[through the interpreter] >> good morning, everyone. my name is xiang ju. my family just come to u.s. not too very long time ago, but i'm real really unfamiliar with a lot of the things in san francisco, how to enroll our child in public school. we are really lucky to know p.p.s. they give us some lectures and also give us some introductions

and explanations and help us to know how to get the child enrolled into school. we really, really hope that p.p.f. can continue to exist to help more parents. thank you. [end of translation] >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning. i'm a mother in san francisco. if i don't know who to help, then we'll be past the resource i want to give our children, so

i suffer the public school in san francisco. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hello. good morning, everyone. my name is olivia. i reside in the sunset district. i'm here to support ppsf. [speaking native language] [voice of interpreter] >> i really appreciate ppsf. because of ppsf, i can help get my daughter enrolled successfully.

because of this long perfect organization, they give us perfect organization that help a lot of asians, and i really hope that p.p.f. can continue to help a lot of parents in the future. [end of translation] >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning. i'm cece. [speaking native language] [voice of interpreter] >> p.p.f. is very helpful to all parents.

we really don't know how to help our children to get enrolled. it's really -- i really appreciate that p.p.f. can help us. they also provide one to one service. we really need p.p.f. and because of that, they can continue to help out parents to help more parents to help the children to get enrolled, something like that. thank you. [end of translation] >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker, come on down. >> good morning. >> supervisor cohen: good morning. >> my name is rafaela katai.

i've been with the organization for 11 years. the arts have impacted my life as a young person, which is why i continue to work for the organization. i am -- i believe in it strongly. not all high school students -- public school students have access to the arts, and we want to change that. we feel like it's pivotal. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. >> hello. my name is shana bowie. i am the program director for youth art exchange. youth art exchange has been providing access to the arts for san francisco public high school students for the past 15 years. with -- it has personally impacted students. i've seen them grow as both leaders and innovators in the

city. they've impacted their communities in many ways, and also it has helped us develop a network of teaching artists and keep them in the city, working and thriving. we are asking that you increase our budget and support from the city. we work closely with supervisor safai and supervisor yee, and we would like to see that support from the rest of the city, as well. >> supervisor cohen: how much do you currently get? >> currently, we are allotted around 100 -- less than $100,000 by dcyf. we also do grants, as well, to supplement, and we have been looking both in the public and private sector to makeup budget deficits.

>> supervisor cohen: thank you. >> thank you. >> good morning. my name is lehe montano. usually when i'm here, i speak from my heart, but right now, i'm really, really upset and sad and angry that we get this cut. this is outreach city, and we did not continue to treat our people this way, and so i'm going to need the help of this. i'm here because they all ask is important, but i'm here representing seniors and people with disabilities, so i wanted to emphasize the right rental subsidies for seniors and people with disabilities.

she wants to talk. tell them what they have to do. tell them that they have to be fair, that they have to listen to us. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. can you, camilla. next speaker, please. >> hi. my name is lauren. i'm from advancing justice asian law caucus, a member of a.p.i. council. 42% of a.p.i.'s in san francisco are living in poverty, and we're the oldest organization dedicated to a.p.i. especially those that are low-income and non-english speaking. this year, we're asking for our expiring programming for tenant outreach, council and eviction defense work. specifically we're requesting assistance for my position. we run a culturally competent

housing program in chinatown, and we are one of the very few legal organizations in the city who represent and defend the eviction of low-income chinese speakers in court. we hope that you will continue to support the asian law caucus and the a.p.i. tenant's request. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. what is your request? >> our request is 97,500 so we can continue. >> supervisor cohen: okay. thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is kathrin chiu. i'm a staff attorney at the asian law caucus. i'm here to echo lauren's request that you assist our staff in the amount of 97,500 so the folks that are on the ground day-to-day working with the folks in chinatown. as lauren said, 42% of the a.p.i. population lives under the positive line. those are the tenants that we really try to help support

