perpetuating the systemic practices and institutions that promote race discrimination, gender discrimination, et cetera. >> i share ian's look at the heart of the court. and as i said earlier what i fear is that this court is counter progressive in that there will be efforts to address social problems as we go forward and the court may stand in the way of those. ..

we can't afford us a grocery to learn the part of video segments of our society because they are stuck in neighborhood where they can get out good and so my hope is fair as so much momentum towards marriage equality and as we talk about so much publicity about people who have health care don't want to give it out. that may be what we have to do. we have to beat out loud about what we care about if the court

is tending towards stopping the staffers to address social ills. we just have to be louder. >> already. please join me in taking our panel for this great conversation. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> president obama was in germany yesterday for the g-7 summit in at a closing news conference the president took questions at a number of global issues including trade, isis and the conflict between russia and ukraine. this is 35 minutes.

>> good afternoon. let me begin by once again taking chancellor kohl for their extraordinary hospitality at the g-7 summit. i stay here has been extraordinary. i wish i could stay longer. one of the pleasures of being president is scouting out places that you want to come back to kabul where you don't have to spend your time in a conference room. the setting is breathtaking. our german friends have been absolutely wonderful and the success of the summit is the nature view to their outstanding work. g7 represents the largest economies in the world but in our part errors the united states also embraces the strongest allies and closest friends in the world.

when we work to promote the growth that creates jobs and opportunity we are here to stand up for the fundamental principles we share as democracies. for freedom, for peace for the right of nations and people to decide their own destiny. for universal human rights and the dignity of every human. i am pleased that here in krun, we showed him the most pressing global challenges america and our allies stand united. we agree the best way to sustain the global economic recovery is by focusing on jobs and growth. that is what i'm focused on in the united states. friday we learned our economy created another 280,000 jobs in may, the strongest month of the year so far and more than 3 million new jobs over the past year. nearly the fastest pace in over a decade. we have now seen five straight years of private-sector job

growth. 12.6 million new jobs created the longest streak on record. the unemployment rate is near its lowest level in seven years. wages for american workers continue to rise and since i took office, the united states has cut our deficit by two thirds. in the global economy, america is a major source of strength. at the same time i recognize the global economy will grow in it's still performing on its potential and we agreed on a number of necessary steps. in europe we support efforts to find a path that enables greece to karaoke reforms and return the growth within a strong, stable and growing euro zone. i updated my partners on or after with congress to pass trade promotion authority so they can move ahead with tpp and the asia pacific program and ttip here in europe. we continue to make progress

towards a strong global climate agreement this year in paris. all the g-7 countries have now put forward our posts 2020 targets for reducing carbon emissions and will continue to merge other significant emitters to do so as well. we continue to meet her finance commitments to help developing countries transition to low carbon growth. as they've done in the u.s. the g-7 agreed on many to many great climate risk in the development assistance and investment programs across the board and increase access to risk insurance to help developing countries responding recover from climate related disasters. building on the initiative i built two years ago come to g-7 will make more financing for clean energy projects in africa. with respect to security, the g-7 remains strongly in united for ukraine are continuing to

provide economic support and technical assistance ukrainians as it moves ahead on critical reforms to transform its economy and strengthen its democracy. assisting in recent days russian forces continue to operate violating ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. this is the second year of the g-7 the g-7 is not without russia. another example of russia's isolation and every member of the g-7 continues to maintain chains on russia for its aggression against ukraine. now it is important to recognize the russian economy has been seriously weakened. foreign investment are down inflation is that in the russian central bank has lost more than $150 billion in the air spirit russian banks have been knocked out of the international market. russian energy companies are struggling to import a sort of technologies they need for complex energy projects. russian defense firms have been cut off from key technologies.

russia is indeed actions and ukraine are hurting russia in hurting the russian people. here at the g-7 we agreed even as we continue to seek a diplomatic solution, sanctions against russia will remain in place so long as russia continues to violate its obligations under the minsk agreement. european partners reaffirmed sanctions on russia and told the are fully implemented which means extending the e.u.'s existing spectoral sanction beyond july and the g-7 is making it clear if necessary we stand ready to impose additional significant sanctions against russia. beyond europe or discuss negotiation over the nuclear program and remain united into the final stages of the talks. iran has an historic opportunity to resolve the international community concerns about the program and we agree i've managed to seize the

opportunity. our discussions with prime minister a body of iraq tunisia and president bihari of nigeria for a chance to address the threats of high soul and broke all wrong. they work together and with partners to coordinate our counterterrorism efforts. isolators and development joined renovators of ethiopia, liberia nigeria, senegal and the union we discussed to maximize the impact of partnerships and agreed to continue landmark initiative to promote the security and nutrition, part of our effort to lift 500 million in developing countries out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030 will continue to work with partners in west africa to get ebola cases down to zero and is part of our global health security agenda i'm pleased the

g-7 made a major commitment to help 60 countries the 60 countries the next five years achieve specific target to better prevent protect and respond to future operate before they become epidemics. finally i want to commend chancellor merkel for the focus on expanding educational and economic opportune these are women and girls. the g-7 committed to expanding career training for women in our own countries and increased technical and vocational training in developing countries which will help all of our nations prosper. again i want to take angela and the people of germany for their extraordinary hospitality. but if you're competent when it comes to key challenges of our time america and her allies stand shoulder to shoulder. without their questions and start off with jeff mason. >> thank you mr. president. it's your meetings here you mention greece in your opening

statement. do you believe the europeans are being too tough on greece in his talks and what else needs to be done on both sides to ensure paris and the undue harm to financial markets he warned about? on a separate and somewhat related topic, the french told reporters today that you said to g-7 leaders take your concern the dollar is too strong. why did you say exactly and are you concerned the dollar is too strong? >> first of all don't believe unnamed corpse. i did not say that and i make a practice of not commenting on the daily fluctuations of the dollar or any other currency. with respect to greece i think not only are g-7 partners but the imf and other institutions represented here feel a sense of

urgency and finding a path to resolve the situation there. it is going to require greece being serious about making some important reforms not only to satisfy creditors, but more importantly to create a platform whereby the greek economy can start growing again and prosper. and so, the greeks will have to follow through and make some tough political choices that will be good for the long-term. i also think it is going to be important for the international community and the international financial agencies to recognize the extraordinary challenges that greek phase and if both sides show flexibility we can get the problem resolved but it will require some tough

decisions for all involved and we will continue to consult with all the parties involved to try to encourage that. >> you think it will happen before the deadline? >> i think everybody wants to make it happen and they are getting hard to -- working hard to get it done. >> mr. president, how frustrated after that you personally raised her concerns about cybersecurity with a president that is the term originated from china. was the chinese government involved and simply as a sports fan can you give your reaction to the bribery scandal? thank you. >> i cannot comment on a pending case by our attorney general. i will say that in conversations i've had here in europe people think it is important to be able

to operate with integrity and transparency and accountability. so as the investigation and charges proceed, i think we have to keep in mind that football, soccer, depending which side of the atlantic you live on is also a massive business. it is a source of incredible national pride and people want to make sure it operates with integrity. the united states, by the way since we keep on getting better and better at each world cup we want to make sure a sport that is gaining popularity is conducted outbreak manner.

i don't want to discuss because we haven't publicly unveiled who we think might have engaged in the cyberattacks. but i can tie you that we have known for a long time that there are significant vulnerabilities in these vulnerabilities will accelerate as time goes by boat and systems within government and within the private sector. this is why it is so important that congress moves forward on passing cyberlegislation in the cybersecurity legislation we've been pushing for why over the last several years i've been standing up new mechanisms inside of government to investigate what happens and start fighting worth a dissolution. part of the problem is we've got their real systems and we discovered the new breach in opm

precisely because we've initiated the process of inventory and an upgrading all systems to address existing vulnerabilities. but we are doing is going to agency by the end figuring out what can we fix it better practice and better computer hygiene by personnel and where do we need new systems in new infrastructure in order to protect information not just government employees are government-backed committees, but also most importantly the interface between government and the american people. this is going to be a big project and we have to keep on doing it because state and nonstate tears by sending everything they have caught a train to breach the systems.

