i will be reading a portion of our first scholarship winner's essay. hi, i am junior at frankfurt high school in frankfurt, indiana. my goal is to go to indiana university in bloomington and enter medicine. i want to help patients who do not have medical insurance. i would like to thank the national aids memorial grove for helping me to make that possible. in my essay, i wrote about how hiv/aids residence with me because they prevalent prob coma teenage girls get pregnant and arid risk of hiv/aids, since they do not use protection but also, teenagers in the community are not aware of the dangers of not knowing about their hiv status. many people can be safe and supported it they know their status. i hope more support groups become available in my area, because there are many who need education and support.

i am currently working with my school to organize a health fair to inform people about hiv. i would also like there to be hiv testing available said teenagers can know their status. thank you. and now, those are very proud to introduce mary martinez, our second winner from mission high school in san francisco. [applause] >> hello, i am a senior from mission high school here in san francisco. i expressed that last mother i took the test to graduate from mission high school. in this class, we learned about and hiv/aids. i was stunned when they did not talk about -- and they said it could be prevented from just using a condom.

all schools should have a required class in regards to the special hiv/aids. i find it a logical that my high school does not have a class that provides this information. i want to think the national aids memorial grove for helping me become the first time my family to attend the university and providing new it greater awareness about how i am affected by hiv and aids. this scholarship will help me pay tuition, because i am not eligible for financial aid as an immigrant from guatemala. thank you. [applause] >> i would now like to introduce nancy rodriguez, our third winner, from long beach, california. [applause]

>> hello, good morning, everyone. is it a senior in high school in long beach, california. in my essay, i wrote that i connect with the memorial grove because my mother's friend was contracted with hiv. when she found out she was hiv- positive, she was shocked. she never expected to have hiv, because she was married and did nothing she was at risk. it is inspiring how she is using her experience. she educates women in mexico about hiv and aids. and how to prevent the transmission of the virus. the way she helps others is similar to the national aids memorial growth. by providing support to people with hiv and aids. i have seen that people with hiv sometimes feel rejected, and lonely, and hopeless.

like the national aids memorial grove, she nurtures people touched by aids through love and hope. i would like to add a the national aids memorial grove for helping me to be the first and my family to attend university. i am to become a lawyer in human rights, because my parents and i are immigrants, i do not qualify for federal aid and honors, nor can my parents afford tuition. thank you very much. have a good day. thank you. [applause] >> before i introduce our fourth winner, and want to let knowledge that three of our winners this year will be the first in their families to attend university. [applause]

our final winner of our new two- year scholarship award is stephanie zolaya from san francisco. [applause] >> ok, hello. i currently in 10 lowell high school in san francisco as a senior. i wrote that before us -- taking health class at school, i would not have been able to describe what hiv and aids are. i would not have had the slightest clue that hiv and aids can be transferred through sharing needles. this shows that people can be really clueless about how hiv and aids are contracted in transmitted without proper information. i remember reading "and the band played on" for school. it focuses on communities that were hit hardest by hiv and aids. they began begging the government to fund research and to provide social services for those dying of aids.

this a book many realize how serious hiv and aids czar. and relates to those struggling with hiv and aids. health class is at my school made me aware of the potential dangers and the means of preventing transmission. i would like to thank the national aids memorial grove for helping to achieve my dream of attending college. since those are also an immigrant from el salvador, i do not qualify for federal or state aid. this scholarship will also assist me to be the first one in my family to it did college. thank you for making this program possible. [cheers and applause]

[applause] >> that is our future. [cheers and applause] thank you. my name is tomjenson.

