fred, take a bow, fred. fred blackwell and malia cohen and so many other wonderful people who have really been leading this effort to revitalize the whole of bayview hunters point and third street but i know fred's heart has been in this from day one. i've watched him. i've worked with him. and i know that he's gone through every emotion in life to bring revitalization and hope in this neighborhood and now on the eve of his so many successes going on and we shared some tears with him a few weeks ago when we announced the alice griffin from neighborhood choice program. we knew that that, along with college track, and his droction

droction -- direction in getting this building and his leadership not only in redevelopment -- work with our school district, working with city college, working with san francisco state university, working with the private sector. he's crowning so many things before he leaves to be the deputy city administrator in oakland. i want to thank you, fred, for all your wonderful leadership and your commitment here. [applause] i know that college is going to be a reflection of everyone's success here and from the years that i worked in upward bound to now, i want to congratulate the kids who are here right now. because, guess what, not only have you joined a very successful program that will work very hard on your behalf to deal with things like academic affairs, college affairs, student aid, to get you where you need to have a sustainable

economic forecasting so that you can be successful there, but you're also joining a a very exclusive club that i think will be more and more kids coming from this neighborhood. you have just committed to joining the million dollar club. did you know that? the million dollar club, do you know what that is? the million dollar club is the difference between a high school diploma and a college degree. it's the difference in economic income that you will earn relative to those who don't graduate and go to college. that's the million dollar club. you're joining that club and you're going to make yourself successful and by the way, as you do your part in graduating from college, we, in the city, working together with all of the different entities here, we're going to do our part to make sure we create and sustain the jobs that you want, the best kind of jobs, the high-tech jobs coming in. the life science jobs, the jobs

that are going to make a difference in your lives. we will do. that we will keep those jobs here in san francisco so that when you graduate if college, those jobs will be there for you. how do you like that as an agreement? [applause] and i know there are so many partners. i see great partners in carmen policy and wilkes bashford and mrs. fisher is here and the board on behalf of college track, there are so many people that are participating in this because they have the same belief, they have the same knowledge that if we can help take care of those distractions that afford you the opportunity to keep focused on your education, we're going to do right, we're going to succeed, just like randy. randy's going to tell you about his engineering light that's about to be successful. he's going to work on many projects here in san francisco, right? we've got a lot of development

going on in the city, successful developments that will have those wonderful jobs, because that, at the end of it, is your prize. going to college is a sacrifice. you will be faced with distractions, no doubt about it. and we've identified those distractions with the college track program we have here so they don't become distractions for you, so you can focus on your education and focus on the goal. that's what i want to do and that will be the commitment of this mayor and this administration as long as we are here, we'll get the jobs to you and keep supporting these wonderful programs. thank you very much for being here at college track. [applause] >> thank you very much, mr. mayor. i would like to invite supervisor cohen up to speak, please. thank you. >> thank you. ladies and gentlemen, once upon a time ago, about six, seven

years ago, i met a man named ed lee and he was a quiet little bureaucrat. he was an administrator -- actually, no, before that, he was the director of d.p.w. and then an administrator. he just did what he was told to do and worked very hard at doing it and was very diligent and now over the last nine months, i've had the opportunity to watch him blossom into a mayor and to listen to his speak, he's so mayoral. i mean, there was a time he would start his opening remarks would be two or three minutes and that would be it. and now i have to follow him on the program, of course, i yield to him. but i have to follow him and he takes every last one of my talking points. every last one of them. so when he wasn't mayoral, when he was a bureaucrat, it was much easier to speak after him. nowadays, it's really a tough act to follow so i just want to say publicly, thank the mayor

for his leadership and his continued strong leadership he has been demonstrating from day one that he took office in representing this part of san francisco. thank you very much. i am very grateful. [applause] and one thing he didn't do this time was he didn't go down the long list of folks to thank so i'm going to run through them quickly and share brief remarks. he did acknowledge the vision that lieutenant governor gavin newsom had for this organization. he also acknowledged carlos garcia and our partners at the san francisco unified school district. we could not do this without our educators by our side. also, he acknowledged the college track bayview council. thank you very much, i'm going to name them out. we have the wonderful, not the late, sorry, wilkes, not the late, but the great wilkes bashford. we have cofi bonner headlining.

