s that i am focused on is prevention and diversion. we need to make sure that we stop the tide of new homeless individuals and families living on our streets to begin with so we need to fund programs like home ward bound, we need to fund programs like we're celebrating here today that glife is contributing to our problem solving problems, that jeff the director of our homeless department has been spear heading. we need to make sure that individuals and families do not become homeless in the first place, because once they are, the common sense will tell you there's a whole new set of problems that we have to deal with for them to get them off the streets but a whole new set of problems that we are have to deal with as a city. so what we're dealing with today is key to moving our homeless efforts moving

forward. thank you for hosting us, and i want to thank glife for your philanthropic support. we cannot do this alone as a city and we are so grateful for partners like you in san francisco that really make our services work as a city. i want to thank our head of our homeless and supportive housing department jeff kositsky for all of his hard work in driving this mission forward. again, we have a long way to go. the status quo was simply not acceptable on our streets but we are making progress, and events like today are something we can celebrate to think about the bright future that we have ahead of us as the city of san francisco. so with that i want to i-up jeff kositsky director of how's homeless and housing development in san francisco. >> thank you mr. mayor, and for your ongoing support as both a member of the board of supervisors and now as mayor. special thanks to compass for

hosting this event and for all of the staff from hsh, homeless department if you could raise your hand. and of course everybody from glfe if you could raise your hands, thank you so much for being here. [applause]. so every week the department of homelessness and supportive housing helps about 50 people exit homelessness and that's really impressive. that means today, probably ten people are going to exit homelessness whether it's through our home ward bound program or temporary rent subsidies or permanent housing and that's something i'm proud of, something we need to do more of, but what's also daunting is the fact that every week about 150 people are going to become newly homeless in san francisco whether they were living in san francisco and then became homeless or came here from somewhere else. if we don't change that dynamic, we're never going to bend the curve on this and the idea around problem solving is

how do we prevent homelessness in the first place, through eviction prevention, and then when people become homeless how can we quickly divert them back to a place of safety whether to a home whether it's back through the home ward bound people that reconnect does people to family members in other communities or whether it's through move in assistance or very short-term flexible grants. like maybe somebody lost their job because their car doesn't work anymore and they just need to get their car fixed in order to maintain their housing or somebody owed the roommate $500 and the roommate kicked them out, and if we could just mediate the relationship between that individual and the roommate. we need to find ways to be able to slow down the inflow of newly homeless individuals in the city and divert the out flows. of course we need to build more navigation centers and shelters and housing but this is a critical part of our strategy, and i'm so grateful to kriss

and everyone at glfe for listening to this work this sort of new and innovatetive in how to approach homelessness and housing in san francisco. we are so lucky to are san franciscans and be in such a generous community where we've gotten philanthropic support from all over the community and different business sectors and all types philanthropists and today we're here to celebrate glife and kriss and their support. their gift to the city is going to help us be able to quickly implement this new strategy and to be able to implement and use the money in a somewhat flexible way that sometimes it's harder for the government to be as flexible as we want it to be and having support from companies like glife will make

all the difference in the world in this new strategy that we're rolling out. without further adieu, it's my pleasure to introduce chris cohort the ceo of glfe. hey, everyone thanks so much for coming. i appreciate that and i'm proud to be here to introduce this new program of problem solving that's going to keep people from being homeless in san francisco. i've lived in san francisco. our companies been here for about 13ers i can't years, and during that time we've all seen the challenges that people are facing out on the streets. it's hard to know what to do and sometimes you're facing the problems with homelessness. myself and my company we're lucky. a lot of people on the street haven't had those opportunities, and that's just not fair. just hoping this is a small step that we can take to help convert that feeling of homelessness and turn that into

action. thought it might be helpful to share a little bit about our philanthropy story. in 2013 we wanted to make a little bit more of an impact in changing our community. we brought on a philanthropy advisor megan mctiernen. thank you megan. megan helped us get started who helped us sign up with the san francisco foundation, setup a donor advice fund. we started donating 5% of our profits to charity at that time. in 2015, we went ahead and joined something called the 1% pledge, which is an organization that encourages company to pledge 1% of the profits 1% of their employee time 1% of equity and 1% of their products to nonprofits and charities. we've been able to build up a decent amount of money over

