supervisors, it is great to see many of you. i have been at this podium many times and it is wonderful to be in this festive occasion, this day of love and support. and want to thank my friends and family who came out today to support me. i would not be able to do any of this work without them. i am so grateful for that passion and commitment i feel to social justice and economic justice and san francisco and in our region and communities. it is what drives my passion to stay committed, to keep doing this work, no matter what venue, no matter what position. it is my life amendment. i learned that from my grandmother. -- it is my life commitment. i was raised by my grandmother. she is 84 years old and she continues to provide me with the strength and understanding that the world is a much bigger than

any one individual. we may not sit idly by and not be committed and share our passion for our communities. and work hard to make this world a better place. i am very grateful today that i represent the heroes, the african-american heroes, the multi-cultural heroes that we celebrate today. thank you very much. [applause] president chiu: our next commendation will be provided by our colleague from district 1, supervisor mar.

supervisor mar: thank you and happy black history month and happy valentine's day. there has been a tremendous variety of people from everyday heroes that do extraordinary things to media personalities and strong community leaders. i am so honored to call-up noah griffin. we lost him to marin county. one of the most talented san franciscans both in media and journalism but also as a longtime political activist. especially as an artist as well. i think tony bennett was hurt -- year earlier. noah griffin is creating a hard for san francisco. he started with the san francisco boys course that performed today. he performed with duke ellington, the shirelles, he

performed in "turandot" and "la boheme". he was chosen to solo with deucalion -- duke ellington. after graduating from arbour moskal, he returned to the san francisco bay area where he lived ever since. he has had an illustrious career as a syndicated newspaper columnist, singer, songwriter, and aid to seneator -- now senator feinstein. his a tribute to cole porter took the world by storm and he regularly sells out at such classical venues as byrd land in new york. his parents chose the rosslyn district to raise their family. he is a proud alumnus of washington high school. he was named the youth mayor

when george christopher was the mayor. he spent the day as the mayor of san francisco. i will say also that he is also -- we all love "i left my heart in san francisco." it is an honor to be in your presence as well as all the other leaders. mr. griffin? >> thank you very much, supervisor mar. i am deeply humbled by this honor. i received this also on the behalf of my parents who came here in 1944 at the behest of roy wilkins. they were playing 37% to -- paying teachers much lower. my father approached a man said that serve this out and tried under the 14th amendment. my parents were barred from teaching for life from ford

that. thanksgiving day, 1944, my father came out here and establish the west coast region of the naacp based in san francisco and i was fortunate enough to grow up here. i quickly learned there is no one rich in richmond. there's no sun in the sunset and no love in the haight. george christopher gave me the key to the city the last time i was honored. march 31, 1962. nearly 50 years ago. i went to school with malia cohen's father and presented her a scholarship to go to fisk university before she went off to college. part of the african-american in san francisco is blending within the community and not just being recognized for being one part of an ethnicity. we're part of the city of san francisco. i have written a song for the giants and i have written one for after 9/11 for the san francisco police and fire department and i would like to

sing this song i wrote for the golden gate bridge. it is the 75th anniversary of the golden gate bridge. we also have the the america's cup. ♪ san francisco is a story that has been told, there is more beauty to the i left to behold ♪ ♪ it is magical to people everywhere ♪ ♪ the mystical wonder, the ships passing under ♪ ♪ her golden towers reaching into the sky ♪ ♪ the bay san francisco, the bridge golden gate ♪ ♪ a timelessness you cannot deny ♪ ♪ it is comforting to know her,

the city sleeps builder -- below her ♪ ♪ its cares and troubles jianlian wind -- gently on wind. ♪ lovers hearts surrender, to dreams only lovers can find ♪ ♪ the bay san francisco, the bridge golden gate is ♪ ♪ travel home, it is not too late. ♪ the foghorns at dusk blow to road san francisco -- throughout san francisco ♪ ♪ the hills that rise above

her, the sailboats in her harbor art treasures you cannot barter or find ♪ ♪ men travel to pursue her ♪ ♪ they give their all to woo her ♪ ♪ she is buffeted and fortunes history aligned ♪ ♪ the bay, san francisco, the bridge, golden gate ♪ ♪ become weary traveler home, it is not too late ♪ ♪ the foghorns at dusk blow throughout the san francisco ♪ ♪ it is the bridge to our tomorrows, our happiness, and sorrows ♪ ♪ is a breach of faith, dodd is it is a bridge of fate, the

golden gate ♪ i would like to present a copy of this to the city of san francisco. thank you. [applause] [applause] president chiu: it is my honor to present the next commendation. one of the wonderful things about celebrating black history month as we see the diversity of leadership and accomplishment within our african-american community here in san francisco. one thing i will tell the audience is, you are seeing this incredible this spectrum but

