start somewhere. >> [inaudible] even if it's a pilot program. >> local business and certified one through 10 we're going to welcome that business in. >> great. any other commissioner comments? >> can i quickly -- i want to first thank beverly personally. you're probably one of the most approachable and nurturing person any city agency so i definitely want to recognize that and myself many moons ago going through the program and representing a disadvantaged community the lbe program is probably the single most agency or program that works in san francisco. it's the one that really, really bridges the gap. what i learned and the contracts i was able to achieve through the lbe program really just light years put my business at the time light years in advance. it would have taken 20 years to gain a contract without the

program so i am concerned there is about a 40% decline in women lbe's that you mentioned and anything that we can do on the commission and i know we want to be there because i mean when you guys do on the program it's amazing so we want to help if we can. >> i also wanted to recognize that really the success -- we had to take the village mentality and i understand commissioner o'brien's comments and it's the hardest working but look at why the women businesses are declining it's not they're tired and not going to get up but they have child care obligations and i heard over and over again that is one of the biggest barriers. i notice i regularly get the small business advisories and availability of meetings and it's great that we have so many programs. some are also offered during the day. i

am wondering if there is a possibility to integrate child care with the availability of the meetings so more women could participate. >> [inaudible] that we have launched is that we are actually having it during the workday. the participants have to commit to attend at least 10 sessions, but the offering is during the workday and we hope that will help because most of the women that are certified do work the traditional workday, and they can make it then. >> thank you commissioner. you talked about putting the caters in a pool and offering them opportunities out of that pool. well, this is what we recommend in a lot of cases. we would like to take those businesses who are now in food service and get them certified and as

caters or another people within the department need to order catering food or service we can put them into a pool and pull them out and rotate the work around. that would help that emerging business. that would help increase our participation in women and certainly help the city and staying local with local business. >> [inaudible] other industries. i think sfmta is doing it in trucking. we have pools for work throughout the city as needed where they rotate the work, so we have different models that we can use and perhaps use these models to go to a category in which could help develop and grow some more women businesses that are doing work and they want more. they want to grow with the city contracts. >> thank you for your good work. >> thanks. >> any other comments or

questions? great. thank you very much. and do we have public comment? >> actually president under this section we do -- we would like to call from the agenda sf made we don't have a presentation but we do have informational comments by the director of the office of small business regina dick-endrizzi and also in the pack set some information. >> again regina dick-endrizzi. thank you commissioners. this sf made sends their regrets for not being here. do want to acknowledge we are fortunate to have commissioner mark dwight who is a founder for -- are you still on the board? >> [inaudible] >> and founder and chairman of sf made and sf made is actually one of -- we in the city

consider sf made one of our economic development organizations and it's relatively unique in the sense that it's very industry specific. it helps new businesses, but it's primary function is really help and support manufacturers and the manufacturing environment and if there is anything that you would like to add in relationship to that please free free, so janet lee from sf made provided some information on some of the stats for women in the san francisco's local manufacturing, so -- may i have the overhead at all? you may not be able to read this but 48% of the local manufacturers are

women owned businesses. 53% are in a parallel. 54% are women in food and beverage -- 54% are in the food and beverage sector. and note that apparel and food and beverage are the largest sectors within sf made membership that comprise of women owned businesses. one of the issues they wanted to bring up and bring to both commission's attention is that they feel it's very relevant to women in manufacturing the lack of child care options both in terms of availability and affordability. especially there is a lack of child care approximate to the manufacturing businesses and it's not possible to put facilities in businesses that are zoned for pdr so perhaps this is one thing that we can take a look at work at

the zoning level and they noted that this is an issue for both women owners and employees so when we maybe took a look at working to save our manufacturing environment and which is very important and a sector of the city to be able to grow and create we may have forgot what are some of the support needs that businesses have, so that was a recommendation that they had for the two commissions as a matter to possibly take into consideration, so again i think we have heard numerous times tonight the issue around child care is a important issue in all business sectors. >> thank you regina. do we have any comments from our

commissioners? do you have anything to add? >> ms. president soo if you could call for public comment on section c, growing your business. >> do we have any public comment on section c? seeing none we will move on. >> thank you president. commissioners this puts us on part five of your meeting public comment. president soo would you like me to open up public comment? >> yes, sir please. >> and would you like me to read off the speaker cards and lastly three minutes? >> yes. >> i have two cards and you can come in any order that you like. [calling speaker names] and public comment will be limited to three minutes. you will see a timer on the podium. >> [inaudible] i am roberta

