people from the chinatown area and other parts. i want to say that the chinese progressive association really brings people together. they have contributed to a broader fight for social, political, and environmental justice, a tremendous campaign that they have been involved in. i also wanted to say that they are building other alliances, not just the progress of workers or alliance. there are other efforts to fight for minimum wage or the paid sick leave law. up until the recent victories with the wage and task force, cpa has led in the fight for workers' rights and immigrant rights and equality in health care, education, and housing. i am pleased to present the executive director of cpa. thank you.

[applause] >> oh, thank you, eric. you said most of what i wanted to talk about. first of all, it is an honor to be here. it is not just me. we are having a war party at the office that i am supposed to be at. a lot of times, we come to the podium here so much being oppositional or passionately defending our position, and it is just nice to come and accept an award, so thank you for that, and i do just want to say, giving crops to the people who helped found cpa, it was not just in the 19th 70's. it actually started in the 1930's with a chinese organization for unemployment rates in the 1930's and fighting for unemployment, which is what we are fighting for now, still. but it is actually a lot, and i think that is also important to

remember, the kind of trajectory we are in. i do want to say that the 1970's, we were empowered by the black power movement, and that is the seat of really what we have strong multiracial routes into the community, and we are also very inspired by china and what is happening. i think it is at the core of what we do. it is not just about the chinese community, but as san francisco keeps changing, we will have to keep changing and understanding the different ties in the city, which is why we invested a lot of time in building the alliance and also the progress of work alliance, because we cannot do this alone. on a personal bet, i am proud to stand here because my family started in chinatown as workers but also started a very successful small business. in fact, it was the first jewelry store to leave chinatown.

it is supposed to be historic, but nobody talks about it except for me. just coming back to chinatown to work and serve the community is coming full circle. i am very happy to accept this award on behalf of cpa. thank you. [applause] supervisor mar: thank you. i forgot to make one other plug. cpa is celebrating its 40th anniversary on saturday. it is going to be a wonderful vacation with lots of old timers but asa veterans from the chinese progressive association and campaigns that we have been involved in, so hopefully people can join us on saturday, august

4, 4 a great 40-year anniversary. thinking to be co-sponsors. the second is another important issue for the chinese community, and we have two leaders in the educational justice movement. i would like to ask them to come up. they have for decades been strong in the community college system. but even for immigrant populations. first of all, let me start with the dean of the chinatown northeast campus, and then i will go next to the vice chancellor of academic affairs for the community colleges of san francisco. august 15, i believe, it is the day that a shining new chinatown campus will be unveiled, and 7000 students will hopefully go through the doors to celebrate a

decades-long fight for a modern, magnificent campus in the chinatown-north beach area. let me first say, with city college in chinatown, she has shaped the lives of hundreds of students. the dean of instruction, the director of the asian success center, and with the gop yes -- the e.o.p.s. as she has been a tremendous not only faculty member and counselor but also an administrator as well. she has helped to really give a voice to immigrant students and to build a strong voice for them and to develop them as leaders future. she has taken the helm of the

dean of the chinatown campus and i wanted to make sure that we as the board acknowledged her years, decades of work but acknowledge her new leadership position at the chinatown campus. next is the former dean, joanne lo. not only a champion of esl, or english as a second language, many efforts at curriculum development and teaching students, she has been a tremendous administrator at the city college level. she is the vice chancellor of academic affairs overseeing not only john adams but many different departments. she has dedicated her servants -- service as the vice chancellor of city college and she was the administrator of the esl different. she has been on the board of the richmond district center and she is also a leader in our richmond

district community as well. i ask you to join me in commending them for their years of work as we open and celebrate the new chinatown campus and the movement of students and community people from the educational opportunities for chinatown and different coalitions of faculty and students that fought for many years. thank you for your leadership and if you would like to see a few words, both of you. -- say a few words, both of you. >> thanks for this recommendation. -- this recognition. we have nearly 60 years of experience in terms of serving the community college district. it is 75 years old and i think the chinatown campus is the latest example of bringing education to the community. we have to have a permanent home in our bayview hunters point in the near future. serving the thousands of

students that we have throughout the city has been a wonderful experience for me. we actually have some of our students in the audience today and they are here to speak to you on another matter. i think we have 90,000 students that we are serving this year. i am not sure. >> i feel honored and humbled to recognition. especially side by side with my boss and my mentor. with the -- the success of the city college is dependent on the support of everyone here. i hope to continue in the future. >> i know david chiu was a co- sponsor. president chiu: a want to thank

