up. >> 30 seconds. >> shoot. >> okay, i am going to skip that. don't let rule 115 be the only thing that you do, you need multiple measures if you want the people to come out and do a bunch of things at the same time, get in groups, and get the older workers groups and you will be amazed what kind of happens, the kind of buzz that brings, and also you need, the support from the top. and you need a person who is your point person on employment, who has some kind of passion for the subject. for whom it is not just a collateral duty and i could say a lot more obviously. but i will defer. and if anybody wants to contact me, i will be more than glad to sit down with you and offer other suggestions and observations from over the years. thank you. >> thank you. >> are there any other comments on the employment section for the public comment?

>> okay. seeing, any comments from the bridge line? okay. >> and moving forward with agenda item number 9, information item, department of children youth and families dcyf, youth workforce development update and they would like to share the workforce services with the council, presentation by maria su director dcyf, city and county of san francisco. >> through the chair, i don't see that the director is here, you may wish to go on to the next agenda item >> thank you. >> moving on, public comment, this is general public comment, items not in the agenda, each speaker is limited to 3 minutes, if you would like to speak, fill out a community card front or make it known that you would like to make a comment, thank you.

>> is there any general comment from the audience here today? >> any on the bridge line? >> seeing none, okay. and now we will go back to agenda item number 9, information item, the department of children youth and families dcyf, youth workforce development update. dcyf would like to share a workforce services with the council, and presentation by maria su, executive director city and county of san francisco. >> good afternoon council members, i have been running all day. thank you so much for inviting us to come in and present. and share with you the great work that we are doing in the city, particularly around the youth workforce programs. and for all of our children, but with this very specific focus on our young people with disabilities. and so, thank you. and i am joined by our senior

program specialist and you want... (inaudible) who spent, many, many years, working in the fields of youth workforce development and particularly for young people with disabilities and so she definitely has more expertise than i do. but, in general, dcyf in partnership with the mayor's office and over the past several years, particularly last year, and of led the summer jobs plus initiative. and which is that big buzz that everyone heard about this summer, where thousands of young people had different training opportunities and job placement opportunities, throughout the city and both in staoet government offices and as well as the private companies. and, the summer jobs, initiative worked with over 80 programs that was run in 12 different city departments that serve the young people from age

14 to 24, in total last year, we are really proud that we were able to serve over 7600 young people. and the mayor had set a target for us of serving 7,000 young people. and then the city departments as well as the private companies, really stepped up to the plate in partnership with the non-profit agency and they were able to serve, many many more and i think that of interest to this body is the number of young people that had disabilities that we were able to reach out to and provide services to. and so let me just go very quickly. and over that. and i am trying to read my notes and i have lost my way, so i am just going to share with you. >> we work directly with a number of young workforce development programs throughout the city, but as the youth workforce development programs we work with three agencies, that is specifically out reach to the young people with the disabilities. and so we work with the jvs,

jewish vocational service and bridges which is a project of the marriott foundation and then we work with the north california hearing and speech and in total, the three agencies serve well over 400 young people, with self-identified disabilities, and so perhaps, maybe even more for the young people who did notify that they have a disability. and the types of services that we provide range from placement, eventual placement of a young person in the private sector position but a lot of times it is also about preparing a young person for different options and doing the assessments for that young person and to make sure that that young person understands what types of jobs are available to them. and the very unique program at bridges, is that they actually provide coaching for the employer. and to help the employer

understand, that the types of services and supports that young person would need. and so, we see a very high success rate, for a lot of these programs, because we have employers who understand and the young people who are ready, for that type of private sector placement. and so we are really proud of that and now having said all of that i think that we can do more and we can always do more and of course, i have been talking to director johnson over the past particularly the summer, but in the past several years about how do we out reach to more young people? how do we engage more young people with disabilities. in our services and in our programs? and we are really fortunate that this november we have the opportunity to reauthorize our department, through the children and family's first initiative and it is on the november ballot. and in continuing the funding for the department, but then, also extending the age range

