miland italy to receive an award from the italian government for the international work life balance award. we also work for working mothers. we working on lactation accumulations and guidelines in what employers have to do with moms and accommodating them and we're are putting together a brochure on family leave policy. next slide. the other area where we do a lot of work is in antiviolence against women. commissioner shorter chairs our panel on domestic violence reform and from the year 2000 a brutal homicide of a san francisco mom by her ex-boy, mr. raer ez. there have been recommendations. we did audits and it's been a wonderful collaboration with the criminal justice agencies. as a city we

invest $3 million annually to anti-domestic violence and assault programs and shelters and hot lines counseling, prevention education, and finally the third aspect of our anti-violence work is our family violence council. we meet on a quarterly basis and the courts and the school district scption all the agencies that touch violence and the consortium and child and elder abuse agencies and very, very proud to announce through this work we have totally eliminated domestic violence homicides in san francisco in 2012. 10 years ago we had about 10 a year, mostly women, and in past few years we had one or two but as of last year we had zero and we're still counting. we're in month 15 hoping that we can keep to that. final area in anti-violence --

next slide -- is human trafficking and unfortunately san francisco has the distinction of income the fbi's top hubs, l.a. and san diego as well. the average age of the trafficked child is travel. an annual salary of a pimp on the streets of san francisco -- you know this person could be a woman -- controlling four women on the streets can make upward to $700,000, single person controlling four women and they have to feed and clothe and house these people, so let's make it a $600,000 tax free. it's an enormous amount of money so we're really trying to surface this issue to have a response as a city, and since 2010 we have been working with the san francisco collaborative against human trafficking and commissioner rodriquez has been

very active in that. moving on to gender analysis we have been looking closely at city commissions and boards and every two years we conduct a gender analysis. we are very pleased to see gender balance on the small business commission. not all of our commissions are gender balanced although the last time we did our report it was about 50% but still there is under representation of asian americans and latinos compared to the numbers in their population. we also recent did an update on girls in san francisco. we saw a 51% decline in teen pregnancy which was astounding. however a rise in poverty among african-american girls which is unacceptable and finally we did a section on lesbian lgbt young people, girls, and we found that 53% of lesbian girls are considered suicide so clearly they're an

under served community. next slide. sometimes with the outreach most is in the gender equality initiative and this work and also the other areas that i touched on and finally in terms of our staffing we are small but mighty. i have five staff not all whom work full time. amy allison is the outreach director and ann lehmas our policy director and we have a grant administrator and we're lucky to have interns and fellows interesting several people at this time and unfortunately [inaudible] couldn't be here tonight so ann lehmas is going to step in and say a few words about our very latest initiative. >> so we're launching a new

initiative next monday with the mayor at 1130. you're all welcome to come in room 416 and it's called the gender equality challenge and what it is we're basically asking san francisco businesses to enter their model practices that create gender equality in the work place. now we are focusing this first year on large companies, but we do have any number of small companies that work on our council. we have a child care center and a advertising agency that are both very small companies that work with us on this, and we expect that in the near future like next year we hope to look at different sizes, but the first year we're launching this and basically the thought is if we take the model practices and share them both in forums and roundtables and on the web that are reputable other businesses can then implement

them and it will be spending the gender equality in the work place so we are launching that program next monday and we hope that you can help us spread the word. >> great. thank you. okay. do we have -- we need to take public comment now on item number two, so do we have public comment on item two? seeing none public comment is closed. next item. >> commissioners this puts you on item three joint consent agenda and on the agenda is a resolution recognizeing may 13-18 as san francisco small business week 2013, and that's in your packet, and just to summarize the -- just to summarize the resolution. the resolution is on behalf of both commissions. the resolution

begins with several clauses that describe san francisco specific demographics and figures. then it discusses some demographics that relate to national statistics. then we provide some specifics on what would be the shift of funding from large chains to small retailers followed by some demographics and statistics on women owned businesses, and then be it resolved that the city and county of san francisco small business commission and commission on status of women recognize this week as san francisco small business week with the theme "small businesses shaping our communities" and further resolve that the city and county of san francisco small business commission and the commission on status of women encourage entrepreneurs and small business owners particularly women to participate in small business week events throughout the week.

