for you to not have, you know, not go through what you went through. i wish it didn't take a suicide attempt like myself to have to get to the point where i wanted to be, support systemwise. one thing that i truly benefited from that is different from before my suicide attempt is that i have one psychiatrist. before, i had a therapist and a psychiatrist. therapist was very warm, was there to hear you talk; the psychiatrist was not very warm and was there to administer medicine. there was a lack of communication between the two as far as what medicine, i should be taking, whether it was the right dosage. something i truly see as a benefit now is having a psychiatrist who is both my therapist and administers my medicine which truly again is something that helps me emotionally and mentally, knowing that there is never going to be a lapse in that communication. let's shift a little bit, fran, and talk about some of the recent research. what is it telling us that we still need to do in the area of early intervention and prevention?

we need to spend more time in really figuring out what are some of the signs and symptoms of diagnosing mental illness in particular. we now know that by age 14 we can begin to see the signs of mental illnesses, depression, anxiety, and even schizophrenia at that age, some signs. those signs also... we also have just recently learned that there are other signs that start to appear to give us a little insight around 2 to 3 years earlier, so we're really starting to reach in to those younger populations. we also need to balance out the brain disease part of mental health-mental illness, rather-and see what can we do about that, like, and learn from the substance abuse world of their issues with looking at how the brain interacts with our enzymes, which interacts with the disease itself. as with most chronic illnesses, even though we have come so far

with addictions and in mental illness we still are not at the same level of knowledge and expertise that we are with learning about diabetes and cancer and heart disease and even alzheimer's disease. so we have come a long way, but we have a lot longer to go to be able to get this to a level where all physicians, like dr. greene, who understands the behavioral health issues and understands addictions. so it becomes just one of the many physical health issues that we look at. and within the context of samhsa and the strategic initiatives, where is that going to take us to further the science? well, samhsa has eight strategic initiatives. we are focusing on everything from prevention right straight through to several different populations. we are looking at trauma and justice issues. we are looking at the military, because the

military right now and the military families are really using the services that we have and are showing signs of both mental illness issues around depression and anxiety and suicide as well as addiction. and we know a little bit more about addiction, but we are really learning now some of the other areas of mental health. we're also focusing in on health electronics, technology so that we can start to speak to each other across all systems. so the doctors, physical doctors can talk to your psychiatrist. and we can ... and therapists can talk to other therapists, not only in the united states but across the world where there has been some other advances. and we're doing several other issues. we are looking at the recovery, which i know that you... this is why we are all here, to look further into what does recovery really talk about and then... and the last but certainly not least... and certainly i haven't told you all of them but

public education and communication. we are jumping into the new media realm so that we can reach the youngest of young and the oldest of old. so we will do traditional tv commercials and we will do traditional radio spots but we also are on our computers and we are on our laptops and young kids, we are on their telephones. so we are twittering and tweeting and facebooking and blogging and all the rest because we must get this information out to everybody. yes, indeed. jane, in terms of the institute... beyond the prevention-prepared communities, what other exciting areas are we looking at within the institute? well, a couple of things that we are really excited about is, we are about to hold our 21st annual leadership forum and at that conference, which is a really large conference of people who are involved in this work in their communities, we are going to be recognizing communities that have done

an exceptional job of doing what we talked about earlier, which is putting together strong community coalitions. so i'm very excited about that. i am also excited about the fact that we've been working really hard to bring community coalitions and the research community together and do what we call community-based participatory research. i think, as everybody knows, there is lots of really good research out there about what works and what doesn't work but that doesn't always filter down to communities. well, the communities need to know about it. it is useful and helpful so, by combining researchers and communities working together where they're working in partnership, we really increase the likelihood of first getting those best practices down to communities, but secondly forming the research agenda or informing the research agenda so researchers can put together research that is relevant for communities. so that is just a couple of things i am real excited about. and the results get down to someone like jordan who is out talking to the schools. why is it important, jordan? i want you to make that broadly known.