some cases it's nonstate actors engaging in criminal at kennedy and potential threat. in the case of state actors they are probing for intelligence or some cases trying to bring down systems and pursued of their various foreign policies. either case we have to be much more aggressive, much more attentive than we have been and this problem is not going to go away. it is going to accelerate and that means we have to be as nimble, as aggressive and well resourced as those trying to break into the systems. justin frank. >> thank you mr. president. i want to ask about two things on the agenda this weekend. first is the economic state. he said yesterday to prime minister cameron you assess what's working and what not. what is not working in the fight that the islamic state and you

pledge to step up assistance to iraq. i wonder if that includes u.s. personnel. on trade come the chance to merkel says she was pleased to get fast-track authority and other leaders assurance it would go through the house and if it doesn't, what does this say about your ability to achieve meaningful agreements with congress? >> on the latter question i'm not going to hypothesize about not getting it done. i intend to get it out of because it's the right thing to do. with respect to isis we have made significant progress in pushing back isil in areas which they have occupied or disrupted local populations. voip also seen what it is like

an ramadi where they are displaced from one area and come back in another. they are nimble and aggressive and opportunistic. one of the areas where we have to improve is the speed at which we are training iraqi forces. where we trained iraqi forces directly and equip them and have a train and assist posture, they operate effectively. where we have been morale, lack of equipment, et cetera may undermine security forces. we want to get more forces trained fresh go well-equipped and focused and the president wants the same thing. we are reviewing a range of plans for how we might do that essentially accelerating the number of iraqi forces properly trained and equipped and having focused strategy and good

leadership. when the finalized plan is presented to me by the pentagon, i will share with the american people. we don't yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the iraqis as well about how recruitment takes place in the training takes place. the details of that are not yet worked out. >> be additional u.s. military personnel as part of what is under consideration. >> i think what is fair to say it's all the countries in the international coalition are prepared to do more to train iraqi security forces if they feel like that additional work has been taken advantage of. one of the things we are still seen in places where we've got

more training capacity than we have recruits. part of my discussion was with prime minister abadi how do we make sure we get more recruits? a big part of the answer is reached the sunni tribes. we have seen sunni tribes who are not only willing and prepared to fight isil but have been successful rebuffing isil but it has not been happening as fast as it needs to. one of the authors i am hoping to see a prime minister abadi and the iraqi legislature when they are in session is to move forward on a national guard law that would help to devolve some of the security efforts in places like and buy two local folks and get the sunni tribes involved more rapidly. this is part of what helped

defeat a key ally, the precursor of isil during the iraq war of 2006 buick bout that local participation, it even if you have a short-term success, it is hard to hold those areas. we've got to make a lot more progress on stemming the flow of foreign fighters. you'll recall that i hosted a u.n. security council meeting specifically on this issue and we've made some progress, but not enough. we are still singing thousands of foreign fighters flowing into syria and oftentimes ultimately into iraq. not all of that is preventable but a lot of it is preventable if we've got better cooperation, better coordination better

intelligence, if we monitor what is happening at the turkish syria border more effectively. this is an area we have been seeking deeper cooperation with turkish authorities who recognize it is a problem that had been granted the capacity they need. this is something we've got to spend a lot of time on. if we can count on some of the foreign fighter then we are able to isolate and wear out isil forces that are there because we are taken a lot of them off the battlefield but if they are being replenished it doesn't solve the problem over the long term. the final point i fantasized to mr. abadi is the political agenda of inclusion remains as important as the military fight that is out there. if sunnis, kurds and shia all

feel as if their concerns are being energized and operating within a legitimate political structure can meet their need for security prosperity, nondiscrimination, we will have a much easier time. the good news is prime minister abadi is very much committed to the principle that obviously inherited the legacy of a lot of mistrust between various groups in iraq. he's had to take a lot of political risk and their staffers to undermine those with political sanctions in iraq so we have to continue to monitor that support those on the right side of the issue. carly nelson. >> thank you mr. president. imagine the u.s. and the gop allies have reached a consent to some extent sanctions against russia. is there a consensus about what specifically the next step

should be if russia continues to violate the minsk agreement and also can you deter brush and aggressions in other parts of europe without a permanent presence. i wanted to ask you about the possibility of a court battle over your actions on immigration could extend late into your return. do you think there's anything more you can do for the people who would've benefited from the program and are now in limbo and how do you view the possibility without accomplishing goals on immigration? >> on ukraine and russia and men's there is strong consensus that we need to keep pushing russia to abide by the terms of the minsk agreement. we need to continue to support and encourage ukraine to meet its obligations under minsk that until it is completed, sanctions

remain in place. there was discussion about additional steps we might need to take if russia working through separatist double down on aggression inside of ukraine. those discussions are taking place at a technical level, not yet at a political level. the first goal going into european council meeting not under the existing sanctions. we want to be prepared. our hope is we don't have to take additional steps because minsk agreement is not want to give enormous credit to chancellor merkel who has shown

extraordinary sticks to it this and patience in trying to get that done. ultimately this is going to be an issue for mr. putin. he's got to make a decision does he continue to rack his country's economy and continue russia's isolation and pursuit of a long had a desire to re-create the glories of the soviet empire or does he recognize that russia's greatness does not depend on violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries. as i mentioned earlier, the cost of the russian people are bearing are severe. that is being felt. they may not always be

understood why they are suffering because of state media inside of russia and propaganda coming out of state media in russia and to russian speakers. but the truth of the matter is the russian people would greatly benefit and ironically one of the rationales mr. putin provided for this encouraging ukraine was to protect russian speakers instead of ukraine precisely the ones you describe the fighting. their economy has collapsed that last assorted many displaced from their homes destroyed. they are suffering and the best way of for them to stop suffering is if the minsk agreement is fully implemented. christy powers immigration.

with respect to immigration, obviously i am frustrated by a ruling that now is running its way through the appeals process. we are being as aggressive as they can legally to first and foremost appeal the ruling and then to implement those elements of immigration executive actions that were not challenged in court. obviously, one of the key provisions for me was being able to get folks who are undocumented to go through a background check pay back and have the legal status. that requires an entire administrative apparatus and ask any man to apply and come clean. i made a decision, which i think is the right one that we should

not accept applications until the legal status of this is clarified. i am absolutely convinced this is well within the department of homeland security's legal authority if you look at the press event. if you look at the traditional discussion in the executive branch when it comes to applying immigration laws i am convinced what you are doing is lawful and lawyers are convinced what we are doing is lawful. the united states is a government of laws and separations of power and even if it's an individual district court judge making the determination we've got to go through the process to challenge it. until we get clarity there, i do want to bring people in have them applied jump through a lot

of hoops only to have it deferred and delayed further. there is one great way to solve the problem and now it be congress go in enacted which would obviate the need for executive actions. the majority of the american people still want to see that happen. i suspect it will be a major topic at the next presidential campaign so we will continue to push as hard as we can on all fronts to fix the broken immigration system administratively. we will be prepared if and when we get the kind of ruling we should have gone in the first place to go ahead and implement but ultimately this is never fully replace the need for congress to act and my hope is

