usual -- uber, and that un fortunately has been a little bit of a shortcoming in our campaign. while we have the mayor here -- [ laughter ]. >> -- i'd like to challenge her to maybe open the door to a few more of these folks and give e jose and i a chance to see if we can convince them to make contributions. while we've raised 80% of our funds, we still need 20% fmore. so i'd challenge everyone here who has already given to re consider and think about just stretching just a little bit more and that can help put us over the 41.2 -- 41.5, $42 million that we need. thank you all for coming today and, ashley, it's yours. [ applause ].

>> sincerely, i think you can see it pretty easily how blessed we are to have russ and hjose ad frankly every board member and b donor associated with this. we wouldn't be here without you. we're coming to the end of the speaking program. i give you the chance to re lla but also to secelebrate a littl bit. we' now we're going to do somethi something -- i don't know how we're going to do this, but i do want to offer a few closing thanks and instructions. flawl first of all , can we jut give our staff that work every day delivering food -- [ applause ]. >> -- answering the phones, i just don't think none of us who don't do this work think about what it means to walk up buil buildings and six flights of stairs with food in our your

hand and buildings with he wieor s that don't work and getting in and out of a car. we have pretsocial worker s goi trying to help people who literally have nothing and people who have challenges and so forth and we have a staff that back them up that's unparalleled. again, my deep eest and most sincere appreciation to them. i specifically want to thank our development team led by jessica sweedler and we've been working together now for 12 years and we almost feel like we're kind of a dentist function ental -- di dysfunction al family, but a god one working together. frankly i think why both she and i deserve credit is we didn't staff up to run this campaign, we're just running it. we're running it on top of the $ $7 or $# 8 million that we have

already. we had the heart to do it and we've been successful. thank you all. i also want to thank the team who worked hard on this event specifically, david miranda, our events manager, jim on hzwald o communications and marketing director. [ applause ]. >> and the person who has the hard eest job on earth, being m assistant, michelle fur longi longing -- fur long. and if i didn't call your name, please know how appreciative i am to you for what you do to support us in this work every single day. it's not possible to do. what we're going to try to do -- >> okay. everybody let's count down from five. >> five, four, three, two, one. yay. [ cheering and applause ]

>> usf donates 100-120 pounds of food a night. for the four semesters we have been running here, usf has donated about 18,000 pounds of food to the food recovery network. ♪ ♪ >> i'm maggie. >> i'm nick. >> we're coe-chairs of the

national led organization. what food recovery does is recover and redistribute food that would go wasted and redistributing to people in the community. >> the moment that i became really engaged in the cause of fighting food waste was when i had just taken the food from the usf cafeteria and i saw four pans full size full of food perfectly fine to be eaten and made the day before and that would have gone into the trash that night if we didn't recover it the next day. i want to fight food waste because it hurts the economy, it's one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. if it was a nation, it would be the third largest nation behind

china and the united states. america wastes about 40% of the food we create every year, $160 billion worth and that's made up in the higher cost of food for consumers. no matter where you view the line, you should be engaged with the issue of food waste. ♪ ♪ >> access edible food that we have throughout our lunch program in our center, i go ahead and collect it and i'll cool it down and every night i prep it up and the next day i'll heat it and ready for delivery. it's really natural for me, i love it, i'm passionate about it and it's just been great. i believe it's such a blessing

to have the opportunity to actually feed people every day. no food should go wasted. there's someone who wants to eat, we have food, it's definitely hand in hand and it shouldn't be looked at as work or a task, we're feeding people and it really means so much to me. i come to work and they're like nora do you want this, do you want that? and it's so great and everyone is truly involved. every day, every night after every period of food, breakfast, lunch, dinner, i mean, people just throw it away. they don't even think twice about it and i think as a whole, as a community, as any community, if people just put a little effort, we could really help each other out. that's how it should be.

that's what food is about basically. >> an organization that meets is the san francisco knight ministry we work with tuesday and thursday's. ♪ ♪ by the power ♪ of your name >> i have faith to move mountains because i believe in jesus. >> i believe it's helpful to offer food to people because as you know, there's so much homelessness in san francisco and california and the united states. i really believe that food is important as well as our faith.

