entry point will be to connect the ability to opportunity and thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you guys so much. >> questions? from the council members? >> we can start with co-chair supanich. >> this question is actually for the woman sited behind mark, you mentioned the ticket to work program and i am not completely familiar with that, could we get the information sent to our council clerk? >> sure. >> thank you. >> and i just have one quick question for the last speaker regarding internships. what is your name. >> vira. >> and so my question to you is when you started these internship programs was there a model that you were going off of? or in a way did you just kind of from the ground up. >> had is the project search model that started 20 years ago out of children's hospital of cincinnati and so supervisor

mar mentioned the alameda county, that they have, and it has been about 9 years since they started terry from the arc has the pg&e. >> and as far as it being a model as far as replicating for the city level, you know, as far as the way that it incorporated and the way that increased the employment and do you feel that is a good model to go off of? >> i think that it is a great model to go off of and it is an entry point and you you know the people we talked about the fear that hesitantcy about employing the people with disabilities because a lot of people don't have the experience of working with the people with disabilities it is a great model because the interns get to try the city out and the city gets to try the interns out and thes a win/win. >> the city gets to see folks in the work environment before they make that hire and so it is an opportunity to educate the department heads to share that knowledge with other department heads to come to see the intern that i have and also gives an opportunity for the city to assess the folks that

are actually interning who might be applying for that 115, rule, position. >> great, and thank you very much. >> and comments to the questions from the staff? >> no, thank you so much. >> we will go ahead to jessy lorenz the executive director of independent living resource center of san francisco. >> thank you. >> carla, could you show anywhere the mic is please, thank you. >> jessy lorenz, independent living resource center san francisco, thank you so much council members for taking up this very, very important issue. the independent living resource center of san francisco is funded in large part through a partners with the department of

rehabilitation. and the department of rehabilitation is in the business of trying to get people jobs and the independent resource center of san francisco we are in the business of working with those people to insure that those jobs are accessible and that the people have skills to fill those jobs. and i want to react to a couple of things that i heard today because i am excited and inspired and i think that you all should think about a becon award for what is going on in the library and i don't know if marti is still here. >> it is an amazing example of what city departments should be striving for. and but in addition to that, as i am sitting in the audience through the hearing, i heard a lot of comments under the people's breath about the anxiety about this process and i think that we all need to be honest about where we are talking about a very large people who as a society we have

systematically devalued for centuries. and think about how we talk about people with disabilities. we say, oh, mary went out on disability, and as though mary never intended to come back. and think about how we talk about people as they age and, they are going to be a lot more people who are older, and then insist on being part of the workforce and we say that we retired. but, in fact if you look at population trends, retired adult and americans and many who will have physical limitations those folks are going to be part of the workforce of the future. and so when you are thinking about the disability, and i will encourage you not to try to put the people in boxes. and because, the box that you put me in is the same box that you may be in tomorrow. and if we really looking at creating the workforce that represents all of our communities, and we need to start, from the premise that all of our citizens are valuable and all of our citizens have something to contribute. and at the independent living resource centers in san

francisco, we strive to eliminate buyers and president and to help the people with disabilities think of what they have and what they bring to the table is valuable. and we see value in all of our communities members and some of the services that we provide, related to employing individuals with disabilities include, intensive benefits counciling and like i said before, going out on disability and sometimes that step of going back to work and needing to figure out how to negotiate your benefit system, and it can be a barrier for people and we provide internships and counseling and we are eager to help the city of san francisco continue their effort to meaningful employ the people with disabilities, and then lastly. i just have to put in a plug for tool works, my agency recently moved and we were in

the market for janitorial services and now we are using tool works and i am literally getting people saying that our place is beautiful and clean and so, go to tool works and they practice what they preach, so thank you so much. >> thank you, miss lorenz, are there any comments or questions from the council members? >> i hope not. >> seeing none. >> enough time for me to start being shy. >> and seeing none, any questions or comments from the staff? >> okay. and thank you. >> thank you very much. >> okay, next on the agenda is moving quickly before we get to information item 9, our with a presentation by maria su, we will want to go over some public comments. >> and employment issues.