why is it important for schools to have individuals like yourself go and speak to the student body and speak to parents? i think it's important to have, you know, someone speak on mental health, like myself to go into schools basically to generate and to start a conversation. because what i think happens is there is a conversation started and that generates a lot of attention and from that attention that is when the education begins. and that is what i like to do, is just to plant a seed when i go to speak at those schools so that the kids there, the rents there, the teachers there have something to think about. and the goal is that, when i get home at the end of the day after speaking to that school, they're just not talking about those mental heaealth issues and topics the next day, the next week, the next month, but for months and years after that. and that is why i think it's important, like active minds, the organization that i speak for, there's over 300 new branches over the entire country and that's for young adults to express how they feel, to tell their own stories, and to feel like they truly belong

in the mental health community. and i think it's great. very good. fran, final thoughts? collaboration. i think that most of what we are talking about here is collaboration. we cannot do it alone, we have to work with our... at the federal level we're working with all our federal partners, everything from a prescription drug abuse problem with the federal drug administration; we're working with the office of national drug control policy on some of our substance abuse issues, particularly targeting young people and older adults. we're also looking, working with the centers for disease control. we're just working and working with our partners. we're asking states to do exactly the same thing. we want to give out the messages that we are trying to bring behavioral health into the primary world of health. meaning, and in a much simpler way, bringing substance abuse and mental health issues to the world of physical health. dr. greene, final thoughts? i would like to just say that promoting the community

think tanks such as dc rock and other such initiatives that are there to help and provide additional services, they address needs... are a way for us to combine the health care professionals to outside community organizations so we aren't out there alone. there are other people who are working on these initiatives, and we need to combine our efforts. jane, final thoughts? one final thought: i think it's really helpful when communities have people like jordan and wendy, our doctor, involved in these kinds of efforts. it's so essential to have young people become good community problem solvers and its really, really important to have our professionals in the community working on these problems, not only from a programmatic aspect but from a systems change and policy aspect because we all know there's good programs out there, but it's really necessary to take them to scale and institutionalize them. very good.

and if communities want to get engaged and involved, there's no better opportunity than to do so during national recovery month . recovery month is celebrated every september. there are materials online that you can use, and it's really looked at and prepared all year round, so you can get engaged in recovery month all year round. we hope that you do so, and we hope that you continue to spread the word that prevention works, treatment is effective, and recovery is possible. thank you for being with us. for a copy of this program or other programs in the road to recovery series, call samhsa at 1-800-662-help or order online at recoverymonth.gov and click "multimedia." every september, national recovery month provides an opportunity for communities like yours to raise awareness of

substance use and mental health problems, to highlight the effectiveness of treatment and that people can and do recover. in order to help you plan events and activities in commemoration of this year's recovery month observance, the free recovery month kit offers ideas, materials, and tools for planning, organizing, and realizing an event or outreach campaign that matches your goals and resources. to obtain your copy of this year's recovery month kit and gain access to other free publications and materials related to recovery issues, visit the recovery month web site at www.recoverymonth.gov or call 1-800-662-help. [music]

>> thank you for your patience. i m leader pelosi's district rector in san francisco. i've been with the for about nine years, and we are excited to put on this forum today to help people learn how they can access credit and capital for their small business. click background on some of what was accomplished in the last congress when later closing was speaker of the house. she had had 16 tax cuts signed into law to help small businesses grow and thrive. as we know, during the last 15 years, small businesses account for about 2/3 of the job growth in our country, but when the

bush recession hits in 2009, 2010, small businesses were hit particularly hard. small businesses are the center of her agenda. congress under her leadership gave 27 million small businesses tax cuts. two main pieces of legislation -- the small businesses jobs act in the information you have, will create a total of 500,000 jobs and create eight tax cuts. they are all described in the packet you have. also, unleashing up to $300 billion in credit for small businesses to access. there are another eight tax cuts that were passed through a number of different laws. some of our panelists will address those. even though now we are in an environment where there is a republican majority in the house and a slimmer majority in the senate, please note that the

leader and democrats are going fight hard to keep their agenda and restart our economy, and there will be more work to be done. i would like to hand over the podium to nicole rivera, who put this together. she will introduce the panelists and go over some logistics. i want to point out quickly that we are being recorded by san francisco government tv. the camera in front is only aimed at the podium. it is not taking shots of the audience, only the podium for people who want to ask questions. so do not worry, you are not on tv if you do not want to be. >> thank you for your patience. i am a representative with leader pelosi, and i'm thrilled to have you today to learn more of our best practices for accessing credit. it is a priority for our office. we are very well aware of how

