or not, we have to have this. there are good programs out there that need to be scaled. and then there are probably far too many programs out there preparing teachers for schools. so i think a separate lens, we could spend an hour and a half talking about it. ..

they said it was very different and i think it partly depends on a matter of perspective. these guys think what they're doing is different in intent to the common core and they can give you chapter and verse. nothing feels like it has changed. you mentioned universities are buffered. the only way that the teacher prep programs are going to fill urgency about changing anything is the people who are taking a graduate insist on what they need. as long as we take high school math teachers who are poorly

trained and is so long as we take folks who don't know how to, it is hard to actually generate the leverage internally to fundamentally change what they do. i think again this is just if you think about the common core, chris said a few moments ago there are just words on paper and then i matter. i think about the mission statement at mcdonald's or any fast food restaurant. they want to give you prompt service and be courteous and that may or may not have any relation at all to your experience in a fast food establishment. what actually matters is how employees how to do the work. how that organization is managed it feels like getting from here to there to the common core advocate that getting it adopted

was an enormous political accomplishment that really started on the 26-mile marathon today think they are only a couple of miles down the road and it frustrates a lot of my friends who feels like the 10 or 12-mile mark before i'm actually confident that this is good or bad and i know they say wait a minute the tests are rolling out bachelet next spring. we are pretty much there and i think they have vastly oversold how far along the roads schools really are. >> we can take another one from the crowd. the gentleman here in the cent center. if you would be so kind. fred settles from public-private action. he raised the issue before but i think it needs deeper discussi discussion. what are the measures until we have to be more creative in what they think about what those measures are and are they only quantitative? >> e so i think for us the

problem when we decided to write the standards were too many kids were going to college and having to pay for classes that they should have had in high school. set simple to me. they weren't writing at a level where they could enter their freshman year so fritz i'm sure there are other measures they should be thinking about but it's such a basic one for me as kids leaving high school ready to do its next whether it be college or going into a career training program or whatever else they want to do to be good members of society. so i can't get past that. we don't get that number. i think that one is essential that we have to see markets being successful. quite frankly i could not be more excited to see the numbers out in kentucky because we are seeing that success even in just the first three years. so i agree with rick that we have got a long way to go. we have got a long way to go.

think we are closer to two then 18 but maybe somewhere in the middle but this is still an open question whether or not we can deliver kids out of high school ready to go. if the standards are doing that in some way i don't think any of the other measures really matter. >> this sort of ties into the conversation we were having earlier about narrowing. what gets measured is what gets taught and fear that the floors will become ceilings. rick i would like to hear your response to this and do you have to worry that even though you say you want to bring in outside content matter there might be strategies developed to maximize reading and math scores and that could happen to the detriment of students. >> e sure but i don't think it's fundamentally different or much of the nclb era. i think it's the same recommendations that i think many of us have long encouraged. let's make sure we are looking at how many citizens are

mastering world languages. let's make sure we are looking at a completion of ip or passing ap exams. but for me i don't think it's fair to lean on the common core. i think that's the challenge we have had since 01. >> there is an opportunity though and it seems to me when we are talking about risks measured we are talking about how it's measured what is the assessment tool as well as what is actually being measured the underlying stuff. and we mentioned this before but we should keep in mind that 27 states are using -- the others, well we will see. a lot of them still have common core standards but how well those measure and what's in the standards at the moment because we don't really know. the flipside is we can

independently analyze how well we get at what's in the standards. we are not talking about are we getting a chance to measure science differently. we are still talking about math but are the tests going to be better? are they going to get it more and deeper in me wants kind of stuff or are they not? we will see. we don't know the answer to that yet. >> i will take another one on twitter and catherine i'll take it back to you because of something you referenced earlier about a measure of success was how well the common core help some of our most vulnerable students. a healthy number of questions for the special population students with special needs an english-language learners and others. when you're out in schools that had special needs during the language learners how did you see them interacting with the common core? >> i didn't hang out with teachers of special populations as much as teachers who are trying to serve all their kids and we are talking about a very

wide spectrum. not too much on ee ll side. admittedly what i saw were teachers trying to do their very best and feeling one of the places that the most were getting at was teaching special populations. that's one of the areas in which they had the least support and they have gotten the least insight. how do i deal with kids whose native language isn't english's kids with special needs developmental and intellectually. that is a weak song in my reporting in the research not to matching kids with special needs. kids who are far behind academically. >> absolutely. chris is this your experience as well? >> it's my experience with whatever state standards we have had in the past so i think we have a challenge in a country about what do we do with kids below grade level? our current structure test the grade level so how do we make

sure we are staffs of children can advance and we are measuring growth is part of our accountability system. these are all things that need to be looked at to make sure the special needs students and kids are behind academically actually get there. >> i think we have time for one more question from the crowd. i think we will go right here to the front if you'll be so kind. >> i'm roberta stanley. >> you need to speak into the mic. >> can you hear me now? roberta stanley. in retrospect do you think it was a mistake for the officers and the governors to sign this compact and have it go top-down? >> state school governors have traditionally been responsible for standards in the state so i don't know, don't think it was a mistake. there was a mistake made but it was that we weren't ferocious in

our defense that this was actually led by the school chief officers in the governors. [inaudible] >> there are some that are put relative to that of the state chief in the state governor in charge of the education system in the state so i mean if it had emerged from school districts in the state or something like that i think that might've been a possibility but i don't think her strategy was wrong. i think quite frankly we weren't strong enough that the federal government needed to not incentivize to us to do this and we need to stay in control of it. i think we can get that back but we are just going to have to be more firm. rick do you think it's possible for them to be able to get that back? >> we will see. i think certainly the direction krissah signaling us it will beat productive and constructive.

under race to the top the obama administration was delighted that congress was able to carve out 360 million to fund consortium. as states are backing up one of the criticisms about move is like my friends who like the common core is it's a waste of money. it will undo a couple of years of work so i think it's appropriate the secretary duncan said gosh maybe we have pushed us into something we were excited about so i'd like to see the secretary to president fined 350 million carved out of administration priorities toward the states to drop common core. you could have a national contest for states that are not excited about the common core. they can submit the common core application to the grant contest and 350 million will be divvied up among states to offset the cost of developing the standards and training. i think something like that would actually go a long way

toward putting some real symbolic behind the notion that the federal government is whatever role it plays getting the ball rolling in the last five years is fundamentally going to relate to the common core difference going forward -- forward. >> that's a great note in them. if we could give a round of applause for our panelists here. those of you following at home you don't have to stop talking. i see people conversing with each other and using the hashtag. please continue to do that. a lot of great questions were raised there. keep chatting about it. great to have you and thanks for coming. [inaudible conversations]

the health and human services department held a meeting wednesday and youth homelessness. speakers included singer cyndi lauper and three formerly homeless kids. this is just over an hour.

[inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon everyone. welcome and thank you for joining us as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the runaway and homeless youth act and hear about the important efforts to end youth homelessness. my name is marc greenberg and i'm the acting secretary of the administration for children and families in the department of health and human services. today we are recognizing the only federal anti-homelessness initiative been specifically young people pay for programs that are authorized by the runaway and homeless youth act and administered by the family and youth services bureau. active administration for children and families. we are also celebrating the hundreds of community-based programs around the country that will work hard for these past 40 years to end youth homelessness.

most important we are celebrating the accomplishments of young people themselves and of course we want to express our tremendous appreciation to cyndi lauper for the work she has done on these issues and for joining us in speaking with us today so thank you were participating with us. we have come a long way since 1974 when the runaway and homeless youth act was signed great before the act was signed young people who had run away were routinely viewed as delinquent, put in detention centers are jailed far too often. today the act enables youth serving organizations across the country to move young people into stable housing, provide vital services such as family and individual counseling and educational support and career training. in 2013 more than 30,000 young

people across the country were served by emergency shelters that enabled them to have a safe place to stay, help them return to their family or another stable living situation such as a friend or relative or residential program. another 3322 young people entered since the funding transitional living program. these young people could not return home because of severe family conduct, abuse, abandonment or a host of other issues. transitional living program's gave them a place to stay off in their own apartment, help them continue their education embark on a career deal with mental health or substance abuse, trauma or other issues that hamper its social and emotional well-being. the ultimate goal of these programs is to prepare you to become independent to support themselves and in some cases their own children.

street youth are particularly at risk for sexual exploitation and trafficking so in 2013 outreach programs in more than 100 communities made contact with youth more than 600,000 times handing out toothbrushes, socks, sandwiches, water referrals to clinics cards with the addresses of nearby shelters all with the goal of helping to get young people off the street and out of harm's way. and the national hotline at chicago's national runaway safe line answers more than 200 calls a day from youth and concerned adults offering an important lifeline and reunification service. while thousands of people are held every year by these programs there is more to be done. far too many young people experience homelessness each year. the department of housing and urban development estimates that

on a single night in january of 2013 there were 46,924 unaccompanied children, teens and young adults experiencing homelessness in the united states. an important step toward ending youth homelessness is getting better data and getting better understanding about why young people become homeless, what happens when they are homeless and what services they need. so i'm pleased to introduce my colleague resa matthew to talk about an important new study of street youth conducted in partnership with the street outreach program grantees in 11 cities across the country. resa. [applause] >> thank you marc. good afternoon everyone and i'm

very excited to be here to share some of the findings from our street outreach program with you. we conducted the first of a kind study with youth living on the street in 11 cities as marc mentioned and a lot of our street outreach programs in 11 cities were able to conduct interviews and focus groups with street youth totaling 656 youth ages 14 to 21. the executive summary of the study is actually my understanding is available outside the room so please feel free to pick one up. we wanted everyone to have some highlights of this study and preparation for the 40th anniversary of the runaway homeless youth act also preparation for national prevention, national runaway prevention month which is in november and we anticipate the full report will be out by the end of the year. so why is this study important you ask yourself. first the data from this study

provides a huge stepping stone in learning more about the service youth and needs of street homeless youth. a day to have broad implications because they confirm some of the findings we have seen in other studies and we also know we are hearing some of the information from the field. the study also helps demystify some of the misconceptions that we have of young people who are homeless. i want to spend a couple of minutes talking about the subsections and comparing it to some of our study findings. misconception number one, young people can go home find someone to stay with. to a shelter. our study found that getting off the streets is difficult. study participants had been homeless on and off for a total of two years. two years of wondering where they are going to sleep each night, where their next meal might come from instead of focusing on school and

developing job schools and experiencing those teenage lessons they can use to develop socially and emotionally. more than half of these young people reported that they try to get to a shelter for safe housing but beds were not available. more than one in four youth said they had no transportation to get to a shelter. remember young people aren't just homeless in the city. they are homeless in suburbs and rural areas where there may be of little or no transportation. we know that there are not enough beds. we know that there are not enough beds to house young people that are homeless so according to a point in time count on a given night in january of 2013 there were a total of 4117 beds available for young people under the age of 18 who are homeless. the same point in time count

also showed that nearly 6200 unaccompanied minors experience homelessness on a given night in january 2013. this means that more than 2000 miners do not have a place to sleep. we do not have enough beds. the second misconception i would like to address this young people are on the streets living a life of freedom away from adults. homelessness is not freedom. rather its hunger and fear and not having a place to sleep. young people are on the streets are victimized at high rates. in our study 60% reported they had been raped, beaten up or robbed. the third misconception i would like to address is that homeless young people are bad or want to be on their own without adult support. in our study more than half of homeless youth became homeless for the first time because they

work asked to leave home by a parent or caregiver. nearly a quarter became homeless because they were being physically abused or beaten. nearly 30% of participants in our study reported being, or bisexual in an additional 7% related being transgender. they are projected after coming out and we think it's telling they were overrepresented among the youth that we interviewed. in the fourth and final misconception i would like to address today is homeless youth don't have aspirations. our study found that in addition to wanting basic things like shelter and transportation, more than half of the young people said they needed services to advance their education. more than 70% said they needed employment services. so when they get these types of

support they can succeed. today we are going to hear from free resilient young people in just a few minutes but at this point in time i have the privilege of introducing laura zeilinger executive director of the agency council on homelessness to talk more about what we need to do to end youth homelessness by 2020. thank you. [applause] >> thank you lisa for the introduction and your incredible partnership. i'm honored to be here today. it is vitally important that we keep shining the spotlight on youth homelessness keeping this issue front and center. ending youth homelessness is a social justice issue. in each of our cities and towns as we have heard every night they are young people who face

the unimaginable risk of exploitation, abuse, trauma that threaten not only their immediate health and well-being but that can inflict long-term damage. everyone from the federal government to change engines like cyndi lauper to every youth provider in america every school we all have a shared responsibility and opportunity to be the caring adults who brings young people back to safety, back to stable housing helping them to establish and improve their upcoming education and employment and well-being. because of the very nature of youth homelessness will we know about it is limited and improving the data on youth is vital which is why they release of this new study from hhs is so important to this effort. it adds to our understanding.

