within the building and checking personal bags is having a awareness of the surrounded. >> there is so month people the brunet of breaking into this career that was every for easier for me had an on the with an before he cleared the path for laugh us. >> my people he actually looking at lucid up to poem like he joe and kim and merit made they're on the streets working redondo hard their cable of doing this job and textbook took the time to bring us along. >> women have going after their goals and departments line the san francisco sheriff's department provide a lot of training tools and inspiring you to go into the department. >> they gave me any work

ethics she spider me to do whatever he wanted to do and work hard at the intersection. >> if you're going to make change you have to be part of change and becoming law enforcement i wanted to show women could do this job it is hard not easy. >> finds something our compassion about and follow roll models and the gets the necessary skeletals to get to that goal with education and sprirmz whatever gets you there. >> if this is what you want to do dream big and actually do what you desire to do and you can go vertebrae far it is a fast job i wouldn't do anything

else. >> ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ . >> i love that i was in four plus years a a rent control tenant, and it might be normal because the tenant will -- for the longest, i was applying for b.m.r. rental, but i would be in the lottery and never be like 307 or 310. i pretty much had kind of given up on that, and had to leave san francisco. i found out about the san francisco mayor's office of housing about two or three years ago, and i originally did home counseling with someone, but then, my certificate

expired, and one of my friends jamie, she was actually interested in purchasing a unit. i told her about the housing program, the mayor's office, and i told her hey, you've got to do the six hour counseling and the 12 hour training. she said no, i want you to go with me. and then, the very next day that i went to the session, i notice this unit at 616 harrison became available, b.m.i. i was like wow, this could potentially work. housing purchases through the b.m.r. program with the sf mayor's office of housing, they are all lotteries, and for this one, i did win the lottery. there were three people that applied, and they pulled my number first. i won, despite the luck i'd had with the program in the last couple years. things are finally breaking my way. when i first saw the unit, even though i knew it was less than

ideal conditions, and it was very junky, i could see what this place could be. it's slowly beginning to feel like home. i can definitely -- you know, once i got it painted and slowly getting my custom furniture to fit this unit because it's a specialized unit, and all the units are microinterms of being very small. this unit in terms of adaptive, in terms of having a murphy bed, using the walls and ceiling, getting as much space as i can. it's slowly becoming home for me. it is great that san francisco has this program to address, let's say, the housing crisis that exists here in the bay area. it will slowly become home, and i am appreciative that it is a bright spot in an otherwise

>> we are very excited to introduce our next speaker. someone who can speak about the importance of affordable housing and what it means for low income families in the mission district pick someone that understands this and actually talks about this on a regular basis throughout san francisco. i'm very honored to introduce our mayor, london breed to the podium. [applause] >> thank you. it is so exciting to be here. to break ground on 100% affordable housing. [cheers and applause] >> finally, after almost ten years, we are finally building -- building affordable housing in the mission for those whose income ranges anywhere between 30 and nifty% a.m.i. and i think i'm more excited

because -- 30 and 50% a.m.i. and i think i'm more excited because even though we have had challenges making sure people who live in the communities can have access to the affordable housing built in their community , we will not have that problem with this project. because of the neighborhood preference legislation that i and others on the board of supervisors put through a few years back, i got so much support for that legislation from this community. to dedicate 40% of the 80 units to the people who live in this district first. [applause] there are so many people that have made this possible and i just want to thank each and every one of you for all of your hard work, including the mayor possess office of housing, bridge has an, of course, commission housing development corridor, thank you for your advocacy and your work around not just helping to build new

affordable housing, but the small sites acquisition program, and all the work that you continue to do. all of the architects and the contractors, thank you all so much for being patient, working hard, putting together a project that we know is going to be absolutely incredible in this community. i also want to acknowledge, in addition to neighborhood preference, some of you may know that there are people who live in public housing. there are challenges with locations and we also have an opportunity to welcome in residence of public housing to this new development as well. it's part of the plan. a way to try and make sure that people have access to affordable housing. that people are able to stay in their communities. i just want to thank each and every one of you for the hard work and i see someone who snuck