small businesses are running up against the wall right now in terms of trying to get the credit and loans they are looking for, so i will try hard to bring the brightest minds in this room so you can effectively fix their range and learn more about what you can do better to fix your business plan and what it is they are looking for. first of all, i will introduce everyone. mark quinn is the san francisco district director of the u.s. small business administration. the small business administration covers not only san francisco proper but the bay area. the severed his third district is responsible for a business loan portfolio of 12,000 loans worth $4.2 billion. in 2009, the sba approved $500 million in lending. next, we have the executive

director of the san francisco small business office. she was in san francisco in 1986 to open the buffalo exchange limited store, and in the 13 years she worked for buffalo exchange, tennis district manager, she held her open the company from four to 11 stores. in 2009, the mayor appointed her as executive director to the office of small businesses. next, we have the ceo of opportunity funds. he has combined his background as a community organizer with an education from stanford to develop an innovative, not-for- profit financial incision that uses market principles to affect systemic change. it operates one of the nation's largest individual development, programs, a leading provider of micro loans in california, and has a robust community real estate finance unit. next, we have the ceo of ne

community federal credit union. since 1988, she has been the ceo of northwest community federal credit union. under her watch, the credit union group to over 1600 members. it has become the national model for institutions seeking to provide financial education and banking services to the low- income communities. last but not least, we have our conditional lender represented here by wells fargo. mark cyrus is the senior fda banker for the region -- the senior sba banker. he held businesses choose the best loans for the growing business and focus on a comprehensive understanding of their goals for their business. mark is responsible for helping entrepreneurs with sba loans every step of the way. i would like each of you to speak a little bit about what

your organization does and, more importantly, address the audience here and let them know what your looking for when you are hoping to fund their loan. we will start with you, mark. >> absolutely. thank you. i want to thank speaker pelosi for putting this together. i want to thank all of the of for coming out on a smell it -- snowy san francisco date. [laughter] we've been told we should get us know when we go back outside. not sure what to expect. second, i thank speaker pelosi for all the work she did to support the jobs act and before that, the stimulus bill, the original american recovery act bill that allows sba to be able to besba landing more available to small businesses. very important piece of our

tools that we have in this really very difficult time for small businesses to get access to credit. finally, i want to find the rest of the folks here, my colleagues on the panel. it is the case that sba works with these organizations to try to help small businesses understand how to get credit and fine tools to be able to do that. sba programs cover a wide range, and i will talk about this range of lending and the kinds of things we do, but in many ways, we do not do it alone. we do it with partners, and that is the takeaway message, the sba lending activity, while would guarantee loans through a number of lenders, we do it with a lot of other partners as well. let me give a little bit of a sense of what the small business administration does and is. we in san francisco covered the bay area and north coast

counties, and we do a variety of things. i will come back to the credit card because i know that is what this session is about, but before i do that, there's two other roles we play that are important as well. one is about helping small businesses understand how to start businesses, getting good technical assistance, getting good advice about starting and managing your business. equally important is being prepared for credit. one of the things we tried to do is work with small businesses to understand how to be ready for credit. a lot of that is helping folks that are interested in starting a business understand how to develop a business plan, how to get good advice about starting and managing a business. we see a lot of small businesses interested in starting a business, and they have a talent or skill or craft, and they know what they want to do, but they really need to structure a rounded to do it. part of what they need, through partners, through score, through our business centers that we have in san francisco, and

through the small business development center we also have here, really help small businesses understand how to get started in business, how to develop business plans, how to be able to put yourself in a position of planning for your business as much as running your business. a big part of what we do is the technical assistance and counseling work we do for folks interested in starting a business or those in the early stages who really need advice about where to go when you run into the wall, about financing, marketing, managing your business. that is an important role we play as well. another role we play is helping small businesses understand how to do contract thing, particularly with the federal government, but in a more general way, with all the public sector players. one of the things that small businesses always need is customers. one of the big customers out there is the public sector, but one of the challenges is the public sector on every level, federal, state, and local, are

