social emotional well being and of course providing opportunities for children to play and socialize safely which is crucial for their Emotional Health. They will all be staffed by Youth Development professional. When you think of these hubs as full day summer programming but just happens to be running during the fall. When we designed the hubs, we designed it with Racial Equity at the forefront of the process. We create the hubs to prioritize our most marginalized in the city. Low income resident, as well as the camps. Our hom homeless youth, foster youth. We acknowledge there are many disparity with our African Americans, a latino, latina, lan x. We can speak to a lot of data how hard Distance Learning is this past spring. Most Distance Learning was really really hard for these highly disconnected young people. Research pointed to this new term called the covid slide. Which is just a cominnation of nocombination carean not being s where they are with their peers. In combination together its turning into not a soaf i ha coe but a covid aits really important to us to prioritize these highly disconnected young people. So we dont continue to lose all that learning. I wanted to show the process for how we are going to do out reach, registration and enrollment. As you can see, we are leveraging the very wide and deep connections of our Community Based organizations to connect to families. As well as the very well established relationship that our Sf Department as well as Housing Department and other government institutions have with families. We are now actively doing out reach to those families. And then, we will be providing essentially an enrollment package for family ses s familin decide whether or not participating in the Community Hubs one righhubs is right for y ses. Thephams. They are make sure thee meeting the right criteria. We want to prioritize families who are involved in multiple systems who do not have access to the internet and learning devices. Finally we will make the appointments of young people toll each of the hubs. I want to give you a very quick update on enrollment. On monday august 24 24d c yf released the invite only application. It was trans translated into six different language ses. Looking to stand up on september 14th, 66 sites that will have two thousand slots available. And i just wanted to share the status of sites for all of our phases. As of right now we have almost a hundred sites we have secured throughout the city. We are on a daily basis building more sites. Aseas was mentioned earlier regarding the sites over at city college at San Francisco were actively working with city college to see if we can activate any of their site nz phass inphase two. Once again, i want to recognize the partnership that is make tgg this work. We have a Great Partnership with the recreation and Parks Department as well as our Public Library, dupt o department of h, technology, Public Health, department of public works and all of our c bo ses. Theres a list of all our c bos. We cant do this alone. Throughout all of these hearings, its all of us coming to together. All of us standing up and working to the because our children success really reflects the success of our city. We are all working together. To the public who is watching this, for those of you who are compelled to say, what can i do . How can i be a part of this village that the city is designing and creating. I want to share that for those who can, please, make a donation to give to sf. Because we will be able to use thoases funds tthose funds to se Community Hubs. And of source your donations will be tax deductible. That concludes my presentation. Thank you. I want to open it up now to Community Members for questions. Thank you. Thank you director sue for the presentation. I had a couple of questions. Thank you for the work, pushing this out. I first wanted to actually say, you yoa know, i heard susan jumn the call earlier. Theres a very crucial piece theres interconnectedness. Theres a lot of things happening. We have to figure out how to bring everybody together. I just wanted to say that i had a couple questions aroundyou mentioned public house hadding d hope sf, didnt hope sf represent Public Housing. Hope sf is only a few housing sites. There are other sites throughout the city. Thats what i thought. When i saw Public Housing and hope sf, it was kind of confusing because they are all Public Housing. I wanted to make sure we were covering the entire San Francisco. In terms of the out reach of our Homeless Population. What does that actually look like. Were talking about 15 percent actually applies. What is that percent in our Homeless Population. Once again, its 15 percent as of this moment. A lot of our Public Housing residents dont have access to internet and computers. Were working with the development on housing and homeless, sfhs to reach out to the families and bring applications to them. I dont have the actual percentage of how many children are homeless in my head right now. I can get that information to you. Okay. I appreciate i that. For me. That population is super vulnerable. You know, i understand we have a lot of programs running in and out with Public Housing. Weve done a good job. That population right there for me, is what is the stree stratec plan. I want folks to dig deep and identify what our out reach points are for our population. Can you talk about what are the Access Points for sro family ses. We are relying on our connections were srf families. If you have suggestions we would love to connect with you. Right fow ttio now it is workinr c bos and our net hason tuesday the board of education is now in full support of the collaboration between the city and the School District. We are now being very focused and more targeted in trying to direct families who are living in sr os or are homeless. Gotcha. I know folks have been working a lot wf alot with c bos. I know a lot of folks are running through the clinics. We have programs and i feel like, you know, those are all good Access Pointses. Arpoints. Are we interconnected e folks for Access Points. Im pretty sure we are. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. In terms of the last question, have you worked at all with the so collaboratives and the family cla collaborative thy are all over the city and work with families. They would be the right entity to work with to get those paper applications in all of those families hands. I actually have an email that is one click away from being sent right now. Good d good good. I remember you had an online sort of form express interest in the program, you had received upwards of a thousand interest at the end around, yes, around two thousand five hundred throughout the city. Of those 2700 hown o 2700 hof those would have been eligible under your priority system . Hi, how you are you . We pulled those names and we ran them against all the youth that we have in our system who, you know, the priority population. We were able to pull them out and be able to out reach to them through our c bos who were currently connected with. Some of the other youth, you know, its funny because weve had this conversation of self identified. Now being able to work in full partership with the School District and take the name sessd say do these youth stay within the population that you identified. That needs to be priority. Theres no way to do checks and balance unless you have some other system that you can run those names against. Now what youre able to do is receive an application and sfusd can confirm whether or not this person fits within your priority population. Yes. I see. Of those 2700 do you have i doafn dont have a number. We have give you the number that is in our system. We can give you that number but i dont have it off the top of my head right now t. Once we as we get more applications in, data sharing, you cant really share names across certain entities of some of those names once we get applications and run against that to see if any of those names come off and any of those families have been connected through other entities. I remember two weeks ago you said of those 27thre fethere wy few of them were eligible for the program p program. No disagreement, just acknowledging that theres a huge need out this. Theres a definite need. I shared with you in past presentations that of the fifty six thousand Public School students twenty six thousand qualify for free and reduced lunch. Theres no way we can serve that population. Theres need. Its ufn unfortunately we only e the capacity. Tar taits its another thing te on parents. A lot of nodding but i dont have an answer. We called out to our team. We continue to increase the form on our website. Its a path of collect toing daa that youre looking for supervisor. I hoaf yo hope you get the ie from people that arent eligible for the program. Thats what we found out when did you that. So youre out reach plan then, is based on, you know where youre putting the paper applications. Its not just on population. Is your out reach plan that youre going to get a paper application in every homeless families hand. Or is your out reach plan based on neighborhoods and spots that are hope, youre going to do out reach to fill those spots. Were working with our port partner. Im been in contact with a bunch of different agencies that have their hands on homeless families and the youth. Its multiple, as were work withing them yesterday, we were explain t it might not be the neighborhood that they are in. They can be placed anywhere they have space. It might not be the neighborhood if thats not the most convenient. Were trying to develop what is the best strategy. The staff is entering those applications into our systems and work withing the different point people. Whether its whatever entity it is to connect that family or that youth to a hub that makes sense. For some, theres no address. I was having a conversation with one agency and i was like, can you use our address and does that mean they have to come to a hub thats close to us. No, not necessarily. How our system works theres a manual system where we gave this code to you. This family is hulll hull actuae bay view. Theres a manual process of placement as well. Were not necessarily going by neighboneighborhood by neighbor. How many families are you trying to out reach to. Here are the codes, lets pult them iputthem in the hub that me sense. We wouldnt be able to switch them. Maybe we cant if thats not the most convenient hub right now. We have to work out those mechanisms and components because we dont know how that will look until we get started. We are trying to put in some preliminary steps. This is what the steps will be for the paip every paper applid out reach folks who are going to use and fill it out and put it in and connect with as many as possible. Even then try to connect with many more. I think we have to do it in partnership with ourwith the agency thats were work withing. It might look different for compass families than it will look for hamilton or the folks were working with sfhs. What im really focused on is how many families want this and need this service . Thats all great what you are doing. There is a much Better Partnership with sfusd and the Educators Union. The person who knows best about their students is the educator. Im wondering iftheres a commitment and i dont know if susan is still on the call theres a submitment tha commith Elementary School level can say that program would be good for this student or this student. That would cover the whole universe. Absolutely, yes. I really want to have the most optimistic outlook on the process thats happening right now. I really do but it is actually not true that theres a Stronger Partnership with uesf wrying now. Thats a work in progress. Im very glad to be here but we have work to do on calling this a partnership. Thank you. Can i ask you a question. I think that the partnership with uesf is so essential to making this as successful as it can be. I would love to participate in deeping that partnership an deepening that partnership and making it a Partnership Like you said. Judge ping by the reaction they were feeling that the teachers of educators in the classrooms being part of identifying which students which would most benefit from the programs. It seems like a really important part of it. I just wanted to know if you had any thoughts about that hand how we could put a process in place and if thats appropriate. If educators could weigh in on which of their students should get an invitation to this program. This is the first ive heard of this idea. Ive just come up with it as i was speaking. I dont know that its an official idea. I came up with a question as we were having this conversation. Just fyi about that. The next steps would be for uesf and the School District to talk together about what it looks like for participation for such an endeavor. Were open to that. Im just going to say, its not clear to me what our relationship is to d c yf, or if we have one. I would like to. I would love to play the roll of maybe in between these hearings setting up a meeting with all parties to discuss that. Would would that be something that would be welcomed . Yeah. I think it is critical for the district to check in as well with president soloman. I will reach out with my kowner partmycolleagues. We can connect with your office and d c yf as well. That sounds great. Thank you. Did you want to say anything else . No. Thank you. I will let you know. Thank you. Sounds good. I just had one more question, is that okay . My last question is about food. I am infuriated about what ive been learning about thethe federal government and the usda not subsidizing the foods that are going to be provided in this Community Hub and to president solmans point, i think its related to president somans point about a really sort of under handed way of trying to privatize the system. Make it as difficult as possible to assert the needs of children in these hubs. Im woonderrin wondering if youk a little about that. How we can fight and get our federal delegation on the case and backmy office is drafting a resolution to put before the board of supervisor ses rights. We need to educate the public to this really mysterious act of federal government to deny food to children. If you could elaborate on that. It impacts a lot on the School District site. Our School District now not only are teachers trying to, you know do the Distance Learning curriculums and engage with children. They are also trying to figure out the logistics of which child is connected to which schools so they can pick up the food. It is logistic cal nightmare. I dont want to speak on behalf of the School District. This is very different than what was happening when sheller in place first started in place in the spring. We lived under a waiver that allowed us to essential say children who show up at our fisties to get food will get food. No questions asked. We prioritize our children for eating. We have that waiver for a long time for our state of emergency. Now moving into the fall, that waiver is now pulled we dont have that anymore. What is ending up is that from the hundreds perspective, unless these children actually are part ofwe would have to do some time of logistical rearrangement to get reimbursed for the meals that well be revieding t provie childrenning sm werchildren. Were looking at a fan financiap because were not going to turn away children. We will be feeding them. All children deserve to have access to food and to meals. Particularly while were all living through this pandemic. [indiscernible]. Trying to connect the dots because were trying to ask the board of supervisors to actively help us with these technical guidelines and details and help us with our federalwith our federal delegation to push on the waiver. And so i know that this has beenthis is now going to be an issue with sfusd students are snot going to be able to qualify it will be a fiscal rim pac impn the city to meet that dpap. Thergap. Theres been a lot of discussion. Were follow thg aning this andk withing our teu student nutritin team. Our offline from our conversation were having here. Im working with supervisorror who helped draft this resolution. If this is a joint effort. Well work with your office as well to help with that introduction on tuesday. I know its a speedy process and a lot of Technical Details amongst it. Please go with us as were trying to get as much up to date information for you sm. I didnt realize the bigger impacts. Ill be happy to help on this. Im glad were talking about this so we dont double up on the work. Thank you for the update. Its outrageous. I cant believe what a cynical and cruel act this i is on the part of the federal government. It will never cease to amaze me how cruel they can be. It really can a big deal. About twenty school sites are eligible. In order for students to qualify they have to apply for it which is more difficult. Its a paper application. Theres so much to fill out. People is that have students, students and family that received free and reduced lunge last year welreduced lunchlasto provide that through september. But unless they actually apply for this, they wont be able to receive this after september. These barriers are things that have have been created by the federal government. The public charge order is causingthey want to qualify for this. We have been able to provide the meals based on the quawl fibbingfallcall fictioqualifica. Each school sites. They have to apply physicallya lot of attention from school staff. A lot of rebuilding trust and to be able to do it. These kind of barriers have been really problematic. It will in return bleed into the city resources in order it provide meals for these families that desperately need it. Any support in interprets of advocacy will be really appreciated. Thank you so much for your work and fighting for the nutritiousal needs of our students and count yes in. Anything i can do to help sm making noise. And really educating the public. Just when you think that the trump machine admission cant dy crueler. They do Something Like this sm we havsmwethis wehave to createt this. Thank you. Thank you. I know we want to get out here and not be here for six hours. Ieim also super disappointed ad hearing about people being inconsider using our kids as bargaining tools. Im super disappointed. In full sup or. Thank yosupport. There were two s that came into mind. I wanted to make sure they are in mind. Are we in the shelters, vetting and searching for kids and imettingetting support. Were working with the the department of Housing Services to not only go into their family shelters but their safe sites to make sure that we out reach to homeless families in those facilities to share with them that theres an opportunity for their children. Okay. And thank you for that. Can you talk a little bit more about what our Current Partnership with our organizations that are supporting our lgbt families andthats the one group i havent really seen being in the data recently. I know there is needs in that community that i want to make sure were also paying attention to. I can get back to you on that question. I know that we partner with a lot of c bos that prioritize our lgbtq population. Were leveraging our relationships with our c bos. They have staff that they will be an anchor for us through the lens of their expertise and connections to certain populations sm populations. I can definitely come back to you with those c bos who are working with our lgt dpcq popu population. Thank you. One thing i wase i was going to. I know a lot of family ries are picking up food and meals on a regular basis. When theres that direct out reach when it comes to the Community Hubs is information being provided to them directly . I know were working mainly through our nonprofit port ners but not alpar ners. Nonprofit. P. There are students that are not engaged and showing up for the learning. They areas a connected question about enrollment, are you concerned that we received 26 or 28did you expect a lot more than that. Has it effected your assessment of the need in any way. Can i answer this from the application. The krmc bos just started react on wednesday. We expect more to come in through the weekend. The last meeting we had talked about focused out reach. We have open spots for two how. We only out reaches to about eleven hundred families so far. This is the first wave, second wave. Phase one and phase two. Our first wave is ow reac out ro our c bos. We have principle contact that social workers who contact us about we have this student who really needs to be in your hub. Can we get them there. So were doing what were calling ad hoc. To sending those out specifically. We can do thoases in the mechanism ithing rzthings are. Its very controlled. We know how many are going out in the number of youth we have slots for. The initial waive we have are the c bos that are gradually going out to second tear, third tier. We can make those connections. Once again, two thousand for phase one. Were going to try to go to another two thousand in phase two. I had a wonderful conversation with the youth on Treasure Island and connect withing the families and making sure they have the resources and they understand whats happening and hearing how many studentswere trying to make these connections and create these opportunities for families who that are first wave not connected to the c bo but have Access Points. We have to be very careful because we dont want family ses to get their hopes up and not necessarily be able to get into a hub. You were talking about keeping it active application and keeping it open. Thats one of my biggest fears is that its open and we have so many and so many families start to believe and have hope that they can potentially get into a hub. We would have to tell them no or turn them