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tv   BOS Rules Committee  SFGTV  May 6, 2024 10:00am-1:01pm PDT

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all of you. my name is george rivas. i am the director of the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs, i am joined by my colleague chloe noonan, who is our policy and engagement officer, who oversees our language access efforts at oca. i am looking forward to sharing more background information about our office and then chloe will share more background on the lao report from 2024, and will walk us through the contents of that report as well, i'll take next slide. i will
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take a moment to share some background about our office. the office of civic engagement and world affairs was founded in 2 in 2009, at which time it was designated to oversee implementation of the equal access to services ordinance and with time, as you all know now, it's become the language access ordinance. today, eoc has a policy compliance, direct services and grant making city department. our mission is to promote inclusive policies and foster immigrant assistance programs that lead to full civic and economic and linguistic integration for the benefit of the public, and as a reminder to all of us. oca moves our mission forward in a few, in a few ways through civic engagement. for example, in our civic engagement work, we partner very closely with immigrant rights commission, where we hear directly from the public and then advise the city leadership on immigrant matters. we also partner very closely with local groups to provide education to immigrant parents who are voting in the school district. elections to know their rights, and normally are our local lead
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for the census, for community safety. we our community ambassador program, for example, we it's a workforce development program where we partner provide a safety presence and engage residents with referrals and connections to public services and predominantly immigrant, multilingual neighborhoods. through grant making. we provide grants to further language access in our communities and create spaces for belonging for our immigrants. we also provide grants to provide additional affirmative legal support to our immigrants. integrated immigrant services, where we provide affirmative services for immigrants such as our pathways to citizenship program, who's been around for ten years. we also provide support to daca recipients for them to renew their applications. we also have a dream fellowship program where we partner very closely with our local organizations and place fellows to gain professional experience regardless of status and of course, language access, the language access unit is a
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small team of interpreters and translators that provide language services for important public meetings and supplement some department's language access needs. we manage citywide contracts for language services, whether it's through vendors. we also provide technical assistance to city agencies and conduct annual compliance training to city staff. the unit also follows up on language access complaints that are made by our residents, and ensure that there's a summary provided to the immigrant rights commission on a quarterly basis. and we also monitor the department's compliance with the language access ordinance and submit a compliance summary report to the city each year, which which is a main piece of our presentation today. and with that, i will pass the mic over to my colleague chloe noonan. our policy and civic engagement officer, to present the 2024 language access summary report. thank you. director rivas. hello, supervisors. before
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discussing the language access ordinance in greater detail, i want to take a moment to talk about some frequently used terms to help ensure that we have shared language in the discussion. when we say lao, we're referring to the language access ordinance, administrative code 91, which directs city agencies to ensure that public services and information are accessible to all people, regardless of language ability. the acronym lep refers to limited english proficient, a term used to refer to people who do not read, write, speak, or understand english, or for whom english is not a primary language. we often refer to san francisco's required language as also described sometimes as threshold languages. the current law requires city departments to provide language access services in chinese, spanish, and filipino, and languages are eligible for certification by oca once they reach a population threshold of 10,000 lep
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residents. this slide has some background about the history of the language access ordinance. the ordinance was first adopted as the equal access to services ordinance in 2001. went through a couple of rounds of amendments in 2009 and 2015, which, after several years of implementation work, brings us here today to discuss current city compliance and additional amendments that aim to further strengthen the lao. here you can see an overview of city department responsibilities and oca responsibilities under the current language access ordinance. one of osha's responsibilities is to monitor and report compliance to the immigrant rights commission and the board of supervisors, which includes developing and publishing the annual language access compliance summary report . this is the context in which we present and discuss the 2024
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compliance report today. under the current lao public facing, city departments must collect data about their language, access activities and submit an annual compliance report to oca by october 1st. and we have. here are just a quick preview of the types of information that departments include in their compliance reports, which i'll discuss more deeply in a couple more slides. here are the link and front cover for the 2024 language access compliance summary report. the report is publicly available on osha's website listed here, though we'll do an overview of the report today. i encourage you all to take a look at the report afterwards. whenever you have time. on the topic of population data, the report contains the snapshot of san francisco and supervisorial district data. this section includes some citywide data points as well as lep population data for supervisorial districts. the
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source of this data is the census bureau's 2018 to 2022 five year american community survey. as you can see, 1 in 3 san francisco residents is an immigrant and 18.9% of residents identify as lep. on the right side of the page, we have some supervisorial district data points available which show total population and lep population across districts and the district with the highest percentage of lep residents is district 11, at 35. lep population. here you can see a copy of the language diversity dashboards that oca publishes online each year, along with the compliance summary report. the dashboards show citywide data and can also be broken down by individual supervisorial districts. these numbers reflect both total population language population and lep population within languages, and these dashboards are available online at the website listed here. to
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take a moment to briefly talk about some of the key data points that departments are asked to report about, i can speak first to data collection method. the current language access ordinance allows for three different types of data collection that departments can use to track their interactions with lep. members of the public. this includes the intake method. the survey method, or telephonic interpretation records. oca usually recommends the intake method, as this is the most accurate way to capture and record the data every year. departments also have to report the number of total lep client interactions their department had with members of the public. broken down by language, we also ask departments to report on the total number of materials department departments translated during the fiscal year. they also report on in-person interpretations conducted and telephonic interpretations conducted on the
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topic of bilingual staff. departments also share their total numbers of bilingual staff, including both total staff and total certified bilingual staff. and on the topic of budgets, departments are also asked to include information about how much they spent on language access services during the fiscal year, specifically, departments are asked to report about compensatory pay for bilingual staff, excluding regular salaries, money spent on vendors that provided telephonic interpretation services, document translation and on site interpretation services, money spent on other costs associated with providing language access services such as grants or special programs, and the total sum spent by a department on language access services during the fiscal year. this year's data showed encouraging upward trends across multiple data measures. this included increases in use of the intake method of data collection, total
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lep client interactions, translated materials, and in-person interpretations. the data also showed decreases on a few measures compared to the last fiscal year. this included decreases in telephonic interpretations, decreases in bilingual staff citywide, and decreases in language services budgets. there may be a few factors impacting the decrease in telephonic interpretations. for example, more department services and information transitioned to being more accessible online during the pandemic. continued implementation of the city's digital accessibility and inclusion standard has also increased the amount of information and services that community members can access digitally. on the topic of bilingual staff, there could be a range of factors potentially impacting this number, such as staffing shortages in the city overall, inadequate recruitment,
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hiring and retention practices. staff retirement may be a factor, and we included increasing bilingual staffing as one of osha's recommendations in the report this year. the decrease in language services budgets may also be due to a couple of factors. to pause for a moment and share some background about this data point. department language services budgets can be a helpful way to get a sense of how much departments are spending and investing in language access over time. that said, there are a lot of factors that can impact this data point, which is important to consider when putting the data into context. for example, a department that relies heavily on bilingual staff to address language needs will likely spend less than a department that relies heavily on vendors to address those needs. it's not necessarily an indicator on its own of whether a department is or isn't, prioritizing language access and looking at the whys really important in looking at
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the departments with the biggest decreases this year, our data analysts determined the main driver of the decreases was due to operational adjustments. so one example of this we learned that if the department of public health has been working to streamline their processes into a newly created department of interpreter services, which will consolidate many aspects of their language services activities, they also had an issue where they had to change telephonic interpretation. vendors during the fiscal year. another department that showed less spending this year was the san francisco port. their data showed that their interactions with the public saw a rather steep decline during the pandemic, and is just now slowly starting to build up again. one brief anecdote is that the port actually recently held an in-person industry job fair for youth, and worked with oca to make sure that lep students attending the event would have access to interpretation at the workshop. and the feedback i've
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heard is that it was really engaging and successful event for lep attendees. a third example of operational adjustment came from the department of elections. so the amount of money election spends on language access each year varies depending on the number of elections that took place, and this can lead to spending fluctuations. for example, when elections is conducting outreach and education for elections one year and then one election the next year. next slide please. here are the recommendations that oca included in our compliance report this year on the topic of language access capacity building, we recommend that departments increase their department specific language access, instruction and training for public facing city staff, and that includes training for public contact staff on department specific protocols for arranging interpretation and translation services. on the topic of resource planning, we
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recommended that departments hire and retain more bilingual staff to ensure sufficient internal resources for addressing the needs of lep community members served by city departments, and we also recommended exploration of future opportunities to supplement language access activities with new tools and emerging technologies. on the topic of language services budgets, we recommended that departments increase their language services budgets and support for community partners serving lep individuals. as we know that this recommendation comes during a constrained budget season and in the context of the current city economic climate, it will be important for departments to be intentional in partnering with city suppliers and community partners to bolster capacity for serving lep individuals when delivering department information and services. and lastly, on the topic of data collection and analysis, we recommended continued
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improvement of current compliance data collection protocols. tracking language access activities consists ohlone and refinement of multiple data sources for a more diverse language access data landscape. i'll now hand the mic back to director rivas to talk about current capacity at osha's language access unit. thank you chloe. in addition to the compliance compliance summary report that we're hearing that we're hearing today, and also the amendments to the language access ordinance that were being discussed, we were asked to present a brief summary of what the needs will be at oca to successfully implement the amendments and potentially the trailing resolution that will come with more programmatic direction for oca. here is a quick org chart of the language access services unit. there's seven ftes currently assigned to this unit. our policy and civic engagement officer oversees the language services supervisor and