in here and is trying to hide. roberto hernandez. thank you for your advocacy and the work that you have done to help us with neighborhood preference. holding folks in city hall accountable to make sure that the housing that gets promised to this community gets built in this community and that we do a better job as a safety of providing opportunities with our application process. because the real work begins. we better get -- we build the housing but we have to make sure that we outreach all over this community to folks unfortunately , in some instances struggling and in the process of being displaced. that we make sure that we help them get those applications in. that is what i am committed to. the planning department to, thank you so much for being here thank you to each and every one of you for your work. i am excited to be here during

this groundbreaking and i'm looking forward to making sure that we don't let another ten years go by before we break ground on another affordable housing development. [applause] folks, let's celebrate today and tomorrow, let's continue to roll up our sleeves and get to work. we have got to do more, not just in the mission, but all over the city and county of san francisco thank you all so much for being here today. >> thank you so much, mayor breach. and the project manager at bridge housing. for the last two years, it has been my pleasure to shepherd this project to this moment right now, which is so exciting. we are going to replace this vacant gas station with a beautiful building. it is really thrilling for me to say that. i would like to welcome supervisor hilary ronan which includes district nine. she has been a champion for many of the projects. we are glad you can be with us.

thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you everybody. what an exciting day. this site right here represents such a huge victory for the mission community. i. i love the fact that our friends are holding a sign that says house keys, not handouts. thank you! [cheers and applause] that is exactly what we want in our community. eighty-one units of truly affordable housing. sometimes when we talk about affordable housing, we are talking about housing that people are making over $100,000 are eligible for. not at this site. we are talking about a family of four earning $35,000 a year who will be living right behind us. finally housing for the families that we have all been fighting for in this neighborhood.

it is truly remarkable. what's even more remarkable about this, and i've seen so many faces of so many people i love in this crowd, this was slated to be luxury housing. it was going to be housing for people -- for people who grew up in the neighborhood would never be able to afford. and this community fought hard, fought a long, fought to get $50 million from the last affordable housing bond to come to the mission district. this was one of the sites that came out of it. please give yourselves a round of applause, mission community, because you made this site happen. i also want to congratulate mission housing development corporation his. is such an important organization in our community. this is the first time in ten years that you are breaking ground on a new affordable

housing site in the mission which is just incredible. you are back in action and you will be the powerhouse organization that in the past is built so much housing in our neighborhood and are doing so again. shortly after this, you will break ground on 1950 mission, which will be another truly affordable housing site. mission housing development corporation and housing in the mission. we couldn't be more excited. we love you, and as the mayor said, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work and get this housing built. congratulations. [cheers and applause] >> thank you supervisor ronen. we are pleased to be working hand-in-hand with your office on the critical issues that our community continues to face. just like supervisor ronen just said, there was a point in time where many did not believe that mission housing was going to

make a comeback. so we were resilience. just like this communities. our team came back stronger than ever, with one goal in mind. to uphold our mission statement, to build affordable housing in our district. in san francisco. our board supported us every step of the way. this isn't just a celebration for mission housing today. but it is a win for this neighborhood. at this specific site, was one because of community advocacy. today we come together as a community to celebrate. our next speaker is someone i work with on a daily basis and i've gotten to know him extremely well. i have to say that his spanish has gotten a little better. he loves latin food. particularly tacos. if you ever want to offer him something to drink, offer him

some tamarind water. he is currently laughing. you can find him specifically at the panel discussions, at schools during presentations on affordable housing, asking either myself or a team member in the organization to help a local nonprofit in the mission. or walking around wearing a t-shirt with various messages. many of them about housing. his work has not gone unnoticed. certainly not by our team or our board or affordable housing community. he has been my counterpart in mission housing. together, we have overcame many obstacles to get to this place of celebration and groundbreaking. i am very pleased and honored to introduce our executive director of mission housing, my counterpart. [applause]

>> i feel like everyone said my whole speech, i guess i can go home, right? thank you, everyone. thank you so much from the bottom of my heart and for mission housing. >> it has been a nostalgic kind of a day, thinking back on seven years ago and where mission housing was and where i was. i can't -- there were countless meetings of me -- of people telling me i was crazy for thinking that i could help take over mission housing. that will never happen. it is impossible. you are never coming back. over and over again, if it wasn't for marcy at and the staff and our board and the leadership and support, it probably would have been rights. the fact is, mission housing was

