these fantastic laptops you see so the students that will be attending and are enrolled in the bridge to success program for the summer. [applause] destination really demonstrates microsoft's-ticket -- dedication to focusing on allowing use this to improving your learning outcomes through the effective use of technology in your learning and also to gain access to all that dynamic digital information that is truly essential for you to be successful in your careers and be a lifelong learner. with that, we would like to make sure that we continue to partner and use this partnership as a role model to further this kind of partnership to enable all education community members to have access to 21st century skills and technology that will

enable you to be successful in your college and future careers, so thank you very much. [applause] >> i would like to introduce renee espinoza from the san francisco education fund. >> hello, everyone. i am the ceo and founder of an organization called beyond 12. we are a national non-profit organization, and our mission is to increase the number of low- income and first-generation students who graduate from our nation's colleges and universities. we are focusing exclusively on the college graduation peace. what happens after all of the hard work has been done by our pre-collegiate partners once we get students in? are they actually graduating?

are they earning degrees that have value and allow them to become part of the million dollar club we were just hearing about, and do those degrees actually allow them to translate their lives and break the cycles of generational poverty from which many of them come? we do that by working with pre- collegiate organizations and high schools but also colleges and universities. we are the organization running the bridge to success summer program, and shortly, the program is a six-week transition program targeting students from san francisco unified, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college. over the course of the program, our students will be participating in a variety of different activities, taking math and english courses, and they will also be participating in various workshops, college success related workshops that help them develop real professional skills.

they will be doing study skills workshops, a career placement workshops, resume writing, time management, and prioritization among other workshops. the goal is to help ease hours to the transition from high school to college and to help our students build a foundation for academic, personal, and financial success. ultimately, the goal of the program is to ensure that our students are persisting and that they are graduating, that they are earning a post-secondary credentialed. if their goal is to receive an associate's degree from the city, then that is what we are making sure that they do. and if their goal is to transfer into a four-year institution, we are making the commitment to them that they will do so. we are extremely grateful to microsoft for this generous contribution, extremely grateful to all of the partners, and i know our students are excited about these last -- these laptops.

[applause] and we have made a commitment to them. if you do all of the things that you have promised, if you come to class and attend sessions, and if you are engaged, and you do all of the things that your coaches and mentors are asking of you, then on july 21 when you graduate from the program, you will have a fully loaded netbook donated by microsoft. [applause] i would like to take a few minutes to speak directly to our students. congratulations. you have heard from everyone already. congratulations on making it to this point. congratulations on being so engaged. you have already been showing up every single day, last thursday, last friday, and today to take your courses -- we are so extremely proud of you, so extremely excited you have taken this step. look around the room.

there are all these people here to support you. let us support you. you do not have to do this alone, but we are here and making a commitment to you today and every single day that if you participate in this program, then you will earn your college degree. you will not be a statistic. i commend you and congratulate you for taking this step. thank you, students. [applause] >> and because it is always better to hear about the story from the mouth of the students, i would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to one of our students, vera de la cruz. [applause] >> hello, everyone. i am actually from daly city. i graduated from just a high-

school. i do not know how to start, but i am going to go to city next semester, but i did have -- i was registered last semester. i was supposed to come here, but i had to withdraw because my mom had to leave work. she was on sick leave. i had to drop school, dropped everything. i worked out at the daly city wingstop, so i was there making chicken, and i was wondering if i was ever going to be able to go back to school. i went to my best friends graduation and found the bridge to success program, and they had all these opportunities to get me back on track for school again. it was really helpful. i was just so overwhelmed of everything i had to do. the placement tests, registers with counselors. this whole program, really helped me out. just the fact that microsoft is

here, and the whole educational system makes it a lot better for me. i breathe easier now to know that i have all this support. just to come from where i was -- i believed that there really was no way. there always is a way. there is no last stop. there is always opportunities. that is what it is all about, and that is what i am grateful for, that they offered me all these opportunities. [applause] thank you. >> well, thank you. what an exciting announcement with great partnerships as we continue to get you all to college. i do not know if there are any questions, but if not, we are just really thrilled that

microsoft has stepped in and step up and is going to support our kids the way that you are, and clearly, our partners will continue to work really hard for you. this is your summer, guys. this is where you start to show what you will be doing in the fall. congratulations to all of you. good luck during the summer. we look forward to continuing to support you. [applause] >> bye, everybody. yeah!