we know also that what gets measured gets done which is why getting to a confident estimate of the size of the population is critical. the federal government with partners is working out to get the quality of data to where it needs to be refocused efforts to improve the animal point in time counts for youth but let me be clear while better data is critical to solving the problem there are things we can do now today to improve the life and outcomes for youth. to do so we need to make some changes. we need to be smarter about how we understand and meet the needs of youth. we need to work together to connect youth with the resources and assistance they need in a meaningful and systematic way. we can take action today to identify and use the touch-points that we have two more effectively understand and meet the needs of young people. this report gives us that much

more to work with. no single program is a magic pill. no agency can alone and youth homelessness but many play an important part. when a young person is in crisis it is not fragmented by government programs. it is whole and it is overwhelming yet when solutions are viewed through the lens of programs the scope of their interactions often narrowly defined by whether they are part of the school or law enforcement, juvenile justice, protective services. so often we find ourselves in a situation where on some level many responsible in part but nobody is responsible for a hault so without the system in place is impossible for people to even understand. this has to change and we are focused on changing it. programs have to break out of silos to people to put youth at the center of their work. this is how we solve complex problems.

at the united states interagency council on homelessness we have the necessary an extraordinary and mission of coordinating among 19th of federal agencies working with state communities the private sector and nonprofit organizations throughout the country in efforts to prevent an end homelessness. in 2010 the obama administration launch open doors the first-ever federal strategic plan to prevent homelessness and opening doors we set four goals to end homelessness among veterans and their families by the end of 2015 and chronic homelessness in 2016th and homelessness among families among youth and among children in 2020. since 2010 we have changed the trajectory of homelessness in our country. we have established a trendline toward ending homelessness across each of our goals. we know now that homelessness is not an intractable problem and is a problem we can solve that problem we are solving. in fact in 2010 we reduce

homelessness among veterans by a third nationwide. we have made significant progress because we knew from years of study and research what interventions work and with bipartisan support from congress we asked for and receive the resources to meet those needs. with veteran homelessness is a point where making the case for youth as well. we have a federal framework to end youth homelessness where we set a path to progress by improving data and building a system. this progress was not made by government or lump it in partnership stakeholders across the country. we are stronger and more effective when we work together toward a shared vision that every young person deserves as a stable place to call home which i am is why a man honored to introduce our next speaker. her passion and dedication to who she calls her kids is an inspiration and a force moving her work with greater urgency in

focus. too many she is a grammy and emmy and tony award-winning artist into thousands of young people into people who are part of this effort she has an unwavering advocate for equali equality. in 2008 she cofounded -- cofounded the true colors fund which works to end bisexual and transgender youth homelessness. just a few weeks ago i heard her speak about choosing a path where she described the choices for the directions of the organization to create awareness of the issue and share best practices or to roll sleeves and do the hard work of ending youth homelessness. she and her amazing team chose the latter. one thing i appreciate about cyndi and services on the importance for learning about what matters and how to make a difference. i'm grateful we will get to hear from jesse and anthony and syncere today. we can take a lesson from the disability rights movement

nothing about us without us during this conversation today. i'm honored to introduce to you now the one and only cyndi lauper. [applause] >> okay. i am so grateful that everybody came here today to celebrate the anniversary, the 40th anniversary of the runaway and homeless youth act. i know that i'm known as an entertainer or a small gal with a big voice or a big mouth and i decided a wild back to use my big voice to be the voice for the voiceless. and certainly these kids, while

so many times they had made explained abbreviations. the bisexual and transgender youth which make up 40% or up to 40% of the homeless young people in this country. when the alarming -- what got me was that what did you say up to 7% of the general population of youth in this country identify as or transgender in layman's terms. that to me is alarming because that means kids are being thrown away because of who they are. i think we need these kids. i think you never know who is

going to turn out to be what. there is a bill and i can repeat the same stuff that resa and laura just told you. upon thing that our fund or organization does is try to make a network for all of the people and programs around the country to talk to each other, to find out what works and what doesn't work. it's hard to get a count on these kids because who the heck wants to say i'm homeless and i'm, beat me up. it's tough for the kids. it's really tough. and everybody wants to be a tough guy but when you think about it would get a 15-year-old and nowadays kids are coming out even younger because it seems from the media that it's cool to be who you are and then they come out and their parents don't

know how to deal with it. so unfortunately sometimes it comes to them running away out of the fear of rejection are violent or both. that is kind of sad for a kid because you know kids don't really ask to be born and they don't calm with a money back guarantee. when you buy something you get something. you can go and return them. there is a no return policy when you become a parent and it's tough. it's not easy to be a parent so we also wanted to work with reée and other organizations and outreach programs and lisa. i also want to say the people that are doing this work work really hard and they are like angels. they go out in the field and they talk to these kids and

sometimes he gets some kids to come in and sometimes you don't. these homeless kids hide so it's hard to get a count but we need a real count as lisa said and as laura said to help them. and that is kind of the work we have been doing. i don't think you should throw in a kid away. let me just cut to the chase. for those of you who don't know senator leahy and senator collins recently introduced the runaway homeless youth in trafficking prevention act. it improves the number of ways including recognizing the need recognizing the needs of all youth including bisexual transgender youth experiencing homelessness. it includes a provision that aims to support family

reunification and intervention which is crucial as family conflict is the number one reason. most important in nondiscrimination clause to include a lgbt hugh homeless youth not only to have access just crucial services but also services that are safe while coming better tailored meet unique needs which will prevent unsafe activities you need to survive. the legislation has cleared the senate and the senate judiciary committee by a strong vote now headed to the senate. we need to roll her sleeves up and make this happen for the kids. important. actually it saves money. instead of punishing them for being homeless lets bring them back in and let me tell you one thing. it's well worth the money. i was one of the kids that benefited from a program like this and i think that is

important. i think that i gave back and i only try to. you never know who these kids are going to be. i never thought i would be anything or amount to anybody. it's ironic how i'm standing here with these people the same kind of people that helped me re-enter and go from hostile to you no youth hostel to shelters to a home of my own. so thank you very much and please, please let's be energized to make this thing happen, okay? thank you so much. [applause] wait a minute, that was silly. now let me introduce one of these kids. you look like beautiful kids. i do not know your names.

you are the next speaker, aren't you? come on that. which one is speaking first? you are introducing them. okay, so what is your name? it's right here. let me introduce debbie powell. [applause] >> thank you cyndi. i get the honor of introducing our youth speakers today prevent debbie powell the commissioner for the family youth services bureau. we are the federal funder for the runaway homeless youth program. i am honored to introduce these three young people that we have with us today. they exemplify what happens when we work in partnership. first we have jessica mccormick. she's a student at aquinas college in grand rapids michigan and is expecting to graduate in december with a double major in sociology and community

leadership leadership. jesse first became homeless in high school and received help from arbor circle a grand rapids grantee of the family and youth services bureau runaway homeless youth program. because of her experiences with homelessness in high school and college jesse had advocated locally and nationally for homeless college students. i will let jesse tell you more about her work and her homelessness. [applause] >> good afternoon. my name is jessica mccormick and i'm here from aquinas college in grand rapids michigan to share some of my experiences. i became homeless right before my senior year of high school. i was removed by local police to my home and it didn't match up with the county's definition of what was eligible for foster care. i was suspended as was mentioned by arbor circle and organization

in grand rapids who helps me with case management and ultimately encourage me to attend aquinas college where i had been expected. this was really crucial as was mentioned in the study. one of the main things that people really are looking for our employment and education opportunities and i truly saw this as one of the avenues that i needed to take in order to right the situation and escape the cycle of poverty. i think it's also important to note however that, once you're in college there multiple barriers to staying in college and stay that course and succeeding within it and i think those were also mentioned. it goes hand-in-hand with employment opportunities, transportation, health care, housing. all of these things are essential if you were to focus on your school to succeed in ultimately graduate from college and move on to your successful life.