through our bilingual eviction defense, tenant counseling, tenant clinics, and adviceory council. we ask that you extend our expiring program. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, board of supervisors. thank you for your time. i'm ken lombard, deputy sheriff's association president. i'm here to support our members and the sheriff's department request for station transfers. please consider funding this. there's several problems with the way it's currently done by the police department, and we have the solution, which is a station transfers unit. it would free up police officers to work the streets, sheriff's deputies would pick up arrestees from police book stations and transfer them to sheriff district attorneys indication indications. with this pilot program, sheriff district attorneys

deputies would be guarding arrestees at the hospital. department's access the same rao channel, we use enhanced security restrained equipment, so there is a possibility of having one deputy perarrestee of. this would save the city on costs. more police officers would be available for neighborhood foot patrol, on a -- >> supervisor cohen: thank you. what exactly is the budget ask? how many. >> it's 1.8 million for the station transfers unit, and that's a pilot program. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning. i am a member of the sheriff's association. i'm here to discuss the sheriff's budget request for more vehicles. currently our vehicles are lacking modern equipment for

safe transportation such as seat belts and air bags. we are trying to avoid tragic situations like the one in baltimore with mr. freddy frafra gray, and we want to continue our positive responses where the deputies arrived and show up. we have outdated emissions controls, causing pollution and -- causing air pollution. we asked for 18. we wanted to ask for 30. we only got nine from the mayor's office, but we'd like to ask for more vehicles, please. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. >> thank you. >> supervisor cohen: next speaker. >> good morning. my name is shannon mcdonald, i'm the director at conserv

conserveatory program. in 30 years, we have served more than half a million students as an institution of san francisco health curriculum. supported by supervisor sheehy, n we received funding from the city in fiscal 17 and 18 we has enabled us to serve thousands more youth each year. we serve more than 15,000 sfusd students and 84 shows at 53 schools. we need your support in order to keep bringing youth awareness messages of acceptance, nonvials, hiv/aids education and -- nonviolence, hiv/aids education and the importance of performances to san francisco's next generations. thank you. >> good morning. my name is kayla. i'm a local actor and educator, and i work with the new

conserveatory theater. when i was in 2010, i saw the teen play they produced. it was the very first play i had seen outside of the school program. a filipino beingtor was falling in and out of love on the stage, years later, i auditioned for the theater. eight years ago and now, the stories that the new conserveatory plays still resonate within the world and the city, especially in the world that we live in today, and it's crucial to the hearts and minds of the communities. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning. my name is nicole mendez, and i

work as the program director for the youth aware educational theater. as you may have heard, we have reached the hearts and minds of san francisco students for the past 35 years. by crafting original plays that reinforce the sfusd's k through 4508 youth and wellness curriculum, ween rich staffing and educators in making school campuses better and peaceful places. we empower students to reach out and care for others and their community as a whole. thank you for your service, and we hope that you will continue to support youth aware educational threater in order to ensure every san francisco child grows up with a vision of a healthier, kinder world. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors. thank you for the opportunity to speak. my name is jennie low he had.

i'm with the chinese culture center of san francisco in chinatown, also known as c.c.c. the c.c.c. is an active member of the a.p.i. council. as you know, 42% of a.p.i.'s live in poverty. chinatown is especially disadvantaged with most of our families living in single-family residence occupancies, s-r-o's. the art and culture connection for our community, our surveys show most of our families earn 40,000 or less annually. they have never been to the ballet or symphony, but do come to the c.c.c. to visit the innovative exhibitions and to enjoy world class performances at the chinatown festival and dance on waverly.

>> supervisor cohen: thank you. thank you very much. next speaker. >> good morning. my name is talley wong on behalf of the asian pacific islander council of san francisco, we are asking that the board of supervisors put back the 18 expiring programs into the budget. these 18 expires programs come just under $1.5 million. these funded programs include needs around behavioral health, domestic violence, workforce development, youth services, tenant rights, neighborhood and cultural services, and immigrant services, so these programs collectively serve over 200,000 low-income residents. and our 18 members are here today and will be giving you more details about the expiring program. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: what was the figure? >> rounding up, it's 1.6 million, but it's just under that. >> supervisor cohen: okay. thank you. next speaker, please.