i have a long list and i'm going to take a minute of your time to show my gratitude because if it were not for the community partners, none of us would be here and i wouldn't be able to capitalize on the success these young people will have. cofi bonner, chris boskin, ron conway, hydra mendoza, mr. carmen policy and of course the lovely lauren dove, and david singer. i just want to acknowledge you for your profound work. thank you very much. and a special note to mr. fred blackwell. sir, thank you. without the head of the redevelopment agency, without the leadership of our redevelopment commissioners, this city would be in probably a perilous state. would you agree? we need every single leader we have and i look forward to cultivating new talent to come

back and continue to serve san francisco because that is exactly why we're here. i started my public service journey when i was 8 years old. 8 years old, i met the then dine feinstein who was mayor and she took the moment to talk about the importance of public service and it was in a brief two-minute exchange that she planted a seed in me that has come to bear fruit which is why i'm here today. ever since i was in the third grade, i've been walking down this path of public service. so to my future senators and business men and women and doctors and entrepreneurs and engineers and architects, i welcome you to the table, to the -- what is it, the hundred million club? the one million dollar? i've increased the vision.

100 million sounds better to me. that's the ron conway club. sign me up. i welcome you to the club because we have a lot of work that needs to be done. we won't be able to get it all done in our lifetime and we must continue to pass on this torch to continue to move things forward and mr. omar, where you are? come join me up here, please, sir. i want to present -- this is one of the best parts of the job. you get to present certificates of honor to recognize outstanding leaders and sove lia certificate of honor but i want you to know that i'm stingy with my certificates. everyone may request, but few get them. ladies and gentlemen, if you will bear with me, i'm going to share with you the words i have more college track. in honor of college track bayview ground breaking celebration and in honor of college track's commitment to educating our youth and in recognition of welcoming college track to the bayview, the city and county of san francisco

board of supervisors hereby extends their highest commendation for your dedication to san francisco communities and sends their best wishes to you on this day. thank you so much. [applause] i am just going to have, in my closing remarks, many of you have been probably watching the news and we have challenges when it comes to public safety and i want to let you know that this building is the step in the right direction because block by block we'll take back the bayview. this neighborhood will be safe for everyone. thank you. [applause] every member in this community is going to be able to walk up and down the third street corridor and be able to shop and spend all their money on the merchant corridor and feel safe and confident.

not only will you be safe but we'll do a better job of educating our kids right here. we are on the track to close the achievement gap and i'm here to reafirm my ghoiment you as a public -- commitment to you as a public service that i am on the job and on the track and paying attention. thank you. [applause] >> last, but certainly not least -- i met randy when he was a senior in high school before i came to college track, san francisco, i was with college track, oakland, and randy exemplifies why college track is in existence so i would love for randy to share his story with us. [applause] >> thanks, omar. trust in the lord with all its hine heart and lean not on to thine own understanding. my great grandparents raised me with these words in east oakland.

my great grandparents raised me. i went to sleep with nightly gunshots and found drugs in my backyard discarded by dealers on the run. my great grandfather was my father figure. he gave me my motivation and college track helped me harness it. as a child, i wanted to be an architect. i was amazed by cranes, erecting skyscrapers. in the sixth grade, i was diagnosed with dyslexia. i thought i could only be a construction worker. my grandfather taught me carpentry skills in middle school but one day while we built a fence together, he talked to me about college and inspired me to be more than a carpenter. when i joined college track, i slowly overcame my learning disability. i had one-on-one daily tutoring and high expectations from people like omar. i took school more seriously and pulled my g.p.a. from a 2.5 to a 3.5 by my senior year, around

