>> we will call role for the commission on the environment. [roll call] >> there is decorum. >> thank you, very much. i am president on the commission of status of women. i wanted to thank everyone for being here today. i particularly wanted to thank the staff of the two departments the department of the environment and the status of women for this amazing meeting tonight. i know is a lot of work. it is something that the president and i talked about several months ago before the climate action summit.

our mayor showed such extraordinary leadership. this has been a vision coming together for a couple of months. i wanted to thank you. as well as director rafael. i wanted to highlight a couple of things about the department on the status of women and the commission on the status of women for those of you who may not be familiar with our work. we invite you -- we have our regular schedule commission meeting on the fourth wednesday of every month. 4-6:00 pm in city hall. all are welcome. we would appreciate your input. join us there. we were created for 40 years ago and that was to help lift to the economic security and the status of living for all women in san francisco. we serve 49% of the a hundred 50,000 residents of san francisco. we are the only commission in the country. this is something that was voted in by the voters of san francisco. we are the only commission in the country that has a department. we are the strongest commission in the country and that is something that we continue to appreciate in the leadership of

our mayor and elective family. in 1990 a, another point of pride, i think for the residents of this city, he became the first city and the country to enact a local ordinance on the extension to end the elimination -- the extension to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. this was an international treaty america is one of the only handful of countries that has not passed this treaty through our federal government. in san francisco, the residents took leadership and we passed it ourselves. it is really a point of pride for the city. in 2014, the mayor and the first lady launched a organization. we are taking that leadership to cities across the country. we have over 75 cities that have followed our lead. we appreciate the ongoing work of the department to continue that leadership. i know -- i will now pass it to the president.

>> welcome to our commission meeting, our joint commission meeting. it is a real honor to serve with my good -- good friend. i have had the opportunity to work with 70 people on the commission on a lot of things. it is very nice to see this and to welcome you and talk about ways that we will collaborate today and moving forward. and thank you for everything for putting this together. i know that this takes a lot of work and anthony, thank you so much. [indiscernible] >> i want to talk a little bit about this pic sometimes people don't always know what this department does. also, they wonder what exactly

the department of the environment does. i will use some numbers. zero, a.d., 100 and ward ward to department staff work with zero waste to the landfill or the black been and 80% are sustained by walking, biking or transportation. we work to power the city by 100 % renewable energy. those are the roots. is our work to heal the planet through vital diversity, urban forestry and remove in carving from the air. there are many things that the department does. i will give you one example. i will give you an idea of the wide range of the things that we do. it is not just about composting or biking. the department of the environment has worked with a nonprofit organization for converting public housing

developments. our team is working to make sure that both energy, thank you, both energy -- of this is better [laughter] >> let me restart that. we do a lot of things to showcase the wide range of things that we do. the department of the environment has worked with a nonprofit organization who are converging and retrofitting public housing developments. our energy team is working to make sure they are energy efficient, while at the toxics team works to help with integrated task management in a way that is less toxic. today you will hear about two other initiatives of our department, including the collaboration with the department on the status of women. anthony, please read the next item. >> the next -- we will take a public comment on this item.

>> public comment is welcome. >> all right. next itemization three. presentation of commission on the status of women accommodation and the commission on the environment serve as a supervisor katy tang. this item is for discussion and action. >> thank you. both the commission on the environment and the commission on the status of women would like to recognize individuals and organizations whose work supports the mission of our organization. today we are proud and honoured to recognize supervisor katy tang in the mission science workshop. both will be receiving the resolution from the commission on the status of women and the environmental service award from the commission on the environment. >> commissioners, directors and members of the public, how this will work is that we will present the resolution and the

commendation. then we will ask all commissioners to step aside and go out in the front for a photo after each resolution. then we will ask those who are honoured to make comments and then we will ask for comments from the commissioners and the directors and then we will take public comment. >> it is my honor to present our service award to supervisor katy tang. [applause] >> during her tenure on the board of supervisors, supervisor katy tang has been an incredible champion for the environment and for the city's climate action goals. as a city leader, she has recognize the urgency and the importance of local action in addressing global climate change and as a legislator, she has