away. How do we balance that expectation around actually possible. Great. Thank you. Appreciate that. Im sure well continue to get updates. In a couple weeks when we meet again well have many more applicants and more updates on the demographics and supervisor ronan would love pob involved in ways we engage our educators and work with you as well im sure. Well all followup on the things the federal government is doing that is unhelpful. This is one of many. With that i want to let sfusd go. And insight our last presenters before we turn to Public Comment. If we have our last presenters from rec and park who are here. I guess i get to be the first presenter to say good afternoon commissioners. I dont no if ive ever presented before for this committee. Thank you for having us here. Before i get into what, we would provide a little bit of context of what the Recreation Department work during covid since this is my first time presenting to this commit he, i wanted to say a word about our partnership and the work weve been do withing the department of children youth and family. We often talk in government the need to breakdown silos and Different Missions Work Together. Weve been working hand in hand with d c yf for the last six months. I think it is a benefit, not just for our staff an services we provide but also i think it is a Silver Lining in all this that i think will be to the benefit of our communities the type of partnership and collaboration weve been working with together. I really want to thank maria and their entire team. I want to talk a little bit the Recreation Departments role in all this. If you can advance the next slide. One thing that has become more important than ever is im sure you sense how important parks have been during covid. What weve learned is parks and recreation amenities are not nice to have. They are must have nz thes in te community. They have have been the place for many months now where all people have an opportunity to invest in their own mental and physical health. Theyve been absolutely vital. It is also important to note that were now six months into the citys Covid Response. Our park system has never closed. Our staff is fully supporting student ses everyday. All of our parks have been open, all of aw of our restrooms haven ohm. We had to modify so they have safe s. Som. Some activities have been closen closed. Kids are allowed to use some of our outdoor amenities even though they have not open to the public. Thats a hemt Health Policy decn designed to contain Community Spread. We have been able to give our children some access to these important amenities. We have lots of spaces and while they have been open for Peoples Health and welfare, weve constricontributed to places whe weve modify p parks to social distancing circumstances. We have safe sleeping sites. Weve been distributing our resources to the citys fight against covid as best we can. Just a little more detail on our popupon learning that Public Health considerations to close, i believe the date was march 12th. In partnership with d c yf and our friends at the San Francisco Public Library been a great partner in literally four days we set up a proar gra program fs and nonprofit agencies we made emergency child care availabl availableour organizations were an continue to be on call three times a week to both plan and monitor and overall it was quite successful, we had over five hundred front line workers involved. A lot of people have a variety of child care options. It was a very successful program. And significantly not a single documented covid positive test traced to either emergency child care efforts or our Summer Camp Program which i think is important to note that we were able to did it safely with great help from the department of Public Health. Once the school year officially ended we transitioned to our prebreadand butter. The social and Emotional Health of our youth. We were restrained a little bit. They required us to operate with much smaller pods. Although we have many spaces if you can only have a pod of 12 youth it requires both space andit pren presents staff and e constraints. But we had over three thousand available slots s slots. One of the terrific things we have done. Were the largest provider for children in San Francisco. Theres a vast net work of nonprofit partners and some private partners. The collaboration between d c yf and the park result pd froed fra private net work for San Francisco families with information about what the capacity is a little about the program and where its located. A little Silver Lining in our collaborative work. We employed about a hundred and thirty or a hundred and forty youth. This summer who are slightly older. They are 13, 14, 15 year oals os who got paid and worked in these camps. 40 were scholarship and receiving a free camp experience for the free and reduced lunch program. Through a program that mayor invested in with the support of the board, an extraordinary amount of out reach as done in Public Housing sites and saw actual upticks in yu youth fromr programs. Moving onto this fall. What rec an park is doing and we are playing a verywe are close partners but playing a supporting role to d c yf in our Community Hub effort. Were providing a hybrid of comukcommunication sites. One is parent focus or pront linfrontline worker worker focu. Thrsestheres some overlap in te populations. We are continuing to operate five emergency hubs and youth care sites that actually starts on monday. We have close to two hundred slots weve been getting guide an. Were trying to a accommodate as many kids as we can. Right now we have approximately thirty to forty vacancies left. Enrollment was to go back to the population of family ses thatiee enrolled with us in the spring and offer them slots first. At least those that had regular attendance in the program. In addition to our e c y c sites we have another large number of sites that are being used for preschool and prek child care. As i started to note were first reaching out to those families that participated with us in the spring. A lot of them are our scholarship families. Were working with the department of health and Human Resources to make sure every available slot is taken. Okay. Our Community Learning hub, in addition we are also par nerring witpartnerwithing a larger progd operating nine different sites for our community subs. You see them listed here. This number isnt accurate. I think its over three hundred students that were able to accommodate. This program will start september 14th. Were staffing these sites our ourselves. A couple of things worth noting, you see Eureka Valley on the list. We have two, let me confirm my notes. Three cohorts of eight to ten children who are either deaf or hard of hearing or other form ses osof disability that will be staffed and supported but our own inclusionary staff. That will be our inclusion in this program. Our goal here is not to do what our fantastic School District does or incredible teachers. To help them and support them by providing children who are in engaged with sfusd teachers with some support and answer to families to provide them with social Emotional Development and enrichment activity. Here are the sites we have identified as Community Hubs. We have another five site thats are already committed tothat are going to be used by nonprofits in our system and we still have another five or six that are in maybe hoods where we expect to draw concentration for children eligible for Community Hubs that could be available for nonprofits to operate. This obviously is a village and we have not just partnered with the library but with a number of our largest nonprofits. Our own ym c a and the boys and girls club and others. I think maria presented this slide. This is the breadth of nonprofit partners that weve all been working with in this program. You asked a little about Outdoor Education. I dont know thats been covered yet. I think the opportunity to expand or offer education in an outdoor setting is a super important one. Want to share with you a little about what we do and how were thinking about adapting in this model. We actually have a Great Partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District. We were providing opportunities for twenty five hundred students through this program which takes students closest to their school for Outdoor Education. We directly with teachers in this program. In the year prior to covid we provided 25 hour hour of educat. Were providing outdoor focused education in these sites sm we. pleasplease stand by supervisor haney this is an area where i think our partnership with San Francisco Unified School District can grow. Mainly, theres some [inaudible] right now, the best model is a hybrid of indoor and outdoor placebased learning, but this is an activity that were very interested in, and i do want to note something that you all should be proud of called the San Francisco city and Nature Network. San francisco is one of eight cities working with the National League of cities, and the National Childrens Nature Network to standup sort of an intersectional collaborative between city, School Districts, and nonprofit. Precovid, we have engaged nearly 8,000 children through this initiative, hosted 350 preschools in naturebased play days, hosted nature events, and opened up nature play places, and we have trained 275 Early Childhood educators in Outdoor Education. Aga again, this is a cross sector collaborative, and these efforts are continuing between the School Districts, cities, and nonprofits to see how we can get these opportunities to these hubs. Next slide. Nearly 70 of our facilities will be programmed this fall. Obviously, we have some facilities in some neighbors that because of constrained resources are not included in our Community Hub program, but we are opening our parks to a variety of providers who are looking to use park spaces for outofschool time activity. In fact, in just a few short days, we have received nearly 1200 inquiries have providers about how to use park spaces. We are trying to sort them. This is complicated. We do run into use conflicts, and so i have an entire team that is sorting those, getting back to the requesters and figure out how can go where most safely and most appropriately, and we again, the sites for which we are not staffing directly or which we do not have existing nonprofit providers ready to go or near committed or are committed, we are working with dcyf on that list as other nonprofit providers move to support the Community Hub model, we move to make those spaces that were not previously available, available. Next slide. Next slide. Maybe youre trying. It might be actually, that might be the end. But its really been a great honor to collaborate with so many providers and organizations and to support so many children and their needs. Ill stop there. Supervisor haney thank you, director ginsburg, and i just do want to thank you and your staff for all the ways that youre stepping up. I know that is not your sort of core work in so many ways, but youre doing everything you can to be there and provide your facilities and staff and everything, so i really do want to appreciate that. Pods to access our play structures, but they are not yet open to members of the public. While i dont want to speak for Public Health, we have had these conversations, and i think Public Health understands that this is very much an equity issue. What we are finding is while we are not able to accommodate every highneed child through a Community Hub or a pod, there are many, many children who are blessed with families with resources who have been able to figure out some options for recreation and structured play. Supervisor, in your district, as you know, ive been working very closely with a lot of youth advocates in your community because we just invested nearly 4 million in amazing neighborhood playgrounds that we have not yet been able to open to the public. The rationale is this is as you all know, covid is impacting our highest Needs Community and communities of color more severely than any other neighborhoods, and that is exactly the neighborhoods that we want to open for public use, but there is concern about neighborhood spread. There is a possibility that mirrors the opening of playgrounds with some testing or perhaps opening playgrounds in a limited capacity, such as when we open, when we have street closures, like were contemplating in the tenderloin, maybe on those days, we should be opening playgrounds, too. Again, im not the Health Expert and dont want to misrepresent anything, but it seems like what we understand more after several months is this is not about touch and about sanitation, because it is very difficult to keep a playground clean, but really, a little bit about capacity and making sure that children are wearing masks, and that were all wearing masks. And we know now that that is kind of the key driver. So, you know, i do think to the good, that in my conversations with dr. Aragon and dr. Colfax and ana, who was on the call today and i know the mayor feels very strongly about this we are all aware of the increasing impact of covid on our children. And i am increasingly passionate to work with this committee and our Health Care Experts and our city leaders to provide more opportunities for our children to resume healthy, normal lives or at least what is as close to normal as can be. Our Children Play is very serious business. It is about risk taking, about creativity, about socialization. It is about problem solving, strengthening their immune system, and stress relief. Playgrounds are some of the most equitable resources we have, and Public Health services is very blessed. From an access issue, we ha have we are trying. We understand the emergency need. Supervisor haney thank you. We appreciate that, and of course we need to ensure that everything is done safely, but as we are looking at the next phases of things, i know that we are we need to think about how we can provide the safe places for all children to play, you know, especially our neediest children. So i want to have members of the committee to want to ask questions or make comments. Trustee randolph . Hello. Its good to see my former colleagues on the rec and parks committee. Good to see you. I want to make a comment, but i want to thank the rec and park. It wasnt in your presentation, but you also maybe provide more indirect support to our students who are without internet connection, without a home. Some of them still live in their cars, so having access to wifi is a very important resource to our students, especially when everything has moved online, and the digital device has become more problematic in the city when everything is literally online when it comes to education and access to education. So i know anecdotally from our students, to take care of their Mental Health and wellbeing, they are out in the park, but they also are taking advantage of the wifi in some of the parks because the traditional places where students used to access the internet, like libraries or cafes or indoor places are no longer available to them. So they need to have places to do their homework and connect with their fellow students or professors. I dont know if youve thought about that or the importance that that plays to peoples educational endeavors, but i just wanted to raise that, and thank you for that initiative that i worked on at rec and park when i know that i was with some of you, but thank you for that. I probably should have raised that in my initial presentation. I really appreciate the opportunity to comment now. So yes, and when you were at rec and park, trusty randolph, you helped us with free wifi, and i think correct me if i am wrong in at least over 15 public spaces. But i know when we started working on emergency child and youth care, and now this program in partnership with the department of technology and our own amazing Information Technology staff, we invested significantly in upgrading wifi and bandwidth in some of our clubhouses and rec centers, knowing that they are taking on a heightened purpose, right . You know, wifi for parks and recreation is a mixed bag. We want a very good argument. A compelling argument can be made for people to put their phones down and theurn their laptops off and connect to people facetoface. We know that children are connected to devices precovid nine hours a day. We know its there, but we want to encourage particularly or children not to use it. But for people who need to engage in Distance Learning or just able to participate in a life that is increasingly online precovid, this is something that we are leaning in. One of the projects that you are aware of, trustee randolph is the india basin. This is the deepest dive we have done into a concept called Equitable Development planning where we work with the community not just in a traditional Concept Design construct, but the community has ownership with us in trying to figure out how to develop strategi strategies, when we improve the space, we dont do what some refer to as gentrification, and we dont weaken the neighborhood, we strengthen it. Thats not just the design inside the park but outside of the park and how we leverage every single drop of a project to reinvest in the community, and weve been in the equitable planning process with neighbors that are in india basin, in hunters view and shore view for well over a year now. As covid starts, our equitable leadership came up with an idea that we embraced, which is they asked for a tech hub at india basin shoreline park. And this was even before some of the Community Hub this is before we knew what the fall was going to look like at sfusd. This was really for people of all ages. Yes, our children, but also our adults who need a little bit of support and a little extra resource and yes, extra bandwidth maybe to go on job interviews or to work or to go online and policyish up a res or do some work. In india basin, we will be lending laptops, giving chrome books, providing support for children and adults where they can come and safely use the bandwidth and engage in their lives. Its a Community Support annex where kids can come you know, older kids can come and engage in Distance Learning. Youre very right to point out the importance of Digital Bandwidth and everything we can do to close the divide right now. Thank you. Supervisor haney thank you. Trustee selby . Thank you, chair haney. I also want to think everyone thank everyone at rec and park. If it were not for the rec and park, i would not be here because after covid hit, i started a daily trek to Golden Gate Park, and i see a lot of people are there. One of the things that i see, particularly with golden gate in particular, is theres a lot of criticism that theres mostly white and asian people using the park, even though its open to others. I actually just texted the mayor to say, would you like to walk in the park with kids that you know so that they sort of experience that . Theres black and brown people in the area, but yet, they dont seem to be going to the park. There seems to be some inequity there. Well, this is the 150th anniversary of Golden Gate Park, and the slogan is golden gate for everyone. We had provided free transit from every single neighborhood to the park, so Free Transportation to Golden Gate Park. Many years ago, we renovated the beach soccer field, and that has resulted in one of the goals of that project was to bring a significantly more Diverse Community who plays the International Game to Golden Gate Park and to the ocean, which has been very successful. We are in the process of renovating the Golden Gate Park tennis center, a 30 million project that will include, in the clubhouse, something called our Tennis Learning Center t. L. P. Tennis Learning Center program. We are partnering with five schools where kids come to engage in learning and tennis supports. The kids that are most engage, most interested and these are kids coming from every neighborhood, primarily children of color. Our new Stewardship Program brings kids from a variety of schools, so does greenagers. There is a commitment to make sure that Golden Gate Park remains everyones park. In the music concourse itself, we have the great wheel standing there, the symbol of hope that is 70 completed. The idea is to bring children from every neighborhood for free to the whole, and then, the other side of the music concourse is renovations that are being done to the band shell, and theres something for a program that will bring neighborhood performing arts groups to the band shell. So there are just a number of initiatives where we engage in neighborhoods all over the cities. Listen, our parks are all about geography, right . And people are most likely to use their local parks, so youre going to see the besides taurus, the greatest numbers of Golden Gate Park come from the richmond and haight and panhandle and cole valley neighborhoods, and those de demographics are what they are. We agree 100 that we want to work with additional Community Partners to ensure that i think that Golden Gate Park is the best shaurban park in amer. I may be a little biased, but i want to ensure that. So you mentioned environmental educators, and are those environmental educators, are they coming from golden gate city college, are they coming from sfusd . Im just wondering where your environmental educators come from . Well, they come from us. We hire them, we train them. They also come from the conservation corps. We have a Theater Program with staff on internships to us. Some of them come from San Francisco state in our recreation, parks and Tourism Division and or theyre people that have a background in conservation, natural resources, and community engagement. This is a big part of our own internal staffing model. Thats wonderful. I would love to see if we could add ccsf