doesn't really add anything to >> good morning, everyone. i'm barbara ga sierra, the director of health and i'm be your m.c. this morning and i want to thank you all for being here today for this program announcement. and i want to thank victoria manner, one of our incredible care facilities, for hosting us this morning. and so we have several distinguished leaders with us this morning. and our mayor london breed, we hope to have our president of the board of supervisors malia cohen. and our new supervisor rafael mandelman and the owner of the victorian manner bernadette joseph. bernadette is the second generation of owners of this type of facilities and we really appreciate her family's commitment to the communities that we serve. our residential care homes are very important form of housing in san francisco, providing compassionate support for our

community who live independently. the department of health, the department of aging, and i want to acknowledge that we have our department heads with us today. and both departments depend on these homes and facilities to ensure our clients are safe and that they get the care that they need. so we're so fortunate to work and live in a city that cares -- cares for its most vulnerable community members. our strongest leaders for this is our own mayor, mayor london breed. mayor breed is committed to ensuring those facing behavioral and health challenges are provided care and housing that they need. so please welcome mayor london breed. [applause] >> mayor breed: thank you, barbara, and thank you, everyone, for being here today. i'm really excited to be here and as mayor i have made it

clear that one of my top priorities is to not only address many of the challenges that we face with so many people struggling with mental illness, but, more importantly, to address issues of homelessness. we have to make sure that we invest in preventing homelessness in the first place. and we know that this particular facility, along with so many others throughout our city, continue to struggle financially. they struggle financially due to lack of funding from the state, from the federal government, and what that means is that time and time again in our city we need to figure out ways in which we can continue to support the great work that this facility is doing and others like it. so today i'm really proud to announce that we're investing over $1 million over the next two years from one-time revenue to stabilize residential care facilities that support our most vulnerable population throughout san francisco.

[applause] and, let me tell you what it will do. it will help 37 residential care facilities and house more than 350 people in our city, including many of our seniors. some of these people suffer with serious behavioral health and medical issues. many have a history of homeless homelessness. and we know again that the best solution is it to prevent homelessness in the first place. one of the care providers that support one of the ones that will receive funding as we said before is victoria manor which we are here today, located in district 5, which is now represented by supervisor brown. this place has 90 beds and it serves 26 clients for the department of public health. the facilities like these have been under strain as i said in

terms of lack of funding and the city currently spends $2.5 million through the department of public health to provide supplemental funding to close the spending gap. and i want to, again, i appreciate barbara g garcia for identifying where the needs are and making sure that we are using city resources in the most efficient way to support this community. but this is a complex issue which requires a holistic approach to look at now and the financial challenges of the future. and this additional funding is a down payment and demonstrates our commitment to ensure that these providers can care for and to serve our community. the department of aging and adult services is convening a working group along with the department of public health and the office of economic and workforce development to analyze the current demand and study options to meet the needs of the future throughout this city. i expect to hear recommendations

by the end of this year and until then this funding will help to ensure that we continue to serve hundreds of san francisco residents who would otherwise be at risk of homelessness and who would otherwise not be able to care for themselves. i want to thank the supervisors who are here today for their tireless work in preparing this coming fiscal year's budget, who is now our board president and was leader during this budget time, she was also the finance chair, supervisor malia cohen. and i am hoping to sign this into law hopefully soon and i have sent a letter to president cohen outlining my support for this funding and how we're able to move forward in our shared priorities. we know that there's a lot of work to do and it takes a village. it takes a lot of our departments it takes members of the board of supervisors, and i'm glad to be joined by someone who has been my partner although

he's just joined the board of supervisors, supervisor rafael mandelman who has really been a champion for issues around mental health. we're so grateful for his support here today. and i also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge roma guy who has also been an incredible advocate behind mental health reforms and pushing for more mental health stabilization beds in our city to, again, care for our most vulnerable population of citizens in san francisco. with that i'd like to provide an opportunity for the president of the board, president malia cohen, to say a few words. [applause] >> thank you, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. what a wonderful day, mayor breed, also a fantastic start. this is exciting news. i'm thrilled to join the mayor as well as my colleagues, supervisor mandelman and supervisor brown, as well as my partners in the department of

public health that are standing up here with me, to announce this $100 million for board and care. san francisco has always been a city that has been committed to supporting our most vulnerable residents. you know what, we haven't stopped yet. we're actually recommitting and reaffirming that commitment today. this year i'm proud that the -- that our budget process was, quite frankly, most transparent. and policy driven. a collaborative process that we have seen to date. in the month leading up to the budget we spoke with community activists, we have spoken with our residents, we polled our residents and, of course, we surveyed the colleagues on the board of supervisors. resoundingly without a doubt we have heard that homelessness is a top priority for particularly those who are suffering mental health issues. we have a responsibility to keep our residents, to help them to remain in healthy condition, and

