interact with students in general education. when i was appointed to the youth commission i saw this special opportunity to try to close the disparity in special education to bring awareness to young people. >> thank you. and well, my experience is really personal because as you remember from my presentation last month i have pdnos since i was two. it was a struggle. i have always had an aid for me in school and religious school and sometimes with other things. but i really grown into it realizing about what my role as a disability youth and what i can do to be able to help with that. i decided to join this committee because it gives me a chance to not only connect with my experience, but also with my experience with policy making. with

that. as of 2010, ufc served 6290 students with disabilities. they try to make the school a learning environment regardless of a disability or not. >> we found out through the research that the unified school district provides a research page available to be parents administrators and teachers in order to cultivate a better environment for youth with disabilities for practices shown in their website such as how to be a better mentor, how to provide a better school assignment and how to be more active physically. in addition the website provides a contact page and information sheet on what are the rights of youth with disabilities which is really great because i didn't

know about this before entering the youth commission. also the yufd unified school district with children youth and their families and support for families with disabilities and they provide after school programs and site coordinator is and students and supporting students with disabilities through professional development days which is going to be beneficial for them in the future. the second step program is one that the unified school district provides and the purpose of it is to teach students from preschool to the eighth grade social emotional skills, management, self-regulation,

executive function skills. the rethink curriculum provides caregivers, teachers and parents, with fundamental questions with questions and follows instructions. i worked at the y mca and worked with people with disabilities. these little skills help me build a better relationship with them. beyond differences is by active middle school and trains student how to create an inclusive learning environment for the peers. it's interesting to see the youth from the main population how they build relationships with the youth. it's great to see how much that school is advancing compared to some. so there are also peer to peer program at sf usc. it's a

club i'm part of at balboa high school and washington and mission mission and everrett middle school. the one on one friendship between students with developmental disabilities with the goal of breaking barriers. this program empowers you to engage with one another to change the system so that there is justice for all students. lastly there is the wellness center program. which is pure resources and promotes respect for all students including those with different sexual orientation and people with learning disabilities. all of these support the program with providing students opportunities to succeed. so our committee this year is

really focused on this as we mentioned before and we wanted to see how our peers at school how they viewed special education and how much they knew about disabilities and people with disabilities wechlt created this informal is survey and we distributed to 85 high school students and we found that nearly half of all the students would like to learn more about special education and only 17 percent really considered themselves familiar with special education. >> so our goal as you can see from the is survey we wished we did reach out more to young people but it's still amazing to see how many want to learn more and how little they know about their peers in their school. that's why we created three main goals. the first is four youth in disability to be seen more than a youth with

disability but to have the same potential as someone else to make a positive difference in this world like we are up here to make sure that they are able to do this and that they have the equal opportunity. san francisco is one of those rare cities where you accept a lot of people no matter how they look, what background them. we want to make sure that san francisco continues towards that pathway and make sure that young people with disabilities are equally accepted and we create that value and norm of respecting one another. our third goal is to create better inclusion, tolerance and acceptance for all students no matter where they come from, how they look and what digit they might have and to continue and grow as anyone else. >> our resolution is to support the sf ufc implementation and promotion

of programs that build understanding, acceptance and friendships between students with disabilities and students in general education. encourages the student to further prioritize and expand existing programs and curriculum that directly engage and educate you about disability and inclusion for all. >> so we as a committee think that your work as council is amazing. we think it's great that you work on stuff that we feel so passionate about. we want to thank you all and welcome you for giving us this presentation. we would like to end this presentation for asking for your feedback. we would like to have your support for the proposals -- promotion of the sf program. we think it's important that

this program directly edge -- engages you because we want you to stay involve with people and learn more about disabilities. our second is feedback on a resolution which we passed at a meeting a few months ago as a full youth commission and we passed out copies if you guys want to read it over. and lastly, we would like an inquiry to the council regarding similar efforts on the city's part. we as a committee are really unique because we are able to work with both the city of san francisco as well as sf usd and we want to get a wide scope as to what san francisco as a city is doing. thank you. if you have comments or questions, we would love to answer them. >> first off, on behalf of

the council, on behalf of the staff. thank you so much for coming out here today. this is a really big step, i think and future partnerships between the youth commission and we really appreciate your consideration for stopping by today especially your patience and hanging out there. it was a very contentious day of discourse as you are aware of. we really appreciate your patience during this whole time. i just had a few quick questions. what input did you receive from students with disabilities specifically in your special education classes and what was your outreach to enforce the feedback? >> for us, all three of us in track directly with students who have disabilities outside of the commission. we kind of, this time our work is still

