locallele economy. as a result paying taxes job creation and decrease dependants on public assistance. and we need your help. women's initiative has received $100,000 from the community development block program. we have completely exceeded our goals. despite our exceptional economic impact, unfortunate lirks women's initiative has been recommended for a 50% cut for fiscal year 202011-2012. we urge you to reach out to these supervisors and advocate for full program so our program can spur economic dopment in the city of san francisco. thank you for your support. >> hello, again. to tell you a little bit of urban solutions, we are here to help businesses success.

the statistic that 80% of businesses that receive technical assistance are still in business five years later which is -- compares to -- of under 50% for businesss that don't receive technical assistance. like many of the other organizes that are part of this alinings, we are part of a network that supports businesses in accesses loans. we'll help them in gets loans that may range from $1,000 all the way up to $5 million working with businesss that are looking to purchase commercial real estate. since 1992, we've served 4 rkeds 500 clients to help create 560 jobs and secured over $20 million until loans for small businesses. 2% of our clients are from low to moderate snk households and neighborhoods and we're best known for the neighborhood revitalization work we've done on 6th street and on the western edition. on 6th street we have seen

additional progress. we have a broker's license. we've been able to reduce the retail vacancy rate down from 43% all the way down to 9%. this summer we'll invite you to the grand opening of pearl's deluxe burgers who which will be opening up at 6th and market. we've worked on the lease negotiation, on securing loans from two different city agencies. we have a green business program. so we helped them select energy efficient equipment. and we're working on a daily basis to get that store. they've already started training them. these are good jobs. they pay health insurance. they pay above minimum wage. so sometimes, right now san francisco is -- is being very, very heavily hit by cuts to the

nonprofit sector. state cuts, federal cuts, general fund cuts. everything is getting cut. we just want -- want to keep in mind that we are also a part of the safety demet. if you can employ people. they don't need to go into, you know, some of the other service providers. and i think sometimes people forget that -- that this keeps people employed and that's a real focus for all of us. urban solutions has a second office in the western edition. and this summer we're launching a program in partnership with another partner with mi conina. the legislation was changed to make it easier to get at permit to operate a mobile food business. we have to make sure that low income people have a chance to benefit from this opportunity. so we'll be training people who are residents.

la con -- cocina will be making food preparation training. as we mentioned we have a green business program. we work for free for low income individuals and companies can hire us. we help them get green certified. one of our clients we were able to save them $17,000 a year and their income was $45,000. so without those savings, they would have been truly low income and they had a better way as a result. we also send many clients to the small business assistance center for help getting permits. now, i'd like to invite all of you to come along. we're doing a tour, may 26, it's from 2:00 to 5:00.

and if you contact i can get you more details of that. we'll be startings on 6th street and going to the fillmore and taking people around to meet our clients. we're rerouting the tour because unfortunately, we were going gather on moya on folsom and 7th but there was a large fire that building so that business had to shut down as of last week. but we'll be rerouting the tour and would love to have you. lisa kerrbin joined us here and was not able to stay. she needed to go home to put her son to bed. she was here to represent the entrepreneurship centers. she left her comments with me. so i'm going to give you a few highlights from renaissance as well. she had just come back from the a.e.o. conference in d.c. she had a couple of interesting statistics about micro enterprise which are businesss

that have zero to four employees. if 1-3 hired a singlelele employee the u.s. would be at full employment. and also that the median net worth of business owners is two anded a half times that of nonbusiness honers and the statistics are more stunning in terms of the minority communities where it's for african-american business owners they are earning 10 times more than african-americans who do not own businesses. so it's very critical in helping them become business owners. renaissance was established in 1985. they have three sights. one in the bay view, one in the south of market, one in the mid peninsula. they serve 1,600 annually. and they core is training, workshops, a business incubator, capital access to technology and graduate services. on behalf of both urban

solutions and the renaissance entrepreneurship center, i did want to share with you that our two organizations collectively receive over $1 million each gleer funding from the redevelopment agency to do work on the bay view on 6th street and also for renaissance's business incubator. so redevelopment in other parts of the state isn't funding this small business development type work, but they are in san francisco and it's a crucial funding to help business develop. there's still a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen come july. we may lose this funding. we may hang on for one more year and we may see it gone a year from now. so we did want to ask you to watch this process. if it has ended come july, there may be some other funds that come back to san francisco. we would certainly like to see some of that funding continue to support small business

development. so please -- please watch it. it's going to have a big impact on both our organizations where we have a very fast contraption in our budget and we'll have to make adjustments. and also just to kind of echo the comments elizabeth shared about women's initiative and their facing cdbg cuts and the funding that we all get was very competitive and the whole pool decreased. in our eyes the work we do ends up paying for itself because we are creating tax revenue. we are helping businesses open up, create jobs, and create tax revenue. so this is something that really pays for itself. so in terms of just in conclusion of how you can help, please send us clients. please come and visit our sites. we would all be delighted to show you what we're doing.

and the last thing that i've approached regina about that we're going to be looking into is we have an idea that the small business assistance center website could develop a shared calendar. we all put on workshops, different training opportunities for our clients. and we market them individually as organizations but we would love to have sort of a city centralle place where we would send our clients to that website and then they would find out about the workshops, all the organizations are putting on. so this would be a valuable way that you can help us in promoting the training that we're doing to clients. so i invite any questions that you have for us and thank you for your time and your service. >> thank you. commissioner, dooly? >> i just wanted to thank you so much for what you do. it's so valuable. i just can't thank you enough.