that the departments can serve and so we can serve up to age 24, and as we know, young people with disabilities don't just magically become wonderful, and self-sufficient at age 18. and so in order for us to really really help these young people become sustainable adults with skills that will be successful in the workforce we want to be able to have jvs and the bridge programs and learning and speech and to be able to continue to serve these young people all the way into their 24. and then the city funds will be able to support them in that way. and so we do believe that that is a huge improvement for the system. we also, know that in partnership with our higher education system, we will be able to help the young people, particularly with disabilities link from public school system or the school district, into higher ed and which also is another indicator for success in the future workforce for our young people. and so we are already having

strategic conversations with city college and building partnerships and conversations with san francisco state and with the university of san francisco. and in trying to figure out how to create ate pathway from the public school to the higher ed and maybe just a post secondary program? and but how do we do it in a way that is going to be supportive for them? and so maybe i can end my piece here. and then open up for conversation. and then we can be able to answer some of your questions. >> thank you, again for coming today. to speak with us. and questions from the council members? >> i have got a couple. i work with the independent living resource center of san francisco and i have done some work, on the work groups, and through the itop, over at support for families as well as you know, personally meeting with you a while back and i was really happy with all of the different work that your position has done and in speaking to some of the

obstacles that you have come across over the years in trying to work with the agencies as well as in your own placing these youth, and disabilities into the position and employers and what are some of the things that you have come across and you are able to get over or get passed those or they are in place. >> thank you, chair. and i think that is a great question, because i think that it hits on a couple of things for us and, one is that there is a question embedded in thereof stigma, how do our cbos, support young people who will not tell them that they have or they need additional support, so that is one and then the second side is how do we support our cbos and the service providers to have more aware sxns greater capacity, and training in supporting young people with disabilities. >> there has to be a way for us

to tell all of the young people, everyone is unique, everyone is different we different differently and so it is okay and it is more than just saying that it is okay, we need to have the says temperature and policy and things in place, that will really insure a safe, supportive environment where the children can learn. and we are working closely with the officials and the administrators to create that and it is going to take a lot of work and i look forward to working with the council members to come up with different ideas, and strategies, on how we can do that. and i really do want to figure out how to do that. and on the other side in terms of developing our providers and providing the professional, and the professional development and capacity building for them, we are working with some consultants to provide the very technical expertise that is needed to work with young

people period. but then, young people with special needs. and so, we are going through a process in identifying consultants and the folks who can train our cbos to improve their quality of service and i would be more than happy to come back and share with the council what is the result of all of that and i do know that i lot of our cbos and well, the system in general struggles with the notion of what does it mean to place a young person? do you call that successful? if you train them is that successful? if you place them in a job is that success, if you place them in a job and they get fired from the job a week later, you know? i mean, that things like that, i think that we as a city have to have the conversations about and we need to have the moral

and ethical desire to support the kids from ato z, and so instead of just saying that we did it, good job. yeah right. >> and i look forward to working with the council on that. thank you. any questions for the staff? >> obviously i don't know how to use the mic. >> i have a comment, there is a difference between telling someone that they are okay and tolerance and acceptance and i think that is sort of the core of this issue, is the idea that if someone is different from you, you have to somehow placate that the other people that it is okay, and that sort of breeds tolerance, but that is different than being accepting, thank you for making that point. >> and i would just like it thank you for coming here today and we have heard from a lot of

speakers about the importance of opportunities to get the good jobs, and it really does start at the earliest age, and the internship program is so very important and it is something that we support whole heartedly and part of the discussions that we had earlier today was about the recent accommodations, and the abilities are able to and also how the employers and to be able to make that happen. and listening to all of your presentations, is it seems to me that that is really a good piece, and you know to include in those communications for both sides and to scale the building for the kids and to be able to speak up. and about what they need. as well as scale building on the part of the employers to listen and to know and how to piece these pieces of information from you, and so we

are very much committed to working with you, we are excited to think about the opportunity to bring in even more young people and with the disabilities into the internship program and we look forward to having a lot more conversations. >> i think that we have a question from wong. >> thank you for coming today and i think that miss su, is absolutely correct that the children do not turn wonderful when they were 18 or whatever, here is a sample of my daughter, she is 34 years old and it is a long process and it takes a lot of patience and so thank you for coming out.