to your recruitment pile. We can see that. Yeah. And trustee selby, i know you know we have a very important and Close Partnership with city college with our gardener mode el. I want that thank the supervisors and the Budget Committee for supporting this during a time we had to make some tough decreases. And i wanted to say that it appears that park and rec is doing a wonderful job of outreach. Sometimes, when i look across the city, i see that some departments may be great in something, and other departments may struggle with it. I just want to see that theres some cross pollenation between yourself and other departments, all of these folks at this very difficult time that were trying to reach kids. I just want to say that i think it sounds like youre in good strong relationship with sfusd and dcyf and maybe a little bit of, you know, communication regarding outreach because it sounds to me like youve sort of got it exactly what you need to do. Thank you. [inaudible] outreach and engagement. Its something you can always improve on. Its something that we take seriously, and were continuing to improve on. Its impossible to have every Single Person in a community paying attention to the same channels where outreach happens, so the formula, the recipe has to be a network, and i personally think the department of children, out, and families is outstanding at outreach in part because their mission and work, where we we are our own provider in a sense, and so we work with the kids and families that come through our system one way or another. It has a pleasing system of nonprofits an Amazing Network of nonprofits, you know, in every single nook and cranny of the city. And obviously, everyono one knr kids better than you at sfusd. Its something we all have to approach together. And then, just a quick followup on your question, trustee selby. [inaudible] our youth Stewardship Program and interns, and we are actually recruiting for that program right now, so after this hearing, my staff will get you and trustee randolph the recruitment information. Thank you. So you can share that within your network. So im sorry. One last question, and that has to do with a statistic that came out recently, that 44 of san franciscans are suffering from anxiety or depression right now, and on average, in america, its 19 . So i dont know what its like elsewhere. I suppose its very, very high, as well, because of covid, and i think one of the things thats really difficult is the yoyo effect of open, close, open, close. First of all, kudos for not having a covid case in the work that youve done so far, but i cannot imagine theres not going to be a covid case moving forward. You know, thats how viruses work; they move through the population. What happens in the case of a covid case in a hub . I apologize. I just got here about an hour ago, so what happens if that happens . Do we go back into shutdown . A couple of good questions on that. First, im very humble i pointed that stat out. Its not that we havent had covid cases, we havent had covid cases traced to the program itself. Youre right. The virus travels, we all live with families. We all have some social contact and social engagement with the world, so we are very humble, and we fully expect that thats certainly possible and plausible. For the last six months, we have been working very, very, very closely with d. P. H. On what the rote cals are. We did have an example of a positive protocols are. We did have an example of a positive covid case that came from the relative of a staffer. The staffer called in and said i just tested positive, and, with Public Health guidance, we closed the facility down for a couple of days, talked to staff and the students and family participants and were able to open pretty quickly. The city has done a good job, and i know theres money for additional testing for the workers that are going to support these Community Hub initiatives, but i think the staff were up to 6700 tests for rec and park staff right now. So we encourage our staff, and we provide them with information how to get free testing, and we take our the guidance and the not just the orders themselves, but the idance from d. P. H. On how were supposed to do this very seriously. I started by saying parks are nice to have. We all like to go to ribbon cuttings, and parks are nice to have, and theyre great for the occasional barbecue and Little League games. Even though they foster happiness and joy, parks are very serious utilities in the cities, and we need to treat them as such. We need to treat them as importantly as we treat our water system, our streets, our Public Safety system, our Emergency Health care system. Because what the data will show, as we confront serious Mental Health challenges right now, in which were forced to respond to a level of Substance Abuse and Mental Health you cuity that you health acuity, what the data will show is front end access to open space, front end encourages access to nature, strengthens immune systems, increases problem solving and activity. We need to be taking this seriously, and even though the investments you make, you wont see the r. O. I. Overnight, right . But we will i guarantee you, the most we invest in our parks and our open space, the the healthier San Francisco will be ten years from now and 20 years from now in terms of its Mental Health. Thank you. Supervisor haney thank you, director ginsburg. I did have one question to clarify about the emergency child care, and i know you and i have talked about this on a number of occasions. Just if you could clarify exactly who is eligible for it. We had a conversation about the needs of our educators as it relates to Distance Learning, emergency child care. Are our educators eligible for this emergency child care, and who specifically is eligible, and whos enrolling . Right now, given the limited capacity that we have, the limited criteria that we have are limited active workers and response workers. My youngest child is going into her senior year at lowell, and she is working with her teachers quite a bit these days, and so we certainly understand that teachers need child care, too. I dont have a perfect answer for you at the moment. In the limits capacity that we have in limited capacity that we have in this model and there are other models that have sprung up. We were in march, three days after the city shutdown, and everyone else in the district was not allowed to operate. We have 40 to 50 slots left, given the capacity that we have, and im happy to have a conversation that, you know, makes sure that, particularly if there are available slots, that we take care of those that need it most. And i know that sounds like a little bit of a vague answer, but because of the size of the pool, we have limited the Eligibility Criteria right now for our Emergency Health care workers and Disaster Service workers within the city and county, but particularly and well see what happens in the next week or two. But if there is sea remaining existing capacity and or we can figure out some strategies together to offer, then, we want those slots to go to those on the frontline, our teachers and those who need help with child care the most. Supervisor haney i will follow up with you on that because i think expanding to our child educators are essential. They are disaster workers in their own way and should be treated that way. Also, im thinking about ensuring we meet the need of frontline and hospital workers. It sounds like there are some facilities that are not being used right now that could be in terms of having the space for it. I think its something that we could revisit soon, and i just want to express my continued willingness to work on you on how to make that happen. Of course. We do have Staff Resources are really the challenge with expansion, so maybe theres some creative ways to approach that. And, you know, this is fall and this is, i think, an important in dealing with the conversation, weve shifted focus a little bit. When we go back to the spring, when we had many more emergency child care facilities open, our focus was on the parents, right . The parents who needed to be on the frontlines and participate in Covid Response. This Community Hub abnoms to our kmfrgs earlier about playgrounds, that we need conversations earlier about playgrounds, that we need to shift our focus a little bit more to kids and the emergency circumstances of their parents. Look, in an ideal world, we try to do it all, but weve made a very specific and deliberate policy shift towards supporting the Community Hub model and our highest need children at the moment to make sure they have what they need to participate in sfusds learning model, given all the health constraints that sfusd needs to confront. So thats been our priority, but i hear you, supervisor haney, and i totally understand the point and very much committed to supporting our teachers as much as we can. Supervisor haney great. Thank you, director ginsberg, and thank you to all of your staff for their work. I do want to open it up for Public Comment now. Madam clerk, do we have anything in the queue for Public Comment . Clerk mr. Chair, operations is checking for callers in the queue. If you have not done so already, please press star, three to be entered into the queue. For those already in the queue, please continue to hold until the system indicates that you are unmuted. Sean, can you update us, please . Operator we have two callers in the queue. Clerk hello, caller . Hi. My name is sucrea ray. Can you hear me . Clerk yes, we can. Okay. Great. I really wants to speak to the importance and urgency of making Outdoor Education essentially having school outside a priority for the school and for the district. I am a parent of two children, one who has just entered second grade, and one who has entered sixth grade. I can tell you that Distance Learning was effectively disaster learning for us in the spring. I had to stop working to teach my daughter because as a first grader then, a sixyearold, she was definitely not prepared to be in front of a computer all day, and frankly, her teacher held only one halfhour zoom session twice a week. So its an unsustainable composition for us. We continue to do most of the education for our daughter whos now in second grade, although her teacher is putting much more effort into our schooling, but i appreciate. But when you talk about children that age, they really are not meant to be in front of a screen that time. We even have had to get our daughter computer glasses because of the discomfort of looking at the screen is causing her. Its difficult for children her age and children in general from any disadvantaged background to go to school, learn in person for their social development, for their physical health, for their ability to learn interaction skills, but also, for the ability that parents work. I was privileged to not work very much this spring, but i cannot do this indefinitely. Ive been sitting, working all morning while im trying to make a comment on this. I also want to say school outside is a completely appropriate and feasible and wonderful thing to do. It does respond to the concerns that parents have about safety. It is the most equitable solution because it allows everyone to go to school. I grew up in a very disadvantaged background. I would have been one of these children whose parents wouldnt have been able to attend school Distance Learning. My mother was a single mother, a nurse, and theres no way that she could have surpris surprised supervised our Distance Learning. So i want to encourage the School District and everyone clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. You have two minutes. Youll be notified that your line has been unmuted, and you may begin your comments. Hi. My names Julie Roberts fung. I want to express my appreciation for all the work thats being done for students and efforts around testing. I agree with supervisor ronen that once every two months is not enough for testing. I also want to ensure that our c. B. O. Staff have sick days and benefits provided. I want to remind everyone that safety is the highest priority for families . We now have 1,000 youth covid cases in San Francisco . Im disappointed to hear that d. P. H. Has been under pressure to declare home pods safe, given that they wont have the testing and oversight towards safety that we have in Community Hubs. Im really glad to hear about the efforts around food being highlighted. Families are already feeling the crunch. Weve estimated that weve lost 8,000 meals in the tenderloin. Were doing all the thing that we can to get families through the complicated system to qualify for food. I want to emphasize we need a full restoration of the grab and go sites, where d. C. O. Allowed students to come from the neighborhood. Theres a lot of families with children who hadnt in the Community Hub arent in the Community Hub that still need food. The c. B. O. Sites are the only ones that are meeting this need, so i really want to emphasize the urgency of that. Thank you all for your kefeffo that more families are getting their needs yet, and we can get students back into school where their full needs are met. Community hubs are good alternatives, but they arent replacements for schools or school resources. Clerk thank you for your comment. Sean, do we have another caller . Operator there are no more callers in the queue. Supervisor haney thank you. With that, Public Comment is now closed. Fellow commissioners, trustees, supervisors, anything more that anybody wants to ask or share . Again, we really just want to appreciate everyone for the work that theyre doing, for all of the presenters and departments and institutions. We appreciate you and your staff. I do want to flag that our next meeting will have to be moved. Our meeting two weeks from now will be the week of labor day, where the board of supervisors will be on a recess, so well figure out the next time for our meeting, and i would now like to entertain a motion to continue these hearings at the call of the chair. Supervisor ronen so moved. Clerk would you like me to take roll call, supervisor . Supervisor haney sure. Clerk on the motion to continue items 1 and 2 to the call of the chair [roll call] clerk you have four ayes. Supervisor haney great. Thank you, madam clerk, and so we will revisit these, im sure, with a lot of updates in a few vehicles, and im theres some follow up items that came out of this meeting, as well, and well be in touch with everyone about that, and supervisor ronen and i will work on moving some of those forward. Madam clerk, are there anymore items . Clerk that completes the business for today. Supervisor haney great. Thank you, madam clerk. This meetings adjourned. 5, 4, 3, 2 , 1. Cut. We are here to celebrate the opening of this community garden. A place that used to look a lot darker and today is sun is shining and its beautiful and its been completely redone and been a Gathering Place for this community. I have been waiting for this garden for 3 decades. That is not a joke. I live in an Apartment Building three floors up and i have potted plants and have dreamt the whole time i have lived there to have some ability to build this dirt. Let me tell you handout you how to build a community garden. You start with a really good idea and add Community Support from echo media and levis and take management and water and sun and this is what we have. This is great. Its about environment and stewardship. Its also for the we implemented several practices in our successes of the site. That is made up of the pockets like wool but they are made of recycled plastic bottles. I dont know how they do it. There is acres and acres of parkland throughout Golden Gate Park, but not necessarily through Golden Community garden. We have it right in the middle of my name is sofy constantineo and a documentary film maker and cinema togfer, producer and director. It is inevable you want your movie to get out and realize yoi need to be a commune tee organizer to get people together to see the story you will tell [inaudible] pretty rich and interesting. In what we do as film makers is try to tell the best story possible so i think that is where i [inaudible] learn everything. Lighting and cinematography. I got jobs of stage manger at some place and projectionist. I kind of mixed and matched as i went and kept refining i feel like it isnt just about making things that are beautiful and appealing and rich and [inaudible] the way that the films [inaudible] it has to tell a story. My name is sumell [inaudible] free lance multimedia produce. My project is [inaudible] mostly oof street photographry with a few portraits. Im going arounds San Francisco and capturing the [inaudible] as we started to do this project i was reading about the decline of African American population in San Francisco and i wondered where the remaining population was and what they were doing and how life was for them. I wasnt very inspired by school, i wasnt very inspired by continuing to read and write and go to class. I watched a lot of movies and saw a lot of [inaudible] i said that is what i want to do. I had this very feminist [inaudible] and i felt like there was not enough of a womans vision on the stuff that we see, the movies that we make and the beginning of the [inaudible] the way we look at women and the roles women take in the stories being tolds. They felt [inaudible] they did want feel complex. I was like, i have a different frame i like to see the world shaped by. My grandsmother was a teacher and taught special education for 40 years in los angeles and when i was growing up she inspired me to record everything. We recorded our conversations, we recorded the [inaudible] we recorded everything to cassette players. Learning multimedia skills, from the other crossover Employment Opportunities for young people. Someone who grew up in la rks San Francisco feels like a small town. I lived in Western Addition and i was looking for someone to cut my hair, i found [inaudible] he seemed like a very interesting guy and grew up in the neighborhood and had a lot to say about something that was foreign to me. That local perspective and so important to me because i think as someone who isnt from here, knowing that history allows me to be more engaging in the community i live in and want the same for others. I want people to move into a new neighborhood to know who was there before and businesses and what cultural and [inaudible] shape what we see today. My Guiding Principles have been, if you stick to something long enough and know what it is and go for it you will get there. [inaudible] where i want to go, what i want to do and it is totally possible so, the impossible is you know, is not something to listen to. Mayor london breed thank you, good morning everyone and thank you for joining us. Im San Francisco mayor london breed, and today im here with the director of the department of Public Health, dr. Grant colfax, as well as our chair of the Economic Recovery Task force, carmen chrks hui. As of today, sadly, we have lost 83 people because of covid, and we have 9,212 confirmed cases, and dr. Colfax will provide more details as it relates to covid19. Before we get into details and possibly some good news, today, as a result, sadly, of the wildfires, the air quality is really terrible in san franci o francisco. In fact, we are in the red zone which means we are asking people to stay indoors, to keep their windows closed, and i know that this has been confusing and really challenging because on the one hand because of covid we are expressing to the public that its important to do things outdoors to avoid the to reduce the transmission of covid19, and then on the other hand were dealing with the wildfires and the air quality, which is also a real challenge, and sadly they contradict each other, but we know that the air quality will change based on the wildfires, and so as a result its important that we are paying very close attention to that and we are adjusting. Theres so much uncertainty, and i know theres so much frustration. We knew when covid hit that the possibility of dealing with other challenging events around air quality would be possible. We know that any other situation, any other emergency could happen, and its important that we adjust. Its important that we are prepared. So again, i know that its been very confusing, but i want to express my appreciation for your cooperation and ultimately the goal is to protect Public Health, is to make sure that youre not impacted by covid, and its also to make sure that youre not impacted by the air quality which, as i said, is at this time red. What the city has done on a regular basis through our alert sf is provide updates. If you want to sign up or if you want to call 311, we are trying to get the information out as soon as possible. We dont know when the winds are going to shift and when its going to impact the city, but today im sure many of you woke up and you smelled fire, just like i did in my apartment, and i didnt have any windows open, which was odd, and so i do understand this is confusing and scary and uncertain, but we are doing everything we can to make sure that the public is aware of whats going on. You know whats interesting is weve been living like this for the past six months, and one of the things that i made clear from the very beginning is we will do everything we can to make sure that we are communicating with the public as much as possible. Its been really challenging because there are times where we dont completely have all the information. There are times when there has been uncertainty, but whenever weve had ability to tell you whatever information we had, we did that. And one of the things that i know has been extremely frustrating is especially when we were doing really well in the beginning of this pandemic. It looked like things were