continuing. right now we focused more on the students in general education. but, we totally can see our next steps being reaching out to students and special education and their teachers and the aids. right now we are using our own personal experience. >> i also met with you a couple months ago. i got some greaten put from all of you especially because my friend is in that group. it was nice to hear her after that actual meeting. we didn't know we were going to bump into each other there. after that we had long conversations about it with other people that had disabilities. a lot of them do like it but they want to make sure that, from sarah's point of view she wants to be sure in creating awareness bringing youth with disabilities into classroom but they are speak

of it because of their experience. even though i have a little sister, i can't speak for her. she would have to tell you what it's like. it's not that we want. we want more for the mainstream youth to actually understand, to at least be welcoming. i think that's where me and sarah and other friends agree on and we want to make sure they are not left outside in the classroom or cafeteria or odd table. we want to make sure they are socializing. that's a big part of high school, right? you are making friends. how are you going to leave high school without making friends. >> there is no saying in the movement, nothing about us, without us. that really brings the crux to this issue here. which we've -- i really appreciate support. you are reaching out to the general student population and talking about this important issue.

my suggestion would be moving forward to create a workgroup and doing specific outreach amongst the schools specifically to youth with disabilities beyond the scope of your outside activities which is still great and that helps to provide that insight. but just to create a workgroup to move forward with additions maybe resolutions with other types of means so that way we can get more feedback and there is more of an inclusive to this actual measure, possibly even from that too create is surveys from that workgroup to send out to students with special education classes, teachers and so forth and of course we would love to be able to provide our own recommendations which is i'm sure the mayor's disability office is looking forward to.

councilmember roland wong? yes. thank you for the information. i grew up in an era with special education that we were educated from the mainstream of the school district. of course it's always good for improvement and they have come a long ways of stream lining kids with disabilities into regular school setting and with the accommodation. it's been very successful and now i'm glad to see that it has gone a long ways. i will support the youth commission and people with disabilities all the way. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> cochair supanich? >> hi, i want to thank you for your advocacy and activism and to remind you that altruism

is not dead. also i want to as a cochair i can suggest that we write a letter of support for your resolution and get that to you soon so that you can include it when you go out there garnishing support for your work. that's one way that we can collaborate with you. i would also encourage you if you can to come to one of our executive community meetings. that's where we roll out ideas for presentations and areas we want to cover topics for consideration. if there is anything that you can continue to that discussion, we would love it. the meetings are tuesday, this following tuesday afternoon from 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.. at mod offices. that's 1155 market, first floor. okay? we can write that down for you.

>> okay. >> i have a comment from councilmember kostanian? >> you know i come from way back. and i had many many disabilities and i had no programs like this, nothing. so, i think every person that comes with a disability no matter what year it is, they are looking eagerly to find people to comprehend, understand, have concern and love and enthusiasm to encourage them to keep going forward. by what you are doing, you are not only doing that for the people that you are working with. you are doing that for your city, for the parents and for all people who are involved with that to really be collectively involved in going forward to help people with all disabilities. so congratulations on what you

are doing. thank you. >> to the chair? hi, guys. first of all, we are all back here feeling like the proud parents of all of you and we truly, the council truly saves the best part of the meeting for last both with anna's presentation with the history and your presentation and your activism and we couldn't have asked for a better celebration of the 24th anniversary of the ada with you guys. we also want to let you know since we are running really late to stick around because we have a small token of appreciation for you. with that, we look forward to working more with you. >> thank you. >> then just one final congratulations to you. it's

been wonderful to hear your presentations today and see the face of the future and follow along the lines of the council's commitment to write a letter in support of your resolution. our office will do the same too with great enthusiasm. thank you. >> thank you. >> any comments from the audience? >> comments from the audience is wow. comments from the bridge line? okay. thank you again for coming out today and thank you for all of your hard work and efforts. it is very much appreciated and we look forward to working with you in the future. moving along, we are going to go ahead and strike item no. 10, information item report from the disability disaster preparedness committee. we'll be putting that on the next

council meeting's agenda in lieu of being over time. moving on to item no. 11. public comment. items not on today's agenda, but within the jurisdiction of the mdc, each speaker is limited to 1 minute. thank you. >> is there any comments? if so, please come to the front. you have one minute.1 minute. >> any of the meetings taking place. communication would be great. that's it with housing issues and housing coming up

with condos conversions. will seniors and seniors with disabilities be addressed with condos conversion. and one more thing about i didn't know, wasn't informed about the various bus line discussions and when they say, little omissions, this is new. my block, two 2 blocks are being severely affected and a lot of this will be more homebound. thanks to that. willie brown had a van suggestion in counting number of patrons on this line or that in this time. perhaps considering those little known routes and maybe van coverage for those and that's where willie brown i think he spoke