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our languages, our language access data and research specialists. role this also includes three language services specialists, one per current required language and a language access assistant. the roles are supervised by the language service language services supervisor. next slide. the law amendments and the proposed resolution will expand and deepen the unit's responsibilities and activities. for example, implementing the amendments would require more frequent, individualized, customized training and technical assistance provided to department staff. the amendments would also result in changes related to language access complaints, resulting in additional communicative and administrative tasks for processing the processing and reporting. based on the changes proposed, here are the resources that oca would need in order to ensure successful implementation . this requires upgrading two existing positions and adding two new positions. upgrade in
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1823. role to a manager. one classification would be reflective of the increased requirement of this role, including managing a larger team with more responsibilities, increase team activities. increase engagement with policymakers, language access, community organizations. we anticipate that the amendments will result in additional data analysis responsibilities for oca, for example, and working more closely with departments on recommending programmatic and operational changes in response to their compliance data. the role will also have additional responsibilities related to leading complaint investigations, upgrading the 1840 role to an 1824 classification would reflect that increased requirements for the role. on the topic of new positions, we want to see the addition, the addition, the addition of a training officer on language access unit through our team does provide some training to departments throughout the year. we
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anticipate more frequent and customized training would be needed with the passage of the amendments and the proposed resolution, and having a role specifically, especially dedicated to focusing on this would help ensure successful implementation. this would also support the complaint investigation activities. lastly, the lao language threshold number is lowered if lowered and language becomes required, we would need to. we would need a new language specialist role to ensure oca can effectively support the department's integrating the new language into their language access activities. adding 1842 role for a new language specialist would enable the language access unit to advise departments on language specific questions, develop written tools like style guides, and to supplement departmental language services with a directed rotation and translation capacity as allows. we're speaking to potentially vietnamese being added as a language. again, these are the
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resource needs that we identified to date. we're working very closely with the central office of the city administrator and the mayor's office, so they're aware of the resource needs. this will wrap up my formal remarks for the presentation, and i'm going to invite the chair of the immigrant rights commission, celine kenleigh, to also provide some closing remarks. thank you. director, good morning, chair. ronen. supervisor walton, supervisor safaí. it's an honor to be with you. i'm celine kenleigh, the chair of the san francisco immigrant rights commission. i'm delighted to join our our partners, the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs, as well as nsf and community for this morning's very important hearing, the immigrant rights commission has been a leader in language access, beginning with advocating for the first iteration of the language access ordinance in 2001 to ensure equal access to city services for all san franciscans. despite a strong local law, we continue
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to see cases where not everyone is able to access the information and services they needed. at the same time, we particularly saw this during the pandemic, when access to important information like where to get covid tests or vaccines, or how to apply for business loans or financial assistance had a real impact on people's health and finances. and that's why we launched a three part strategy to improve language access in san francisco. we held special hearings with community members to learn where the gaps are in the city's language access law and how it can be improved. we continue to meet with community. we continue to take testimony, and we continue to move forward with the recommendations that we hear. and they informed their will be informing a lot of the work of the commission in the coming year through our strategic planning process, we have partnered with the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs and the language access network of san francisco to launch a community language access survey to hear directly from over 2000 san franciscans
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in 11 languages about their experiences accessing services in their language and together with oca, we provided input to help inform the proposed amendments that are being introduced today. we have heard from community members about the importance of hiring and retaining bilingual staff who are culturally competent, and i want to underline culturally competent. it is a huge part of servicing our immigrant community using a community centered approach that takes into account the needs of all san franciscans, san franciscans, and ultimately ensuring that no one is left out . city departments must also be responsive when there is an influx of immigrants due to war, conflict or other crises. this is something we have discussed as a commission. as we have seen emerging language populations coming to san francisco, it is essential that language services are available to all. we are pleased to join with city
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leaders in taking a step forward in improving language access and accountability. with the amendments being introduced today, we would like to thank supervisors walton and chen, city administrator chu, the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs, and all of the community partners who have helped inform this process. the commission has been fighting for language justice since our founding over 25 years ago, and we look forward to continuing the work as an active partner with oca city leaders and community members to improve language access in san francisco. thank you. thank you so much, director rivas. miss noonan and chair kenleigh. and again, i want to thank, all the public for being here this afternoon. and i specifically do want to extend a thank you to all of our interpreters this morning. we have for cantonese, tinky wong, laura kwan, and spanish angelica perez and
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carmen saldana and filipino raymond perez. so i want to thank you all so much for making sure that all of our residents who want to participate in this hearing have that opportunity. i really feel that the language access report compliance report is very important. we got a chance to see a lot of information, particularly where most of our limited english proficiency, residents reside. and i think that was one of the things that was most at least shocking to me in terms of what part of san francisco we have the highest number. so i really want to appreciate this report. i do have a couple of questions, but i want to check to see if my colleagues have any questions before. okay, to director rivas, just i have three questions. the first one, and i don't know if this is putting you on the spot, but what would you grade? our city departments overall in terms of compliance with with the lao? thank you. supervisor.
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that's a very tough question. i think, as a city, we can always do better in terms of language access. i, i will not i will stay away from giving us a letter grade or a number grade, but i think this the introduction of the introduction of new amendments speaks to the need, and it speaks to the fact that there is recognition that we need to do better and we can keep our departments more accountable, and that we need to be working more closely with community to meet the need. so i think the fact that we have amendments and a resolution being discussed is speaks to the fact that we are not at an a plus. so, yeah, and i believe you did touch on this, but i do want to just make sure the resource needs that you demonstrated on one of the slides. that's included in your proposed budget. that is not that's included in this conversation, not in the proposed budget, at this point.
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so we will be we've shared it with, city administrator's office, our central office, as you know, we budget with with the city administrator. and we will also be sharing with the mayor's office. got it, that's all i have for now. thank you so much. thank you, so what i do want to do now is just speak a little bit about the amendments that we are going to be adding, to the lao through this legislation and just remind folks that last year, we introduced some initial amendments to improve the lao. and through working with community, with oca, our language access network, immigrants rights commission, and a lot of folks. we've also included some additional amendments, because there are so many things that we want to do to make sure that we're providing access and for all of our our residents in the city. so i do just want to state, for the record what these amendments are and how they're going to
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strengthen the current language access ordinance. so we'll be adding findings to adding findings to ensure a safe, inclusive and equitable environment for providing city services and programs and equal access to city information. clarify interpretation which is spoken versus translation which is written and making sure this is uniform throughout the lao. clarifying the role of oca to guide city departments and remedies to city departments who are not adhering to the lao. adding language access for health related emergencies or disasters. as we have experienced through the covid 19 pandemic, expanding language access for digital services and social media, which is an area that has experienced tremendous growth since the last memorializing the three required languages chinese, cantonese, spanish and filipino, regardless of population changes, require
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city departments to translate signage codifying language access strategies for first responders and crisis. this requires city departments to inform members of the public of their right to file a complaint, and a and of a process for providing feedback on the department's language access services requiring complaints on departments to be published quarterly on the oca website and to the immigrants rights commission and also the board of supervisors, so we can work together to help departments comply with the language access ordinance and improve our language access services as a whole. impose requirements for the annual language access summary report required departments to post notice of the availability of language access services and know your rights brochure to access language services. and finally, require departments to budget and plan for the delivery of language access services in
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their annual budgets. and again, i just want to emphasize, over the past year, we've done this work with oca, human immigrants rights commission, human rights commission, language access networks. all our partners and community. i do want to extend a thank you to deputy city attorney alicia cabrera for helping draft the new amendments. and, of course, to deputy city attorney ann pearson for her support, we did email these additional new amendments to, our colleagues and to your team, implementing updated provisions of the letter, bilingual services act for emergency and disaster translation services. the legislature's amendments were in response to critical incidents like the mass shootings in half moon bay and monterey park, as well as the broken levee and monterey county, which severely impacted communities with significant lep persons. various
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new media documented the local agency's failure to provide language services to communicate vital information on safety and access to recovery with impacted community. the updated findings and language access in san francisco, including public service announcements and vital information in multiple languages. one of the things that is very important lowering the language threshold requirement from 10,000 to 6000 residents, now including vietnamese, effective two years from the passage of the ordinance, we also be requiring city departments to maintain lists of bilingual employees in their languages, providing written materials and requested languages for lep persons within 48 hours with good faith efforts for translation within a reasonable amount of time. establishing a streamlined, compliant process through oca
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for language access. service difficulties while informing the public about complaint procedures and feedback mechanisms. creating a multilingual know your rights brochure. developing standardized vocabulary lists for required languages. strengthening osha's role in enforcing and compliance and we just want to again reiterate that it is very important to include these amendments for compliance and to make sure that not only we are adhering to the lao, but providing access and more opportunity for our residents to participate in the democratic process, to know what we're doing in city government, and providing the public with information needed to be a part of the democratic process. i do have a question for deputy city attorney anne pearson, and just want to make sure that we are able to include additional amendments to add the definition of bills for our city services or taxes, and the definition of
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vital information. deputy city attorney anne pearson those amendments are not included in the version that you circulated today, but the amendments that you are introducing are substantive. so this will be back before the committee next week, and we can have those amendments prepared by then. thank you, because we do want to just stay for this, for the public, refine the requirement for translate being the know your rights information brochure by replacing 20 most spoken languages in san francisco with 20 languages in san francisco that are most spoken and have the highest rates of language access. need on page 24, line 23. and so we will, of course, address that in the amendments as well, at this time, chair ronen, i'd like to open this up for public comment. i also want to thank, co-sponsor supervisor chan for all her work. and of course, city administrator carmen chu for her support through the process as well. and i do see supervisor safaí.
