former manila town and the former international hotel and i want to thank and congratulate all of you for that. my honoree is someone who is part of the amazing leadership of nonprofit organizations that we have in san francisco. amor santiago received a master in public health at san jose state. he has been teaching health care organization and administration for 14 years, has served as the senior fellow of the american leadership forum, and he has served in critical health leadership roles throughout his career. as the founding executive director of [speaker not understood] of santa clara county, ceo for asian with community involvement, the executive director of the india community center, the director of the healthy living initiative, and director of healthy silicon valley. but many of us we know amor not just as a great guy and an amazing mentor, father and friend, but as the current executive director of apa family support services.

this is an organization that promotes healthy children and families by providing services to prevent child abuse, domestic violence and ensuring that our families are safe. and i can certainly tell you, colleagues, and i think many of you know amor's work. he has been able to impact hundreds of families and children in ensuring that the city of st. francis really takes care of her own. with that in celebration of filipino history month i want to thank amor and i see that supervisor cohen would like to add a few words. amor on behalf of our constituents in district 3 and many districts around the city i want to thank you for everything you're doing. supervisor cohen. >> thank you for allowing me a moment just to also lift up and honor amor sanity whition owe. ~ santiago. you've been incredible to the valley since you stepped n. i think your leadership transcends any kind of ethnic boundaries, any kind of class boundaries. you have a good heart. you have a wonderful nature about you that really connects

with many people. so, on behalf of the visitacion valley community i want to say thank you and also acknowledge your outstanding leadership. thank you. (applause) >> thank you very much, supervisor chiu, and those kind words, supervisor cohen, and all the supervisors. i actually got my start here in san francisco as a college of podiatric medicine when dianne feinstein was mayor. i came back in the '90s to serve on the filipino task force on aids when aids was disparately affecting gay filipinos. blat five years i've been here and it's been a privilege to be part of the community and to serve. thank you for honoring me this way and i'm just, yeah, very honored when i see those that are honored including my fraternity brother al perez from san jose state. so, again, it's been a great privilege. i hope to continue to honor the

community and your trust in us and our work in nonprofit in serving the broader community. thank you so much. (applause) (applause) >> now up in the batting order, supervisor farrell. >> thank you, president chiu. i believe my honoree is still running in the building, if you will. if we could skip over. >> sure, thanks. slide to district 1, supervisor mar. >> thank you.

to all the honorees, we're really lucky to have such an amazing array of different types of leaders from the filipino community. the choice for the richmond district today is i think one of the most inspiring and creative people that helps to build our movements with his messages of hope and struggle. i wanted to say the legacy theme, i'd say that tony robles, if tony can come forward. [cheering and applauding] >> understand why i'm saying this. there is a mural at san francisco state that the league of filipino students and filipino activists created and artists. it shows the struggle in the philippines and the connection to the u.s., people struggles and it says, we stand on their shoulders. i know when generations look back they'll think of tony as a

person that they're standing on his shoulders, very, very nurturing person for young people. i have this book that tony wrote, message to my daughter. it's one of tony's two books but he's got another one coming out soon. it's called [speaker not understood] hotel. but i know his work with young people, seniors and so many others in our communities, is not just your normal type of organizer. he's a real empowerer of the people. and i'll just create that word, empowerer of the people because i think it's a belief that the people should speak for they have selves and he's giving them inspiration, courage and skills to lead struggles and we need them to lead our future struggles. ~ themselves so, our 2014 filipino-american history month honoree from district 1 is tony robles. he's a long-time richmond district resident, though he no longer lives in the richmond. tony was born and raised in san francisco. he went to peabody, george

peabody school [speaker not understood] in the richmond, roosevelt and washington high in the richmond and city college as well. he's a poet and eviction fighter, a nephew, a son, an organizer and former richmond district resident. he's also -- after he finished his education he went on to become the board president of our manila town heritage foundation that's in the spot, the former hole in the ground aye hotel, manila town [speaker not understood]. he's the editor of poor magazine. and i see how he inspires a multi-racial group of young people to be revolutionaries and fighters for their communities and for self-determination everywhere. and he's the author of two children's books, walk us [speaker not understood] fish and [speaker not understood] hotel, and be on the look out for his upcoming book of poems and essays, cool don't live here no more, and it's going to be released in the spring of 2015.

