. >> my name is mark tieman and i'm senior councilor at pet camp, san francisco, california. we dispose of a lot of carbon-based material here, dog poop, and the more we can turn that into something viable, the better off we are. in san francisco there's more dogs than children. finding a viable use for dog poop. >> proenvironmental policies, that's a way to win hearts and minds.

>> thanks, everyone, for being here. i will be introducing todd, joanne, and randolph in a moment. i want to thank everyone for convening, particularly after fleet week, where we had another successful celebration, weekend of reflection on the remarkable sacrifice, heroism, and leadership that is shown every day by men and women in uniform. it is something that i look forward to every year, not just as the mayor of the city, but someone who has grown up in the bay area. and of course, millions around the globe are able to experience what is arguably the most fantastic demonstration of american pride.

we thought it would be appropriate to piggyback this celebration with those who have returned from service, a recognition of those veterans that have done so much, provided us so much, that we need to do much more to serve ourselves. that reciprocal relationship needs to extend past at a time in uniform. one of the thing that i think we have fallen short on in this country is the filling our promise to be returning veterans. you see that manifested in the most acute ways in terms of those that come back that have suffered the consequences of war, literally and figuratively. those that have come back with

physical challenges, mental health challenges, those that just come back to the challenge of coming back to an economy that is not as strong as when they left. as well, getting a job, education, competing -- completing the narrative of their life. one of the things we are trying to do in san francisco is connect the dots. one of the most important thing we can do, particularly in a declining resource base, is make sure that we are leveraging existing resources, connecting doctor, and make sure that the program we are providing are working together, scaling their efforts, and building partnerships. we talk about public-private partnerships here, but we also talk about public-public partnerships. something that we are celebrating today is the creation of a new portal, our 311 call center.

that will be available 24 hours a day in 24 languages to help our returning veterans connect the dots. we will be working collaboratively with the va. i am always amazed when i go to the conference of mayors, how difficult it is to work with the va, the va saying how it was difficult to work with the city. i have never understood that conversation because we are so proud of them and we are not pointing a finger at them, but rather recognizing their important contribution. as well, programs like swords for passage. the va is a big part of our

veterans connect network, a big part of our outreach and celebration, in terms of engaging the veterans community and recognizing the contributions of our veterans and celebrating and supporting those contributions. really this is a partnership between the va, the city and county of san francisco, and a remarkable organization that has been getting a lot of attention. iraq veterans of america. todd is the deputy director and he will be talking about what they are doing across the country to conduct similar dots across the country. nancy and her team have created a new portal, 311.org. if you call 311, everyone there

has been trained to connect veterans to grant services, jobs services, grants representing schools, a wide variety of things to serve our veterans, but all in one place. all you need to know is three simple numbers. finally, we are also connecting to our community college. one thing we all need to think about is a lifelong learning, regardless of state of mind. a lot of our returning veterans want to complete their education. they have the opportunity to connect with funding and community colleges the backbone of our education system. you all know that. we are very proud of the san

francisco community college and we will be talking about how they are a big purchase and in this effort as well. with that spirit, i am proud to ask todd hours to come up. he will talk about their great work. i hope he tells you where this idea came from, because it came from him, his partners. how long ago did you come in here? about five months ago. they said we want to work with the city and create a model that we can export to other cities. they challenged us, and we hope that we have met their challenge. we thank you for your leadership and for the inspiration. >> i have a few notes. contrary to popular belief, marines can read. mayor newsom, sincerely, thank

you. you are someone who put your money where your mouth was. you saw the issues at hand, and within a few months, you really stepped up and led the charge. iava is the first and largest organization built for the returning veterans of iraq and afghanistan. our mission is very simple, one that mayor newsom understand, to improve the lives of iraq and afghanistan veterans and their families. when my unit return from war, i was overwhelmed. there were so many resources out there, different outlets, departments trying to do things for us, it became overwhelming. it was sort of like drinking from a fire hose. one of the things we realized was there has to be a way that cities on a local level can provide these resources from all

different agencies into a single place. that is where this idea came from. we know in the city of san francisco, returning veterans will no longer be drowning from that fire hose. through this program, veterans of all walks of life, regardless of their deployment, will be able to call in and find these resources at a touch of a button. that is what we need, sparred, innovative thinking to combat these issues that veterans are facing right now. one of the main things that iraq and of canada and veterans are dealing with when they come -- afghanistan veterans are dealing with when they come home our mental health issues, difficulties in integrating into society. things can be overwhelming, so where do they turn to first? other local community. this initiative will make a difference. one of the innovative ways the

iraq and afghanistan veterans of america have engaged this new generation of membership is understanding that technology will be the key to outreach to a lot of these folks. we have developed something called community of veterans which is sort of like a social networking site for veterans of iraq and afghanistan. within their we are able to provide tons of resources, and we are ecstatic to be able to provide this resource in there. one thing that we also do is reconnecting veterans. when we deploy, we find ourselves on these little fobs with people. that is the goal. reconnecting people once they come home. the reliance we have on the national guard and reserve can be overwhelming. these folks are not on military bases, not in a place where they can reach out to a neighbor. now we know there is a community