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supervisor safaí. thank you. just want to thank supervisor walton for your for your leadership on this. this is in a time when, immigrant families are are not necessarily feeling welcome, feeling scapegoated and feeling isolated and pointed out it's important that our city step up and embrace and step forward, a way to make them feel more included and inclusive. so appreciate the hard work that you've done. the immigrant rights commission and the office of oca. so i'd like to be added as a co-sponsor. this is really, really important step forward for our city to clarify and do all the hard work to access, have good, strong language access in all forms. thank you, thank you. and i would also like to thank you for your work and ask to be added as a co-sponsor. and with that, can we please open the these items up to public comment, yes. members of
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the public who wish to speak on on these items should line up to speak. at this time. each speaker will be allowed two minutes. there will be a soft chime when you have 30s left and a louder chime when your time has expired . you may begin. good morning. i'm marlene tran. thank you for convening this very important meeting and for the immigrant rights to be here to provide so much information that is updated. i am also a former immigrant rights commissioner and a retired bilingual teacher with 35 years of teaching at the san francisco's first newcomer school. the former chinese education center covid cidentally. two days ago, the
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caa celebrated the 50th anniversary of the law versus nichols landmark decision, which enabled millions of non-english speaking students to learn english. since 1974. this morning's proceeding is actually an extension of the basic rights of our diverse and non-english speaking residents in san francisco. from my frequent interactions with non-english speaking residents, we want to make four recommendations. maybe this has been answered already. number one, newsletters from supervisors with diverse constituents to provide translation, which is not done now. city hall tv coverage to provide at least subtitles as you can see, this screen only shows english and it doesn't help people who want to know the proceedings. number three, we would like to see, oca hire more
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translators to help with the, community groups, especially during their community meetings. number four, we want to have better outreach of the proceedings, or rather, the, all the information from the irc so that people can have different ways to interact with the, commissions. so i think that these are some of the recommendations that are made and because of time constraints, hopefully i will be able to offer more after i hear from more residents. thank you. thank you. good morning, my name is sheng yen lee, and i'm the advocate with chinese for affirmative action. we are a member organization of language
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of nasa's language access network of san francisco, also known as lan. sf the network is made up of six community based organizations representing a multilingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural network from arab, latino, black, aapi and other directly impacted communities. first of all, we would like to thank supervisor walton and his office for leading the revision of the language access ordinance and partnering with community organizations and oca to implement this important strategies that serve community members across the country. in san francisco, 148,000 people speak chinese at home, 90 more than 89,000 people speak spanish, and many others speak a variety of dialogs. over the last nine months, the language access network of san francisco has continued to call for reform of the language access ordinance as the immigrant and limited english speaking population continues to grow, it is crucial to acknowledge the importance of
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providing services in people's preferred languages. so as someone whose first language is not english, seeking data points for today's public comments takes extra time and effort. accessing well translated city and state websites will save me time and energy, but what i experienced is nothing compared to what others are facing when their needs needs to be received, language access is essential on a daily basis and in every aspect of our life. we stand here together in solidarity to bring experiences from the community to process concerns and bridge the gap between the community's need and the ordinance. thank you for your time. hi tiger, how are you? hi tony. hi, tony san jorge, come, come. yanto. hi,
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sam. sam would come from sam. fancy how do you say hi, gang? hi sam. i see you like football. tony yes. thank you for having some fancy qanon. go see how. you go to my gym to go see you. panggung. thank you. zhiyin yao. see the yao song? you take in the hip, you pass it to yao. you see? thank you to my tiktok. venmo morphing song. come see. thank you. so jingle composer yao gong batong. you kaifong to yao kun. yi ji seok. yi yin folk voc-tech. jessica. how you doing ? ma ming yi kim yin sifu bao tong. sao yang. hey ek fu gua
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sin yi intelli venmo d.o.j. i'll help translate. good morning supervisors. my name is aayu. i immigrated from taiwan and my family and i currently live and work in san francisco. i'm grateful that san francisco is a home to diverse immigrant communities, and even more appreciative of the city's language access that has improved throughout the years. in the past, when i visited sf mta, there was relatively little information and resources available in different languages . now the now the agency provides more materials and information in different languages. occasionally staff the front desk with bilingual clerks and play instructions in different languages on the bus, expanding crucial and necessary language services. thank you supervisors and supervisor walton specifically for advocating the amendments. ensure that everyone has the right to receive timely translation and interpretation and interpretation, and in the language they are most familiar
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familiar with, including through telephonic and written materials, as well as ensuring departmental compliance through audits. each year, we hope to continue working with the board and departments to improve language services. thank you. hello, how are you? my okay. how are sometimes you can make a yi sun yi man come a yi yi. come and see san would yi yi the whole day. come get some icu's yi informatio. i think yi venmo tan chin chin. yang yi bing. come. okay, nina. okay. hi, i'm amanda icu term emergency. venmo. come and see how we go,
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man. he called you one li li yongfang. go go go go. come coming. you informatio like come to me to me, you know seng. sam. hey, man. zheng chenggong to come to. you joe biden. cheng yi young man. batonga semen cap yi informal kong kanga gong fan. so yi lin. guy so. so you. macao tong. i will help translate. hello everyone. thank you for this opportunity today. my name is aggie and i am a community leader. when i arrived to live in san francisco as a new immigrant, i encountered a large language barrier because my native tongue is cantonese. fortunately, i soon learned that the city departments are required to provide language service, and in chinese. however, the frontline staff of some of some city agencies still
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do not provide adequate language services. one time my neighbor had an emergency health issue that needed immediate medical attention. however, the frontline responder that arrived only spoke english and the immediate family wasn't fluent and could not understand. as a result, they searched throughout the building for someone to translate, which hindered treatment. this example illustrates the implementation of the sf language access ordinance is not yet comprehensive. i implore the city and departments to increase funding and budget, to strengthen the training and standard procedure for every staff member to recognize and assist community members who are not fluent in english. thank you . good morning. my name is anisha hingorani and i am a policy manager at chinese for affirmative action. also providing comment on the lao amendments. oca as we heard releases an annual language access compliance summary report every february that offers critical data and insights on
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how the city is meeting the language access needs of its diverse constituents. this report also incorporates the results of community driven spot checks, and proposes key data driven policy recommendations. as you heard earlier, the report this year highlights troubling trends, including a decrease in bilingual staffing, a decrease in the number of telephonic interpretations, and an alarming decrease in the language services budgets from 20 million down to 15 million across departments. furthermore, the spot check data shows that 22% of respondents had wait times of 10 to 20 minutes and almost a third of respondents were never connected to a bilingual employee or vendor interpreter. this demonstrates that a significant number of residents who exercise their right to language access do not receive it. as we know, residents connect with city departments to
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access essential life saving and emergency services and resources being turned away because departments fail in their responsibility to provide timely language access is not only a civil rights violation, it further deepens the marginalization that immigrant communities experience and erodes the trust that communities place in their government. it is against this backdrop that we uplift osha's recommendations, which calls for improved internal training, hiring and retention of bilingual staff, strengthening compliance, data collection and reporting, and increasing language services, resources and budgets. it is against this backdrop that we earnestly push our city leaders to work with community groups to rectify the decline in language access, investments and the deprioritisation of departments. language access, responsibilities and really push for a culture change where departmental policies and actions reflect a comprehensive commitment to language rights. thank you. johnson, gawai. good
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morning, supervisor. my name is josé ng and i'm the immigrant rights program manager at chinese for affirmative action, also providing public comment for the lao revisions. i want to thank you, supervisor warden and supervisor chen, for your leadership on leading these amendments and also supervisor safaí and chair ronen for your co-sponsor ring. we commend osha's leadership and efforts over the years working with the nsf, the community, in identifying the language access ordinance, implementation gap. but we all know that, you know, these gaps still exist and thus the language access complaint process is one way for the community member to share their experiences with the city. yet the process still has a long way to go in order to hold the city departments accountable based on our experience with the community, we care the number of lao violations does not truly capture the reality of what's
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occurring on the ground. with the limited english speaking, proficient community members can remember mine, not be consistently find report due to the facts one they don't know about the language rights. second, the complaint form is not translated in the language. third, they do not trust the city will do anything to resolve the issue than violation occurs. we recognize our city's financial resources are being impacted and shrinked. we must reiterate language services, a core city services that are essential to our city's diverse immigrant population. these language services have been defunded and underfunded and need to be prioritized in order to serve our immigrant population in the city. we hope, you know, oca would have enough staffing and capacity to oversee the equitable implementation of these vital provisions, and we ask the board of supervisor, especially the rules committee, to support all the budget
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requirement to fully implement this efficient and amendment of the language access ordinance. thank you. supervisor for your report and working with the community, and we appreciate for your efforts. thank you. hello. can i request for an interpreter? what language? filipino. i believe they're in the room. maraming salamat po. thank you. i see theresa do lala's nakatira po ako sa ica isna, distrito de san francisco. i am theresa lala's. i live in district six, in san francisco. i nanawagan po sa inyo. i'm calling upon you that, ang isang lengua po napaka importante sa mga apo na walang alam po sa lingua in english language is very important, especially to
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people who do not know any other language except english. halimbawa po na isang to wainganga ng buhay at saka po siya sa nueva uno uno. pero yong tau po na na s'agapo hindi niya alam kung ano po yung lingua. so anong gagawin po. for example, if a person's life is in danger and they call 911 and it happens that the person on the other line does not speak english, what will we do? so napaka importante kasi yung po yung mga tao na na walang alam po sa english atsaka yung na na na na po ng mga nila sa isang hospital pumupunta sa uno, uno sa mga comunidad at saka ano po na kailangan po na na marunong po masalin po yung isang lingua. this is important for people whose lives are in danger when
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they go to the hospital. call 911. for those persons, it is very important that there is someone that will be able to interpret their their needs. it's an important aspect of din po isang kakayahan po sa kultura ng isang lingua, isang isang, isang kultura sa comunidad. it is also important that in the process of interpretation, the interpreter, whoever is interpreting should understand the culture of a particular community. yung important isang din ako, isang advocate. may advocacy po sa bilingual edukasyon. so that is important for me, especially for when i advocate for education in isang bilingual edukasyon para sa mga bata na hindi po sino suportahan ng school district dito sa san
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francisco. so ako ay nananawagan po sa inyo na suportahan din po ninyo yung bilingual education at saka yung ano po yung yung access, yung access dito sa comunidad natin at saka sana po ay dengan new din po na yung kakayahan ng mga ahensiya po ninyo dito sa san francisco. maraming salamat po. it is important that bilingual education, especially for kids that are not supported by the city, please help us with with this and please, exert your efforts to improve the capacity of agencies with regards to bilingual interpretation. thank you. good morning supervisors. my name is zachary friel. i'm a
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d5 resident and i work at the south of market community action network. i'm here to speak in support of the amendments, despite filipino being an official language of san francisco, our staff have found numerous shortcomings with filipino language access as it stands today. our staff often have to go outside their duties to fill the role of interpreter for our clients at public meetings, like court hearings. and one time when an interpreter was provided, they weren't even accurately interpreting what was said, in addition, our staff and clients have found the city's filipino translations, often machine translated by google, to be inadequate and at times indecipherable. in my role, i've often had to remind applications to provide filipino translations for documents. as such, these amendments are crucial in addressing the city's shortcomings in providing language access services. we look forward to continuing to work with oca on further improvements to strengthen our communities language access rights. we'd also like to thank
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supervisor walton for your leadership on this issue. thank you so much. hello, board of supervisors. my name is janelle and i am with the filipino community center, which is a member organization of la nsf. despite filipino being constituted as a threshold language in san francisco ten years ago, we have seen many gaps in interpretation and translated materials from city departments. through fcc. we have assisted many lep community members who have faced challenges with navigating housing, immigration, domestic violence violations in their workplace, and other life threatening experiences that is exacerbated because of the lack of filipino speaking, staffing in city departments. there was an emergency situation where a monolingual community member required immediate medical assistance. however had we not
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been present as fcc to provide interpretation while medical staff or frontline workers were present, then they would not have understood the actual medical condition and needs of the community member and how dire it was to bring her to the hospital. there were multiple incidents where many community members were also facing wrongful eviction notices, yet they were not able to access materials in tagalog or filipino , nor interpretation in filipino. from the rent board of san francisco about their rights. we've also assisted in multiple court case hearings to provide interpretation on the side, because there wasn't interpretation provided timely providing public safety, emergent health, and human services, and public programs in the languages that community members understand is essential for monolingual families to live safely and sustainably. in san francisco. an emergency deserves immediate response time and is a
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matter of life or death. as as in language assistance would delay the, not providing that would delay the critical time to save someone's life. so access to quality language services ensures that our non-english native speakers and migrant community members are treated with dignity and respect. thank you. good morning, supervisors, my name is jared, and i'm a staff member at the filipino community center in district 11, which is a member organization of the language access network of san francisco, language access is an essential for our community members to utilize the critical public services that they need, but navigating different public services can be very difficult and confusing, especially when these services are not offered in a language that our clients can understand.