you in the leadership of city college particularly in the district. the fight and movement was the last of -- effort i was involved in before i decided to run for office and it was a tremendous effort and i am so excited to be part of the celebration of our community but i want to think you're not just for decades of work but the work i know in the challenges we have in front of us to make sure that we put city college back on the right footing in needs to be and think you for your dedication to students and the work that we have and we will do together. thank you very much. [applause]

our next commendations will be provided by supervisor christina olague. supervisor olague: if anyone has time to understand some of the history of the fillmore, it is rich and today, we will be honoring two gentlemen who have contributed a lot to the district. i was standing in markets books last week and found out it is the same building that was bob city. it was a club that john co ltrane performed in. there is a music history and an incredible history. i hope sometimes i think we should have cafes or we have all these individuals to sit around and share what they know of the history of the district. it is pretty incredible. so today, i have a proclamation for two outstanding individuals,

mr. bobby webb and mr. marion sullivan. i would like to invite them to the podium and i will say a few words. mr. marion sullivan was born in alabama and raised in the bay area. he started working for his brother as a youth and started his own and entrepreneurial -- his own entrepreneurial career. he has carried on the name and the business savvy of his family by operating a host of business enterprises and has served his country and his community with tremendous pride. as a business proprietor and employer, a san francisco and in the community advocate, mr. sullivan has participated in a variety of pursuits and is an invaluable benefit to his community. mr. sullivan has made significant contributions to the history of the fillmore and in 1955, even coined the name for

the world famous concert hall. the sullivan brothers have had a long-lasting impact on the fillmore neighborhood and their presence is felt through the history and cultural institutions that make the fillmore so unique. mr. webb was born in tyler, texas, and raised in san francisco. he attended george washington high school. it was with the foundation of the san francisco public school education and he has become a world-class musician that is widely recognized for his skillful performance is -- performances on the saxophone. it is important to keep music in the public schools. mr. webre -- webb was recently inducted into the blues hall of fame based on his accomplishments with etta james,

john lee hooker, queen ada, and a host of other groups. he has worked in the fillmore western comedy having served as a treasure on the fillmore merchant's association and d eejaying the show -- radio show. we are anxiously awaiting the release of his cd which will showcase his versatility in blues, smyth jazz, and r&b. i would like to thank both of these gentlemen for the great commitment to the fillmore especially their work in the business corridor and i offer the highest commendation to them for their accomplishments and services. [applause]

if you could say a few words, that would be great. >> thank you. president and board of supervisors, my name is bobby webb. i am a long term president. my grandmother brought me here when i was 5. we lived in the fillmore and i still live in the fillmore. musician, radio personality on kpoo. i am the president of the blues and r&b music association. i produced 15 festivals in the golden gate park, blues festivals, that is. i also produced festivals for the juneteenth committee for 10 years to hear in the fillmore.

and i can go on and on. i am retired. i worked for service employees union, i was a business agent for local 87. i do not know how to cut this thing off. i turned the volume down and it still rings. i am sorry about that. anyway, i am retired as a business agent for seiu. i would like to thank you for this award that we're going to get. it took me quite a fuse -- quite a few years to get it together. there was so much confusion about the fillmore and what was going on and being the president of the blues and r&b music foundation, i decided to find a location for a mural. at that time, the mayor located, park and rec -- mayor ok'd and

park and rec ok'd it. we came up with -- the mural is beautiful. on the -- jim side. there was lots of confusion as to what was what. i decided to get permission to put a mural on stender and post. for those of you who have seen it, you know it is beautiful. it is not a mural. it is art. h. personality on the merrill looks exactly like himself. being that i knew each person, i

tracked them down and we got together. it took two years to pay that merrill. it took a long time, lots of effort and love. the gentleman who did the painting is right here with me. standing by my side like we were for two years. every day with him, i was watching what he was making this a merrill -- mural. the artist who drew the mural at hamilton playground, santee huckabee. let's give him a hand. [applause] thank you. the gentleman who brought all this to your attention, i want

to thank him, too. mr. charles mcclinton. he wrote the letter and made the phone calls and made the connections for us to be here today. let's give him a nice hand. [applause] >> i thank you all. i am the committeeperson and i will always be one. i would like to speak on that mural. it is history. he was a -- played with charlie parker and people that era. all those people are on that mural. i think it should be on the tour of san francisco to give us a little bit about annett side to people who are visiting of the history of the jazz district,

the true history. and also, here we have mr. marion sullivan of the very prominent soltan family. he was a little shy about speaking but supervisor -- what we do not know about mr. sullivan is he has contributed to this community in so many ways to people who could not help themselves. he has helped people who could not help themselves. he and his brother, the fillmore auditorium was famous for many years as an entertainment center. those people that bobby played with, african american community and then bill graham came in and took it over. it was created by the sullivan

family. he just got over a heart attack and stroke and the strength in this man, he is right here today. would you say something? >> i am unable to talk right now because the stroke impaired my speech very much. thank you for the acknowledgement. [applause] >> thank you.