always difficult for small businesses to understand how to navigate the process of getting certified to do business, finding the right sources to be able to talk to and understand how to navigate getting into the contract thing rolls with public sectors, so we try to help small businesses understand that, and we partner with a lot of organizations -- the city, the state of california, and now federal agencies, to be able to take advantage of a huge buying opportunity for small businesses, but one that they find very intimidating. sometimes it takes too long. it is too complicated. for real red tape of process is something less certainly exists with small businesses try to get into public contracts the work. those are two roles we play, separate from the access to credit roll. on the financing side, sba plays a role across a wide spectrum in terms of who we partner with and

what kinds of loans sba is able to guarantee. we are not a direct lender or guarantee lender. we have a couple of program he says, just to give you a sense, and i will let eric talk about the microlending side, but we have a microloan program to deal with the early stage client looking for a small loan under $50,000, down to, really, $10,000. for those businesses that are not viable in any real way but have a great idea, have some abilities to show that they have a good plan and really need to be able to get some early stage financing. that is kind of a non- traditional source of capital that exists out there. the main sba programs are guaranteed loan programs, and we act essentially as a guarantor, insuring the bank that if you make a loan to a small business, the business is not able to pay the loan, the sba will pay the bank a share of that long, typically 75% or 80%.

a bank like wells fargo, for example, which is the largest sba lender in the country. when the lender makes the loan to you, they come to us and say that your business, for a variety of reasons, may not be strong enough to get a loan without a guarantee. it might be a business that is too young or is a type of business -- say, restaurants -- that are a little riskier than they want to deal with, or you do not have the kind of collateral a lender is looking for. "an sba lender will be able to make the loan with a guarantee that sba will be able to provide. we probably will about 225 sba loans this year. at any point in time, we have about 1500 loans in san francisco that are sba loans. a lot of them are restaurants because that is one of the areas that is very typical because it is a riskier business. but a lot of people in san

francisco see that as an opportunity for them as well. we also partner with the golden gate restaurant association to help people understand how to do financing for restaurants. a lot of what we do is helping small businesses get access to credit. the sba loan program covers a range of small loans down to $25,000 and large loans up to $5 million, so it is a very wide range. can be used for a variety of uses -- debt refinancing, building acquisition, working capital, so it can be used for a wide range of things from a small business point of view. as you heard, we do guarantees for about 90 or 100 banks in the country -- or in the bay area. about 3000 nationwide. there is a lot of lenders that do some sba lending. first thing you want to do is deal with the bank. if they are not able to make the

loan by themselves, then go to our website, which is www. sba.gov, and look for the local page to see the local san francisco financing sources. but before you do that, the takeaway message here is that before you go to a bank, make sure you are cleared to do that. you do not want to go to a bank looking for financing for your business and ask them a question that will immediately give them a sense that you are not ready. you go to a bank and say, "how much can i borrow?" they will tell you, "i do not know, but probably not from us." you need to know exactly what you're looking for, how you are going to use the money, and how you will be paid the bank. part of the process is make sure you are prepared. the first thing you need to do is take a advantage of the

resources that can help you develop your business plan and really be prepared to go to a lender. being able to answer the questions you know that they will be asking is part of what we do as well. i'm sure we will have lots of time for questions, but i will send it back to you. >> director of the office of small business with the city and county of san francisco. again, i also want to thank congresswoman pelosi for hosting this event, and with her staff, and her leadership around all the work she has done supporting small businesses. because she comes from san francisco, and, by our definition, is small business is a business with under 100 employees. that is almost 85% of all businesses in the city. because she is from here, she really understands what small businesses are about, and she articulates your needs in washington, d.c.

in may 2008, san francisco opened the office of small business, under the leadership of gavin newsom, under the urging of our small business leaders. the mayor heard there was a need for the community to have a small office to help the needs of our small businesses in san francisco, help them understand and navigate the complex structure in getting a business opened within the city and county of san francisco. initially, primarily, we were going to be about helping you understand licensing and permitting requirements, but, really, shortly after we open our doors, we understood that we were also, as a government entity, a place for people to come when they want to know about loans, about writing a business plan. where to go to do that, where to

go to get assistance. we are also a resourced. when we do see people in our office, many of them are a year or two out from even opening their business, so we will ask them what their credits for is, have they done their business plans, do they know what they're capital needs are going to be, how much money they have, how much money they are going to need to open their business. based upon those questions, we will direct them to the sba for workshops, courses. there is other entities that also provide workshop courses score as well in terms of helping to write business plans. also helping to educate the distinction between the micro lender, our bank, and