after a number of other issues we work on currently get cleared that there's some quiet conversation start back up again, particularly in the republican party about the shortsighted approach they are taking when it comes to immigration. okay. >> thank you mr. president. more than 6 million americans may soon lose health insurance but the challenge to the affordable care act. a growing number of states look for assisting as the prospects the residents may lose federal insurance subsidies and insurance markets may collapse. yet the administration has given very little to no guidance in how they can prepare. what can you tell state leaders and advocates who worry health care markets in half the country may be thrown into chaos? >> what i tell state leaders is

under well-established president there is no reason why the existing exchanges should be overturned through a court case. it has been well documented that those who pass this legislation never intended for folks who are going through the federal exchange not to have their citizen get subsidies. that is not just the opinion of me. not just the opinion of the democrats. the republicans who worked on the legislation. the record makes it clear and under well-established statutory interpretation approach is that it has been

repeatedly employed not just by liberal democratic judges, but by conservative judge is like some on the current supreme court, you interpret a statute based on the intended meeting and the overall structure of the statute provides for. so this should be an easy case. frankly it probably shouldn't have even been taken up. i think it is important for us to go ahead and assume the supreme court is going to do what most legal scholars who have looked at this would expect them to do. but look, i have said before and i will repeat again if in fact you have a contorted reading of the statute that says federal

exchange is don't provide subsidies for folks who are participating in this exchanges, that throws off how the exchange operates. it means millions of people who are obtaining insurance was subsidies suddenly are getting subsidies. many can't afford it. they pull out and the assumption the insurance companies price their insurance suddenly gets thrown out the window and it would be disrupted not just by the folks in the exchanges but for those insurance markets in the states generally. so it is a bad idea. it is not something that should be done based on a twisted interpretation of four words as we were reminded repeatedly a

couple thousand page piece of legislation. what is more the thing is working. part of what is bizarre about the whole thing is we haven't had a lot of conversation about obamacare because none of them come to pass. get 60 million people get health insurance. the overwhelming majority are satisfied. and hasn't had an adverse effect on people who already have health insurance. the only effective patterns they now have an assurance they won't be prevented from getting health insurance if they've got a preexisting condition and they get additional protection with the health insurance they do have. costs have come in substantially lower than even our estimates about how much it would cost. health care inflation overall has continued to be of some of the lowest levels in 50 years.

none of their predictions about how this would work has come to pass. and so i am optimistic that the supreme court will play it straight when it comes to an interpretation. and i should mention that if it didn't congress could fix this whole thing with one sentence provision. but i'm not going to go into a long speculation anticipating disaster. >> why not have a plan b? >> i want to just make sure that everybody under and that if you have a model where all the pieces cannot and a whole bunch

of scenarios not just as it relates to health care, but all kinds of stuff i do where if somebody does something that doesn't make any sense, then it is hard to fix. this would be hard to fix. fortunately there's no reason to have to do it. it doesn't need fixing. thank you are a match. to the people of germany in bavaria. you guys were wonderful hosts. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> okay, we are going to get started. first, let me thank you for your leadership and community. we've been friends for a long time. he has held many community leadership over the years and i thank you for that. it is great to be here at the matthewa henson elementary school neighborhood association and we thank you all. we are of course in the neighborhood in which the tragic episodes concerning freddie gray occurred. let me start if me start if i might me start if i might select ignore federal delegation which includes senator barbara mikulski, my teammate in the

captain of our team in the united states senate along with our three members of the house, lasher coming to did an incredible job to calm the community, jobs are by and dutch reverse burger. we have been strategizing as what we can do to deal with problems we saw in baltimore. we love baltimore. i lived all my life in baltimore. i am proud of the city. what happened in baltimore could have happened in other cities. we know that you would want to make sure we take the right steps. so there are two areas we are trained to deal with in regards to what happened in baltimore. one is to restore the confidence of the community that police are on their side that the police and the community are working together. have introduced some legislation to deal with at the end of the racial profiling.

we've got to end it in our community and anywhere in america. i've introduced legislation that helps people who have had problems. there's not a single person here and not a single person in the united states senate who hasn't had a second chance. we've got to recognize the criminal justice system has not treated everyone fairly and give people a helping hand. this past week i was at second chance in baltimore which is incredible what they do to help people who i finish their prison sentences. they also do a great job on a commercial venture have taken the old materials from buildings and recycling them into new product that are good marketplace. we've got to do a better job in dealing with the police and an accountability justice and safety. a second area is we have to deal with the rebuilding of our city.

rebuilding businesses. many who are badly damaged are not destroyed by what happened. we have to provide opportunity for people and not means looking at what we do with our young people. do they have recreational facilities that are first rate so they can do what young people do and that is they don't like to sit around. do we have opportunities? that's a huge part of what we're trying to do. president obama convened a meeting in the white house for a federal congressional delegation with his team and he had representatives from most of the federal agencies. we have the secretary of hud the housing because we know we have a housing problem. we have a housing problem in this community in many communities the baltimore. it starts with good schools.

we want good schools and opportunity for all of our children. we had the small business administration represented and the administrator has been in baltimore and there's a center of the not too far from here to help businesses get the help from the small businesses ministration. the department of justice is there and we question the department of justice on a good chance opportunities and getting the funds in baltimore. they were actively engaged. the department of health because one of the things for a neighborhood to be a place where you want to live you have to make sure you have access to health care. also make sure you are not a food desert and have opportunities for healthy food choices in your community. all important areas to have a healthy community and neighborhood. point is the most that i've heard in the reason i wanted to be here.

i think reverend jerome stevens for making these arrangements. what i heard more and more as those of us in government that can make a difference, are they really listening to the community finally make our policy decisions. whether it's the mayor of baltimore or united states senator, are we really engaging the community? you're realistic about that but are we making sure we put those resources where the community wants it to be? that is one of the points i want to make sure that we reach out and talk to the people in the community and understand your priorities so as we go forward we are in the we are together and we're using every opportunity to give hope and opportunity to people of our community. that's why want to be here to listen to your concerns.

i assure you i will take it back to our team. we work very closely with mayor stephanie rawlings blake mayor of baltimore. working closely with our state team. the faith communities working together. the one baltimore with my prior. the information will go into the equation so we can try to move our city forward in the most progressive way possible. i went into the businesses. i've been around here. people have an incredible amount in this community. there's a lot of frustration. we want to know how we can work together so we all have a great future. >> senator, it is an honor to

have you here. we won't share with anyone, with known each other and may differ works to get rich. some of those have lived here so long to remember these warehouses before the school was built. many of us go back quite a ways. matthew henson is in a neighborhood called winchester. we are abetting to sam tom and one of the biggest challenges we've had since the civil unrest depending what you want to call it is a significant number of our faith leaders, a significant number of elected officials really were cognizant of the area we are rid. they've gone and we don't begin but we had 14 businesses damaged during the riots in our neighborhood. we had my businesses in our

neighborhood relay and then sam tom did. most everyone felt when i got to northern fulton we had one of the owners of one of the properties that the rest of the community had not been here. we actually had 14 businesses. but made our situation a little bit different and a little more damaging as we have no food market share. we have not had a food market since october and ironically one of the small convenience stores definitely wasn't a food market in a fresh fruits, vegetables, but it did have built, orange juice bread. that is one of the stores that also got hit. one of my long-time friends who are sitting here, a day after the riot he came down the street and had a very perplexing look on his face. i've known him all my life.

i'm 64 appeared to 63. i can tell by his face something was terribly wrong. he said things are so bad we don't have a place to buy toilet paper. the few stores we had were gone. we have a plethora of liquor stores. we actually have 15 liquor stores in our neighborhood. only two parts of baltimore city have more liquor stores than we do. other than that, we have a plethora of liquor stores, no food stores. we have candy stores and what we found was two days after the riot, we didn't know where did we go, what did we do. one of the greatest things happening to this community is matthew henson elementary school. not only because they're educating children that they have been feeding people out of their food pantry.

the one who does it day in, day out, month in, month out. she needs to quadruple salaries so somebody at north ave. here's the spirit we looked at it and said how did we get services how do we get food into space, toilet paper, diapers for children when we had no place to get it. everybody was at northern pennsylvania but we have not seen anyone here. it's not that we're pointing fingers or angry or upset. we just have to tout like we saw it. we began to call the officials. have you seen this store? have you seen that sort. so things have been real tough because we didn't have a food market in the beginning but it was compounded by the riots.