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and oftentimes, our community members who have a limited english proficiency are ignored or brushed off when they are trying to access or avail of different public services and programs, which is why, non-english speakers rely on the protections and support that are made available through the language access ordinance and the various organizations of lnsf, strengthening language access in san francisco for working class immigrant communities, it's not only practical, but is necessary for the community's full participation, respect and livelihood within the city, lowering the threshold for lep residents, having the right to be served in the language our community members are familiar with. and translating the language access ordinance. know your rights brochure in 20 different languages are just
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some of the winds that the language access network of san francisco were able to achieve, but there is so much more work to be done in order to improve language access in san francisco, which is why we are looking forward to a resolution that increases the opportunities for oca to work with our communities on these concerns. thank you. good afternoon. my name is jamari, and i'm also a staff member at the filipino community center, so many majority of the clients we serve are immigrants, seniors with disabilities who are seeking to avail of disability benefits. ed and many other services that the city provides, but cannot because the agencies do not have the tagalog translator readily available, which is why we serve them. and sometimes this would delay access to key services for weeks, especially if they can't find our center or we're not able to get to them. and these
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cases are case managers have to step in and interpret for our clients through the application process, for many lep speaking community members of all backgrounds, language access is a matter of basic health and safety, before we can meet the material needs of our communities, we must first meet their fundamental need of communication to be understood and to understand, san francisco's vibrant diversity is a testament to that need for expanded language access in city services, so that all our communities can thrive and have a life of dignity. we celebrate the victories of sf, including affirming the right to be served in the language we are most comfortable and familiar with, and lowering of the ordinance threshold from 10,000 to 6000. we look forward to resolutions that will provide more opportunities for oca to work with the community on this. equity issues such as, establishing permanent bilingual staffing and city departments. thank you so much. bonjour la
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can say the supervisor, je m'appelle muna african advocacy network, a member of the collaborative the land access network. the language access network, the san francisco. yes, i'm speaking in french. i'm from mali. my mother language is sorry. i speak sorry. the language spoken in mali by most of the population is malinké. i speak malinké. french is the language the colonizer brought to us, i speak french, i came to america. i have to learn english. so i'm assuming you understood what i said in french. because you just guess it. it was easy. imagine this is what the majority of our community members have to deal on a daily basis when they go seek help and they speak in english in a language that they're not familiar and not comfortable in, they have to guess. they have to answer to the question just by guessing.
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it's a matter of life or death questions most of the time, but they saying yes or no to something that they just feel like maybe i say yes, this is the right answer here. maybe i say no, this is the right answer here. this is the reason why i'm standing here today. i believe that in a city celebrated for its diversity, black immigrant often face unique barriers due to language and cultural differences. it is not just about translating documents, it is about ensuring equitable access to education, health care, legal services and community support. when language becomes a barrier, people are excluded from opportunities that others might take for granted. we need more interpreters in translators and translators. we understand the linguistic nuances and cultural background of black immigrant community. we must support community based organizations that work directly with these groups, offering cultural, relevant services. additionally, city services must be trained to recognize and
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address the specific needs of this immigrant. thank you for your support and time today. hi there. my name is marty doolas and i wanted to share a story with you. so when i had studied abroad in japan, i woke up one day and i lost hearing in one ear and being in a different country, just barely knowing the language and having to seek out city like city government language to find my health access. and that's a whole different language and an entirely different language in japanese. so i was afraid, i was scared, i didn't know what to do. thank goodness. like, i was able to access language services with my school and get the need that i that i needed for my health, but to even access that is a hurdle. and i know that because i see like people like on the streets, i've actually
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had like ladies like from the chinese community stop me because they're like, you know, looking at my face, i'm actually filipino, but but mixed. but, you know, they stopped me and they they asked me in their language for like a certain address. and i'm just like, like i find out because, like, they show me their phones and, i'm just like, i know where this is. and i just walk them to as far as i can go, and sometimes all the way to where they need to go. but when i'm there, all i can do is just leave them there and hope that they can get the access of what they need in these city governments. when they get into those buildings, will the will those accesses to their language be there? will they get the necessary help like i did when i was studying abroad? but at the same time, there was also that lack of cultural understanding. when i did get those accesses as so to be able to fulfill this in the city is a is beautiful and it is
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a i know it is a big hurdle because we have such diversity, but i know in your leadership, please, i hope that we can make this happen. thank you. good morning. my name is ann lim and i am a tenant councilor from the south of market community action network. most of our clients are immigrant filipino families. our community is directly impacted and we are advocating to close the language access gap across the city. most of our clients are in need of counseling services regarding their tenancy and disputes with their landlords. as a tenant counselor, i have witnessed how most filipinos could not understand notices, legal documents and agreements that are needed for their tenancy. most of the time, they are being tricked by their landlords and the tenants are forced to move out of their homes just because they do not understand the english language. they do not know how to seek help from the
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city or rent board. because of the language barrier. filipino immigrant families are also afraid to step out of the shadow to access critical public services. language access supports immigrant families to feel safe in accessing public services. it is essential that language access is available to all. language access promotes dignity and respect. access to language services ensures that non-english native residents and immigrants are treated with dignity and respect. thank you very much. my name is janet, i'm from san francisco. you mind pulling the microphone closer? thank you. okay, tonight, i'm from san francisco, california. originally from eritrea, africa. so, i took the translation, the interpreter course soon, the community interpreter course. so i'm glad to have that course. so my focus is we don't have
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enough, in the, in the field of, like, police or hospitals or in social service, we have difficulty, you know, we have some sense of, translators. so i'm focusing on hospital, specially the delivery mothers. you know, they have pain or something. they couldn't translate that, you know, they have shortage. so i have, like, nursing experience. i work in delivery when i was in africa. so i wish i got that chance or people have that kind of chance as a mother. i know what's delivery mean. so when they have pain, which part they have to press, how the husband help her so that things focus. i focus on that specially on medical field. thank you so much. good morning.
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can speak english? i need the interpreter. akaboshi. nori. membranous is sama bilang? isang manggagawa nakaranas ng digana is nice na situation. lalo na pagdating sa wikang english isa sa mga una was important papeles para sa trabajo na maintindihan ng mga nagagawa sa akin. kung hindi ito my silence, awakening wikang tagalog namin sa mga naiintindihan ko ang aking mga karapatan bilang manggagawa kasi ito sa amin, sabi ng tagalog, sa montana ng kailangan kong maintindihan lahat ng aking tungkol sa bahay at immigration, at ibaba ang kailangan natin ngayon ang pag dbi na tulungan kami na maintindihan ng sa language access ordinance. hindi
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lang para sa mga pamilya nandito kung hindi sa mga para sa kailangan ng malakas na language access. parama tulungan kami. maraming salamat po. translate. good morning. my name is nori flamingo, member of samahan. i'm a caregiver and i live in soma. as a migrant worker, i experienced undesirable situations, especially when it came to language. one of those is understanding important documents for work. how can i understand what i am asked to do if they are not translated in my own language as sam, can i fully understand my rights as a worker because it was taught in our own language? i also go to sam, ken when i need to understand about work, housing, immigration and so on. that's why we need to further strengthen our language access ordinance, not just for those family who are here, but for families that are coming here that will surely need a strong language access. thank you very much. magandang umaga
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sa lahat. akong community engagement coordinator. soma pilipinas ang filipino cultural heritage district. dito sa san francisco na ang organization na sa comunidad na na katawan sisang multilingual, multi-ethnic art network na comunidad mula sa arab, latino, black aapi at iba pang director apektado na mga comunidad na sulong nasara gawad sa mga lamang bilang isang ibang comunidad kung sino suportahan unleaded legislation sa pagbabago sa ordinance sa pag ahsha savika mahalaga na lahat ng residente, i may pantai pantai na privilegio sa mga serbisyo ng gobyerno ay naman ng kanilang katutubong. ng
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ordinance ito na lang sa wika and sa mga al-sabah isa na makatanggap na mahalagang tulong na kailangan nila bilang isang nakikipag tulungan sa mga pamilyang pilipino. nakita kabataan alam ko kung ano nakaka dismay among system at proceso ng walang supporters sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay naman serbisyong multilingual naniniwala ako naman natin sulong na makakasama atomica na malakas na comunidad para sa lahat. thank you. good morning. my name is naval. i am the community engagement coordinator with sama filipinos. the filipino cultural heritage district. i am here in support of the language access network of san francisco, which is made up of six community based organizations representing a multilingual, multi-ethnic and
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community networks for from arab, latino, black, aapi and other direct communities. advocating to close the language gap on language gap access in the city as a as a member of the diverse community, i totally support the language access ordinance amendment. i totally support the language accidents ordinance amendments legislation. it is important that all residents have equal access to government services regardless of their native language. this ordinance will ensure that language barriers do not prevent individuals from receiving the vital assistance they need. as someone who works with families, seniors, and health and youth, i know firsthand how frustrating, how frustrating it is it can be to navigate the complex system and
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processes without proper language support by providing multi-language, multilingual services. i believe that we can promote inclusivity and create a stronger community for everyone. thank you. magandang umaga po ako po sicilian kintanar. good morning supervisors. i am silayan kintanar, a filipino caseworker with the south of market community action network. i work with low income, working class immigrant families and individuals, seniors, people with disabilities, single parents, the most vulnerable members of our community, and many of whom are lep. some of them came with us today to show their support. filipinos are in dire need of language access services. a lot of our clients have experienced difficulties in accessing public services, such as essential food and health and housing programs, and are also unable to report habitability
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issues in the bmr, housing and sros that they live in. on their own. due to language barriers, they come to us community based organizations because we provide culturally competent and linguistically appropriate language services. they come to us when they need to apply or call departments or programs to follow up on their applications, or if they need letters and documents translated and explained to them. cbos are filling the gaps. a single mom with children even lost their chance of at affordable housing, even though they were selected in the lottery, since they did not fully comprehend the requirements and the one communicating with them only spoken english. some filipino speak english, but comprehend in filipino language. language access is a civil rights issue for all. it is core to upholding the values of san francisco. although progress has been made, there is still a lot to be done.