i think that those are largely thanks that need to be addressed. i know i worked with change.org and my school particularly to focus on their great policies. traditionally when homeless students may not have an opportunity to stay safe in a safe shelter. i was very fortunate that change was happy with my campaign and we received a shored up 127,000 signatures which led my school to a greater discussion and led them to take us more seriously. this past april at the school they took action and we are moving. we met with probably 67 different schools within the grand rapids area who are facing similar challenges to get the process started and start a discussion on where we go from here how we can collaborate, with solutions may be.

i'm happy to see that progress not only within my school but within our community. i think all of you here today are aware that there is a hashtag -- but i also think it's important to move from our awareness in spreading this awareness to action. therefore i want to share experiences to give you guys ideas on how you can give participate and help in this. i think we all are aware of high schools in our area. i know high schools have liaisons and anybody can contact their local liaison to see what they need and how they can help. maybe they need something as simple as mentors to talk to the students. maybe these youth beats school supplies. maybe these youth needs shoes that fit and maybe they need help with clothing.

all of these basic needs that can be met by anybody. everybody lives in the district where there is a school. for those of us here who work for service providers you can be useful by empowering the youth you work with. speak to them about what they can do and how they can move forward. encourage them to pursue employment opportunities with educational opportunities and help them with the basic steps. help them with the fafsa. help them with all the different expectations and documents they are expected to -- and those of you to work correctly with policy was mentioned there were more than 49,000 youth counted there were homeless on a given night in january. i would agree with cyndi that maybe that's a low estimate. i have heard numbers of between 1.5 and 2 million. because it's such an invisible

population it is more difficult to track that so i think we could really benefit on a policy level from a definition and some safe way to measure. if we are really going to and youth homelessness by 2020 think it's essential to have a definition that will embrace all of the different situations that homeless people are in from living in their cars to staying with friends to couch hopping. there are multiple possibilities and it's important to address that. so i hope today's review will leave not only do some encouragement and ideas about the policies and about what can be done but about how you can take action and how you can be part of the solution. [applause]

>> thank you jesse so much for your remarks. i think you are future policymaker. i have several ideas that we will use to help her design our services for youth that are homeless. have anthony ross. anthony grew up here in washington d.c.. homeless at age 13 he entered the family services bureau emergency shelter. later he studied for the ged while working two jobs. he went on to attend university in raleigh north carolina and graduated magna cum laude. now he has aspired to become a lawyer and he has been accepted at the university of north carolina central into the love program. he is looking for scholarship

and grant so if you have any information to share, i'm just saying help them out. [applause] anthony says the ongoing support of sasha and particular staff member george montgomery who is here today help them overcome homelessness great anthony. please join us. [applause] >> good afternoon everyone. i am anthony ross a 24-year-old african-american male my dream is to show the people of the world that they can become successful in the matter the circumstances. at age 13 i lost my grandmother who was the sole caretaker through emergencies. never knew my dad and my mother was a drug addict. when i lived with my mom after my grandmother's death she had my sisters and i living in the house with no water heat or

electricity for a month because of her drug use. my mother's attempt to take care of us lasted nine months. we ran out of the house one night when she tried to murder us with a meat cleaver. my sisters and i were separated as they went to live with their father's family while i ended up homeless living in cars in homeless shelters in washington d.c.. my other sisters tried to take care of me. one tried to hit me up a frying pan because she was i stress that on the other was an alcoholic who threw my clothes out of her apartment and then through my birth certificate and social security card in my face saying she no longer want to take care of me. i began living with strangers. there were a family of 13 who lived in a two-bedroom room one bathroom apartment in southeast washington d.c.. they would not allow me to get to the refrigerator and welfare benefits using my name. i was beaten up and kicked out the house. i had no choice but to return to the homeless shelter. i always had to watch my back and protect my belongings because different people with

sleep in a shelter throughout the night they want to go to high school so that but i could not because they could not feed and clothe myself at such an young age. i was able to enroll in the ged program at 60 while while i worked at starbucks during the day and ruby tuesdays at night. after i earned my ged i began to prepare for the s.a.t. exam because i want to go to college but i stayed up until 3:00 in the morning to do algebra target commentary of gordon sentra ghannouchi by watching youtube videos and heads tutors come to the shelter to tutor me. after i was successful at the university in 2000 north carolina spend four to six hours a day library studying entered a 4.0 gpa my first year. [applause] thank you. because i was overlooked in the pharmacy care system i was never assigned foster family guy is a house and spent christmases with my friends and mentors when the campus goes down for holiday

breaks because i had nowhere to go. while i was in college i was inducted into the alpha kappa honor society and pi gamma honor society. i was one of the -- and oddball political science majors and universities i wanted department organizer three years in student government association was elected student body president at the university by cheniere. i interned for the mayor of washington d.c.. this is a experiment -- experience that introduced me to politics. i was able to succeed first-hand. i served as a guest speaker at the british embassy and was one out of 15 homeless students and essays chosen to attend a scholarship conference on behalf of the national association for the education of homeless children and youth. the 15 of us not only shared our stories with over 700 policymakers to increase but a

bond of a family we never had. our efforts helped draft a bill to congress for a homeless youth act before we received a reward from united states interagency council on homelessness. on may 5th 2013 i graduated magna cum laude. i'm now aspiring to become an attorney and later on for political office. according to my instagram over 100,000 people across the world including from australia norway singapore and england have urged me to write my autobiography homeless at age 13 to a college graduate that was recently published on amazon.com in hopes of helping others achieve their goals despite the adversities they likely will bring. now please not only support me by purchasing a copy of my autobiography, homeless at age 13 to a college graduate but also share with your family and friends to help someone else in need. it's important that we keep funding youth homelessness

programs to help others succeed such as i was able to. thank you and god bless. [applause] >> i'm just saying awesome. i want to introduce you to my son and maybe you can help him. so now we have syncere. she was raised in the garfield park neighborhood on chicago's west west identity until she pays homelessness when his mother passed away from cancer. coming out left to support his beauty found the programs of the night ministry in chicago which

