it is a big one. let's hear it, give yourselves a big round of applause? i love the echo in here. this is big moment now and happy to be here. my name is franco finn, a native of this great city, san francisco, and proud to be a san franciscans to the core and also product of this great city, and i'm also proud film commissioner for city county of san francisco and many may know me as a long time voice for your favorite basketball team here. what is that? the golden state warriors! yes. and it is such a honor to be here with all of you, because it is about you today.

congratulations. give your is selves a big hand. bridge to excellent ceremony and scholar shf award and so proud to be here to give this alongside our great mayor along with you. you have gone through the journey and here you are to embark on the next chapter of your are live. lifep. life. are you excited? probably nervous too, but what a big step and will have a awesome time i'm sure where you may go, but it starts here and we want it just make sure we award you properly from your family and friends, in front of our mayor. with that said, proud to introduce our 45 mayor of great city and county of san francisco, make, some noise, for mayor london n breed!

[applause] >> goodness franco, me already? how is everybody doing today? you guys don't look exseated. come on! [applause] i got to say, this is something that was really important to me. when i first became mayor, it was really important that i did two things. number one, i started a program called, opportunities for all that provides paid internships-has anyone done opportunities for all? good. good. paid internships for young people, because that is how i got my start and i also wanted to provide scholarship opportunities as well. some of you know that i was born and raised in san francisco and in fact, i grew up in public housing in the city where my grand mother raised me. i never knew my biological father, i sadly have a sister who i lost to drug overdose and brother still

incarcerated. i lived in a community gun violence was all too common and on a regular basis i attended more funerals then i can count. i saw my community crumble before me, and it inspired me to want to do something different to invest in and work with the city and county of san francisco in some capacity. i didn't know what it was, but i know when i got a opportunity through the mayor youth employment training program to get paid, because i had no money, to get paid and an opportunity to eventually go to college. i went to uc davis. it was really hard and yes i got a couple scholarship, but i worked cleaning houses, i worked baby sitting kids because my grand mother had nothing to provide me with resources and i also wanted to take care of her because she took care of me. the reason it is so important to share this with all you, because i

read all the stories. i read each and every story and when i wanted to do the scholarship, it was so important i look at the young folks in san francisco and look at kids who might be the first in their families to go to college, who may have had challenging experiences and despite everything you have been through, the fact that you are here and you are going to a number of universities all over the united states is extraordinary, and i am so incredibly proud of each and every one of you for this major accomplishment, because the environment to a certain extents around you, don't always make what you doing normal and you are making going to college and you're making success normal and that's why the scholarship is so important and this opportunity to see you thrive is so important to me personally.

so, i want to say congratulations for despite the obstacles still succeeding. despite the challenges, but here's the thing, it is not done. you still have a mountain to climb, so don't get discouraged. stay focused and more importantly, make sure that you keep positive people around you, because the reason why you are here for whatever reason, it is not just because of the people around you, it is because of the decisions you personally have made to get here. you have made those decisions. you have succeeded in life and you are choosing to go to college and continue that success and so stay the course, stay focused, stay positive and keep positive people around you. i remember when i went away to college, it was really hard, because again, my grand mother was older and things were really challenging.

they took down the projects i living in so i didn't have a home to go back to. people were dying funerals i couldn't make it to, it was crazy and i got to a point i just felt lost and felt hopeless and felt i wanted to give up and walk away, and the people in my community when i show said up, they told me not to give up. they encouraged me. they supported me. you know what? they told me to off the block. they pushed me out of danger, because they want ed something more for me and that's why every day i do this job, i give it all i got for this city and for the people that made it possible for me to be here. and just remember that as you go through life and what you do, what you do matters and also, so many people are watching you. they are watching you be trailblazers in whatever career

[audio cut out] hoping we get graduates and i know today you will be hearing from one of those graduates, cecilia gomez, thank you for being here and congratulations graduated from college and you will be hearing from her, but she didn't give up and looking forward hearing her story and how she is doing great things, and i want to take this opportunity to again thank franco finn, he is like a super rock star. [applause] >> i was hoping he would bring warriors tickets or something. i want to also recognize for those of you, all of you in our public school system, the persons who are responsible for making all those decisions, include people like a lita fisher on the school board, so thank you so much for being here today and supporting our