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we cannot stress enough the importance of providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services for all. maraming salamat po. good morning supervisors. my name is abdul and i'm the director of the african advocacy network, my colleague vanessa and our committee are members, and i have said quite a lot about this, but i will start by saying thank you, because i think the language access ordinance itself is an accomplishment. it speaks to this desire for more integration. and my presence here, as i always say, is also a testament to the diversity of who we are coming from all over the world. and, would it be racial? would it be cultural? but it's also linguistic. and i personally do not believe that language access ordinance is a static situation. it's an ongoing process. and as we're speaking today, i bet in 2 or 3
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years will be here again because the communities are growing day after day. so we believe that the language access issue is not going to be handled without the active participation of the communities themselves. we are the ones who got the natural capacity to speak those languages. we are the ones who have got the cultural competency in order to better convey from one language to another, you know, any kind of message and i think we're here to speak about equity. we speak, we are here to speak about inclusion. we are here to speak about integration, and we are here to speak about empowerment. and we say community based organization. we stand ready to work with oci and then be along with them in order to address this issue. and again, you know, we're looking forward to great things. and then a resolution that will allow us to work better in a fully manner. you know, with oci will be certainly a step forward, but again, it's an ongoing process. and thank you
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again for your time. good morning. my name is nick g. i'm on the advocacy team with chinese for affirmative action, also providing public comment on the lao revisions. as we know, the revisions for the language access ordinance has been overdue, and we've waited patiently since 2021 to move this process forward. and so we want to express our gratitude for the recent collaboration with city leadership, including supervisor walton, natalie g. supervisor chan francis hsieh, oca, and director rivas, the human rights commission, and many, many community members for their efforts to identify the gaps and call for additional languages to be included in the ordinance. the work to ensure the language access ordinance truly meets the diverse needs of san francisco's immigrant communities is not over, and the language access network of san francisco looks forward to working with supervisor walton on a resolution that increases opportunities for oca to work with the community on key equity
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concerns, as we call for continued efforts to expand language resources to reach the city's top 20 spoken languages, we call for city agencies and departments to provide adequate budgets and tangible plans to provide language resources, as we call on detailed compliance reports, to be submitted to the board of supervisors, which should include detailed summaries broken down by department and language of all complaints, investigations, outcomes, and individual and systemic remedies to address the root cause of the violation. and we call for the city and the board to adequately fund oca to implement the lao through community informed processes. we call for the city to break down barriers and create systems of language justice for all. we look forward to continuing to advocate for language justice and partner with city officials to address concerns of the community and effectively bridge the gap of language access. thank you. hello everyone. maybe
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i'm a little bit shaken because the first time for me, i just want to let you know i came here with my class, the esl classes, the families here with me. my name is rania and we need the arabic interpreter here. i'm coming here to present the families from my class. my name is rania. i'm as a esl teacher assistant, and also as an arabic family liaison at the sf isd. one of the schools. and i want to talk about something like some schools sometimes don't allow parents from using their right to have an interpreter present at their parents teacher conferences, despite the fact that the sf isd offers a free language line. consequently, parents are often unable to fully comprehend their children's academic and social needs, leading to their nonattendance at school conferences due to the language barrier. in addition, all the leaves on google translate most
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of the time for translating documents as the enrollment application also, i am well aware of the many challenges that non-native english speakers face when trying to access public services and resources. it can be quite frustrating for them and they often interrupt the class to ask for help. moreover, during the pandemic, many people lives were in danger and there was a serious lack of resources available to help them or even know how to deal with it. please support the language access, especially for all these needs. the lack of representative representation for the arab and mena communities in the us census has created significant barriers to accessing resources support hindering their ability to thrive and contribute fully to society. talk about personal narratives highlights the
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effects of the language barriers in crucial areas such as housing, education, health care and access. accessing victim services shed light on the urgent need for language access and inclusion measures, especially in the concern of the increasing islamophobia and again, i want to just say again, to insist about how important for us speaker time has elapsed. thank you. oh, sorry. thank you. thank you so much. my name is abdul. i am a resident service supervisor at chinatown community development center, and i'm an immigrant rights commission. i'm i'm speaking on my on my on my behalf and on myself as an individual today, i would just like to thank the supervisors and ahsha staff and immigrant rights commission for being here and advocating for our immigrant community, i really appreciate the language access ordinance and the
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amendments, everyone would like to add to, but i would like to add and again, and i would like to thank all the esl class and families and our families from tier one turk and through chinatown and in the tenderloin community for being here today. and i would add to my colleague, even with proposed threshold adjustments, the current criteria for the limited limited english proficiency studies, this excluding the arabic community, as in evidence by the by the low number of like individuals identified, which undermines their ability to access essential services and participate fully in civic life, and as well in hurting vulnerability to discriminate and marginalize them. the alarming rise of islamophobia underscored the criteria importance, the crucial importance of ensuring that our city processes are inclusive and equitable, particularly for
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vulnerable communities like the arab and mena population. excluding their community. these communities only serves to perpetuate systemic injustice and further marginalize those already facing discrimination and prejudice. i would just add, i would like really for these communities under war, like the ukrainian and the arab countries and communities, to be really supported by the language ordinance and actually give them more support for their services in the city. thank you so much. marhaban. azmi, amirah and taliban safaí. come on islam, come to an end. salam. la la la la la la la la la la la. la any
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la la la la. fema ahsha. mutarjim. hi welcome to let you. all. so what can i do for you? hello, my name is amira. i'm a certified health care interpreter, and i'm also a member of the islamic community center, i'm here on my behalf, but i thought i want to share with you that when i thought that relocating to an english speaking country is going to be easy for me because i speak the language. but that was far from true. and if it wasn't for the help that was provided to me by my community member members, i wouldn't have been able to overcome many obstacles, and i have had access to many resources. as an interpreter, i have witnessed situations where language access was life saving,
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and i can't imagine the difficulties. those who don't speak the language have to experience every single day, where language access is absent, whether it's a public service office or their children's school. and sometimes they're at their doctor's office, or simply sometimes they don't have enough time for the interpreter. thank you. good morning, supervisor angelica. and excuse me, director of sam. can i want to thank again the leadership of supervisor walton, his legislative aide, natalie gee, supervisor chen and her legislative aide, francis shay oca, immigrant rights commission supervisor ronen and supervisor safaí. our partners led nsf members and our community. when the city certified filipino as the city's official third language in 2014, it should have signaled a full implementation of filipino as a language that
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must be used in communicating essential city services to the public. by the end of 2015, under lao. however, in 2019, sam, along with doctor valerie francisco and chavez and her team of student research from san francisco state, published a report that shows filipino language access has been unevenly delivered across city departments and agencies, leaving many filipino residents unable to reach basic and important services and information. and to this day, that is still the case. that's why we applaud the efforts of everyone here today and their commitment to strengthening the existing language ordinance with amendments. today's amendments are the right steps toward filling those gaps and barriers our communities are experiencing , and we look forward to a board resolution that will continue our collective effort on addressing key equity concerns, like having permanent bilingual staffing in city departments.