created to actually develop community. mission housing was created to be a backbone for infrastructure or whatever you want to call it. that is what we are again. i am really proud to stand here next to this broken dirt and guarantee that 80 some odd units of affordable housing are coming but what i'm most proud to do is to be with our community and to break ground with the people who stood by us. the people who didn't believe that this wasn't going to weigh. who wanted us to regrow. i would like to personally dedicate this building and the rest of our building to the mission community. why don't we give the mission community a hand we -- why do we give them a hand? [applause] >> i would be remiss if i got up here and i didn't point out to

the fact that this project and all the thousand units of affordable housing in the mission were originally and only made possible by a man who had the foresight to lead and to listen to the mission community. when mayor ed lee decided to focus on affordable housing and fix our public housing and to build more units, it was something -- that without it, i don't know mission housing could have come back like we have. while he is not here physically with us, i am fairly certain he is looking down on us and smiling. thank you. [applause] >> i really do want to thank the mayor and all of our partners and supervisor ronen. there so many people. i'm sorry, i honestly have not been this tongue-tied ever.

anyone who knows me knows what an emotional day this is been. i will just leave by saying thank you. thank you for believing in mission housing. i assure you that we believe in ourselves and that we will not go another ten years. we won't go another ten months for another groundbreaking. if unlimited money was made available, we wouldn't say no to that. okay. let's get on with the show. thanks, everybody. [cheers and applause] >> thank you so much. it is a pleasure to work with you and john and michael and your whole team in partnership on these projects. i would like to introduce the c.e.o. and president, cynthia walker. when she joined us, she brought a long-term commitment to affordable housing with her cat demonstrated by 30 plus years of experience from alaska, seattle and now here in san francisco. she has been projects like this

to life for a long time. i appreciate cynthia's leadership. through all the twists and turns that we go through, trying to blow things out of the ground, and there are many, many twists and turns. i feel personally supported by cynthia. please welcome cynthia parker. [applause] >> thank you. thank you everyone who is here today. it does indeed take a village to get this type of development off the ground. we can't do it without the support of our partners and also , bakers, the mayor, assembly members, supervisors, everyone who is here has had a hand in making this happen. but it is particularly an auspicious project because of our partnership with mission hell being with sam and his group.

and also, the neighborhood preference, which is incredibly important here. in this code today, for someone to rent a market rate unit, they have to earn a wage of $54.76 an hour in order to pay the rent on an unrestricted property. so with this particular 100% developed project back we are able to rent it to families who are making $35,000 a year. a family of four. we are not reaching everyone because there are many people who live in this neighborhood to make less of -- less than that. recent survey of latino residents in the neighborhood indicated 30% of them made about $11.56 an hour. they are still living here and as rents go up, they are being forced out.

i want to thank the mayor personally for her efforts and for everyone who has advocated for the neighborhood preference. and for also making resources available and the support that is necessary to get this type of 100% development project off the ground. it takes a village and it takes all of us to make a commitment. i see you have some tears in your eyes. i think i met sam when i got here a little over seven years ago. he was in another job and another life and then he left and called me up. he said, i've gone to work at mission housing. and i said well, cool. he said we have not done a project for the longest time. do you want to topically come on over. he did. he said this is what my vision is for mission. i want to get it back on the grounds and i want to be developing more housing. i want to be focused on the housing in the mission and i want to catalyze all of the

things that have gone on in that community. i said, how can we help we what happens as a result of that is that we formed a deep partnership. we are engaged with other organizations because it takes a village to create this type of work here. but i really celebrate the fact that this is our first project. we will have another one breaking ground very shortly, and it will also accommodate families and seniors and we will have children living here. it will be back to the neighborhood. that's what is so important. i want to also comment on an article that i saw in the paper today, in the chronicle, which i thought was sort of interesting. it was a contrasting of new york and san francisco. i can't --dash i don't know if it is accurate or not. i certainly hope it wasn't but i

did fire up an e-mail to the chief of staff. i said new york has made this commitment to housing and to affordable housing and to public housing that san francisco has not done. and that is why new york is much more economically diverse. my e-mail back to his chief of staff was someone i happen to know, was i hope this isn't an accurate statement. the next city, with this mayor, this is not the case. i want to thank you mayor breed. i want to thank everyone who works in this city. i know projects like these is a commitment that the city has that will make this city support the residents of the city and always and providing more housing. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, cynthia. i want to take a moment. we said it takes a village. i want to name a couple of the folks who have been critical in

bringing this to life. tom, chris, dan and miguel and anita, you guys have literally broken the ground behind me. thank you so much. those are our contractors. [applause] >> travis, mary, irving, the enhanced beauty of the urban landscape can deliver the credit to your fabulous design. thank you so much. [applause] >> you are rock stars. kevin, joan, jenny, mara, aaron, and kate from the mayor's office of housing. you are partners every step of the way and we are so grateful for everything. we talk on the phone almost every single day. heather, eileen, joshua, amy, and william. you make all of our long loan documents really fun to read. thank you.

