to wake up the u.s. senate. we are here to wake them up because if they do not do their jobs you will not have a job, and that is why we need your help and your support and your voice. and we need it loudly and clearly. let me just conclude by thanking each and every one of you. we are going to hear from business leaders that have stepped up to the plate. you are going to hear from some of your friends and colleagues that have actually gotten a chance to give jobs. i am going to ask you, "do not leave. i need you." it infuriates me. the right all these stories that talk about it all the time, but there is not one camera here. that is wrong.

i appreciate the crown and the examiner here. i want all of you on the steps. i hope the steps can hold us. we are going to do a family photo. we are going to send it all over the country. no other city has done this. we are going to send it to harry reid. we are going to send it to president obama. we are going to send it back east to congress. so you are not allowed to leave until we do this. but in the interim we are going to hear from people that have stepped up to the plate, 700 businesses. the chamber of commerce stepped up to the plate. we are going to hear from them. we are going to hear their stories. i will conclude by asking all of you to think the staff of the human services agency and their incredible leadership.

they have made this happen. they are making this happen. thank you all for being here. now i have an opportunity to hear from [unintelligible] [applause] >> that is leadership. thanks, mayor newsom. the first meeting i called up side of the human service agency walls was with the chamber of commerce. we did not know much about the program. we knew about the opportunity for businesses in san francisco to hire. we sat down with steve and he had more questions than we had answers, but those questions helped frame the program. moving forward, it was an interesting partnership, and one that was healthy. we would get a lot of very constructive criticism about how we were representing the

program. that came from the chamber and the membership of the chamber. it was very helpful in designing on the flight a program started quickly. i am glad steve is with us to say a few things. i want to thank him, the chamber, and the chamber membership on supporting this program and hiring many of you. [applause] >> thank you. i have to be honest with everyone in the room. the chamber of commerce gets a little bit nervous when someone knocks on our door and says, "i am from city hall. i am here to help." when trent knocked on our door, we opened the door and talked to him. this program sounded too good to be true. we dug into the details and we found out it was true. it was true thanks to our mayor and his insistence we put this

program into place. we worked with trent and the staff. he doubted all of the is and cross all of the tees. the results are all with you in this room. [applause] of the 700 businesses that hire 3500 of view, almost all of them are small businesses. how many of you work for a small business? small business is what makes this city run. we can never lose sight of that. on behalf of the chamber, on behalf of thousands of small businesses around san francisco, thank you mayor. thank you trend. the next time someone knocks on our door from city hall with a great idea, that door will be wide open. thank you. [applause]

>> i mentioned a meeting with the governor's office that mayor newsom arranged. there was another individual in that room. that was the governor's point person on the federal stimulus act. he is here with us today. he has since moved on to larger responsibilities. he is the director of region 9 of health and human services for the federal government. that means that to extension he is my boss. his office oversees several western states under which this federal program lies. he was supported in the governor's office. he is supportive now. i am happy he is here with us. give a round of applause. [applause] >> good morning.

can i hear a little bit of jobs now? corks jobs now. >> it is an awesome pleasure for someone who is a resident of san francisco who has been living under the leadership of this mayor. i want to acknowledge his phenomenal leadership and strength. the day he walked into the governor's office -- he has not stopped. he continues to paul and he is right. he is the national leader in helping the president and the congress see that we must extend this program. right? i want to know how many of you are employees out there that have been hired because of this program. how many of you are employers? let me tell you one thing that i

think it is important to know, because the mayor has said it, but let me say it as a representative of this obama administration. this mayor -- the reason we are here celebrating today is not just because this mayor helped you in san francisco. this mayor helped hundreds of thousands of people like you, employers and employees across the country. they now understand this program. [applause] i have one ask of you today. how many of you have friends, family, and relatives all over the united states? we would like you to call, at e-

mail, printer, facebook, and right all of those relatives. say our mayor has done it. our president and health and human services secretary want this extended. call your senators. write your senators. if you are close to washington or their district, visit your senators. say, "i benefited from this program." we will continue to partner with san francisco and everybody in region nine. with your help, we will partner across the country in order to extend this vital, phenomenal program. thank you very much. >> we are so lucky in san francisco that our representative in the house is speaker policy. we are also lucky that this

program is one of her top priorities. she has shown that time and time again. she has been out to sentences go three times in the last month and a half for events related to jobs now. we met with her staff last week. the chief of staff said, "you do not need to meet with us. we know this is a priority." she got her colleagues to pass it through the house. we are happy to have her deputy director here. she is going to say a few words or presenting speaker policy. [applause] >> what an incredible crowd. i know if speaker policy was here she would be standing on the stage applauding all of you for being part of the jobs now program. thank you all for everything you have done to be part of the jobs now program.