about that and introduced that. it will be great. >> thank you. any other comment on protected bike ways -- item no. 11? okay. item no. 1. -- 12. information item. correspondence. >> there is no correspondence for this months meeting. >> thank you very much. item no. 13. discussion item. councilmember comments and announcements? councilmember roland wong? >> yes, i just kind of like to remind the audience that please join us at the independent living resource center of san francisco. we are going to have a grand opening. we are relocating and a commemoration of the ada. it's this saturday july 26th,

from 10 :00 a.m. to 3 :00 p.m. at 825 howard street. the ground floor between 4th and 5th street. there will be lots of fun and have food, free food. and a second thing i would like to kind of mention is that we had the van ness brt, the bart rapid transit. we would like to see that we can write a support letter regarding the shelters on the route. thank you. >> thank you. with that. we move on to item no. 14. we shall adjourn. thank you again for those who stuck it out and we went to over time here

today. we had a lot of great discussion. we will have our next meeting third friday in september. [ meeting is adjourned ] >> >> >> this is in memory of veil. let's observe one 1 minute of silence in her honor. please.

>> thank you. with that, we adjourn. we'll see you next time in september, third friday for our next council meeting. thank you. [ meeting is adjourned ] >> >>

>> welcome to "culturewire." today we are at recology. they are celebrate 20 years of one of the most incredibly unique artist residency programs. we are here to learn more from one of the resident artists. welcome to the show, deborah. tell us how this program began 20 years ago. >> the program began 20 years ago. our founder was an environmentalist and an activist and an artist in the 1970's. she started these street sweeping campaigns in the city. she started with kids. they had an exhibition at city hall. city officials heard about her efforts and they invited her to this facility.

we thought it would coincide with our efforts to get folks to recycle, it is a great educational tool. since then, we have had 95 professional artists come through. >> how has the program changed over the years? how has the program -- what can the public has an artist engage with? >> for the most part, we worked with metal and wood, what you would expect from a program like ours. over the years, we tried to include artists and all types of mediums. conceptual artists, at installation, photographers, videographers. >> that has really expanded the program out. it is becoming so dynamic right now with your vision of interesting artists in gauging here. why would an artist when to come here? >> mainly, access to the materials. we also give them a lot of

support. when they start, it is an empty studio. they go out to the public area and -- we call it the big store. they go out shopping, take the materials that, and get to work. it is kind of like a reprieve, so they can really focus on their body of work. >> when you are talking about recology, do you have the only sculpture garden at the top? >> it is based on work that was done many years ago in new york. it is the only kind of structured, artist program. weit is beautiful. a lot of the plants you see were pulled out of the garbage, and we use our compost to transplant them. the pathway is lined with rubble from the earthquake from the freeways we tour about 5000

people a year to our facility, adults and children. we talk about recycling and conservation. they can meet the artists. >> fantastic. let's go meet some of your current artists. here we are with lauren. can you tell us how long have been here so far and what you're working on? >> we started our residency on june 1, so we came into the studio then and spent most of the first couple weeks just digging around in the trash. i am continuing my body of work, kind of making these hand- embroidered objects from our day-to-day life. >> can you describe some of the things you have been making here? this is amazing. >> i think i started a lot of my work about the qualities of light is in the weight. i have been thinking a lot about things floating through the air. it is also very windy down here.

there is a piece of sheet music up there that i have embroidered third. there is a pamphlet about hearing dea -- nearing death. this is a dead rabbit. this is what i am working on now. this is a greeting card that i found, making it embroidered. it is for a very special friend. >> while we were looking at this, i glanced down and this is amazing, and it is on top of a book, it is ridiculous and amazing. >> i am interested in the serendipity of these still life compositions. when he got to the garbage and to see the arrangement of objects that is completely spontaneous. it is probably one of the least thought of compositions. people are getting rid of this stuff. it holds no real value to them, because they're disposing of it.

>> we're here in another recology studio with abel. what attracted you to apply for this special program? >> who would not want to come to the dump? but is the first question. for me, being in a situation that you're not comfortable in has always been the best. >> what materials were you immediately attracted to when you started and so what was available here? >> there are a lot of books. that is one of the thing that hits me the most. books are good for understanding, language, and art in general. also being a graphic designer, going straight to the magazines and seeing all this printed material being discarded has also been part of my work. of course, always wood or any kind of plastic form or anything like that. >> job mr. some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. -- taught me through some of the pieces you have made while you

have been here. >> the first thing that attracted me to this was the printed surface. it was actually a poster. it was a silk screen watercolor, about 8 feet long. in terms of the flatwork, i work with a lot of cloddish. so being able to cut into it come at into it, removed parts, it is part of the process of negotiating the final form. >> how do you jump from the two dimensional work that you create to the three-dimensional? maybe going back from the 3f to 2d. >> everything is in the process of becoming. things are never said or settled. the sculptures are being made while i am doing the collages, and vice versa. it becomes a part of something else. there's always this figuring out of where things belong or where they