[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 in the position of policy-making and the policy of resource application. one of the major issues of san francisco that relates to the black community is an acceptable form of migration. more than black folks themselves, you are the policy makers, managers of the location, leaders and public leaders -- can do something

about these issues. it is not a question of reversing history. but a question of balancing, making sure that -- this can happen through economic development initiatives. proper housing initiatives and so on. i urge you in general that you take the initiative. you be the leaders to speak every day and think about it every day like other issues, the question of the increasing under development to and out migration of the african-american community. thank you very much. [applause]

[applause] president chiu: a would like to recognize our colleague from district 7, supervisor elsbernd.

supervisor elsbernd: all of us who have been to the presidio, it would not be the same without him and the tremendous recitation of the gettysburg address he gives every memorial day and he does it without notes. just a fantastic choice, great choice, supervisor mar. my selection is a gentleman who i have had the privilege of knowing and working with a little over 10 years but observing since i was playing in the cyo. not too h&m too much, but don collins is currently the commissioner of the athletically. the aaa san francisco section. -- not to age him too much. don has been in a position for

10 years. prior to that was involved in cyo basketball. he has been officiating youth sports for two decades. in figuring out who i wanted to commemorate and celebrate today, don came to mind right away. what it is about for me with don , he is a true role model. to have him around our cities use every day with the integrity that he demonstrates each and every day in his work, the leadership skills he demonstrates, the kind as he demonstrates, -- kindness he demonstrates and the intelligence he demonstrates. i have seen this with a few other coaches. the lessons he is teaching is the life lessons that will allow

them to be successful tour of their careers and no question, there are generation to have benefited from his leadership and hopefully with more generations he will do his work. congratulations. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. i am kind of flattered and honored to be in front of everybody here. there were so many great, great honorees who were here prior to myself. i truly -- i do not know of i stand on the shoulders of giants, but i was preceded by some giants. i will not try to sing like one of them did. i have spent most of my career

in addition to a fish eating and being the commissioner of centrally trying to do two things. first, we attempt to put people in the position to perform, especially young people. some of you know that i came out here in 1988. i am old. i came out of the staff attorney at the ninth circuit court of appeals. i officiated basketball games and he proudly presents the calls. i did that in my spare time. when i was -- i am about to leave the court, i started seeing the schools were losing money. the first thing i saw there were losing it because there were back taxes and taxes being put upon the sports officials. there were considered employees by the edd. i wrote the model legislation

that classified as independent contractors, saving schools a lot of money. some schools did not know there were being sent money. that became legislation in georgia, virginia, ariz., many other places. in fact, i consulted a lot of smaller groups in sports officiating and ended up being the worst official to be on the board of directors of the national association of sports officials. when i sit back, everybody says oh, no, cannot downgrade yourself. everyone else in the room is nfl, nba, major league baseball. i will not deceive myself into thinking that someone who calls this young man's games belongs in that company on the floor. i belong in it because i facilitated it and help people. of course at the high school and middle school level. we help people get scholarships. we help people who are catholics

get scholarships. jewish get scholarships, africa -- african-americans get scholarships. we do more than just roll ball out. i do not ruled out at all. i am the commissioner. i said at a desk. you had better do something. we get them scholarships and we helped them. we have to million dollars for the community. and the community in the southeast side of town. i still help with san francisco parish baseball. it is about helping people, putting them in a position to perform. and helps them learn that in a time of adversity, and competitive adversity, it is when you are playing a game, you must learn how to deal with it. you must tell -- learn how to handle it with grace and dignity. to win properly and lose properly. it will have learned to play

properly. before i leave, i want to tell you one thing. people have talked about the out-migration of american -- african americans. i talk to african-americans and tell them, i came from chicago. i could walk through a place in chicago, the south side, larger this -- then the city and see black people everywhere. you can see the young children sitting. they say, really, they cannot believe it. that speaks when they hear that and they start leaving for. speaking to desire we have. the need and desire to belong. i think to some extent when they hear that they say that was a place where you belong to. we have to explain to them many of them migrated or their relatives did from the south. they came from black communities. they came from black areas. while they are