a lunch eon an american woman age 18 18 to 24 is at the highest risk of sexual victimization compared to woman of other age groups. if you do not attend college a woman is more likely to be assaulted than if she does attend college. 80 80 percent go unreported and colleges universities reported over 5000 to the department of education and yet not a single investigation in the last 5 years and only ten to 25 percent of students found responsible not accused but actually found responsible were actually kicked off campus. it

is un undeniable that we need to do more. here in san francisco our office has been working with senator gilabrand to brainstorm what we can do here locally and we've learned that san francisco is at the forefront of survivor centered approach in which survivor's take priority and campuses such as u.s. f are considered role models yet when we talk to students they still feel with even our model approaches we can do more to encourage more women to come out and report and i'm kicking off a series of

actions by introducing a resolution today. last year a bipartisan group of senators introduced this legislation aiming to turn the tied on how sexual assaults on college campuses are handled and the legislation failed to pass and the bill has been reintroduced this past month. we can't wait any longer and we can not allow sexual assaults to simply be an accepted part of our higher education experience. students will have a place to confidentially access and work with advisors to have training and. i asked for my

colleague's support and i thank the courageous survivors and you can witness some some of the amazing advocates yourself. >> and i also want to recognize supervisor tang a cosponsor of this resolution and the rest i submit. >> thank you supervisor kim so now it is time for our 3:00 p.m. special order so we are going to abandon roll call temporarily in order to honor some pretty amazing women in our city today i'm extremely pleased to welcome you all to the san francisco board of supervisors chamber for our women's history month celebration which is a time to

recognize the efforts of some amazing women in our city's history. women in our communities who are courageous leaders since 1996 the san francisco commission and department on the status of women has recognized the vital role and contributions of woman in our communities so at this time before we begin to recognize some of the amazing women that are here in the audience today, i want to acknowledge emily the executive director welcome to the board of supervisor's chamber. thank you president breed i'm very pleased to be here for women's history month we're here to celebrate and recognize women in our communities working to improve the lives of all san

francisco i san franciscans. it is the 11th consecutive year . the national theme this year is weaving the stories of the women's lives. before we begin i just wanted to share with the board some very exciting news. as you all know san francisco was the first city in the world enacting a local ordinance for all forms of discrimination against best of my women and this was made possible by san francisco bay area woman who attended the 4th u.n. conference on women in bejing in 1995 and believe it or not this is the

20th anniversary of the conference where hillary clinton famously stated women's rights are human rights. mayor lee helped to launch the campaign together with the first lady last march and charge last march challenged 100 other u.s. cities to join in the campaign. we'll be in new york next week for the status of women meetings and you will hear more about this campaign in the lead up to the u.s. conference of mayor's conference that's going to be held in june that mayor lee is hosting. yesterday they honored 4 truly amazing women.

you will hear more about these women at a reception immediately following the board of supervisor's presentation so after this ceremony we invite everyone to the reception at at the mayor's conference room where the district attorney will recognize his honoree wendy still who will be retiring in just a few weeks. now i'll return the proceedings back to president breed so you can introduce your honor ees. ees. >> thank you very much. if there are any other members here that can not find a seat there's an over flow room. i'd like to make sure you stay within the chambers so you are in close proximity of the board

so at this time i will let the members of the board of the board know that we're going to be going in reverse role call order but i know that the supervisor needs to go first so we're going to start about to start with you and we're going in reverse order today at the board chambers thank you. >> thank you president breed and there's a good reason for having to go first and i have the great honor to celebrate the stories of women's lives and women's history month and as we recognize those who work not only to advance women's rights here in our city and you know through their actions, but today i get to honor someone who has an incredible role not only as an incredible woman in our city but someone who is

educating women in our city so i'd ask you to come to the podium. >> she is the head of the school for girls here in san francisco one of the schools that i've known my entire life and i have many friends who send their children there right now. as i mentioned before, i have never met anyone inside of san francisco who every time i mentioned their name, everyone says isn't she awesome gosh she's the best i can't wait i want my kids to go to school there. just to give you a bit of background on wand a she received her bachelor's and master's from colombia university and was a former