>> good morning. my name is rahim naraj, and i run the banksupport.org. [inaudible] >> -- despite a 25% reduction in costs, increasing the program's scope without extra funding, millions of inkind donations and support from the p.t.a., housing authority and several community organizations, the program was cut from the baseline budget by h.s.a. to fund a program the mayor's office decided to fund. while we sincerely believe this to be unintentional, this has put us in a very difficult

position as we would have already moved substantial resources to enter the program -- >> supervisor cohen: thank you. what is your budget ask? >> $250,000? >> supervisor cohen: over two years? >> peryear. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is louie gonzales. i volunteer for the coalition on homelessness, and i just want to travel you how embarrassing it is to travel to third world countries and find out there is more homeless people on the streets of san francisco. i implore you if you could use those funds for the homelessness, the youths, the future of this country. just because they're homeless does not make them disposable people, and i think it would make me proud for you people to use the funds to help them out and i would -- want to die

knowing that i lived at a time when i had very important and wise supervisors that made a change. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> hi. my name is von chase cly. i'm speaking on behalf of the chinatown nmca. we're asking you for continued support of our s.r.o. program. in the last two years we've served after 128 families with a comprehensive support program that provides them with economic self-sufficiency, without one of their own, the ymca is their living room. our program includes services such as case management, community service hours, weekly dinners, workshops on topics including immigrant rights and tenant rights. we're asking for funds to ask approximately 250 individuals to have access to this

comprehensive program. we teach kids how to switch, do art, parents to support each other and themselves, and we want to ask -- >> supervisor cohen: what's the name of your organization again? >> chinatown ymca. >> and what's your budget ask? >> 100,000. >> supervisor cohen: okay. thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is richard frisbee. i want to express my support for the emergency and safety preparedness sections in the budget. if one doesn't have public safety, one doesn't have a brie brandt, open society. the freedom to walk our streets safety without a high level of anxiety of being accosted verbally or physically, the peace of minds that parents have to let their children go out in the streets or use the

playgrounds, the certainty of a response when the emergency does occur, these are the things that speak to the quality of life and the haulmarks of a functioning and vibrant city that all residents can enjoy, so we need a fully staffed fully funded police department with the appropriate resources. thank you very much. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> hello, commissioners. david wu, of south of market community action network. i'm here urging you today to please restore funding to the united families program as part of the larger budget justice coalition ask. it is unacceptable that our most vulnerable residents are constantly under funded. our united families program connects working class immigrant parents and

grandparents to the resources they need in a culturally competent manner. please do not strip away these important services for san franciscans that need it the most. again, i urge you to support the funding ask of the budget justice coalition and a.p.i. council for a just budget. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: do you have a figure? >> for the youth program, it is 100,000 annually, and for the united families, program, 50,000 annually. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. >> thank you. >> supervisor cohen: next speaker. >> hi. good afternoon, supervisors. want to thank the budget committee for all their work on the budget so far, and also want to thank the board of supervisors for their unanimous support for supervisor ronen's legislation. we're really excite today work with the different city departments in the city to do the work of preserving or

neighborhoods and also stablizing our communities that make san francisco really unique. just saw the spending plan and we're glad to see that included in it is funding for the department do have staffing to work with the cultural district, but we'd like to ask that the board of supervisors continue their -- the funding to be able to maintain the operations of the cultural districts, 'cause we are the ones on the ground kind of doing the hard work. for soma filipinas, we're asking that the funding be continued this year and the next fiscal year, and that would really -- >> supervisor cohen: thank you. thank you. >> we have a powerpoint. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is rich will lasimosa. filipinas are the faster

growing population in california yes our numbers are dwindling in san francisco. since the 1900's, we've been fighting displacement. at the epicenter of development and displacement is san francisco, and in the soma district, particularly in the hot bed of the tech industry. your support will help us continue our work, help protect historical assets, cultural assets, affordable housing, seniors, families and children. your support for -- to budget for a community planner will put teeth behind the cultural district legislation that recently passed. we're asking for 150 k permohcd's over sight, and 100,000 for soma filipinas. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> hi. i'm with soma filipina.