>> i just want to make a public statement to acknowledge that appointments to the police

commission and any commission which is a policy-making body is very important. i want to encourage about keep in front of our minds the importance of not only to elect women, but to work to get more women appointed to these bodies that help make legislative decisions for our city and county of san francisco. >> i am from san francisco. i grew up in the local neighborhood. i did my under deprad wait work at fisk university, where i studied political science with a concentration in public administration and worked eight years largely in the public sector. then i earned a master's degree from carnegie melon in pittsburg, pennsylvania. i spent some time as assistant executive director for a non-profit. we did work if a lot of kids in the neighborhood. i have done fundraising for

candidates and issues. i have experience with the federal reserve bank of san francisco. when i look around my neighborhood and see the changes that are happening, i so there is no neighborhood grocery store. i see that small businesses in particular are coming and going, and they haven't been able to really sustain themselves. from my work experience in working for the city in the mayor's office as well as in the non-profit, i had a good sense as to what some of the challenges were. when i look in the future, i could see more challenges coming. i thought i had a set of experiences and more importantly a passion and desire to serve. >> i understand that no one wants to have their programs cut. of course not. i also want everyone here to understand that no one up here wants to cut programs because they don't care about the population being served. there are no value ains here. we are all on the same team. it is a tough situation, as we are here so that we can begin the work together. >> i am actually more forward thinking. for me it is less about being

left or right, or in this town, moderate or progressive. it is really about the issues and about creating policies that will have a sustainable and lasting positive impact on the families that live here. it is very costly and difficult to do business in sfrinls, to raise your children in san francisco, and i would like to have a voice at that table to really create policies that will minimize that san francisco is not a big business-friendly city. i think we started to go in the wrong direction. the reason why we started walking down that path largely was because of political ideology. when you deal with me, you are dealing with facts, less than politics. i really want to have a positive impact on the city overall. >> good afternoon, everyone. how are you? >> good. >> it's a nice day today. thank you for coming out to our community event. please give a round of [applause] to them. we have a lot of development going on. you see how lovely leland street looks.

do you like it? >> yes. >> beautiful, isn't it? we are going to continue. we have a library that is going to be opening up in june. that's right. so i will see you all there at the library. there is a lot of activity going on. it is important we remain connected and engaged. >> would you mind if we were to pull the seniors together and translate for me in a mini meeting? >> yes, sir. >> what we are going ready to do is we are going to have a quick little mini meeting to -- because we didn't translate my short message before. >> i just want to say i want to welcome everyone to the event. >> we have folks in visitation valley only talking with visitation valley. we have folks in bayview again only talking in a very small corridor of 3rd straight and the merchant corridor. we don't have people talking to

the hill merchant association, doing patch. all these fragrmented conversations are happening, largely talking about the same thing, crime, keeping the streets clean, supporting sbaubs. that is something i made a concerted effort on the campaign to build bridges. >> along third street, dog patch, and everyone along the cord door has the same complaint. >> i have the same complaint. >> we have the third street merchant corridor and an opportunity to revite lies what i consider to be the main artery of the business district. it is a pretty long street. there is a lot of opportunity there. let's not squander that. when we recruit businesses, we want it to be a healthy mix that reflects the cultural history of the southeast part of the city. we are all human, and how to connect with that human spirit, whether you are in public

housing, own your own property, or if your asian, african-american, male or female, we are really a community. when we start to realize and move in the direction of being humans and having this human experience and connecting together, really if you will, being each other's keeper, then san francisco really begins to continue to thrive. >> here we are at the

embarcadero. we are standing at one of locations for the street artists. can you tell me about this particular location, the program? >> this location is very significant. this was the very first and only location granted by the board of supervisors for the street artist when the program began in 1972. how does a person become a street artist? there are two major tenants. you must make the work yourself and you must sell the work yourself. a street artist, the license, then submitting the work to a committee of artists. this committee actually watches them make the work in front of them so that we can verify that it is all their own work. >> what happened during the holiday to make this an

exciting location? >> this would be a magic time of year. you would probably see this place is jammed with street artists. as the no, there is a lottery held at 6 in the morning. that is how sought after the spaces are. you might get as many as 150 street artists to show up for 50 spaces. >> what other areas can a licensed street artist go to? >> they can go to the fisherman's wharf area. they can go in and around union square. we have space is now up in the castro, in fact. >> how many are there? >> we have about 420. >> are they here all year round? >> out of the 420, i know 150 to sell all year round. i mean like five-seven days a week. >> are they making their living

of of this? >> this is their sole source of income for many. >> how long have you been with this program. how much has it changed? >> i have been with the program since it began 37 and a half years ago but i have seen changes in the trend. fashion comes and goes. >> i think that you can still find plenty of titis perhaps. >> this is because the 60's is retro for a lot of people. i have seen that come back, yes. >> people still think of this city as the birth of that movement. great, thank you for talking about the background of the program. i'm excited to go shopping. >> i would like you to meet two

street artists. this is linda and jeremy. >> night said to me to print them -- nice to meet you. >> can you talk to me about a variety of products that use cell? >> we have these lovely constructed platters. we make these wonderful powder bowls. they can have a lot of color. >> york also using your license. -- you are also using your license. >> this means that i can register with the city. this makes sure that our family participated in making all of these. >> this comes by licensed

artists. the person selling it is the person that made it. there is nothing better than the people that made it. >> i would like you to meet michael johnson. he has been in the program for over 8 years. >> nice to me you. what inspired your photography? >> i am inspired everything that i see. the greatest thing about being a photographer is being able to show other people what i see. i have mostly worked in cuba and work that i shot here in san francisco. >> what is it about being a street artist that you particularly like? >> i liked it to the first day that i did it.