>> what food service here at the close? >> stop shop and save that we had on monro. if we get an opportunity to walk today, you will need to know that a store was even there. the owner come at pete flanigan which has been a good community partner for us acquired the property but could not find any food market to come in and replace stop shop and save. it is just vacant land right now. >> where is the closest supermarket? >> a little more than a mile. the health department has officially considered us in a food desert. what makes it challenging as we have the challenges because the few small stories we have run out so fast because there's so many people tried to get them. one of the biggest challenges by

creating cost you $7.50 one-way paid $15 to ways whether you use a cab. yes, we have a significant number. in some cases that's the only way they get somewhere. what the neighbors are seen as $15 may be a nice meal for their families. so we've basically been challenged to make neighbors go with each other that you don't know. but it created even more problems. additional problems in the western police district. our homicide rate starting in march of this year. we had seven blocks within walking this. we've had one shooting during

this 24 day period of time. i will say excuses, but that's the best word we can use. we have neighbors don't care who is responsible even today, 24 days later we've had police lights sitting in the block never been on. we still don't have all of those flights on. two days ago we had four roadhouses totally burned out. neighbors living in all four. it's like one tragedy after another. but we were able to discern is the scheduled sam tom winchester and highland park. these are the three communities

the baltimore city health department has written two significant reports. one in 2008 and one in 2011. what they did was help profile these three communities. we have set up a meeting for august 1st to bring the community together. but the data is really, really scary. 57% of the homes in our community make less than 25000. 55.7% median house income less than 25000 compared to 33%. unemployment 21% of 16 years of age or older compared to 11% in the city. as i go through these statistics, we are almost doubled here. sand talent winchester and highland park. 30% of the families live in poverty compared to 15% of baltimore city.

36.9% are headed up a single trans were 26% are in the city. 43% of residents 60 years of age or 16 and 64 are not in the labor force at all. that's almost half of our neighborhood. education. 75% of our residents 25 years or older have a high school degree or less compared to 52% of education in baltimore city. we look at every issue. alcohol to. alcohol density 8.1 compared to 4.6. one data after another. this is the report done by johns hopkins city of baltimore health department. as a result of the data we have the list goes on and on about the death rates. higher death rate compared to

the rest of the city. 65.3% is your life in this neighborhood for baltimore city is 71.8. 50% of the dad's inner neighborhood are avoidable were 36% means we are dying of things that could be handled. i don't want to bore you with all the data the data substantiate how devastating health and life expectancy is in this community. when you add on things like no food market is increases in liquor stores we've had a significant increase in stores now. lucy is our cigarettes that you sell individually. you can't go to many stores around here where you can buy them. and who is buying them are young people. we want to have on a couple issues we feel we are one of the largest association with more

than 3000 per resident. we cover more most of our blogs or row houses which means we have anywhere between 40 to 50 houses in the block. the most important thing to the neighborhood association is matthew henson elementary school and our children. that is our most important priority. we're so happy to have our illustrious vice president here in my left side and on your right side the lady who handles the food pantry. we have five tractor-trailers full of food. we had just about every member of the reasons here. had they not been here we may still be trying to one load. within two hours, each day that we did it we say to the principal, vice principal and a great staff here within two hours of food was gone every day. they are still doing this

because her neighbors have nowhere to go. even little things like a diaper. they have no stores to go to. i wouldn't say too much is being done illegally. they are selling pampers individually. they are breaking up in the pack and selling it because that's how desperate the neighborhoods are. we have no pharmacies. we have no health center. we have no senior center. we have a recreation center that has three rooms on one of those is a computer room. the wreck center is run by a medical baltimore. they do an excellent job. but what they have is the equipment for three rooms. xo at center but there's just so many things we don't have. we are asking that there be a reduction in the class sizes. our class sizes here are astronomical.

.. we are saying we are almost a double the negative as any other community. we have no of mental help committee.

in our zip code where the highest recurring rate of former felons come one guys returning rates of folks that have been addicted, that come into our community. they our friends family neighbors. we welcomed them but we are inundated with everything that's negative and not enough this positive. i know i've been going, i really -- >> no, it's very helpful. very helpful. i was going to share with you a study that was done in baltimore about two years, a year and a half ago that did a study of life expectancy is zip code. i don't know the life expectancy of the zip code you've mentioned but it varies by as much as 30 years, depending where you live. 30 years. that's a pretty dramatic difference. now there's not one cause for that. some of it is violence. some of it is not having healthy

food. some of it is not having recreational facilities. some of it is not having health care facilities. a lot about the reasons why we have serious issues. we've got to deal with it. nick can we give you a chance? are we in your area? nick mosby of course represents the count. it's nice to have him here. >> that you, senator, and mr. president. we understand and know the structural issues that plagued the community. the one thing i keep leaning on is one time rahm emanuel said the worst thing you can do is waste the kreuziger i think the lens of the world was placed on west baltimore a couple weeks ago and there's been a lot of attention, a lot of focus and it's important we kind of leaned on our federal, state and local folks to try to in the summer these decade old issues. at the end of the day the thing that we're talking about were not created overnight, but we have to ensure that we are putting the right things in place to try to eradicate, try

to change the trajectory. my hat is off to this community because at the end of the day they continued to fight. they don't allow anything to go unanswered. they try to everyone accountable to deliver services. and they're the type of community that we need throughout the city of baltimore. in this area, too, we know that the statistics are significantly damning especially some of the disparities about health and about employment and around all the critical things of having a healthy community. but i think there's also a lot of -- a lot of positive we can try to build off of like the metro. not many communities have opportunity to the metro directly in the committee which talks about transit oriented people that. and like anchor institutions like hopkins state university.

i think what we have to do is understand and know all the wrong and all the issues from failed policies and things that have been caused on this committee for decades but also develop an action plan and game plan earn some the things that we know our anchors in the committee. just real quickly. we know that the hebrew are offering asylum will be well underway so that's an exciting project. we know where the science technology building as well as the health and human services building for coppin state right on north avenue. right now we are working with neighborhood design centers to a street escape plan for all of north avenue from charlton street all the way to help the street third and -- certain things like that we need to continue to build blunder identify the low hanging fruit and develop a real true actionable plan in like an urban type of study to figure how we can forever change the trajectory of these communities. >> that's great. i thank you for that i really do

think you've got to build on your strengths, if you point out. there's a lot of strong anchor facilities that are in this committee that we need to build on. and improved engines that as leverage to do in the areas where we have weaknesses. not having a good story is unacceptable. that's unacceptable. to have to spend $15 for round-trip in order to build your grocery bill is ridiculous. >> we talk about food deserts are we are in iraq racial data. look at the the quality of field and a second the quality of feel to it, look up the quote at recreational centers. this is something we don't the folks at continue to fight for and will continue to fight for. -it's the premier quality recreational facility in central west baltimore. you look at the statistics of the number of children in this area it all directly ties to the belief that having opportunity of doing other things. a premier quality recreational facility is in sore need in central west baltimore.

