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. quote -- 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 i did what so many of the survivors do we blame ourselves before others start

the blame game. . but she was there just to listen without judgment and ended upcoming with me me to the hospital, to the police and to the court. >> i want to recognize janelle white the executive director and everyone. thank you for your transformative social work and the hope that you give to all survivors that cross your threshold that they will not just survive but they will survive and i believe -- is evelyn here? if all of the staff would come up. i would

be expecting the entire organization to come up. and i just want to also note with a little sadness that janelle white was going to be here today but she called our office this morning and she received annie conviction notice she's been a leader but this is an epidemic in our city and region as we move our nonprofit workers to eviction and we're just not meeting the cost of living here and i want to thank you for continuing to do this work and recognizing how important it is for men and women throughout the region thank you for being here thank you. >> [applause]. >> thank you supervisor kim. on behalf of of the community and staff i wanted to express

appreciation to the commission and members of the board of supervisors. we have provided crisis services to survivors of the to survivors. we can envision a future without violence and i want to take this time to invite you to all attend the walk against rape that celebrates survival and invites the community to take a stand towards sexual violence. i hope to see you all once again. thank you for your

support. [applause]. >> thank you very much next we're going to recognize supervisor campos from district 9. >> thank you very much. we had some pretty incredible women today and it's my it's my pleasure and honor to call stacie. there's so much to be

said about the incredible stacie. stacie is the executive director of the theatre for woman in the arts brava a center piece and thriving character of the mission and we were basically on the brink of losing this institution and losing the theatre which occupies the entire block of 24th street and owned by the nonprofit community organization and the building with the foreclose ure and for those of us, we knew the loss of this theatre and the art groups that occupy it, would have a devastating impact on the cultural life of not only 24th street but the entire mission neighborhood and it's it's so unique in so many ways and importantly the

organization was created to give voice to th realities of women's lives through the creation of new theatre work. well, it took a joint effort by by government and community to save brava theatre and we're grateful to dozens of individuals that played a role and i don't know if anyone would be in in disagreement that the theatre was essentially saved because of stacie. [applause] stacie became the executive director to save the theatre. she worked countless hours for months on end with no pay for that very purpose to save the theatre and organization. she rebuilt the bod and increased programming and the space and

she was able to refinance the loan and she was successful in luring exciting productions like a fabulous musical that just ended at brava at brava theatre and in short stacie saved brava and all san francisco we're eternal ly indebted to you for your personal sacrifice that you have made to make that happen and you have truly is shown anything is possible and saving brava know if you know stacie that's only a fraction of everything she has accomplished in her distinguished career. stacie's career in the nonprofit arts world has taken her on tour throughout the the united states to countries like

nicar canada and her work gave her a wide range of experiences in all aspects of this sector and she has been a stage manager tour manager booking agent and community liaison and stacie broadened her skills with a media advocacy organization and served as a producer and worked for for 4 years for frame line a film festival and expanded programs for for dance brigade and a financial consultant. women of color women of arts project and career cultural center and the list goes on and on and on. stacie, i can not thank you

enough. i don't know if anyone has the words to fully express how grateful we are to you and we also know when it comes to brava theatre, the best is yet to come and as the supervisor for district 9, as the supervisor for the mission, it is my honor to recognize you today in women's history month you make district 9 and the entire mission neighborhood very proud. thank you. [applause]. >> supervisor campos i really appreciate you support over the last the last 3 years like you said when we got there in february 2012 we were 2 we were $2 million in debt and the building was in foreclosure and with not only my hard work but

all of the staff people and all of the people in the newly designated latino cultural district have been really supportive of me and keeping brava alive and a community asset for everyone's use so i'm so blessed to have worked with all of these people and if brava staff could stand up and the latino cultural district people. stand up stand up. [applause]. you have worked to keep brava open and even though i'm i'm at the forefront of the work, there's hundreds of people and everyone here at the board of supervisors, your vote to support brava and to fund some some of the work take some of the -- give us some funding to keep the building open and hire staff had such a great impact in the neighborhood. there was 1

person working there when i arrived. we now support over 20 people a month at brava both through our staff and contractor we have over 30 thousand people that come to see shows and serve over 500 youth in the neighborhood. we give away 50 $50,000 of rental subsubsidies and have performance i am one woman of hundreds of women over the last 30 years brava you are brava turns 30 next year and will have owned the building for 20 years and the building will turn ninety ninety next year so 20, 30 and 90 and celebrating many anniversaries and there's so many women that have done amazing work to tell the stories of women so that women can can be healers and

just make our community a better place for everyone to be in so thank you thank you so much david and everyone at the mayor's office who have supported me and thank you to the supervisors. [applause]. >> oh, and my husband and my daughter. [applause]. >> thank you and

congratulations [applause] okay i'm going to recognize myself. denise, come forward. [applause] san francisco has a homeless street population of over 4 4000 people but only 15 showers to serve them the need to access showers is critical and personal high personal

hygiene is important not only for health. poor hygiene can rapidly isolate you from the community so denise's simple effective idea is to create a mobile shower unit that could drive to areas and could provide free and safe showers. it was 3 showers including an accessible shower for people with disabilities and it takes a special person to take a good idea an idea that truly makes a significant difference for our san francisco residents and deal with all of the complexities of making it happen and because of denise's persistence and skillful guidance lava may has provided over 100 thousand showers since

its launch in 2013. it has attracted the attention of the news media who believe in the in the importance of its success and we can help by making contributions or joining the fund raise or on treasure island. i'd like to commend you of meeting a basic need of san francisco's population with a simple, effective idea. we're happy to have you as a resident of district five and making sure you bring these showers to the locations where they are most needed for our most vulnerable populations today we honor you as women of the year for women's history month in our celebrations of the thank you and congratulations [applause]. >> thank you madam president.

it's one thing to have a good idea it's an entirely different thing to bring it to fruition and standing up here with me there's a multitude of people and my tiny staff we're a team of 3. we're small but we're mighty. they are on the streets day after day giving dignity and connecting people with humanity and changing lives. we have an amazing advisory committee to help us basically shape this program. if you have ever gone any

amount of time without a shower -- you have been sick or you have gone camping, that first shower is transformative. people write a lot about the problem in san francisco but i i can promise you if you are living on the streets you have no desire to conduct your most private functions in public. we hope to bring 3 more showers on line before the end of the year but i would love to fund lava may because we can end homelessness in this city. thank you [applause]. >>