justin, doug, mike, larry, and jamie and rebecca, thank you for all you do. [applause] and of course, there are so many more people than just that that have been sitting around all day those are just some people i wanted to call out. the fun part of this project is a san francisco housing authority, our permanent lender -- and our construction and equity lender, bank of america, it's been a pleasure closing this deal. i am really excited to welcome the managing director for the bank of san francisco in east bait bay market. please join us. [applause] >> thank you so much. we're so honored and grateful to be with you all today. i love this scene at the

groundbreaking. thank you for that item. americas grateful and honored. sixty-six -- 56 and a half million dollars in financing for this project. it has been stated again, i wanted to thank you mayor breed for her continued unwavering support for affordable housing. and supervisor ronen for her support of this amazing neighborhood in the mission. you guys are wonderful partners. thank you so much for the work you do together. the two developers working on the project with us with bridge housing and mission housing. i would like to thank all of the bank of america associates who work every day to assist our communities and who work on affordable housing. we look forward to many more occasions. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for being here tonight.

our closing speaker needs no introduction. he is known to many people across the city as a community leader, home grown native a passionate advocate. he has been working in this neighborhood for years ensuring that the voices of our people is not only being heard but also respected. there is an organization partner of ours not only here at 419 but also across the street. not too far away from here. they are an integral part of the community and we greatly value the work we do on a daily basis. without further ado, i would like to welcome someone to the podium for closing remarks. [cheers and applause] >> good evening, everybody. i am an organizer. i'm so humbled to be here among so many community warriors. a lot of people who have spent a

lot of long hours and organizing hours on this street talking to neighbors and making sure we get what we need and what we deserve in this case, affordable housing we started our groundbreaking with a blessing. we started with movement. we were led in four directions. so appropriate and so fitting that we started with movement. because its movements that organizes this piece of land. it is movement that advocated. it is movement that unfolds banners like that one. it is movement that demanded that sights like this return to our neighborhood and returned to the hard-working families and individuals in san francisco. we started with a blessing that called on our ancestors to guide us, to protect us, and people are resilient. resilient because this isn't the

end of our journey. this is in the end of the movement. we are on a long distance marathon. it is far from over. it is a marathon that includes not only building and reclaiming land to build affordable housing , but also protecting renters and they're existing homes. it is making sure that we get the most amount of benefits with any luxury corporate developer that comes into our hood. because of families in our community deserve more. just walk around these streets. there are hundreds and thousands of our loved ones on the streets we see them intense. we see them living in cars. or you don't see them. because they are doubled and tripled in apartment buildings like this. this is why we do it. we do it for all the hundreds of

homeless kids that come to school after a restless nights sleeping in the shelter. they deserve more. they deserve more. and we deserve more. when you join our movement, will you join our movement. we are just getting started. are you all ready to party and celebrate we -- are you ready to party and celebrate, i thank everyone for being here. i will turn it back over to marcy. please stay. we have delicious food from some local vendors and local mom and pop businesses to support the hoods and support the neighborhoods. thank you all for being here. [cheers and applause] >> okay. thank you so much. we would like to invite all the speakers to come up and grab a shovel, and we will take a picture, a break in the ground, after that, anybody else is welcome to take a picture with a

shovel once we are done. thank you all so much for being here. it is really a great moment for us in the city and the neighborhoods. thank you. >> good morning everyone. i'm the director of the department of homelessness and supportive housing. it is so wonderful to see everyone here at the grand opening of this family access points. let me start the program by introducing the director of catholic charities in san francisco. [applause] >> thank you all.