>> the san francisco knight ministry has been around for 54 years. the core of the ministry, a group of ordain ministers, we go out in the middle of the night every single night of the year, so for 54 years we have never missed a night. i know it's difficult to believe maybe in the united states but a lot of our people will say this is the first meal they've had in two days. i really believe it is a time between life or death because i mean, we could be here and have church, but, you know, i don't know how much we could feed or how many we could feed and this way over 100 people get fed every single thursday out here.

it's not solely the food, i tell you, believe me. they're extremely grateful. >> it's super awesome how welcoming they are. after one or two times they're like i recognize you. how are you doing, how is school? i have never been in the city, it's overwhelming. you get to know people and through the music and the food, you get to know people. >> we never know what impact we're going to have on folks. if you just practice love and kindness, it's a labor of love and that's what the food recovery network is and this is a huge -- i believe they salvage our mission. >> to me the most important part

is it's about food waste and feeding people. the food recovery network national slogan is finding ways to feed people. it's property to bring the scientific and human element into the situation.. >> mayor breed: thank you all so mu. >> thank you so much for joining us today. i'm sheryl davis the executive director of the san francisco human rights commission and thank thankful to have you in the in this space. the hrc was created in 1964. at the time, mayor john she will she wi dg she willy was responding to local and national organizations confronting what we walike to cl at this point in time anti- blackness, really wanting to ground the fact -- people are always telling me this and it's not something that i'm very comfortable talking about, but

that the sthian francisco human rights commission was created because there were people that were trying to buy cars that weren't allowed to buy them in this city, and those people were black people. sometimes as we do this work, i would say african-american afri s and peopblack ipeople in san francisco felt like we were continuing to forget about them and continuing to repeat bwhy te commission was created in the first place. so as we secelebrate the 55th anniversary of the human rights commission, as we remember the 5 55th anniversary of the civil rights act, i was challenged and really encouraged to revisit why the human rights commission was created and to pause during this time. somebody says, who selcelebrats5 years? i guess we do. [ applause ].

>> it is an off year, but i'm going into my third year at the human rights commission and i felt like this was a good tooim to pause and recognize the intention to call out whaen so often i'm in community to call out to recognize. i'm really grateful at this point in time to have an amazing a administration and leadership that is creating programming that is inclusive and is focused on creating opportunity ies for everyone, creating a space for everyone and being very intention intention al about that. i'm grateful to be in this work with our mayor, london bried breed. [ applause ], who as an afric - african-american woman who grew up in san francisco thouknow s firsthand what it's like to be black 234 in san francisco. i'm sure she's seen the last black man in san francisco more times than anyone seated here and knows people ooe's fear s ot

becoming a reality. i know she's offikay having thi conversation and okay in this space and that she not only has lived that experience, but is trying to make sure the experience is for the future having been part of the task force formed years years ago, but being committed to make sure that everythione is counted and represented and secelebrated. so thank you so much, mayor london breed. [ applause ]. >> all right. thank you so much for coming and thank you for your patience in starting this event. first of all , i want to really thank sheryl davis for her leadership and her advocacy and for her fight for inclusiveness and making sure that no san francisco an is left out. the investments and work that we're doing with the human rights commission in san francisco has been an example

for the rest of the world to follow, and i am so proud and tha thankful to all the commissioner s who are joining us here today sitting in the front row smiling because they love and they do. thank you so much for being here to secelebrate 55 years of the human rights commission in the city and county of san franci o francisco. [ applause ]. >> mayor breed: yes, there is much to secelebrate. sheryl mentioned the out app migration task force that was started ten years ago. we were secelebrating ten yearsf the out appmigration report, bu what was not mentioned was the fact that i along with a few other folks on the redevelopment agency commission felt it was important to do something more than talk about the challenges that so many people in the afternoon-ameri -- african-amer