>> >> that speaks to the programming that is available traditionally through the city college, and not for the non-traditional students and these are the free classs that don't cost and there are zero credit classes and there is talk about, you know, coming to the city college and the other schools that provide some of these community based, trainings, and you know, the daily living and, you know the soft skills and the life skills and you know, being threatened and where would you recommend, as far as the initiatives that the city should take, and i know that you recommended looking to identifying the certain consultant to work with the cbos what would you recommend for the city and moving forward and investing this? >> i think right now, the situation at city college is hopefully stabilizing and we are working closely with the city college to insure that we are keeping all of the good policy work that we have done

over the past three years particularly through our bridge to success initiative and which is the initiatives that we the city, received moneys from the gates foundation, to build, linkages between our school district and our higher ed institutions and so they can double the rate of graduation for our african americans and the latin o students and through that process, we are able to bring the counselors from the public schools, and from the city college together and so that they can actually have a conversation about what are the needs of these kids? how do we build the continuum of services from public high school, to city college? and from that, there is a lot of really great things, that came out of those conversations. like changes in the calendar, and the changes in how the city college counselors come on site to the public schools, and to then talk to kids. and but i dare say that is not enough, when you are talking about young people who have the

special needs and disabilities, you would need more targeted and strategic strategies, and to reach out to them, for both whether there are physical needs or mental health needs, and or other needs, or combination of needs, and you need to have partnerships with the non-profit agencis that really understand how to provide those services in a very sensitive way. and i also acknowledge that working with the youth people, you also have to work with the parents. and so it is about, reaching the young people and it is about working to understand that everyone in that young person's support system understands the strategy and the plan so that young person will be successful as they move forward. and i don't know anything, and i don't know what else to say, except we are working closely with the city college and we want to be sure that the city college is successful, because it is a very, you know, it is a very important institution for

our city. and we are looking to see, and to the city college and to the other institutions in the city to provide expertise in and support for us as we design a technical assistance, and professional development curriculum, for our non-profit agencies. >> thank you. >> chair? >> >> hi, director su, thank you so much and i understand that you have been running around all day. >> i know. >> and you unfortunately did not have the opportunity to hear from some of our community partners who spoke earlier just before your presentation, and the people like from tool works, and the arc and they all spoke about a project search, and which is an internship program, that places young people with developmental and all types of disabilities really, into an internship, at companies by a trial period,

where the employer themselves can get the education, around the reasonable accommodation and they person, and that they support, and comes ready with an understanding of what is needed to be successful in their position and i am wondering if instead of spending money on consultants, to train your particularly your youth organizations, and on those issues. why not have the expertise and the experience of those organizations, who do just that, and try to get project search, extended throughout our youth with disabilities program. and i think that it would be and i am sure that there will be something that they will welcome and an opportunity to work with them and to gain an entry in the internship structure in the city at least. >> thank you. >> that is a great, that is a great suggestion. we do work (inaudible) with the

arc and with the iosp and other programs but that is a great example. and i think that after dcyf, reauthorization and the children and the families first initiative, is reauthorized. and we would then have the opportunity to really think about the continuum of services that we will fund and provide. that will go up to age 24, which of course, the arc goes up to and i will definitely. >> and one of the presentations that we heard from the public comment is from the council of sciences who is having an internship program now and with the youth of disabilities and who will be playing more experience and work and incredible job skills that many people with disabilities would do wonderfully in, including it, for the youth with the autistic spectrum and there are wonderful endless opportunities

here and yet we as the potential internship sites and we ask specifically, for youth with the disabilities to replace in our office and so that we can help with the talking about the reasonable accommodations and the (inaudible) workforce and it is great to have a stream line of what is screened to the employees and the young interns with disabilities >> yes and we love to work with the (inaudible) academy and, they have been phenomenal partners with us and we have a direct grant for them for the explainer program and their workforce program, and we will be expanding and i will call ike right away and see if we can jump on that. >> and great suggestion, thank you. >> and thank you, for coming today. >> thank you so much for having me. >> moving on next, we are moving on to item 11, information item report from

the co-chair supanicr ch. >> yes, i believe that you know that i have a hobby about following the housing issues in the city. and with the folks with disabilities how they relate and the other people. and this tuesday evening i was in i went to hear the first of two public presentations on the mayor's office on housing and community developments five year plan. >> what was of some concern to me was that the format of the way that the information was delivered has changed and they no longer, and they were not giving the information about the specific groups of citizens, and what funding was going into which programs to benefit them and rather they presented over arching ideals and goals for the city as a