it's a top priority of ours and we want to have them in a safe place to live and access to care and treatment. and so it is actually through our policy-driven process that we allocated $47 million in additional funding for homelessness. i think that is an important figure to note. the board of supervisors has directed over $4 million towards housing and homeless solutions and it's going to manifest itself in several ways, ways that you will be able to see instantly. first, in housing subsidies for families and seniors, mental health services and street medicine teams, patch the funding for residential care facilities. that's a critical one. patch 23u7din funding for residl care facilities. and also for those facing eviction. so this additional million dollars for the board and care facilities is without a doubt welcomed. it's a welcomed investment to

help 355 san franciscoians facing displacement and also dealing with mental illness. this is directly aligned with the board's budget priorities and our commitment to ending homelessness and ensuring that our most vulnerable residents are safe, healthy and housed. thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] >> thank you, president cohen, it was one of the best budget processes i have been involved in so thank you. we are so fortunate today to have our board member from this district, i have worked with her for many years and we're very proud to bring her up to the podium. [applause] >> thank you. thank you to everyone that is here today. the residents of victoria manor.

and also thank you mayor breed for finding this additional million funding to help our board and care facilities throughout the city. and president cohen and supervisor mandelman, thank you for supporting this. i think that it's so important. i have to thank roma guy and barbara garcia because anytime that i have questions they're the boots on the ground and i call them. i want to just thank you for all of of the years that you have been supportive in giving advice. i have a personal story. a neighbor of mine actually was losing her place, her roommate situation because of her mental health issues. when i saw her on the street she told me, this was almost 13, 14 years ago. and she told me her social worker suggested that she go into a room and care board facility. she was really frightened. i think that she had no idea what they were about, and neither did i, but then i saw her months later and she was so

well taken care of. she was happy. and she told me how much this really meant to her. and she had a family -- i think she was an eighth resident in care. and i have been very supportive of the board and care. because if it's the right situation for that right person it's vital. it's taking care of our most vulnerable residents and we need to step up. it's part of our housing stock, and i said that affordable housing is one of my priorities. this is affordable housing for our most vulnerable residents. i want to also thank all of the angels out there that take care of our residents here. and thank bernie joseph for being one of those people, second generation, that isn't saying i can't do it, you know, because a lot of people -- a lot of people age out in these board and cares and they can't do it

anymore. they don't have someone to replace them. and i just really think that it's amazing that it's a family affair because they are a family here. so i want to thank everyone for coming out and i'm very excited moving forward of how we look creatively at supporting our most vulnerable residents. thank you. [applause] >> thank you supervisor brown. our newest board member rafael mandelman, and in recent conversations with supervisors he's very interested in looking at housing, skill nursing and residential care facilities i know is one of his top priorities. so supervisor mandelman, thank you so much. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. i am incredibly pleased to be here to support mayor breed and her team, director garcia, for all of great work you have done to make this a possibility. and for identifying these additional funds to help to meet

the critical need. decades ago when california set itself on the path towards deinstitutionalization and closing our state mental hospitals we were promised a network of community care facilities. i think that we all know that that promise was never kept. but to the incident that it was kept it was through places like this in the community where folks could get the care that they need. today in san francisco we have lost and are at risk of further loss of dozens, if not hundreds, of board and care facilities that provide house askin housine for our most vulnerable neighbors. i have spoken frequently and over the last year about my mother and her struggles with mental illness. she was housed for most of her adult life in board and care facilities. some were good, some were not so good. but they were essential to keeping her housed. make no mistake but for facilities like this one,

hundreds, if not thousands of additional san franciscoians would be in hospitals or jails or on our streets. so as we work to move the thousands of currently unhoused homeless san franciscoians off the streets and into care it's critical that we stabilize our stock of board and care facilities and create more care options for those who need them. i like that the mayor referred to this as a down payment and i think that is the right way to think of it. it's an important first step in addressing a need that i imagine that we will be grappling with for most of your administration but that i have complete confidence that working together with roma guy telling us what to do, we will be able to solve. so i'm very glad to be here and very grateful to be included. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor mandelman. i just wanted to acknowledge