thank you, jeff, for your presents an introduction and thank you, mayor breed to, for your presence and endorsement of our program. i am honored to be here with you today and be present at this very special occasion. catholic -- catholic charities, although we have been serving the population in the bay area for 100 years, this is one of the third programs, one of three programs in the mission. we have 35 programs. this is just one of three. we have been very, very blessed. we have funding now to open this site. the mission access point is really what it is. it involves immigration services , as well as homelessness prevention. if it were not for the city of san francisco who gave us the money to start this program, we would not be here. i am very grateful to the city of san francisco. our sustainable plan is to see

more funding so this program can grow, providing homelessness prevention services to the greater community has been such a big need to. as you know, we are seeing the numbers of homelessness increase our brothers and sisters are suffering every day on the streets. there are many who are not even counted. there are families living in their home, up to 20 people in a small space and they are often not counted. i would suggest to you that we have to work together, along with the city, and other nonprofits in our community, and our business community. those private-sector communities , to come together and solve the problem. none of us can do it alone. i am grateful to the mayor because i know she is committed to helping us solve this critical problem. bless you all for being here. we serve everyone. i want to make sure everyone knows that. we do not discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation , or faith or

anything else. the catholic charities are here for everyone. it is a safe space. we will always be a safe space. 116 years in san francisco and in the greater area, 153. we expect to be here for another 150 years plus. again, i'm grateful for your presence, your endorsement, your support, and mayor breed,, please honor us with your words. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. i want to start by thanking catholic charities for their 150 years of work and services in the community, but more importantly, their willingness to step up and manage this incredible center that is going to be an incredible resource for , not only, sadly, some of our homeless families were struggling on our streets, but also our immigrant community. with the services that will be

provided. as we sadly know, we have a president, who every single day, is attacking our immigrant community and here in san francisco, despite the attacks and despite the threats that come our way, we will continue to stand strong and provide resources and support to our immigrant community, for our people who are san franciscans, because sadly, we are under attack as a city and we will continue to do what's necessary to move the city forward which will include all san franciscans part of doing that is having a coordinated entry system in order to help our families grow and thrive. here at catholic charities, this is one of five locations that provides a place that people who are experiencing homelessness, can come in order to be entered into a system so that we can help people get into shelter or

get into permanent housing. already, and i think jeff kaczynski who is running this department of homelessness for the city, can talk to you about the numbers and how amazing this coordinated entry system has been in terms of identifying individuals, tracking individuals and transitioning people into permanent housing. i'm excited about what we've been able to do. because i know that you hear a lot about the numbers and what's going on, and why isn't san francisco doing enough to address this issue, and the fact is, san francisco is doing a lot to help house people and help get them on the right path. and one of the statistics that you may not hear often enough is we housed about 50 people a week and right behind those 50 people there are another 65 people to take their place. there is a problem around the entire state of california about homelessness. about 24% of the homeless population that exists in the united states is here in the

state of california. i'm excited about working on regional solutions for the purpose of addressing this problem. san francisco can't do it alone. but we are lucky that we have incredible partners who are willing to step up to the plate and they are still hiring for this location and looking for great and dedicated people to help facilitate this process and serve the community. in fact, thank you for your service in working with one of the clients who is here and who is actually working with the homeless population and is housed herself. michelle, in fact was a client and was working with the homeless population and is now housed herself. so this is what is -- what success looks like. it is having a coordinated system and working together,

providing the right resources, providing shelters, providing housing, getting rid of the bureaucratic red tape that prevents us from building housing in the first place. i am looking forward to collaborations with all the 90 -- nine d. bay counties to address this challenge. access points cannot only just exist in san francisco, but also throughout the bay area. we have to build those partnerships so we can help make sure that people are housed, but especially, especially families. people with the children. that is going to be extremely important to move the city forward. i'm happy to be at mission access point, where we will be open and available and working with the community. i want to thank jeff kaczynski and catholic charities and all the people who are actively engaged in helping us and making this place a success for the homeless families, as well as

immigrant populations. thank you all so much for being here today. at this time, i would like to introduce the supervisor who represents this district, henry ronen. [applause] -- hillary ronen. [applause] >> thank you so much. it is a very exciting day in the mission district. as you all know the mission district is one of the neighborhoods in the city where there are more homeless people living on the streets and in their cars in this neighborhood than anywhere else. it is one of the hard-hit neighborhoods. and to finally have an access point right here in the heart of the mission is so incredibly meaningful and it is going to make a big difference in the lives of so many people. i also want to say that catholic charities being the organization housing this important program is also, you know, i don't know if it is luck, it is hard to say