time in our donor advice fund. about half that money goes out to causes that are nom dated by our employees, things that they care about. it's a great way for them to feel like they're writing the check. the other thing we are we've been setting aside will have a really big effect, and this is that project. some things it's important to start early in philanthropy in your company before things get out of hand. hiring a philanthropy advisor really helps the process. we've joined the 1% pledge helps give your company a goal to work towards. something that we didn't think we could have necessarily a big impact. we're a company less than 40 people, but it turns out that we can just by putting a little focus on it. another thing that we learned is we asked the experts, we ask

jeff's team, like, what can he we do to help? they're closest to the program and by working with them, they had some solutions and the best things we could do. finally, i'd like to say, it pays great dividends. it feels good to help out in the community, and i think our team really feel it's too. so i'm hopeful that this project that we're working on is going to serve the city of san francisco well and it's really a city that's given us so much. we just want wanted to give back a little bit. so the business area in san francisco and the bay area, it's not that hard to make an impact. it's not that hard and we want to be available to help you get started, so we're making myself and the rest of our philanthropy team available in case you'd like to get started. just reach out. i'd like to say thank you to all the employees at glfe. we couldn't do it without you so thank you.

with that, i'd like to introduce erica gish and erica's the director of family services at compass. >> hi everyone. we're honored to be here and to be hosting this event day. i want to thank mayor farrell for being a champion of families in san francisco that are experiencing homelessness and i also want to thank jeff and his team for their leadership and partnership. and i also want to acknowledge today the 50th anniversary of the assassination of dr. martin luther king. in that parrot, i don't need to convince anyone in this room today that homelessness is a tremendous and social problem. it's a community problem, and it's one that will take the whole community working together to solve. all of us at compass are very grateful for our private sector partners that support our services and it's so great to see glfe stepping up in such a

way with such a generous grant, and especially i didn't realize interests he only 40 people in the company, so that's particularly impressive. i'm also impressive -- yeah [applause]. >> i'm also excited about the challenge to other companies to increase their philanthropy. we all have to do this together. we all know that housing is a solution to homelessness and the city needs to do more to get more low income housing and set aside for the most vulnerable of its residents, but the reality is that the need for low income and supportive housing continues to outpace the supply. as a result, we all need to employ creative and innovatetive solutions to ensure that parents and children have a stable and safe place to live. at compass family services we provide a continuum of critical services to help families achieve housing stablt as well as family stabltity.

at compass we also recognize that every family presents with a unique set of circumstances and their own set of strengths and challenges. one size solution does not fit all. for this reason it is important to have a range of different tools at our disposal to ensure that each family solution is tailored to their needs as well as to guarantee that limited resources are used to maximum effectiveness while at the same time we are also out there advocating for more resources for this problem. the best outcome is when we can help a family stablize before they become homelessness -- homeless because once they do become homeless it is really hard to rebound, and we all know that homelessness is a trauma for every member of the family and can have lasting impacts on children and homeless families. if a family is already homeless when they come through our doors, our goal is to rehouse them as quickly as possible again with an eye to reducing

the trauma of homelessness. the expansion of funds for homelessness prevention being announced today is very exciting and greatly appreciated. these funds will go a long way to helping families stablize with housing problem solving and saul flex grants as well as move in support and eviction grants. we're honored today to have a compass client, ethyl ennen here with us. ethylwas stable in her home raising her son for at least 11 years, and then she had a set back, which could have resulted in her being evicted. compass was able to step in with a one time eviction prevention grant, and ethylwas able to maintain her housing and her family's stability, success for everybody. we're energyized by success stories like ethyl's, and the

many success stories we'll be able to tell going forward thanks to this initiative and i want to call up ethyl. >> good morning. my name is ethyl ennen. i first came to compass in 2005. my youngest is 14. we were homeless at that time. we were placed at compass family shelter where we stayed for a little more than six months. compass secured an apartment for us in fillmore neighborhood where we have lived for the past 11 years. last year we faced an eviction after i got behind in my rent. compass was able to provide back rent for me which kept us from eviction. we are now in a much better shape and compass continuing to work with me and -- on my