going in the right direction and we made announcements about businesses and things that we anticipated could reopen, i remember going to the zoo and feeding the giraffes and getting super excited about what was to come, not because i personally wanted to have those experiences, but it had everything to do with knowing the challenges that people are facing in this city, especially our Small Businesses, especially our parents, especially the elderly. When i think about the hundreds of businesses that have closed permanently in this city, or the hair salons or the nail salons or the people that have not been able to open, when i think about the kids who are having challenges because they dont have parents or maybe Family Members at the home that could help them with Distance Learning, so we are seeing them fall further and further behind, this is a real struggle for all of us. We have been living in this. We have been dealing with this, and the fact is because San Francisco has been through tough times in the past and gotten through them, we will get through this too. And so we want to thank all of you for your patience and understanding. Six months. Six months. So were getting used to living in it, and now its time for us to make some levels of transition. The good news is, as we came out before and we said there were challenges, and unfortunately wed have to slow down our reopening efforts, we are here today to say that we expect the governor to hopefully make some good announcements this afternoon about our reopening process and the state watch list, and well see what happens at that time, and once we know exactly what that entails, we will come back to you next week with some additional announcements, but as of today we are really excited to announce that we are finally able to allow some businesses to open to do Outdoor Services on september 1, so thats next week. This includes hair and nail salons, and it also includes outdoor gyms. So, look, i know when you talk about a woman, for example, and getting our hair done and doing it outside, it sounds crazy because if someone gets color or someone gets a blow dry, they need their hair washed beforehand, and this requires that we make some adjustments to not only if we want to get our hair done but of course if we want to support those businesses that have been closed for far too long. The fact is, its an adjustment, and we are hopeful that as we see the number and the changes continue that we will be able to allow more. So hair salons, places barbershops, nail salons and outdoor gyms are allowed to move forward, but unfortunately facials and tattoo places and things like that, were going to have to put a pause on, and dr. Colfax will go into more details about that. And the whole point of why we are able to do this is because in these particular instances people are able to wear a mask. Public health will provide guidelines that will make sure that you know exactly what to do, because ultimately what we dont want to do is open up these places and then all of a sudden see a spike and then have to go backwards. And i also just want to Say Something about what this city has done for Small Businesses. Look, i know its not enough, and i know that we can do more, but weve already helped over a thousand Small Businesses with anywhere between 10 to 50,000 in grants and loans. Weve raised over 29 million in private money to help support so many of our struggling businesses in San Francisco, but being closed for six months, we know, has had has taken its toll, and so we are doing everything we can to try and deal with the citys bureaucracies, to try to get rid of fees and delays and process and other things that are costly. Our Small Businesses are hurting. They need us now more than ever, and so as we reopen, yes, resources and Financial Resources and forgivable expenses are going to be critical, but long term theres a lot more work that were going to need to do to support our Small Business community, and im definitely committed to that. So what will happen if and once well, once were off the watch list . It will provide us with an opportunity to do more. It will provide us with an opportunity to allow more things to open, and i want to be clear that as more things open in San Francisco, the possibility for spread goes up. So the last thing we want to do, as i said before, is to go backwards, and we also understand that families, especially with School Starting and Distance Learning, i know parents are at their wits end, and again, i also know that there are students who may not have parents or Family Members or other people in their household that can be of support as they are trying to learn their lessons. You know, its sad to think of, you know, the challenges that many of these kids face. I remember i mean, i just think about when i was a kid and how i drove my grandma crazy, and if we were in a similar situation at that time, and as you remember back then there was no technology and it would have been very difficult to have a whole Distance Learning through technology strategy, but my grandmother wasnt always able to help me with my lessons, and so having resources in the Community Like the Community Learning hub that were proposing through the city are so important. They are especially important for kids whose parents cant afford to miss work. They are important for kids who may not have a Family Member who can assist them at home, so i know that so many of you want to take advantage of these opportunities, but we dont have enough spots for every child. So you are welcome to sign up, and we ask that you can considerate. If you are able to support and help your kid at home, then we want you to allow the opportunity for some of those other children who may not have those same resources to be able to access these learning hubs. And as we move in a direction of getting off the watch list, our goal is to do everything we can to support our families by making sure that we not only have these learning hubs but we are hopeful that we will soon be able to provide some guidance as it relates to schools and reopening. We dont know what that is. We dont know what that entails. We dont know when that date might be, but i want you to know that we are keeping in mind the importance to make sure that we are supporting families. We are supporting kids and we are making them the priority as it relates to their need to learn in person, their need to come together with their friends and to play and to live and to enjoy life to the fullest. Even now as we speak it pains me that there are parks, there are playgrounds that are empty, that we dont hear the noise and the sounds of Children Playing in school yards and enjoying themselves and living their lives. It pains me, and i know that people who are parents, it pains them too. So as we move forward and as we try to push forward with allowing more businesses to open in San Francisco, its also going to be important that we prioritize families and we make access to opportunities for families, for children in particular the priority in this city. Now i know so many of you parents are used to scheduling, soccer on thursdays, ballet on tuesdays, tutoring on wednesdays, like you have a whole system because it works for you because you have to work and you divide up the duties and you have a system, and covid has really disrupted that system. We all are living in a lot of uncertainty, but the good news is the city has adapted to this challenging time. We have adapted and we have been a model for the rest of the country despite the challenges that we still face. So this is an interruption, of course, in our lives, but eventually we are going to get to a better place. Eventually there will be a day when we can get together and not think about wearing a mask. Eventually there will be a day where we will come together and well remember this time, but well remember what we did to contribute to getting through it. Because when we talk about the fact that we are all in this together, we really are all in this together. And we all play a role in the success of the city. We all have a role to play in making sure that we see these cases continue to decline. Our livelihood depends on it. The future of our city depends on it. Were all looking forward to the day where were not even thinking about walking out of the house with a mask on. Thats where were going to be one day, and so until then, lets continue to stay safe and healthy by doing our part. Lets support one another and our neighbors and continue to do what we can to keep a positive attitude, despite the obstacles. We made adjustments in San Francisco. I love seeing people use the safe Streets Program and walk in the middle of the block and just hang out, and kids riding their bikes with their siblings and the things that are happening because of the street closures, the restaurants that have taken their businesses outside and the people and the bustling and the fun and how folks are still able to go outside and come together. San francisco is still alive and active and well. As we go through this very challenging time. So i really want to thank all of you for your work and your support and i want to make sure i havent forgotten anything, and it doesnt look like ive forgotten anything. So the good news is you dont have to hear from me for the rest of the day. The weekend is upon us, and im asking, again, that you continue to avoid large gatherings. Keep in mind and Pay Attention to the air quality so that especially those with Underlying Health conditions and respiratory issues that you are not outside, compromising your health, to do everything you all can to continue to help us fight this virus. We are able to move forward september 1 with very minimal openings, but hopefully significant to so many of the people who have been closed for at least six months, maybe even longer. This is a huge step in the right direction, and hopefully next week well have even better news to get our city and the people of our city to a better place. So thank you all so much for joining us, and at this time i want to turn it over to the department of Public Health director, dr. Grant colfax. Well, good morning. Im dr. Grant colfax, director of the Public Health department for the city and county of San Francisco. Thank you, mayor breed. It was almost exactly six months ago that we stood on this balcony as you declared a state of emergency for the city. Because of your leadership, mayor breed, and thanks to the scientific expertise and the Community Wisdom that we are so fortunate to have here in San Francisco, and through the tireless dedication of city workers and Community Members, we are better off to do. We have been careful. We will continue to be careful. Faced with a new highly infectious virus, we have taken a measured approach that protects the most vulnerable in San Francisco and slows the spread of covid19. We will continue to move forward with a thoughtful, incremental phased approach to reopening that will hopefully allow us to avert large outbreaks, keep our Health Care System at capacity, and mitigate even further damage to our economy and community. I want to provide an update on the covid19 data in San Francisco. As you know, these Key Health Indicators help us monitor the spread of the virus in our communities and assess our ability to respond to the pandemic. And if you go to data tracker at the city website, you can follow these key indicators as well. The rate of new cases of covid19 which helps to show how quickly the virus is spreading unfortunately remains high. We are seeing about 75 new cases every day right now. That number has been coming down in the recent weeks, but it remains in the red zone. And i want to take a moment here to make a key point with regard to our cases in San Francisco. Over half of our covid19 cases continue to be diagnosed in the latin community. While it is the case that the department has worked with Key Stakeholders in community to address this issue, and we have made progress, it is simply not enough. We must continue to do more. Here are some examples of what we will be doing in the immediate future to help address the ongoing latinex pandemic. The department will soon be establishing a 5 Million Grant Program to help communitybased organizations expand Community Health worker teams, outreach and education. We will continue to expand Case Investigation and Contact Tracing teams to a team of over 300 trained individuals and ensuring that at least half the team is fluent in spanish commensurate with the needs identified in the community. We will continue to expand access to testing for the latinex community. We must measure and hold ourselves accountable for increasing testing rates in the community most at risk for covid19. This means this demand expanding testing sites to new venues, potentially transportation hubs, making testing lower barrier and ensuring Wraparound Services are seamlessly coordinated to support people if they test positive and need isolation and quarantine support. Our turnaround time for tests, citybased tests, has come down, and im happy to say at this time it is less than two days. We will increase our support of education and prevention activities, including ensuring that masks are widely available to those who need them most, and we will continue to ensure to strengthen our outreach and support so people know that regardless of immigration status, all will be welcomed and receive care in our Public Health care system. San francisco, after all, is a sanctuary city. Now to continue with the indicators, it is fortunate that our Hospital System indicators currently remain green. This indicator is crucially important as it gauges our ability to handle a potential search of covid19 patients. Our other Health Indicators remain relatively solid. Testing is green. We are testing about 3700 people a day, more than double our goal. Contact tracing is in yellow and orange but continues to improve as our testing time turnaround has improved. We are reaching 81 of cases and 77 of contacts. Our goal is to reach 90 of both. Contact tracing is one of the most important ways we find and stop the virus before it spreads further. Our p. P. E. Supply within the department is at 100 , placing us in the green zone. So as we follow these indicators, as we continue to gradually reopen our city, we are focused on equity and safety. This means opening areas with lower risk and helping those who are suffering dearly as a result shelterinplace. While covid19 is a Public Health priority, so is the development and learning of children. We know that education and particularly Early Education is a key Public Health intervention. We can simply not hit pause on our childrens development. They must continue to learn and grow. We also know that prolonged School Closures can exacerbate the socioeconomic disparities and amplify existing educational inequities in our city. Classrooms, afterschool programs, child care facilities and Learning Centers are all an important part of our community infrastructure. They provide safe, supportive learning environments for students, and enable parents, guardians and caregivers to work. They also provide Critical Services that help to mitigate health inequities, such as meal programs and social, physical and behavioural services. We know that returning children to learning in developmental environments are critically important, and yet it must be done cautiously in this environment of ongoing covid19 risk. We see the gradual reopening of schools as a significant step forward in our citys long path back to normalcy, helping jump start the struggling economy by allowing more parents to return to work and contributing to the longterm wellbeing of children. That is why moving board with Learning Centers, Community Hubs, classroom learning and child care facilities is a top priority of our phased reopening plan. However, these facilities must meet minimum standards, including providing detailed safety and protocol plans. And while the development of our children is a priority, so is the safe reopening of our Small Businesses, the backbone of so many of our communities. And after six months of this covid19 pandemic, we have learned a lot. We know that Outdoor Activities are the safest to avoid infection and, therefore, certain Outdoor Services and activities can occur with less risk of spreading the virus. As we increase Outdoor Activities, we must, we must continue to wear our mask, socially distance, and wash our hands frequently. Our success is so dependent on each person doing their part. The gradual reopening of Outdoor Services and childrens activities will increase travel, and interaction throughout the city, which means we are at increased risk for more Community Spread of the virus. As people start to move around the city more and increase activities, we must, again, be so careful. I ask, wear a mask. We can reopen our city in a responsible, measured and phased approach that leads and must lead with equity. We can address health and safety alongside our children need to return to the classroom, and residents need to get back to work. In the absence of an imminent vaccine or effective treatment, we need to continue to monitor the virus, to continue to work to flatten that curve and slowing the viruss spread in a manner that will not overwhelm our progress, our Health Care System, our Economic System or continue to increase the inequities and the pandemic that i described earlier. We can only be as successful as our collective action is going forward. San francisco has led the nation and saved lives with our phased and measured approach. In order to preserve our hardfought gains now, we must monitor the virus as we continue to move forward with childrens activities and outdoor businesses. As we open, slowly, with caution, we want to sustain our progress, and as long as San Francisco continues to make progress in slowing the spread of the virus and state guidance allows the potential for more activities, we can get San Francisco back on track. Thank you. First off i must say im thrilled that dr. Colfax helped to wipe down the podium in advance for me. Thank you, dr. Colfax, for your comments. Good evening or good afternoon, everybody. I want to say just how important it is to be here today and recognize all the challenges that i think so many families, businesses are facing at this moment. Its so important today that we continue to find ways to help businesses reopen, even if it means starting outdoor first. Todays step recognizes a number of things. First, it recognizes the importance of education and the role of education for our children. Families not only depend on our schools and Educational Opportunities to be able to actually go to work, but it also means a big deal in terms of our kids ability to develop, to grow and to live fulfilled lives. Im very thankful for the department of Public Health, for putting forward guidances and to create a process to enable that to happen. The second piece that this step recognizes is the importance of reopening and the reality and urgency that businesses are facing. I grew up a daughter of restaurant owners. On weekends i would go to the restaurant, i would help to wait on tables and go and help wash dishes, and i know even before covid19 it was so incredibly hard for businesses to succeed and to survive in the city. From thousands and thousands of people we heard the challenges they are facing economically through the Economic Recovery Task force. I think as the mayor spoke about earlier, businesses have been closed for months, some up to six months and more. So many businesses are open at only a fraction of what they were before covid19. We know that immediate lifeline programs, like the federal ppp program are coming to an end, and i think more than anything we recognize that people need to know more information in order to be able to make good decisions about what they do in the future. Should they stay open and continue as they are . Should they take out an additional loan . Do they need to close up their businesses . We know that opening Outdoor Services alone wont be an option for everyone, and its not lost on us about some of the challenges Outdoor Services provide, including what were doing with some of the air quality issues today. But we also recognize that every bit counts, especially now. What we know is that the virus has taught us that flexibility and creativity is incredibly important. We need to try and we need to adjust as best as we can. So far over a thousand businesses have applied to use outdoor spaces through the shared spaces program. We hope that this program or what is announced today will allow for more and more businesses to take advantage of this opportunity. We know that the coming months will be the warmest where outdoor operations could actually be impactful for businesses. Were also about to enter the high retail season, and we also need to recognize that we need to take every step that we can to allow reopening to occur in a safe way. Dr. Colfax spoke earlier about where we are in terms of the health or Public Health perspective. We are still in a very challenging time, and though todays steps really acknowledges the need to reopen while balancing Public Health, i think its really worth underscoring that there can be no possible longterm sustainable economic recovery without making sure that were effectively managing and stopping the spread of this disease. Workers need to continue to feel safe working and our customers need to feel confident and safe reengaging in the economy for this to work. So ill close my comments today by making two requests. The First Support local businesses if you can. It makes such a big difference when you do that takeout order, when you order from your local restaurant, when you buy that good or that product from a local store. It helps to