community face and we can't be afraid to have those discussion s. the fact is when you look at the data and see what has happened over the years, specifically to the african-american community in san francisco, we know that we still have more work to do. when you look at the fact that sadly so many of our afric african-american boys are drippi dropping out of high school, so many sadly ending up dead or in prison, this is not a new conversation. there needs to be new solutios s to address this issue, and this is why i'm excited about the work that is happening at the human rights commission. also, in looking at what's happening all over the country and now how in particular sadly we have a president that has taken us back 60 years, that's taken us back with a lot of his homophopic policy ies, his poli

s that have really attacked our i mmigrant community and the needs need for the human rights commission is so important now more than ever to make sure that we stand together, that we support one another, that we push forward the kinds of policy s, and we analyze those policies and make sure that they work for the communities that they're intended to work for. i am so decidexcited about whate going to be doing in the future in this city and in particular i want to take this communiopport and sheryl will tell you a little bit about some of the secelebration s that are going be occurring and some of the great things that we're going to be doing to highlight the work, but i want to take this opportunity to make a special announcement because we are taking things a step further. currently we are going to hire

for the human rights commission ms. felisha jones who will help connect apartments -- [ applause ]. >> mayor breed: and -- review the recommendation of the out migration report and hold this city's feet to the fire a. she's onnibeen doing it with gr initiatives, whether working with s cvmenfiu, the locoalitio justice for mario woods and all the amazing work that she has been doing to hold the city accountable to do right by not just our african-american community, but people who oft oftentimes feel neglected, we're excited and happy to have you in this work. thank y thank you so much, felisha f, f joining us. [ applause ]. >> mayor breed: you really take an therapeutic thunt conscience -- thuopportunity to reflect, we have come very far. i mean, i the first african-american woman elected

to serve as mayor of san francisco are -- [ applause ]. >> mayor breed: -- our fire chief, the first lgbt fire chief in this in the history of our city, gentlemjanine nicol soson. we have so many members of our board of supervisors and you'll thank them soon, norm entan yee sandy few er, two in ceecredibl leaders who actually grew up in san francisco, went to public schools in san francisco, served on the school board in san francisco, and still doing the hard work for the residents of san francisco. so we have a lot of work to do. 55 years is just really about hopi opening peoples' eyes to knowing what we need to do i'm grateful for susan christian sson and ma keller and others who serve on

the commission because they really care about getting the job done, they really care about not just equity in about how you talk about it, but what our small business community. thank you, nicky for being here. there are three generations continuing to support and feed people in the community. [ applause ]. >> mayor breed: our business community, what's happening in our public schools, what's happening in our cityies, and making sure that our programs serve various populations is something critical to the needs of making sure that we are a more equitable and inclusive city. i lastly want to point out and thank supervisor few er and supervisor valley-brown for their leadership in establishing the office of equity, to really dig deep into the dis pparity i

that continue to exist despite despi all the investments that we ma e make, despite all the programs that we continue to fund. why is there continuing to be dis pparity in particular communities that make it difficult for so many wonderful people throughout our city to succeed. before i bring up the next speaker, i just want to take this opportunity to talk about quickly policy and how policy has made a difference. neighborhood preference. some of you remember that fight several years ago, and amelia ashley war from the sun report er knows this city all too well and building affordable housing and the challenges with making sure -- especially african-american in those communities have access to those affordable housing units .

we passed neighborhood preference legislation so that 40% of the units built in a community go to the people who live in that community. what is now kennedy apartments where we built 98 new units for seniors, typically we would be lucky to have maybe a few african-americans who are housihoused there and today we have 29 african-americans that made it through the neighborhood proc s process -- the neighborhood preference process are and are now housed in will by kennedy apartments. yes, we have people of diverse races in that property, and the point is if we are truly going to be the best city in the wo d world, if we are going to truly be what everyone talks about in terms of diversity, in terms of inclusiveness, in terms of all these great things, we have to make the right decision. we have to make the right investment. we have to be on the same page and know that if one person is