displacement over the last century, three waves of it has caused our population to drop 50%, down to 2500 individuals. we also experience some of the highest eviction rates, the highest rents and one of the highest average home prices in the south of market. coupled with that are economic challenges, including development, housing affordability, lack of real estate ownership and few filipinobusinesses. soma filipino is to help them access that, access affordable business and housing opportunities. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. thank you very much. next speaker. >> hi. my name is drew, and i am a senior at lincoln high school. i am a nontraditional student that deserves fully funded services in the city,

especially my future school, ccsf. i plan ongoing to school forever to learn as much as possible and learn as many skills as possible. i deserve it, my friends deserve it, and all workers, including undocumented workers, too. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is darcy diloval. i am with soma filipinas. i am asking you to support the preservations of -- [inaudible] >> -- that recognize the contributions of the people who live, work and create in this neighborhood. they established this fund to support cultural district. the city will be supporting the

district diversity that san francisco is known for in the areas of affordable housing, community, facilities, residential services and open spaces and cultural preservations, health and living wages jobs. [inaudible] >> -- please put some fund for the infrastructure in a neighborhood like soma filipinas. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> thank you, supervisors. first, i want to thank you for including in your list a backfill of the ryan white care act cut in san francisco. that is $333,000. clearly, before we can expand capacity to address the city's goals around getting to zero, we need to make sure that our safety net is covered. i also want to acknowledge the 500,000 that was put into

expand eviction defense services in the city. the hspa ask is for 2 million. we believe that right now is a great time to achieve a right to counsel in san francisco, and housing is the biggest issue for people with hiv, so i want to speak in support of the $3 million in new funding for housing subsidies for seniors and adults with disabilities. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> hi. good morning. my name is april. >> supervisor cohen: pull the mic a little closer, as well. >> hi. my name is april, and i am a parent leader, parent voices in san francisco. and we just want to thank you, the voters, for passing proposition c. even though it's passed, proposition c, it's not going to take effect until 2019. in the meantime, we have people, infants and toddlers who will lose their child care

if we don't continue the million funding from last year, so we're just asking for that continuation. thanks. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. >> hi, everyone. mari villaluna, mommy to this two-year-old. i want to talk about child care. i just want to thank last year, you all provided 4 million for child care that was one time funding. so it makes me a little saddened to see the current funding for 200,000. that's a big shortfall. if we don't do at least $4 million this year, we will have people in this city that will have their child care cutoff? some might be able to make it, some might not. i lost my dream career. since then, i've been

unemployed, so i urge you, please do not do that to one parent in san francisco. please keep the funding way higher than $200,000 that you all are projecting right now. again, remember, you did $4 million last year -- >> supervisor cohen: next speaker. >> what's up. my name is june bug, born and raised here and a former san francisco youth commissioner. and i just want to say that i just want to back up what some of my coparent leaders said about making sure that we continue the investment that was made in 2017 to carrie that on because prop c will not be implemented until 2018. i also want to say that my daughter is disabled with cerebral palsy who attends bessie carmichael, and if we could just remember and include our children with special needs. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker, come on down. >> hi. my name is becky gershon.

and i work for the san francisco food bang. we are asking for funding to help meet one of the most basic needs for seniors and people with disabilities living on a low-income, and that's food. there are thousands of people on wait lists for home delivered groceries, home delivered meals, and on a daily basis, people are being turned around from hot meal sites. this is absolutely a solvable problem with appropriate funding, $8.3 million with all of these asks combined. we really appreciated budget that was allocate -- funding that is allocated by the budget funding this morning, but we also want to highlight those that weren't funded, for example congregate meal sites and funded meals. we want to thank the supervisors for the programs

that you funded over the last few years, and we ask that you take the critical steps -- >> supervisor cohen: thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is cindy lynn, as previously mentioned, currently 42% of a.p.i.'s in san francisco live in poverty. many of theme are families with children. many are unable to join the workforce due to their inability to afford child care. this year, we are asking for funding to the child care. every year, we send over 1,000 low-income children, and your support will ensure that our services continue and remain comprehensive for those that need it most. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker.