bernie's family, her husband and daughter are here and i know that it's a family -- a family affair for this project. so i do want to thank you for all of the work and the support that you give to bernie to provide such a beautiful location for our clients. one of the important processes for our clients is social support. and so to be together and to learn together and to support each other is one of the important processes and also important contribution that a facility like this provides. so it would be such a great honor and i want to acknowledged kelly, our transitions director, who really manages with bernie and i heard that she's one of the best negotiators as bernie says, that she does what she is told to. and we are appreciative of both of the teams and so i appreciate you, bernie, and i want to bring you up. [applause] >> good morning. i'm bernadette joseph, the owner

and director of operations at victorian manor. thank you, mayor breed, and supervisor cohen and supervisor mandelman and supervisor brown, and director of health garcia, barbara garcia. thank you for being here and for your support for our seniors. here at victorian manor we serve over 90 elderly clients with various needs, including dementia, medical and mental health needs. our home provides a place where seniors can live in the community and be as independent as possible. we welcome with open hearts and open arms a diverse group of residents, including a frail and vulnerable elderly population and we see every day what a big difference it makes for them to have the right place to live with the full activity program that enriches their lives. thank you mayor breed for recognizing the work of

residential care facilities for the elderly like victorian manor. the new funding will help us to make ends meet. and to continue to serve the seniors that we care so much about. we are happy that the city is also looking into long-term solutions to keep the facilities like ours, residential care facilities for the elderly, to have them remain in san francisco. so, thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you, that's the end of our program. and i'm sure that the press may have questions and i'll leave that to the press. thank you. >> any questions... anything off topic we'll take on the side. >> can you say specifically what the funding will go towards, is it services or more beds? >> one of the important things

that we have done with the facilities is that we have provided them with an extra amount per day for the bed and part of that is because we have individuals with different levels of need and that really helps for the staffing of the beds, and making sure that the right staff is for the right client and their needs. so this will provide extra dollars for a per bed space that we pay for and we work that out with the owners so they have the right staffing. bernadette, if you would like to add anything? [laughter]. >> where is the money coming from? >> the department will be working with the board of supervisors and the mayor's office for the one-time dollars that the mayor allocated for this. >> that money goes towards staff wages and health care? >> and as you know we pay per diem per day and that extra

dollars the staffing has. >> can you talk more about why this is a piece of the puzzle that deserves the extra money? there's a lot of other things out there that need help as well. >> i think that we don't spend enough time talking about stopping something from happening in the first place. when you think about the amount of money it takes whether it's wages for employees, or an increase in the dollars that it takes to feed people, whether it's additional services, physical therapy, social services and things that go into actually taking care of some of the individuals who are in board and care, the costs are going up. then what happens when there's a huge gap, that means most likely that sometimes they can't necessarily take care of all of the clients that they have. and the reason why this is important is because if they have a budget shortfall then that means that they go from 90 beds to maybe even 80 beds so

they could at least afford to cover the costs of those particular individuals. this is important because where are we going to put 10 people that might be displaced because of a lack of funds? and so in looking at, you know, all of these particular board and care facilities and the increase in costs and the challenges to meet the need, we have to make sure that we keep every single bed. we have to make sure that we do everything that we can to prevent, you know, something from happening in the first place and that is the possibility of losing those beds which means that those people are going to have to go somewhere. and we have to do everything that we can to make sure that they don't end up on the streets and that's what this is about is prevention. >> any other questions? >> can you explain a little bit about -- i was shocked by the number that we have lost -- it looks like almost 30 of these facilities in the last five years. why that is happening. >> well, it's exactly what mayor breed talked about is the fact -- and also the fact that some

of these were family owned and the cost of doing this -- and this is all over california and this is not just san francisco. but the cost of doing these types of facilities, particularly as they depend on the ssfai dollars that comes in doesn't always match the overall cost of the facilities and the services. so it's exactly why we're trying to provide them some stabilization. we started doing this almost 11 years ago really looking at how to work with the residential care facilities in both ways. one, to provide them dollars to serve clients with higher needs and also to help them to cover their costs that ssfai doesn't always cover. because the increases don't match the cost of doing business. >> all right, thank you. [applause]

>> in 201,755.7 million passengers traveled through san francisco international airport. we have on average 150,000 people traveling through the airport every day. flying can be stressful so we have introduced therapy dogs to make flying more enjoyable. the wag brigade is a partnership between the airport and the san francisco therapy animal assistant program to bring therapy animals into the airport, into the terminals to make passenger travel more enjoyable. i amgen fer casarian and i work here at san francisco international airport.