suffering over here, then it's all of our responsibility to lift that person up. that's what i learned from my grandmother, ms. brown, oxygwhee didn't have much, she still took that government food and cheese and she still would not turn anyone away from our door when they were hungry. that is what san francisco is about. we have work to get to a better place, but in secelebrating thi in cecredible milestone with alf these in cecredible leaders wits and serving san francisco, i know we'll get there soon er rather than later. thank you all so much for being here. with that, i want to bring up the supervisor from district 5, supervisor valley-brown. >> thank you, mayor breed. i really appreciate this and all of the supervisors that are here

today and president yee and the community. for me it really starts with the community when we're discussing these issues. i'm so proud to see the legacy of the human rights commission evolve over the last 55 years. and hope fulfully there will be another 55 years that it cawill we keep moving forward. this keweek i feel even more p d proud, this week and tomorrow at the board of supervisor's meeting, supervisor few er and y ground-breaking legislation will create san francisco's first equity -- racial equity office will be realized. this office will build on the work and legacy of the human rights commission. this legislation is a powerful start to break down years of structural and institution enal

racism. i want to tell the community we will work together, we will acknowledge and address our past harm, for more of a hopeful future. we need better policyies and f d funding to combat racial dis r disparityies in housing, healthcare, education, tr transportation and employment we need to continue the fight for equity, to make sure that our black, latin, native americans, asian and pacific island er s, d all the communityies list eed t i list ed have what they need t be successful. now, i want to pass this off to my partner sandra few er with this legislation to say a few words. thank you. [ applause ]. >> thank you very much it is on only fitting that our legislation to establish an

office of racial equity is being voted on at the board board of supervisors during the same week we secelebrate the in ceecredi - 55-year legacy of the human rights commission in san francisco, founded in 1964, to address anti- blablack racism, human rights commission has done important work to address the needs of margin ental alized communities in san francisco. with this new office of racial equity that will be housed under hrc, there is a renewed focus on racial equity and addressing s dispar ityies facing communityi of color in a range of color areas - s, including economic security, housing, health, criminal justice, and more. our legislation will require a city-wide racial equity plan withoutcomes identified and a tool of racial equity analysis at t pending legislation on tat the d of supervisior s. it is long past due that san

francisco's renews its commitment to civil rights and racial equity and this anniversary is a reminder of the importance of making that commitment real. the new office of racial equity under hrc will help hold us accountable as a city to ensure that we are snaefiaddressing ra dis pparity ies for communities color and making sure that everyone in san francisco has an equitable opportunity to thrive. thank you to the human rights commission for all your work in the past, present, and future and con grgratulation s. [ applause ]. >> thank you, supervisor few er and i just also want to take this opportunity, we have planning commissioner melgar who is with us, we have michael p a papas and rita simal. thank y thank you so much for bookiein e

here. daryl, i feel you're on a commission but i don't know. you guys have to bear with me because i don't know everyone who is on what circumcisiommiss you never know. i also want to take this opportunity to recognize someone who i'm actually going to be swearing in after i think this particular event, a new commissioner for the human rights commission, thank you so much james deluca for being with us here. [ applause ]. >> mayor breed: with that i'd like to introduce the supervisor from district 10, supervisor walton. >> supervisor walton: good afternoon. let's give it up for 55 years of the human rights commission. [ applause ] you . >> supervisor walton: you know, i've been given two minutes to talk about the unfinished agenda for black folks in san franci o francisco. that unfinished agenda actually goes back a couple of hundred of

years. it goes back to slavery, it goe s back to reconstruction, it goes back to csegregation perio here in this country and what was supposed to change and happeni happen after brown versus board of education. it definitely goes back to major reports that we've had right here in our own city, the u unfinished agenda and the o outmigraines report, awhich a lt of folks in this audience some in the back have worked on at this point a couple of decades now to make sure that the wrong s that have happened to us in this city, and in particular people of color, people in the lgbt community, i mmigrant s, a people who have had a different starting point than a lot of other folks here in this city and country. with that said, it is an exci exciting time for us because we