lead by example and demonstrating what cities and counties can do to change behaviour and protect our environment. as supervisor, she has stone -- she has shown an unparalleled commitment there are legislative and neighbourhood work. she has helped push the city farther towards the goals of achieving zero waste through legislation to reduce single use disposable items like straws and cups. zero waste is more than just good public policy for supervisor katy tang. it is a personal commitment. she has really spotted in our district or at city hall without a reusable bag or a reusable mug in hand. she is truly a model and a champion for our program. supervisor tang has also been an instrumental partner in helping us tackle clean transportation for our city. whether it has been by championing vision zero and promoting walking and biking throughout her district, or

through her work with accelerate greater adoption of zero emission vehicles for the city's own fleet of vehicles. she recognizes that electrified transportation is a key part of how we shift away from fossil fuels. as supervisor, she has spearheaded groundbreaking legislation to require all new developments in san francisco to be electric vehicle ready. and have the capacity for electrical vehicle charging. >> supervisor tang, you have been an incredible advocate for women as well. thank you for your leadership on the board. i wanted to mention a couple of things you have done at the neighborhood label -- level that have been incredible. you have helped green at the sunset district. the front yard and master program has transferred dozens of front yards. by breaking a concrete replacing it with drought tolerant plants that help retain water and sequester carbon. for your leadership, the city has launched a cigarette butt litter pilot program. this is one of my favourites.

we need is in district a as well it has seen significant results or was it -- reducing letter among commercial corridors throughout the sunset. we have so much to be thankful for, soup -- supervisor tang when it comes to your leadership you have been an incredible partner and advocate. on behalf of the commission and the status of women and the department of the environment, and the commission on the environment, we thank you for your environmental leadership and your stewardship. for your commitment to climate action and for dedicated service to the city and county of san francisco. we honor you. thank you. [applause] >> i will ask for a quick point of guidance. anthony are we doing the vote first and then the photo? or should we do the photo? schema -- >> we will take the vote at the end after we take public comment >> should be take the photo now? >> yes. >> we will come down and take a photo and hear from you and hear

from the other commissioners and then the public. we will come down to take our photo. [laughter] >> we all have to go back -- that way. [laughter] [laughter] >> you guys have a bigger budget than we have. [laughter] >> you are helping us out. >> congratulations. >> thank you, thank you. >> thank you, for everything.

[indiscernible]

>> that is a great idea. and if you could actually -- there you go. >> we will leave this up here. [indiscernible] [laughter] [cheering] [applause]

>> thank you, thank you. ok. [laughter] >> they will not bring it back down. [laughter] >> all right. >> ok. thank you to everyone who helped make that photo -- the photos happen. supervisor tang, we would love to hear from you. >> it is so nice to be part of this historic joint commission meeting. i am glad to see two of my favourite commission his meeting together. really, this is my opportunity to thank everyone else who has been a huge partner with our office on all of these initiatives. whether it is about the environment or supporting women in the workplace and all the work we have done together. a lot of grassroots advocacy work has been done predating my

time on the board of supervisors i simply see myself as the vehicle with the legislative tools to make some of these changes actually a reality. i definitely want to start by thanking both department heads. debbie, emily, thank you, so much. i see you sitting there. you helped us draft legislation as well. i want to thank ashley from my office. i could not do this work without her. she happens to be a signed -- part of your departments. i apologize if i leave anyone out. jack, peter, sunshine, alexa, am i missing someone? did i say charles? charles. tyrone. he was working at the liaison. so many people helped to make this work possible. i really hope that there will be continued leadership on the board of supervisors even after i'm gone to work on environmental issues, issues

impacting women. i thank you for this honor and recognition. i look forward to staying in touch even when my term is up in january. thank you, again. [applause] >> ok. we are now very excited for our next award. to the mission science workshop commissioners, lisa and the vice president for the commission on the environment, breanna. commissioner? >> oh, yeah. [laughter] >> can we allow the other commissioners and other opportunities -- an opportunity to speak about supers dot -- supervisor tang? >> sure. absolutely. thank you for your comments. colleagues, any comments you would like to give? go ahead.