i am the co-chair of the national aids memorial grove board of directors could i am here to introduce yvette funder. but first, i am here to also invite you to join us after this event for warm soup. following dr. bishop flunder, i am inviting you to the circle of friends for the annual reading of the names that were engraved in 2011. after the reading of the names, we will make our way east to the circle of peace for the dedication of the newest and perhaps the oldest feature in the growth, the falsls. [applause]

martin, if you and john can talk with tears in your voice, i hope i can, too. i would like to take a moment while you are all gathered here to acknowledge and thank lisa and leroy for their tenacity and the engagement over the past year. in love and dedication to their late soul mate and partner francis mccormick. [applause] thank you. i want to take a personal moment to thank our volunteers, the board of directors, my team for

your dedication and generosity. to john cunningham and steve for your tireless and constant efforts. to ray good enough -- [applause] for his daily tending of this garden. and for your friendship. [applause] i would also like to thank my predecessor, marcia rolston, for teaching me, encouraging me and for believing in me. [applause] finally, i would like to thank my outgoing chair, gina. [cheers and applause]

i don't know where you are. for 13 years of service to the growtve. [applause] and for being my friend, a supporter, guide, and mentor. [applause] i will miss you. thank you all for being here, and thank you to our honorees. the legacy of san francisco and all those who have contributed to creating and maintaining this city's model response to the epidemic is one that inspires and endures. while today is a time of remembrance, reflection, and appreciation of those who have died, those who are surviving,

and those who are continuing in the fight against aids, i would like us to consider the future. this garden will seem quiet for the next few months as fewpulls in and rests. but it is only polling its energy inside, preparing for next year's growth. i encourage each of us to view the same in the coming weeks, to spend time within ourselves, to spend time with our loved ones, to spend time here. gather that energy inward, knowing that we are ready to rededicate and recommit ourselves to action, to life.

thank you all and to the cochairs of world aids day. a couple more announcements. tonight at 6:00 p.m. on kqed the world, the documentary "the grove" will be showing. 56 minutes long. it will be showing throughout the month of december, and it is showing on the nationwide market. also, if you have not already been there in this corner is the memory pavilion. i encourage you to drop in, see the faces of old friends, old lovers. finally, at 6:30 p.m. tonight is a vigil at harvey milk plaza,

and i encourage you all, on the 30th anniversary of aids, to head to the castro and be there with me. thank you all very much for being here. with that, please welcome -- help me welcome bishop yvette flender. [applause] >> good afternoon did not want the sisters of perpetual indulgence to know that i have been, for 30 years, the bishop of perpetual frustration. [laughter] important. that we bring it into this virus. and because the real enemy for so many years has been a shame and guilt and religion.

and i want to say that as a practitioner of the faith, that we have been dangerous in this virus. and we're very conscientiously clear that we're called to healing. healing ourselves in healing our community. and i want to say to the sisters and brothers in san francisco general, because i have brought many of my parishioners, friends, and children into your womb for care, and you have been incredible. god bless you, and thank you. and you much deserve this award to today. god bless you. [applause] and so, as i was sitting on my seat and allowing the spirit to really speak to my heart, i thought it would be important to let you know that i am going to take some liberties with the lyrics to a song that will be very familiar with you.

but because i believe today we're dedicating a fountain of living water, i think it is important that we sing and speak with the eye toward this place that has been established, not only to remember those who have passed the to remember that there is a very narrow gulf between life and death. they're here with us in this place today. ♪ herhere is a place for us right here there's a place for us with peace and quiet and open air waiting for us

right here here's a plactime for us right now there's a time for us this time together we're time to share time to learn time to care somehow some way

we found a new way of living we found a way of forgiving right here there's a place for us god made a place for us so hold my hand and i'll take you there

hold my hand and we're halfway there right here right now this place ♪ god bless you. [cheers and applause]

>> we believe we can bring innovation to government, entrepreneurs, developers, with the government to make a difference. i would like to introduce mayor ed lee of san francisco to kick us off. >> thank you, good morning. happy new year i want to start out by saying the new year brings us -- while we still hear bad news from the federal and state economy, i have always believed, particularly this last year as interim mayor, working

with people like ron conaway, jenn, certainly talking with david chiu, we need to innovate our way out of a lot of these problems. you are going to hear me use that word innovation quite a bit. i think, for our city, innovating ourselves into more transparency to be more customer friendly and transparent, to be more efficient as a government, bringing more services, and meeting the economic challenges that i think are continuing to plague us, is going to be the way we succeed. today, i have two basic announcements. the first is we are forming a strategic partnership. code for america is a nonprofit