receives funding from the family youth services bureau. now he wants to change the way people think about homeless individuals and he has become an outspoken advocate for the young people in chicago. please welcome syncere. [applause] >> good afternoon everyone. my name is syncere and i grew up on the west side of chicago in the garfield park in boston neighborhood. growing up i honestly didn't have a really tough time. i was living with my mother and my grandmother along with my sister who really supported me through a lot of things throughout life. in 2008 my mom lost her battle to cancer which left me in a state of not knowing what to do with life, how to proceed with

anything. at the appointed time i decided to become -- decided to come out to my friends and family which i thought was the easiest part because we have gotten over that home which in reality it was one the biggest challenges in my life. i was always told by friends you should always be who you are no matter what's going on except they left out the fact that it unless you are keep that to yourself. upon coming out it was a battle just to figure out resources, to figure out where i was going to go because my mom was my main caregiver. that world refers to the she got sicker however i managed to maintain. in 2008 i became fully homeless or on the streets to survive. upon coming out i started

posting things on facebook how i was ready to give up on life. a lot of folks that i didn't even know started sending me messages telling me to not give up, that there were many services that there was this one neighborhood where everyone went in chicago which was the lakeview also known as boys town area. upon getting to the boys town area i received support from folks that i never would have imagined, folks who were in situations like me, folks who wanted to make sure that not another person felt unsupported. for a while, for two years i traveled on the streets and stayed in abandoned buildings buildings, stadium park districts, friends houses anywhere i felt safe enough to go to sleep with maybe 10 of us at a time. shortly after that we found the

night ministry. they opened an area youth shelter which allowed folks to come in as they are meaning they didn't try to figure out why you were homeless, what type of person you were. they were there solely to provide the support he needed at that time which blew my mind because i never thought anyone would be willing to give help without receiving something in return. from 2008 to 2012 i tried going to school on and off but without a safe place to to keep bookstore is a place to study and honestly sometimes doing homework in the range with my books. sometimes stuff was stolen while i slept in a created another barrier to trying to get an education. in 2012 i decided i would continue to keep studying for my ged and continue to move forward with my education. at that point in time one of my many mentors told me about a job

opening within the night ministry that they thought i was college -- highly qualified fourth. of course i did not believe this whatsoever but after talking to a couple of friends who encourage me to continue moving forward with my life i applied and interviewed for the position. nonetheless i actually was offered a job at the night ministry within the youth shelter that i used to attend myself which was the greatest life. it was the best thing in my life. i never would have imagined i would be one of the people i would be there to guide folks and show them that there is not an end when you become homeless, that there is still a future that you can move forward to. since then i have been back and forth from small cities and big cities throughout the country just letting folks know that the

basic support that folks never even folks never than think up with the privileges that we hold as far as food, shelter, just a person to talk to, those are the things that are deeply needed to say the least. right now i am currently promoted to full-time position at the night ministry within the youth shelter program which allows me to be there more and help talk to folks, see what the needs are, the current needs because the eve -- the needs of four years ago are definitely not the needs today. we always need to get out the same resource and support when people evolve rapidly especially now. as i heard folks say earlier young folks are coming out as early as 12 or 13 if not younger. therefore we need to be ready to support this young folks who do come out.

also i have been currently talking to a lot of folks about how to realize my dreams of opening a 24-hour youth resource center. the 24-hour youth resource center would basically be a combination of a drop in center you center and an educational center. that way young folks could find everything they need in one place although we do understand that everyone wouldn't be able to stay or get the resources. it would be open to maximize the amount of folks we can serve at that moment. thank you. [applause] >> i want to give a great big thank you to our speakers today. you have heard me say this before but every time i hear one of you all speak it makes me know that the support we provide

in our programs are what you need and you are and you urge restoration. i'm so happy that you are sharing your stories here today. i hope you are able to touch many other lives especially other youths lives that feel hopeless and feel there is no place to go. to see you all as successes and what you've accomplished gives hope and it's a wonderful that you are here not just the adults who have not experienced homelessness but people have experienced homelessness to show they can be successful but they need all of us to help. of course the iced need more funding. the social programs we are dismayed that but what i heard so loud and clear that it was a positive adult in those lives that help them make a differen difference. we always say how overburdened we are what they are on life but if you have an hour, an hour a day to give support to a young person that needs to have an

adult to say you can do it. i believe in you. that's the most important thing we can do in this room. i'm going to go off for a minute and ask adults who have been a part of these young people's lives to stand.

>> the following is a special presentation. eyewitness news at an providence new jersey bringing live coverage. now campaign 2014 the gubernatorial debate. live from the providence performing arts center televised debate among the candidates for rhode island governor. good evening i am template. we are exactly two weeks from election day when voters are going to decide who they want to leave the state as their next governor.

tonight we will try to help you identify the differences between the three major candidates looking for your vote and they are from left to right on your screen democrat gina raimondo republican allan fung and moderate robert healey. we will hear from them in a moment. for the next 60 minutes we will be going in depth. this debate is airing live on wpri and on line wpri.com. i will moderate and ask questions along with our panel or it our news partner at the providence journal said fitzpatrick. we will begin with opening remarks made to the candidates. a reminder to our audience we ask you to hold your applause until the very end of the debate so everyone here and is watching at home can hear what the candidates have to say. the order for opening remarks was determined by a drawing. we begin with allan fung. mr. fung was elected mayor of cranston in 2008 where he is

doing his third term. before that he was legal counsel for metlife. mr. fung was a state prosecutor and graduated from rhode island college and suffolk university law school. mr. fung your opening remarks. fung: thank you. i have come to realize that this election is more than just about jobs and the economy. this election is about providing opportunities for all rhode islanders having a good paying job in providing a good education for students and most importantly keeping our families together here in our state. many years ago my parents left china not knowing a word of english to pursue the american dream and they chose rhode island. they started a family in a small family business. i'm running for governor so the next generation can have the

same opportunities that they did and for the viewers at home better watching i am open to earn your trust and support. we no rhode island is a great place to live. together we are going to make a great place to work. >> moderator: thank you mr. fung and now gina raimondo elected general treasure in 2010 prior to that she cofounded a venture capital firm a rhodes scholar ms. raimondo graduated harvard and yale law school. your opening remarks. raimondo: thank you and good evening everyone. rhode island is in a jobs crisis. everyday i talk to families. they tell me that kids have to leave the state to get a job. some of them have been out of work for two years. they want to be working building things in rhode island. in order to bring this economy back when you can make the business environment friendly, place for businesses want to be an ad jobs and grow jobs but we also have to make smart investments in our future and infrastructure, education,

workforce training and we need to support her workers by raising the minimum wage. i'm running for governor to rebuild rhode island's middle class and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and i have experience to do that. prior to becoming treasurer ran a business and we helped to create over 1000 jobs. i am running for governor to rebuild the state can get rhode island back to work. >> moderator: thank you ms. raimondo and now robert healey an attorney and businessman a partial owner of a liquor import company called peaceville. mr. healey has run for statewide office six times. he attended rhode island college boston university and northeastern university and the new england school of law. mr. healey. healey: thank you. i would like to thank you and thank my opponents for being here tonight. i need you to look at me and the reason for that is because you