and first up, we have lea, vanderm a? hi, good afternoon, and emily, and i am with the california academy of sciences and i manage the public floor and i am a member of the (inaudible) and the serve as the ada coordinator for the academy and in the spare time and you know the academy is committed to the practice and we are a honored to be a part of the discussion today and a lot of people have touched on internship and employment programs but at the academy in the last five years we have hired five individuals with disabilities in my department alone and it is the wonderful partnership of the arc of san francisco and they are a guiding force to us and in the summer we started a internship, with access sfd, and that serves youth, 18 to 22 and currently we are in talks

with the arc about starting in january, and so we are not only looking at job placement we are looking at job development. and a lot of people have talked about kind of the anxiety and the hesitantcy of the internship being the stepping stone into the job placement and we also see it as setting up the employees for success. and our current interns that i was working with them today. and they are so much more ready for the next step and for the job because they have actually had an opportunity to do the job and it is not just about us getting them a job it is do they want to have this job, it needs to be a good fit for them. and so any way, i am drinking the cool-aid like everyone else here, but ates wonderful opportunity and it is exciting to see these discussions happening, thank you. >> thank you. and i forgot to mention for those who wants to give the comment public, fill out a comment card at the front. >> next up we have marla mcdunal from the golden gate

regional center. >> i also want to say thank you to everybody for your efforts and for particularly, highlighting this issue now. and most of you probably know, that employment for folks with disabilities, is a huge issue for this state. and there of course we did pass the employment first law. and that in february and it is also a huge issue for the feds the department of justice is coming in to some states, and compelling them to follow, you know, their, the time line that they set in the process that they set to include people. in a more comprehensive way, and we have a lot of, and we really truly have a lot of great ideas and, a lot of great resources here, and in san francisco, across the state, across the country, that we could benefit from. and we need to really get together and we need the

commitment and we need the leadership to make this stuff happen. and we are so fortunate to be in san francisco, and i am so..., but i also want to just mention that one of the other wonderful things about san francisco is what we have been able to accomplish in all areas of civil rights. like, in san francisco. and why are we not dealing with the disability in the same way and we should have a parade. and why not? right? >> let me see. heather is the program in seattle and she is the person who went in by herself, and developed her process and has gotten people in and now works

for the human resources department in seattle. and she is, we are in touch and she is coming down to san francisco for at holidays. and so it will be great to make some connections. she has done some really exciting stuff, and i certainly don't want to speak for her and i hope that she has a chance to speak for herself with you folks, again, thank you so much to everyone. >> thank you. >> next, we have ann stiener with the sf committee for employment with persons with disabilities. >> good afternoon, everyone. and thank you. i gosh, i have been working in disability employment primarily here in the bay area for more than 35 years, and i am currently because of a family matter, hopefully just temporarily retired and however, i am still an officer,

and i am first vice chair of the san francisco mayor's committee on the employment with persons with disability and i also have a special connection with san francisco and with your rule 115 program. and in 1981 or 82, i was working for the human resources designing and implementing a grant funded special hiring program for people with disabilities and we had gotten a grant from the state personnel board to do that and i got a call from my former colleagues at the former at the time, colleagues, at the san francisco mayor's committee, and saying that they were having a very, very hard time getting rule 34, passed and getting the attention and getting the consideration of the board of supervisors. they asked me, since i had had the experience, doing it, and a similar program, and then they knew who i was, they asked if i would please come up and go to a subcommittee meeting.

the day the evening that i was standing in front of supervisor (inaudible) and to talk about the effort and to endorse and encourage the adoption that took several years as you realize now to get rule 34 going, the first thing that he said to me with a stern voice was, tell me miss stiener, how this is not a special preferences program. everything else kind of fell from there. that is one of the main reasons why we are looking at entry levels positions only and that is also one of the problems with one of these special hiring program it in some people's minds reinforces that is all that the people with disabilities can do which is not so good. and also, not all people with disabilities feel comfortable being out in the workplace as a person with a disability. and the people do not want to be identified that way. we, the san francisco mayor's

committee in the process of planning our fifth annual employment networking and recruitment event and a successful invitational event for the community agencies and the employees that participate with us. does that mean that my time is 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