the time that omar came and joined us. my outlook changed and optioned opened up. i realized they loved the sciences and my wood shop instructor encouraged me to be an engineer. during my senior year, my great grandfather gave me the college talk. i remember him looking away from me when he started off by saying, i don't want you to be like the rest of the -- out there. i told him i wanted to be an engineer and a smile grew across his face. he said, that's all right, too. his encouragement meant so much to me but sadly during my freshman year at san francisco state university, he passed away at 89 years old. the morning before the funeral, our old next door neighbor told me he was glad i was in college and he said that in their time you didn't need a college education to be successful, you just had to be smart and follow

instructions. he went on to say that young people today do not realize how important it is to get a college education. through the rest of college, i faced challenges such as being homeless. the house i was raised in in oakland was foreclosed on and my father was -- i stayed with my father for a while and that didn't work out but college track was there for me in my time of need, not only helping me get into college, but helping me graduate from college. they offered me a hardship scholarship which allowsed me to live on campus. college track has helped fill the void of my great grandparents and they have become my family. i originally got the email to come here from david and i was busy putting together a bid for the presidio, helping out one of my co-workers. and then i was thinking about it while i was at my desk and

julian text messaged me, are you coming? and i thought about it, and i thought, i will have to make time to go. i'll have to talk to my boss and negotiate something to be there tonight because college track has been there so much for me, i can't let them down when they're asking me to spend a little bit of time. i want to emphasize to people here tonight, we talk about students, but i also want to emphasize that looking beyond statistics, looking at the individual students, the impact you'll make with their lives, they're building relationships with college track staff like omar. i ran into marshall's daughters last week in san francisco. they remember the days in college track oakland when i used to babysit them while marshall handled stuff at college track. it's those moments that just by providing a center in san francisco, you're providing memories and not only that, you're not only providing

memorying for them, you're providing a foundation for these students to grow build on as they grow to have families of their own, not just careers. another thing i thought about is that i want to leave this world better than what i started when i first got here so to do that, i have to come to events like this. i have to encourage people to give to programs like college track and think about the impact you're having on individual students' lives. i still talk to my trends that were in the program -- friends that were in the program and college track has made such a big impact. even for the ones that didn't complete college, they realize they have positive. they don't want their kids to grow up the same way they did. they want to tell the person that might be breaking into somebody's car, you don't have break into somebody's car, i'll help you. that's the type of community we need and that's the type of community college track builds everywhere they go. thank you.

>> and so i would now like to introduce david silver, the c.u.a. of college track national. >> good evening. today is a historic day, a day in which the community puts a stake in the ground, literally, for equity, so that all students in the bayview will truly have the opportunity to go to college and pursue their dreams. look around the room. this doesn't happen every day. this is an incredible coalition from across the city and across the bayview and think about what we are creating together. college track can't reach our vision alone. but together, we can, and today, thanks to many of you, we are one step closer. i'd like to thank many of the

people here, starting with supervisor cohen, mayor lee and mr. caranza from mr. garcia's office. if we can give them a round of applause. [applause] second, fred blackwell, and the staff at the san francisco redevelopment agency for your support and partnership to make this day possible. to president swig, rick swig and the other members of the sfra board of commissioners, thank you. to the college track bayview council, and hydra mendoza, ron conway, cofi bonner, and to the college track board who believed in us and believed in our students and this dream. and another group that i would like to thank is the bayview larger community. the p.a.c. and k.a.c. members

for all the work you did, the u.s. bank, the other members of the community and community based organizations. you and your ongoing partnership are critical for us as we aim to empower students and families. [applause] thank you to the community and thank you also to the college track staff who has and will continue to work tirelessly to make sure that we reach our vision. i want to also thank a couple of people individually. in addition to omar and the san francisco staff who will be here in this building, raise your hands, if you would, as well as marshall lott, brian gadson and julie lawyer who helped make this day possible. if we being give the college track staff a round of applause. and the most important people in this room are college track students. if we could bring up the students and if you could come on over here, that would be great. [applause] these students -- come on up --

as they're coming out, they work day in and day out to pursue their dreams. go all the way across. they defy stereotypes, they inspire with us our dedication. they are living proof that college is not an exception but one day it will be an expectation for all students in this community. students, you are the heroes. as we applaud your work, i also would like to have an opportunity here to have mayor lee, supervisor cohen, everyone that is up here, if you could please come up here, we're going to pause for a picture in a moment. if you can get together. we're going to need more students gathered up in the front.