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currently, there is no percentage across the city departments of how many staff they should have in-house that spoke another language, and that needs to change because nonprofit workers can only do so much. excuse me. in addition, when san francisco needs services, it's important someone is right there to help them. thank you again. and we look forward to working with all of you. hi. good morning. it's still morning. my name is sarah singh. i'm the policy director at the office of racial equity for the city with the human rights commission, thank you to natalie, to chloe, to director riva, supervisor walton, and, of course, all the community members for their hard work on this ordinance. i wasn't going to speak today, but i felt very moved by this public comment, and i just wanted to call
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attention to a few things, one is, as you know, as we talk about language access in this room, i was sitting in the back and i could see from the back, that there were still people who have to hold up their phones and ask google translate to translate for them live. even as we sit and one of the wealthiest cities in the country, and so that is how important language access is, and that is also how easy it is to overlook access for those languages that maybe don't make up. you know, i am chinese. i am very fortunate. there are very many chinese speakers, spanish speakers in the city, but there are so many communities with greater need arabic speakers, tigrinya, amharic, swahili speakers, mongolian speakers, khmer speakers, who need this support, so i want to call attention to two things in the ordinance, one is in the emergency response
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section. it has a 5% threshold that's taken directly from existing state legislation. i just wanted to note that in san francisco, based on current federal data, if we use that 5% threshold, the only languages that those departments will be required to translate into is spanish and chinese. that's if we consider population at a citywide level. if we look at population at a district by district level, my understanding is that in many of those districts, there would be no language that would qualify for 5% or even a 2.5% threshold, the second thing i wanted to note is one thing in the. oh, okay. thank you. we can get the information from you. i know an email was sent as well. thank you. good morning. thank you. supervisor walton, for working on lao. and a big thank you to supervisor chan ronen and
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supervisor safaí for co-sponsoring it. thank you for all your work as well. i am kudrat chaudhry and currently serve as the vice chair for chair of immigrant rights commission and today i'll be speaking on my own behalf. recently, i was in boston and was discussing about leo with someone i mentioned that we have chinese, filipino, and spanish as mandatory languages and that san francisco city departments are supposed to provide information in these languages. i was then told that boston provides interpretation services in more than 35 languages. you go to a city department, point out the language, and they will provide you interpretation within minutes. this is something that san francisco should consider. language access is a matter of civil rights and is a way to empower san francisco's residents. with the influx of immigrants speaking different languages, i called that the city breaks down barriers and ensures that our current residents and the incoming immigrants are able to navigate around housing, employment, resources, and
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immigration help and more by having access to different languages. we need to be culturally sensitive and know that language needs will grow and change, just like we're seeing with ukrainian and arabic needs that are that are sperging . so i urge you to continue this conversation going on and hope that more languages are added in time. thank you. good morning supervisors. my name is joyce chan and i'm a youth commission staff reading a public comment on behalf of the commission in the 2023 and 2024 budget and policy priorities, the youth commission firmly supports the need to improve language access for all san francisco residents. this priority was created by multiple commissioners who held the same belief that the success of youth and individuals is highly dependent on their ability to communicate with
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others, and that no one should be restricted from vital services such as healthcare and education. on the basis of their language ability. a few recommendations that we made were to provide increased financial support for esl and foreign language programs in both sf, usd, and ccsf to better address the educational and linguistic needs of san francisco's immigrant communities. lower the threshold of the number of people required to speak a language. to receive required translation services from 10,000 people to 6000 people and expand translation and interpretation training and services across city departments to ensure equitable communication. even with limited english proficiency, lep residents. we want to affirm that san francisco is one of the most diverse cities in the nation and is welcoming to all ethnic backgrounds. we appreciate all the work and support that has gone into increasing language access for all youth and families throughout the city and county of san francisco. it is crucial
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to ensure that this work continues and is carried out to the best of its ability. thank you. are there any other speakers who would like to make public comment on these matters? i do not see any additional speakers. public comment is now closed. supervisor walton thank you, chair ronen. and first, i just want to thank all the community for coming out for public comment and stressing how important language access is and how important these improvements are. i also definitely want to make sure that i thank my chief of staff, natalie g, for working so closely with community, as well as director rivas and his staff, chloe noonan, as well as chair kenleigh. also former oca director adrian pond, sarah singh from the hrc, our deputy city attorney alicia cabrera,
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and of course, deputy city attorney anne pearson. and i also want to thank city administrator carmen chu for her support and all the community advocates through the language access network who are here today, who were at the rally today and who came in to speak chinese for affirmative action, for african advocacy network, filipino community center, som kan arab resource organizing center, central american resource center, immigrants rights commission, and of course, everyone who participated and collaborated in this effort, i do want to announce that we are working with our community partners to come up with a resolution that will capture more of the programmatic parts for language access through oca in san francisco. and we plan to introduce this resolution at the board of supervisors later this month, so we can have some additional time for a thoughtful process. i also do want to acknowledge i know some of our
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speakers gave more suggestions and things that we can do, and at the end of the day, we will continue to do the work of we have a longer way to go and we're really not successful until we achieve 100% access for everyone. so we will keep doing the work again. i want to thank supervisor chan, supervisor safaí, supervisor ronen, and supervisor preston for their co sponsorship and i would like to make a motion to accept the amendments at this time. on the motion to amend vice chair walton i. walton, i supervisor safaí safaí i chair. ronen i. ronen i the motion passes without objection and i move to move item number three. to next week's meeting with the amendments on the motion to continue the matter as amended to may 13, 2024, vice chair walton i. walton i supervisor
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safaí safaí i chair. ronen i ronen i. that motion passes without objection. and lastly i move to file item number four to file the hearing on the motion to file item number four. vice chair walton i walton i supervisor safaí safaí i chair ronen i ronen i. that motion passes without objection. all three motions pass. thank you so much to everybody. thank you so much, mr. clerk, can you please read item number one? yes. item number one is a motion appointing supervisor hillary ronen. term ending february 4th, 2027, to the local agency formation commission. thank you. i'd like to make a
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motion to excuse supervisor ronen for item number one. yes. on the motion to excuse supervisor ronen, vice chair walton, a walton i supervisor safaí safaí. i chair ronen excused. thank you. and did you already read item number one i yes, i did, do you have any comments or statements? supervisor safaí is there any public comment on item number one? yes. members of the public wish to make public comment can approach the podium at this time. i do not see any public commenters for item number one. so much. thank you so much. public comment on item one is now closed, and i'd like to make a motion to move this forward and file it as a move this forward as a committee report. yes. and a motion to recommend this matter as a committee report, vice chair walton i. walton i supervisor safaí safaí
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i chair ronen excused the motion passes without objection with chair ronen being excused from voting on this matter. perfect. thank you so much. chair. ronen back at you. thank you. colleagues. mr. clerk, are there any other items on the agenda before us that completes the agenda for today? the meeting is adjourned
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>> come shop dine and play. taraval street is open for business. >> i am a coowner at 19th. this establishment came about when me and my brother andy, coowner, we decided that it time for us to take a step up in the barber industry, and open up a space of our own. ory business is a community that shows their true artistic side of the barber industry. we are involved in teraival bingo so stop by, get a hair cut and when you do you get the barber sticker made just for us. i say in three words we are
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community, arts and here to help any way possible we can, so come by, visit at barber lounge, 907 taraval in the sunset. you can find us on instagram. >> time for teraival bingo supporting small business, anyone can participate. it is easy, collect stickers on a bingo gameboard and enter a raffle event.
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>> san francisco is a positive impact on my chinese business. >> i'm the founder of joe-joe. i'm a san francisco based chinese artist. i grew up in the bayview district. i am from china i started at an early age i started at age of 10 my grandfather my biggest
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inspiration. and i have followed with my traditional art teacher in china:i host educational workshops at the museum and local library. and i also provide chinese writing in public middle school and that way i hold more people fall in love with the beautiful of our chinese calligraphy. it is a part of our heritage. and so we need to keep this culture alive. hand writing is necessary field that needs to be preserved generation toieneration. this art form is fading away. but since covid i have been very dedicated to this art and i hope that my passions and serving this art form. there are many stores and
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shopping centers and companies that are interested in chinese cal iing ravi. i feel motivated to my passion for chinese calligraphy in today's world. so people can always enjoy the beauty of chinese calligraphy, from time to time i have a choice to traditional chinese calligraphy to make it more interesting. we do calligraphy on paper. i can do calligraphy different low. >> my inspiration is from nature and provide calligraphy that was popular style of persons time. i will invite to you check out
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my website or instagram. and there is some events and updated upcoming events that you can participate. testing.
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>> could. to that the 43 san francisco good government awards excited to be here when i all tonight i'm aliza the cfo for spur they host those awards every year we believe so strongly in the power of local government to have a profound impact on people's lives and it is important to occasionally shine a light on the people that make those contributions with you do everyday serving the people of san francisco the contributions are experienced by a really broad community the labor that going into that it is
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invisible to have a motel to connect to the people is really, really exciting i'm excited to kickoff the program with the woman had a successful round of dependency san francisco's very own mayor london breed (clapping.) all right. good evening, everyone. >> i am still a little bit jet lagged please forgive me if i forgot something but start by expressing my gratitude of our public centuries and staff that spends evidence of doing the incredible work for the city and county of san francisco. so many amazing departments and individuals in those departments
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are being honored for the work to help continue to make san francisco a shining example of had that mean to run a city more effectively and efficiently and sprinkling from a little bit of fun every now and then i want to say to all six the folks from rec and park, the port of san francisco, the sheriff's department and animal care and control, and laguna honda there the department of public health to all the honorees we are recognizing today thank you for your service and your work and i want to say what an hour to have the family of conferencing a extraordinary leader in rec and park (clapping.) our city is made better because of his work and commitment to san francisco our city is better
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we have extraordinary people. as the mayor of stock that i come up with a grand idea and i take all the credit when necessary succeed this is why it is important to me to be here i want you to understand i'm i mayor, i served as an assistant for the city and county of san francisco. i once served as a commission secretary a development specialist and worked in various capacities doing doing the work and not always recognized for how challenging it is to go through the process get the district attorney's office david chiu to get to, yes takes commitment to get projects and housing built our infrastructure in place and to get things completed just
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yesterday, we cut the ribbon another the 9-1-1 center by public utilities commission by the department of telecommunications and how beautiful it looks and today a small the champion with that but you know what didn't stop us from taking the 9-1-1 calls we have a back up that's what we do in san francisco (yelling) thank you, to our amazing workforce and welcome to the family and friends to celebrate the honorees tonight i have the privilege of doing i guess i think we're like the same age but a lifetime achievement award. for ben rosenthal has been in city government more than half his life ben started at age 23 working for as a a
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deputy budget director in the mayor's office and that's when i started as interim we go back a really long time and the eventually become the budget director and went on to the deputy city administrator and those who love three 311 raise your hand? ben says you're welcome helped to get the system implemented as well as the 10 year capital plan we're making investments in our city properties to make sure they are earthquake safe and work for the public and governor gavin newsom appointed him to be the controller he step up to the plate and had the skills necessary to do do job but focused on transparent building and accountability creating a system that made it a little bit
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more user friendly for the public to understand what the controller's office does and the held own to that money real tight if you couldn't explain why the money was being spent ben would not let it be spent people love in government accountability and i'm also someone who values a dollar and wants to make sure that city is spending every single dollars willis we can appropriately pay you are workforce and the equipment and all the things we need so those of you taking too many - stop that or ben is coming out of retirement and thank you to him leading the city through a great recession and now as we deal with the deficit his responsible,
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responsibleness with the budget and holding open resources we're able to balance the budget and have resources propriety it is a lot of the great work he has done during the covid pandemic we had to historically didn't have a written playbook to deal with a won in a century pandemic and spending public dollars requires accountability ben was an instrumental part of us getting the dollars out the door as soon as possible to insure that we had remember dp e to make sure we got the sheltered in place the hotels around the vaccines and so many work and so many resources and paperwork had to be done in a way that protected the city accountability and make sure that that was done right.