tony's blog, tony robles word press.com has a number of poems that he's written. from the challenge from alejandro [speaker not understood] poet laureate we should bring poets into this dome every board meeting, i wanted to readth one of had i, one of my favorite poems from tony's list of poetry ~ and this one is benito's drum for eviction fighter and [speaker not understood] who ha had a lot of the antieviction struggles and is such a great inspiration to many of us. tony's poem beknit owe's drum, do you hear that sound, the sound of skin from benito's drum is the sound of resistance to eviction. the skin of beknit owe's drum is the skin of [speaker not understood] fillmore black elders, filipino [speaker not understood], and lolos and lolas [speaker not understood].

the skin of manila town, the skin of [speaker not understood] filipino struggle, the skin of aye hotel, the skin of poets who wrote on the walls of their minds. hell no we won't go. benito's drum is the beat of struggle from the heart of struggle from the mind, of struggle. the drum bone beat of his hands carry the dirt poems of the aye hotel rising out of the ground. benito's drum skin drum beat life a wakes the city from its sleep. it wakes the elders, the children, the workers, the forgotten. benito's drum is awaking the city ~ with the city of his aye hotel heart. (applause) >> that's tony robles' poem. tony is a true revolutionary, worker scholar who always maintains a humble level head, even in the most crisis

oriented situations, even when fighting for the people in the most charged issues like housing justice, and the fight against displacement and gentrification in san francisco creatively tony writes poetry and stories that inspire hope and struggle of our communities. i'm proud to honor him today. i think he uses his mind, his heart, his hands creatively and lovingly to inspire filipino community members but also all of us. and i wanted to say again that i believe he's an empowerer of those that need to lead our struggles and for me as a member of this board of supervisors and our whole body, it's my honor to recognize brother tony robles as our honoree from district 1. tony? [cheering and applauding] >> thank you very much, supervisor mar. and to think that i thought you

were going to take me out to joe's ice cream. [laughter] >> i didn't expect this. let me just say for the record, if not for a poet by the name of al robles, you would be saying tony who because that was a real organizer, a real man. i don't consider myself to be a great organizer, not even a good one, but i'm a poet like my uncle was. just a poet, just a dreamer. filipino-american history month is observed in october. it commemorates filipinos landing in morrow bay, part of san luis obispo, manila trade that started in 1865 and lasted until about 1815. 250 years of transferring, 200 to 300 filipinos each time, okay. many jumped ship. 101 people in contrast came over on the mayflower. now, by the time the mayflower got here in 16 20, there were

over a thousand filipinos here on the west coast. we've been here, we have a rich and a very rich and powerful history here. and i got that information not from my own head, but from filipino scholar oscar [speaker not understood]. i want to say we got the world series happening. i tell you, the world san francisco giants, i've got to tell you, those kids out on the mission playground standing up and standing and holding their ground. (applause) >> those are the real san francisco giants. i'll tell you some other giants. the kids who are at west bay, the way they comport themselves, the way they behave with such class and the way they behave around their elders, those are the real san francisco giants. i take my hat off to them. those are the real san francisco giants. my work in the housing organizing is inspired by manila town. it's inspired by my uncle al. i work with senior and

disability action. i'm the president of the board of manila found heritage foundation. what i've seen in san francisco, it breaks my hardththv. i'll be honest with you. the eviction crisis that we're in, being born and raised here, it's heart breaking, you know. it really is. i go back five generations here in san francisco, man, and to see, to see what's happened to my city, you know, to see the poetry and the art disappear from our city, how are we going to have a city without poetry? how are we going to have it without art? but i'm hopeful that we have kid like those in the mission playground that stood their ground and said, no, we ain't gonna move. we have a right to be here. we dee he serve to be here. this is our home, this is our -- this is our community. this is our community.

~ deserve we're not going to be bought out from our community. you can see my t-shirt i have here, you see my t-shirt? (applause) >> excuse me -- >> you ain't buying your way out of this one. but anyway, i want to -- i just want to thank you once again for honoring not only me and my work, but honoring my uncle and my family. i want to introduce somebody really important in my life, my best friend james whitten, went to college together, city college together, known each other 30 years. my mom, i think she's watching from north carolina. i love you, mom. and my wife from poor magazine, thank you. [cheering and applauding]