budgeting and my finances. i am also getting therapist at compass at this time right now. my son is now 14 years old and is in 7th grade. he's at roosevelt middle school. i have other children. i have four boys and one girl but it was just me and my 14-year-old at that time, but i've got other kids. but any way, this is a new funding -- this funding will help families like myself that are in need of support. i just really want to thank mayor farrell for allowing me to stand here and say my little speech to -- and i just want to thank him and glfe for the lifeline that they're providing for compass. thank you very much. [applause]. >> ethyl, thank you so much for sharing. we really appreciate it and

compass thank you so much for hosting this event and for all the great work that you do and a special thanks inform everyone from glfe for your generosity and your belief that things can get better in san francisco and thank you all for coming today. have a great today. [applause]. issue. >> homeless in san francisco is a challenging issue that effects owner in the city in many different was as of the 2014 homeless census over 64 homeless in individual in the city to try to address the issue we've got a

program for chronic homeless welcome to the navigation center. >> this pilot project is for people living on the street what makes it different the navigation center is able to accommodate homeless encampments lowell u allowing people to keep their pets and bring their personal bloonlz. >> the full realization that people don't want to be homeless not refuse services but from the services don't meet them and not relevant they're not going to be successful if you look at the budget losses we've got a community sacrifice important people to get food and laundry we're standing next to the bathrooms it is designed to be a

dynamic and brief residential experience where right of on this site city staff to connect you to homeless places to return to family dine is up for medi-cal and all those things that are complicated for people. >> the other exciting thing city agencies come on site and provided the services for folks this is existed to see when the goal of streamlining a a whole processes of getting people on go gentle assistance into housing as much as possible. >> way totally different you can come and agree as please and get laundry services and showers any time of the day and night it's twenty-four hours a day whatever and twhefr it's not like any other she recalls. >> they come and help people

for what it is they're required the issues they need and reach out and do what we can to say okay how can we accommodate you to get you set up and straight never in my mind imagined a program like this this place it different and a a lot a lot that better it works. >> the navigation is center is a collaboration of partnerships too city departments one is the homeless outreach team managed by the san francisco distributing i look forward to the navigation center we'll have our agents go out and help and say don't go anymore over and over send our dayshift out they've meet the population and hang out and hang in the encampment and transport

people and be with them and make immediate impacts with me and my staff. >> bringing our wloongz whatever you go presents a problem this place their help with the storage i don't have to worry about it staying here you know you're getting things done they need to get things down done to get off the street avenue of the hope alsoness is gone. >> they help you if you're hungry go eat if e you need to go places go. >> they're 4th district it awe auto. >> it was funded through a unanimous donation and of may 2015 an additional $3 million to

help to continue the program beyond 18 months. >> you see people coming out they're ready to being so the future homes you know how variable the navigation center is my message for the constituents yes something can be done do break chronic homelessness it is being done. >> this is a community that sets an example but i how to pick an area that was funky they've seen we're trying to do is help their neighbors they've seen getting sicker and more frail and broken down on the streets and welcomed us that's a powerful statement people are exist and president in they're becoming to see the movement for folks and people on the streets are only survival modes where is there next meal and their itch more carefree.

>> the staff here is interpretation the first day i have a appointment and everything was made all you do is go through them this makes a huge difference. >> to get settled in a helping hand to get on my feet take care of the issues i have and get out of bed and help. >> even though the navigation center has been up in march 2014 the program is creating successful outreach for it's clients. >> a month ago they came to me and asked me to go into a new program i moved into here and now 3 months later i have my own

place it is mine i lock my door don't worry about my stuff it feels human again cc1 test message test text1 underline test text1 italics cc1 test >> test text1 underlinewell good morning everybody. thank you so much for joining us here today at market street. very much appreciate you turning out. as you know test t homelessness is a crisis in san francisco. it's a test tex crisis up and down the state of california. test text1 underline test t what we're seeing unfortunately more and more is with homeless youth, youth who are on the street in our city in our state through really no fault of their own. we're seeing, especially for test text1 underline test text1 italics many of larkin street's clients, young people who are escaping challenging test text1 underline test t households, really looking for places to go and unfortunately they find that