luck when there's so much hard work involved. but this is an organization that the mission of community trusts. the mission of community trust this organization because catholic charities have been doing the hard work and neighborhoods for decades. it is known as a safe place to come where the services will be linguistically and culturally sensitive, where they understand the intersection between several challenges, whether it's someone who is homeless and might be undocumented and might not be in the english dutch and english language speaker, catholic charities knows how to work with a population and make them feel heard, invested, involved, and left. that is why i am particularly excited today. thank you. thank you so much for doing this important work and to all of the staff, thank you so much. i also just want to say that thank you to both the mayor and

to jeff kaczynski for creating this coordinated system, finally , in san francisco, we are not reinventing the -- the wheel every single time interact with an individual. that is going to make the services that we provide so much more effective and meaningful because we will know what has been tried before and what did work, what didn't work, and be able to engage. finally, at the home, to one navigation center and one that has very close -- is very close by, to the shelters in santa maria and santa marta are, and to a new overnight program, the first of its kind that is starting at one avista horace mann school for the students themselves that are experiencing housing and security or homelessness, knowing that they will be able to work in conjunction with the school, with the principal, with the social workers at the school and those families, and get them housed as quickly as possible, because we know it's criminal

for over 2,000 students in our public school system to be homeless. we have to fix that yesterday. can we know that this coordination between the overnight program and catholic charities running the access point in the mission, that we will be able to do that. congratulations and thank you so much. [applause] >> okay. thank you, mayor breed and thank you supervisor ronen. i was going to do introductions of both of our speakers so i will do this backwards and thank mayor breed for her leadership on supporting coordinated entry, which is really revolutionizing the way that we address homelessness in san francisco. will be able to help more people more effectively and eliminate waiting lists and really direct people towards services and resources that will help them move beyond homelessness or prevent them from becoming

homeless and the first place. mayor breed has been a really incredible champion of this and we are very grateful to her leadership, and i also wanted to acknowledge that supervisor ronen has been very instrumental in bringing resources to the entire city, but especially into the mission district, helping raise $10 million at the state level to open up two new navigation centres. and more importantly than that, saying yes to navigation centres in her district and working with her constituents to help them support bringing services like the access point or navigation centres into her district. thank you very much for your leadership. and of course, to everybody at catholic charities to do such amazing work every day. now he is my pleasure to introduce another part of the catholic charities family. ellen, who has a few words for us. thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you everyone. good morning. i am the senior division director for catholic charities.

it's my pleasure to welcome everyone and open this site. it has been a work of beauty and pleasure to finally have us open i do want to thank our c.e.o. and all the staff who i work with day in and day out to our dedicated to serve our clients in the best way possible. we are an accredited organization. our standard of care follows best practices and we are truly blessed with being able to provide the best services and the highest quality care for our clients. i also want to say, thanks to all the staff. this focuses us on hope and the tangible ways we can actively hope -- help our vulnerable

neighbors thrive with dignity and self-determination. with the city and all of our other collaborative partners, we are focused on problem-solving. solving the problem of homelessness, and ending cycles of homelessness forever. that is our goal at catholic charities. we use problem-solving in our coordinated entry systems in order to end homelessness. we engage everyone in an equitable and community-based, solution oriented practice. where we acknowledge and give people opportunity to stand up and walk on their own to be empowered to us use our tools so they can sign -- find their way in their lives and support their own children to thrive. i am honored today to introduce a client who we have served through our bayview access point site and our s.f. home

homelessness prevention program. our sister program in the bayview has been open for a year now, which is really exciting, and hopefully we will have a birthday celebration there sometime soon. it does the same work. we do outreach in the communities, so we go out teen vans and find families that need our help and bring them into do the problem-solving and the coordinated entry care. his of the client is here today. i think you've already seen her. michelle english. she is a catholic charities client who, with the guidance of our staff and the services at the bayview access point and s.f. home programs, was able to prevent homelessness, find stability, rebuild her life, and remained with her beloved 8 -year-old daughter, samara. did i get that right? so maia. i knew i would do that. with the stability of a home and a job now, she plans to become a

sign language interpreter and pay it forward. please congratulate her and welcome her. [applause] >> how is everybody. first and foremost, i want to say thank you. everybody and jesus, i love you guys so much because without the consistency of it all, i don't feel like i would have accomplished everything. access point and bayview, people get discouraged in the neighborhood and it is not what it is kept up just cracked up to be. the people inside a very welcoming and loving, like you feel welcome and from the time that i've been there and the time that lady has been assigned to my case has been nothing just greatness.