guise chair of public policy of women in san francisco and also a small business owner. we are here to talk about equal pay. first i would like to introduce our president kathy cochran who will say a few words about aew and aew san francisco. >> thank you roberta. thank you commissioners and friends. we're delighted to be here. a very apropos evening and if there is one thing we heard tonight it's certainly important for us to work very hard for the advancement of small businesses of women and not forget about the importance of equal pay and aew, the american association of university women has been advancing women and girls since 1881 and on the front lines for

equal pay, the fight for equal pay for 100 years. they were there 40 years ago in the oval office when president kennedy signed the equal pay act and when president obama signed the lite ledbetter act and roberta is the chair of public policy and the fight is an on going one and a major priority of our national organization and they have encouraged us a thousand branches strong across the united states to acknowledge the day that is tomorrow, the equal payday and bring that voak stroke to our communities. we are delighted to be here as part of this event this evening and roberta will share more comments about equal pay and some

susassistantance for you after a long evening. >> thank you kathy. this meeting is serendipitous and tomorrow is equal payday and tomorrow is the day that women caught up with what men earned last year so women on average 70 cents per dollar a man makes and here in california it's a little better and it's 85 cents and up to a lifetime that is a lot of lost earnings and affects families and childrens and the small businesses in the city but if you believe it's due to choices that women make and there has been a lot of chart cheart about that in the community. that's the primary reason let's look at some fact thes here. i learned about a chemical firm that was bought out. with the new contract the engineers discovered that the women had a bigger salary bump than the men did and previously

paid less for the same work and i am sure you will agree that gap can't be explained by choices that the women engineers made, and a new gender gap has been discovered. last we're we released a study on college graduate earnings. the research showed that women worked full time earned 82% of what the male peers earned. after the research is controlled for hours, and occupation and other factors that we normally associate with pay there was this unexplained gap suggesting that bias and discrimination are still problems in the work place, so what can each person do? i've got three things. number one, take home a copy of auw's recent report about the pay gap and i have my copy. we

have many copies over there so there is one for everybody there and if you grab two or three i encourage you to hand them out. we've got lots of them. item two is call your representatives, senators and ask them to -- as kathy said bring the paycheck fairness act to a vote. this would update the equal pay act of 1963 with policies that will enforce fair pay and the last thing in the agenda tonight is suggesting get your fresh part of the payday cake and here it is. it's chocolate for all of the lovers. i know there are a couple in the room and andrea will serve slices out in the corridor because we're not supposed to have food here. thank you very much. >> thank you. any other members of the public withhold like to make a.

>> >> comment on items not on the agenda this evening? seeing none public comment is closed. >> commissioners this puts you on item six which is adjournment. we would like to adjourn the meeting in memory of mabel soo and i would like to acknowledge president soo. >> thank you. so it was very difficult to lose my mother in the last month. it was a quick illness. she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on the 14th and just two hours i was to be with the mayor and she started feeling ill on february 8 but all her life she was active and vibrant women and at 83 years of age she climbed simon head and i haven't done is it and but she was civicically engaged and asked us to participate and make sure that our community was a better place. i was taken a

become when i tried to put a notice in the chinese newspaper and my mom third generation impart today was important to know our an set of rol language and. >> >> my language was limited but my mom knew it and the person with the ad -- actually a reporter helped me and she said my late dad was very active community person so he was news worthy when he passed away nine years ago and retired head of the structural division for public works in the city and so there was an article written about him. she went on to say i am famous and i don't know if my opportunities to serve on a commission makes me famous but noted my mom was "just a housewife" and i pointed out my

father couldn't have done without her as an equal partner. i wouldn't literally be here without my mom but the sensibilities to serve the city and county so i just want to say that today's meeting was very appropriate especially when talking about the ferry building and my mom was a public servant with the state before she gave up her career to raise us four children and worked there when under state jurisdiction as the port authority but loved the transformation of the ferry building and despite her size and people have seen her eat. she could put a way a lot of food and was 110 pounds despite having four children and i want to challenger everyone to follow her spirit and legacy and we make the community and world a better place and i thank the

commissioners for their support during this difficult time of losing my mom. >> thank you. >> thank you president soo. commissioners with that if you would like to entertain a motion to adjourn. >> motion to adjourn in memory of mabel soo. >> second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >> commissioners, that adjourns the meeting 9:18 p.m. >> thank you. i would like to commend staff for making this meeting possible.