>> thank you, supervisor mar. (applause) >> i understand our district 2 honoree is here, supervisor farrell. >> thank you, president chiu, and thank you, colleague, for -- supervisor mar, for going and jumping ahead once my monday rewas running into the building literally. so, want to bring up al perez. colleague, today -- a round of applause for mr. perez here. (applause) >> colleague, today i have the pleasure of honoring commissioner al perez who was a pointed by then gavin newsom to be [speaker not understood]. an amazing part of that group that works with all of our offices so well. i think to me what stands out about al is his commitment to the community in general here in san francisco. al is so active in so many

volunteer activities in our neighborhoods. he currently serves as president of the filipino-american arts expo significance where he lead a core staff and army of volunteers planning and executing the annual pistan parade and festival they celebrate each year which is one of the largest expressions of the filipino community outside of the philippines. also volunteers with two teams very close to all of our dear hearts. not only soon to be san francisco warriors but also the san francisco giants. filipino cultural and heritage nights at our ball parks and our arenas. he also works to organize those nights with the oakland raiders and athletics for that we forgive you here in san francisco, al. al serves in a number of other organizations at the asian street heritage celebration, the san francisco be free campaign and the filipino women's network. for all the outstanding work over the years he's also received presidential citations from former presidents of the philippines.

he's an amazing leader. someone we've all gone to work with in the role of the entertainment commission now. i want it thank you for all of your service to the city, to the filipino community and congratulations on this award. (applause) >> thank you so much, supervisor mark farrell for this honor, i'm really touched and really honored to be here. i share this award with over 200 volunteers and staff of the filipino-american arts expo significance, faae is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization. our mission is simple, to promote the best of the filipino-american art, culture, history and community, to foster cultural pride and economic empowerment. thank you for recognizing my work and our work as a group. it's really appreciated and this motivates me to keep moving forward, so, thank you. (applause)

>> thank you, supervisor farrell. why don't we now go to district 11, supervisor avalos. supervisor avalos? [laughter] >> thank you. i have actually two commendations to do, one for the filipino community center and after that for pat,

[speaker not understood]. first i'll do the filipino community center and would like to call up terry [speaker not understood] who is the director at the center. [cheering and applauding] >> [speaker not understood] organizing the filipino community center, the fcc, was established in 2004 by community organizers who were responding to the mass layoff of filipino airport screeners and other immigrant workers in the post-911 hysteria and to address the great unmet needs to services to the filipino community. from a church based on san juan to now being located in the heart of excelsior across from the [speaker not understood] triangle fcc has grown its services from employment and legal support, domestic violence prevention, [speaker not understood], language access, and immigrant and worker rights. it continues to thrive based on

three core strategies. it was founded upon organizing, advocacy, and service. in the last ten years the fcc has achieved major victories with the neighborhood. city and filipino community ~. working with and organizing neighborhood youth, the fcc helped to get a new stop light on all man i and san juan after a young student, stacey cross was killed at the intersection. alemany ~ [speaker not understood]. in just the past few years the fcc's worker rights program in collaboration with the office of labor standards enforcement has helped win over $1 million in back wages from filipino caregivers -- four of them, i'm sorry, four filipino caregiver, which is a significant event. and what's really great about the work that the filipino community center does on wage

theft is that there are volunteers who actually do a lot of the work and really connect with the workers and make sure that they know what their rights are, what their services are. it makes the filipino community center really stand out. and just this year the fcc was instrumental in the timely certification of filipino [speaker not understood] to be required to be provided for city services. lastly, the fcc has help build grassroots leadership in the neighborhood and multi-racial solidarity with various organizations in district 11 to fight for affordable housing in the upper yard site, at the balboa park station, city investment, in workforce and economic programs, and more for youth, family, and senior services in the district. terry ballan is here as a representative from the filipino community center. if you would like to share a few words and i want to thank you personally for your great

work leading this organization of many, many leaders, many staff, but many more volunteers who really are the glue to the filipino community in san francisco. >> thank you, supervisor avalos, and thank you to all the board members for honoring the filipino-american history month. the work of the fcc over the last ten years, i've been at this for ten years now and it's an honor to serve as the director there and to celebrate all of these achievements and victories. but i want to call up all of the friends and family to stand here with me because they're not honoring me today, they're honoring the work of the fcc and is the work as you mentioned volunteers, grassroots partners [speaker not understood] to advance the leadership of youth, [speaker not understood], san francisco committee for human rights in the philippines. we're part of as you mentioned multi-racial collaboratives on domestic violence, domestic rights, partnership rights. [speaker not understood] chris at the asian law caucus, tony manila town, all the partners.

we're especially honored to also be co-honored with [speaker not understood] educational partnership in your district. thank you for hosting us in your district. we look forward to another ten several years down the road. we're celebrating our ten-year anniversary with the [speaker not understood] february 7. [speaker not understood] and we are as you all mention building on that legacy standing on the shoulders of the giants that come before us for housing rights, immigrant rights, workers rights. and we're just honored to be part of this community and building a stronger san francisco. so, thank you. (applause)