whole. and so i asked and i spoke to the possibility that that might result in some issues, and some populations being brushed to the sides. and it is always been specific call out to these groups. and now i have not read the 620-page report. and i don't know if this happens in the report, but the public presentation contained none of that information. and so i spoke to to the high rate of unemployment, under employment, under housed, and poverty populations of people with disabilities. and i got a very and a some what unsatisfactory response and although the people spoke up in defense of seniors and other groups, the different sections of the city, there was a good cross section in the audience and there were a lot of people very keen on this

report. and the second presentation will be this coming tuesday. at 1, south van ness avenue in the (inaudible) building and on the second floor and go up the escalator and there are signs that will point you to the right room from 6:00 to 8:00 in the evening. and i suggest that more of us show up next week to ask questions, and see that the needs of the disability communities are met in this report. >> in this plan. thank you. >> thank you, co-, chair. >> moving on to the next agenda item, 12, information item, report from the director of the mayor's office on disability. >> thank you, co-chairs and council members, i johnson and the director, and i am going to keep my report brief and we have a long and productive meeting. i wanted to really focus first

off on giving some updates about the election. you might recall that we normally have the department of elections come this time of year to provide an overview of opportunities, and i am doing that report for them. and so i want to remind everybody that election day is tuesday, november 4th, and which is very soon. and that if you are not already, registered you can still register to vote, right up until october 20th. and so we have three more days. there are a lot of really important initiatives that are on the ballot, of course, i can't possibly advocate for any of them, from this seat. but i do encourage you to talk to your friends, and read your voter pamphlets. because as you heard, our directors from dcys, speak just a few moments ago on the funding for her department is also up for election. and there is early voting, that is available here in the city hall and down in the basement

if you have never been there and it is fully accessible early voting and it is available monday through friday and except for october 13th, which is passed from 8:00 to 5:00 p.m. and it is also opened to october 25, 26, november 1, november 2, and from ten to 4:00, and all day on election day, november 4th, from 7:00 a.m., up until 8:00 p.m. >> and regarding our polling places, we have made a lot of progress over the years, and there are 576 polling places in san francisco. and of those 547 are fully accessible which is now a 95 percent approval rating. and if you don't know where your polling place is, it is identified on the back of your voter information pamphlet but you can also call an important

number, which is 415-554-4375. . that number is really important before the election, but it is also important on the day of the election. in case you run into any problems finding your polling place, or also, if you happen to run into any problems with your polling place, having the required accessibility feature and you want to be sure that you get that question answered and that service received as quickly as possible and i want to put our office out there as a resource too. but if you find that you are not able to vote on election day, because there is some problem with your polling place or the equipment, you can either call in 554-4375 number, or you can call the mayor's office on disability, at 554-6789. because they actually give us the cell phone numbers of the

people who monitor these places. and about accessible voting there is both touch screen and audio voting at our polling place and we have been there since 2008 and the touch screen voting is available in multiple languages, english, chinese and spanish, and in the audio ballots are also available, and they are trained and looking for the poll workers if you are interested in participating if you do get paid to be a poll worker and it is a very long day, but it is a great worth while day. in addition to the accessible voting machines there should be accessible materials, at all of those polling places which includes large print and instructions, and mag fiyers and pen grips and accessible booths and if you happen to be in that five percent range of

polling places that are not accessible, and you can always ask at any polling place, for curb side assistance to have them come out and take it and provide you with assistance and it is two that are permitted to help and i am going to close, again with that number. if you need help, going, it is 554-4375. and i want to just draw attention to today october 17, as being the 25th anniversary of the (inaudible) earthquake, and remind everybody that our beautiful city hall here, was one of those buildings that was incredibly heavily damaged during that earthquake. and that there have been numerous city initiative to do seismic retrofits throughout and this building was one example of that.

we invested hundreds of millions of dollars in this for elcome to the meeting of safety, and disaster preparedness that we are also investing in the accessibility of our critical infrastructure. every year, on this date, it is always a good reminder to update your plans, and make sure that your friends have your phone numbers and make sure that you have your prescriptions written down. and make sure that you have the few extra of those pills. and this is your time to revisit your kits and your plans and your friends and your relationships. and our new mod web page has a disaster preparedness button down on the first home page. and i encourage you to go there to look at some of your resources and also,