looking into meridian's future, she says she wants to keep doing the same thing that she has been doing since 1989. to enlighten and disturbed. >> i really believe that all the arts have a serious function and that it helps us find out who we are in a much wider sense than we were before we experienced that work of art. ♪ >> good afternoon, and welcome.

this has to be the coldest and windiest. i want to thank san francisco for your hospitality. i often feel i have one of the best jobs. every spring we get to work with communities putting in green spaces, and this is what this is all about, helping communities benefit from green spaces in urban areas.

we could not have done this without partners. gerwe have the park conservator, and we have volunteers from lows and fresh and easy today. you really are the reason we are in the rain and cold during this great work, so we were talking about partners co., and we stard talking and realized we have added them as a partner, so i would like to introduce jocelyn to say a few words about our program. >> good afternoon.

it is living up to its reputation of rain. we are thrilled with our partnership says. many are committed, and we join with our partners for our gardens and green space program, and we are recognizing the moral leadership and the development of green spaces across the nation. we are honored to present the award for outstanding leadership in this area. >> thank you. first, i think they huge grant we are getting today is of a recognition everyone has participated in. i want to thank the neighbors

and volunteers a. it has been in the works for so many years because of the love in the community, and i know that for a fact because i was here years ago, and we said to ourselves and we need to not looking at this community in a negative way, to see what is positive, and not only is this garden appreciated by our community, but it is recognized by the u.s. conference of mayors and by scots miracle grow, because we are one of five cities being recognized with this award. is very special.

they really wanted to express support for people taking seriously the movement around healthy environments. gooyou are going to find there a little kid living the dream by helping to grow edible things, someone we are going to recognize as a special person as well, and as someone who has been in city government for 23 years but started dpw days right here aunt knew how hard it was for people to generate a positive feeling, but they did it using a garden, so people could say, what is wrong having

a garden that represents us, and having the youth center establish alongside the neighborhood, so there are so many stories to tell about how the community has come together, and now i think we are in historic times where there is a sense of community that has not been felt for many years. i knew there was fear that drove a lot of decisions, and these gardens, there is a special thing we are getting. we are using opportunities everywhere weekend.

richard -- everywhere we can. you see that it is now being recognized as a national model for everyone to follow, so i want to say thank you, community. thank you to our young people for sticking with us, for example of buying your -- for exemplifying your faith we have a community way to green ourselves into success. i get to drive. this is my first year as a member of the conference of mayors. i get to say we have not

finished the first year, and we have a national award because our communities are strong. thank you so much. >> this is the kickoff year as well. i would like to introduce a gentle man who had a huge part in putting the garden on the map. jeffrey, where are you? [applause] >> can i do this? thank you. this is quite today. this does not happen every day, and i love it. if the spirit moves, feel free to move out. did there are so many people to thank.

know you would not be here if you were not part of the solution, but there is one person i would like to acknowledge, and that is annette smith, who needs no introduction. of one of the founding gardeners 10 years ago, who started planting on the median strip and doing the outrageous thing of shaking hands and hugging people they did not know. >> hi, everybody. thank you all for coming out. it gives me great pleasure to stand before you and say welcome to our neighborhood. it has been a lot of work, but it has been a lot of fun. it has been helpful to me

mobility-wirese, so the neighborhood is a much better neighborhood. people come out to talk to one another, where they did not in the beginning, and i am not going to say anything else but thank you. >> you can see why we love her. thank you, stocks miracle gro, and who am i forgetting? franklin county, my hometown local gardens curator -- my botanical gardens. this is an amazing example of what it takes to turn a community are round.

it takes leadership from the public sector. we have two community challenge grants and the department of environmental justice grant, and that has kept us afloat. we would not be here if it was not for that. mendoza from the mayor's office is here. she would tell you she is first and foremost the mayor. she is on the school board. good we are blessed. it takes a lot of bridges with the community sector and the corporate sector to do things like this, and we feel like we have derived region we have arrived. and we are moving into the future because of you guys.

thank you so much. good >> we would like to present a sharcheck. >> it does not look like it will fit in the atm. >> no. >> thank you. >> we have john murray who is here.