the idea for therapy dogs got started the day after 9/11. an employee brought his therapy dog to work after 9/11 and he was able to see how his dog was able to relieve passenger's jitter. when we first launched the program back in 2013, our main goal was to destress our passengers however what we quickly found is that our animals were helping us find a way to connect with our pang. passengers. we find there are a lot of people traveling through the airport who are missing their pets and who are on their road a lot and can't have pets and we have come in contact with a lot of people recently who have lost pet. >> i love the wag brigade. >> one of my favorite parts is

walking into the terminals and seeing everybody look up from their device, today everybody is interacting on their cell phone or laptop and we can walk into the terminal with a dog or a pig and people start to interact with each other again and it's on a different level. more of an emotional level. >> i just got off an 11.5 hour flight and nice to have this distraction in the middle of it. >> we look for wag brigade handlers who are comfortable in stressful situations. >> i like coming to airport it's a lot of fun and the people you talk to are generally people who are missing their dogs. >> they are required to compete a certification process. and they are also required to

complete a k9 good citizen test and we look for animals who have experienced working with other orgorganizations such as hospits and pediatric units and we want to be sure that the animals we are bringing into the airport are good with children and also good with some of our senior travelers. i think toby really likes meeting kids. that is his favorite thing. he likes to have them pet him and come up to him and he really loves the kids. >> our wag brigade animals can be spotted wearing custom vets and they have custom patches. >> there is never a day that repeats itself and there is never and encounter that repeats itself. we get to do maximum good in a small stretch of time and i have met amazing people who have been

thrilled to have the interaction. >> the dogs are here seven days a week, we have 20 dogs and they each come for a two hour shift. >> there is a lot of stress when people have traveling so to from these animals around to ease the stress and help people relax a little bit. i think it's great. >> one of our dogs has special need and that is tristine. he wears a wheel around. >> he has special shoes and a harness and we get it together in the parking lot and then we get on the air train. he loves it. little kids love him because he is a little lower to the ground so easy to reach and he has this big furry head they get to pet

and he loves that. >> he doesn't seem to mind at all. probably one of the happiest dogs in the world. >> many people are nervous when they travel but seeing the dogs is just a wonderful relief. >> what i absolutely love most about it is the look on people's faces, so whenever they are stressed and flying is stressful these days you get these wonderful smile. >> i am the mom of lilo the pig and she is san francisco's first therapy pig. >> lilo joined the wag brigade as our firs first pig. >> wag brigade invited us to join the program here and we

have done it about a year-and-a-half ago. our visits last 1.5 to 2 hours and it does take a little bit longer to get out of the terminal because we still get a lot of attention and a lot of people that want to interact with lilo. >> i feel honored to be part of the wag brigade. it's very special to meet so many people and make so many feel happy and people that work here. it's been a great experience for me and a great experience for to totoby. >> it's been an extremely successful program, so the next time you are here, stop by and say hi.

♪ay hi. ? an incredible program because we take regular kids teach them the love of the game. we have no emphasis on winning we only have an emphasis on learning and trying as hard as they can that's it and the chips fall where they may. when students leave our program whether or not adults or kids they'll have a mechanical understanding of what they have. you don't have to be 7 feet tall or be super faster but you do need skwil. once you teach kids how to have control over the tennis courts

they'll master. please invest >> it's great to see everyone kind of get together and prove, that you know, building our culture is something that can be reckoned with. >> i am desi, chair of economic development for soma filipinos. so that -- [ inaudible ] know that soma filipino exists, and it's also our economic platform, so we can start to build filipino businesses so we can start to build the cultural

district. >> i studied the bok chase choy her achbl heritage, and i discovered this awesome bok choy. working at i-market is amazing. you've got all these amazing people coming out here to share one culture. >> when i heard that there was a market with, like, a lot of filipino food, it was like oh, wow, that's the closest thing i've got to home, so, like, i'm going to try everything. >> fried rice, and wings, and three different cliefz sliders. i haven't tried the adobe yet,

but just smelling it yet brings back home and a ton of memories. >> the binca is made out of different ingredients, including cheese. but here, we put a twist on it. why not have nutella, rocky road, we have blue berry. we're not just limiting it to just the classic with salted egg and cheese. >> we try to cook food that you don't normally find from filipino food vendors, like the lichon, for example. it's something that it took years to come up with, to perfect, to get the skin just right, the flavor, and it's one

of our most popular dishes, and people love it. this, it's kind of me trying to chase a dream that i had for a long time. when i got tired of the corporate world, i decided that i wanted to give it a try and see if people would actually like our food. i think it's a wonderful opportunity for the filipino culture to shine. everybody keeps saying filipino food is the next big thing. i think it's already big, and to have all of us here together, it's just -- it just blows my mind sometimes that there's so many of us bringing -- bringing filipino food to the city finally. >> i'm alex, the owner of the lumpia company. the food that i create is basically the filipino-american experience. i wasn't a chef to start with,

but i literally love lumpia, but my food is my favorite foods i like to eat, put into my favorite filipino foods, put together. it's not based off of recipes i learned from my mom. maybe i learned the rolling technique from my mom, but the different things that i put in are just the different things that i like, and i like to think that i have good taste. well, the very first lumpia that i came out with that really build the lumpia -- it wasn't the poerk and shrimp shanghai, but my favorite thing after partying is that bakon cheese burger lumpia.