probably won't see much of me over the next two weeks. i didn't get any campaigns donations from wall street insiders or city union contractors. i'm only replying on the people and free media to get my message out. the only good thing about that is probably as governor i would only answer to one boss and out boss being you the people. you may say you are wasting your vote if you vote for me but if you don't vote for the person he best represents you you are wasting your vote then. if you want to pick winners i say go to the racetrack. if you want to pick a leader you will have to think wisely when you go to the polls. >> moderator: mr. healy or time is up there want to thank each of the candidates and now let's get to the topics that hampered as you all know there is no strict format to tonight's debate. we are looking for an open and

honest discussion of the issues. i will also -- for some back-and-forth as long as it's on-topic. we have a lot of ground to cover so if you're not answering the question taking too long i will jump in. i want to start with a topic that are viewers have been hearing a lot about lately and that's because mr. fung and ms ms. raimondo have been battling through television commercials. right now this is making bond payments on the $89 million taxpayers pull to bondholders to the sales ventures. mr. fung one of your ads claim ms. raimondo wants a bailout blog -- wall street. financial agencies like movies have said defaulting on the loan would severely damage rhode island credit rating. we all understand 38 studios is an popular but are you playing politics with the state's bond rating? fung: i would never play politics with the bond rating of

what i want the voters to know is i will stand with them every single day but do it in a factual way. we don't know that this was a mistake from the first instance would wear it i find critical is the general treasure and the governor chaffee continuing to make it worse trade we have not done our due diligence in launching a full investigation particularly when the state is making allegations of fraud in their lawsuit to recover money. secondly that sj advisor that the governor and general treasure raimondo were applie applied -- relied on his faulty. we have seen one of the rating agencies fitch say they would not drop to junk bond status. i think the taxpayers and the voters in rhode island deserve to know the truth before we make any commitment one way or the other on that because it's too big of a commitment for us and it could be utilized in other

areas such as tax cuts, a tax reduction plan and education. >> moderator: mr. fung can you promise voters that the default will be less than any higher interest that the state may incur by not paying the bond back? can you make that promise tonight? fung: mala thing i can promise is i will call for a full investigation of what's going on. the taxpayers of rhode island deserve to know before they make a commitment one way or the other and that's why i'm proud to argue for and tested for that investigation so we can get to know the truth and second of all i'm proud to stand on behalf of the taxpayers and file a letter with the sec because there was allegations of insider trading and it certainly didn't look good when one of the bondholders sold the day before they close the deal. >> moderator: ms. raimondo

mr. fung youth -- says you have made it worse. your response? raimondo: unlike mayor fung i thought this tip from the beginning. when i was running for treasury i was in office when the deal happen but as running for treasurer and critical of it and i spoke out against it. mayor fung who was in office was silent. in fact two weeks ago he was campaigning with the architect of this. it was a time to stop this deal which was before it happened and i fought it. i don't want to repay it but we have to repay it because the experts have told us if we don't repay it is going to cost twice as much. that's a fact. the bondholders are going to be okay either way. they have insurance. i care about the people of rhode island and they are going to be stuck holding the bag and it's going to cost twice as much money if we don't repay it. this isn't easy politics you know. he's doing the easy political thing, telling voters what they

want to hear, the repay it. i'm not going to do that. leadership means doing the right thing even when it's difficult politics and in this instance it's clear. it's like your credit card bill. if you don't pay your credit card bill you get higher interest charges. >> moderator: we choose what we pay in her credit card bill. you think voters should have a say on any bond that goes out in the state of rhode island from here on out? raimondo: it was inappropriate to do a moral obligation bond for $100 million or $75 million. of boniface i should've gone to the people and again i was very critical. i fought it that now at this point the right thing to do is to repay it. the last date -- state to default was arkansas back in 1938. it would be a huge black eye across the country of order and that i'm running for governor to

rebuild rhode island to move the state forward not to go back. >> moderator: mr. healey before you when i want to mr. fung to respond to something that ms. raimondo said. she said the governor -- former governor was on your advisory committee when you are deciding to run. you have used it as a campaign prop. how do you square that with voters? healey: if i could respond to one point. i would like to question the treasures judgment on this and i think the rhode island voters to know. i stood up and asked for a full investigation when allegations move forward. sending an e-mail is not fighting for the taxpayers and as far as judgment let's talk about the treasury judgment. we hiring the same financial advisers that put us into that deal for southwest she and

governor chaffee rehired those individuals when we as a state or suing them for fraud. i question her judgment. raimondo: i also would like an investigation but but that's after-the-fact. where was he as an elected official before it happened? i was out there saying don't do this deal and i can promise you if i had been governor would not have happened. i also have called for an independent investigation and let me tell you if there was any fraud people would be held accountable. the problem is in the meantime we have to pay our bills because if we don't do will be twice as expensive for the people of rhode island and rhode island families can handle that. >> moderator: i was kind of questions for both of you but i would let mr. healy, people don't know where you stand on this. healey: i think we really have not seen taxpayers, the full investigation that went forward.

i think that is part of go with condition i.e. pay the bonds. i'm not opposed to not paying. in fact i think that might be of benefit to the state in that if we do have higher credit costs we would do less borrowing. certainly if i were governor at the time i too would have stopped the project. what we are arguing over, what could have or should it happen we have to look at what the reality is. we are paying off bonds and what we call a moral obligation and yet at the same time this same general assembly is saying we don't have any moral obligation for the pensions we have taken away from people? there is a moral obligation to our own people and not the people on wall street. that's the most important, to take care for on first. >> moderator: mr. healey you said in your economic plan this date pays its debt in knott.

healey: a moral obligation is not in my opinion and obligation of the state of rhode island. >> moderator: >> moderator: is that a back? healey: it's a promise to pay for something that the state did not engage in. >> moderator: ms. raimondo i wanted to respond briefly to mr. fung. he wants to know what others do too why did you -- that firm back? raimondo: thank you for giving me a chance to clarify. in my administration i have a policy that any time a contract comes through we put out to bid and win this contract came up with put it out to bid. unfortunately only two firms replied to the rfp and the principles of both firms were involved in 38 studios. we do the best that we could end the committee unanimously approved hiring them. however we hired them in a way that allows at anytime for any reason without penalty so if at

this point it's not clear they did anything wrong. if at some point it becomes clear they did something wrong but obviously we will fire them and they will be held accountable. >> moderator: mr. fung you never answered my question regarding what she said about former governor -- fung: the governor has not been campaigning with me so that is false. what also i can bring to voters to know about the general treasure is this. there were two individuals that applied. the other option, the other fiscal advisers are the largest fiscal advisers in the country. they certainly were a viable option. why would you choose, why would you not choose them over some of the state is suing for fraud for committing these allegations? why a fresh? why should we rush because there are other options. we could set aside the money in escrow do our due diligence before we make any commitments.