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he also helped to address some of the tax reform measures to do as well as being fiscally san francisco has enjoyed a good bond rating we pay the money back and people are willing to loan to to us as - that's the work that ben has done (clapping.) i can go on and on but he's turning red so ben has 90s not been the kind of person comfortable with being talked about in this capita keep his head done a quiet good for in the city and county of san francisco and treated people with went and kindness and worked with everyone and focused on this was always in the best
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interests of the city and county of san francisco. and so as much as i wanted to reach offer me deck and put two hands to get him to stay he earned the right to move on from this position after everything he's given to our city so it is appropriate that tonight we honor him with the legacy award for his public service to the city and county of san francisco. (clapping.) and no public dollars were used in the purchase of the family or the persistently of the
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certificate. >> thank you, mayor. for the reminder of how young i was and i loved this event for many, many years as a junior budget analyst in the first year my first boss with the city the mayor's budget director handing me a folder of nomination of people nominated by points department heads as exemplar leaders i'm sitting down later on this week with an advisory panel to make recommendations who to recognize i want you to do research on it for a few days spent a couple of days working
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with them and with the work product and still remember that moment was really an important one in my career early on. um, it was an surprising to me those are the people i wanted to be working with the work i wanted to be doing the kinds of things to work on and for that reason i stated involved in different capacities and found it surprising for as important as mayors are and thank you for your leadership mayor for this historic period we've been introduce and important to as is attorneys and administrators i like to say as controllers are um, i recognized through the supervision from this event over the years and my xreshgs working in the place like the real
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massing i can happens with those behind us those working identified in circumstances, and in environment has been often hard to navigate to make things better for the place and solve small problems and push things ahead always without recognition and you'll never read about work in the paper the folks that are making things happen. >> so this is event has been that to me and want to express my thanks to alisa for the recognition tonight and express an, an honor to share the folks that will be following me up here that continue do the work everyday for those many others in the room um, the true heros thank you, so much
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(clapping). >> um, thank you so much. mayor london breed you're remarks and ben congratulations i um, really happy we got to kickoff for recognizing ben tonight i know many of us in the room working with him over the years inside of the city government we imagine the concept the embodiment and in many ways i think we all know he's a smart person and strategic and confident person but heard in in his racks tonight i think that kind of the essence of good government gracious and kind and respectful
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and humble did you hear him talk about himself in those remarks not a word and working with ben over the years how much h he put his commitment to the service about sincerely the community and also the common thread among the honorees we are recognizing for the service for the community and what we can do when we put service first everyone that is recognized tonight faced a challenge to accomplish an institutional or financial exchange relational perhaps all of the above everything was hard to do and we see what happens when people look at that challenge, stand in the face of advisor i know what they role and what i'm going to be contributing and using my
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leadership to give services to others that's how local government has a profound impact on people the service i'm very, very excited about the rest of honorees we're going to be recognizing now and i think um, it is going to be really enriching to see the ways people use they're love and perseverance so kickoff we're to start by recognizing the laguna honda hospital team. laguna honda objective an institution for over one hundred and fifty years and thanks to the work of this team will be for many years to come. >> laguna honda is wonderful
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for the care. and addressing mats feeds of the whole person and certified generations of people principally in the dire times of need. from more than one hundred and fifty years laguna honda has sort of woven into san francisco history we heard laguna honda didn't regain the certification your hearts sink. >> the medi-cal and medicare took away laguna honda participation and it's programs that is extremely heartbreaking for the program a way for you laguna honda it funded and able to keep the doors open and laguna honda takes that very seriously and look forward for
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the incidents appropriately and pms come out to review those facilities that happens during that is an unfortunate cycle the cycle is only 6 months so, so deficiencys noted have to train your staff and the entire time the clock is ticking. >> our office legal strategies to figure that out we could use federal government and the - which was an important part in allowing the facility to not transfer any more events out of this facility but to buy additional time and funding for a year to allow the facility to do all the important changes that were necessary to survive
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the federal government didn't just expend the funding of the centers but set out to have requirement for the improvements that laguna honda many to do to survey the facility and inspect the facility for my interpretation and surrounding surveys around interpreting the laws and regulations that applied to the facility and assisting with you. >> the survey we have and we identified gaps in knowledge whether to be closed before our next monitoring. >> turn around was hard but had to do it because of the timeline for the recertification and had 13 hundred staff on average community-based though
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the modules everyone had a really and to take care of the residents and the communities and people who are traditionally thought of in the facilities to a huge support it was really exciting. >> relationships with our federal and state partners medi-cal and medicare in the department of public health is for the open lines of existence we had from the beginning will service very well, for the long term success. >> congratulations to our teams from the city attorney's office for saving laguna honda hospital you helped to secure the future of our healthcare system and the staff of laguna
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honda and with grace and passion and tenacity. >> congratulations for your support through the services the future is bright for laguna honda hospital. >> congratulations. >> (clapping) hi good evening over i'm director of health and on behalf of the district attorney's office and the department of health and i think more importantly the residents and their families of laguna honda the 14 hundred employees we are proud to call that recertification team up to the stage.
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(clapping.) i'm david chiu you're city attorney and, yes madam mayor and on tonight's academy awards for good government my honor to bring up to the stage 6 individuals let me say there were countless folks for saving laguna honda and bring up to the stage 6 folks we want to congratulate jennifer way (clapping.) listing a who. >> . >> (calling names.) >> troy williams and henry lipton. >> (calling names) (clapping.) and all of the staff at laguna honda for that well-deserved
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award. >> good evening, everyone and as you can see from the video laguna honda is such a special place a place that is um, a jewel of the city. i speak for laguna honda team both on stage and in the audience as well as those carrying for residents 24/7 institutions up there we have tremendous pride for working at laguna honda. we have pride in serving our residents and families we figured out hard and that is why we're here. we are part and so proud to be part of the city that invests in quality nursing care regardless of incomes and immigration status it is admirable not every city does that san francisco has done that we love for that and tonight expectation for all of
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us to share in the award. >> we had a couple of challenging years as you can see. but we are come together we are now stronger and we have a bright future brighter than ever and thank our residents once again our loved ones for their support. there are motivation and full of gratitude for the partners including our unions and health commission and mayor london breed and supervisor melgar advocates on our behalf and amplifies the work when thinking about that award and thinking how we got to be successful we thought about the concept and the word that means loosely transmitted i am because
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we are a sense of humanity we couldn't have done what we did without everyone and staff includes all the departments and teams and wish every single person could be here with us and the staff members that join us thank you. (clapping.) >> and quo knew in the beginning would talkal 14 hundred of us to be successful in recertifications we're almost there watch out we're going to get there an honor to be part of this group to be recognized and a special thank you to the folks behind me. >> (calling names.) >> thank you to spur for tonight's recognition and it is
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jewel laguna honda and will be here for other one hundred and fifty plus years bigger and brighter and stronger thank you. (clapping.) >> okay. our next good government awards is - >> she as a visionary approach for redefining the departments.
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>> (video). >> as the port of san francisco we're the gateway to the city and the port of san francisco manages the water shed waterfront we have dedicated staff doing the work and a third of the staff at the port we have every trade that is represented in the care of the port and i'm proud of collaboration for the relationships building be able to accomplish especially with the union partners and not when something is wrong but to for proactively work with them we're thinking of the different policies and how they impact the membership and though day one have those hours that are dedicated. we staff that daily and so that we are successful
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and available. so the jurisdictions we were impacted by pandemic and of the in our staffing level all h.r. has transformed not only to increase the staffing the challenge of folks to look at how we do our work with with job fairs and programs. we are working hard to make that an employer of the choice and show anyone who is interested in coming to the port there are people that are are welcoming as part of the port. we are making a concerted effort to bring training into the organization and brought in staff to help to facilitate the compensation and breakdown the motions we impediment with each and everyone than with with our
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families and our staff we are more than job classification we have cultivated had matters and meaning for the skill sets and capability and on the incredible she's incredibly kind and thoughtful moving people we can have more (unintelligible) and use our human resources to help people in their careers and been in the city for over 20 year to year and not leaving and in terms of our human resources as a procedure to an organization that is a lot more employee support. >> good evening. i'm e lane
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the executive director of port of san francisco and have a huge honor of introducing someone is a treasure to the port and she's a treasure to everyone who gets to work with her i'm known her over 20 years i reflect even any career i served next to suzette let's bring her on (clapping.) good evening over everyone. >> wow. >> (laughter). >> so as i accept this award by spur i'm profoundly grateful to my family for their unwavering support and their
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love and guidance has been the anchor throughout my career and in addition, i my acknowledgement my work family and merpts and colleagues guided me in it my 25 years their wisdom has shaped my journey and thank you for the relationship i built throughout my program and deeply move forward and honored and remind of the profound principle to represent the port of san francisco in a collective propriety the acknowledgement of our work especially involves the behind the scenes serve as a testament to the commitment we hold tarts the betterment of the city. i expand my gratitude to
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forbes for her unwavering support and the recognition. it is through the collaborative effort and encouragement of dedicated folks like doctor forbes that we can amplify the endeavors. i'd like to express my gratitude to the florida port leadership team and the commissioners who steer us towards economic and resilience. beyond the bureaucratic framework my dedication is for the information at you are disposal for enforcing regulation but also as the means to have compassionate and finding and empathy in the realm of human resources that overshadows the human the
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essential human element. my belief has been a consistency in our approach is paramount. in the words of my mother not what you're saying but how. the leadership the human resources has a delicate balance where actions should be speaking louder with the human aspect is not overshadowed by enforcement and future recognize the importance of the building a team that mirrors san francisco. in doing is so we are strengthening our organization but create the more inclusive and representative body resonating the rich exist i'm honored to stand here before you as represent port of san francisco committed to the
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continue pursuit of excellence thank you. (clapping.) >> our next honoree is leading a technology transformation in the sheriff's department she's the information officer. >> (video). >> part of my plan of cfo for the sheriff's is two things for a preview work and make sure we have to make sure we're providing customer experience and information for the strategy
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plans we have. and accountability and finding. for it is a commodity. for right owners and the table benefits we understand has this for the city that is intangible and in a way putting in a light bulb and it is important in the business process he able to do things; right? (unintelligible) as partners; right? and transpires what is happening today and this is an action. we get a phone call impacts communities and lives and for the city is
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critical - now we have to have partners to make sure we get the work we need and the greatest accommodation and one thing i want it leave my audience would be kind to people and nice to people. and whatever job our month active is about challenges - i - i think of other things support the organization. >> martin is spectacular with his fearless information and data sharing and enhanced by hi
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presence and in terms of being with citywide agencies and the criminal justice partners has been a member of justice to be a leader there well we're sharing him with everyone else but happy with his experience with us and the work he's brought to us. >> (clapping) good evening, everyone here in san francisco and very, very happy and honors to be the person who is about to bring martin up on stage i want to mention i have a privilege of actually reaching across the country to ask martin to come join the team he came at the beginning of what we all know with the pandemic. and the hit