the streets were a better option than their own home and so that's some of the challenges that we're test t facing here in san francisco but really also, up and down the state of california. test t we have some troubling stats, where one test t in eight americans lives in california but one test text1 underline test in three homeless youth live in our state, and te one test t of the five individual's experiencing homelessness in san francisco is under the age of 25. so what test text1 underline test t we're really seeing is this multiprong approach that we have to have. we can't just treat this test population as we would treat test text1 underline test text1 italics young adults. their test text1 underline issues are different their reasons are different that test t they're on the street. that's why it's so great to announce this $2.5 million grant to market test tstreet. we were able to implement some money into the homeless youth and housing program and identify four counties in the

state where we could get money to test t 2.5 million to test text1 underline each of those counties so there was money test tex propped to santa clara te county san diego, l.a. county specifically targeted to homeless youth. and we didn't want to test t overly delineate where the money was going, so it test text1 under could go to rapid rehousing, could go to supportive housing, could go to shelters. we really wanted the agencies in those particular areas to figure out what the test text1 underline test t most pressing need was, and we're honored that in test t san francisco here larkin street was the recipient for $2.5 million for that grant. their work is absolutely amazing. 75% of their test text1 underline test text1 italics client test text1 italics actually end up exiting and end up in a home so their track record and their success in their work is unbelievable test text1 underli and frankly phenomenal. we're just so honored to have them as one of our major

agencies here in san francisco. test text1 und so with that i wanted to introduce our test text1 incredible test t mayor who's just been really fighting for this issue when he was a supervisor. he continues to fight for this issue during his tenure as mayor, it's mayor mark test text1 underline test text1farrell. [applause]. >> so thank you, te phil, and good morning, everyone. it is great to be here along with assembly te member continuing and jeff and test text1 underline test t cherilyn. this is a great morning fore the city of frisk. homelessness as assembly member continuing mentioned is one of the most intractable issues here in san francisco. it's been an issue that all of us inside of city hall have worked on. i have prioritized during my time in office and it is a challenging problem. it's not going to get solved over night. there is no silver bullet answer test text1 underline but mornings like today, we can actually say

we're making progress on the issue, we are truly making a difference in people's lives here in the city of san francisco and to me, that's what it is all test tabout. larkin street youth i'm test going to take a minute to sing their praises and sing test t cherilyn's praises. since they opened, they have served over 5,000 youth in the city. and that is no small number. that is an te organization that has had a significant impact on the city of san francisco of our homeless population of our vulnerable population of our youth here in the test text1 underline te city. larkin street does so much through youth programming. test text1 underline test text1 italics cherilyn and i test text1 underline were together years ago worked on a project in district two, and that program has been an incredible success inside of district test text1 underline two and i'm incredible proud to test part hership test text1 itali with

test text1 underline test text1 italics cherilyn. it's an honor to be here with test tex you today. we want our youth here in san francisco to be chasing down their dreams and aspirations, not thinking about where their next meal is coming from. that has to be our mindset in san francisco, that has to be the reason behind all of our efforts and making sure the next generation of test text1 underline test t san francisco kids has a much brighter future than we all had here growing up in our city. i'm going to -- in a minute you're going to hear from anubis who's a larkin street youth client here but i just want to highlight here what an test t amazingly humble person he is. but 16 years old previously homeless, and test text1 und i was reading about test t him beforehand sleeping in cars and his test text1 friends' couches, and now he's here an larkin street. he has an internship, he's enrolled in test text1 underline test tclasses he has

housing. this is a success story in san francisco that we need to celebrate. we need to be there for a long time to come and partner together. this is just the beginning of a journey together but this is the stories that we are making these are the successes that we are having on our street, and we need to take them one by one in the city of san francisco. so it's an honor to be here today. you know as test t test text1 underline test text1 italics assembly member continuing ting mentioned this $2.5 million is wonderful for test tex the city of san francisco, but it would not be possible without assembly member ting. you know it is test text1 underline test amazing to have him up in sacramento representing san francisco and fighting for san francisco. what he didn't mention was something we heighted about a month ago, that he secured test tex $10 million for navigation centers here in san francisco up at the state test tlevel. this is advocacy and this is representation that we have not seen in a long, long time that is really coming to bear on the streets of san francisco, to