have policy ies in place now tt are focused on putting actual resources in to addressing the things that have been promised from reports. programs like black to the future that provide resources for organizations that serve black familyies to be able to work together more seam lelessl programs like road map to peace, where we're bringing the organizations and community and the latino community together, where they get to set their own agenda for the policyies needed to improve the lives of latinos here in san francisco. the resources that we put in the budget for the lgbt community and for resources for transition al youth and housing for all communities here in san francisco. so we know that un employmeempl exists differently for those populations that i mentioned. we know that housing is

different and created differently for those population s that i mentioned. we know that our mayor has done an amazing job even as a member of the board of supervisors to pass legislation like neighborhood preference to make sure that housing outcomes end up different. and this 600 million housing bond that we're all fighting for is a big piece of how we deal with equity here in san francisco as well. so i just want to thank fur our mayor, colleagues on the board of supervisors. i definitely want to give a major shout out to the executive director of the human rights commission, ms. sheryl davis for all of her work. [ applause ]. >> supervisor walton: that did not start as a result of her serving as executive director of the human rights commission, but it started years prior to that in her work. so i just want everybody to know that we have work togeth do.

we have work to do. but the office of racial equity and what it will require from departments to get busy, to put reports together that will be attached to the resources that you receive, if we don't make a real effort to provide better outcomes for heour communities here in this city. thank you so much and, again, happy 55 years to the human rights commission. [ applause ]. >> so again thank you to all of our previous speakers. i want to as we get ready -- there are two final speakers that we want to have and as we do that, just recognizing that once -- that we do this work with our commission, and i wanted to recognize the commissioners that are here with us today. the chair of the human rights commission, susan christian, our new eest addition to the commission, james deluca, commissioner karen clopton, chirg

cirg commissioner jason pelegrinni. thank you so much for being here today. and commissioner anton is joining us as well. our commissioners do this work and they help advance it and i wanted to just be able to show the impact of the work and our form er commissioner michael p a papas, when we talk about this work, we cannot talk about it without the intersection ality f race and gender and orientation and social-economic levels. so commissioner papas supported us, was an amazing member of the commission, and i just wanted to afford him a couple of minutes to say something about the work that he started at the commission that he's now continuing to work on i was going to say with the department of aging and adult service s, bt i know there's a pending name change. commissioner papas.

>> thank you, director davis. i am grateful for this invitation to address you today on occasion of the 55th anniversary of the san francisco human rights commission. i was privileged to serve on the commission for over six years. as one of mayor lee's very first appointments in 2011 and his very last appointment to the commission commission on ages and adult services just a few day s befor he passed away. they were exciting years to be addressing issues of human rights in our city. during that time we saw the p d pendulum swing on some very serious and pronounced issues from prop aid to marriage equ equality and simultaneously from a did he haevastating recession prosperous tech boom. as add to that the increase in the outmigraines of the african-american community and

an emerging black lives matter movement and local instances that prompted justified voluntevocal concern over law enforcement's excessive use of force. throughout this journey in time, the human rights commission was present and relevant in its response to issues of discrimination and the cl collateral human rights challenges that en ssued due to these social changes. for me personally, perhaps the most re wawarding dimension of t service quus was following in the steps of commissioner s knu sen, swapark s, young as chair the lgbt's advisory committee which in the very yenniend i sh with commissioner kelleher. during that period i was privileged to work with some of the most bright and passionate lgbt community leaders in our city. together we addressed issues ranging from repairative therap

to sensitivity to lgbt clients in city shelters, economic wel wellness, em powpowerment, dis e displacement of lgbt non -profi s, hiv prevention as well as services to and the stigma suffered by those living with hiv, the particular challenges of trans women of color, the lgbt life beyond the neighborhood of the kcastro. the special needs of lgbt, deaf and dis ababled persons, immigration concerns, most especially those seeking asylum, the nuance s of bisexuality and the ever-evolving understanding of lgbt familyies, the need to e revise city forms to better reflect gender identity, and concern for cyber bulbullying o lgbt youth as well as our city's gr growing lgbt youth home leless population. perhaps the most impactful