students. continue onward and upward and to much success, i will keep you in my prayers to insure that i'm always thinking about just the challenges that you will continue to overcome to be successful in life. thank you to the parents and all the folks from the different non profit agencies that made the recommendations of the students. [applause] thank you for being there for them. thank you for supporting them and keep them encouraged as they go through this journey called life. thank you all so much. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed. thank you for being such a inspiration and you are truly the inspiration here as well, so congratulations again and we are going to hear from one of our alums from this bridge to excellence scholarship award recipient. a graduate now to talk about her experience, how important this changed her life, so please welcome to

the stage, ms. cecilia gomez, our alumni speaker. come on up! praech [applause] >> >> good afternoon. thank you for having me here and congratulations to the class of 2024. [applause] my name is cecilia gomez and as of a month ago today exactly i'm a recent graduate olmcallister college with bachelor in education and spanish, and a 2020recipient of the bridge to excellence award. for four years ago i reconsidered whether going out of state was worth it or even a possibility. with the financial implications of the pandemic and the unknown uncertainty of university open again, i thought perhaps the best decision was to stay closer to home instead, even

though my dream was to go to liberal art institution. fortunately with the support of mayor london breed and the bridge to excellence award, i didn't have to sacrifice my education and with the support i can now say i graduated summa cum laude from mcallister and will be starting the stanford teacher education program in two weeks. [applause] the bridge to excellence award was proof i was capable of achieving my dreams and i had support systems that believe in me. even when i didn't always believe in myself. this award was a reminder to carry home pride everywhere i went. whether was in main minnesota or spain, i always had sunnydale, bayview and san francisco in my heart and made priority to return home back to my roots. believe me when i say, we all believe in you. be the light and hope we need.

bring the invasion and the strength to create the solutions to tomorrow's problem. channel your strength to keep moving forward and most importantly, always remember to shoulders you stand on, those sholders that hold you with love and pride and hope. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much cecilia, congratulations to you. the moment we have been waiting for, the honor roll of scholarship recipients ready to announce, mayor breed if you can join on stage. i will announce them. this is a great moment, huge chapter in these lives and we are going to have fun while we are doing it. they brought the hypoman for a reason, so let's hype it up. you ready! make some noise! bridge to excellence scholarship recipients, here we go.

in order. we reedy? ready? first up is arele larkin [applause] photo, yes. go to morgan. give a round of applause to arele! [applause] okay. next we have kami zou! [applause] uc san diego representing here. let's go ucsd. next we have scholarship

recipient d'antonio samuel, cal state la. going to socal. [applause] and now we have the [indiscernible] going to jackson state university! [applause] those are nice certificates right there, i tell you.

next we have daniel romero! [applause] going to columbia university everybody. out of lincoln high. we'll get the order--that might have been my fault. now we have--this happens all the time. derel brown. let's hear it for derel brown. jackson state university! [applause] next we have out of lowell high school, [indiscernible] going to uc

santa cruz. future banana slug here. banana slug in the house. [applause] and next we have, aya [indiscernible] going to san francisco state university, local right here. go gators! [applause] congratulations. next we have, jeremiah jovana gomez! [applause] coming out of sota high school and going to uc santa cruz, everyone. congratulations. next we have out of galileo high

school, kelly wu, going to san diego state! going down south. [applause] great job. next we have, out of academy, kalil going to san jose state university. go spartans! [applause] next, out of balboa high school, let's go bal, mandy going to williams college! [applause] alright. out of lincoln, let's see--actually , no. kipp sf college prep.

nazir travis! [applause] out of lincoln high school, --going to cal poly! [applause] and out of galileo, we have waylen tang, uc irvine representing in the house! [applause] and last but not least, out of lincoln high school, wilson lee going to san jose state university. another spartan in the house! [applause] let's hear to ladies and gentlemen to bridge to excellence

scholarship recipients here tonight! wow, congratulations. you are going to make our city so proud. we cannot wait to see your next journey here and hopefully come back to share your experiences and inspire more people. once again, let's hear it for 2024, bridge to excellence scholarship recipients tonight. [applause] thank you so much. thank you mayor breed. now, we will have a group photo of everyone here together. the rotunda we will get out there and get oen the steps, do a nice little photo. we got our professional paragraphs to stand by. congratulations one more time. we'll see you at the rotunda and once again our 2024, bridge excellence scholarship resip yntd recipient in san francisco. family and friends, what a great honor. see you next year. thank you for being a

inspiration. keep doing what you are doing and thank you for making san francisco proud. see you at the rotunda and shout out to ms. gomez for sharing your story with us.