>> i think rest of people here that are involved in recreational. where do you where do your people play? what fields? >> my name is michael rosenband and it's an honor to be here i am the head baseball coach a carver vocational-technical high school, matthew a. henson eventually. we don't have a baseball field. and so we practiced at nearby easterwood park which is across the street from carver. as part of the baseball program we have one of our alumni here. he played for the 2012 carver baseball team. way we set the program officially to empower students to address some of these challenges. so applying the skills they are learning to address these challenges. and so for easterwood park for example, we went through the process of engaging the

community to see if it is a potential solution to build a baseball field. through that process we realized it wasn't the right size. but we still were able to address the fact that the junior varsity girls team at carver dozen of the field and so we were able to collaborate with the committee and to the softball field. and also there's another diamond area, we made it into a little bit feel to serve the historic little dig in the neighborhood. we've learned from that experience. we are still trying to ultimately build a baseball field. so we are continuing to engage the community and try to find green space or space that's been vacated to pursue this as something that we can address not only for carver but it would also help james mosher, for

example. they have two beautiful little league fields. windows kids turn 13 they run out of places to play. and so the council talks about not having adequate places to west baltimore doesn't have a baseball field and jeff coppin state university which is here. david division i baseball team and to have a baseball field. they travel to the other countably baseball. baseball, we talk a lot about food and health and i just think it's a metaphor for the inequality that we have here in west baltimore. >> senator camp i wanted to try to tie in with education, but you at least need to know is the oldest, continuously dumbly african-american baseball team for children isn't james mosher. we literally have 16 baseball field in west baltimore. not baltimore city got just in west baltimore. you can't live because the crest is to become a three feet high. the reason we know that baseball fields, they have what's called

ask doctor goes on the metal facilities behind. it's not that we necessarily don't have -- we have the space. it's not maintained, but i didn't want us to get away from what matthew a. henson neighborhood consisted of the most important, and that is our children and their education. we have our vice principal here, ms. scroggins. to have some things that we feel are imperative to help them continue teaching our scholars that we have here. when you look at the fact that our classes are so large, it's a wonder that they're doing to america but they're doing and that's what they're doing, creating miracles. i want you turn it over if i could have let ms. scroggins at least share with the school feels they need that they are not getting. >> good evening. doc is absolutely correct. when we think about technology we are starving for

state-of-the-art computer center. we are not in the age of taking a part assessment and doing everything on the computer. we had to strategic plan how we're going to find the time to assess all of our students. because for the most part we have computers that are outdated. we have to cocaine each morning before each session to see how many are actually going to be working on a given day because they are so old. with starting classes were it's taken us probably longer probably two weeks longer than it should to get assessments because are not computers in each classroom there some days that are working. the public about 30 computers in the room, and some days we are lucky if we have 20 of them working. not to mention we don't have central air into building so that's another problem. >> twenty computers for the whole schools because we have maybe one or two in each of the classrooms, not all working. so realistically we depend on the computer lab as well as

technology spent to know the number of students at? >> about 387 students total. >> tell me about the class-size. >> the class sizes are extremely large. we have two teachers on each level and we have 30 plus in most of our classes. i think with the exception of grade five. it's about 25 26. our pre-k and kindergarten teachers can we get the afford to pay for two to be disposed of for my desk understaffing so to have a lot of money for other supplies. what we can to sort of supplement that is to hire temps as opposed to hire an extra teacher because instead were to put this extra teacher because all of the classes are so large so we figured we would start at the molding years in our pre-k and enter kindergarten classes. so we do have temps of there. another issue that we are fighting -- >> so these are assistance

basically? >> well, yes, you can call the assistance for lack of a better word. also we have no afterschool programs. we don't have money for that the acting we're spending most of our money on staffing. >> if you have money for afterschool programs, tell me what that would mean. what would you do? >> we need interventions. we have a lot of our students that are not reading on grade level so that it wasn't enough because math is just the numbers anymore. they have to read. i have to solve problems written problems. so, therefore, we need interventions after school. we don't have money to hire the intervention teachers during the day as we once did. so we are strapped for the. luckily we have a good step that does contribute and give them their time after school for free. so they are tutoring students after school. we are using material that for the most part are probably outdated. teachers are relying on free items on the computer, so we are in need of afterschool programs.

and then our students don't have anywhere to go. >> i was going to ask you that. i think if they come from families where their parent or parents might be working? >> some. that is the instance with some of our students and a likely we do have easterwood that's up the street where some of our students go. and it is to say as toxic, that's a three-run facility. so when i leave in the evening sometimes it's late and we have six and seven year old out of dark riding bikes up and down the street because they have nowhere to go but we are in dire need of afterschool programs. funding for afterschool programs programs. >> that's money well invested and there's some efforts being made nationally to increase the afterschool funding issues. i know this is a strapped for funds come and, of course, a lot of the money comes to this day. we know the problems of this year's general assembly and getting extra money for the city. there's no question this is

challenging. i thank your teachers for being willing to stay later and to help. >> and i really feel that technology would play several important part considering the class-size is because those teachers aren't able to intervene with every child like they need to in small groups. i felt that if we had a computers, at least there would be an area in the classroom for small groups to practice for the reaching or just some become give them that extra half an hour to intervene on those skills where they are lacking. so we are in dire need. >> i agree with a pretty good if i did take my top priority, it would be education and dealing with our young people. and afterschool programs and recreation centers and all those issues to keep them busy and out of trouble, and gives them the opportunity to get the skills

they need to advance. that to me has to be our highest priority. but for anybody to grow and to be stronger that the local businesses. and alain hfs years from the small business administration. we talked before. they have been there from day one since the problem. i would you want to thank maria who is the administrator for the small business administration. she has been to the neighborhoods. she has walked the streets. she is committed to finding creative ways to help businesses. most other tools are loans. a lot of businesses can't afford loans. i understand that. and you certainly don't have the time to figure out how to do this. well, they have brought this entity because it is right up pennsylvania north at the library where you can get the information you need, fill out the work. people will help you, et cetera. 's we've come to the neighborhood. doc mentioned the work i think

he said, 14 businesses that were damaged by the unrest. that's horrible and i know it affects a lot of people in the community. i know we've at least one business owner here if we are very happy to have the owner of oxford liquors. they are supportive of the neighborhood. some are not. at least they our friend is the case on the corner of north and fulton. is one of the businesses that is still trying to get things put back in. we would love for offering to introduce himself and share with us. and he is seated next to the lady from the sba was really good. is a store wasn't open but last evening for those stores that were not open we were physically taken the materials that we got from sba at the library, and for those stores that were open i was physically stapling put on the door. for julia taken down it from his door and he saw my face and came

out. we are honored. please share any of your concerned, any of your thoughts. >> yes. first of all i'm very honored to have you here. i just took over the business less than a year before the instant. i'm so sad about this incident, but we are all grown up. we have to overcome, but right now i face a little bit financial support but that's not a big deal. why i'm year -- why i am here my neighbor was around the matthew a. henson elementary center elementary school.

so i'm asking to focus on elementary school first. you have a lot of things to do, but first you told us priorities is elementary school. preschool, focus on elementary school first. we have to deal with -- >> thank you for saying that. i really do believe that children have to be a top priority i agree with the neighborhood leaders, but we want businesses to be able to do well in our community. and we really need to reach out. and what we talk to some of our federal partners and other agencies as to how we can get

food stores located in underserved areas how we can get health clinics in underserved areas, how we can get rec centers in underserved areas. all those with a cardboard. and if we had that by the way would be better for businesses in the community, just general you'll do better if you that type of positive opportunities and you don't have to go elsewhere in order to get those positive outcomes. all the businesses benefit from the community. that's how we communicate stronger. either way boarded-up housing doesn't know. we also to deal with the housing issue. we talk to secretary castro who is executive housing and urban development about what we could do in that regard. so he's been helpful to us. a lot of these issues i think we could tell you, all of these are local. city has a ticket of the schools. or a state has to take care of housing. we are all in this together. we are not trying to bounce from one level of government. we all have to figure this out.

