to make sure that they get a fair share and its support to -- and its support to thrive. i am keeping a close eye on this. i am happy to hear the testimony tonight. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you, mr. mayor. for those of you who are not able to speak, on the wall we have a place for you to put comments on specific topics. we will be collecting those. this is not clear. mission girls, come on up. [applause] i think you are just going to have one person?

ok, all right. we know they were just visited by mayor lee a few days ago. here you go. >> my name is kathy. i am part of the youth council. one day i got caught drunk. mission girls helped me talk about my problems and how to solve them and talk to my mom. i know if i had been on the streets, i could have been arrested, gone on record, and not been able to talk to my mom about the issues i was going through. having mission girls kept me off the street and helped me deal with the issues i had going on. they also come from communities like mine and help me understand what i am going through.

that is why i am a technician grows. please do not cut the budget for the program. -- that is why i am at mission girls. please do not cut the budget for the program. [applause] >> my name is marjorie. i am 13 and part of the mission girl's youth council. i have been part of mission girls for six years. they have helped me through a lot. they have kept me off the street. if they were not here, i would have stayed on the streets doing things i am not supposed to. they have helped me express myself in a way where i do not hurt things or people. they have helped me at home with my family and a school. they back me up 100% in care about what i go through. mission girls is all girls. they really understand me and my problems. i am able to be myself and get along. it helps me get a long with

girls and not fight and argue. i am able to concentrate on myself and growing as a person. mission girls is my home and family. do not cut off mission girls. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you very much. very powerful comments. i do not know if anyone wants to respond. we see that there are so many programs, whether it is after- school programs, programs that do work throughout the day and weekends, summer programs -- they are keeping kids busy doing things to help the committee. how do we keep those programs going? we have fiphil ginsberg, from parks and recreation. >> i encourage all families to please participate in our recreation programs, facilities,

and summer camps. we have a tremendous amount of programs. even in tough budget times, we have been working with agencies to figure out how to continue to provide programming for our kids. even though summer school programs have been cut short, we have expanded our summer camps. they are available to anybody regardless of ability to pay. i am the father of two young daughters. we're very focused on girls' sports and recreational activities. come play with us. it is safe and fun. thank you. supervisor campos: next speakers. please come on up. i would ask the speakers to slow down oncso that proper translatn can take place.

>> [speaking spanish] >> good evening. i am a mother of the latino community in district 9. >> [speaking spanish] >> i am very grateful for the programs offered in district 9 by nonprofits. >> [speaking spanish] >> they provide education and opportunities for the parents and children. >> [speaking spanish] >> if they cut these programs,

how will we continue to move forward? >> [speaking spanish] >> i believe that this is our country. we should continue -- [unintelligible] >> [speaking spanish] >> i believe all of these programs are really great. >> [speaking spanish] >> with the education we receive, we can give back education to the country. >> [speaking spanish] we work with these institutions

whether it be volunteering our time or finding work. we have to continue with these programs. thank you. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you. next? >> good evening. my name is daniel. i am here to give you a bit of my story on why i believe that you should not cut education or the community-based organizations. first of all, i grew up troubled. i did not have a set guideline or way of life.

i had little education. my mom could barely tell me anything. i had to learn things the hard way on my own. i found myself in places where i did not want to be. fortunately, the last five or six years i have been trying to get it back together. it is only through the help of the community-based organizations and the educational system of san francisco. i literally found myself in san quentin state prison. it is not the place you want to beat or vacation to. anyway -- it is not a place you want to be or vacation to. that is a bit about my background. as a community member and us

youth in the community using the services, i am amazed that i am still your speaking to you. at my age, there are couple places a young person could be. prison, dead, the street, on drugs. i am fortunate not to be in any of those places. i chose to go to school. school has been my savior in real life. [applause] it has been a struggle. honestly, i could be in other places instead of your speaking to you. when you make these budget decisions, keep in mind that education is the future. education does save people. it saved me.