trustee of concord academy. she has been an educator for over 20 years began began in 1990 by teaching third grade in new york and became the the first dean of students and moved to boston and assistant during her 11 years there and now the head of the school for hamlin and we have such amazing teachers but also we have a number of schools that are also part of our same sex education here in san francisco where i grew up and wand a you do such an amazing job educating the next generation of san

francisco women so i want to thank you for all of your hard work it's an honor to have you work. i just want to thank you for being such an amazing person here in our city so congratulations. >> thank you so much. [applause] thank you thank you to supervisor farrell and to everyone assembled here. it's such a joy to wake up in the morning every day and to know what my purpose is here in life and it's a privilege to be able to bring your great joy to the world aedz to the world's great hunger so my joy in life is married to the great hunger in life and for great schools and i'm thrilled to do my part not just in district 2 but in this entire wonderful city thank you very much for this

honor and it's such an honor. thank you. [applause]. >> okay at this time congratulations. we'll recognize supervisor supervisor cohen from district ten. >> thank you very much madam president good afternoon everyone. good afternoon. i want to just take a moment first of all to publicly acknowledge and thank dr.

marase and give public voice to the entire department they are doing great work and not only do we have an opportunity to celebrate and honor women this month but the work is being done day in and day out without celebration and often times without notice so my applause to you and your staff you are doing a fantastic job. thank you very much for that. also want to take a moment and recognize all of of the honorees this afternoon congratulations to you. there are a few that i haven't had an opportunity to work with but look forward to working with you and today we want to recognize recognize and come to celebrate a woman named

kimberly ellis right over here she deserves a standing round of applause this woman is actually the executive director for an organization that educates and trains democratic women to run for public office called emerge california and every single day this woman is honoring the mission of the organization by educating and training women to run for office and shaping the policies and commissions and bodies that have an an affect not only here in california but shaping the face of politics across the entire country by way of background she has been the executive director since 20 20 ten and under her leadership emerge california has greatly expanded its reach, it's effectiveness as well as its visibility and she's not only

educating and training women for commissions but she's also serving on one. she was appointed in 2009 to serve on the community development commission in the city of richmond kal california and it's important to know she is also a wife and mother as well as a caregiver to to a dog a turtle and a goldfish and holds a ba in english and ladies and gentlemen please honor this woman. her name is supervisor supervisor kim berly ellis. >> [applause] i have to add my $0.02 i don't think supervisor cohen you could have picked a better honoree she is a no nonsense no holds barred when it comes to supporting and encouraging and uplifting women

she has been at the forefront of the cause and i just want to say i appreciate all of the work that you consistently do to support women in political office especially because often times we hear the stories of discouragement of well maybe it's not your time or maybe you should do this or that and k imberly is like no you should run for office if you feel you should be in a leadership position go for it and i want to thank you for your encouragement and your continued support of women all over the bay area and i know emerge has expanded its reach throughout the united states and you have been instrumental in that so thank you kim berly for being a really phenomenonal woman. >> [applause] thank you for this honor. i am deeply grateful and humbled and thank you to the department on the status of women for organizing

this celebration and congratulations to my fellow honorees and as i started to think about the significance of this award women's history month and the day and times that we find ourselves in i started to reflect on what it means to me and for for me it's a time to reflect on the past is on the past struggles that women have overcome and to appreciate the immense contributions that women have made and for for me it's a time to personally recommitment myself to the ongoing struggles for true freedoms and equality for women everywhere and for those of you, yes, the struggle is real and continues because even though women make up the majority of the workforce in the in the united states when compared to their male counter parts white woman make 7$0.00

on the dollar if you are a latino that's about $0.52. the united states is one of only 4 countries in the world without paid maternity leave the struggle continues because even though women control 90 percent of the household spending, we are still only 4 percent of fortune 500 ceo's and the struggle continues even though women are the majority in our country and even though women, female congress members bring home an average of 49 million more dollars into their districts as do their male counter parts, we're still only 18 percent of congress even though women were granted the right to self-determination a long time ago there were 468

bills introduced in state legislatures restricting women's health and access to reproductive rights. shockingly there are zero bills restricting a man's right it's still a struggle to gain the respect the dignity and the wage that we merit and deserve until women have the same rights as men in the political social and economic spheres the struggle will continue and i'm privileged to be grooming an army of strong principaled women leaders running for office getting elected and fighting to create a more fair and fair society for all and happy history month to all

