space for homeless people. and we know that, that approach doesn't work.we cannot police of homelessness. we can shelter and house our way out of homelessness. our shelters are struggling to provide basics like toilet paper and clean sheets. we have a problem with access. it is just as significant a problem as the administrative problems around the access to the shelter. i am hoping that the $5 million ask will be considered, and will be part of the budget. thanks. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is mr. gilbert, and i am currently homeless. i live in a homeless shelter called the sanctuary.

i am near -- i am here to talk about the budget. i am here with the homeless coalition to get the $5 million that we really need to ensure a safe and dignified system of care. and we also need it to provide clean and then -- clean linen and towels. there are hardly any tiles. -- twoels. -- towels. the food we have there is not really good, and is not enough.

so can you please just give us the $5 million, so we can have our life there? thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for hearing us today. i am the director of the filipino community center. i am representing the san francisco immigrant education network. we have been here in april, advocating for continued support for the immigrant communities, especially the legal education network. it includes chinese for affirmative action and 10 other organizations that, since 2006, have been providing culturally competent and linguistically accessible services for a san francisco immigrant communities. we talked in april about the foreign-born population. almost 20% of the city is

foreign-born. we have been providing these services tends to thousand six -- since 2006. the original funding was $800,000 per year, but it has been reduced. there was a difference of about $68,000. the needs in immigrant communities continue to grow. we do outreach and education. the network provides free legal immigration services that are sorely needed in the city. we ask for the full restoration of funds to the network. thank you. >> greetings, supervisors. today, i am speaking on behalf of communities united for health and justice, which includes the filipino community center and coleman advocates.

this year, we conducted research and generated recommendations to address the inequity of zero workforce dollars allocated to district 11. today, we brought you all copies of this report. this report was based on 232 interviews with district 11 residents, based on what they feel they need for on how to address their workforce needs. oewd has provided an initial grant of $80,000, but there is still a $300 thousand that -- a $300,000 gap. we urge you to harness the true talents and skills of district 11 residents. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. my name is jackie, and i am an incoming senior at balboa high

school and a district 11 resident. i am 16 years old. i was born in the philippines. i came here when i was a years old. currently, my parents are at a nonprofit company. although both enjoy complete benefits, my mother admits she is not happy with her career. she was a senior financial analyst in the philippines, working in the commerce department of the government for 22 years before our immigration. with her past experience, she considers it a major downgrade. my mother has always wanted a job that relates well with her past experience, but finds it frustrating that she cannot find a job. for that, she blames lack of connections and resources available in district 11. as a future part of the work force, the situation worries me. she has had more than sufficient

professional experience in the past. why can't she obtained a job that is a better fit for her? does that mean that no matter how much i invest in my future career, i would not obtain a job i deserve? it is something i think about often. i feel it limits my options on the career i would like to pursue in the future. thank you for your time. i urge you to consider investing more work for resources for district 11 resources like my mom. >> good afternoon. i am a district 11 president. i take care of my elderly mother and an active with the filipino community center. i worked as a janitor. even though i work hard, it can be a struggle to survive in the city. i have experienced wage theft. i have not gotten paid for all the hours i have worked. there are other workers who do not know their rights, janitors,

care givers, domestic workers, day laborers, and health care workers. it is also very difficult for people in my community to find jobs. it took me about three months to find a job. some of my friends have been out of work for almost a year. sometimes, there are labor -- language barriers. often, there is little or no help. i think it is important we improve services in district 11 and other parts of the city where there is a diverse population. whinnied support that can address the needs of immigrants, use -- youth, and workers. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am here in support of

advancing language access. i am an individual who grew up with parents who do not speak english at all. i remember traveling from my parents, at the age of eight, with mike english very limited. now that i am a parent organizer with caa, i work with a lot of parents who do not speak fluent english, if at all. it is more than language access. it is barriers like public safety issues, communicating with teachers. a client tells a story of how a 50-year-old chinese man was assaulted and robbed in his neighborhood in visitation valley. he was punched in the face. he tried to chase his assailant down the street. he came across a police officer. as he was trying to communicate, the police officer failed to contact language line or some way of interpreting. the assailant got away.

literally, his face was disfigured. he suffered from nervous and excited. he is unable to file charges. -- he suffered from nervous anxiety. i urge you to support language access. thank you. >> i am always with chinese for affirmative action. many people who have spoken here today, and nearly half of the residents of san francisco who do not speak english at home with their families, have noted the need for language access. we have hundreds of residents who need basic assistance with interpretation and language services. they need help understanding forms they need to fill up for basic assistance. they have received a letter from government services, and need to know if there metical -- their medical is being cut off.