contribution over our time was an effort in cubated under commissioner knutsen's tenure as cha compare a chair and birth of my service at the a cvmec. that was a group that recomme recommended the formation -- [ cheering and applause ]. >> they know the punch line. of this lgbt's senior's task force. thanks to the leadership of supervisors wooe s weaiener, ca and owen, the board of supervisors allocated the necessary funding to make that recommendation a reality. iron ically commissioner knutse and i sit together on a board where we vote regular regularly for funding of programs that respond to the lgbt seniors task force. now we are in new times and a

different era. as human rights are fright ening frighteningly and incessantly under attack daily, never has the rechlevance for the san francisco human rights commission been so valued and needed. i am confident under the insp e inspired leadership of mayor breed, chair christian, and director davis, that the commission will continue to distinguish san francisco as a moral campus compass and protective voice for all who suffered discrimination and whose rights, both civil and human, are unfairly jeopardized. with that, i wish a happy 55th anniversary to the san francisco human rights commission and the commissioners, to the chair, to the director and to our mayor and members of the board of supervisors. [ applause ]. >> just by way of the future of the human rights commission and the he haevolution thiand ithis discussion around intersectionality, i thought it really fitting to have gineta t

johnson share more about the work she's doing and the importance now more than ever about the work of the human rights commission, ginetta. [ applause ]. >> hello, everyone. thank you all. i wanted to say thank you to mayor london bried breed, thank you to the board of supervisos s and sheryl davis. i am the executive director and we work with black trans women coming out of jail s and prison black trans, agennon agendgend m conforming people coming out of prisons. the reason the work is so important and i'm passionate about it, i'm a form erly in k s incarcerated person and i spent time in jail and prison. during my time in jail for 13 months, i noticed that there was

so many black trans women like in and out of jail. during my period of time, i knew that i had made a bad decision and i knew that i was going to get back out eventually and i knew that i needed to create a change. that's when we developed our r re-entry program for non -binar people coming out of jails and prison. we are working through the support of the hrc in providing employment opportunityies for trans people coming out of jails and prisons. i think that one of the biggest issues that i have faced is housing. it's very, very challenging for me to employ them and they have no housing because the housing is so difficult and t in the cid county of san francisco. i think going to a lot of different hfa meetings trying to

make a request that whmen tran people come out of jails and prisons, they have a more immediate access to some a cotyf comfortable bed space because a lot of people don't know that trans people experience a lot of sexual trauma while on the inside and physical trauma. so i'm happy and grateful that we have an opportunity to create this employment structure and that our homes for trans people is happening i thi. i thank everybody that's been involved and making that happen because black trans women face a lot more dis pparity than peopl really, really understand, a lot of discrimination and stuff like that. tho that's why re we are doing the best that we can to create more opportunityies for their safety and welfare.

so i just want to thiank everybody here that contributs s in this work. thank you. [ applause ]. >> so as we prepare to kiclose t out, i just want to invite up the chair of the human rights commission to come and say a few words, and then just to also share very quickly the calendar that we have for this week. this evening we have a conversation with cornell west at the commonwealth club. tomorrow we have a sim pymposiu 12 to 5 at the war memorial. on wednesday evening, 6:00 at the stf jass jazz center we wil te secelebrate 55 year s, recognii some of our leaders and having a little bit of music. then on thursday, the young people part of mayor bried -- breed's opportunity for all will share their presentations at the pal aace of art s.

if you have additional questio questions, please feel free to talk to us or ask questions. i also want to recognize a form er director of the commission, mayor vic ban mba. he served as the executive director of the human rights commission and is now a proud support er he eer during her wo clark construction. final words from our shachair sn christian. [ applause ]. >> thank you, director davis, form er commissioner davis. i had the privilege of working with sheryl for several years as commissioners on the human rights commission before we convinced her to take on in -- this role that we are thrilled she is in and has done so much for the city that she has been appointed to be the executive director. one of the things i appreciate most about sheryl's work is -- you know, 55 years human rights commission started to deal with