the people of san francisco, to our every day residents and it's something that needs to be test text1 underline test t celebrated and test text1 uhonored, so phil thank you for all of your efforts and the job test t that you are doing on behalf of the citizens and test t residents of san francisco. these are great test text1 underline test t stories we can tell in san francisco. again, we have a long way to go in terms of our homeless situation, but every day when we have stories like this to highlight, when we have things like this to celebrate, it keeps us test text1 fighting every sipping will day and let's not forget, we take this one individual at a time. so thank you for being here today. it's an honor to join everyone behind me and i would like to introduce someone who is leading the fight on homelessness in the city and county of san francisco, someone who has been with us just a short time today and that is our director of housing and homeless authority, jeff test text1 underline test text1 italics kozitsky.

>> thank you mr. test text1 mayor and thank you assembly member ting, in addition to as the hey i don't remember mentioned, helping bring this money to san francisco and the homeless youth in san francisco. in san francisco, assembly man ting have been working very hard with me and members of my staff to address homelessness here in san francisco on a number of different fronts, and we really appreciate your leadership and all the work that you test t and your staff do. and of course, thank you inform larkin. test text1 underline cherilyn and i have test t worked together about 16 years now, including the development of the second supportive housing for homeless youth that was built in partnership with chp and larkin in the city and test county of san francisco. and all of this work makes a difference. i know sometimes it's hard to look around our street and think that things are actually getting better but things are actually getting better. during the past few years we've seen a nearly 15% reduction in

youth test t homelessness in san francisco, we've seen a reduction in veterans homelessness and family homelessness and while there's a long way to go we are starting to see some pretty significant successes, and events like today test text1 under help test text1 italics memorialize the efforts that we need to take on behalf of people living on our streets. i just want to close out by test t reminding everybody that we are going to close test text1 out test t homelessness not just? san francisco but in this state and in this country, we need to start with young test text1 undpeople. test t if we are ever going to solve the problem, we can't have young people with their families and on their own because the next te chronic homeless population. we need to help them now while they still have the opportunity test text1 under to become their best self-s, and thanks to people like assembly man ting and mayor test text1 underli farrell and test text1 underline test text1 italics cherilyn. we're hoping young people get

off the test text1 u streets, get housing and jobs and move on with their lives. thank you all for being here today and it's my pleasure to introduce test text1 underline test t cherilyn adams, director of larkin street. >> thank you, everyone. it is really great to be here on this beautiful morning and celebrate this test t investment in yung people in san francisco, test text1 underline test t especially being flanked by three folks -- and test t four with anubis who have been remarkable leaders and really have brought incredible resources to the city, and now with this investment with assembly man test text1 u test texting's help into san francisco from the state. i think it's important before this investment, there was $1 million a year for the past 25 years that the state has invested directly in young people who are test text1 underli experiencing homelessness. that's with the state having a huge number of young people experiencing homelessness.

we test t have unfortunately in california the highest test number of people between the ages of 13 and test text1 underline 25 experiencing homelessness. so this grant in santa clara san diego and l.a. will test t go a long way to support young people who don't have test tex shelters, who don't have access to homes or services, and we hope it's just the beginning of efforts across the state. sb-# 18 is going to create an office of test t homeless youth and funding to support this. that would not test t have -- test text1 underline test texsb-1918 wouldn't have happened without philstarting this process and really investing in young people in california. locally, we will use these dollars to expand services in our engagement center open the center for more hours, expand case test management access to emergency housing behavioral health supports for young people across the city. we would not have been able to open these hours without this funding and we hope to continue

to use it to leverage additional support to build out education and employment programs to continue to expand test t housing. as jeff said we've made great progress in the city on addressing young people experiencing homelessness in reducing the numbers, but still 1300 young people on test t any given night lay their heads on the sidewalk here in the city or in a shelter so that's not acceptable so we will continue to work to leverage additional funding. we hope that you will all support housing for all in june so that we can bring additional te resources across the city to address homelessness. test t it is my now distinct pleasure to introduce somebody who i have had the great chance to work with over the test text1 past year. he is a leader he test tex teaches me things every day and he has been both a role test text1 underline model for other young people and been active in setting policy and te helping to inform policy on behalf of young people here in the city, as well as working directly with young people here at larkin street, so test text1 underline test t anubis please come up. test t