[applause]. >>. >> congratulations. at this time i will recognize supervisor christensen from district 3. >> thank you president breed. i'm grateful to her for shepharding us through this every year and the special warmth i felt from my female colleagues on the on the board it's like i'm surrounded by

women who have done so much for the city and for other women around them so i'm delighted in my first term as supervisor to be paying it forward to a particularly remarkable woman. i see you have your plan back there. i know rita. she serves as the director of of the chinese newcomer center center. the center is a one stop information and referral agency meeting the needs of non english speaking families newly arrived in san francisco and provides job readiness workshops and interview preparation and social etiquette and resume

writing and more more and partnered with communities and merchants on the chinatown clean program helping to keep stockton street alleyways clean and in her role as executive director for the chinese newcomer service center brings employers and job seekers together and helped file over 2000 tax returns and recover over 2 $2 million in payments for its members. the center helps to feed more than 5000 people through its food distribution program before this rita had a full career she received her law degree from the university of san francisco school of law and for for 15

years represented low income individuals in personal injure and immigration and other civil matters working to to obtain settlements for the little guy and worked for the san mateo superior court. the program was later replicated by then assembly woman jacki spear and over the span of her career rita has assisted thousands of litigants in navigating the family court process for over 10 years worked as a senior attorney with the judicial council for california developing statewide court policy family court standards

procedures rules forms training of q and a a public injury and self-help quick reference materials and her service to others has spilled over to her free time including co-chair of the chinese for affirmative action and friends of china camp state parks and others. as busy as she is she still finds time for her family raising 3 productive and responsible children. with my appointment i have become in many ways a newcomer. rita has welcomed and supported me with all of the warmth and encouragement that she shares with so many others. rita has through chinese newcomers has found a way to give more. our community is better for it.

accept our deep appreciation. >> thank you so much supervisor. [applause] thank you to the mayor and the board of supervisors for supporting our very important programs. keeping chinatown clean. you have said so much and i really want to thank my staff -- [applause] without my staff my very hardworking staff and dedicated volunteers and our board and advisory committee, it would be very difficult for us to run this program and serve over 2000 people 20 thousand people a year we

stretch our dollar in every way possible to make sure and i think the most important thing is that we give people a chance and we empower them so that they are able to become self-sufficient supporting citizens so i want to thank everybody. i have great mentors . and there's so many people i need to thank because without them i would not have the success that i have. so thank you very much. [applause]. >> congratulations miss moss.

[applause]. next i want to recognize supervisor kim. supervisor kim? from district 6. >> thank you thank you okay. today it's my privilege to honor san francisco women against rape and i want to ask that organization to come up, please. thank you. this is an

organization that many in this room are familiar with. they provide resources and support to strengthen the work to create the san francisco that are responding to healing from and struggling to end sexual violence and since 1973 over 40 years to help all individuals regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification they believe that no single foundation can stop the epidemic of sexual assault but we must respond as a whole community to truly end violence. began as a rape crisis hotline. in the early eighty began to increase the range of services such as support groups and extending the hotline to to 24 hours a day. by early 2000 completed

the transition and became a majority women of color led board and team. the staff volunteers and board reflect the diversity of the numerous communities that they serve and has become a significant part of the field of social change practitioners. in an effort to affect truly lasting social change and above all the people who listen support it and advocate every single day for survivors. they have such heart rendering stories over and over again they come back to work the next morning and that's why we honoring these amazing women we reached out to

survivors in the sexual assault field to ask them to share their feelings about the organization and i just want to give you one testament that touched our office. i never thought it would happen to me. he was my friend and someone when i could always go to one night when we were all hanging out he stayed behind in my apartment and started trying to can to kiss me. he didn't stop he was angry and he forced himself on me and it was like a dream more like a nightmare when he was finished he just got up and dressed and left me on the floor. i called my girlfriend and she told me to call the police. i had no idea what i wanted to do who would believe me? what would my family and friends think of me? later