>> if i can do this, except, supervisor, you have to come up. i. i can't see you. [laughter] >> i am so thrilled that we have this opportunity to recognize you as not just as a leader, not only an amazing supervisor, but as a woman leader. there is such a need now for all of us to be surrounded by powerful women. women who are smart and vocal and thoughtful and good listeners. those are qualities in leadership that we all admire. you embody everyone of them. i believe, very strongly, the world is run by those who show up and i'm so grateful that forever short -- part however short it was, you decided to show up as an elected official. i can imagine it is not easy. i can imagine there are days where you wondered why be in

public service when you are treated so poorly sometimes? i hope you know that we notice your leadership and we appreciated it and i personally am going to miss you deeply. you have been a wonderful colleague and a wonderful leader and i am really grateful that we had the chance to say thank you. >> thank you director raphael. >> supervisor tang, on behalf of the commission and the department, we want to thank you and your tremendous staff for changing the landscape for women in the workplace. your work on the accommodation precipitated by ashley's becoming a mother has really improved so many lives for women who are just trying to juggle having a family and working, the lactation accommodation work in san francisco has been adopted in some form at the state. it has been a tremendous

contribution to not only san francisco, but to this stage. i wonder if my colleagues on the commission would like to say anything? >> thank you. i am so honored that we are on arising -- honouring supervisor tang today. she has been a leader in a very collaborative manner that we don't see. it is less and less often. i appreciate that you and your office solicit feedback, which a lot of our elected officials sadly do not do. they want to make life easier and not have any dialogue. but i see the legislation that comes out after public feedback and feedback from other people who are in city hall. it really does make a difference that you have a solid legislation. i wish the best to you. i know you are not going to ignore what happens in the city being a native san franciscan and i am proud to also share level high school with you.

and also bring to light, especially scientific issues within our city. i speak more to that when we are on our mission science --dash when we honor mission science. >> i just wanted to say, i echo everything that has been said. you have made a real difference and we thank you for that. i will hate to see you go too. you have been a friend and incredible on the board. i wish you all the luck in your next chapter. you will be greatly missed. >> thank you all, so much. >> hello. in addition to being on this commission, i work at the national sierra club and from that perspective i know how deeply valuable to leadership at the city level is on the is really pernicious issues that we have like plastic pollution. a lot of us have heard that stat that there will be more plastic in the ocean then finished by the year 2050 if we don't make radical changes. changes the changes that you had helped inspire whole new generations to think differently

about single-use plastics. it is really inspirational to our kids and communities. i want to thank you for that. >> commissioner shorter? >> you know that i can't go without saying something. you know what i really love about you? you have said -- set such a high standard in terms of public service. and i think that we now have a new -- it is not an acronym, but it is ww kd. what would katy do? [laughter] and as we look at, not only -- no issue is singular. i have really appreciated your genius to recognize that. clearly from the status of women , clearly from our colleagues here that are representing the environmental justice issues. there is a whole myriad of other issues. you have always been one to see the cross-section between issues

you take it seriously and really involve community and really involve different opinions and different ideas and really come up with what has been the best of both ideas. i want to thank you. i also want to thank you for your love of animals. my dogs love you. they miss seeing you around. but most importantly, your love for san francisco and all of us that work to exist together. thank you. [laughter] >> thank you, so much for your thoughtful comments and hopefully i will see some of you at the salary negotiation workshop this week on thursday. thank you. [laughter] [applause] >> just a reminder, we will take public comment after both resolutions. we will move to the next one.

>> now we can move on to commissioner lisa. >> thank you. i have the good fortune to talk about mission science workshop along with another commissioner who will also speak. the science workshop, for those who don't know was founded in 1991 out of a garage in the mission district. it goes to show you that not only tech companies have been started out of their garages. he didn't set out to create a hands-on lab for science -- for kids. he happened to have a lot of instruments, rocks, fossils and bones, animal bones. kids starting hanging out in the garage and wanting to get to work or play with his collection of materials. he saw young people with deeply -- were deeply interested in learning and he committed to ensure that they would have the opportunity to create and explore scientific endeavours in

a more permanent way. fast forward 27 years. mission science workshop no longer operates out of his garage. it is going to include two bilingual community science centres. one at mission high and one in the excelsior. kids come to tinker and explore and build an experiment and feed animals and look for fossils and generally develop the problem-solving and fun having skills. these are the kinds of experiences that all kids, but particularly girls, must have to nurture their curiosity and to build confidence. mission science workshop serves more than 40 public schools and dozens of community-based organizations and my two boys went there numerous times. they went to flint which is multi latino but very diverse spanish bilingual public school in the mission. that was our go to spot.

