bodies, but we do say that alternatively those positions would have terminated with the termination of the grant funding. >> thank you. the way i read it in your recommendations suggests that the d.a.'s office received that but it's general fund revenue to make up for the cuts in state and federal funding. from my perspective i think attorneys are obviously important. but also ensuring that will are competent individuals who are provided culturally competent services to victims and witnesses as they come through. we heard mr. adachi talk about the work he does with his clients and his defendants and i think that is all extremely important and good. on the flipside of that, the d.a.'s office handles relationships and ensures that victims and witnesss are being

taken care of during the criminal justice system as we move through the criminal proceedings. i think it's very important that that portion of the appropriations also be supported. back to you, mr. chair. >> thank you, president chiu. colleagues any other questions of staff? seeing none, i will open it up to public comment. i have a number of speaker cards. if you want to fill out a speaker card, we have them available here. otherwise you can line up after these folks are called. so if you will speak in this order: [ reading speakers' names ]

>> good afternoon, supervisor, ads serves survivors of domestic violence and other forms of violence against women and both trafficking within our shelter, as well as for outside clients. most of our

[speaker not understood] we see women on the streets and living in cars and they need to be brought into shelters and greeted with appropriate services. and recently i watched a survivor and her children playing a game of tag in the backyard and i reflected on the irony of what brought her to the shelter, which was a very real and lethal game of tag she was escaping from her batterer.

so we urge you to consider the other needs of survives. survivors. thank you. >> thank you, [tph-efrplts/] speaker. >> my name is stacy lambright, a staff attorney and represent [speaker not understood] we have identified gaps in legal services to

african-american survivors in san francisco. bay legal is currently hosting a legal fellow named kimmy -- she is an equal justice work fellow and she has been leading a collaboration of domestic violence service provideersrs [speaker not understood]

right now over two-thirds of my caseload con sists [speaker not understood] >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> hello i am executive director at women, inc. and we just want to again echo the gratitude expressed here today for your ongoing advocacy, support of our work and of course, a major part of that

network of service providers in san francisco, of course, elizabeth from aws, we hear these stories everyday in terms of there is a need for emergency shelter, but certainly the funds to supplement the legal issues, the legal support, that many of our clients face as an obstacle to leaving an abusive relationship are appreciated and at women, inc. we have a 24-hour crisis line we can see in the comprehensive report that president chiu referenced,

it's increasing drastically. you want to know that the referral you gave them, that they are going to be able to help them. and so this funding, this supplemental funding can lend itself to that. they can make that a reality for my staff team that are knowing that yes, we make these referrals and they are able to find help. we're very supportive of any additional staffing. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> thank you supervisor for allowing us to speak today. my name is nancy rock and the vice-chair of the san francisco women in action. we serve women, families and children in need in san

francisco and throughout the bay area. i am here to reinforce the support you have given to the department on the status of women and we use a lot of their materials, reports and services. so we're expanding what you have allocated in terms of budget, and expanding that to a larger audience when we give our programs, we use their materials. we do that, because they can be trusted. there is a lot of stiff stuff on the internet and i can tell you when we use a report from dosw, the information is accurate. and we know there is accurate information portrayed to the people, and again, thank you for your support. and we'll continue to pass on the information that they give us, because again, we can trust it. and we hope that you know that

we trust you and we really, really do appreciate this. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> good afternoon supervisor. thank you supervisor chiu, specifically for putting the supplemental appropriation forward. my name is catherine berg and the augmentation before you today provides important support, support that would be more beneficial to our community if it was ongoing and continuous. everyday at lacasa we're working hard to build awareness about abuse and ensure a safety net is available 24 hours a day as needed. as an example, this is teen dating violence awareness month and our program has engaged youth through girls got each

other's back, which is a purple bracelet campaign. everyday at lacasa we're responding to multiple crises. 4800 annual calls means on average we answer 13 calls to our hotline everyday. of those callers, three will be professionals or people representing community agencies seeking a pathway to services for someone they work with. one might be a hangup and usually those occur in the evening hours and might be star 69 offer someone follows up on last numbers dialed and remaining 9, 10 will be from individuals in crisis. there are a lot of individuals that need supportive services, part of which are represented

here today. the supplemental funding here is a small part of what that gap is in services is. but it's an important one. every dollar counts. these funds don't match the need, even though lacasa, for instance is leveraging the city's 7:1. we need you to stand up and support the funds. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> thank you. good afternoon. supervisors, beverlily upton, [skwao-uft/] director of the san francisco domestic violence consortium on october 22, 2000 san francisco reiterated its commitment to end domestic violence in san francisco when clay joyce was killed in front of her children.

as we do become their allis in the community, as well, this supplemental, thank you president chiu and the board of supervisors to help san francisco keep its promise to victims. the number on homicides are going down of the we're heading in the right direction. the increased caseload we're seeing in the community and the d.a.'s office and the public defender's office is a measure of our success.