here in san francisco that will support the veterans when they return. i would also like to propose another initiative. when i was in afghanistan, there was a tremendous amount of hills and mountains on a daily basis. as i was walking through the city, i was sweating and this little trolley came rolling up the street. we need those in afghanistan. it may save us in the long run. going up and down those hills is pretty intense. i sincerely want to thank you on behalf of iava, other veterans' organizations, everyone else who has been involved, thank you for your leadership. it is an honor to be involved today. >> now i will ask joanne peters of our va to come up. it is weird to repeat this, but there is so much of this va vs. city friction across the

country. i cannot express my confusion more because of our own experience. i will ask her to say a few words as well. >> it is true, we have a good working relationship with the city and mayor. there are a number of initiatives we are working on. mainly, working with homeless veterans. we partner with hud, the public housing authority. we have 5000 doctors to help the homeless. we have the cover project, which is out of the san francisco jail. we are helping them with different life skills so they can get back and be functional

in society. we did the project homeless connect. we worked with the city college. we also worked with the mental health station out there. they can see the veteran's right there. it is an issue. going out to the va is a roadblock. we continue to work well with the city. lots of different areas. we appreciate your support. thank you. >> we estimate in san francisco -- again, this is an estimate -- and the reason we are building this collaborative. there are anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 living in san francisco. again, just estimates. we are trying to work through the technological challenges to connect people in a way where we can get a better sense of that community. one of the real leaders in

helping us with that is leon winston, the coo of swords to plowshares. he deals with the challenges, acute and not so acute, every day. we talk about exporting models, swords to plowshares is certainly one of them. >> thank you. it is true, the amount of city support that we get. the resources that the va brings to the table in concert with that, with community-based organizations. i became homeless in the early 1990's, came to san francisco, and through court -- resources given to me by the city, of swords to plowshares, i was able to get back on my feet.

san francisco gets a bit of a bum rap because we are a liberal city, but as far as support for veterans, there is no city that does a better job. this goes back to the feinstein administration, every mayor since then. everyone has done a wonderful job supporting the veterans. san francisco is the only city we know of in the country that pays for mental health care for veterans out of the city budget. we have been doing that for 25 years. we have housing on a treasure island that is a no cost police for veterans. -- lease for veterans. in the presidio, 102 units of supportive housing.

the city provides rehab funding there. veterans with disabilities. more recently, the city made available a landmark building that has revived substantial rehab funding. in 2012, 75 senior hamas veteran will be able to live out their lives in dignity. i just cannot say enough about the job the city does of stepping up to the plate. it is not just about platitudes and waving banners, it is about getting the job done. we are great -- we are very grateful. >> randy martina's is the president of the city college. randolph will explain, through the gi bill, how they are now funding the gi bill. it is not about where you are from but where you are going to

school. because of the high cost of living, they provide more than just about any other city college in the state. >> thank you. but i am also a marine, [inaudible] thank you, mayor. policy advisers. thank you for having us here. i served seven years in the marine corps. i am here as the president of veterans alliance. our mission has been to create a home where veterans can come in and have a school that can offer so many things to them. one of the things that we've pushed the last semester was the better the resource center. dr. griffin made that happen

along with walter newman. this veteran the resource center has brought a lot of good things to veterans, such as the va right next door, the chance for veterans who do not feel comfortable going to a hospital, they feel comfortable at school, so we matched both of them. we are getting a lot of good turnaround. our mission also is to bring the veterans together in one home where we can have an easier transition from service to the higher education institutes. also, like the mayor said, we are trying to make sure all veterans coming to see the college are taken care of because it will be multiplying for time to come. the gi bill has been so great, making things happen, where today it can establish the

economy -- to focus on the economy, giving veterans a chance to go to school by providing the highest gi bill assistance we have had so far. we had an increase of 1000 veterans since last semester. last semester we had 200 veterans. that is a good initiative. this is allowing more people to go to school. i am also here because a lot of veterans have problems bringing their issues to the va, problems with learning. but they are so grateful for this city which takes care of

them. this is another step forward to make sure that we continue that. i want to thank san francisco for really helping us veterans. thank you. >> thank you all, very much. we are here to answer any question that you may have. >> can you tell us more how 311 works? my personal experience is, i often get another phone number. >> nancy, you can explain the website that is up. >> i am not a veteran but i believe in providing help to people, so we have designed a comprehensive web site with information in terms of general resources, job and education training, housing, social services, mental health. just a vast array of resources

you can find in one place. in most cases, when people call 311, we can provide language assistance and give you the resources available, depending on the need of the veteran. we can provide them a link to the information, service, whether it is sorts to plowshares or anything else. we would provide that information to them. we would not provide the phone number unless they ask for it, but we would deliver those services, based on their request. >> so it is mostly referring them to the website? >> if they won general resource information, but if there is specific information, then we would respond to that specific question. so we would provide the information it to the person at that time, as well as additional links to any sort of information that they might need.

>> that can be a pretty time- consuming process. [inaudible] >> all of our staff is cross train, so they will be ready to help. >> it is one of the initiatives they are having right now, drilling down on this specialty. the backbone of 311 was generic, but we are building these backbones to have more specific concentration of on certain things. >> so if i called and i said i was a home was a veteran, can you find me a place to live? >> we would not find you a place to live but we would go to the resource which provides homeless assistance. we would provide you the resources to that. >> so again, are you just going

to say, we have this program, you should call. will that person actually be the lead person who gets to the housing? >> we would provide the resource to the agency, but again, we would provide you the information of what is required. it is not just saying "colorado here." it is more of a conversation, is this what your looking for? >> any other questions?