we have been there tons of times of my kids have grown and expanded their interest in science because of it. so now my counterpart will be speaking. thank you, so much. >> i am honored to speak about something near and dear to my heart which is education and science. many children from san francisco 's neighbourhoods come to the workshops during the week on a classroom field trip and they serve as many as 11,000 a year. one of the most rewarding things is not only that these children come on these field trips, is that they will come back and bring their families on the weekends. there is never enough to do and to see and to learn and to experience. it is really a testament to the work that is going on at the mission science workshop that they are really engaging students and children in

different ways and that they want to more. there is always more to learn and sparking that curiosity that will continue for a lifetime. so i am really happy today that we are honoring an organization that nurtures confidence, curiosity, courage and collaboration. we know that these are vital skills when it comes to addressing some of the biggest challenges and we salute to the mission workshop for making sure that all children in san francisco get a chance to develop a deep love for science and learning. >> other commissioners? >> let's not electrocute ourselves. >> there is some science there. i wanted to commend this particular program. when i was growing up in san

francisco, i had the benefit of a program called lexa tory laboratory. for those of you who are towards the end of the baby boomer generation, there are not enough places for students to really get exposed to science. every child has an aptitude for meth and science. it is the early exposure. it is the constant curiosity and it is programs like mission science that help nurture our young people. satterlee, statistics that have come out with san francisco -- sadly, statistics that have come out in san francisco means that lots of students aren't ready. it makes people more ready for high school. other statistics show that if dennis don't take enough meth and science in high school, they effectively cut off over 60% of possible majors in college. this is particularly relevant for young women and that commensurately has issues when it comes to lifetime earnings. i hope that we can all join and

continue to support a program and it even goes into other neighbourhoods. i am so proud to know that this program exists in san francisco and for his longevity. >> i too am a lucky parent of a parent who gets to go to mission science workshop. we just signed on this year to be part of the program and every one of our graves gets to go two or three times a year. our faculty club, as we sit and decide, we spent a lot of time trying to raise money to help augment the programs that our schools can offer. it was a no-brainer for us. it was the first thing we said we wanted to add this year and in a year where we had to keep everything as is or cut programs mission science was when we really highlighted and decided to prioritize and i appreciate and respect all the work you do. the kids are buzzing about it.

>> i want to share a fun fact about ziggy that some people may not know. if you have been to the mission science centre, you will see there is the skeleton of a 25- foot long humpback whale. and that skeleton did not magically appear in the building all put together. it was, first and foremost, a carcass of a decaying whale that washed up on pigeon point. and said he was out there with her elbows -- elbow deep, not knee-deep, may be that too in blubber as she extracted that skeleton to bring it back and share with the students. so this is a labor of love. it was a labor of love from the founder. it is a labor of love from the people who work there and of course, the kids are what make it worth it and for all of us who are scientists and educators

at heart, we know the importance of the dedication of staff. thank you for being up to your elbows every day unsure. >> either other comments from our colleagues? >> thank you so much. this recognition means a lot to us. and that day after the beach, no one would sit next to me on bart on the way home. but thank you so much for all of your comments. i want to do one less thing which means it means a lot to us to try and make as much impact as we can with the families of our students. so that what we are doing in the title i sfusd classrooms get supported in the community and at home.

we do school date programming and we have weekend and after school programs for whole families to come back and explore. we also do special events. i wanted to make a quick shout out. we have a haunted house coming up next week. so all families, students everyone is welcome to attend and this is natalie. she managed the event and she can tell you a little bit about it. >> we wanted to share a little bit about the haunted house coming up next week and especially i heard a lot of ui parents. it is a free event for the students that we serve along with their families. we try to keep all of our events as accessible to the population that we serve as much as possible. it will be on the night of halloween, october 31st from 5:50 pm until a pm at our location in mission high school. it is an opportunity for families who would normally be out trick-or-treating or staying at home to engage with the science activities that we have

at the workshop. we are going to be doing some dissections, taking apart owl pellet -- owl pellet and doing a tinkering project so kids can light up their costumes with leds and take them home. please stop by if you have any time and spread the word if you can pick. >> thank you, so much. [applause] >> i think we will take public comment on both resolutions. i wanted to know if adults are invited to come to that. it sounds really cool for halloween. so now we would invite members of the public to come forward if you would like to speak on either resolution. i thank you are the leader. [laughter] >> my name is anastasia.