we also have lynn here. we also have nicole riviera from leader pelosi's office, who is going to read a proclamation. >> are usually say the leader is in d.c. working, but she is in ireland, but she did want to send a letter. congratulations to the gardens initiative as you celebrate your wheen award. so many of you represent the health and are underserved neighborhoods. it has created a beautiful haven in neighborhoods that will

only continue to flourish. they demonstrated community partnerships can create extraordinary work zeroth. all of this demonstrates the power this garden will have on the community. this would not be possible without the volunteers who have made it a reality. congratulations and best regards, nancy pelosi. >> i feel like and billy crystal at the oscars. good eveninthe next person i woo introduce is stephen. steven is going to talk about our grow 1000 program. goo>> i get the best part of the

presentation, which we will get to in a little bit, but frankly i prepared some comments. this is our inaugural kicked off a. rather than try to explain, i thought a show of hands might be more oopprobrium. anyone living here, raise your hand. the work and you started fostering the community through gardening efforts, things you have already started, that is what it is for us, providing

more support, providing more opportunities for the relationships to strengthen and continue to develop. for us the means finding more opportunities like this, hopefully to participate in 1000 of these throughout the u.s., canada, and europe, so this is one of five major ones we have chosen this year, so thank you for the opportunity. i have not gotten to shake everybody's hand, but mary, tom, jeff, i have gotten to shake a lot of hands today, and linda has an almost 1-year-old. that has an older brother in kindergarten, but it is not only about community biaseut about hg

a nice place to go and a community spirit of the third- generation davey resident, just thought a house here. that is what is about, providing opportunities for kids to grow, so that is what it is about, and it is not about us doing the work, and we just want to provide the help to do that. thank you for the work you have already started. now for my favorite part of the presentation superior -- presentation. we are giving a give back to grow award. the students had to write an essay and tell why they like gardening, so i have the honor of introducing serenity

williams. i have been told serenity has a green thumb herself. she loves to water the plants, so she is going to read a little from her essay. strikes and my neighborhood garden, we are planting food for everybody in our community. the garden is colorful and has healthy snacks. the healthy snacks include fruits and vegetables like strawberry and squash for people who do not have much to get healthy food. goothis is shaped like a

rectangle, and is outside of my home. inside our garden, there are stones to walk on and different levels. the role i play in the garden project is planting seeds and watering everything in our garden to keep plants healthy. i spent an hour and a half an hour community garden every week. the good thing our garden has done, it has grown healthy food and we have eaten the reagan region we have eaten.

environmental education is important because natural food is really good for the body instead of candy. it helps care for the environment because people can walk through our garden instead of using gas to go to the grocery store and spend money. [applause] >> great job! one second. louie, i think we may have a future employee. when she came here, serenities said she was very nervous.

she read them pretty well. they have a couple of words and gibsofts. >> thank you for making such a great effort inspiring people around you. you will have some tools so you can get started this season, so congratulations.

>> you did that so well, i need someone to do the next question answer. you want to do that for me? all right. >> congratulations, serenity. [applause] >> i know everyone is freezing, but i would also like to say thank you to the members who have been out here weeding, carrying heavy stuff. i would also like to thank my other colleagues. i think that is the end of our

program. we have a sign we would like to officially unveil. >> 1, 2, 3, there we go. very nice. beautiful.

>> i tried to think about this room as the dream room, where we dream and bring some of those dreams to life. i feel very blessed that i have been able to spend the last 31 years of my life doing it my way, thinking about things better interesting to me, and then pursuing them. there are a lot of different artists that come here to work, mostly doing aerial work. kindred spirits, so to speak. there is a circus company that i have been fortunate enough to work with the last couple of years. i use elements of dance and choreography and combine that with theater techniques. a lot of the work is content-

based, has a strong narrative. the dancers have more of a theatrical feel. i think we are best known for our specific work. in the last 15 years, spending a lot of time focusing on issues that affect us and are related to the african-american experience, here in the united states. i had heard of marcus shelby and had been in join his work but never had the opportunity to meet him. we were brought together by the equal justice society specifically for this project. we were charged with beginning work. marquez and i spent a lot of time addressing our own position on the death penalty,

our experiences with people who had been incarcerated, family members, friends of friends. pulling our information. beyond that, we did our own research. to create a picture that resonated with humanity. it is the shape of a house. in this context, it is also small and acts like a cell. i thought that was an interesting play on how these people make these adjustments, half to create home. what is home for these people? the home is their cell. people talk a lot about noise -- very noisy in prisons. that is interesting to me.

looking at the communication level, the rise of frustration of being caged, wondering, where does redemption fit into the equation here? [singing] i think both of us really believe the death penalty is wrong, and is flawed for many reasons. the list is as long as my arm -- about several others. we feel this is important for both of us, personally, to participate in the debate of

this issue in a way that we can help people frame it for a conversation.

>> hello. you're watching the show that explores san francisco's