this is too critical of the decision. millions of dollars in the state could be put to better use for the taxpayers. >> moderator: we are going to go to wpri.com reporter the question. >> there has been talk in a campaign about jobs and high unemployment rate so i want to ask you about your opinions on that and we will start with you. isn't this your plan is a great way to innovation institute or college of corporate -- it hasn't attracted academic bidders. what would you do differently to drum up interest in how much would that cost taxpayers? raimondo: i would like to use the 195 when they rerouted the highway we now have land available. i would like to use that land to have an innovation institute and it would be funded not by the state but by collaborations between universities and industry.

it's what they are doing in ohio and new york city. in new york city they had roosevelt island. they did a global competition and they invited universities and industries from all over the world to bid on putting in their case and applied science institute together. cornel came together with that is raised at technical university who came together with google and their artery on their way to creating thousands of jobs. imagine if we did the same thing and we could bring together and have an advanced manufacturing institute. something designed to take a great idea coming out of our colleges and universities and turn them into products we make here. that's the kind of game-changer we need. it wouldn't cost the taxpayers really anything. >> moderator: you are spending roughly $100 million on infrastructure. they gave cornel the land for free so could you see yourself sending over $100 million on

this project? raimondo: you make a fair point. i would be interested to give away the land. you see for too long and rhode island we have been short-sighted and what we need to do is invest in growth. the story of rhode island as we used to be a jeweler manufacturing mecca. although mecca. all those jobs went overseas and our leaders did nothing to reposition ourselves for jobs for the future in massachusetts did. they have information technology and biotechnology and they are thriving and we have been left behind. under my leadership we are going to thrive by pulling together industry with universities to fundamentally re-create our economy and industries became the break -- grade at marine science and industrial sites and create tens of thousands of jobs good middle-class jobs to rebuild. >> moderator: you acknowledge it could have a significant cost to to taxpayers if it's modeled on the new york plan.

raimondo: you have to think of it as a smart investment and growth. >> moderator: i want to move on to mr. fung. you mention in your opening statement cutting taxes by up to $200 billion in the state budget. theirs are the projected budget of $173 -- $173 million. how would you close such a huge shortfall in the state? fung: first of all i want to let people know the part of my plan has been implemented by this general assembly this past session. the numbers will still have to be reworked and we are going to continue to put that plan into place that will put more money back into the taxpayers pockets. >> moderator: how much is the new total after what the general assembly did? fung: we have to wait and see what the overall numbers are going to come out in what the actions are going to be. until we get an accurate

projection based upon what we are seeing, what's happening what we are likely to finish with it's going to be difficult to sell. what i can say is if we implement that 200 million-dollar plan based upon what i have put forward it would make our state one of the most competitive in the northeast and send a message to business owners here particularly small business owners that have to pay them minimum business tax. let's cut that in half and go further if we can pretty think like all the world landed -- what islanders watching tonight i'm also tired of seeing many rhode island license plates going north to massachusetts spending our hard-earned dollars in the borders up there. let's get our sales tax down. >> moderator: mr. fung even if you scale back the numbers the 300 million-dollar budget tax fall how would you close such a large budget gap? fung: this is where the rhode

island taxpayers have to put their trust in me. the experience i have is the mayor of cranston innovating and making sure we are consolidati consolidating. initiatives like that have to be tackled with at the state budget as well. i'm proud of the fact that we have worked with other cities and towns on a big important issues like health care. working with northern rhode island cities like lincoln to save on administrative health care costs providing for mail services for the senior centers. those initiatives are saving taxpayers dollars invested type of -- >> moderator: from your previous debate you have had workforce as part of your standing. how many state employees would lose their jobs if you cut 5% of them? fung: what we are talking about the cuts is making sure there operational efficiencies at all levels. that's where the experience as

cranston mayor and finding efficiencies consolidating functions for every camp that is what i will put to task tackling our state budget as well. just ask yourself why is it for similar sized state population wise north of us are state budget is billions more than new hampshire's? ask yourself. take a look at the general assembly's budget and rhode island. why is it millions more than the legislature voted in new hampshire who had many more members? >> moderator: mr. healy use it explicitly do not have a jobs plan and you don't see the governments function is creating jobs but you have an economic development plan. you were recently i can only say my jobs plan is a common upon the state working together. what would be your top policy probe -- healey: one of the things we have to look at is regulation. as a state where overregulated. we have to make it easy for that

to happen. the second problem is taxation. we need to make property taxes lower so businesses will come in and set up employment and move the money through the system that way. i have suggested that we take the teachers contracts and municipality and move it to a state contract, one state contract and in doing so what you can do is you can relieve many of the property taxes in most cities and towns. that would lower the rents and lower the taxes on businesses in a commercial industry that comes into rhode island. they would be favorable to doing them by coming in and creating jobs for people who are working to pay the taxes required to pay the schools. the interesting part about that would be that it would allow seniors on fixed incomes to stay in their homes because the tax rate would be lessened and we could use some of the housing burden i think. i also think keeping a local

school committee would allow the local school committees to be focused on education and education priorities rather than in terms of financial obligations. i think in a holistic sense you cannot attack the problem by saying let's throw money at jobs. businesses come in and take the money and ask what they have done with the state of rhode island in the league. >> moderator: ms. raimondo both of your opponent to talk about taxes and you're talking about something that builds money. it. raimondo: mayor fung says to trust him because of his record in cranston. his record in cranston is that he continue continued to raise taxes. he came into office and year after year after year raise property taxes on working families and commercial property taxes which turned businesses away. even tax more cars imposing the

car tax on cars valued as little as $500. a new plan he wants to cut corporate taxes. tax cuts for companies, tax increases for working families. that is what's crippling rhode island. what we need to do, we need to have an affordable competitive tax structure. i supported the general assembly when they lowered our corporate tax rates this past session and now we are the lowest in new england. that's a good thing. i worked so hard on pension reform it's already saved the taxpayers of rhode island hundreds of billions of dollars. what we need to do is control our costs and be smarter about how wep growth, invest in merchant infrastructure rebuild schools and put people to work. >> moderator: we need to move on. healey: i think the cranston taxpayers know and trust what i've done the city of cranston and for the past three years we have not had to raise property

taxes. we have rolled up our sleeves and made hard decisions even performing the right way negotiating with the settlements to shave $6 million off of our required contributions. meanwhile we were innovating like i discussed and growing our business base. i'm proud of the business environment that we have created in cranston adding over a thousand new jobs just my first two terms and we are still continuing to see businesses grow not just big businesses but small businesses like antonio says well. >> moderator: let's move onto ed fitzpatrick with the providence journal attacks question. >> yesterday a rhode island expenditure council noted a report saying state officials have not figured out how to fund

the health insurance exchange even though under obamacare it must be financially self sufficient by december 2015 so tonight rather than speak in general terms about health care or want you to tell us specifically how you would fund health source rhode island going forward. let's start with mr. healey. healey: i don't think i would consider funding it. i think i would turn back to the federal government for its use on that end. >> moderator: would you be concerned about the federal government taking back some of the grants given the state to get it going? healey: i think the federal government is the way to go through once among the program. the problems that are going to happen after the midterm elections in terms of what's going to be allowed and not allowed and rhode islanders are out on a limb on their program on this. >> ms. raimondo do you agree?