although business in washington does prevent speaker policy from being here, she sent me with a brief greeting to read to all of you. "dear friends, thank you for gathering today to recognize the extraordinary success of the jobs now program. i would like to offer my warm congratulations to the employees, the employers, and the local leaders who made this program in national model. your hard work has not only reached our city. you are also helping lead this country to a lasting recovery. to the jobs no initiative, you have already put more than 36,000 sentence siskins back to work -- 36,000 san franciscans back to work. this is a model that meets the needs of our community. in the house of representatives, i have fought to extend the funds with another $2.50 billion

for next year. the jobs now program has shown this nation how important it is that we must maintain the momentum of these solutions. as has been said, we have to call on our senators, specifically senate republicans, to support this important program. thanks again to the mayor knew some, a trend, and all the support that has made this a success story. congratulations to all of you on this remarkable achievement. warmest regards, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house." thank you all. [applause] >> i took the liberty of going out of order, because i wanted to save the best for last. that is people who directly benefited from this program,

employers and employees. we brought them here to briefly tell their stories of how this program affected their business and affected their lives. first is marisa lamonga, with bay area green tours. >> good morning. i am executive director of bay area green tours. we shine the spotlight on the pioneering models of sustainability in the bay area so that people can see models that work for business and for their lives. we launched bay area green tours november 2008. like any small start up we were met with a lot of challenges. then we were hit with the economic downturn. up until the beginning of the jobs now program, i have one employee, and i did not have access to sufficient capital to take on another.

my business was stagnating and i was not making significant progress. there were many times i thought about quitting. then i heard about the jobs now program. that financial support allowed me to hire someone to take care of the most essential part of my business, crafting the tours. that was a huge door opening for me. and is the perfect person to help me. she had been on one of my tours and is part of the dominican university m.b.a. program. she was in tune with what we did and passionate about our mission. her contribution has gotten our operation of the ground and has been an extension -- an essential function of our progress. my greatest hope is that we continue to grow during the remaining months of the program so we can continue to keep her on staff. i am extremely grateful to the jobs now program and to my

business account representative victoria, who a finally met today. she has been incredibly supportive to help us to all the red tape. she has been a joy to work with. i know the momentum we are feeling now is directly in relation to this invaluable resource. it has allowed me to turn a corner to success, which in turn helps my employees and our local economy. thank you. [applause] >> we did a survey of employers to see what the impact of this was. we asked them a number of questions. one -- did the employees help your business to grow? to -- would you have hired these folks without that?

over 80% said this helped businesses grow and increase sales. over 80% said the jobs would not have existed without the federal stimulus money. representing a company called book pig -- [applause] >> thank you. good morning. my name is tom. i am the founder and ceo. we are a children's book rental service, similar to not flex except with children's books. using our service, families can go online, select books i want, keep them as long as they like, and return them. for a low monthly fee, families get to avoid late fees. they do not have waitlists.

we have a great recommendation engine that tracks the reading level and preferences of each child and allows us to recommend books they will love. by allowing parents a convenient and affordable solution to keep a constant supply of books in the house, we encourage children to read more. book pig was founded in october 2009 by two san francisco families. we were unemployed as part of the economic downturn. we thought we would start a business and see how it went. working part-time and unpaid we were able to launch the service and build the product. in march, we heard about jobs now. to be honest, we thought it was too good to be true. but we looked into it w, and we were able to find too great employees.

we were able to find too great employees, both unemployed single mothers in this city. to mara is now in charge of operations, props as in orders, and shipping. sarah is in charge of marketing and p.r.. she handles our outreach. these employees have been vital to the success of the company and we are grateful to have such hard-working and dedicated people. [applause] with these employees aboard, we are able to focus on within the time frame they have been aboard, we have tripled our customer base. we have extended the library. we are starting to gain traction. this would not have happened without them. we are launching several marketing programs, including

the social media campaign. we will have to tie that into twittering about jobs now. a revenue share program with schools, where we get 5%-& back to the schools. this is a very important thing. in closing, we want to thank jobs now. we would not have been able to do this without their support. we want to thank the city of san francisco. we are grateful for the opportunity to employ these people and help their families. we look forward to growing a world-class company right here in san francisco, and helping kids read more. [applause] since we have some representatives of small business, i do want to recognize someone. that is scott. scott has provided the agency and the city -- there he is.

great feedback and streamlining processes. it has been helpful to reach out to his partners to hire folks in the small-business community. be patient. we have two more speakers, and then we will take the big picture. we are on the employee side. we have colin and bruce, representing skytech solar. if you could come on up? >> hello, everybody. i am the founder and ceo of skytech solar. our mission is to install solar at absolutely no cost to low- income residents of san francisco. it is paid for by the city and by california. the rebates are paid directly to us after the installation is up and running. the payback is immediate to

fixed-income residents finding a typical to in these times to pay bills. we have over 170 household customers and counting that qualify for our free program. i have installed three solar 442 households to date. we acquired five people from the jobs now program. it has helped us tremendously. the business was started after the banking crisis and no bank would accept applications for loans unless you had at least two consecutive profitable years in business. this would prevent any startup from getting a loan. with the program, the funds received help us expand our business and hire new employees. we use these funds to provide training to jobs now employees. the employees learning graduate -- a valuable new skill that gives them experience to be successful in the industry. each employee is an asset to the company brings something special. bruce brings 30 years of experience as a roofer with the skills to make sure we feel the