they need help, day to day, to get to the system. i am here speaking on behalf of our residents, and on behalf of community services who work with these organizations every day, asking for more language services for our residents. i hope the supervisors will support more language services for san francisco, and help make our city a better home for its residents. thank you. supervisor avalos: next speaker, please. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for staying beyond the normal time before lunch to listen to us. my name is joyce. currently, i am with the san francisco organizing project and the california alliance for retired seniors, americans.

i am here because a lot of our seniors at the senior action network are worried about affordable housing. supervisor olague had a meeting including seniors and disabled people. there is a great need for people with affordable housing. in my own parish, there are people who leave because they cannot afford affordable housing. the seniors need to age in place. also, when i used to volunteer with the largest women's shelter for battered women and their children, there were only 35 beds. when i ran the hot line, we had to turn away five out of six applicants who wanted to come to the shelter. when i was with the san francisco organizing project, i

witnessed that 10 people have to live in a one-room apartment, because the could not afford elsewhere. we were thinking to have people from habitat for humanity get together and get funding. rich people could get money to pay seniors and people without jobs. that way, you can get the 30,000 housing units that need rebuilding. you can also have people get paid. thank you. >> hello, supervisors. thank you for staying and listening to this important testimony. i am judy schwartz, the executive director of lyric.

i am pleased to be part of the city budget dialogue from early on. i am pleased with the inclusiveness. i support the proposals for broad investment, as well as specific critical funding. i encourage the board of supervisors to support the cost of doing business. lyric has experienced a 20% reduction in funding every year since 2009. the three% commitment will begin to remedy these devastating reductions. there is a daily reduction in new hires from 60 to 70 people each year to only 20, and no raises for staff. we are pleased to be the provider of networks and advocates. i hope you will consider

proposals such as investment of the $250,000 for family violence prevention, as recommended by supervisor avalos. funding for housing. there are only 22 beds specifically for lgbt youth. the closing of the $50,000 funding gap for the family collaborative for our community partners, our family coalition, and the sf lgbt center. the additional $500,000 for the mayor so that youth will not be excluded from the city remedy. finally, i asked you to champion workforce development for our most marginalized young people. this has been devastating to marginalized low-income youth in our community. >> my name is barbara.

i want to thank the supervisors for allowing everybody to speak. i want to thank supervisors avalos and kim for wanting to stop wasteful spending associated with the sharp park golf course. recently, rec and park budgeted $1.60 million from the general fund to golf for this fiscal year. that is even though the budget report this fiscal year and the mayor's report states that they predict a $1 million loss, due to decrease in revenue and usage. there are environmental concerns with the sharp park golf course. it is a huge source of a wasteful spending. this is money that could go to all these organizations. we are cutting funding for organizations, and we are funding a failing golf market at

a failing golf course that has a lot of environmental problems. we should bring this money back. we should close the sharp park golf course. there is effort to pass legislation, which did pass, to have the national park service consider the option to partner with us, which would allow funds to come back to san francisco. this was vetoed by the mayor. i want to again thank avalos and kim for supporting the legislation. please consider the wasteful spending, and work towards a more responsive to budget. supervisor kim: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for having us all here today, and for your patience. i know hit as been a long day. -- i know it has been a long day. i am here on the family

coalition, as a prospective parent and a supporter of the organization. as most of you know, with your support, we are the lead agency of the lgbt family collaborative. we were to provide services, unique services for bay area families, with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and where parents. thousands of families are impacted by our coalition work. we hope there will be a restoration of funds that go directly to programs offered by the lgbt family collaborative. if these funds are not restored, we can deepen our outreach to families such as myself.

there are families working out here in our communities, contributing to our communities, who faces and the biases and have to learn how to navigate the unit discrimination within the foster care system, within the employer benefits, and other things. sometimes, our partners are not recognized. all of us know, in the spirit of pride, that there is a lot of work that needs to be done. thank you so much. here to speak about our specific programs is the following speaker. >> i am the director of education for our family coalition. we are actively working to bring teachers and families together to support san francisco unified school district to create safe, welcoming classrooms for all children. as a straight ally working in the lgbt community, this is important.