with that mr. president and ms. president i recommend public comment and then a motion to adopt. >> okay. do we have public comment on item number three? okay. public comment is closed. >>i would like to move the resolution. >> i would second. >> all those in favor? >> aye. >> thank you. unanimous. >> thank you commissioners. that puts you on section four which is new business and under section four is item a. it's starting your business and we have several organizations along with the office of small business. each organization has been asked to provide background on their organization programs that they offer, some specifics on women owned businesses and

entrepreneurs. we asked them when appropriate if they could make policy recommendations. as announced at the start of the meeting the first presenter will be la cocina. we have caleb zigas, executive director. >> welcome. >> and let me switch microphones and commissioners i could also add for this presentation along with several other presentations in your packet we have a copy of the powerpoints. >> yes. hi guys. thanks so much for having me. i hope i'm doing the presentation right here. i am caleb and i am from la cocina and a nonprofit organization located in the mission district here in san francisco. cool. so i think i was going to talk about what la cocina does just in case some

of you don't know. hopefully in the off chance that you all know and maybe about what we see as the barriers existing and the potential solutions but our mission is help treps and providing commercial space and technical xeaft existence and access to market and capabilities and focus on immigrant women and women of colors and born out of initiatives for women so overall the goals is improve profits and enhance quality of life for families and local community. the history of la cocina is that was born out of san francisco mission's district and the womens' initiative and others were doing in writing plans with inspiring entrepreneurs. there are lots of informal entrepreneurs at the time and folks and mostly women selling

food from the home or on the street to supplement the income they were getting. i think probably many of you know in micro communities is a really easy way for immigrants to enter into the marketplace and e conspire for women who are. >> home with the children or denied entry into the regular work force so seeing a need to formalize the food businesses and transition them into the formal economy so for instance work with a woman working successfully and making money for the family and transition her to income patching to asset generation. the idea in that sense they're are towns and entrepreneurs. they found their market and margins and something they can bring and do so they're successful as entrepreneurs in the informal marketplace. the idea of la cocina to transit that into a broader marketplace

and instead of dollars here or there and create the wealth with business ownership and has impact for them and families and communities. it's really moving over there on the screens. a lot of action. sorry about that. so that was the general idea of la cocina and we open our doors in 2005. you can see a picture if it stops moving over there but the idea is give that affordable kitchen space at a subsidized rate. you know it's incredibly difficult to get into the industry no matter who are you and there are barriers with cost and regulations so the goal of la cocina is subsidize that with the kitchen space and focus on what some of the mistakes that entrepreneurs make entering the marketplace. because there is not a structured supportive business

owners for new competitive business owners it's hard to navigate, what you can't navigate so la cocina besides the physical space are about the workings of the industry. we go from application to incubation and graduation and we are lucky to work with these organizations with la cocina and take the entrepreneurs with their ideas and solid business plan and bring them into the market place. we doe provide all of these things and important ment torships and like minded business owners in the space. can you see a couple of the women that we serve here. right now there are 33 organizations in the business and 35 different businesses that use the kitchen and 33 receive technical assistance and had 13

graduate to their own spaces. 100% are low income. 97% are women and immigrants and count english as a second language and when we decided what to do at la cocina is identify what are the barriers to the food industry? so if you have seen rat tutuie it's difficult to get into the industry and as comical the movie is it's a real thing. they're long grueling days. they're competitive and a lot is not about what you do but who you are and behave in a kitchen space. moving up through family restaurants is nearly impossible to do and through large industrial restaurants like the cheese cake factory has potential but there is limited opportunity so we are working with women who are talented cooks and start at the bottom of the restaurant and try to move up but are limited to the