raimondo: every rhode islander deserves access to affordable high-quality health care and rhode island has done an excellent job in rolling out the exchange. i would keep it in rhode island. first we have to take a hard look at it and see if there are any ways to reduce the costs. and secondly we need to be creative. i would not put a surcharge on policyholders because rhode island families are struggling as it is. i'm very interested in the possibility of licensing it and selling it to other states because of something rhode island has done such a good job of. i understand other states are interested in that could be a revenue stream. i will tell you recently my daughter had strep throat and she woke up in the morning and she was sick. we quickly called the pediatrician, guided her in there is tested positive for strep and got a ride on the medication. it occurred to me every parent deserves the opportunity to do

that for their kids to have health insurance and access to good care. that's exactly what it's providing so we have to figure out a way to fund it. >> moderator: are using a reasonable marketplace? raimondo: which overtime would lower costs for small business businesses. we have to do everything we can to reduce health care costs for small businesses. >> moderator: mr. fung? fung: i have a three-pronged approach to this. rhode islanders are fortunate that we have a -- that's been better functioning but the cost is a big issue especially when those federal subsidies run out. we have to first get a realistic idea of what those are spicy when we have heard that number is anywhere between 20 to $26 million. let's do our homework first and get the number. first we have to find out what

the expense drivers are and why it's costing so much and take a look at options such as private exchanges to see whether or not they can do that function in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. let's also take a look at whether or not some of the bells and whistles that are part of the exchange are truly needed such as do we really need the call center operations to provide that service went from my understanding these individuals might not be licensed brokers. why not let the insurers themselves answer that question? second we should take a look at the exchange because it's better functioning and some other states particularly massachusetts to see whether or not it could also be a revenue opportunity for us. if we can cut our expenses and get more dollars that's one of the ways i would consider keeping the exchange at a lower cost it would have to be a lower-cost great if we can't get those costs down yes i would consider moving it up to the federal system and having them run it because it's performing a lot better than the initial

rollout. getting access to health insurance is important for rhode islanders and i've heard that on the trail as well. >> moderator: we are happy to the debate. i will pick up the pace because i want to cover a few more topics. a rapidfire section again is always looking for one-word answers to these questions and we are going to start left or right and i will alternate the order. ms. raimondo do you support or oppose a constitutional convention? raimondo: at this time i posted. fung: i supported because we need the government and the statehouse. healey i supported based on reservations. >> moderator: as governor would he sign a bill that would establish a legal market for licensed businesses to sell marijuana to adults 21 or older? healey: yes. fung: i'm going to take a wait-and-see on the legalization question.

raimondo: also wait-and-see. >> moderator: mr. fung joint to keep her state's voter i.d. law? fung: i want to keep the voter i.d. law. healey: i think it's functioning well and i will vote for that i.d. to see if it works. [laughter] >> moderator: let us know how that works out. ms. raimondo do you want to keep her repeal a the estate i.d. law? raimondo: i would sign it. >> moderator: you support or oppose driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants? raimondo: support. fung: i do not support. healey: i have articulated position where i believe they should be issued papers and insurance but not tonight been a form of a driver's license. ..

you support common-sense measures and limitations, of the kind of stuff we propose what specific measures do you support? ♪ this issue has come up repeatedly during the primary, and my position has always been clear. pro-choice with common sense restrictions.

i do not support late term abortions and certainly, certainly do not support partial birth abortions. respect both sides of the issue, and as governor i will not do anything to stand in the wake of a woman's right to make her own health care decisions. >> moderator: any legislation that you oppose? fung: i am not sure what type of legislation has been put forward. >> moderator: you have been strongly criticized since you got the endorsement of planned parenthood. you said at the time that you support repeal of the 1997 state law that banned so-called partial birth abortions. how do you square york to positions? raimondo: thank you. i am a pro-choice candidate and catholic. respect the churches' position. and in my own private life i accept that and follow that.

as governor, i will be the governor for all the people of rhode island plans including those with different religious views and myself. i have been clear on this. i would support a ban on of late term abortions as long as there is provision for the life and health of the woman. currently in rhode island and there is a law on the books of banning late term abortions, but it is unconstitutional and not being enforced, not doing any good. so the only point that i was making is that it makes no sense to keep a lock on the books if it is not being enforced. i am a practical person. if we want a ban on late term abortions, then i would support that did for language that the u.s. supreme court has said is constitutional. you said you would assign

one of those bills? raimondo: yes,. >> moderator: there was obviously a firestorm after your comment on planned parenthood. do you regret the way that you spoke at that press conference? raimondo: i do not to be did no one asked me my position on late term abortions the very first time someone asked me my position, i was clear. i would support a ban on weight to an abortion that had provision for the life and health of the woman. it is a difficult issue, a hard issue, and we need to approach it with reasonableness and kindness and sensitivity. again, i respect and appreciate where the catholic church is coming from. >> moderator: the right to life endorsement. you do not sound too far apart on that. fung: i can tell you, on like the treasure, i have not used divisive issues that a personal to individuals as part of this campaign. i have been out on the campaign trail, the sole

issue i have been promoting and talking about is making our state more open for business, cutting through red tape, and plant -- implementing the tax reduction plan and getting people back to work and jobs in this state rhode islanders you have written you are a social liberal who supports the right to abortion. do you support limits on that? .. i respect the individual. the individual has to make the decision. so as far as i am concerned, i think that i would have no problem supporting abortion in terms of state law. however, i would be very concerned because i think the state has an obligation to minors. i could see restrictions in that area. >> moderator: you heard that it was said you campaigned on these issues.

raimondo: that is not true. i have said over and over i am running because we are in a jobs crisis and would like to take a minute. he referenced is $200 million tax cut. let's be clear what that would do, double our budget deficit in the first year alone, a reckless plan that would result in painful cuts to education, work-force training, infrastructure, higher education. it would hurt working families and take a bad economy and make it worse. and he knows it is unrealistic because the first thing he did for his first three budgets was raise taxes. it is time to be realistic. affordable taxes, invest in growth and get people back to work. >> moderator: i will let you respond. fung: first of all, just a couple of weeks ago we had three leading business