get them through just one more month, one more week, one more day. And second, please continue to wear a mask. Please continue to avoid taking unnecessary risks. San francisco businesses and our workers are relying on all of us doing those two simple things that have been able to continue staying open and sustain the progress that weve made, and also to allow us to open further. Thank you so much. I think the first question might be for me, so im going to stay up here. Thank you. We will begin the q a portion for you. Your first question comes from sf business times. When San Francisco is off the watch list, does it become the citys sole discretion to open Indoor Service for salons, gyms, et cetera, or will more restrictions from the state need to be rolled back before that can happen . Thank you, alex, for that question. I think its an important one. We understand that there is a lot of confusion about what can open and what cannot open. People are seeing across different county lines that different activities are opening up in San Francisco versus in other places, and they also hear sometimes conflicting or confusing information coming from Different Levels of government. So i think the answer is very well asked because it helps to clarify the process. There are two things really that we need to continue before we figure out what is next in terms of opening. The first i think is dr. Colfax has mentioned is really paying very close attention to what the progression of the disease looks like in San Francisco. Do we see case counts rising . What do our hospitalization rates look like . What does that spread look like . Are we able to reach the people who has been infected . Are we able to effectively mitigate that spread . Thats one really important component. So San Francisco will be taking a look at those different data and statistics to be able to say what does it look like, can we move forward. The second piece that is also important is that the state also provides overlaying requirements in terms of what local jurisdictions can do. In addition to putting a program in place for a watch list, they have also said statewide certain types of activities can or cannot open, regardless of whether were on watch list or not. So i think as the state continues to make additional changes, as they continue to adjust, were going to be watching very, very closely to make sure that were following what is required of us, but also making sure to communicate that as clearly as possible in terms of what it is that we are able to do and to open. Thank you again for that question, alex. Thank you, ms. Chu. The next set of questions are for mayor breed. Mayor breed, your first question comes from andrea borba with kpix. What are your thoughts on lax mask wearing and social distancing seen at National Events like the rnc and protests . Mayor london breed i was thoroughly disgusted that the leader of this country would allow such a thing to occur. It was just to sit there and to watch it and to see it, when we are in the midst of a global pandemic, where hundreds of thousands of americans have lost their lives, it was very unfortunate, but it doesnt change what we need to do here in San Francisco because we follow data, we follow facts, and we use science in order to make good health decisions, and its a poor example of what any leader should be doing at a time like this, and we need to do better. Thank you, mayor breed. The next question is from melanie woodrou with abc 7 news. Anecdotally some San Francisco teachers have shared that attendance is already low for Distance Learning. Are you aware of any attendance numbers yet for the new school year from the San Francisco Unified School District . And can you speak to what, if anything, San Francisco will do to address truancy . Mayor london breed well, i will say that im not aware of the attendance records of whats happening with the School District at this time, but this is why opening these learning hubs and providing opportunities for students to have places to go where they cannot only get help with their lesson and how to log in and to set up and to get the support that they need, but also so that they can get food, its really unfortunate that were in this situation and so many kids are not getting the resources and the support that they need. We couldnt sit back and wait until this pandemic end. We couldnt sit back and wait on what decisions might happen and the uncertainty. These learning hubs that we have established are so critical to supporting our young people, especially if this is you know, early indications of what we can expect to see and the achievement gap, as we know, as a result of what just recently happened when Distance Learning took into effect, we saw that those kids who didnt get, for example, the free devices or needed additional internet, wifi, they continued to do well in school. Meanwhile, even the kids we provided devices and support to through highspeed internet, they continued to not do so well. So we know that the achievement gap is widening, and its important that we do everything we can to support our young people. Thank you, madam mayor. The next set of questions are for dr. Colfax. Dr. Colfax, the question comes from abc 7 news. A group of San Francisco gym owners are claiming the city received a waiver from calocia to open gyms at various city spaces, including the Police Department, public works and the Coroners Office while private gyms are facing closure due to restrictions. Can you confirm the City Employee gyms are open, and what relief is possible for gym owners . Im not aware of any waivers. There are allowances in the order for Government Services to deem what is essential, so there is at least a theoretical possibility that gyms could be open. Certainly this goes against Public Health advice. I certainly wouldnt recommend people working out inside enclosed quarters at this time. Thank you, dr. Colfax. There are no further questions at this time, and this concludes todays press conference. Thank you, madam mayor, assessor chu and dr. Colfax for your time, and thank you everyone for joining us. Today. clapping. ive been working in restaurants forever as a blood alcohol Small Business you have a lot of requests for donations if someone calls you and say we want to documents for our school or nonprofit ive been in a position with my previous employment i had to say no all the time. My name is art the owner and chief at straw combinations of street food and festival food and carnival food i realize that people try to find this you dont want to wait 365 day if you make that brickandmortar it is really about making you feel special and feel like a kid again everything weve done to celebrate that. So nonprofit monday is a program that straw runs to make sure that no matter is going on with our business giving back is treated just the is that you as paying any other bill in addition to the money we impose their cause to the greater bayview it is a great way for straw to sort of build communicated and to introduce people who might not normally get to be exposed to one nonprofit or another and i know that they do a different nonprofit every most of the year. People are mroent surprised the restaurant it giving back i see some people from the nonprofit why been part of nonprofit monday sort of give back to the program as well answer. Inform people that be regular aprons at straw they get imposed to 10 or 12 nonprofits. I love nonprofits great for a local restaurant to give back to community thats so wonderful i wish more restrictive places did that that is really cool. It is a 6 of nonprofit that is supporting adults with autism and down syndrome we i do not involved one the wonderful members reached out to straw and saw a headline about, about their nonprofit mondays and she applied for a grant back in january of 2016 and we were notified late in the spring we would be the recipient of straw if you have any questions, well be happy to answer thems in the month of genuine we were able to organize with straw for the monday and at the end of the month we were the recipient of 10 percent of precedes on mondays the contribution from nonprofit monday from stray went into our post group if you have any questions, well be happy to answer theming fund with our arts coaching for chinese and classes and we have a really great vibrate arts program. We we say thank you to the customers like always but say 0 one more thing just so you know youve made a donation to x nonprofit which does why i think that is a very special thing. It is good to know the owner takes responsibility to know your money is going to good cause also. It is really nice to have a restaurant that is very Community Focused they do it all month long for nonprofits not just one day all four mondays. We have a wall of thank you letters in the office it seems like you know we were able to gas up the 10 passenger minivan we were innovate expected to do. When those people working at the nonprofits their predictive and thank what straw is giving that in and of itself it making an impact with the nonprofit through the consumers that are coming here is just as important it is important for the grill cheese kitchen the more restrictive i learn about what is going on in the community more restrictive people are doing this stuff with 4 thousand restaurant in San Francisco were doing an average of 6,000 a year in donations and multiply that by one thousand thats a lot to i love teaching. It is such an exhilarating experience when people began to feel their own creativity. This really is a place where all people can come and take a class and fill part of the community. This is very enriching as an artist. A lot of folks take these classes and take their digital imagery and turn it into negatives. There are not many black and white darkrooms available anymore. That is a really big draw. This is a signature piece. This is the bill largest darkroom in the u. S. There are a lot of people that want to get into that dark room. I think it is the heart of this place. You feel it when you come in. The people who just started taking pictures, so this is really an intersection for many generations of photographers and this is a great place to learn because if you need people from different areas and also everyone who works here is working in photography. We get to build the community here. This is different. First of all, this is a great location. It is in a lesspopulated area. Of lot of people come here just so that they can participate in this program. It is a great opportunity for people who have a little bit of photographic experience. The people have a lot, they can really come together and share a love and a passion. We offer everything from traditional black and white darkrooms to learning how to process your first roll of film. We offer classes and workshops in digital camera, digital printing. We offer classes basically in the shooting, ton the town at night, Treasure Island. There is a way for the programs exploring everyone who would like to spend the day on this program. Hello, my name is jennifer. My name is simone. We are going on a field trip to take pictures up the hill. Cmon, cmon, cmon. Actually, i have been here a lot. I have never looked closely enough to see everything. Now, i get to take pictures. We want to try to get them to be more creative with it. We let them to be free with them but at the same time, we give them a little bit of direction. You can focus in here. That was cool. If you see that . Behind the city, behind the houses, behind those hills. The see any more hills . These kids are wonderful. They get to explore, they get to see Different Things. We let them explore a little bit. They get their best. If their parents ever ask, we can learn they can say that they learned about the depth of field or the rule of thirds or that the shadows can give a good contrast. Some of the things they come up with are fantastic. That is what were trying to encourage. These kids can bring up the creativity and also the love for photography. A lot of people come into my classes and they dont feel like they really are creative and through the process of working and showing them and giving them some tips and ideas. This is kind of the best kept secret. You should come on and take a class. We have orientations on most saturdays. This is a really wonderful location and is the real jewel to the community. Ready to develop your photography skills . The Harvey Milk Photo Center focuses on adult classes. And saturday workshops expose youth and adults to photography classes. I went through a lot of struggles in my life, and i am blessed to be part of this. I am familiar with what people are going through to relate and empathy and compassion to their struggle so they can see i came out of the struggle, it gives them hope to come up and do something positive. I am a community ambassador. We work a lot with homeless, visitors, a lot of people in the area. What i like doing is posting up at hotspots to let people see visibility. They ask you questions, ask you directions, they might have a question about what services are available. Checking in, you guys. Wellness check. We walk by to see any individual, you know may be sitting on the sidewalk, we make sure they are okay, alive. You never know. Somebody might walk by and they are laying there for hours. You never know if they are alive. We let them know we are in the area and we are here to promote safety, and if they have somebody that is, you know, hanging around that they dont want to call the police on, they dont have to call the police. They can call us. We can direct them to the services they might need. We do the three one one to keep the city neighborhoods clean. There are people dumping, waste on the ground and needles on the ground. It is unsafe for children and adults to commute through the streets. When we see them we take a picture dispatch to 311. They give us a tracking number and they come later on to pick it up. We take pride. When we come back later in the day and we see the loose trash or debris is picked up it makes you feel good about what you are doing. It makes you feel did about escorting kids and having them feel safe walking to the play area and back. The stuff we do as ambassadors makes us feel proud to help keep the city clean, helping the residents. You can see the community ambassadors. I used to be on the streets. I didnt think i could become a community ambassador. It was too far out there for me to grab, you know. Doing this job makes me feel good. Because i came from where a lot of them are, homeless and on the street, i feel like i can give them hope because i was once there. I am not afraid to tell them i used to be here. I used to be like this, you know. I have compassion for people that are on the streets like the homeless and people that are caught up with their addiction because now, i feel like i can give them hope. It reminds you every day of where i used to be and where i am at now. Hello im San Francisco mayor london breed i want to thank everyone in San Francisco. Thank you for your patience, for your resilience and listening to our Public Health leaders. I know the last several months havent been easy for anyone. They certainly havent been easy for me. Everyday i hear about the struggles people are going through from friends from Family Members and from the community. While San Francisco has been a leader in the fight against this pandemic, everyday we suffer losses. People are losing their jobs, people are losing their grip on their Mental Health. Worst of all, people are losing Family Members to this disease. Even as we endure these losses, im hopeful for the future. These months of Public Health crises and social unrest has shown us that when we come together, we can have the hard conversations and make the tough choices to do what needs to be done. Not just save lives but to address systemic racism head on and change society as we know it. I know today is about our budget and our path forward. As we step into the future, one that im hopeful for, is important we take a moment to recognize where weve come from. At the beginning of this year, we were living in a different world. Our Unemployment Rate was at a historic low. Tourism was at alltime high. Hotels were full, we had all plans to shape the future of this city we all love. I know i have plans to address homelessness and housing, to reimagine our Mental Health system, to improve transportation and make our streets safer and build a more equitable city. To lift up those who too often are left behind. Like i said, we had lot of plans. What we didnt have plans for was the coronavirus. It certainly had plans for us. Here we are today in a very different San Francisco with Small Businesses closing and schools struggling to bring kids back to the classrooms. With over 180 thousands san francisc100 180,000 sanfrancr unemployment. We have seen San Francisco come together in a way that makes me proud. Proud to be mayor, yes, but also proud to be a san franciscan. We Work Together to make sure thousands of people had access to medical support, to testing, food and housing. We move forward emergency policies to protect tenant and businesses from eviction. Give people emergency sick leave and keep workers safe. We raised millions of dollars in donations through give to sf to support Small Businesses, workers and vulnerable residents. We think people organized to check on elderly neighbors and deliver groceries for those who cant leave the house. While Nursing Homes across the country have been devastated by this virus, we havent had a single death among the over 700 residents at laguana hospital. Weve seen Community Groups rise up to support our most vulnerable residents in the bayview and mission and other hard hit areas. Weve seen the spirit of San Francisco rise to meet this challenge to flatten the curve and then rise once again when the virus came back the second time. Today, we are proposing a balanced budget that closes that 1. 5 billion deficit. While still meeting the needs of our city. Through all of this, we continue to protect our public workforce. Let be clear, when we talk about 180,000 san franciscans applying for unemployment, not one of those people is doing so because of city cut their job. Not one. As our economy plummeted, we wanted our city workers to focus on their health and the health of their families and on serving our residents during this crises. Not on whether or not they would have a paycheck. With the budget im proposing today, i i want to continue to prevent all layoffs. But to do that, we need our labor partners to work with us. We need them to agree to delay any planned wage increases for two years. So far, we are having good conversations with the firefighters and the Police Officers on delaying their raises im hopeful other unions will agree to do the same. I dont think this is too much to ask. Our entire city is suffering now. We all need to do our part to hair in that sacrifice. I want to be very clear, if the union dont agree to delay their raises, then we will be forced to lay people off. We will be forced to cut city services. We dont want to see those unemployment numbers go up because we are forced into layoffs. Thats not what i want. Its not what anyone wants. Im hopeful that our labor partners will step up and work with us in the coming weeks. Because there is a lot we have to do with this budget. Including continuing to fund our ongoing Covid Response. We all know we are living with covid for the next year. Likely longer than that. San francisco has been a National Leader in responding to this pandemic, thanks to our efforts to follow the data, build a testing system from scratch, create a robust Contact Tracing team and provide food, support and shelter for our most vulnerable residents. We will keep doing everything we can to get this city through this pandemic. Hopefully the federal government will continue to provide the necessary support. We know the federal government wont cover everything. Thats why we are putting 93 million from our general fund towards supporting our continued Covid Response. This is a significant investment but honestly, its not really a choice. Without a strong and sustained Covid Response our students wont return to school, people wont go back to work and our economy wont recover. Even as we continue to wrestle with covid, we cant lose sight of other key priorities. Our homelessness crises didnt go with covid. Covid has made it even more challenging. I know people are frustrated with what they see on our streets. We have had to reduce capacity in our existing shelters by 70 leaving more people out on the streets. Our outreach workers continue to do very difficult work all while practicing social distancing. We met this challenge by moving thousands of people into hotel rooms, trailers, safe sleeping site and new emergency shelters. This work took an amazing effort from city staff and nonprofit partners, work that normally take months and years in planning and implementation done in a matter of weeks. The tenderloin alone we moved over 500 people. We are expanding those efforts oeffort neighborhoods like selma and the mission. While we are seeing some progress, frankly its clearly not enough. We need more than shortterm hotel rooms. We more than parking lots for safe sleeping sites. We need housing. Lots of housing. Thats why this budget funds 1500 new units supportive housing. Which is part of our homeless Recovery Plan to move 4500 people from hotels, shelters and the streets into housing in the next two years. It will help us as a city meet the needs of the unsheltered and our residents who are frustrated by the conditions they see everyday in our neighborhoods. We also cant lose the progress weve made on improving our Mental Health system. Including funding Mental Health sf. That means adding more