>> any other commissioners? >> i just want to tell you, all commissioners that i have recommended these services, repeatedly, mostly to women, young women who are interested in starting their own businesses and i believe i have experienced with each organize and several people so i am continuing to promote this and i'm especially troubled, i have to say that it's true, women's initiative receives $100,000 a year from the c.b.d.? is that right? >> historically we've received about $100,000 for many, many years and this year we're being recommended for $50,000. and about a month ago the recommendation was zero. >> i just have to tell you exigsners, that i find that very troubling. $100,000 for women's initiative for self-employment has such an incredible return on investment

and you know, the comment that it is part of the safety net is absolutely true. and you know, i will certainly be contacting the members of the budget committee and talking about this because i can't think of a more important program really because, you know, keeping people employed and, you know, it -- it's so many benefits an i've watched it. i just want to thank you all for it. i will be advocating for your organizations going forward. it's an investment that's as important as any infrastructure or public safety investment that i can think of. you're investing in your people and people pay the greatest dividends going forward in the future. so thank you. >> director? >> yes, so, thank you for your presentation. and i just wanted to inform the commission that, as imapply and both jenny have stated that our

offices work very closely with all these organizations and the one thing that is really terrific about the sfeda is in many other types of fields where we have our community-based organizations, they don't work cooperatively together to provide the best level of service. and you know, it really speaks to our economic development organizations coming together, collectively meeting, figuring out what's the best way to work together to provide services for our small businesses and developing, you know, area where is they have a particular -- they might have a more skilled program and then allowing another organization to work on its skilled program. so -- which service our business community much better. and it's been a valuable resource for us because when we

see clients, one of the first things we really stress out is how well -- do they have their business plan? do they understand their financing before they start going down the road of really looking for a space, getting their permits? and twhout resource, it's a valuable resource for us to be able to direct these individuals to be able to get that kind of technicalle support that we as the city agency can't provide. and provide certain level of confidence for us knowing that these individuals, the most of them will probably seek these out. and -- and smaller resources mean less capacity for thome be able to work with these individuals. but then that ensures that our businesses have a stronger footing when they start out their business.

so i just wanted to thank you for your work, what you do. >> thank you. i don't see any public comments, so -- public comment is closed. this is not an action item -- >> it's not an action item, no. it's just an information item. to provide you with a status report. and we will probably -- i mean it would be good for us to just agendize the sfeda once a year to provide updates and programming and things that they've worked on throughout the year. >> go ahead, commissioner clay? >> i would just like to give some information to the public. >> i understand your services are not just for start-ups. they're not just for people getting off the ground. they are for people who have businesss that might be five years in and really need to grow and are having challenges getting to the next level.

and i just want to make sure thaw the public knows that we have these resources free and at very low cost when anyone is trying to get their business to the next level and, you know, where it can just be so incredibly hard. so thank you for that as well. >> i support that. thank you all for being here. and for your presentations. >> thank you. >> and thanks for being here so long. >> yeah. >> are ok. next item, please. chris? >> commissioner's item 13 director's report. update and report on the small business assistance certain. update on department programs, update on legislative matters and regarding small business activities. >> commissioner, the first item i would like to bring to your attention is in april due to jane, staff member's vacation, the office had to reduce its

counter hours by 40%. so our client services you will see are significantly down in terms of numbers from the previous -- is due the fact that we had the counter hours closed for 40% of the time in the month of april to be able to accommodate for that vacation. i also provided with you the list of small business week items. so on that list, it includes the ribbon cutting for mission cheese. -- on monday morning, may 16. then we have flavors from 5:00 to 6:00 with our commissioner adams emceing as the co-host for small business week. and then on tuesday, we have the mayor and board of supervisor's recognition

ceremony. 2:30 to 3:30 is the reception. 3:30 to 5:00 is the time during the board of supervisor's meeting that the awards or the honorees are recognized by the mayor and the board of supervisors. we are be doing -- so for supervisors -- i mean commissioners, it would be great to have as many of you attend at least the reception. -- at the 3:30 or right before 3:30 because we will be doing a shot with the honorees. we have the mega contact that evening on tuesday. wednesday is the all-day conference. and the 21st is shop your neighborhood. and i want to say, hopefully you've been seeing the bus adds on the buses. -- ads on the buses.