>> thank you, supervisor avalos. going from district 11 down to -- >> i still have one other to do. thank you. i apologize for not sharing that information with you earlier. so, i also want to recognize a great program that has its roots in district 11. it has previously made its home in the filipino community center, but has grown to be at every level a public education in san francisco. pep. so, [speaker not understood] education partnership program what established in 2001 to respond to the social, academic and emotional challenges faced by filipino-american youth in san francisco schools. pep is an ethnic studies educational [speaker not understood] that creates partnerships and projects that work toward social justice. they provide classes at long fellow elementary school, [speaker not understood] middle school, balboa and burden high school, city college of san

francisco, san francisco state, and the university of san francisco. every year pep sends hundreds of students to college, graduate school, and credential programs. pep is proud to have produced hundreds of critical teachers, scholars, social workers, organizers, all of which are serving our communities and social justice organizations in teaching in schools, and colleges across the nation. pep has published numerous book with lesson plans, units and workshops that highlight the marriage between critical filipino, filipino-american studies content and the practice of critical pedagogical i. pep has also worked with community organization and educators to institutionalize ethnic studies in high schools and the san francisco -- in the san francisco unified school district ~. the founder, dr. alison [speaker not understood] who is a long-time district 11 resident could not be here today, but two of the

co-directors, dr. allene and [speaker not understood] are here to accept this recognition. thank you for being here. do you want to share any words with you? ~ with us? thank you. (applause) >> i just wanted to thank supervisor avalos, the board. also want to thank bernadette sy, [speaker not understood], also thank [speaker not understood]. we wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for her hard work, for her to learn ethnic studies at kindergarten and first grade -- (applause) >> and it's something that needs to be defended and protected every day because ethnic studies is something that's always going to be a challenge and it's been 40 years since it's been institutionalized and something that needs to be there every day. people shouldn't wait till they get to college to learn about their own debt it. ~ identity. so, thank you again. (applause)

>> thank you, supervisor avalos. now on to district 10, supervisor cohen. >> thank you very much. to all of the award recipients in the chamber today, congratulations. thank you for making this city just a little bit more bearable. i have the pleasure to acknowledge a gentleman by the name of august stow de la cruz. he's not able to be here with us today. he has a woman by the name of [speaker not understood] who is

going to accept the award on his behalf. towed i'd like to honor tito because he was a small minority family owned business in the visitacion valley community. it's called royal pacific mortgage and realty. they've been in the neighborhood since 1992 and have remained a strong and long-standing business on the leland avenue corridor. tito made an investment visitacion valley 22 years ago by opening his business here and he has employed 11 people from the neighborhood. tito runs more than just a business. if you ever stop by royal pacific you'll also know that it served as a hub and community active [speaker not understood] for many filipino-american residents in the valley which makeup nearly 12% of the population in the neighborhood. in a neighborhood like visitacion valley where everyone seems to know each other, having this type of relationship with the community is incredibly important. tito and had i team have a strong pulse for what's happening in the [speaker not understood] community in the

southeast and have always been willing to open up their door and work with my office on outreach to education to cultural exchange within the filipino-american community. congratulations, congratulations on being such a strong community and business partner to us in visitacion valley and more over to district 10. thank you. maybe you'd like to say a couple word. welcome. >> [speaker not understood] on behalf of [speaker not understood] i would like to take this opportunity to thank you also. i would like to also inform you that there are some filipino in [speaker not understood] that need your help. [speaker not understood] and we on leland we are not so [speaker not understood]. on behalf of tito de la cruz, i would like to thank everybody. thank you. >> absolutely, thank you. (applause)

>> thank you, supervisor cohen. let's go to district 9, supervisor campos. >> thank you, mr. president. what an incredible group of individuals that are being recognized today, and thank you to the entire filipino community for all the contributions they have made to san francisco and our entire state and country. it is my honor to call upon [speaker not understood]. [cheering and applauding] >> and i would ask, i would ask actually -- i know we have a number of folks who are here. if you could please come up, i'm sure [speaker not understood] would love to have you right behind her.

>> [speaker not understood] -- >> so, it is my honor today, an honor of filipino heritage month, ~ to recognize the incredible, incredible contributions of iled quihano [speaker not understood]. the director of community engagement and bernal heights [speaker not understood]. she is a long-time youth and public safety advocate in district 9. let me tell you a little bit about her story. after imi grating, she grew up in district heights and the excelsior. it was in these neighborhoods