choices in front of them and how they act in the kitchen and how people perceive them to be. one example is veronica salazar and graduate and was cooking out of her home in the tender knob and working on the pant reef a couple restaurants in san francisco. she had a restaurant owning family in mexico city. she had been working forever in the lines not making more than $11 an hour and started this informal foot enterprise out of her home. without these groups she would have remained in the home and we launched her at farmers market and she has a restaurant growing about a million dollars so these are entrepreneurs that are talented to begin with and we're are capitalizing on that. you can see some of the statistics there. some of the reasons we

get women engaged in la cocina are the barriers to entry. i mentioned them and women are treated poorly in businesses and small businesses as well. the informal food economy is a really accessible place for people to start and with issues like child care and having to be the cultural expectation of raising a family informal food businesses offer supplemental income to women who want to spend time with their families. again this is moving from selling a couple of tamales on the street to owning a factory is a big leap but not one that is impossible and finally what i think is important a lot of the women that come to la cocina what they have is incredible powerful and what a lot of entrepreneurs are looking for in san francisco which is a talent and product. there are restaurants built on marketing and perception and they're looking for a chef and we have women who are incredible chefs and don't have an idea how to

bring that talent to market so we divide the business in a couple categories and i mention that because they're different in terms of getting into the marketplace. direct foods and direct to consumers and there is language around that in san francisco and why they do that but you will see a dirkt in san francisco -- not a absence but proportional of who is cooking at home and there is one of the that we try to address. some things that are economic and have to do with the opportunities afforded entrepreneurs but they seem impossible for the entrepreneurs to climb until they get to la cocina and one of the things to think about what is what making the informal marketplaces successful and any solutions

that we can formalize and make it more successful in the transition. for us at la cocina that are micro-communities and small communities with a city as diverse as san francisco don't have the micro-community to support it economically so you might have a regional mexican kri seen but not with enough mexicans to support that but not knowing how to move outside of that micro-community or an opportunity to move out they will stay in the informal bucket and not get to the asset generation. what make it successful? low cost of entry, flexible hours are things that you can address in the industry so we identified things that women need at our organization to be successful. one is a sharing community and san francisco is engaged in right now but leaves out low income

entrepreneurs and as the ideas come about to share resources and find ways they're accessible to folks not comfortable in the media rulm and child care and ride share are huge ones and to develop resources or work with developers to bring in resources that others need and provide that need in lower risk than currently available. the current economic opportunities are really so high risk it's not a good idea to make that recommendation to enter into that opportunity no matter what the reward would be and on technical assistance that understands the complications and are gender specific and in la cocina and how you could leverage around child care when starting a catering business and what solutions can you afford for that so we have outcomes

for you. you can have a look at what la cocina has done over the years. you can taste it if you are around here and go to local areas and there is an article what it is to be a chef in san francisco and what we can do to support her more and i thank you for your time. it's been incredible. in thinking about solutions one thing to point out there is a cottage food law that was passed and does offer the opportunity for some folks to income patch from home. there are few spanish accessible information about that law and i'm not sure whether the department of health is enforcing that law but you see tamale makers or mole paste makers, women prepping out of the home and illegal to this point there is an opportunity to legalize that for under $35,000

net revenue a year and good to reach all communities where that is vibrant and not support just the cake and biscuit makers but others as well. >> thank you very much. do we have any commissioner comments? >> i just want to say -- go ahead. >> [inaudible] sure. i just want to say that i feel like la cocina so much represents all that is good about san francisco and its entrepreneurial spirit and i just have to complement caleb because i have a past connection to your father. i worked with him when i worked at hud and i can imagine how incredibly proud he is of you as

a social change entrepreneur as well, so i hope that we can do more things to support more ethnic communities as well to really see this type of enterprise move forward. thank you. >> my thing doesn't work. i also just want to commend i know several of your clients. i work with metaand i know how it is and growing up in the mission my mom owned a restaurant and just umpowerment of strong women, the impact they have on the communities is immeasurable and without my mother having patch income i wouldn't be here today so what you do you can't quantify the impact it has on our communities. thank you. >> i want to say when we support women then our families thrive and studies have shown even

with micro-lending among women that's when societies thrive and the default rate is nearly zero and i commend you caleb for sustaining la cocina and there are barriers for business even with people with substantial background and income and it's good to see this for these hard working women. >> any others? i just got to say caleb i love la cocina. i have your stand at the ferry building, and you helped -- especially women in the community start businesses, and they're all over the city and san francisco is such a foody town, and they do just great work, and i am really proud of the work they do and i am proud they're part of our community.