Mental Health beds, expanding our Behavioral Health Access Center so people can get Immediate Care when they need it and improving the system of care so that people struggling with Mental Illness and addiction. Were also creating a new Crises Response Team so that when you call 911 or 311, because someone on the street is clearly having a mental breakdown, we can send a team which includes a paramedics, clinician and Behavioral Health peer. We need to shift the burden Mental Health response call away from the police its not fair to ask our officers to do the work of Mental Health professionals. Its not effective for those in crises. This is a key piece of our Police Reform efforts. In addition to doing the work to call for service, i laid out three other major areas for Police Reform. Addressing accountability and bias, getting rid of military grade weapon and equipment and redirecting Law Enforcement funding towards the Africanamerican Community. While all are important, its the last one i want to talk about today. As a black woman who grew up in poverty in this city, Police Brutality was all too common. It was something we expected and complaints were usually ignored. Two months ago, the murder of george floyd shook this country to its core. In a way that i have never seen before. People responded like i have never seen before. Seeing people not just africanamericans, rise up against Police Brutality gave me hope that real change in this country is possible. But for those who support this movement, for those who truly believe that black lives matter, its important that we listen to black voices. Its important that we allow black people to lead this movement. Im not just talking about me or any of our black elected leaders who have been fighting this fight for generations. I mean we have to listen to the people in the community. We have to listen to the people who have seen and lived the devastation resulting from decades of disinvestment. We have to listen to the people who dont come to city hall because theyve known too many broken promises, made by those in this building who believe they know what is best for black people in this city. Thats why the first thing supervisor Shamann Walton and i said, when we announced we wanted to reprioritize funding to support the black community, was that this had to be a communityled process. Earlier this week, the Human Rights Commission released an initial report that highlighted what the Community Wants us to focus on. This report is the first step in guiding not just the investments we make with this budget but the change we need to make in the years to come. Changing the inequities in our country wont happen overnight. We wont change the fact that africanamericans have the lowest Median Household Income in San Francisco overnight. We wont change the fact that black people have the highest mortality rate for nine of the top ten causes of death in San Francisco overnight. We wont change the fact that Graduation Rates for africanamerican students in our Public School system is just 53 . We wont change that overnight. We wont change the fact that nearly half of San Francisco Police Department used to force cases involve black people overnight. We will change these facts with this budget. We are listening to the community and prioritizing investments in the Africanamerican Community around housing, Mental Health and wellness, workforce development, economic justice, education, advocacy and accountability. As a first step in this effort, we will redirect 120 million from Law Enforcement to support these priorities over the next two years. Let me repeat that, this is 120 million. Its a first step. If we are going to make real change, we need to do the hard work. Its going to take all of us coming together, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. I often talk about how i overcame poverty, despair and vince to become violence to become mayor. My goal with these investments and this change in how we prioritize the black community is simple. I want my story, my experience to be the norm and not the exception. I want black girls growing up today to rise not in spite of their upbringing here in the city but because of it. I want black boys growing up today to thrive because we chose how to change the city and how this country treats our young black men. Not as a statistic or an tragedy but as an important part of our citys future. If we accomplished nothing more than that during my time as mayor, i will leave this office proud. I want to end by acknowledging the leadership of a few of the people who are central to this budget process. First, i want to thank board president norman yee and budget chair supervisor sandy fewer to continuing to be strong and collaborative leaders. Over the coming weeks, we will work with both of them and the board of supervisors to finalize this budget so that we can continue to deliver for the people of San Francisco. I want to thank controller ben rosen field for the work he and his team has put in as well as all the city departments who worked to find ways for us to close this deficit. Finally, i want to thank my budget team. Led by ashley golfenburgering. San francisco is lucky to have these two strong smart women leading this challenging process. Now at this time, i want to introduce ashley whos going to give us a short presentation on our budget. Good afternoon, thank you mayor breed. Im the mayors acting budget director. I like to thank the rest of the mayors Budget Office team who worked so hard to put this budget together under mayor breeds leadership. Today im happy to walk you through the details of the mayors fiscal year 2021 and 2 2122 budget. The total size of the proposed budget is 13. 7 billion in fiscal year 2021 and 12. 6 billion in fiscal year 202122. The fiscal year 2021 proposely budget represents a 1. 4 billion increase over the fiscal year 1920 budget primarily driven by one expenditure related to the covid19 pandemic which go away in the second year of the budget. The total proposed budget is made up of 7. 5 billion or 54 Nongeneral Fund expenditures which include enterprise and selfsupporting activities. 6. 2 or 46 of general Fund Expenditures. It is important to note that selfsupporting and Enterprise Funding are restricted and not eligible to be used to balance the citys General Fund Budget. These includes things like operations that are airport, the Public Utilities commission, port and the mta. It is also important to note that the 3. 9 billion of the 6. 2 billion in general Fund Expenditures are restricted by state and federal reimbursements and voter mandated services for children, transit and seniors. The remaining 2. 3 billion represents Discretionary Fund budget available to pay for the Public Services san franciscans rely on. The mayors proposed budget achieved four key objectives. It balances the budget responsibly, avoiding layoffs for City Employees and Major Service cuts, it makes progress on shared priorities of homelessness and Behavioral Health. It reinvest significant resources toward initiatives that support Racial Equity and identifying alternatives to policing and it maintains a robust importance to the covid19 pandemic. The mayors required by the charter to submit a balance twoyear budget. The proposed budget utilizes variety of one time and ongoing revenue and expenditures solutions to balance this projected shortfall while also investing in shared priority areas. The may 2020 joint report projected a 1. 5 billion twoyear General Fund Budget shortfall. Driven by stark revenue losses resulting from the Economic Impact of the covid19 emergency. In july, worsening Economic Conditions resulted in a further downgrade of revenue projections for the upcoming budget period. To overcome the shortfall, the mayors proposed budget utilizes reserves, new revenue and other savings. The mayors proposed budget utilizes 340 million from the citys main economic reserves during the budget period ensuring reserve balances remain in tact to hedge against future risk. The budget assumes ongoing excess reserve from the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund or eraf to balance the shortfall. The proposed budget assumes 300 million that will become available with the passage of Business Tax Reform measure. In order to avoid layoffs and maintain critical city services, the mayor has asked the citys labor unions to defer scheduled wage increases over the period of the twoyear budget. The savings associated with that are reflected this proposed budget. Lastly, the mayors proposed budget assumed many citywide and departmental saving. It includes underfunding the citys Capital Equipment and i. T. Programs, only funding critical projects while deferring other new costs. This also includes savings offered by city departments that keep positions vacant and achieve other efficiencies all while avoiding layoffs and Major Service impacts. Taken together, these solutions equal 1. 9 billion over the two years. Despite the economic challenges we face, the mayors propose the budget is able to make over 300 million in targeted investments in priority areas. The mayors proposed budget invest general fund dollars in Behavioral Health and homelessness, maintaining the investments weve made in shelter, Navigation Centers and Behavioral Health beds while also feeding new general fund support such as the homeless rory plan and Mental Health sf which will be implemented through the passage of the november business tax measure. The proposed budget also reinvest 120 million in Law Enforcement funding over the next two years to support programs and services that benefit the Africanamerican Community and advance Racial Equity in our city. The proposed budget also seeks to prioritize youth investing 15 million in onetime support to the San Francisco Unified School District to provide needed Financial Relief and support for vulnerable students. Lastly, the mayors proposed budget maintains robust response to the ongoing covid19 pandemic. Allocated 100 million in new general fund support. The mayors proposed budget is able to close the projected shortfall without layoffs and Minimal Service impacts. However, we are just beginning to see the effects of this recession and must remain vigilant of the risks that uncertainties that lie ahead. Before the pandemic, San Francisco had approximately 1 billion in reserves. The proposed budget will utilize about half of those reserves over the coming three years, leaving the remainder to hedge against significant risk that far exceed the remaining reserves. These risks include the failure of the november 2020 Business Tax Reform measure, which should not prevail could create 300 million shortfall. The proposed budget assumes that the city continues to receive fema reimbursements for eligible covid expenditures through the end of the fiscal year. Should the federal government declare the emergency over, the city would face a significant financial burden to continue to respond to covid. A prolonged worsening of the pandemic would negatively impact the citys finances both in the form of ongoing expenditures not planned for in this budget and in worsening conditions that can further slow economic recovery. While we believe the assumptions around access eraf and other state revenues are sounds, theres risk that worsening conditions that the state level can result in further losses of state revenue. Lastly, while this budget proposed ongoing solutions, the city still faces a structural deficit and must maintain reserves. To conclude, while the proposed budget balanced it is balance end on a number of asunshines that could fail to materialize which under underscores the importance maintain reserves to guard against these future risks. Thank you. Thank you ashley. Thank you again. Nothing about this pandemic is easy. Nothing is certain. I believe that the more transparent we are with the facts and the more honest we are with the challenges we face, the better off we will all be. I know we will get this budget passed. We will continue to keep people healthy and safe and we will get through this challenging time together. My name is doctor ellen moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of San Francisco. I perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. Also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death. I have been here at this facility since i moved here in november, and previous to that at the old facility. I was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldnt see people every day. I would miss my personal interactions with the other employees, but that hasnt been the case. This building is very nice. We have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with. We have a bond like any other group of employees that work for a specific agency in San Francisco. We work closely on each case to determine the best cause of death, and we also interact with Family Members of the diseased. That brings us closer together also. I am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in San Francisco. As an investigator here i investigate all manners of death that come through our jurisdiction. I go to the field interview Police Officers, detectives, Family Members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. Additionally i take any property with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. I maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular death. I am dealing with people at the worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news they could get. I work with the family to help them through the grieving process. I am ricky moore, a clerk at the San Francisco medical examiners office. I assist the pathology and toxicology and Investigative Team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral establishment. I started at the old facility. The building was old, vintage. We had issues with plumbing and things like that. I had a tiny desk. I feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. I am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor. We test for alcohol, drugs and poisons and biological substances. I oversee all of the lab operations. The forensic operation here we perform the toxicology testing for the Human Performance and the case in the city of San Francisco. We collect evidence at the scene. A woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. That was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. It is nice to get the feedback. We do a lot of work and you dont hear the result. Once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. You can bring justice to what happened. We are able to take what we due to the next level. Many of our counterparts in other states, cities or countries dont have the resources and dont have the beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance what we are doing. Sometimes we go to court. Whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. We do whatever we can to get our job done. When we think that a case has a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. Unexpected findings are fun. I have a prior background in Law Enforcement. I was a Police Officer for 8 years. I handled homicides and suicides. I had been around Death Investigation type scenes. As a Police Officer we only handled minimal components then it was turned over to the coroner or the detective division. I am intrigued with those types of calls. I wondered why someone died. I have an extremely supportive family. Older children say, mom, how was your day. I can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day. Without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. Being i am a native of San Francisco and grew up in the community. I come across that a lot where i may know a loved one coming from the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. There are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. If from is a child involved or things like that. I try to not bring it home and not let it affect me. When i tell people i work at the medical examiners office. Whawhat do you do . The autopsy . I deal with the a with the enou with the administrative and the families. Most of the time work here is very enjoyable. After i started working with dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. I thought there was somebody dead . My bed. I rolled over and poked the body. Sure enough, it was my husband who grumbled and went back to sleep. This job does have lingering effects. In terms of why did you want to go into this . I loved science growing up but i didnt want to be a doctor and didnt want to be a pharmacist. The more i learned about forensics how interested i was of the perfect combination between Applied Science and criminal justice. If you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. Being a woman we just need to go for it and dont let anyone fail you, you cant be. With regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations. Lets face it, we arent hollywood, we are real world. Yes we collect evidence. We want to preserve that. We are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a Hollywood Television show. Families say thank you for what you do, for me that is extremely fulfilling. Somebody has to do my job. If i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like i am doing the right thing for i am doing the right thing for i am vivian coe. Carman chu cofounded the challenge along in 2018, along with the department on the status of women, as well as the league of women voters in San Francisco. Our mission is to raise womens voices and their voting power. You can learn more about our initiative on our website wchallenge. Org. Before we start, i would like to thank our w challenge partners and supports and occur cohosts and our cohosts listed in the shared screen before. For organizing todays event, as well as kicking off a social Media Campaign as this years challenge. We want to encourage more women to vote, especially for this upcoming election. Well share more details later on in the program. You can learn more about the initiative on wchallenge. Org 100 women. Todays event will stream live on sfgovtv. Org youtube channel, as well as the citys facebook and twitter accounts. I want to thank our colleagues here from sfgov tv for working in the backgrounds and making this event as successful as possible for everyone. You can feel free to share the links and host a watch party if you want on your preferred social media platforms, because we will be having them on facebook and twitter. This session will be recorded for future references. So lets get started. Happy womens equality day. May i kindly ask the president of the commission on the status of women to join us, bree anna swat, to officially kickstart the celebration of todays event. Thank you. Thank you so much, vivian, for the kind introduction. And really thank you to all staff for making this happen. I know we would normally be on the steps of stahl. But i appreciate everyones creativity and flexibility of making this a Virtual Event as well. My name is brianna and im privileged to serve as the president of the nations strongest commission and department on the status of women, right here in San Francisco. It was on this day 100 years ago that the 19th amendment was added to the constitution of the united states. In the process of extending the right to vote to women across the country. And on november 2nd, 1920, more than 8 million women voted for the first time in the president ial election. The moment was a culmination of a Movement Made with tears, pain, sweat, a long strug that will included activism and leadership of black, indigenous, and women of color, too many who who were later written out of history books. These women, who fought, marched, organized and protested for decades to gain the right to vote. We are right to celebrate this day as a milestone and recognize that equal votes rights were not achieved for all women through the 19th amendment. The Voting Rights act, passed 55 years ago, brought us closer to equal Voting Rights. However, the struggle continues. And the need for vigilance goes on. As we were reminded in 21, when the Supreme Court gutted, these attacks on the democracy continue through this very hour, the tactics evolve. But honestly the intent remains the same. It was once literacy test, and outright violent intimidation. Today we see the closing of polling places in communities of color be and attacks on voting by mail. In short, the fight continues on for the right to vote. Today is more than a day of celebration, but to continue in the struggle and the moment to look ahead to the next 100 yea years. And 9 moment to ensure our democracy is truly representative. Over the last century, women have also fought to gain access in classrooms, board room, and elected it office, elected office. We have seen the power of womens leadership with each advance. We see that Diverse Voices and perspectives, equity and inclusion bring new ideas, new insights to the halls of power. Weve seen that right here from our Vantage Point in San Francisco, with our own representative nancy pelosi, the first and only woman to serve as speaker of the house, our two female senators and now Vice President ial candidate kamala harris. As i said earlier, i wish we could all be gathered in person together. This is not how anyone could have imagined 2020 would look. But it also reminds us how important it is to have strong and capable leaders. And how connected we are together. In honor of our ancestors, our foremothers, our sisters and the struggle, i am so proud to kick off this event and to bring together our two city female elected officials, women who not only forged the path, but always bring others along with them. Carmen chu as served as the elected assessor since 2013. Her efforts in the in performing the office and successfully reversing