>> (music). >> (multiple voices.) >> landing at leidesdorff is as the new public school in downtown san francisco for people to come together for 0 lunch and weekends a new place to enjoy the architect and our culture. >> landing at leidesdorff one of several initiatives to the road map for the initiatives all about using your public space and network for now environments to 0 invite people adopted not just to the office but any time of the day. >> it shows there is excitement and energy and people wore looking forward to enjoying the space that people may want to end up in downtown. >> we've been operating in the

financial district since 2016 with the treasury and coming up we had a small surge in business in the leidesdorff and in about the financial district and a good time to grow here. >> as a small business the leidesdorff is making us being part of it as being part of in project. for me makes we want to be part of san francisco. >> so landing at leidesdorff for me represents hope for san francisco and the sense that this is become such a safe welcoming area. >> we local artists coming in and exercise boxes and live music but the hub of culture. >> the downtown partnerships has a studio in san francisco. they identified 6 locations throughout the downtown area we

come together with new activity and spaces. >> is between us a place to tell our own story and history. >> it was named after a captain one the black leaders of san francisco before that was called san francisco he was the first treasurer of the city and commercial street a cross street the hifblg original shoreline of san francisco was just a few feet behind where we're 12357b8z around opportunity to bring people to locations we have an opportunity to tell stories and for local businesses. >>

>> my name is alan schumer. i am a fourth generation san franciscan. in december, this building will be 103 years of age. it is an incredibly rich, rich history. [♪♪♪] >> my core responsibility as city hall historian is to keep the history of this building alive. i am also the tour program manager, and i chair the city advisory commission. i have two ways of looking at my life. i want it to be -- i wanted to

be a fashion designer for the movies, and the other one, a political figure because i had some force from family members, so it was a constant battle between both. i ended up, for many years, doing the fashion, not for the movies, but for for san franciscan his and then in turn, big changes, and now i am here. the work that i do at city hall makes my life a broader, a richer, more fulfilling than if i was doing something in the garment industry. i had the opportunity to develop relationships with my docents. it is almost like an extended family. i have formed incredible relationships with them, and

also some of the people that come to take a tour. she was a dressmaker of the first order. i would go visit her, and it was a special treat. i was a tiny little girl. i would go with my wool coat on and my special little dress because at that period in time, girls did not wear pants. the garment industry had the -- at the time that i was in it and i was a retailer, as well as the designer, was not particularly favourable to women. you will see the predominant designers, owners of huge complexes are huge stores were all male. women were sort of relegated to a lesser position, so that, you reached a point where it was a

difficult to survive and survive financially. there was a woman by the name of diana. she was editor of the bazaar, and evoke, and went on and she was a miraculous individual, but she had something that was a very unique. she classified it as a third i. will lewis brown junior, who was mayor of san francisco, and was the champion of reopening this building on january 5th of 1999. i believe he has not a third eye , but some kind of antenna attached to his head because he had the ability to go through this building almost on a daily basis during the restoration and

corrects everything so that it would appear as it was when it opened in december of 1915. >> the board of supervisors approved that, i signed it into law. jeffrey heller, the city and county of san francisco oh, and and your band of architects a great thing, just a great thing. >> to impart to the history of this building is remarkable. to see a person who comes in with a gloomy look on their face , and all of a sudden you start talking about this building, the gloomy look disappears and a smile registers across their face. with children, and i do mainly all of the children's tours, that is a totally different feeling because you are imparting knowledge that they have no idea where it came from,

how it was developed, and you can start talking about how things were before we had computer screens, cell phones, lake in 1915, the mayor of san francisco used to answer the telephone and he would say, good morning, this is the mayor. >> at times, my clothes make me feel powerful. powerful in a different sense. i am not the biggest person in the world, so therefore, i have to have something that would draw your eye to me. usually i do that through color, or just the simplicity of the look, or sometimes the complication of the look. i have had people say, do those shoes really match that outfit?

retirement to me is a very strange words. i don't really ever want to retire because i would like to be able to impart the knowledge that i have, the knowledge that i have learned and the ongoing honor of working in the people's palace. you want a long-term career, and you truly want to give something to do whatever you do, so long as you know that you are giving to someone or something you're then yourself. follow your passion and learn how to enrich the feelings along the way.

television. >> (music). >> hi, i'm - welcome to the to san francisco in-person a roundtable person about important topics we're to be talking about maturing and aging retirement life really, really trying to speak with you all did i. something that i'm trying to plan for and thinking about every year as i'm workin