wells fargo is promoting it. we have advertisement on "san francisco magazine." we took to market this day over last year. policy matters. i know that many commissioners are interested in this parklets. there is a new round of r.f.p.'s that wereish shied at the end of last week. updates, last week i had two presentations, one at the merchant and affairs market and castro and also the business improvement district. on may 16 right before the flavors kick-off event, i'll only be able to be there part-time. but the flyer is in your packet. i will be doing a workshop with the state bar as an educational workshop for lawyers who may --

the state bar is working for the lawyers to be better prepared to deal with small businesses who are being impacted by the lawsuits. >> and then we will also be doing a workshop on this topic at our -- at the conference, small business week conference. i had a meeting with the golden gate restaurant association on april 13th to discuss opportunities for that organization to reach out and educate its membership on the matter. and they're exploring membership opportunities to incentivize their businesses to do -- take -- to do a cast inspection. i wanted to bring to your attention, the plaintiffs that we have been seeing recently are those -- and some submitting letters, another

particular lawyer. we're now just, just encountered an individual that is operating without council and so -- anyway, which is adding a unique twist to working and informing businesses on what to do around those that are receiving the letters. also i want to bring to your attention that the house of representatives at the federalle level -- excuse me -- congressman hunter, i believe it is in el cajon, california is introducing a bill to amend the america's disabilities act that would require a plaintiff the opportunity to provide the defendant to correct the violation before the plaintiffs can bring a civil suit.

so this has unique bearing, in san francisco they're being filed at the federal level as well as the state level. and so this could be a complimentary matter with the cast inspection with that match of the 90 days. what i will -- whatly be investigating is -- if the outreach committee will -- if the outreach committee will review this but if the full commission wants to have a presentation on legally what this may mean in relationship to our lawsuits in san francisco, then we'll work to provide that, get a presentation for the commission. i'll be brief on legislative matters. it's all written out for you, but just to let you know, i think in your packets today or you will soon receive if you haven't received it already,

supervisor campos has introduced legislation to amend the health care security ordinance. so i would greatly appreciate that you read through this legislation very carefully. i recommend that the small business commission take some leadership in terms of how we do -- how -- leadership around this. and so the legislation and policy committee will be taking a close look at this. but please feel free to talk to staff about it as well. and then that concludes my report. i won't take up anymore time since it's late tonight unless you have any questions. >> i just have -- i want to make this public record, regina spoke at the merchants of upper market on castro and i want to thank her for that. and the response that i've gotten back from membership is they enjoyed it.

i mean, it was kind of a downer subject but it was one that everybody thought was well worth hearing. several people thought it was a great benefit. because we've been through this round a few years ago and i just can't thank you enough for coming and talking to the membership. it really made an impact at least in my district and i have to thank you for that. >> you're welcome. >> commissioner clyde? >> i just wanted to ask you did the limited life performance, it has not been assigned to committee yet? the supervisor introduced it. >> my apologies, yes. it's been -- it's been assigned to land use and will -- and it also has to be before the planning commission. it will be assigned to our legislation and policy committee for the first review. >> and does it have to go to the entertainment commission as well?

president o'brien: see no further, next item. clerk: item number 14, the legislative and policy committee report. commissioner dooley: i do not think i have anything. >> pardon me, commissioner dooley, i think we will be bringing that in june. commissioner doolely: and we did regret -- request to go from

just a few days. sometimes we have now 60-day. president o'brien: that concludes your report? next. clerk: the permitting committee report. commissioner: there is no report. clerk: i number 16, the outreach committee report. commissioner: there is no report. clerk: the president's report. president o'brien: no report. clerk: item number 18, the vice president report.

vice president adams: -- president o'brien: next item. clerk: item number 19, commissioner reports. commissioner: manufacturing facilities and parties, so i would recommend looking at that if you are interested. i did attend several meetings this month. one of them with supervisor farrell in the marina, and i would like the commission to know that there were many ways about the licenses it. this is a new condition on abc

licenses, and i think there may be some concern to the commission. the small business commission was thanked repeatedly, and most thanked being small businesses. sunday streets on lower 24 have significant participation from the merchants, and this was this past sunday. there is the sidewalk sale. that was held on ocean avenue on saturday. and i spoke briefly with supervisor aval;a -- avalos,

and there was participation. i would like to highlight the work of the director in this focus on retail plan for the islands. i was just really heartened to see that small business was considered as part of the treasure island development plan, and i think that is really significant. this is the first day of operation. it is a really well thought out mix of food and beverage service. i have actually included in my report for the commission a copy of the current business opportunities at terminal 3, the national terminal cost and part of the retail mix, and i think considering tonight's

conversation began looking at neighborhood retail and looking at the entire regional picture in a neighborhood, if you look at terminal two, which is an amazing place, and if you have the good luck to fly out of it, it is just beautiful. it is a signature plates, and the retail mix is so well thought out and really honors the small-business community of san francisco. there are several local businesses to have something there, and that is why i am including it in my report. thank you. president o'brien: thank you. commissioner dooley? commissioner dooley: i will be brief. i attended the meeting about the cvs pharmacy is, and