[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 from around the world. we have received rewards nationally, internationally and on the association of counties on a number of occasions. susan had to leave, but you have this in your packets about the one billion women on v-day, valentine's day, 4-6 right here at city hall. it basically represents the figures of 1-3 women having been raped, coerced into sex or abused in their lifetime. i know supervisor avalos likes

to know where the stats come from. it was from a unifamreport called "not a minute more." and it has been cited throughout the world. thank you. >> thank you very much. are there any other memberswish to comment on items no. 4 and 5? seeing none, public comment is closed. [ gavel ] supervisor avalos? >> >> thank you, chair. i always fertilize to turn the microphone on the thank you, chair farrell and appreciate the district attorney and public defender and budget analyst and all the work in our office and i know we're operating with scarce resources and we have huge demand on our efforts and skill and i want to acknowledge that moving forward. i want to thank a lot of advocates and people working day in and day out to fight against domestic violence. working with victims and their

families, that work is often not recognized as it should be in the city and the contributions that you are making are great and save lives. thank you for your presence today. i have long been someone who has been try saying that the city needs to be do more to support domestic violence victims and make sure that i will support aspects of this today because of my longstanding belief that we need to do more and to acknowledge with resources, the work that is being done here. i'm not sure it should be this kind of resources and mid-year. perhaps we can make a larger am cation based on what we might approve today.

so i will be supporting something and i will let me colleagues make those. i would support the budget analyst's recommendations. i do need to acknowledge the el elephant in the room, has been in the room past year. the elephant is somewhat smaller, but domestic violence incidents with the sheriff has skewed some of the politics in san francisco and that with all need to make a commitment to domestic violence in the city and i'm willing do that today moving forward. the city those help itself heal and build relationships and a lot of people working together

on domestic violence and we want to make sure that we move forward to help the city heal and put adequate resources in place. i just needed to acknowledge that i always feel the presence of the elephant this past year and a half. >> thank you, supervisor avalos, president chiu. >> thank you, colleagues and first of all, i want to thank the colleagues to their consideration of the item and thank the budget analysts and d.a.'s office and the public defend defenders office and the mayor's office and the communitiworking in the trenches to protect victims of domestic violence. supervisor avalos would prefer we move forward with the recommendations. i will state that the budget appropriation that i proposed was very carefully crafted and, in fact,

i took some lessons from the discussion we had about the school's appropriations and the $3 million figure that was set for that. and wanted to be respectful of the numbers that we're talking about and the fact that we have to be fiscally prudent with how we make investments, but i do think that we don't have time to wait. it is important for us to move forward in ensuring that we're taking care of our victims, we're taking care of our witnesss and moving them forward. what i would like to suggest is that perhaps we consider a number and appropriation between where the budget analyst had proposed and what i had initially proposed just to recap. the recommendation that i had made that we had co-sponsors was for four attorneys. the budget analyst proposed two and hopefully alleviate a