i speak purely for myself as a private citizen. and congratulations to supervisor tang for the good work that she does. and the recognition she received i am sorry to put in some negative comments. basically about the resolution that supervisor tang happened to introduce. and -- question mark -- [indiscernible] >> all over the world. they are -- european unions finally banned this thing. however, san francisco, as i know continues to allow planting

the trees with herbicides. another thing which is happening , they decide that this is not the only thing which endangers of these, course. the herbicide, this study came out about the wait in which roundup kills species by damaging the bacteria and by reducing their neuron response and making them unable to collect food. i am sure that -- however -- [indiscernible]. >> i heard a problem on the news not too long ago about bees dying and now they are talking about pesticides and herbicides.

somehow, be relation does not make a difference on -- i know we cannot ban anything, but at least the city shouldn't plant those plants which are poisonous , at least for seven years and probably for all the life of then. second thing, the city is addicted to herbicides. high toxicity herbicides. that continue to use them. i personally am tired of talking about it in meetings. they are allowing it. at least in this be city, there should be amendments which the city is not allowed to plant vegetation with systemic pesticides. and herbicides should not be used. we cannot ban it for private citizens, but at least the city

should not be -- thank you very much for listening. thank you. >> thank you. do we have other public comment? >> good afternoon. i am the founder of the resource is a nonprofit to advance women possess careers in tech and engineering. i have also been an ambassador to the friends of the commission on the status of women. in that capacity, i had the opportunity to get involved with the deputy consulate of israel who told me she is very interested in meeting an elected person regarding sex trafficking i knew that supervisor tang was deeply involved in it and forgive me if i botch this, but my understanding is that you try to get ahead of massage establishments, especially in sunset throughout land throughout land use legislation and policy that correct?

something to that effect. anyway, the big point here is that as an elected official, she has been so open to the public and i am saying this as a member of the public. i was able to connect the deputy consulate of israel to supervisor tang. i'm not sure what happened later on. i think there were joint meetings between the san francisco coalition on the human trafficking, the israeli consul and your office but some wonderful things happened as a result of that. but it is because of her openness. what a great model she is to all elected officials that she makes herself available to all of us and no matter -- no issue is too small for her. thank you, so much for that, supervisor. thank you. >> thank you. >> it isn't just good, supervisors. i'm from the san francisco domestic violence consortium.

as you mentioned, no issue is too small but i will also say no issue is too large. we had just with working with survivors, we realized families who are experiencing domestic violence are being asked to leave homeless shelters. we try to get everyone into a domestic violence shelter if we can but there are, you know, a lack of shelter spaces and people end up in domestic violence shelters our entire families ends up in a homeless shelter sometimes. we found out that there was a policy called the imminent danger policy and we wanted to find a real champion for this to make sure that families were not discriminated against or penalized when a member of their family chose to use violence. i have to say, katie tank, supervisor tang stepped right up and started a long process with us. it took a while to get the

homeless shelter community and the domestic violence community to work together to figure out how we could change this policy but also how could we train staff? how can we keep people safe? it ended up being multilayered and supervisor tang was there every step of the way along with her staff. we cannot thank you enough. your leadership has been invaluable and you have been such a gift to the community. thank you. >> thank you. are there any members of the public? ok. seeing none, public comment is closed. members of the commission on the status of women, we need to approve the resolution. do i hear a motion to approve the two resolutions? >> i moved to approve the two regulations. do i have a second? >> thank you so much. please call the next item.