>> congratulations. president chiu: our next accommodation of the day is by supervisor farrell. supervisor farrell: thank you. colleagues and members of the public, we have honored some great people today and i am very proud to honor a very good friend of mine that i have known for a number of years, bill thompson -- thomasson. are you still here?

come on up. [applause] it is good to see you, bill. i have known bill for a number of years. to give you some background, he was born and raised in detroit, michigan but came to san francisco in 2003. started a project where he is working with children and youth in san francisco of color to start teaching financial literacy in san francisco and brought them and expose them to downtown to the financial district in san francisco and exposed them to a lot of career opportunities that might not have otherwise been apparent. what has a -- impressed me is he took it a personal mission upon himself to expose children in our community to financial literacy and to get them educated and give them tools to succeed later in life they just

missed. i came to a class on a saturday at the kapoor building. i wish it would have known that much back in high school. bill started the wall street wizards program in 2006 officially. today, the wall street wizards has two courses, 2500 and roll -- enrolled students, and operates in the kapoor building in the financial district and expanded to new york city. you have a similar sister program in new york city. these programs are simply designed, what is most important on saturdays, once a month, i got invited to come down and be a guest speaker. from having portfolio managers to merrill lynch coming down to talk to these kids about legal issues, it is something that bill started himself. he is the man behind the entire

organization and you have taught so many dozens of kids and children every single year in our community in the bay area. i think what impressed me the most beyond that was the field trips we did together. we organized going into silicon valley or going to law firms and holding those panels we held and doing those field trips and investment banking firms. you are the spirit behind the wall street wizards and is something that was personal to me. no sitting here i can say thank you on behalf of the city. i really want to say -- you are one of my favorite people. you do amazing work and it is nothing but straight from the heart. the students thank you all the time, i hope you do, you better.

i want to thank you on behalf of the city. it is an honor to have you here today and an honor to spend time working together and i appreciate all that you do for all of us. thank you very much. [applause] >> you know what? i really have nothing to say. i figure the time i have, i want each and every one of the students to come up and talk about the program and the impact that it has had on their lives. 100% of our students have gone on to college. these are students from all over the bay area. without -- i will let each one of the students say a little bit about the program. do not be shy. a lot of them have surprised me because i have not seen them in four or five years since they have been away to college. each one of you talk about the program and the impact it has had on your life. thank you.

>> i am a student in mr. thomasson's program. he has taught me how to save my money, budget it, i remember one of the first classes i went to, we talked about how to buy your first car and as a kid, i want all these amenities, and what the stereo and the rims and all that. he taught me to scale back and all that stuff is not worth it. as far as just that, budgeting and he also had an impact on me on what i want to study in college. i will be attending college in the fall. the program itself influenced me and told me what i wanted to major in.

>> my name is maurice mccook. i found bill through merrill lynch. i was walking through telling everyone i wanted to be a hedge fund manager. the guy was like, i know a guy who used to be a hedge fund manager. i came out to the class and i was like, i started learning a lot more, i started learning about how to evaluate companies, how to present companies, ended up giving me an internship at thomson-reuters and he also influenced me. he was a big part in influencing my taking the gmat exam, in the 96 percentile. -- 96th percentile. it means if 100 people took the

test, i did better than 96% of them. 96 of them. [applause] i wanted to also throw in there, a 10% of the people in the united states go to business school. that is the top 96 -- 4% of 10%, you see what i am saying? i am cool with math. bill has been instrumental in telling me -- not telling me but advising me of what business school to apply to so i am applying to stanford, harvard, it may have heard of them. and warden. i grew up in hunters point. that is right. i think this program like it was to be -- i am in new york working with the wall street wizards and we're teaching kids

out of high school in new york. i really think if we were to do something like that in hunters point, it would be really good. that is what i am saying. i think that would be impractical for the community. it would be really helpful. -- impactful for the committee. it would be really helpful. people i grew up around need to know how to manage money, how to manage credit cards and invest and all those different types of things. i will stop taking up all the time. >> i want to say thank-you to build. his program has taught me a lot over the years. he has taught us to network and go out there and get what we want and even now, like public speaking skills. i would never have spoken here before his program and it is impressive what he has done for the committee and what he has done for me personally. i want to make