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the ground running and who he's been to not just in the sheriff's office but to the city family and nothing short of amazing i'm honored right now to bring up to the stage martin (clapping). >> all right. thank you very much. >> again my name is martin the officer for the sheriff's office where does the city go next? i had a chance to travel last week and once again out there and traveled government needs to do more just not in the u.s. but what does that mean? one of the things is about safety and didn't feel safe to the i came
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back objective people need to feel safe in san francisco and some of the deputies and officers are providing to make sure we provide they need to be successful and san francisco is successful. and thank all my family is here and them and all the support and the members in the departments and a few people carmen chiu and thank you and many others to support us so welcome the sheriff's office and part of the enforcement look forward to supporting the city - the city move forward because of us and because of your responsibility and collective responsibility we're here
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because of collective responded by more importantly accountability that's what the city boards it makes us successful. thank you very much. (clapping.) our next honorees is the team this tragedy as figured out innovate partnerships and programs to keep people together with the pets the animal control. >> (clapping). >> (video). >> on the shelter and take the pets in any condition from raccoons to cats and dogs and fish and lizards with the adoption that is an important
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part of our work to help the animals a huge increase in what we do over the years a lot of that animal cares can be adopted and because of domestic violence we protect a pet and take in animals from people evicted or burned out of their homes because of investigations throughout the years have been incredibly challenging we're at capacity for animals pretty much every week, we have amazing partnerships with the animal control help us with the giving us funding to help 3457b8 0 control and partner with belly bust we also partner with the
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sheriff's office and prisoner legal service help us get niche with the incarcerated who may not know where their pets are and partner with a low cost veterinary service but access to the equipment to help out and there this by the realized the need was great so through cap we got $150 grant helps the residents get those resources and the mayor's justice project partnered with sf human service agency and the supportive housing we utilize their database and for the record to track which clients qualified for needed services we called
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the so we have one hundred and $90 and surrendering the animals we provide services to the veterinary program and other program. so we are hoping those individuals a can keep their animals instead of surrendering them to us and have aid for animals. >> we believe we gear to keep the pets with the families that didn't change and our residents have been able to stay with their pets has been grateful full and especially in any career i've seen people don't want to surround their pets but
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the best thing to let them stay in our home had truant e opportunities provides a way for looking at this differently in a crisis and hoping to keeping the families intact. >> we or proud of animal team at animal controller they got permission in the forefront of their minds helping the people and the animals working with the departments across the city the organizations outside of the city. um, they pull everything together in a but that helps animals and their people. um, when things are tough we are not a by virtue of division one department and one shelter. i think they showed that um, in
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the project they show that everyday. >> (clapping). >> hello, i'm virginia the director of animal control. i'm honored today to bring to the stage an incredible team that embodies our commitment to the human animal bond. arian and amy and justine (clapping.) and good evening mayor london
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breed and family and friends it is an honor to be standing up here to receive the good government awards thank you, virginia for allowing the creativity opening up barriers to help people in san francisco. we want to thank the volunteer friends of ac c to help to fill the gaps and make sure we have what we need to be a safe and safest place for man's and specifically the county of los angeles joseph for helping with the database (laughter) to navigate the vision of the programs being celebrated here today. >> thank you to the team. >> (calling names.) >> that's you (laughter) they're providing accessible high qualities veterinary care and proud to be part of that and
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for the expansion for paula for moving barriers and meeting the animals experiencing hardships. >> thank you to help the san francisco reveling medical care to the pets and to the mayors sf human and the dhs dhs and thank you to all the donors who helped to keep the pet pantries full and give generously you can rest make sure your donations will help thank you for the compassion to do important for the community outside of our pays you make the world go
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around wouldn't have done it without you and thank you for putting your trust in us we consider it a serious responsibility and finally thank you to the incredible team of professionals at sf they're the ones doing the work cabin branch major snap to help reunite pets and to insure they're comfortable and giving voice to animals or taken care of of each other you're the beating heart of the team and we're proud to be part of that team. thank you very much. (clapping). >> lastly we're honoring benny
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until the passing in 2023 left the legacy of love for the people and it's partner i'm proud to invite fisher moore. >> i just i want to start by really giving appreciation to spur for recognizing benny tonight this is a typical type of honor so meaningful and want to acknowledge you'll hear and get to meet daughter emily and grand sorry about that lucus so
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benny is watching and listening today right now. he's touched but also a little bit embarrassed. actually quite humbled by the attention and my sport coat (laughter). >> his life was one of the extraordinary duo vocation and service from the distinguished 20 years career in the united states navy and i combaeg in in his single-handedly saving the lives of thirty plus lives in 9/11 to our director of operation bennys life was defined by values certainly not among the awardees but lost luster in 2024 and service and
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humility i lived a life of things that mattered no clutter or no mess. his cage demeanor and dry witness helped to manage the storms of americans urban partnerships and leadership across 10 work division with 85 employees and to the rejuvenate nations of unusual to the managing the expensive covid response and benny's impact was of the in every corner of our operation this specific accomplishments are perhaps too many to mention but built
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systems and nourished people help the systems and nourished people. that attracted and managed the lifecycle of 15 hundred linear feet and people that allowed the apprenticeship and scrips and water convolution programs to thrive and the communities income and disparities to make sure that regardless of the people have access to open space and benny serves as the secretary that handles with every consul general want to see statutes and the chief meteorologist and had
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weather data like a zillion different tracking and beyond that cheecht lies in the people he inspired and mentored and culture strategy ate it for lynch to mantra is as important. he was a proud man but extraordinarily humble and never he liked attention and like person that worked in silence highlighting the good work of others. he was a wise and exceed hand a source during the challenging times and gratitude of everyone and benny took pride in hi performance plan and appraisals for the reports and each document was written like a
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model for feedback. he was responsible for ghost offering on my beef and is nominations for conspiracies good government awards and is good at submitting the application the rec and park manages won one of the awards 5 times under his watch two of the people are here our submissions was considered the best practices and told people we can't giving those things every year to you. >> ben green space any was not a stand-up come men but a commentator on the money part simon and about construction and
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project management part of the work he often reminded me good and there was fast and there was cheap but i was only to get two, that was generous and during the crisis he remind me everything was all right in the end but? it is not all right. not the end and recommend me never to overlook the easy bottom sitting on hi desk or a division was straightforward hadn't been touched in weeks or might be broken it works. that was easy. >> benny we were an odd pair
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he had a midwestern sensibility a military person dressed nice and made and ate his lunch in his office and rarely lost his cool never cursed and i reflected on our partnership best be described in the paul simmons play the odd couple first about 60 years ago we were the two characters i was oscar. denny had one other saying that resonates with me i'll carry with me for the rest of my years owe often said inexpressed
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gratitude is useless and for denver any i know you're some place watching i want to say thank you for the i'm a better leader and and better human being because of you and our park system is great because of you. you, you or a blessing my great honor to bring up his wife to present the public excellence award. >> (clapping) >> that was easy.
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>> it really wasn't (laughter). >> this is is not going to be easy bus um, just looking at the picture makes me - um, if you know the jewish tradition going to cry denny was all of those things but mostly to his family. he was a man who put his family first, only right next to his job he loved his job his son said in his spatially given the choice denny would walk to ma clarion lodge until he passed away he did that we had to retire him against his will in
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october when necessary is declining. he loved the city and this job. and all of you. with his whole heart. he came home everyday and told stories about the people who worked for him and what a wonderful job they were doing and how hard they worked and how they did 2 without any body saying at the did their skrobz and did that well and during the pandemic not very many people went to work everyday and people that kept the parks beautiful had to go to work everyday so denny walked to the office and worked from there instead of working from home i even had to work for home during the pandemic but he went to work
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everyday and will find his people and so many have here tonight thank you, phil for your fabulous words. yes, we were felix and oscar he loved phil and talked about what a wonderful leader and made it good the job we appreciate hearing those stories and i see some of you out there katie you're here i saw i walk in hi katie i've not seen i get in a while but if we were here tonight he would have been embarrassed not accepted the nomination for this award i came back from indiana on monday night and um, as young boy he was a boy scout and became the
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youngest boy square foot in the state of indiana no one has surpassed him as 13 and oscar made eagle scout that camp the man what were there raised money to build a new nature center and named that the benny nature center and dedicated to him, i was there last weekends and heard the stories about him as young man and the boy and heard he was the one camp clourlt had a heart for the children that came one week with syndrome and talked about the animals he captured the animals he captured? he likes animals. >> yes. he taught everyone about animals i came home and
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said to our friends he captured wild animals and taught children about them a wonderful xraerns to here those stories had a heart for public services and when he left the navy i loved being in the navy was great fun for me couldn't have felon an airplanes but could have gone to work as what they call a beltway bandit for work for the government he said "no." i want to stay in public service we decided to come to san francisco he looked more than a job in public service this is the one he found and the favorite job all of you made it wonderful for him thank you so much and thank
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you, spur for having this fabulous event every year for san francisco (clapping). >> thank you so much katie for sharing those thoughts and memories. >> thank you all of you to honor for folks are having public service and the evening is not done help ourselves at the bar and continue the celebration of you .
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>> neighborhood in san francisco are also diverse and fascist as the people that inhabitable them we're in north beach about supervisor peskin will give us a tour and introduce is to what think of i i his favorite district 5 e 3 is in the northwest surrounded by the san francisco bay the district is the boosting chinatown oar embarcadero financial district fisherman's wharf exhibit no. north beach telegraph hill and part of union square. >> all of san francisco
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districts are remarkable i'm honored and delighted to represent really whereas with an the most intact district got chinatown, north beach fisherman's wharf russian hill and knob hill and the northwest waterfront some of the most wealthier and inning e impoverished people in san francisco obgyn siding it is ethically exists a bunch of tight-knit neighborhoods people know he each other by name a wonderful placed physically and socially to be all of the neighborhoods north beach and chinatown the i try to be out in the community as much as and i think, being a the cafe eating at the neighborhood lunch place people come up and talk to you, you never have time alone but really it is fun hi, i'm one the owners and is
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ceo of cafe trespassing in north beach many people refer to cafe trees as a the living room of north beach most of the clients are local and living up the hill come and meet with each other just the way the united states been since 1956 opposed by the grandfather a big people person people had people coming since the day we opened. >> it is of is first place on the west that that exposito 6 years ago but anyone was doing that starbuck's exists and it created a really welcoming pot. it is truly a legacy business but more importantly it really at the take care of their community my father from it was formally italy a fisherman and that town
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very rich in culture and music was a big part of it guitars and sank and combart in the evening that tradition they brought this to the cafe so many characters around here everything has incredible stories by famous folks last week the cafe that paul carr tennessee take care from the jefferson starship hung out the cafe are the famous poet lawrence william getty and jack herb man go hung out. >> they work worked at a play with the god fathers and photos he had his typewriter i wish i were here back there it there's a lot of moving parts the meeting spot rich in culture and artists and musicians epic people would talk with you
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and you'd