thank you. any other commissioner questions? comments? >> yes, i have -- yes. am i on? >> yes. >> great. i applaud the work of la cocina and also correct us the correct pronunciation is la cocina because that means in the kitchen, from the kitchen. but i do remember when the concept of la cocina being discussed between the various partners that caleb had discussed, the foundation, other folks in small business, et cetera coming together to form this really strong collaborative movement, and clearly it's a shining example of what can be done to advance the cause of women in small business and really giving them the tools that are necessary and needed in order to not only survive the trials and

tribulations of a small business with you to thrive, and so again i also want to applaud what you're doing. i have actually one question if i might for caleb in terms of where you are right now with -- i think you said right now there are 38 different businesses that are involved. that's for this year or just -- >> they're 33 businesses are currently in the incubator program. as an organization we serve low income and very low income entrepreneurs so you saw the demographics and we have 55 businesses are use the kitchen and 22 don't qualify for the incubator program so they don't receive that and we have 15 graduates that have moved out of the kitchen in the last seven years so we generally accept four to 12 new businesses per calendar year so some of them can be in the incubator for as

long as five years. the idea is have enough proof of concept to access the capital to move into a brick and mortar building of their own. >> i have one more question and clearly one of the challenges as i have understood it over the years and moving into the brick and mortar space. >> yeah. >> and now we have alternative small business options that people are utilizing with the food trucks and carts and certainly a number of these businesses are already catering services as well i imagine. can you -- i know that we have other presentations but quickly elaborate this particular challenge in terms of moving into brick and mortar places in san francisco where the real estate can be very cost prohibitive. >> yeah absolutely. i can't speak to other industries but the capital cost of brick and

mortar restaurant is absurd even with somebody with years of experience. the amount of capital you have to leverage to open the restaurant and the years it takes to pay that back it's a fool's errand for the majority of restaurant owners so food truck has afforded a low cost entry. they used to be taco trucks and it was immigrant opportunities and it's broadened and it's great but it's finite. there are so many spaces in the financial district that you can park a truck. one of the things that we work arizona an organization is relationship with the city. >> >> and developers building spaces where there is opportunity on the retail ground level where is where they tent not to make their money and allow that. in the restaurant industry you have make a

fortune and name for yourself but not work that long and we are looking at other countries and low costs with stands and the market is inflated there and they're great to let us in there which we operate as a plan get but i think there are opportunities in new sectors when tech companies or new companies come into the city and take interest in the resources that are here and businesses that have a track record and support those businesses so that's what we're working on and thanks again guys for all the kied words. thanks. >> thank you. >> thank you. commissioners next we have the womens' initiative presentation by nicole levine executive director of the san francisco hub. welcome. >> thank you. one moment here

as i get this up. is that going to come up on there? beautiful. thank you so much for this really amazing opportunity to get to present to you all today. it is really an honor. it's special for us to come here and talk about what we do and how it fits in with what you do. again my name is nicole levine. i am the director of the san francisco center for the womens' initiative and i grew up in san francisco and i absolutely seen the power of this organization to change womens' lives, to change our neighborhoods, to change your communities, to change families and you can imagine i have been there a long time and really believe in what we're doing and i am excited to share with you a little bit

about our impact and ideas that we may focus on to continue to help so just a little bit for those that don't know about us. we are celebrating our 25th anniversary. we have been providing high potential low income women with business training and funding and on going support to start and actually expand their businesses and become economically self sufficient. a little bit about who we serve. we've actually served over 26,000 women since we began in 1988. 700 women will be served this year in san francisco alone. 99% of our women are low income or extremely low income. fort% are latina. 13% have a documented disability. 23% are over 50 years old and we see women with 15 kinds