nick has the hardest job at this ago because he can't turn to anyone else. the federal government can push things on the state the state can push things on the county. the counties can push the ball in yemen is pelted. when you're in the city your the backstop, the last level of what can be done. we all want to be in this together. what you were telling me he is very, very helpful in your priorities. i've made a list. and one of the things were going to try to do, i'm going to try to explain this. it came out at one of our meetings. and that is we don't want to miss, i love the bomb in manuals, you may come you don't want to miss a crisis. we don't want to miss an opportunity. we have opportunities we didn't have -- rahm emanuel's -- let's make sure it made the right parties as you point out. then when it cut the metastable to evaluate whether we have done

things right. we've got to have some way to judge. one what the judge is how many of our children are actively engaged in constructive activities after school. that's a good metric to figure out. let's take a look at the student body to see with our after school hours. see whether they are in enrichment programs, athletic programs, helping community, safe environment to do their work. that's something we can try to figure out the other metrics of course we have the diversity in our business establishments that a king and he needs? july to have a cleaner come a pharmacist, a food store, he would like to fresh produce. that's what you want it in the community. that's a metric. so when this is all said and done it we accomplish those goals? and quite frankly the schools are always a challenge but it

has to be a highest priority. it looks like from looking at what you have in your pre-k you have the more difficult problem on class size if you don't get attention here. he does it understand your pre-k classes pretty well at maximum. >> i want to hit on a couple more things. housing 39% about houses have led him been compared to 11% in baltimore city. major health issue. we look out households that get the energy cut off. 86.9% number of energy cut offs per 10,000 households in our community compared to 39% in baltimore city. almost triple the number. the housing issue is another issue. vacant houses in our neighborhood, we average somewhere between eight to 11

they can are boarded up houses in every block. that's not a week that goes by that the drug dealers are not confiscating the houses there we had one just two days ago 1700 block of payson. they went in the back of the monroe street boarded up house and they go in and sell drugs. the action live in these houses. you can't find too many houses, block that does have boarded up houses but don't want to get off the education issue. mike dunn has dealt with library since the lawsuit of -- my aunt was the one who sued because they were not allowing african-americans to be in management positions. thurgood marshall represented or. i am so committed to libraries that what we have upstairs is a collection of books. it's not a library. our children for them to be as educated as we need them to be and not on have to access to

computers which also don't have, but they need the of the books and libraries that are updated, that are in so many different areas that they should be able to pick up something to help them. we need a state-of-the-art library. my family grew up in libraries. it's like this event that we are having on august 1 attempt to address all of the negatives that have been reported for two major reports from 2008, 2007 report from hopkins and health department it's not like we have to make up the data. the data is there. it's just coming up with finding solutions to these problems. i want to at least have one of our residents speak about the challenges they've been having. we are now in day 24 getting all kinds of excuses why there

is not writing to if ago today we will see police lights sitting, have never been on. why even bring them speak with you mentioned the outing but that's benefit of this utility company. cities when utilities utility blending cities. lights on and off. 16 santana block of smallwood lights on and off spent on these public not private concert i got the street lights. >> the first light went out on may 9 come and i called it the next morning i went out around the 15th, it would block. you call, they told us it would be 21 days. that would have been yesterday. >> did they tell you what the problem was? >> first they didn't know. then they said it's a broken wire. would have done, a hard wire it up for lights in the

neighborhood. they stay on all day. otherwise we have no lights. we had a city police lights. there's one on baker on 700 block of smallwood. they put them there last thursday and walked away. >> it's not only dangerous the way they did it. it's wasteful and makes no sense. we will check that out. we will see come to our staff work with the councilman and see whether we speak of without you got the lights replaced. >> we will work to try to get that. it seems like something we can get solved. >> the issue of losing poorhouses and the 700 block of smallwood, the counterpoints a couple of issues. >> you lost them -- >> within two days ago. they were burned, deliberately.

just two days ago. 1700 block of smallwood, individual who held legally works, i guess i've got to be honest he's got an illegal car wash that he was working. we know the name. we know the individual. we are hoping the police have to buy another we have neighbors would indicate that at least one saw him pulling the gasoline on the porch and then poorhouses actually burned. it not only points out the problems that we have with individuals but we have a serious mental health issue in this community. oftentimes we try to look the other way. we are talking about our mothers, our fathers our sons and daughters. it's not like we're pointing fingers. they say it's somebody not us but it is us. we have to admit we have a serious health problem. we have far too many former sex offenders in this neighborhood. we have the pictures on them. we have the addresses that

deliver it all of us have to share in the good the bad the not so good. certain communities like ours are overburdened with what should be shared with all of us. sex registry numbers are enormous. we had three candidates come and meet at easter would where we would share what we had so we will be on the look out. one on the block here one of the block year. they're all around the elementary school. >> to me about your relationship with the district and the police police. >> we just met last evening with a private meeting they attend to do it. one neighborhood decided to go through all four of them would meet privately with the new head of the western district. western district is looking from our vantage point look at the data, the toughest district in the city of baltimore. we have had maybe seven to nine

heads of the western district in the last eight to nine just the it's almost like one every other year. we have not had a representative of the western district on the civilian review board person have not been to me in five years. right now we are in month number nine i think can sensitive of last year -- >> there's a lot to be said about knowing the problems on your community, and in working with law enforcement police, states attorney local officials to deal with safety in the committee as a team effort. you first have to understand the challenges you have. we know we have drug. we understand that. there's nothing neighborhood anywhere in in maryland on this country that doesn't have it would probably i just want you to know that. that's not unique. we know if it took probably coming over to deal with the drug problem.

it with other areas of major concern we need to know about it. there has to be a common understanding between the community and the police and then we work with law enforcement, states attorney office. we work with the council. we work with the state to try to develop a strategy to keep communities safe working with the committee. that's not been done it looks like. >> this community is anxious has a great history working directly with the police. but when you fill out -- what's the name of the form lacks crimewatch for. there's a crimewatch form than it is controlled so that when they call the place they don't have to give their address or theirphone number. they give a crimewatch number. our members eventually this form out since september of last year. we have not gotten not one processed. the police is blaming the computer system with a city. we have done this month after month after month. we were in a meeting last evening and even ahead of our police committee relations is

trying to make an excuse. it to us it's inexcusable. what computer problem that you that you can't resolve from september? we have had i would say may be 60 or 70 residents filling out the form and the forms have not been processed. they are reluctant which we understand. surprises like myself we are in a meeting together. we get the calls three, 4:00 and that the neighbors call us to get to use our number to get to the police because the police department of the city of baltimore has some kind of computer problem that they can't process the form. this is western. >> its across the entire city and it's not a police issue, doc. it's the mayors office of information technology. they are the ones than the 911 but also handled the block watch number and have not been able to get the system right. >> we are working with the u.s. department of justice in cooperation with the baltimore

city to try to identify ways to correct some of these fundamental issues we have. and by the way, they're doing it in a manner not in a confrontational manner with the baltimore. we don't want this to be confrontational. they are doing to in a way for that we can improve the policing in baltimore, particularly with the community. and then use that as a national model that can be used in other communities around the country. because again what's happening here in west baltimore is not unique just to baltimore. it's happening all over the country. we've got to change this. so we are hopeful that the process, and i know that there will be i know they started to make contact, representatives from the department of justice that will be in the committee to talk to the neighborhoods in a very frank way. and there are some fundamental fundamental problems and begun to figure them out. i will absolutely make sure that they were aware of the concerns

that you have raised. who has not had a chance? yes, sir. >> hello, senator. thank you for coming. thank you for listening. we believe that you're not only listing but you're going to take our concerns and try to help us solve them. the violence that affected all of us of every day but i'm a long life of baltimore and. there was a destruction right of the myopic it was just crazy. bottom line i feel that the biggest issue, one of the biggest issues is jobs. we have very high unemployment and those who are employed or underemployed, very low wages. so we can get some more jobs and more job training that will solve a lot of the other problems. we need jobs and job training. we have a lot of projects that come into community construction

and let other people coming in from long distances to do this work. when we have people here who are qualified who could do the work. they are standing by watching these other people go into doing the work and we are blocked out of it. it's illegal, number one and it is unfair just immoral that we have hundreds and thousands of young people, men and women, who can do these jobs and they're not given the chance. we need more minority jobs more minority job training can more minority contracts. they need to be enforced. we get more jobs to solve a lot of problems. jobs jobs, jobs, spent well, thank you. as i said, education is my number one priority and as i matured to my number two priority, which is jobs. i agree with you. jobs present opportunities for people's future. tickets and dignity just in income gives them a reason to try to do better and to get more education and more training to advance in their employment.