[applause]. >> test text1 u good morning. it's an honor to be here with you today. my name is test t test t test text1 italicsanubid dougherty, and i am from san francisco. i have two generations here on my dad's side and three on my mother's side. my mother was homeless when she was pregnant with test text1 underline testme. she had cerebral palsy and is unable to work. my brother and i lived with her test text1 u mostly. we'd find a place, get evicted when we couldn't pay rent and then we would couch surf. from the time i was ten or 11, my mom test text1 u expected us to be her test text1 underline caretakers, everything from cooking and test text1 underline test text1 italics doing thechores to test text1 under cleaning up her after she went to the bathroom. we got in shouting matches a lot, and when i was around 15 or 16, i couldn't do it anymore. i stopped going to school and left home. i never test text1 underline test

text1 i really had avplan. plan. i travelled up and down the west coast and through the southwest but something kept pulling me back test text1 underline test t to the city. i lived on a sidewalk in the haight and the castro and one day, a friend told me that there was a group called test t larkin street in panhandle test t park giving out food so i went over test text1 underline te and ate. i found out they had a test text1 underline test t shelter, too, but i did not want to go. it's test t hard to test text1 underline test text1 italiexplain, but i preferred sleeping outside to staying in a shelter, and so i lived on the streets for six years on and off until i couldn't go on. i was tired, test and i was done. when i saw test t camilla an outreach worker from larkin street around the end of 2016 i was more test text1 underline test t receptive. te she said are you interested in a new program we have called test

text1 und pathways? yeah sure i said. larkin street helped me find an apartment and test text1subsidize my rent. i've been on my own for so long i didn't want to go anywhere with a lot of oversight. test we found a place for test tex me at the francis hotel. from there, the change has been test t radical. larkin street's helped me get my ged, and i test t joined their youth advisory board and advocacy and leadership program. from there i've done work with the city and state to test t advocate for youth homelessness programs. today, i still live in my own place through the pathways program. i was taking classes at city college and in january test text1 underline test t i started an internship at an outreach worker for larkin street on the same team that helped me get off the streets. test text1 und it's surreal and so is standing here test text1 u speaking at a press conference with the mayor of san francisco and a state

assembly member here in the haight where i laid my head on the very concrete you are standing on test text1 under right now. until i was ready for more larkin street gave me food a place to sit for a few test text1 underhours, do my laundry and take a test text1 underline test text1 ita shower. now, i have this organization to thank for my new life. their compassion has deepened my trust. without larkin street, i would still be te homeless; te i could be dead. thank you for being here for listening to me and for supporting this important new funding for young people like me. i know you are sincere in test your desire to support homeless youth and make this testcity my hometown a better place. i am truly test text1 underline test t grateful. test text1 italics [applause]. >> thank you test t anubis for telling your stories and really test text1 underline test text1 italics anubi 1id, ass, as the

mayor test text1 mentioned, is one of thousands that test text1 und larkin street has helped and made sure that we're test t trying to attack the problem as really its te apex which is really around homeless youth. as jeff test mentioned, we -- you know if we test text1 und can't solve the youth problem then we're not going to make any progress on the homeless issue at all. so again thank you so much for being here today. i don't know if there's any questions, but happy to answer any as well as test t i'm sure people will be happy to stay after to take individual questions. okay. thank you so much. appreciate test text1 underline teit. test text1 underline test text1 italics test text1 underline test text1 italics test text1 underline test text1 italics [applause]. cc1 test message test text1 underline test text1 italics cc1 test message test text1 underline test text1 italics cc1 test message test text1 underline test text1 italics

cc1 test message test text1 underline test text1 italics cc1 test message test text1 underline test text1 italics cc1 test message test text1 underline test text1 italics cc1 test message

>> we broke ground in december of last year. we broke ground the day after sandy hook connecticut and had a moment of silence here. it's really great to see the silence that we experienced then and we've experienced over the years in this playground is now filled with these voices.