i am alive. [applause] supervisor campos: a queue. one of the recurring themes we're hearing from the speakers -- thank you. one of the recurring themes we're hearing from the speakers is the the programs are literally saving lives. how do we deal with that as a city? last year, we added about about $1.7 million in violence prevention funding. there is a real danger that a lot of that will be eliminated t. how do we deal with that? what happens in our community? >> i am with the health department. i wanted to talk about the community-based organizations. we have several hundred organizations. it represents about half a billion dollars for the city. for the last two years, it has

been bringing the organizations together to talk about how we can strengthen the partnership between the city and the community-based organizations. they provided great foundation for the community as a whole. the stronger the organizations are in being able to manage finances and programs with the city dollars, the better and stronger they are. this is an important partnership we have with these organizations. we're only as strong as the organization's. we need to be able to support them around their finances. we found we have lost organizations -- not because of the passion -- because of their ability to provide and manage their dollars. we have to get in front of the issues so the organizations can be around to provide the kind of services we have heard about tonight. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you. mr. mayor?

mayor lee: this is a good time to make sure you know this. there is something new we are going to do this year for departments and community-based agencies. we're going to start looking at five-year plans. we have to. it is what barbara just said. we cannot have sustainable services unless you plan for them in the long run. what are you going to do next year when the state cuts you? what are you going to do if the federal government cut you? what is your private funds dry up? we have to ask these questions now. plan with us for five years ahead so we know where the strength of the organizations will be working with us. that is how you start planning. that is the best way to do it. do not do your to your review your to your planning any more.

it is not good enough. -- do not do year-to-year planning. it is not good enough. i will ask every department and agency to start planning five years in advance. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you, mr. mayor. one thought on that. i see some of the planning is difficult because of the way the budget process works. many of these organizations are on the chopping block every year. in a given year, they do not know if they will be around. it is important that we look at the long term. it is important to create continuity. we recognize a lot of these organizations are doing a lot with very little. they are doing things with that dollar that other agencies probably could not do. it is a balance.

we look forward to continuing that discussion. next question? >> [speaking spanish] [applause] >> good evening, everybody. i work in the collective for women. >> [speaking spanish] [applause] >> it is difficult to hear about the budget cuts for the youth,

families, housing. >> [speaking spanish] >> the immigrant population will be very effective -- affected. >> [speaking spanish] >> how can we work together with the organizations so the budget cuts do not affect the immigrant families? >> [speaking spanish] [applause]

>> [speaking spanish] [applause] supervisor campos: thank you. does anyone want to add anything to that? yes? the last part was not translated. >> she mentioned there are a lot of community members here. she wanted to recognize that

women's collective in the back that are here for the same reason everyone else is here. they care about the families. they care about the kids. they are worried about the cuts. a lot of the women's are victims of domestic violence. a lot of the women work day in and day out. they want to work with the city and the supervisors. they want to recognize the work the supervisors have been doing to work with the community. she wants to make sure and emphasize that we have to work together to make sure we are tackling these very important budget issues. supervisor campos: thank you. gracias. the general question to department heads who have not had a chance to speak. how do you decide how to cut?

how you approach where to begin? what are your priorities? how does the process work, if you are a number of the public trying to understand how the process works? >> of the juvenile probation department, we start off by developing our guiding principles to develop our budget. we have to look along -- at the law, the welfare and institution could that guides the operations on our basic, primary responsibilities related to the processing, guidance, and direction of youth and families that find their way to the juvenile probation department. we focus on our basic principles and services that we must provide to comply with the law weslest we find ourselves ia position where the city would be

subject to a lawsuit if we did not provide those services. we believe strongly in the development of competencies' within youth and families that enable youth to grow and become productive members of society. that is what we believe is the real fabric with in the juvenile probation department. supervisor campos: thank you, chief. i want to hear from the head of dpw. >> what we and a lot of city departments do is work to preserve core services. the people out there in the white trucks with the orange vests cleaning streets, wiping out graffiti -- we try to prioritize the way we look at the department. we try to cut from the back