i like talking to mentum people. talking about art or anything that comes to our minds. there is more visibility than i would see in any store front. this would cost us relatively very little. >> i am so happy to meet you. i wish you all of the best. >> you are the wonderful artist that makes these color coding. >> nice to me to. >> i have been a street artist since 1976. >> how did you decide to be a street artist? >> i was working on union square. on lunch hours, i would be there visiting the artist. it was interesting, exciting, and i have a creative streak in me.

it ranges from t-shirts, jackets, hats. what is the day of the life of a street artist? >> they have their 2536 in the morning. by the end of the day, the last people to pack the vehicle probably get on their own at 7:30 at night. >> nice to me to condemn the -- nice to meet you. >> it was a pleasure to share this with you. i hope that the bay area will descend upon the plaza and go through these arts and crafts and by some holiday gifts. >> that would be amazing. thank you so much for the hard work that you do.

>> the san francisco cons tri of flowers in golden gate park is now showing a new exhibit that changes the way we see the plants around us. amy stewart's best-selling book, "wicked plants" is the inspiration behind the new exhibit that takes us to the dark side of the plant world. >> i am amy stewart. i am the arthur of "wicked plants," the weeds that killed lincoln's mother and other

botanical atrocities. with the screens fly trap, that is kind of where everybody went initially, you mean like that? i kind of thought, well, all it does is eat up bugs. that is not very wicked. so what? by wicked, what i mean is that they are poisonous, dangerous, deadly or immoral or maybe illegal or offensive or awful in some way. i am in the profession of going around and interviewing botanists, horticulturalists and plant scientists. they all seem to have some little plant tucked away in the corner of a greenhouse that maybe they weren't supposed to have. i got interested in this idea that maybe there was a dark side to plants. >> the white snake root. people who consumed milk or meat from a cow that fed on white snake root faced severe

pain. milk sickness, as it was culled, resulted in vomiting, tremors, delirium and death. one of the most famous victims of milk sickness was nancy hangs lincoln. she died at the age of 34, leaving behind 9-year-old abraham lincoln. he helped build his mother's casket by carving the woodallen petition douche the wooden petition himself. >> we transformed the gallery to and eerie victorian garden. my name is lowe hodges, and i am the director of operations and exhibitions at the conls tore of -- cons tore of

flowers. we decided it needed context. so we needed a house or a building. the story behind the couple in the window, you can see his wife has just served him a glass of wine, and he is slumped over the table as the poison takes affect. a neat little factold dominion about that house is actually built out of three panels from old james bond movie. we wanted people to feel like i am not supposed to be in this room. this is the one that is supposed to be barred off and locked up. >> the ole andersonner -- oleander. this popular shrub is popular in warm climates. it has been implicated in a surprising number of murders and accidental deaths. children are at risk because it takes only a few leaves to kill them. a southern california woman

tried to collect on her husband's life insurance by putting the leaves in his food. she is now one of 15 women on california's death rowan the only one who attempted to murder with a plant. >> people who may haven't been to their cons tore or been to -- do serve tore or their botanical garden, it gives them a reason to come back. you think let's go and look at the pretty flowers. these are pretty flowers, but they are flowers with weird and fascinating stories behind them. that is really fun and really not what people normally think of when they come to a horticultural institution. >> "wicked plants" is now showing at the san francisco conserve tore of flowers. unless next time, get out and play. >> many people are not awaf

this building was built in 1936. as a board to preserve the history and make the students aware of that history. the partnering between sfmoma and the arts commission means they will be more aware of the artwork that we have here, the artists that painted a, and the history behind this itself. >> students came from george washington, and it was wonderful to have them on a panel.

people from the school board, those who have been painting for years, some conservative errors from the getty. to have them tell us about the works of their school was important. it represents african-american artists to during the 20's and 30's used an incredible body of work. it is one of the most incredible works of art in the city, bar none. it is a huge mural of incredible works. >> the san francisco civic arts collection has been in existence since the turn of the century. it consists of everything from monument to golden gate park to market street, other works in the collection, from the wpa era, the quite tower, the works from the george washington high school.