none of us knew before today who each of us were going to be honoring. i love the fact my hon. represents another facet of diversity within our community. kimberly bryant is a biotechnology and engineering professional who spent the last decade in a series of technical leadership roles for fortune 100 companies including genentech, of dupont, and pfizer. she received her bachelor's in engineering degree from vanderbilt with a major in electrical engineering and a minor in computer science and math. you are far smarter than most of us here. i wanted to honor you for two reasons. kimberly has been active in the neighborhood association with in my district. i want to thank you for your leadership in that area. just as importantly, we ought -- talks here about the digital divide. the fact that we have a booming

technology industry and get a lot of challenges in making sure the diversity of our residents are being served and are able to get employment within this world. last year she founded an organization called black girls code to meet the needs of women under represented in technology. sheep introduced african- american and latino girls between the ages of 7 and 14 to the field of computer programming and digital technology. black girl's code launched a pilot project last year in the bayview hunters point community. it consisted of technical instruction in basic programming concepts and a hands-on learning and coaching environment. this was recently selected from amongst 400 applicants for prestigious google rewachand science engineering award for 2012. kimberly has appeared on

national television and local television shows to promote the program she has started. with that, thank you for all your doing and congratulations. >> thank you. i would like to start out by thinking supervisor -- thanking supervisor chiu. i cannot sing or you would not want to hear it. what i can do is code and teaching people how to do so. on on this day i -- on this day i am reminded of a quote by howard thurman. a dream is a bearer of the possibility. it is the great hope. when i started black girls code

in 2011, our mission was to empower young woman of color from 7 to 14 to become the masters of their technological universe. it has also been a personal journey for me as the mother of a young lady who has been very interested in technology for many years. i did not originally set down this path to become a social on to dinner or to start a nonprofit. that was not my goal when i moved to san francisco. as i looked around me, there were so many opportunities in this rich tapestry that we have the opportunity to live in. it is a passion that has driven me to focus on our young people that is -- our young people. that is the future. it will not progress unless we focus on enriching the lives of our young people. another quote, "when you look at the world, did not look at what

the world needs. look at what makes you come alive. what the world needs our people that are life." it is such a great opportunity to have the opportunity to start an organization like black girl's code and to help plant the seeds to help young people come alive. i do not know if i will create the next steve jobs or mark zuckerberg but that would be great. if i do not i want to be able to allow these young women to build a dream that they may not have imagined before. for that i am truly grateful. that [applause] cue. -- thank you. [applause] [applause]

president chiu: are district 5 supervisor, commissioner delonte will make the next presentation. -- -supervisor olague will make the next presentation. supervisor olague: i am grateful for an to the african-american community. growing up in the valley of working-class women, my parents and my father was a farmworker, i took a lot of inspiration from the sacrifices that the african- american community made for the benefit of all of us. as someone said, we stand on the shoulders of giants. i wanted to say that it was difficult because there are so many incredible people in district 5, so i could not

narrowed down to one. like supervisor kim, i am indulging myself and we will honor to people. the question i went around to different members of the community, who has not been honored that you feel should be? the two names that coming up were the owner of racella's and carmen johnson. if you honor one you have to honor the other. they send in their biographies. i will read as much of the page and a half as i can. there's a lot of really inspiring information here. the owner of racella's jazz club was born in 1952 and raised in ethiopia.

growing up, his dream was to make a mark in history and society. even though her -- his father and brothers were businessmen with his heart set on a ring to the u.s. to develop a professional career in government, he came to san francisco state university to study management. within tensions to return to ethiopia, the regime power shifted in 1974 and he decided to remain in america. winning a job with the city administration for san francisco. after 10 years of service to the city of sf, he crossed paths with destiny to become a businessman. what he called the beginning of becoming an entrepreneur on accident. through his social circle and professional quinces, he came to realize there was a thirst for ethiopian cuisine. at the time, there were none in the area. he began looking for suitable property to begin the restaurant

business only to find out the perfect property was being least as a harter store. after some research he found that it was a profitable venture for the time and location. with the time, effort, and resources necessary for an ethiopian restaurant, he decided to follow through with opening a hardware store and in 1984, the hardware store opened and was -- with that experience, and commitment to seeking resources to balance out his learning curve, he believed in himself and his dedication. this first business venture taught him some bible lessons. the first was the politics of race. -- the first business venture taught him some valuable lessons. without personalizing his observation hit knowledge this as a really about business and diffuse conflict or resistance by hiring a man of german

descent. he knew to allow his new employee to take on the role of management with the store's customers. if the second lesson was that -- the second lesson was about the store. although the store was successful when opportunity knocked for another shift in his plan to listen. a bar was across the street for lease and seized the opportunity because deborah kostroun never sees as his goal. again he was at another crossroads in his path and would be opening another business without any experience in the restaurant field, much like our hardware store. his challenges, lessons, and golden rules have led him to now be celebrating his 27th anniversary as a proprietor says -- of racella's jazz club. the uniqueness is found in the