[speaking native language] [voice of interpreter] >> hi, supervisors, i'm cheng lynn chiu. i would really encourage everyone to look at homelessness in a new perspective, no longer looking at it as a headache, as something we cannot resolve. we need to look at it as we

need to provide opportunities for people who are homeless to start a new life. homelessness in a challenge for us. it's something that all of us can do something about. it's definitely a challenge. this is not only a problem, it's about thousands of people, their life, their quality of

life. please fund our ask. thank you. [end of translation] >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. [speaking native language] [voice of interpreter] >> good morning, supervisors. my name is shal.

i'm with the square dancing club in chinatown. i hope you will support chinatown cultural center's dance on waverly, and dance on chinatown. it has been healthy for our communities, and i hope you will support our ask for more activities like this in the community. we feel that the chinese culture center's dance on waverly and activities have made us very happy. and it has been very happy and healthy for our group and

community. thank you. [end of translation] >> thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. [speaking spanish] [voice of interpreter] >> good morning, supervisors. my name is roger, and i'm one of the members of casa gusta. we're here to demonstrate the importance of youth programs, programs provide the support and resources youth need to grow as people and leaders. youth have the opportunity to understand what are the roots -- root causes of the problems and conditions we see in our communities.

we understand that we also have something to contribute to the struggle and are able to create change through political campaigns and organizing the community. instead of punishing us or incarcerating us, you should support us so that we can all be stronger and more unified. think not of just the youth of today but also generations to come. [please stand by for captioner switch]

>> we pride ourselves in supporting the api and san francisco community. due to a transition of life circumstances and education and many more. this year, we are requesting funding for our long-standing families in transition at youth program, and our pulmonary programs. since 1983, our program has been at a various high schools providing support in tutoring,

college inquiry assistance, leadership, life scales -- skills, and safe spaces for recent immigrants. with this funding cut, it is difficult for us to continue providing support for these transitional used, and provide bartending training to allow people to get higher paying jobs. we want to continue to provide the support to the fans it -- families in transition program. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon ,-guessed supervisors. i am the executive director of the homeless prenatal program. i've been working with trying to end family homelessness for 30 years now in san francisco. families that are homeless are hidden. they are hidden because if they are seen, they fear they will risk being separated and lose their children to child protective services. the homeless prenatal program to

work as two generational. working with the mother and the child at the same time. our course of work is upstream. our mission is to end this cycle of family homelessness. i'm here for two requests. one is for our share program to increase it by $450,000 a year for 20 years, and that would change -- and that is a cost of 37,500 per family to end family homelessness. the other request is for mental health services, $887,000 to be split by five agencies. >> supervisor cohen: thank yo you. next speaker. >> i'm here to support the budget act and also to speak on the importance of funding programs for homeless families. since beginning of this year,

290 homeless families have come to our doors seeking help. 186 of those have been homeless pregnant women. we must fully fund a replacement emergency family shelter. currently, families can wait up to 321 days for stable shelter placements. and while they wait, the only option is a church that is open only in the evenings. families, pregnant women and children must sleep on mats on the floor and they only have access to showers once a week. we must fund a fully serviced family shelter for homeless families. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> hi. i am a psychotherapist. i'm here today to speak on behalf of sherry and her two children, a just two and five. sherry lives in her car with her children for one month.