but you have to have a job in order to do that. and also and am working to are less likely to get into trouble. so for our young people have jobs, particularly in the summertime, have an experience, maybe it doesn't take a lot but it gets into trained they need it's what we need to do so jobs, jobs, jobs you are absolutely correct or we have a lot of programs and we'll try to focus those programs on communities such as west baltimore. we have hub zones which are aimed at economic tools for businesses to locate in high unemployment areas such as this community. we have tax credits under the new markets which is being used widely in baltimore to create job opportunities. we need a transportation bill. that will get lots of construction jobs. that's good jobs. let's get those jobs moving into let's hire the people in areas that have the highest levels of unemployment.

i already mentioned on the reentry. let's stop, check the box but let's have it would have opportunities for jobs. not one of us has not had a second chance. so let's stop denying people economic opportunities just because they haven't have made a mistake once in their life. we've got to change the whole matrix but we've got to more jobs here in this community. you are absolutely correct about that. we have strategies to do it. let's get the metrics to see whether we deliver. >> senator, back in september i believe of last year imagine snippet association had a press conference and we called for a u.s. -- matthew a. henson -- a congressional hearing on heroin. i would say seven of this committee presents around this area all agreed that heroin had spiked up again. we can go right now three blocks down the street. i can take five minutes and come

back and bite you some of the purest heroin that the state of maryland has. we were asked, and i did testify on behalf of matthew a. henson to the governor's task force dealing with heroin. county after county after county said one thing that is a little bit different that baltimore is different from the other countries. the overwhelming majority of those individuals who basically indicated they started on heroin indicated they bought it here in baltimore. there's no reason why there can't be a major task force to stop what is actually in broad daylight. we can go right now to either baker and appleton, baker and monroe or baker and a keen and you can buy heroin, anything you think you want as a drug. you don't even have to ask for it. they will tell you out loud what they are selling. this is every day. we are saying that it should not take the governor to have his

relative lose his or her life as a result of heroin and some other type of drug for this to become again an epidemic. we have been saying since the timber that this thing is out of hand. it's our seniors, our seniors are actually buying the drugs. to 17 18-year-olds are selling it on bikes, walking. we have a place brighter monroe and baker one plus one. we were happy thanks to one of our leaders, he suggested to the owner you got to put a came inside and outside because it should come it looks like a car wash. they drive up, sell their drugs in broad daylight. we don't know whether or not it's a slowdown or how do they said last evening the meeting we went there were giving the police quote-unquote giving us a breather. that's what was said from robert goldman what other

representatives. the police told them that they were giving our communities a breather. that's why we are not seeing the police. we do want to ask for another state of emergency, but it is clear. we need more than what we are getting, that the neighbors are fearful, then neighbors missing drugs being sold every day in front of their eyes. and the police department is within walking distance. >> let me agree completely with you on the heroin drug issue. that are 24 political jurisdictions in maryland. i've been to all 24 political jurisdictions. header one is mentioned in every one of our political jurisdictions as a problem. the number of deaths related to heroin overdose have increased dramatically in all parts of our state. it is a crisis, crisis in baltimore city but it is also crisis in baltimore county. howard county, harper county,

every county in our state. we need to have a comprehensive way to deal with it. we have said this before and we have not done. i must say it's not just a maryland problem. it's a national problem. it really does mean much tougher on the supply but also deal with the demand. you've got to do with both sides of this. our demand strategies have never worked. so you need to take new approaches on the demand side. that requires that we don't need to lock people up who are users. we need to help them with treatment. i just want to bring to your attention not too far from there, you mentioned mental health services, but not too far from there's a place called mosaic which opened up just a couple weeks ago. it survived the rights by the way. there was no damage done to the it was just about ready to open. is located -- so when helping --

isn't on counterpart charles? charles near 22nd rather. it's a mental health addiction center. it gets many of its referrals through the criminal justice system but it's been incredibly effective work. we need five more of those mosaic centers. but i invite you to go by and take a look at and talk to the people who are behind it because i think they have done, and they're touching people's lives. they are turning people around. you've got to start someplace. it's a big problem. you've got to start someplace. let's see whether we can get a type program here in this community. so that we have a place where we can help those who have addiction problems so that they know that there's people on their side. at the same time let's work to make sure that the people who are selling on the streets can't do that the way they're doing it. and let's make sure that they

know we'll be tough to stop the demand side of the equation. i think we can make progress, i really do. we can't get in on this. it's got to start a neighborhood by neighborhood. i will work with you on that. >> a little issue but it is a big issue. we last year adopted a lot. one block below is. a lot normative for the grass to cut it was known with equation, we to be $60.70 tall before they cut it? the question was how make pieces of furniture would we find in that lot once we found the grass was cut down? we acquired that lot and a poetically mr. baker just left mr. pak missile by the three senior citizens and actually cut the grass. we see no more furniture. we do see maybe a potato chip bag or something that blows on it but the mere fact that we cut

that lot every week then neighbors respect it. they love it. i can tell they are picking up the trash when we don't. we would like to come and his older that we are. he looks good but his older. we would like to acquire at least two if not three more lives because we see the positive impact it has on neighbors. the neighbors are private. stephen flanagan sense give us a little over $2000 to build big sides essay welcome to matthew henson to the neighbors are proud of it spent when she gets lots we want you to click of a football field we've already got them to here's what we need. we need a sit down for. we old guys can't be cutting all this grass. the one that we have at payson and pressman is one that we have -- we are too long more. we were able to get one from a liquor store when they wanted to transfer. there's no way physically weak

guys would be able to keep living spent we've got to try to find you whether i'm sure there's a lot of people out of there. we will try to find you one. >> i know that sounds small but it is big. >> can we share -- >> i live here in matthew henson community. i heard about the elementary school. i'd like to put a plug into carver high school where i graduated from. there are students at down there that are into the vocational part. they need help in certain areas. i know that they have taken away i guess auto mechanic and some other areas. they need to be looked at to upgrade fiscal concerning the technology as well.

because we get students from carver, from all over the city your so please don't forget that. >> i agree with you at i am a strong proponent of our technical education, but what we're trying to do and i visited many of the high schools that programs from college preparatory to the trades all in this under the same roof doing it for effectively, very effectively. we want children to do reach their maximum potential, what they want to do. we need people that are trained in the trades. we desperately do. and we want to be part of her high school opportunity. so yes we agree completely with that. there are good jobs out there and we're working with public trade unions on some of these areas. cities have some programs mayor

daley with. and i agree with you this needs to be a continued priority. that looks like an west baltimore we could be doing a better job so i'll absolutely take that back. yes. how are you speak with good. thank you doc. i was all the around the corner. i got lost twice trying to continue. spent i'm sorry about that. maybe we need to get you to come to more of our meetings. >> people should know willie ray confused. i seem at every meeting. >> forty-five years. first on want to compliment you for the racial profiling bill because i'm working with mothers against violence through brutality. and, of course, doctor cheetham and others work in this area.