decades of old backlog, earned her office the prestigious 2020 Good Government award, an hon father recognizing the excellence in Public Sector management and stewardship. Assessor chu has also recently taken on a new leadership role to cochair the Economic Recovery Task force, using her fiscal expertise to help San Francisco through an unprecedented Economic Impact from covid19 pandemic. On top of all of this, she is Vice President of the california assessors association, served on the employees retirement system board, overseeing the investments of 26 billion in public Pension System and a little provides direction on the executive board of spur, a nonprofit focused on developing Regional Solutions to crosscounty challenges like Housing Affordability and climate resilience. In addition to all of these wonderful things, and all of these new roles, she has a new role as a mother. And is forever a Public Servant with her values rooted in her experience growing up as a daughter of immigrants. Thank you for your leadership, assessor chu, thank you for being here. And finally its my honor to welcome our mayor, london breed. In 2018, mayor breed was elected to be the first africanamerican woman and the second woman in San Franciscos history to serve as mayor. She was reelected for her first full term in november 2019. She led San Franciscos Emergency Response to covid19 with grit and grace. And is currently guiding the citys phased reopening and economic recovery. Recently mayor breed announced since becoming mayor, her priorities have included helping the citys Homeless Population and to care and shelter and adding more housing for residents of all income levels. Helping those suffering from Mental Health and substanceuse disorders, and ensuring that all san franciscans have access to a thriving economy. Furthering San Franciscos leadership and combating Climate Change and honestly the list goes on and on. So thank you all again for being here. Im excited to get this conversation started. Thank you, breanna, for such a nice introduction. We will now ask our assessor carmen chu, the cofounder of the w challenge, to give some introduction remarks, as we are awaiting for the mayor to join us shortly. Thank you. First off, i want to just thank everybody, all of our partner organizations, breanna, for your wonderful and warm introduction. Thank you all for joining us in this virtual way. I think that this is a special day, a day that i think as breanna mentioned, women were able to win the right to vote. It did take decades, though, for Indigenous Women and women of color to also be able to participate. So i think as we take the moment to celebrate this milestone in our history, its also important to recognize that the struggles for participation, the struggle for representation still continues even as we speak. It is highlighted not only from what were seeing from the federal attacks, in terms of womens rights and the place of women, but also when were thinking about even how we are all seeing the response to covid19. I think its not lost on so many of us that covid19, though it is a disease that impacts everyone, it has not been impacting our communities in an equal way. Weve seen a disproportionate impact on our Lateef Hasani grat latinx communities. Women bear the brown in the industries most impacted negatively by covid19, health care sectors, education, childcare. And not only that, but we are also seeing that women also are playing a role of double duty, even triple duty when it comes to not only balancing their jobs, employment, careers and also childcare and elder care. This is something that is intimately experienced by so many of us. For myself, as a young mother, with a 15monthold daughter and having my elderly parents now sheltering in place with us, i feel that impact. And yet i find myself really understanding how fortunate i am, even to be in a place that i am now and to be able to still have a child. So many of the people that were talking about have lost their jobs, are on the verge of losing their businesses and their homes. It really does highlight the importance of recognizing the impacts of covid and the opportunity to really step up. And so today we have a unique opportunity to be able to talk about Women Leadership, especially at this time. I think as breanna had mentioned earlier, theres a Cross Section of home things happening, in addition to the challenges that we have with covid19, were seeing wildland fires across the state of california, thats brought about by Climate Change. Were not only seeing that, but continued challenges at the federal level when it comes to our immigrant communities and people of color. And so again were really, really excited to have the mayor today to be able to speak more about womens leadership and the importance of that going forward. And so i see that our mayor has joined us. And so i want to welcome london to the program. I think todays going to be a very its going to be a unique opportunity. We rarely have the chance to be able to interview each other and have a candid conversation. So it will be a lot of fun to be able to do that today. But just a moment right before you came on, mayor breed, breanna was able to share some really great information about your bio. Today people are really looking forward to get to know more about you and your leadership style as we go forward. I think as you know we started the w challenge a few years ago and youve been a strong supporter from the beginning. I think one of participated every single year that we have come together to talk about the sponsor of voting and womens participation. This year our challenge is to really make sure were highlighting the 100year history of at least 100 great, amazing Women Leaders. So we really want to tell the story of womens leadership through the years. And how we all build upon those histories, in order to be where we are today. So again im super excited to bring mayor breed on to the show today. Im going to ask you the first question. But actually before we do that, why dont i ask you to introduce or say a few words if youd like to, to commemorate the 100 yearanniversary. Well, thank you so much, carmen. Its, of course, always great being with you and talking about important issues in our city, pour importantly celebrating 100 years of women receiving the right to vote. We all know sadly, with the history of this country, that did not include women of color. And we know that, you know, when i think about from a perspective of where we are now in this country, and how there is finally a reckoning that is occurring around race and around inequality and whats happening to people, as a result of that spark that sadly involves the death of george floyd, i think this is the perfect time to start to have these honest conversations about this. Because from my perspective, you know, our differences are what makes us a better city. Its what makes us a better country. I hope my phone is not too loud. I dont know how to turn it off. But it makes us a better it makes us a better city. It makes us a better country. And i think that it starts with the next generation and it also needs to be embedded in our young people at an early age, that in a way that could effectively allow for change. Because the sad reality is we know a lot of this is taught in the home. Its taught, you know, early on. And it develops into who you are as a person naturally. We have to get to the point of all of that. We have to be prepared to have the honest conversations about our differences, you know, how we all fit into this world. And how working together we can make things better. And ive got to be honest. No one does that better than women. [laughter] but we are, you know, multitaskers and its naturally who we are. So as we celebrate, you know, the right to vote for him, we have to also keep in mind there was a time that women couldnt vote in this country. There was a time that black people couldnt vote in this country. There was a time that folks were discriminated against and hung just because they wanted to exercise their right. We dishonor their memory and sacrifice when we dont show up to make our voices heard. Thats the celebration should remind us about those people and what they sacrificed and how we have appear obligation to not only exercise our right to vote ourselves, but to make sure that we are lifting up others to do the same. And that we are also making it clear to the next generation how significant it is for them to do so as well. Yes. Glad to be here. Absolutely. I think the points you make really do resonate, because i think that the fight continues, right. Even now i mean were continuing to see the inequities continue to be part of our daily lives. We need to really speak honestly about it. It is really hard. It is hard to talk about race, because its uncomfortable. Unless we start to get to a place where we can do that, i dont know how we start to dismantle whats there, right. And even within the last Covid Response, weve been seeing a lot of rise in antiasian sentiments, people blaming the Asian Community for whats happening. I think even then we need allies, we need people to say thats not right, thats not okay, thats not the reason why we are in the place that we are. And so i think theres a lot of there is a lot of hurt and theres a lot of healing that we need to be responsible for. Yep. And also, carmen, you know, think about i dont believe theres one person on this earth who hasnt been disrespected in some way. Absolutely. And they now that hurts. And it doesnt feel good. Im sure youve been called racial names. Ive been called names. And when you think about that, why would you want somebody else to feel that way. Thats right. And i think that we have to start to get to, you know, the root causes of how those things developed. And we have to have honest conversations. And just, you know, for example, i still have people in my family who make certain comments and use certain, you know, racial slurs that i have to correct. And theyre basically like, well, we always said that. And i dont do it because im mayor. I want to be clear. But i do it because its offensive to the people that claim we respect, right. Its like when you use those terms and you dont understand its not appropriate. Why would you continue to do that. So dont tell me you have a friend who is gay or you have a friend who is chinese and you have a friend who is this and they dont have a problem with it. I dont care. I have a problem with it. Yeah. Because i would be offended if someone used certain comments and words against me. But we have to also educate our Family Members, especially our older Family Members about terminologies that are just not appropriate to say about other people. Yeah. And i think that its absolutely true. I think the more that we can personalize and share with our family what our expectations are and what it means for people, i think the better i think we all grow up with certain experiences and we all have preconceived notions about people and we all have ways to shortcut what we think. But ting what is important that we recognize that they exist, right, that we might have biases that exist. And make sure that they dont drive how we make decisions or they dont drive how it is that we interact with people. I think thats whats really important. Its not to say that any of us are perfect or we dont have biases. But its to recognize that we do. Yeah. To make sure we dont let that motivate us, right. I think as you mentioned, when we have an opportunity to give a different perspective when a Family Member or anyone is making a generalization about a particular community, its to say why do you say that. I dont think thats true. That generalization actually is wrong. What would you think if they said this about our community, right. Its to make sure we kind of do that we continue to grow and evolve. Were in the middle of a global pandemic. No one thought we would be having to deal with Something Like this. Not only that. Were say its where we have conversations and were having a reckoning when it comes to institutional racism, Police Brutality. So i want to know what does it feel like to be mayor of a city like San Francisco during this time. Do you thinking about a woman mayor makes a difference . Oh, my god. Carmen its a big question. I mean, no one can prepare for this kind of thing, you know. Well, ill just say that, you know, im very spiritual. And when i became mayor, even to this very day, based on my circumstances, i still cant believe that someone like me could actually be mayor of San Francisco. It still its almost unreal. I wake up in the morning, its like, yep, youre still mayor. And its still blowing me away. And then when i think about what i have come into and my personal background and my experiences. Talking about creative in times such as this. And that was kind of the message. And because i will say i was in my head wondering whats going on here. You know, is this the end of the world. Like global pandemic. The fires, the unrest, all of the protests, all of this stuff. I was just like, wow. And then our president , right like this is like almost as if im watching a movie. And its not real. But its real. And its our life. And what i realizeif i were not mayor, how would i want to feel. And how would i want my leaders to waive in a way that help to behave in a way that helps reassure me that things will be okay. Yeah. And so thats how ive made the decisions that i have made. And by being completely honest with the public every step of the way. And also letting the public know we dont know what the future holds, which you typically as a politician should not maybe say or people think you should not say. But i think that, you know, we as women, were kind of realists. And we feel strongly about like, for example, your mother, you know, you know how it is where you want to do everything for your kids, but you also have to say, no. We cant. Oh, my gosh. I told you. I dont say no. Im going to get you, ca car. You have to man up. [laughter] but youve got it like but part of saying to our children is to protect them. Yeah. Its part of what is important in our natural this is naturally how we are. Were nurturing people as women in most cases. And we care about doing whats right for folks. And i think that has been a guiding principle for me, because its not easy, of course. And, you know, like, for example, you think that it doesnt hurt my heart to see people sleeping on the ground or its not that i dont like seeing it, it just hurts. Its a human being thats sleeping on the ground. And in my mind i cant help but when we go past and, you know, honestly i pray for them and i also ask god to help give me the strength to be able to do this job and to make things better for people. Its not about the complaints. Its about the need to try and get people to help and the support that they need. So i think, you know, in terms of governing, its just i am doing the best that i can. I am listening to various advisers, but also members of the public with their emails and their comments and their suggestions and trying to make good decisions. Because a lot of people are counting on me. Theyre counting on me. Its not london, its the mayor as a symbol of, you know, the leader of the city. And theyre counting on me to make good decisions, to keep them safe. And so thats how i see my job. And its important to make sure that were doing what were doing. And thats really why when i mean, we cant just do one thing, we have to do a lot of things. And thats why i was like, carmen is one of those people that i respect, as it relates to money management. [laughter] and fiscal responsibility. Shes like bringing in the bread. But also the accountability and everything. Shes the perfect person to help with the economic recovery and what that entails. Plus, on top of that youre very thoughtful in how you think about things. Youre not just thinking about a business, youre thinking about the people because of your family, right. And your experiences growing up and your mom and dad. Youre thinking about those experiences and how they had to struggle. Yeah. And you know what people are going through. And so i guess ill go into my next question my question, my first question to you is, its like as a daughter of immigrants, and a Small Business owners, how did your personal experience shape you as a person and as a leader for a time such as this . Yeah. I mean, i think just going to a point thaw made earlier, when you were talking about, you know, what is it like being kind of a woman leader, too. I dont know i think that when ive seen with you has just been this real collaborate approach. Im not sure that any other elected mayor would have asked another elected person to help do the work that you asked me to do on the Economic Recovery Task force. And i think that says a lot about how you approach things, which is lets bring in people to help be problem solving together. And i really appreciate that, because im not sure that anybody would just do that, right. I think that says volumes. You know, in terms of being, you know, how it is that we approach leadership, especially as you grow up, i think especially for me i saw my parents really struggle, right. I was a young girl, i never saw my parents. I was a latchkey kid. My mom and dad were working every single day. They would go to work, id be at school already, they wouldnt come home until after i went to sleep. I really rarely saw my parents. And i think seeing how hard they worked, its its a symbol of sort of how hard it is for a lot of Small Businesses to make it and to survive. And i think seeing how they struggled, seeing how they were discriminated against because they had an accent or how people didnt street them the right way when they went in to ask for help, because they couldnt say it right or had an accent, that really hurt me. When i think about Public Service and the things i hope to do, its to really try to create opportunities for people and make sure that Everybody Knows that theyre worthy. It doesnt matter where they come from or how much they have or how they can speak. Theyre worthy as individuals. And then i think now especially as a young mother, too, i love my daughter so much. Shes really changed i think my perspective and, you know, my patience. And i realize that, you know, when i see the love that i have for her, hurts me to think that there are other kids who dont have the same support, who potentially are going hungry, who dont have the same opportunities to succeed. And that hurts me. Because i just turn that around and say, what would i feel if that was for my daughter. What would i feel if she didnt have the chance to be loved, to be fed, to feel safe, to feel like she could be whatever she wanted to be. That kind of feeling helps me today. Keep on making sure that you create opportunities, that you help people have a job, that you can support families the best that you can. You know, were not going to be perfect. And i like when she said earlier about being honest with people about where our problems are. We should tell folks, lets be honest, heres where we have problems. Heres what i need help with doing. Heres what the city needs to do to pull things together. And were not perfect. But this is what im going to do about it, right. I think its important to tell people that, because, you know, in terms of leadership, its really important to be transparent with people, because you lose the integrity, you lose the only thing that you have going for you, which is, you know, what you represent and what you say. Are you going to say the things you say youre going to do. Are you going to do the things that you say, right. If you lose that, you lose integrity, you lose peoples trust. I think thats really embedded from the lessons that my parents have taught me. But i think also again i think just being someone who, you know, feels, who is a mother, who kind of sees the struggle that my parents went through, i dont want to see that for other people. I want to do everything i can to change that. So i think being on the Economic Recovery Task force, i think about that every single day. I think what can we do as a city to help to save that one more business, save that job, so that people have the chance to be stable, you know. And have opportunities. What do we need to do to make sure that actually kids are not going to fall behind. Like you know the Distance Learning is what were doing right now, its a travesty to not provide education to our young kids, who will fall further behind if we dont get it right, if we just dont figure out a way. I think those are the things that really just drive me as a leader, to say what are those struggles that people feel, that i know from my own background that can really help to change things. I think you and i have the same experience. It really drives us. Yeah. I think it kind of goes back to i think about the conversations you and i have had, where, you know, we are kind of commiserating over something really terrible happening, like something that was just like ridiculous that was happening in politics. You know, politics is tough because despite the best intentions sometimes, things get said a different way, its represented in a way thats different. Sometimes things are just really hard. So im curious to hear from you about what is, you know, what is it about your life or your experiences that helped to motivate you, when things are hard . You know, because being mayor you get a lot of criticism for things that you can control and things that you cant control, right. And, you know, how do you deal with that . And what kind of keeps you centered . Well, just think about it, carmen, can you imagine the fact that you and i both came up under some of the most challenging of circumstances that wed ever be in positions like this. Yeah. It