that has been presenting innovative ideas to city governments, and particularly, for san francisco. i want to expose them to everything we have in terms of direct customer services, challenges we have had for many years, and to ask them to work with the strategically to create, in a competitive nature and a strategic partnership, a relationship where we can have companies and individuals and the entrepreneurs come through code of america and get the kind of information for the challenges we are having in government, and to work with us to create the most innovative ideas possible. some of you may ask, what are we really talking about? for example, last january -- the best example i can give you is, i was intrigued by this application we have created in

the mta, where we had a sf park. an innovative idea of creating parking applications to solve some of our congestion on the street. i brought that application to the conference of mayors in washington, d.c. and was immediately surrounded by no less than five additional measures that said, that is something happening in san francisco. we can use that idea here. it is that kind of example where we have more ideas to share, where we can create more applications than create ideas, through the code of america, working with our technology entrepreneur is, working with city departments, with the leadership of our mayor's office, board of supervisors, to challenge us to come up with more ideas as to how we could solve some problems that plague

us, whether at the unique, in homeless areas, or whether it might be trying to catch a taxi cab in a more efficient way. we think we could have a more to do to a partnership with a code of america. we are announcing today -- by the way, code of america will be moving into larger offices at ninth and mission in the next few months, and be right with us, both physically, and this innovative strategic partnership that i want to announce today, to really bring in code of america in a strategic way. the second announcement i want to make is, i cannot do this myself. in fact, i am still trying to figure out how to do better with tweeting the things i want to get done.

the conversation that i have had with ron conaway and companies that have registered a tremendous interest, working with john walton and are part of technology. we think it is absolutely necessary to register our interests in innovation by declaring the chief innovation officer for the city. perhaps the first in america, certainly in san francisco. i have tapped the talent jane to my right, who has been working in the department of technology. he has been the leader in open data government efforts in our city. i would like him to now come into the mayor's office and be the point person for us to declare that we want that innovation in the heart of the mayor's office and helping the departments figure out how they can use innovation and how they can be connected with nonprofits

like code for america, to get not only their data, but even their business practices more efficient and transparent. he is our chief innovation officer for the city. he will be working alongside me in making sure the mayor's office, working with the board of supervisors, has at its helm, with the proper authority, a corporate visibility, leadership in making sure innovation is a part of everything we do, both in leading the departments and our efforts to innovate ourselves out of the many challenges forthcoming. i think we need an innovation that the mayor's office, so we have asked him to come forward to do this. i needed to be very visible to everybody. i need it also to signal that

this is our dedication -- that we have talked about for a few months. innovation will be a key component, key way in which we conduct ourselves in the city. by the way, it is not just innovation for innovation's sake. at the heart of this is job creation. i have said this over and over again to the point where people may be bored with it. at the heart of my 17-point plan of job creation and economic growth is technology growth. that has been the exciting part of my few months as interim mayor, and the last few months, to see that technology growth that is at the heart to bringing down the unemployment statistics in a dramatic way. these two announcements today, the strategic partnership with code of america, as well as the identifying the chief innovative

officer for the mayor's office, leading the way. i know that david chiu understands this and embraces this. he has been a champion for the government 2.0, if you will, in the city. even in our -- my brief race for mayorship, that we even talked about this maneuver competing, that we wanted to make sure this was something that we tried to do and entered into government. it is exciting for me, something that represents what i want to do for the next several your years as mayor of the city. i know that david chiu embraces this as well. he will be working with us extremely closely. with that, let me invite board president david chiu. >> thank you, mr. mayor. i am pleased to be part of not just this presentation and announcements, but the team of political and technological

innovators is a wonderful step for the city. before i came to city hall, i ran a technology company. like everyone here, we know we have some of the brightest and most innovative individuals, here in san francisco. that being said, when i came into city hall, i was shocked at the fact we are a city with a proximity to silicon valley, yet, while we spend $200 million a year in i.t., we have had seven disparate e-mail systems, three dozen data centers, and winnie the consolidation in technology, but even more importantly, we were not part is in the best and brightest minds here in san francisco. over the past year, i have attended a number of hack-a- thons, and was impressed about the ideas of how to fix muni, making our commercial buildings greener, using vacant