penetrations of the roots will work on. carlos brings electrical experience to assist with the wiring. we expect our jobs now employees to continue installing for us with or without the extension of the jobs now program. [applause] thank you. however, if the program is extended, we expect them to train the next group of jobs now employees. [applause] thank you. >> good morning. my name is bruce, and today i am an employee at skytech. before that, i was unemployed for two years. i had to turn in the keys to two cars to the bank because i could not pay for them anymore. i could not support my daughters, could not get welfare, could not get

unemployment. things were really bad. i have been with the company for about eight or nine months. i am hoping this program gets extended so i can continue to be there. short and sweet, i am glad to be back in the work force again. thank you. [applause] >> like our implementation of jobs now, we went quickly. we are flying blind times. i overlooked tamara rivera. i would like her to come up. >> hello. i am a single mother of a 10- year-old girl. previous to discovering jobs now, i was unemployed for four year. money was extremely tight and i spent the majority of time looking for a job, posting my resume, and going on interviews, instead of spending time with my

daughter. as you can imagine, i was frustrated and very unhappy. i needed a job to cover my expenses and give me purpose. i heard the about this for jobs now and i thought my experience volunteering at my daughter's library was great. fortunately, they agreed. i'm in charge of receiving inventory, processing orders, packing books, shipping, making sure customers get the books that kids want. i was trained on how the operation system worked and challenge to make it more efficient. it is great to be part of the timor my role really matters. i get to provide a valuable -- valuable feedback to help our service. in addition, i have made -- i have been given the opportunity to assist in the production of marketing materials and develop graphics for the website. these are skills i hope to build upon in the future. having a job means a great deal

to me. i have grown in confidence and a happy to get up in the morning as my life has purpose and meaning. [applause] i am able to pay my way and provide for my family, which has had a positive influence on our lives. i am able to spend time with my daughter and do the things with her instead of looking for a job and constantly worrying about money. this past month, i was able to buy her a bike and enroll early summer camp, which made us both very happy. [applause] i am now a positive role model for her, and to benefit from my improved attitude to life. finally, as a bonus, we get to use the service. i never knew how much she loved reading prior to working year. she read several books per week and we have for friends over for

book review parties. it is hard to stop her from wanting to read all the time. [applause] i was amazed. this reiterate to me how important my job is. in closing, i would like to thank the jobs now program. the program has affected every part of my life in a positive way. i am thankful to be able to be part of an exciting start of business. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> thanks. i did see a face in the audience a want to recognize, the president of san francisco human services commission. dr. paul avalos stuart. -- pablo stewart.

about 800 of the participants in jobs now are helping out the public sector in trainee positions, contributing to the public good, with a recreation and park, public health, department of environment, and human services agency. i'm happy to introduce the next person. she works for is that the human services agency as a receptionist at the front desk. i get to see her smiling face every morning. her name is carla garcia. carla, come on up. [applause] >> please excuse me. i'm a little bit nervous. i am a single mother. until july 9, i was a jobs not participant. in march, 2009, i was laid off from a local real estate brokerage because of the market meltdown. i was out of a job with very

little income and a family to take care of. i tried applying everywhere, answering ads, attending job fairs, but only came up with a part-time job outside the city. i heard about the jobs now program from as ramona torres, who encouraged me to be placed as a public-service trainee with the city and county of san francisco. i interviewed and was placed at 170 otis as a public-service trainee performing administrative duties. [cheers and applause] after being employed -- after being unemployed for what seemed an eternity, the program gave me a new sense of being and i felt like myself again. my kids seemed happier and told me they were proud of me because i never gave up. working as a public-service trainee, i was able to brush up on my asman skills, attend staff trainings, and become a part of the team within the human

services agency. it is good to bring home a paycheck i finally turned. all along, we understood this was a federally funded program that would last until september, 2010, unless it was extended. my supervisor at that time, john murray, encouraged us to look for permanent employment, requiring us to apply to least five jobs per week. in december, 2009, received an alert for a job opening with the city and county as a 2903 eligibility worker. [cheers and applause] i applied and because of my experience in the human services agency as a trainee, i was notified that i met the minimum experience and qualification requirements. [applause] my family and i were ecstatic. i actually had a chance of becoming a permanent employee somewhere. later, i took the civil test and

was notified that i had not only passed the test, but i ranked number nine. [cheers and applause] in june, i interviewed for the eligibility worker position. as of july 12, i am a permanent employee of the city and county of san francisco. [cheers and applause] it has not been an easy task, but if it were not for the jobs now program, i would still be trying to survive. my kids and i have gone full circle, and i am grateful for the jobs now program. i've worked with great people of the human services agency. this has truly been an amazing experience and i feel truly blessed. thank you all. [applause] >> thank you.