>> next item is a presentation on a collaboration between the san francisco department on the status of women and the san francisco department of the environment to address worker safety and human trafficking through the san francisco healthy nail salon program. >> we have a technical issue. >> without objection, can we return to the previous item to complete the vote? thank you. >> the commission member does not need to vote because we do certificates but president, i think that deputy city attorney is asking for a vote of your commission. >> on the resolution? >> on the resolution. >> we took it. >> we took it without objection. >> do you want me to redo it and

say without objection? i am happy to do that. thank you. commissioners, do i have a motion to approve the resolutions? >> yes. >> thank you. do i have a second? >> second. >> do i have any objections? ok. seeing none, both items are so moved. ok. >> ok. once more, we are about to have a presentation on a collaboration between the san francisco department on the status of women in the san francisco department of the environment to address worker safety and human trafficking through the san francisco healthy nail salon program. should i introduce the people? >> sure. >> ok. >> could you please introduce this item?

thank you. >> thank you. our next presentation will highlight a collaborative effort between our two departments and community partners to protect the health and safety of nail salon workers in san francisco. the majority of whom happened to be women. since 2012, the healthy -- that san francisco healthy nail salon program has recognized the loans that are creating healthier working environments for their employees and clients. over the course of the last year , are agencies in community-based organization agent law caucus have partnered to deliver information to nail salon workers about other issues that are critically important to their health and well-being. particularly there rights at work. the science of human trafficking and healthcare access. we are very excited to learn more about this collaborative collaborative effort through our next three speakers. meghan of the san francisco department of the environment, diminish of the department of status of women and in victoria from the asian law caucus.

asian-americans advancing justice. >> thank you for being here. please go ahead. >> good evening. thank you so much for that introduction. my name is meghan. i work at san francisco department of the environment. we are one of the programs that i helped coordinate as a san francisco healthy nail salon program. a quick overview of why we started the program and how we implement it and how -- let's start with a wide. we have several reasons. technicians that work at nail salons in san francisco are primarily women of colour coming from immigrant communities and are of childbearing age. does approximately 250 nail salons in san francisco. and the number of salons in the u.s. has tripled. in 2017, they were more than 430,000 technicians and more than 56,000 nail salons in the u.s. while these technicians are working long hours in the salon,

they can be exposed to many chemicals. from a lot of different products if you think about it, polishes, in the cart you can see acetone, removers, thinners, artificial nail builder and more. many of these products can contain phthalates, solvents, acrylates, plasticizers. we identify the toxic trio or the worst of the waste of these chemicals which is formaldehyde and others. which brings me to help. nail salon workers have higher incidence of asthma, dermatitis, memory loss, cancer and reproductive impacts such as miscarriages. they are exposed to many industrial chemicals without proper ventilation in the salon and proper personal protection. this epidemic of public health and reproductive justice issue is overlooked prompted several set plunk dutch nonprofits to form this cooperative.

in san francisco, back in 2012, we partnered with the healthy nail salon cooperative to create a first program. in order to become a recognized healthy nail salon, the salons must need the judge must meet the following criteria that falls into two buckets. the first one is project. we look at all the products in the nail salon and make sure they are free of the toxic trio, formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate, as well as methyl acetone which is a harmful chemical and showing up in more products in salons. and the next bucket is practices retrain all the technicians about how to use protective equipment, wearing gloves when doing services, wearing proper masks, having better ventilation in the salon and also having designated areas for artificial nail services to form acrylic and help increase the ventilation in the salon.

and another key element of the program is the main salon training that we do. in the salon and train all the employees. owners, managers, receptionist, technicians on safer products, safety practices and better ventilation and how to use personal protective equipment to prevent exposure from harmful chemicals that they are exposed to a hours of the day. the trainings are given in the language that they are most comfortable with and in their workplace so it is more convenient. once the salon has gone through all of the criteria, we recognize them in many different ways. you can see here we give them window stickers to people in the community can see that they are recognized, we give them plaques to put up so the customers can see, wait list them and our webpage and promote them through different channels. we listen on our map. we also do a consumer awareness campaign. you can see here, we put a bus shelter advertisements throughout the city in different

languages. we promote healthy nail salons through facebook promoted posts, instagram, different social media channels. we really want customers to visit the salons and support local businesses who are going above and beyond to protect the worker health. as far as numbers, we have over 50 salons in san francisco that are recognized as healthy nail salons. since 2012 since a program started, over 500 technicians have been trained in the program i am also happy to say that almost 200 salons in the state of california i recognized healthy nail salons. recently, legislation passed at the state level to help other jurisdictions implement these programs and cities and counties where they might not have a health -- healthy nail salon program yet. that just goes to show that nationwide, this movement is working. local governments are becoming more aware of this issue and they they're doing something about it.