there was a time in our generation where we didn't have our own place, our own feed to eat. before, i used to promote filipino gatherings to share the love. now, i'm taking the most exciting filipino appetizer and sharing it with other filipinos. >> it can happen in the san francisco mint, it can happen in a park, it can happen in a street park, it can happen in a tech campus. it's basically where we bring the hardware, the culture, the operating system. >> so right now, i'm eating something that brings me back to every filipino party from my childhood.

it's really cool to be part of the community and reconnect with the neighborhood. >> one of our largest challenges in creating this cultural district when we compare ourselves to chinatown, japantown or little saigon, there's little communities there that act as place makers. when you enter into little philippines, you're like where are the businesses, and that's one of the challenges we're trying to solve.

>> undercover love wouldn't be possible without the help of the mayor and all of our community partnerships out there. it costs approximately $60,000 for every event. undiscovered is a great tool for the cultural district to bring awareness by bringing the best parts of our culture which is food, music, the arts and being ativism all under one roof, and by seeing it all in this way, what it allows san franciscans to see is the dynamics of the filipino-american culture.

i think in san francisco, we've kind of lost track of one of our values that makes san francisco unique with just empathy, love, of being acceptable of different people, the out liers, the crazy ones. we've become so focused onic maing money that we forgot about those that make our city and community unique. when people come to discover, i want them to rediscover the magic of what diversity and empathy can create. when you're positive and committed to using that energy >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their showing up and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services

within the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so where will you shop & dine in the 49 san francisco owes must of the charm to the unique characterization of each corridor has a distinction permanent our neighbors are the economic engine of the city. >> if we could a afford the lot by these we'll not to have the kind of store in the future the kids will eat from some restaurants chinatown has phobia one of the best the most unique neighborhood shopping areas of san francisco. >> chinatown is one of the oldest chinatown in the state we

need to be able allergies the people and that's the reason chinatown is showing more of the people will the traditional thepg. >> north beach is i know one of the last little italian community. >> one of the last neighborhood that hadn't changed a whole lot and san francisco community so strong and the sense of partnership with businesses as well and i just love north beach community old school italian comfort and love that is what italians are all about we need people to come here and shop here so we can keep this going not only us but, of course, everything else in the community

i think local businesses the small ones and coffee shops are unique in their own way that is the characteristic of the neighborhood i peace officer prefer it is local character you have to support them. >> really notice the port this community we really need to kind of really shop locally and support the communityly live in it is more economic for people to survive here. >> i came down to treasure island to look for a we've got a long ways to go. ring i just got married and didn't want something on line i've met artists and local business owners they need money to go out and shop this is

important to short them i think you get better things. >> definitely supporting the local community always good is it interesting to find things i never knew existed or see that that way. >> i think that is really great that san francisco seize the vails of small business and creates the shop & dine in the 49 to support businesses make people all the residents and visitors realize had cool things are made and produced in san .

>> shop and dine the 49 challenges residents to do they're shopping with the 49ers of san francisco by supporting the services within the feigned we help san francisco remain unique and successful and rib rant where will you shop the shop and dine the 49 i'm e jonl i provide sweets square feet potpie and peach cobbler and i

started my business this is my baby i started out of high home and he would back for friends and coworkers they'll tell you hoa you need to open up a shop at the time he move forward book to the bayview and i thinks the t line was up i need have a shop on third street i live in bayview and i wanted to have my shop here in bayview a quality dessert shot shop in my neighborhood in any business is different everybody is in small banishes there are homemade recess pesz and ingredients from scratch we shop local because we have someone that is here in your city or your neighborhood that is provide you with is service with quality ingredients and quality products and need to

be know that person the person behind the products it is not like okay. who

>> when i open up the paper every day, i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about what planet i want to leave for my children and other generations, i think about what kind of contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. >> it was really easy to sign up for the program. i just went online to cleanpowersf.org, i signed up and then started getting pieces

in the mail letting me know i was going switch over and poof it happened. now when i want to pay my bill, i go to pg&e and i don't see any difference in paying now. if you're a family on the budget, if you sign up for the regular green program, it's not going to change your bill at all. you can sign up online or call. you'll have the peace of mind knowing you're doing your part in your household to help the environment.