combination of the jazz house and ethiopian cuisine. anyone can come into the club and enjoy cuisine and live jazz any night of the week with no cover charge. carmen johnson. carmen johnson came to san francisco in 1962 to finish high school and went on to attend city college and san francisco state university. as a new resident, carmen quickly became involved with the local poverty program which further sparked interest in giving back to the community. carmen's interest led her to work with a group are residents and community leaders in the community who successfully fought to preserve the section 8 housing subsidy on the property where she lived. they met with a late george mosconi and hud officials to

obtain a contract for the marcus garvey square apartments. at the same time, hud agreed to work with residents to cover this existing -- convert this existing housing complex into a housing cooperative. she was asked to but -- except the position of property manager for the property. carmen was influential in her work on numerous boards. audrey ellsmith delmon the -- dabel nunnedevelopmental centerd many others. she was an advocate for the san francisco unified school district special-education disability department. she continued on to found the a copy of a great center working with owners and residents who lived in hud's 236 properties

that had expiring section 8 project. the program assisted with counseling and referrals. in 1985, ms. johnson received her evangelicals calling and began her christian event -- evangelist our reach to the committee. i believe this shows her true hard as a christian. she worked with a community to begin a tradition of feeding the poor and needy before thanksgiving at the property where she lived. carmen has worked hard to continue this tradition which has taken place for more than 22 years. she has done work in community violence and has raised ostrich -- foster care children as well. she is a true example of someone who has followed the christian lessons of compassion. i am proud today to present both

of you with these commendations for african-american history month. [applause] >> thank you. i am so honored on today. kind of a blessing and an honor to be part of this celebration of black history month. it is long time coming. i have been here before the supervisors board on many occasions fighting for housing and asking you to support which is supported us when we were about to lose our housing critic supported this recently when we were getting into rehabilitated. we just want to thank you for the many things that you did for our community. district 5, i started working

district 5 and i had mentors like mrs. mary rodgers, mrs. espanola jackson, all over san francisco. maxine hall, louise harvey. many of those women. many have gone home to be with the lord but they did tremendous work and they were mentors. they stayed on me to get involved. i see something in you. and pushed me to go on to school to get my education. i had three children, my own biological children and had many other children in the community. that i service. i have a heart beat for the children and youth in our community as well as our seniors. one of the things that has bothered me, we have had -- went

to renovations. we have a state of the art computer learning center. we do not have any money to pay someone to come and teach the children and youth and have that center opened. i will ask the board of supervisors again if you could assist us in that area. to sum up here today. our children need that center. they need to be taught and they need to come up there after school. we do not have the funds and someone professionally to come and to teach them in including the seniors. i am going to lean on your support to come and help us out in that area. i would like to thank you again. you have been so good in

supporting us, former supervisor ross mirkarimi. hud was going to take our property from us. we did not have the money. there was a lot of politics. when you are dealing with board to have a lot of politics going on. some of the residence over there and 20 people got involved and wanted to sell the property. we said no. we did not want to sell it. we wanted to preserve it. we wanted to make sure we got section 8 for the next 20 years and we wanted to fix that property of. which was 40 years old. we were able to come out with the help of view, the supervisors and the help of the former mayor, also the help of the speaker of the house, and hud, we were able to preserve and renovate the property and get an additional 20 years of

project based section 8. [applause] i thank and praise the lord for that. i ask you, i think you for today. i will shut my mouth -- i think you today. i will shut my mouth. i would want to thank supervisor christina olague. i want to thank you and also, members of the community for recognizing that evangelist carmen johnson needed to be appreciated. thank you again. [applause] >> thank you. she is our community leader. that is where she spoke first. it is a great honor and i am honored and humbled by this recognition. it now, beyond our business

environment and business activities, i am very involved with the community and the community affairs and development issues and so on. sometimes we are -- we wonder are we doing the right thing? our people noticing what we're seeing and what we're trying to do, to accomplish certain goals and to realize there are people who see and watch and say, he has an agenda. he has an issue. he is promoting, he is pushing for fairness and economic equity and housing issues. and opportunities and so on. it is important and i am humbled by and honored by this recognition and i think you very much. i wanted to organize my little family. -- recognize my little family. [applause]

my brother and his daughter. i was quite young when i came four years ago to live with them. he probably never dreamed i would be standing here but he is the person who i first came to visit in san francisco. i want to say, this is the black history nomonth. there is the black experience universally. there is an international issue. if you take it from africa to the caribbean and to the experience of colonialism and neocolonialism and in all parts of the latin american countries, there is the experience. the people today in today's world, the ones that can make a difference in terms of economic equity, in terms of justice, in terms of contributions are you