the right to work in a healthy environment is something that touches on many different issues women's writes, reproductive rights, immigrant's rights, worker rights and the intersection of these issues is why we began to work with the san francisco department on the status of women and asian law caucus. we wanted to ensure that we could deliver information in our trainings about labor rights, trafficking, access to healthcare, to edge a pop -- to a population of out -- at risk workers that is hard to reach. i would like to now introduce my partner who talked about how we expanded our training to cover these issues that our agencies work on and collaborate on. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, again. >> good afternoon, commissioners i am the women's policy director at the department on the status of women and i have had the pleasure of working with meghan for the past few years. i work on violence against women policy for our department and one of the areas we focus on is

human trafficking. and a lot of people think that human trafficking is a problem that happens primarily in developing countries and not here in the united states or here in san francisco. but sadly, the san francisco bay area has the distinction of being on a top ten list that we don't want to be on. i'm not talking about the cost of housing. that is a different list we don't want to be on. but one of the ten worst regions in the country for child sex trafficking according to the f.b.i. in order to get us off that list , in 2013, mayor lee formed a task the task force on antihuman trafficking which are department staffs. the purpose of the task force is to improve the response to human trafficking and look at where we need to have different protocols and policies in place and identify gaps in services and we have a really broad range of stakeholders at the table including department of environment. is probably safe to say we are only the task -- the only task force in the country that works with the department of

environment and sex worker rights. we spanned the gamut. one of the things he wanted to do when we started the task force was figure out how great the extent of human trafficking is happening in san francisco. sadly, five years later, i still can't tell you how much trafficking is happening but i can tell you how much trafficking is coming to the attention of agencies that work with trafficking survivors. what we have done for the past few years as put out a report on human trafficking where we gather data from a number of different agencies and collate it. we don't offend our colleagues at the department of environment i do not have hard copies for you. it is electronically on our website. you can look it up if you are a data geek. in our last report, which came out earlier this year and covers data from 2016, we had agencies identifying 529 cases of human trafficking in san francisco. there is a big *-asterisk because our data is duplicated, meaning the police department is quite likely reporting on some

of the same cases as huckleberry youth programs or child protective services because we get aggregate numbers and we don't have a way of de- duplicating them. we know that there are a lot of cases that are never even coming to the surface. this just gives you a sense. i don't have time to get into a lot of the details sound demographics, but the really sad statistic is that survivors under 25 makeup three quarters of the identified individuals of human trafficking in san francisco and then the problem is also gender to. sixty-six% of the survivors who are identified are girls or women and then also people of colour, particularly african-american and latino people are disproportionately represented among the survivors being identified in san francisco. for the first few years, we focused on the issue of child sex trafficking that had got us started. as we progressed we wanted to make sure we were looking at trafficking in other industries. as we began to collect data from

the task force members, these are some of the industries that we found where trafficking was cropping up in san francisco. in domestic work. and commercial sex like escort services and outdoor solicitation. in construction. there was a marriott hotel that had construction work being done on it in downtown san francisco and they turned out to be a number of people who were one of the contractors who were being held against their will in a warehouse in the east bay and trafficked over to san francisco to work on that site. it happens in hotels, hospitality, restaurants and agriculture and animal husbandry including fishing. there's a well-publicized case of some fishermen from indonesia who were trafficked in the open sea and moved from one fishing ship to another and then where being held against their will on a boat that was docked outside. thirty-nine and they were able to escape and then some of our organizations were able to help them with various remedies.