office, administration. i have been here for three years. we have eliminated a number of management positions and support positions. we have eliminated things like unnecessary vehicles. we have reduced cell phone. a lot of this stuff behind the scenes are not necessary to directly support direct services. we look for efficiencies in the way we deliver services. if we can do something with three people instead of four, we look at how we can deliver the same amount of services with a smaller budget. we focus on workplace safety. when we do not work safely, we have people out of work being paid. we pay a lot of comp costs. general health inflation has been going up at 5%. our comp costs have been going

down. that translates to more people on the streets for less dollars. we're trying to be efficient to manage the department to preserve the front line services that all of you depend on. supervisor campos: 80. does anyone else want to add anything? -- thank you. does anyone else want to add anything? phil? >> we do have a series of budget balancing principles. we work with the community to keep the parks clean and safe. we prioritize children and seniors and picture everybody has access to our programs. the one thing that was not said is that we try to prioritize revenue over cuts. we're looking for creative ways to earn more money within the department so we do not have to cut. we can keep our programs going. unfortunately, that is government in the 21st century where we do not have enough

resources. we need your help. we look for partners. we look to partner with community-based organizations to provide services. at the end of the day, we want our programs and services. we're slightly less focused on how we do it. where we can find partners, we do. we really love volunteers. come out and worked in our parks and rec centers. >> one of the issues tonight was revenue. one thing we have done in the past is try to increase our medical revenue. there was the example of violence prevention. we were able to create some me dical revenue from that. we were able to save the general fund dollars and match it by 50 cents from the federal government. that is one of initiative we talked about tonight.

in 2014, we will have an additional 36,000 people who have metical -- medical. we see that is future revenue to expand for those who do not currently have the benefit. supervisor campos: thank you. we have pablo from the boys and girls club. thank you for your patience. you are in very well-behaved crowd. -- you are a very well-paved crowd. >> thank you for allowing me to be here. i am here primarily to represent boys and girls of san francisco. i am also representing the other non-profit organizations in the mission district. the boys and girls club of san

francisco served over 16,000 young people last year in nine different areas of the city. in the mission district, we have over 2000 young people signed up as members of our club. we're seeing over 400 kids on a daily basis combined. we are serving -- about 30% of our membership is african- american. 80% is latino. there are other groups we serve in the asian and other communities. we provide after-school and homework help. research over 200 kids a day assisting with homework. -- we assist over 200 kids a date with homework. we also have a case management and counseling. the biggest challenge with all of the conflicts and budget issues is that it keeps

happening the the burden is being put on the non-profits and community-based organizations to figure out how to circumvent the budget cuts. what is the city going to be doing to be creative and take some of the burden off of us? i work with others in the mission district. we're constantly talking about how to support each other. we want to make sure every single one of our kids are getting some type of services. we know that will be meaningful down the road and into -- improve their lives. you can only go to us so many times. we need to know what you are going to do on your end to lessen the burden on us. we need to hear how you will be created to take the burden off of us. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you.

let's call a couple of other speakers. jose ramirez, come on up. here they come. thank you. >> [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon to the distinguished people on the stage. thank you for allowing us this time. >> [speaking spanish] >> i am here representing about 150 day laborers who get together for the program here in san francisco.

>> [speaking spanish] >> it is a safe place we go to daily. we can kind of take a break from all of the things going on around us every day, all of the struggles every day. it is a refuge from the. >> [speaking spanish] >> it is really important for us that we are able to feel good in this place and that this place is a safe place. >> [speaking spanish]

>> i come here today not only representing the 150 workers in the program, but also representing all day laborers that stand out on caesar chavez looking for work. >> [speaking spanish] gracias. [applause] >> i come here to petition you today. we're talking about kids and education and children and youth activities. also think about the parents of those youth to make sure they also have services provided for them. thank you very much.

supervisor campos: thank you. >> i am bob weisblat. i represent myself. i have a question about process. i have been listening to all of these people with a need for lots of services for the social safety net. this city is spending $50 million on bicycle paths. there is $30 million for changing cesar chavez. i am wondering if the money comes from a place where we can move that to a later date and spend the money so that older people can get meals. kids can stay off the streets. maybe when things get better economically, we can change the way cesar chavez works. [applause] supervisor camp