starts with that, number one. Number two, as hard as things are now, things were worse when i was a kid in terms of my life experience. So when i tell people like i grew up in Public Housing, i didnt just grow up there, i had every single experience directly in my household family situation, where when you talk about domestic violence, when you talk about drugs, prostitution, grandma raising me, criminal justice system, mentally ill. All of these things welfare, food stamps, you know, clothing with holes in them and Everything Else and criticism and fights and drama and lack of access to things. Anything that anyone probably talks about, that they care about in terms of helping people in, you know, the most challenging of circumstances, i probably experienced it directly in my household. And the reason why in some circumstances i dont into depth about some of those really tragic stories is because out of respect too my Family Members. Respect for my Family Members. Out of respect for not putting all of their business out there, because im the one in the limelight. And i dont want to expose them to, you know, challenges. Im able to talk about my sister, who died from a drug overdose, because of how it impacted me personally, you know. I talk about my brother, because my brother was okay that i talk about his unfortunate situations. You know, but, you know, like just experiences that i had, when i think about, you know, like being a kid in the midst of those challenges and not being able to escape that world, you know, i just you know, that is really what drives me. Because i know that my experience is not unique. What is unique that im in a position like this, coming out of those circumstances. And this is why this work is so important to me, because i know that there are other young, talented people out there that just need a chance. They need a chance. They need a support system. So as challenging as a time that were having right now, and as much criticism and i may receive it pales in comparison to what i experienced growing up. Thats why i feel confident about my strength and my ability to take on a role like this. Because i feel like i was prepared to be in a situation like this. Its so interesting because yes, its hard, yes, sometimes its frustrating. And there are setbacks and disappointments and struggles associated with this work, but i feel optimistic about our ability to really make a difference. A mayor would ask another elected official to, you know, its not just that i asked you, its just i also have to listen to what youre advice is, even if i disagree with it. Part of that is really how i work, because its not just about me. I feel like its important, as a leader, that you bring other people along and youre prepared to listen, it doesnt just have to be your way or the highway. And so i think my experience of growing up and seeing how infective that kind of approach has been and how it had a negative impact on people that grew up like me is why i do this. Because i want to change things genuinely. The only way youre able to do that is by making sure youre making good decisions and youre always keeping in mind the people that were here to serve. So i want to go back i know, you know, were talking about our various experiences. But i just want to jump in, because when you first became a member of the board of supervisors, you were the only asian woman to serve at that time. Yeah. And i just want to know how did it feel to be on the board . Because the board of supervisors right now is a hot mess. And theres always a lot of drama, you know, i served on the board, too. But there were other women. You left me. [laughter] i was like, no, carmen, dont leave me. I went downstairs. But tell me when you first started, because you werent trying to run for office. You werent trying to be in politics. You were just dealing with the money and the finances and trying to do your job. Tell me what that was like for you. Yeah, i think for me, you know, im by nature im probably more of an introvert than anything, you know. I think people kind of like you are . How can you be a politician. By nature thats what i was. My parents were always like, youre so shy, are you ever going to make it in this world. Are you going to hide behind me all the time, right, when i was younger. We all kind of learn and we grow. You know, i had been in the mayors Budget Office for gavin newsom at this time. I enjoyed the policy work behind the scenes and getting down to the nuts and bolts of things. At the end of the day, when we talk about policy, ultimately when you want to look attack priorities of a city and the values of the city, you see where the money is spent. Because that matters, right. Where you put your resources matters and it speaks about the values that we have as a city. And so that was really kind of where i started. And then i think overnight mayor newsom, at the time, appointed me to be a member of the board. And it was it was under a cloud of challenges in the asian communities, right it was. It was then when the supervisor of district 4 was under investigation. I remembering about the only asian supervisor at that time. Its a heavy kind of burden in a way, because you feel like you have to represent all of the chinese community, all of the Asian Community, right. And what does that mean . Because our community is so diverse, right. I cant possibly represent the perspective of every Single Person. But it felt very heavy. And i asked myself why am i the only asianamerican in the city, where we have such a large population, right. The other thing weighing heavy on me at the time, and played out during the election, a lot of people were basically saying that i didnt have sort of the right to be the representative, because i wasnt born in San Francisco, right. And there was nothing that more kind of offended me than that, to think that if i wasnt born here, so if i was an immigrant or if i was someone who had moved here, but cared a lot about the city, that i didnt have an equal right or i shouldnt have a voice, offended me to the soul. Because it kind of just said, what does that mean about my parents who emigrated here and worked so hard. Are you saying they dont have a right to participate or have a voice also, right. I remember when i was running, it was under this cloud of, well, are all asian politicians corrupt, you know, because it wasnt just there were a few other issues that had happened. I think it was just this feeling of needing to make sure that i comported myself that was above and beyond, to make sure i left no doubt that thats not the all asianmachineries behaved, all asianamericans behaved. Make sure that you are representing in a way that you leave room for people to come behind you, right. I didnt want to be an example of yet another asianamerican politician who was disappointing the community, right. And so i think it was just it was a big challenge because theres so much kind of going on at the same time. But im happy that we have since that time have had many more folks rise and be elected. And i think we need to continue to support that. So i think the work that we can do to continue to mentor young people and especially young women i think is really, really important. Because i think sometimes people just need to see that its possible. You know, i said that to you before, right, too. You know when someone sees that as someone who went through all of the hardship that you went through, who grew up facing all of the challenges that you did, were able to was able to become the mayor, thats inspiring, right. Just that example and just seeing that is inspiring. For someone to say im looking at carmen and im that shy kid who no one really paid maybe that much attention to. But she can become an elected person and do good things, too. Thats inspiring, too. Those are the examples we need to show is that not all leadership styles are the same. But we can all succeed as leaders, right. And so i think thats something that has been imprinted in me, ive kind of realizing this. Yes. Im sorry. Go ahead. A really good point about where, you know, different styles of leaders, right. And i like that. But we both have very, you know, unique backgrounds that have, you know, involved struggle in some capacity. I think it also developed it also helps us to develop a appreciation and respect for one another as well, which i think is also important in the world of politics. How we treat each other, even in the midst of our disagreementses, its so important, because thats one of thing Biggest Challenges that we face. And when we have disagreements and we start to do the personal attacks and some of the other lies and other things, it just doesnt set a good example i think for young generations. Were just as bad what we see happening in the white house with we go that route. Thats right. I want to ask you a personal question, but a fun one, which is what is something that no one knows about you . A fun fact. Okay. A fun fact. One of my absolute favorite shows that i watch all the time, people would not believe it, its fraser. [laughter] i love fraser because, listen, this is a tough job. You know how like at night, i try not to watch the news or nothing too serious before i go to bed. And most of the time and i just kind of to laugh and smile or do something more happy, i watch fraser. So i have to admit, my guilty pleasure is watching korean dramas. Those romantic dramas. Love them. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I just and i love out loud a lot of times when im watching fraser. All my by myself normally. [laughter] that would probably surprise a lot of people. So kind of getting back to a bunch of encouraging, this idea about encouraging women to participate. You know, i want to know what do you think about what would you say to someone on the fence about participating . And if someone is thinking about running for office or wanting to do something where they get on a commission or Something Like that, how what do you think people need to do to prepare for that experience. What would you say to those women . Well, what i would say is when you feel something, when you want to do something, then you should go for it. Part of what you want to make sure is you do your homework to prepare. That you know exactly what whatr roles and responsibilities are and the position that youre going for, whether its a request to me to be a member of a board or a commission, that i have the ability to make appointments for. Or if you decide to run for Public Office. You know, when i decided to run for supervisor, i wanted to be a good supervisor for the people of the district i represent, where i grew up in. And so that entailed making sure i knew how to do policy and legislation and i understand how the process worked and the city worked. And the good news id been on commissions and other places. So i understood it. But i actually went back to school late in life, before i ran, to get my masters in public administration. And i ended up graduating from u. S. F. With honors, because i was committed to making sure that i was the best policymaker for the people that i represented. And im not suggesting that you do that. Its just that whatever role you want to play, you set your sights on that role and you make sure that youre prepared to take it on and all that it entails. And unfortunately in the world of politics, and in the world of Public Service, it also comes with its fair share of criticism. And i think its going to its really important that you have thick skin. And its important that you have ill tell you i made some mistakes along the way. Because, you know, i want to be honest. Im a girl from the projects. Dont come for me unless you want me to come for you. So i have made some mistakes early on where i have cursed some people out and did some things. And what i had to realize is if i want to represent people, it cant be about me any more. So i cant do what i typically would do if its just me, when im entering the world of politics. So i had to grow a lot in the position. Part of it is just really making sure that you make yourself into the best person you can be. You just the best job you can be and you remember youre there representing other people. Dont let yourself get in the way of that. I agree. And i think, you know, i second that point that you make about sort of making sure that youre prepared and know what is required of you. And i think its also about being prepared to make hard choices. Yes. Because its easy to kind of just fall with the rhetoric, where the wind is blowing. Its really hart not to go hard not to go in that direction. People ask us to be leaders to say based on what you know and where you want to do for community, is this the right choice or is it not. Sometimes may not be convenient, right. It may just be the thing that is not the most popular thing that people want you to do. But you think its the right call. I think its important. I think two other things that you mentioned earlier, i think is really important. Optimism. If youre not somewhat optimistic about being able to make change, politics and Public Office isnt for you. Because youve got to be tenacious, you have to believe that you can do something. Its easy to get discouraged if you dont. A story of tenacity. I dont know if you remember, london, you and i were on a trip to israel, right before the mayor made an appointment to the district 5 seat. Do you remember this . Yes, yes. And i remember so, you know, ultimately the mayor ended up appointing someone else, right. And london still ran, right. Shes like well, im still going to run. I still want to do this. She ended up winning, right. I remember on that trip i remember seeing you. You were like whats going to happen. She was thinking about it the whole time. Even though we were looking at Different Things, learn being, you know, the diaspora. She was tenacious and wanted to do the job. Because it came across, right. Those a few other things. You have to be optimistic that you can make change and be reallying to work hard. The changes that are really worthwhile, are hard to get to. Yeah. It just want to add. I know we have to wrap it up, i see your communications person. I just want to add that you also i think it is important that you are really prepared to make the hard decisions. And at the end of the day, when you make that, is the right decision, not for your political career, is it the right decision for the people you represented. Never lose sight of that. Yeah. There were a lot of things that i supported that no other candidates supported when i ran for mayor. And people were trying to tell me to change my position. I said but thats not fair to the public. They need to know who i am as a person and the kinds of decisions that im going to make. And thats whats so critical. Dont change who you are to fit into it. Thats where sometimes people go wrong because of what they see in the political climate. Yeah. Totally agree. Because ultimately something has to ground you, right. The things that we talked about, about the things that motivate us to do good, if you keep on changing what that is, im not sure you industrial a direction any more, right. Totally. I really enjoyed our conversation. Thank you. Its been a lot of fun chatting with you. And really just kind of i think it offered people a really unique look into how you think about things and, you know, i think its a great opportunity to just highlight, you know, an amazing job youre doing. Thank you for all of your leadership, especially during a hard time and for joining us. And with that im going to turn it over to vivian so that she can help us wrap up. Thank you, madam mayor. Thank you, madam assessor, for such a great conversation. I really hate to interrupt and come in and end it. It was such a great conversation for all of your stories and sharing your thoughts and the passion behind running for offices. Those are really great lessons for us to learn. So at this point i also want to just quickly go into our tour w challenge 2020. As you may all know, that ever since the w challenge has launched, we have been creating a new challenge every year to uplift women. Also trying to encourage more women to vote, especially for this upcoming election, its so important for all of us. Were going to be running a tenweek social Media Campaign starting from today and all the way up to the election day. We have 100 women from the past century that we have selected. They are local, they are great. Theyve been part of all of the Suffrage Movement, as well as other social Justice Movements as well. So we encourage everyone to go on our website. Im going to be quickly going into it, sharing it on our screen right here. If you go to that home page, all you need to do is to click on the 100 years of Women Leaders here. Then you can read about the details of our campaign. But basically you just need to select two to three women each week and feature on your preferred social media platforms, wchallenge and encourage more women to do that. So were hoping that by uplifting these stories, we are able to encourage more women to vote and take leadership. Just in honor of all of these women that were before us and all that they have done to grant the right that we have today. So thank you so much for everyone who is joining us. We are inviting our partners as well, alison go, president of the league of women voters San Francisco here to give us the final remarks to end todays celebration. Thank you. Alison, the stage is yours. Thanks. Thank you for having me today. I am so touched and really energized to hear the stories and experiences of madam assessor and mayor breed. You know, both as a young woman and an immigrant, really thank you for really your leadership in sharing these moments with us. Thank you for everybody who helped plan this amazing event today. I know normally we would be on the steps of city hall. This is pretty great to hear everyones stories. I can feel the energy throughout San Francisco and a huge thank you to our volunteers kathy bar, who really helped to put this together, on behalf of the league as well. My name is alison go. Im the president of the league of women voters of San Francisco. Were a nonpartisan, volunteerrun organization focused on nonpartisan Voter Education and advocacy efforts here in San Francisco. You know, this election is unlike any election before and unprecedented challenges. Every single time we hear this is the most important election yet. Actually its true this time. And with covid19, the state of california has naile mailed y single voter a battle. This is really, really great. Many of our fellow san franciscans may not be used to the voting process and theres a lot of misinformation out there on how to get the ballot, how to transmit the ballot and election security. First step, making sure youre registered to vote. If youre already registered, youll automatically receive your ballot during the first two weeks of october. And if youre not registered or if youve moved recently or maybe changed your name, you need to reregister. Remember that the Voter Registration deadline is octobe. You can register to vote or reregister on our website at. Wehavelinkstoallofthesethings. And then again if if youre not sure of the voter status and you want to double check sometimes, you can double check the Voter Registration online, same site. You can check what address they have on file to make sure you get your ballot on time. If all of this seems like a lot to remember, go to lwvsf. Org and help make your plan to vote, whether its mailing your ballot in, dropping it off downtown at the auditorium or even dropping it off at your local polling location, just make sure that your vote is counted this november. The league also puts out a lot of nonpartisan voting material. For example, our proand cons guide offers an eas easy to read ballot measure. The guide is budge put togetn many languages to reflect the community in San Francisco. Next month were hosting candidate forums for several of the board of supervisors races. Specifically district 1, 7, and 11. These are free, theyre going to be open for the public. We will broadcast these over zoom and well post them afterwards on our youtube page and theyll be broadcast over at sfgovtv. Org. Thanks to our partnership with them. And guess what, these with always be found on our website on the vote page. The page will be updated throughout the fall, as more of our materials come out. There will be a really great onestop portal for all of this information. So thank you for having me. These next nine weeks, lets get our friends, family, neighbors, colleagues to commit to vote. And make sure that they have a plan to vote, whether its inperson or with the mailin ballot. Please go to wchallenge. Org, especially the women here today. Thank you for having me and please stay up to date on everything the league is doing. You can follow us on facebook or on twitter. Or whic by visiting us on the website. I just saw in chat we have a series of events coming up also. 5 00 today i believe the league is having a partnership with the Mechanics Library and also talking about the Suffrage Movement and tomorrow in partnership with the Public Library, the neighborhood history project is also having a presentation about the first suffrage march that is happening and was led by a san franciscan from glen park. So stay tuned. You can also visit wchallenge. Org under events to check out those activities that are ongoing. So thank you again for everyone. This concludes our virtual celebration of womens equality day 2020 today. Thank you very much. 2020 remote meeting of the San Francisco board of appeals. President ann lazarus will be the presiding officer tonight. She is joined by Vice President darryl honda, commissioner rick swig, commissioner santacana and also is our board attorney