bullying is up. families do not feel welcome, even in san francisco, a liberal city. it is important work. we are working with schools to guide curriculum resources, creating welcoming schools for all children. we are talking about all kinds of different families. we want to make sure our kids feel safe and welcome, so they can learn. i am touched by the young people in this room, sharing their stories. i want to make sure they have a safe environment for all their different family structures. it is essential, if our city is going to continue to be a leader. i hope you will consider the restoration. thank you. >> thank you, supervisors, for your patience today in hearing all of this.

i am humbled to listen to the passion and need, the intense need for services that people are here to talk about today. i would like to think the budget committee, and supervisor avalos in particular, for keeping violence against women in the forefront of your mind. i am here to support the $250,000 add-back for the violence against women grant programs. in addition to the increasing cost of doing business that all nonprofits are experiencing, these represent an essential and small increase to the safety net provided to local victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, stalking. as a result of increased public attention, over the past six months, la casa has seen a spike

in calls for help. we have housed 43 women and children. last night, we were funded for 35. this is not an unusual circumstance. we operate above our funded capacity about half of the time over the past three years. we do not keep a waiting list. we respond to people in immediate need. we cannot expand our resources infinitely. it is not sustainable. we need to provide raises to our staff to retain them. to respond to increasing need, we need to be able to hire new staff, to continue to provide a safety net. please approve the augmentation to the status of women budget.

>> how is everybody doing? i am speaking on behalf of the community youth center, bayview youth advocates. what we do in the bayview community is we promote positivity. we address certain aspects that are negative in our community, such as gang violence, poverty, and violence in general. we promote positivity to a pledge that consists of 10 commandments the youth follow- through by their own willpower, and their own choice. for example, one of the 10 pledges is, i pledge to react to violence with logic, compassion , and understanding.

that means we choose to follow the way that resorts without resorting to violence. that is what we are trying to emphasize. you've involvement can change the bayview community. -- youth involvement can change the bayview community. we believe and what we do. we believe that, through our purpose, we can change our community. we provide opportunities for the youth to grow and expand throughout their internship. i would also like to thank malia cohen for coming out to the bayview youth advocate and support the us. -- supporting us.

>> all of these people are bayview advocates. we just graduated, actually. i just want to share an experience. a pledge is, i pledge to make a difference in the community, starting with myself. besides going around and telling people to make changes in their life, we should tell our self, what are the changes to make in my community? we start with ourself, and work our way up. like all the different pledges, it has affected us in many different ways. we actually had youth summits, led by advocates, from the emcee to the people going to the programs and setting up different aspects. with that, i would like to send

that. >> my name is jeffrey. i am a resident of the bayview my whole life. it gave me leadership skills. it gave me the confidence to be able to make a change in the community and make it positive. growing up, i would not say i was comfortable in my neighborhood. i would not feel safe. with the leadership things we did and the volunteering we did, i am confident to have the community make a positive change, and make it better for everyone in the community. >> my name is andrew. as a member, i watched myself and my peers grow up and learned many things about the bayview. i began the program in early january.

first, it was just another hood. thanks. supervisor kim: for anybody who is coming next, please just pull the microphone closer. >> i joined with a very small perspective of the bayview. all we knew about in was the violence and the gangs. as i continue the program, i started seeing it was a community in need. the youth were the people who could make a difference. if we speak up right now, we can actually make a difference. actually, i don't know. yes. chairperson chu: thank you.

any other speakers? come on up. >> hello. being a part of bycbua has made me more proactive. changer community for yourself. if you are not doing anything about -- being a part of that has made me realize how much more help is needed in our community, and what we need to do to change our community, so we can have outside people come in and love the people in our community. it has not only helped me. in has helped a lot of other people. it helped me how my family. thank you.

>> i just want to say thank you for your patience. i am very proud of our youth today. they got up at 8:30 this morning and waited five hours of the could have 2 minutes of time. we need supervisor support to be able to provide this opportunity for youth development. they need to learn how to advocate for themselves, for their families, for their community. bayview is a one of the most diverse communities in san francisco, especially in the last 20 years. we want to sustain this program. we have new groups of young people coming in who continue to do work for the community. there are blocked cleanups, youth summits. the create cultural exchange events in the community, where

adults and young people can come together to celebrate black history month and some good the mile -- and cinco de mayo. we want young people to understand we are investing in them, because they are our future. thank you for your support. chairperson chu: thank you very much. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am the director for the omi excelsior beacon center, a program of urban services ymca. i want to thank supervisor avalos for advocating for us several years ago. we stand before you because of your support given to our community. in a few moments, i will