>> 321, okay. [ applause ] >> the park was kind of bleak. it was scary and over grown. we started to help maclaren park when we found there wasn't any money in the bond for this park maclaren. we spent time for funding. it was expensive to raise money for this and there were a lot of delays. a lot of it was just the mural, the sprinklers and we didn't have any grass. it was that bad. we worked on sprinkler heads and grass and we fixed everything. we worked hard collecting everything. we had about 400 group members. every a little bit helped and now the park is busy all week.

there is people with kids using the park and using strollers and now it's safer by utilizing it. >> maclaren park being the largest second park one of the best kept secrets. what's exciting about this activation in particular is that it's the first of many. it's also representation of our city coming together but not only on the bureaucratic side of things. but also our neighbors, neighbors helped this happen. we are thrilled that today we are seeing the fruition of all that work in this city's open space. >> when we got involved with this park there was a broken swing set and half of -- for me, one thing i really like to point out to other groups is that when you are competing for funding in a hole on the

ground, you need to articulate what you need for your park. i always point as this sight as a model for other communities. >> i hope we continue to work on the other empty pits that are here. there are still a lot of areas that need help at maclaren park. we hope grants and money will be available to continue to improve this park to make it shine. it's a really hidden jewel. a lot of people don't know it's here. ♪ >> supervisor jeff sheehy and i represent district eight the castro diamond heights. ♪ ♪

for me i think district eight is different than other districts because of the castro right? that is really the birth place of lgbtq civil rights movement in san francisco. it's historic for that reason. it's a great district because it's very diverse. you have booming night life in the castro a lot of families, we have an amazing array of parks, rock climbing wall in glen canyon is super cool. it was the first facility with a rock climbing wall. the book stores are treasures, charlie's corner is unique. >> charlie's corner is a children's book store but so much more, community space where

care takers and children come together over storytelling, books, it's a gathering center. i am charlotte and we are at charlie's corner on the corner of castro and 24th. the type of books we carry at charlie's corner range from prenatal to young adult, 18. we have musical books art books, all built around children of course. history nonfiction we have a wonderful picture book section. >> i love going to charlie's corner number one, because you can find a whole range of books. my kid loves to read books. >> i always envisioned a space like this, surrounded by children's books and storytelling. we offer storytelling four times

a day. we do curate well we do a lot of time reading, researching, beyond the story time it's going back to picking out a book, helping someone find the perfect book unwrapping it and sending it off. there are people from all over the world and that's what i find so exciting. you see that every day in our story times. it's literally a melting pot. >> more and more families come into the district, whether it's the castro, strollers every where in the valley and tons and tons of kids in glen park now with the canyon and a great library. >> i describe it as this village, i tell people i live in a town but i work in a village. >> one thing i really think is great about this district it's a safe district, it's a clean

district, it's great for kids it's great for families and has a bit of wild life in it too. >> i look forward to watching these kids in this neighborhood grow up and new kids come in and meeting new people from all over the world because that's what we're all about. ♪ ♪ it. >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their shop & dine in the 49 within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services in the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so we're will you shop & dine in the 49 chinatown has to be one the best unique shopping areas in san francisco that is color fulfill and safe each vegetation and

seafood and find everything in chinatown the walk shop in chinatown welcome to jason dessert i'm the fifth generation of candy in san francisco still that serves 2000 district in the chinatown in the past it was the tradition and my family was the royal chef in the pot pals that's why we learned this stuff and moved from here to have dragon candy i want people to know that is art we will explain a walk and they can't walk in and out it is different techniques from stir frying to smoking to steaming and they do show of. >> beer a royalty for the age

berry up to now not people know that especially the toughest they think this is - i really appreciate they love this art. >> from the cantonese to the hypomania and we have hot pots we have all of the cuisines of china in our chinatown you don't have to go far. >> small business is important to our neighborhood because if we really make a lot of people lives better more people get a job here not just a big firm. >> you don't have to go anywhere else we have pocketed of great neighborhoods haul have all have their own uniqueness. >> san francisco has to all

>> good evening. one moment.