she often feels very scared and worried that something terrible was going to happen to her and the children. the children are very confused, sad, they can feel the mother's fear. this is very connected to mental health. they not only did not have a roof or a bed, or no food, but they also internalize and feel helplessness and disability. being alone and lack of trust. i respectfully request from you to consider the importance of mental health services, because through that, we can diminish emotional pain and we can bring back hope. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> hello. good afternoon. i'm the deputy director for the homeless prenatal program and i'm also the cochair of the homeless emergency service providers association. i have packets for each of you. if i could give them to the

clerk, maybe, for your review. it has a summary of our funding proposal as well as the budget. our current budget is at $14.7 million ask in year one and 15.8 in year two. and it calls for a number of resources. i am specifically, as part of hpv asking for you to fund the ongoing support of share which martha just mentioned. providing subsidies for families who have a documented need to remain insensitive skipped our san francisco. 450,000 a year. and also for the mental health services which would then be shared between five different agencies. catholic charities, compass, hamilton, homeless prenatal program, and providence. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: next speaker. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: good morning supervisors.

[speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: thank you so much for paying attention. i noted this time you are paying attention. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: thank you so much for putting yourself down and paying attention to us. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: i worked for 20 years with immigrants and those living in hotels. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: i am aware of the needs of the community. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: i have gone door-to-door and i have seen what these needs are. [speaking foreign language]

>> voice of translator: that's why i'm requesting you to approve the items on the budget. let's work shoulder to shoulder to meet the needs of the community. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: we have a belief in you and we want to continue to believe in you. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: it is a budget that is so necessary for our community. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: we really need it. thank you so much for listening to us. >> supervisor cohen: what is the ask? what is she asking for? [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: family housing. families can live with dignity and respect. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. [speaking foreign language]

>> voice of translator: good morning my name is margarita. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: i'm a member with the coalition on homelessness. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: i'm here to request a fair budget. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: so you provide funding for first friendships ,-guessed shelter, homeless shelter. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: there are no showers for children to take a shower. what do you think about that? i am here to provide more budget for housing. [speaking foreign language]

>> voice of translator: as well as your help with subsidi subsidies, as i am receiving some housing subsidies for me and my family. >> voice of translator: so my children have better housing. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: i hope you agree with me and i hope you understand our needs. thank you so much. >> hi. this city is increasingly two cities. the cities of haves and a city of have-nots. homelessness is a tragic visible symbol of that severe inequity. san franciscans, thousands of them lose their homes. the city coffers are fuller than ever. yet we don't see, in this mare's

budget, at true reshuffling to address this crisis. the homeless budget is only three% of our city budget. this mare's budget shows a one% increase in new funding. this budget has a massive increase for police, including new weapons, tasers and meanwhile, the police are doing 6,000 homeless response calls a month. this would be not be needed if we had housing and shelter for folks. they do 6,000 mental health calls and this calls for cuts to core mental health services. it calls for 40 more street cleaners. if we did not have thousands and thousands of people on our streets, it would go a long way. it is time to turn this around. you have the opportunity to do just that. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i'm the director of shelters for the episcopal community services, also a member of has spot.

as such, we are calling on the board of supervisors to find -- fund an additional 300,000 subsidies for homeless families, youth, elders, people with disabilities, and two knew shelters including one for families, and another in the bayview. we also need emergency vouchers for families and prevention to keep people out and back to the mental health and employment service cuts. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> i've been homeless until a month ago. now i'm in a senior apartment and i have an embarrassment of riches, it seems like. when i lived there, before i would put up homeless people. at my place. mostly girlfriends. but ice would also go out and sleep on the street with them. we definitely need more shelters.

they are more economical than apartments and s.r.o.s for the time being. until we can get housing for everybody, we are just going to need more shelters for everybody. adults, children, elderly, disabled, families, what have you. we desperately first need shelters. i think that's the extent of it. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i'm a volunteer at the richmond centre. behind me are representatives from the district neighbourhood centre. i'm here to advocate for that to

$.3 million continuing funding for the security task force which is food insecurity in san francisco. i am bilingual and in doing so i am able to deliver food for 15 years in the richmond district. already nc with the richmond senior centre provides services for homebound seniors who are physically and mentally disabled and would not be able to have the luxury of fresh produce and deliver to them weekly. i urge you to continue funding for our food services, and that is very imperative for the seniors, because they really look forward to it, and the contact that we give them. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker.