we are, there san francisco is living up to its commitment that it's made. the supplemental will help us do this on every level. we cannot underestimate the interconnectedness of the community and the department on the status of women and their leadership. and the leadership of the criminal justice agencies here in san francisco to keep every victim in every zip code safe. we are here and you are here to keep san francisco's commitment and we thank you. >> next speaker. >> we assist survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking and getting restraining orders. i understand and appreciate the d.a.'s need for sufficient staffing in its domestic violence unit for survivor s, and to underscore what d.a. gascon said, i often hear there

victims who were contacted by the public defenders office, and these victims often become reluctant to cooperate in the prosecution system. i appreciate president chiu and the board's understanding that many domestic violence survivors choose not to access the criminal legal system, but still cohesive to seek help from the system. this supplemental acknowledges that fact and sustains the legal organizations who assist survivors in obtaining a host of protections.

what we need is san francisco is a network for survivors in our community. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> >> good afternoon, i am with the volunteer legal services program and bar association of san francisco and i wanted to take a minute to encourage you to please approve all the supplemental programming. we are a web of services ranging from the district attorney's efforts down through the civil courts or up through the civil courts depending how

you rate your civil courts. with the legal services specifically, i just wanted to legality you know that the funding that would come to us to volunteer legal services program would fund legal representation for mono lingual women who are victims of [tkro-eufpls/]. domestic violence. and they are often involved in custody matters in which they have no access to the civil court simply because they do not speak english and we're able to provide them with an attorney and interpreter, who can stand beside them as they must go up against their abuser to ensure that they retain custody of their children. what you may not know is that often abusers use the civil legal system as another way to continue the abuse of a women who has already obtained a restraining order against them, but they file meritless civil action and the survivor

those show up in court. thank you. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon a anna flores the co-director of muhas. so we wanted to touch a little bit on the decline or the decrease of calls to the police to domestic violence because a lot of it due to the political climate that is happening.

we know when a woman is afraid to call the police, it increases the level of violence in the home and a lot of this is due because of the policy of secure communities where women are afraid to call the police, but luckily we have been able to work directly with the d.a.'s office and have a legal advocate present at our office, once a week, which has really helped to connect the women with legal services. and finally we would like to thank the other organizations that we work with that help us provide legal services directly to the women that we work

with. thank you. >> thank you, before i call the next speaker i have a few other cards, if you want to line up. [ reading speakers' names ] next speaker, in any order, please feel free to come up. >> hi, good afternoon, my name is especially espiranza i am here to talk about the situation that i went throe eight years ago, but mostly to

explain to you how much this group has helped me. they have given me references, referrals, therapy, helped me get restrictiveorder and just to come out ahead in germ. they are like my second home and have help meda lot. because of specialized services that they offer to spanish-speaking population a lot of us can find help there.

thanks to all the help i have received, i was able to get out of my violent relationship. 98% of the woman who receive domestic violence services are satisfied with the services that they received. thank you very much and it's very important that the committee continues to support organizations like ours and our partners. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please? >> good afternoon, my name is reese isabell the immediate

past cohair -chair of the alice b. toklas. i want to note that the alice b toklas supports addressing the concerns within the straight community and same-sex community here in san francisco. [speaker not understood] we give district attorney george gascon our elected official award of the year. i want to say that i appreciate the work that they are doing in

the community and appreciate board president chiu's work with these efforts in opposing domestic violence and working on services. >> thank >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hi, my name is maria hernandez. today i

first they helped me stabilize my emotional state and after that, once i was more comfortable emotional, they taught me of the other resources and references and referrals to access in the community. they accompanied me to get those services. and they helped me -- they helped orient me as to the legal services available and told me where to go and who to

speak to and what my process was going to be like and they helped me through this process. it's very important that we feel comfortable talking to someone in spanish and having resources available to us. we have a sexual assault crisis line and we see the importance of having someone there listening to you in spanish and helping you through the

complicated processes. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> no, it can't be that one with the swing in his budget arms. valerie, count on your attorney, valerie, good luck with salary. valerie, count on the city and a good budget, valerie, count on your attorney, valerie, good luck with your salary. valerie, count on the city and

give it to this one, please. some budgets may be larger and some budgets may be small. and remember this one, go ask alice, i think she will know, when budget and proportions are getting small and we're going to fix it up now and you are going to make it all -- go ask alice and we're going to win . i have been done since you will be gone, and i hope don't know what went wrong. say it isn't true and don't it make your budget brown eyes -- and don't it make your budget

brown eyes, don't it make your budget brown eyes blue, bring it back to you, please. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> anne lehman, director of policy at the department of status of women. i am less than halftime position and i having there for almost 20 years. i am here to tell you that you get a lot of bang for your buck when you have staff at department. we are a very small staff, but we're a very creative group that has gotten recognition for our novel programs around domestic violence and other areas, not just locally or nationally, but internationally. this year in particular, we're going to new york to share with the u.n. commission on the status of women some of our work that we have done around domestic violence, so that women