when i feel like giving up and finding somewhere to live, they continue to keep pushing. i did some footwork but i owe them everything. they do the majority of the footwork. i don't really know what else to say, but it is a blessing and if we can keep utilizing the things that are out there. just know that you can reach out for help. i am big on pride i was allergic -- working at a homeless shelter the whole time i was home. i don't want to step out on myself and go ask for help but i asked for help and i received it so the lesson now is i am able to walk into my home with my baby and she's so happy and i'm just thankful. [applause]

>> thank you all very much for joining us today. i believe there's refreshments in the room over here. thank you again. [♪] >> i just don't know that you can find a neighborhood in the city where you can hear music stands and take a ride on the low rider down the street. it is an experience that you can't have anywhere else in san francisco. [♪]

[♪] >> district nine is a in the southeast portion of the city. we have four neighborhoods that i represent. st. mary's park has a completely unique architecture. very distinct feel, and it is a very close to holly park which is another beautiful park in san francisco. the bernal heights district is unique in that we have the hell which has one of the best views in all of san francisco. there is a swinging hanging from a tree at the top. it is as if you are swinging over the entire city. there are two unique aspects. it is considered the fourth chinatown in san francisco. sixty% of the residents are of chinese ancestry. the second unique, and fun aspect about this area is it is

the garden district. there is a lot of urban agriculture and it was where the city grew the majority of the flowers. not only for san francisco but for the region. and of course, it is the location in mclaren park which is the city's second biggest park after golden gate. many people don't know the neighborhood in the first place if they haven't been there. we call it the best neighborhood nobody has ever heard our. every neighborhood in district nine has a very special aspect. where we are right now is the mission district. the mission district is a very special part of our city. you smell the tacos at the [speaking spanish] and they have the best latin pastries. they have these shortbread cookies with caramel in the middle. and then you walk further down and you have sunrise café. it is a place that you come for the incredible food, but also to learn about what is happening in

the neighborhood and how you can help and support your community. >> twenty-fourth street is the birthplace of the movement. we have over 620 murals. it is the largest outdoor public gallery in the country and possibly the world. >> you can find so much political engagement park next to so much incredible art. it's another reason why we think this is a cultural district that we must preserve. [♪] >> it was formed in 2014. we had been an organization that had been around for over 20 years. we worked a lot in the neighborhood around life issues. most recently, in 2012, there were issues around gentrification in the neighborhood. so the idea of forming the cultural district was to help preserve the history and the culture that is in this neighborhood for the future of families and generations.

>> in the past decade, 8,000 latino residents in the mission district have been displaced from their community. we all know that the rising cost of living in san francisco has led to many people being displaced. lower and middle income all over the city. because it there is richness in this neighborhood that i also mentioned the fact it is flat and so accessible by trip public transportation, has, has made it very popular. >> it's a struggle for us right now, you know, when you get a lot of development coming to an area, a lot of new people coming to the area with different sets of values and different culture. there is a lot of struggle between the existing community and the newness coming in. there are some things that we do to try to slow it down so it doesn't completely erase the communities. we try to have developments that is more in tune with the community and more equitable development in the area. >> you need to meet with and

gain the support and find out the needs of the neighborhoods. the people on the businesses that came before you. you need to dialogue and show respect. and then figure out how to bring in the new, without displacing the old. [♪] >> i hope we can reset a lot of the mission that we have lost in the last 20 years. so we will be bringing in a lot of folks into the neighborhoods pick when we do that, there is a demand or, you know, certain types of services that pertain more to the local community and working-class. >> back in the day, we looked at mission street, and now it does not look and feel anything like mission street. this is the last stand of the latino concentrated arts, culture and cuisine and people. we created a cultural district to do our best to conserve that feeling. that is what makes our city so cosmopolitan and diverse and

makes us the envy of the world. we have these unique neighborhoods with so much cultural presence and learnings, that we want to preserve. [♪]