and unhappy about this new approach because you know that's where my heart is. and, of course, the gang banging. doc, i know you are on this go to the what about recreation? because if you move just one core figure connects corporate i'm working hard as you on the issue. brothers don't happen. the city is on its way to a. and i'm trying to get each church to adopt a quarter with drug activities are festering where youth hang out at. and find a vacancy for property renovate that they can probably enter into a safe haven. because if this is not going to provide recreation, the church or community organization ought

to because they are the most active and static institution in neighborhood. so what are your feelings about this? i want to end on this. i was with an emergency meeting tuesday calling all clergy to come out and see what they can do as a community. i was glad to know that jamal is not getting off the freddie gray issue ended with a homicide we had last month and five homicides and one of 15 homicides without issue. i know your heart is on a. >> let me summarize let me tell you what i'm going to take back to mike prior and take back to our federal team into the mayor from this discussion.

and that is we've got to make progress. and for this committee for the matthew henson neighborhood community, what i would like to see us do is deal with issue you raised, willie. they are vacant lots your. it seems to me that there are ways of converting those vacant lots into a plus for the committee, was at the ball field of whether it is what doc is talking about the so that they would we can't make specific progress in that area. we want to have a food store and we've got to work for a show just how we get a food store in this community. we want to deal with a much better relationship between the police and the communities so that they understand your concerns. you express them today. and they can respond to that and develop a strategy so that the community and the police are working together, not against

each other. that when you say police officer in the community, you're happy not scared. we've got to make that happen make that real. that's important. and part of that is to deal with what i think is the number one problem, and you sort of reinforces that, and that is heroin of drugs and, therefore, how can we deal with the header when drugs? let's take a look and see if we can't get some help through the committee deal with those that are using drugs. and get those were selling drugs let them know they are not welcome and that we will work to make sure that doesn't happen. by all means, our number one priority, perhaps the most difficult because there are so many schools in so many communities that want more resources, we've got to put more priority on our schools. we need smaller class size. we need better equipment. we need computers. children are just sponges. they would absorb things but

you've got to be able to give them things to do so. let's remember that our children are our priority. they are our future and let's work on that. and many other issues. i did not meet his i will not take all of the back including a more with a seat. after all, the issues that you talk about. we will take all that back. uneasy at the councilman wants to make some final comments about turn over to doc to sort of brings to an end spent i just want to comment on charges. churches are a critical part of a partnership no question. they are not active in this neighborhood. >> we will work with the faith leaders to be a part of our team. spent we need to -- >> we need it to be emphasized. >> can i say something speak with sure. go ahead. >> i am with the development corporation and the community development clergy caucus and

will be having a resource fair in matthew henson on june 13. >> good. >> to bring job training expungement and other services that are needed in this community. we have a job center were a lot of people are overwhelmed to go up there and use those services but when you to bring those services directly to the residents in the community so that they can be a part of what's going on. >> i want to say real quick. first and foremost thank you senator, for coming out. we know you are not just her to listen but you had to listen take notes and help with action. a type of initiative on said what you can use center of ours and we truly appreciate it. to the community i think you for your tireless effort for fighting for this committee. unfortunately, your community issues are not unique to this

particular committee. these issues faster through out all the places in baltimore. however, you have not decided to sit there and he let it become normalized. you speak up with a strong voice and continues to speak up. so i thank you for that. many other things the great but i will get back to my point earlier that i think we have a tremendous amount of assets resources, history and culture in this area we can build upon. it were able to come up with a realistic plan to identify the low-hanging fruit and the things we can kind of hit off and identified some long pole and attend type of item that we can develop plans to get towards come we can see that growth and see the deployment of improvement with again, like your leadership, with this community and with all that the committee could have. so i didn't think you for coming out, and doctor, thank you for all you do on a record basis. >> i want to share some of our

time with the sba. we thank you so much for being here. >> i just want to make one comment that i found. i am out of atlanta, georgia but i found baltimore to be a beautiful city. it's amazing there's a lot of positive things. we would like to encourage the remainder of the business is that it damages to come to the pennsylvania library and apply for an sba loan. i know it seems like a long been able to help you but i've been in many disasters and found that those disaster loans they work. you can recover. you can rebuild with a disaster loan so please come in sit down with a people and we will help you through the process until people who have had businesses damaged to recover. you will recover if your business qualifies one. also one other positive note. while we were that the library taking applications, we had 17 and 19-year-olds come in and ask

about entrepreneurship's. >> wonderful. >> amazing. i found it amazing. we directed them to the other side of sba who can help them establish let's put on a question about a 17 year old with a 19 year old is an adult but it's good that you have people that young interested in entrepreneurship depends on like to encourage you to do just want to come to the table and see if sba can help them on decide where we have top to access or on the sidebar we have disaster loans. we have got many people interested in exploring this is in the community so we are directing them to some of the items that are administered mentioned. >> be administered has made funds available to our region for counseling and mentoring and helping businesses get started helping young people with entrepreneurship. she's made of those available to our region so would've opportunities. we talked about opportunities for young people. the opportunities out there.

built into the library, get information and we will follow up on it. >> i'll be real brief. on behalf of matthew to neighborhood association, on behalf of matthew henson elementary school, we can't thank you enough. you can be the squeaky wheel, but the question is did anybody hear it? it's clear you heard it we just can't thank you enough. initially we were going to think of trying to do a walk but i think this discussion has been so extensive, i don't really see the great need is clear that your staff simply has a handle on what problems we are. matthew henson is just going to do as much as we can to not only address our problems but we tried almost every month to do something with the other communities. all of the labor in the area and the surrounding areas were invite and we gave the food

free. we've taken kids from all the neighborhoods around we take the kids to the baseball games. matthew henson those of us. so we try to be as inclusive as we can. we don't mind saying we will be the organization that's going to speak out when others are afraid to we're going to sit we put our children and our community first come and we will take on anybody to do we think it's in our best interest. we need services here that many communities have that we don't. when you name something, it's not here. pharmacy. don't have it. senior center, don't have it. we have no state federal or state office anywhere in here. so we need services. we document things. we do really well of documenting but we and i cannot thank you enough to please but as my good honor of oxford said please put our school and our children first. we want to be somewhere close by behind him. we can't thank you enough senator. thank you so much for being

here. >> thank you all. [applause] >> and thank you c-span. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> the new congressional directory is a handy guide to the 114th congress with color photos of every senator and house member plus bio and contact information and twitter handles. also district maps, a foldout map of capitol hill and delicate congressional committees, the president's cabinet federal agencies and state governors. order your copy today. it is $13.95 plus shipping and handling through the c-span online store at c-span.org. >> the senate about gavels in. at 11:00 eastern time resuming work on the defense programs bill for 2016. after their weekly party lunches more work on the dod bill with a vote at 3:00 eastern on and invite senator jack reed ranking democrat on the armed services committee which would limit funding for the overseas contingency fund unless caps are lifted on defense and nondefense spending. the overseas fund was great

after the september 11 attacks and is used to fund military operations related to the global war on terrorism. a number of other amendments also a weight votes. live coverage of the senator on c-span2. the president pro tempore: today's opening prayer will be offered by guest chaplain rabbi harold kravitz from minnetonka minnesota. the guest chaplain:god of all that is good, it is a privilege to be inside this capitol building, richly designed to inspire those who govern to achieve the loftiest