>> hi there i am a formerly homeless youth. i was homeless for six years at a native of san francisco. my ask is i believe the city budget, or the city supervisors, and the mayor should cut the police budget drastically to fund housing, homeless youth services, at homeless services, education, healthcare, and food services to our most vulnerable communities in our city. since the inception, the police have never ever been intended to protect or serve our community. since their inception in the 19th century, the police were used to defend the rich, and the white, christian male populations and their families. even today, the police have no legal obligation to protect anyone from any crime. they are simply there to just enforce laws and bullets will not solve our problems.

thank you. [applause] >> supervisor cohen: next speaker. >> hi. i have been living in this city. i cannot understand how a city sends more money to the police, and they send it to border patrol. we need that money, $3.8 million to prevent more homeless people. >> supervisor cohen: thank yo you. thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello, how are you guys? i'm a program manager at hospitality houses employment centre. hospitality house is a part of a collaborative that consists of nine community agencies providing homeless employment services to san francisco, formerly known as the homeless employment collaborative.

and sadly, last year, we lost our funding. we want access to that funding to be restored. with this funding, we can provide employment services to over 250 homeless jobseekers assisting with job training, help with transportation, boots, uniforms for work, union dues, and any other barriers they may face prior to employment. losing this funding definitely affected the community. one of our staff members lost their job. it affects how we serve the community. we want to play a part in helping san francisco's homele homeless. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. >> i urge you to fully fund the budget ask, $14.8 million with a number of different investments.

including $280,000 over the next two years to restore cuts to employment services for homeless people. the full ask of this imposing the right to council and to ink -- close the barn door and prevent eviction and homelessness. $240,000 over the next two years to restore cuts to mental health services, a low threshold mental health services in the tenderloin and south market area. and another number to think about is $1 billion over the next two years in general fund monies to the police department. you need to bring that number down and invest in the community. thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon board of supervisors. i am from district six. i thank you for having me here this afternoon. as a san francisco native, i've

seen the rise of homelessness in our city for the last 30 years, and with the lack of affordable housing and soaring rent prices, i'm witnessing the middle class families being forced to move from their homes. we are in a growing state of emergency in san francisco with over 7,500 people experiencing homelessness. the current budget is spending $20.7 million to criminalize those experiencing homelessness. i believe it is a waste of money for our city decriminalize a human being for something that is out of their control, and that these acts are only perpetuating homelessness in san francisco. board of supervisors, i urge you to support our ask a $14.8 million that will keep san franciscans housed and housed san franciscans. when we support individuals whole experience and homelessness, instead of criminalizing them, we strengthen our communities. by providing shelter housing and mental health civil service -- services, we will give people the foundation to escape route -- poverty. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker.

>> hello. i'm an intern for the coalition of homelessness. homelessness among children has been found to have a negative impact on education. with half meetings state proficiency requirements and being sick four times as much as housed children. there is no full-service -- full-service shelter in the bay view. it has limited shower access and the one drop and is packed with primary african-american sleeping in the chairs. the providence shelters should be replaced with a full-service shelter. today we are asking for $14.9 million and -- out of an 11 billion-dollar budget. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> hello. i am with coalition -- coalition of homelessness. one year ago i moved from beijing to san francisco. i really like the city because

it is so beautiful. at the same time, i am shocked there are so many homeless people on the street. san francisco is one of the richest cities in the world. at the same time, every night, there is more than 7,500 homeless people sleeping on the streets. suffering. homeless people are like human beings, like all of us. we should be treated as human beings. and housing is a basic human right. with this act, i ask for $14.8 million increase in funding for homeless families and i thank you. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i work in the coalition of homelessness. today, came to speak on behalf of the group