[applause] >> not a sunny day, a joyous day. good morning, everybody. we are under some time constraints because they are l -- mayor lee and members of the board have some additional responsibilities and i want to give them the opportunity to say a few words. there are a number of community leaders alike to a knowledge as well. i want to express gratitude for the court of appeals ruling today that strikes a devastating blow to the legal defense of proposition 8.

the well reasoned decision reveals marriage discrimination for what it is. discrimination. it powerfully affirms the constitution goes a promise of equal protection under the law. this fight began eight years ago, almost to the day when they are gavin newsom will lead decided to issue licenses to same-sex couples. [applause] shortly after, san francisco would distinguish itself as the first government in american history to strike down marriage laws that discriminate against same-sex partners. fortunately, we would not be alone. in addition to the brave plan, we successfully recruited to does another series - -cities -- cities and counties statewide.

we are still fighting in california today, six states issue marriage licenses to same- sex couples. we owe a debt of gratitude to all that began in this building eight years ago. together, we started an argument for a quality. and we put a human face on marriage discrimination. i speak for everyone in my office when i say how honored we are to continue to work alongside the american foundation for equal rights. the outstanding legal team and the couple's the represent. -also very proud of the deputies in my office that worked so hard on this appeal.

the deputy city attorney's. i also want to thank all the city officials whose support has been instrumental from the beginning. i know the terms city family is sometimes criticized, but i can't think of a better, more fitting expression of what it means to have the strong support of mayor lee and the board of supervisors with a cause that matters so deeply to california and the nation. we will take your questions shortly, but the mayor and members of the board have some additional obligations. i want to give them the opportunity to say a few words haland express their thoughts. [applause] >> thank you, dennis. i have often said this is the

year of the dragon, and that means you have to confront your challenges. what a way to confront this challenge that has been with us for some many years. this is the greatest opportunity i have seen, it is one that i truly am celebrating with the city family, but i most want to thank the people that have battled this for some years. on behalf of all families in the state of california, and this is a family issue, one that we felt we were on the right side of history for some many years. without hesitation, i want to thank our city attorney and they're wonderful staff for continuing this battle all the way to the federal court.

eight years ago, i watched as all of you, various levels of city hall, we knew that we were on the right side of history that many years ago. we knew that there would be some fights ahead of us. we did the writing and as your city minister at that time, going through and getting the marriage is ready. we are doing the same thing, we are getting ready. because your constitutional rights should not have to wait. they really should not have to wait for everybody else to catch up. i know that we still have a court proceedings that will be studying, but we need to take this opportunity to thank everyone that is often part of this great movement. i had a chance of a couple weeks ago to join mayors across the

country on the freedom to marry movement, and you are hearing that more and more mayors and the states are accepting, recognizing the constitutional rights. for this court of appeals to have made such a significant ruling on this california proposition, it is very historic and very significant. most importantly, in addition, people worked very hard in the communities worked very hard. the hundreds of families that have been waited for so long -- waiting for so long. this is how the society comes together, moments where we can celebrate and recognize there is no difference among all of us. this is a family, in large part, for humanity.

congratulations. [applause] >> of what like to point out, the u.s. conference of mayors, these that they have taken to brought in the constituency. i want to have the mayor for his leadership in that effort. and mayor jerry sanders from san diego. he was a witness in this case, and we owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude. >> if i hadn't mentioned it, gavin newsom was brave 8 years ago. that was something that i have been very fortunate to take up, it is a cause that we will continue. [applause]

>> we are very lucky to have a tremendous support of supervisors that have been supportive. and i would like to invite supervisor scott winer an -- wiener and newly appointed supervisor chrstine olague. [applause] >> i know i am speaking on behalf of the board to talk about how incredibly excited we all are today. i can say that personally, my past life as a deputy city attorney, i saw firsthand, the steady leadership of my former boss and our great city attorney, dennis herrerra. every so often, we get a court ruling that reaffirms our faith in the judic