one of the industries that came to the fore a couple of years ago was the nail salon industry. the times time city big exposé on exploitation of workers that was happening in nail salons in new york. we read about that and thought if it is happening in new york, it could be happening here. so we looked around and saw what we could do about it. it there was already a wonderful program that the department of environment had doing education to people who work in nail salons about getting not exposed to toxins and using proper techniques and may be we could incorporate again some information on labor rights and trafficking into that already great curriculum. i have to say, sometimes when you approach a department that you are not working with closely you might get a little pushback. we were welcomed with open arms. thank you. there was absolutely no need to convince and why this would be a good idea. we work together and brought them partner his the community to help with the content on what should be in the curriculum. victoria will talk about that a

bit. i want to point out that in addition to looking at trafficking in services, we are looking at trafficking in supply chains and what the city can do as a purchaser. so we have partnered with another organization called the good food purchasing program which works with public entities that purchase food to make sure that they are incorporating five values into the purchasing of food. one of them is sustainable. that works really well with the goals of the department of environment. local, nutritious, animals are treated well and people are treated well. there is a valued workforce in the production processing or transportation of food. so we worked with our public health department that gets food to the hospitals and the shared 's department that gets food to the jail. they have come on board and supervise if you are passed a resolution earlier this year that codifies that. we are the only jail in the

country that is adopting this policy. there have been school districts that have signed on. where the only one to start expanding and look at other of the purchasers of foods. we are happy to be part of that. next up is victoria who go through some of the new contents [applause] >> thank you for the introduction. good afternoon, members of the commission of the public. my name is victoria and i'm the worker process rights community advocate and advancing justice asian law caucus. the asian law caucus was founded in 1972. we employ a three-pronged approach in our work. first prong is direct legal services when you represent members of the community if they are being evicted or old wages or a deportation removal proceedings. we also have an impact work or

reengage and impact litigation and to doing class actions where we are able to help focus on a broader and much more massive scale. we also have strategic communications and community empowerment where we reach into the community and do outreach to folks to inform them about their rights. we have seven different programs we have a criminal justice reform program, and national security and civil rights program, voting rights program which is an undocumented youth group. housing housing rates, immigrant rights and worker process rights which i will get into shortly. our workers' rights program, we have a long history of fighting on behalf of low-wage immigrant workers through legal counselling, policy advocacy, direct services, on a wide range of employment issues including wage and hour retaliation, workplace safety and discrimination unemployment

insurance benefits appeal hearings and retaliation as well we regularly partner with worker centres to support workplace organizing and worker led campaigns and the development of immigrant worker leaders in the community. we also have a semi monthly clinic where folks can come to our office and receive free and a language consultations about the rights network and we also have notable cases. one case we did in the past is a very popular nail salon chain and the san mateo county where workers were misclassified. it allows you to help them get their wages back. we also had a case against -- i'm not sure if folks are aware of the very high scale and very expensive restaurant in the san francisco who helps workers get back over $4 million. so thank you to meghan.

a.l.c. was able to participate in creating the labor content for this program. originally, we are part of the san francisco task force on antihuman trafficking which the task force of community-based organizations and government agencies and other key stakeholders to combat human trafficking in san francisco. in 2016, a.l.c., along with the newcomers connect project, which is a program of the department of public health where approached by the department of environment content by providing worker's rights and healthcare options to the program possess presentation and outreach efforts. as meghan showed earlier, nail salon workers are exposed to him workplace health and safety issues including exposure to toxic chemicals and lack of financial -- ventilation systems that at work. assisting workers who work in nail salons, we often see workers who not only are exposed

to workplace safety issues, but have also experienced or are experiencing labor violations as well. our content and the training effort improves misclassification which is the difference between to the worker his classified employee and independent contractor. they do not have the basic rights that employees have including minimum wage, overtime , meal and rest breaks and the right to keep their own tips. we also added contact involving unemployment insurance and workers compensation which are two very helpful benefits that only employees have. we also had information -- there is a paid sick leave which is an awesome law. we also had an information on employment discrimination and rights that even undocumented workers have. we had information regarding human trafficking.

and then also, the newcomer process project added some information about receiving a low or free cost healthcare in san francisco. here at a.l.c., we are very excited to be part of this effort. as meghan noted, part of the innovation of the healthy nail salon program is harnessing consumer power to support high road employers and encourage others in the industry to follow that route as well. one of the most common questions we get from the public as where to go. which nail salon, which restaurants to go to where they don't violate workplace laws or abuse workers. what businesses treat their workers better? these are the nail salons that are part of the program who have made a commitment to do the right thing in terms of health and safety for their workers pick an industry where wage and hour violations are a huge