ant anti- blablack discrimination ie city. what we found ourselfves at 50 years looking at the same problems, maybe in just a slightly different way, happening to black people in the city and people who are otherwise dis advantaadvantaged, but particularly black people in the city, black communityies continuing to suffer the same kinds of discrimination. so clearly the question and the issue of structural in equequal and structural discrimination has not been screfdressed addr in a way that impacts and prevents this kind of dis advantage. that has been my passion, my -- the thing that i want to really tie try and accomplish during my time on the commission and as chair of the commission to look for ways -- and the mayor talked about programs that work that provide outcomes, looking for what ways that we can interrupt and address structural problems so that we don't continue to rep i

replicate the in equequality. you know, the human rights commission over the last at least teb ten years ago i think has been -- the commission itself and the people who have worked on the advisory committee s have made major contributios s to not only the city but national conversation about national in equequality. the lgbt and lgbtq right now, i don't know that we've officially chang changed the name, the liègeq liège blooej lgbtq committee has picked up reports. this is work that came up from the community through the commission. we have the agency and the commission. so it's in cecredibly important work . also, ban the box started with the human rights commission, the equity advisory committee. now that's also something that's traveled nationally and gets stronger and stronger every year in different places. one of the things that i am

personally most proud of is that we instituted a pilot under mayor lee to deal with implicit bias. so we were able to -- it was an idea we had at the commission. i brought it to the commission. i wasn't the first person to think about this obviously, but we were able to get a pilot program going with the mayor's support and the supporter support of the family. kimberlypapinon, we were able to work with her to create a program and the mayor funded it. so that was an amazing thing. and i know now that the department of human rights is dism administering a program and i really look forward to hearing how it's going and seeing what we're doing with it now, but it's that kind of thing the commission has done and can do and we're all looking for ways to do that whas we move forward.

so i want to thank everybody o who's here and all the community members who over time have supported, cajoled, ciriticized lobbied the human rights commission. it's going to continue and i'm grateful for that as well, but we have a lot of work ahead of us. i really do feel like we are now getting at programs that will address structural in equequali. sheryl, i'm going to hand it back to you. >> for those saying we are going to be in room 201, we have the recommendations from the out appmigration task force as well the unfinished agenda, as well as the environmental safety. there have been has felisha said pneumonnumerous time s three rsd what has changed. this year as the mayor talked about, we are going to spend some time looking at those recommendations and seeing what,

if anything, has changed. if nothing has changed, really consider what we can do to see what we can do forward mo-- moig forward. we can see what the office of racial equity can institute. lastly i would ask before we start to disperse, some of the members part of the original task force, if you could stand so we can thank you for your time as a part of that. ken montero, daryl davis and ms. saxon, thank you and please join us in 201. thank you. [♪]

>> growing up in san francisco has been way safer than growing up other places we we have that bubble, and it's still that bubble that it's okay to be whatever you want to. you can let your free flag fry he -- fly here. as an adult with autism, i'm here to challenge people's idea of what autism is. my journey is not everyone's journey because every autistic child is different, but there's hope. my background has heavy roots in the bay area. i was born in san diego and adopted out to san francisco when i was about 17 years old. i bounced around a little bit

here in high school, but i've always been here in the bay. we are an inclusive preschool, which means that we cater to emp. we don't turn anyone away. we take every child regardless of race, creed, religious or ability. the most common thing i hear in my adult life is oh, you don't seem like you have autism. you seem so normal. yeah. that's 26 years of really, really, really hard work and i think thises that i still do. i was one of the first open adoptions for an lgbt couple. they split up when i was about four. one of them is partnered, and one of them is not, and then my biological mother, who is also a lesbian. very queer family. growing up in the 90's with a queer family was odd, i had the bubble to protect me, and here,

i felt safe. i was bullied relatively infrequently. but i never really felt isolated or alone. i have known for virtually my entire life i was not suspended, but kindly asked to not ever bring it up again in first grade, my desire to have a sex change. the school that i went to really had no idea how to handle one. one of my parents is a little bit gender nonconforming, so they know what it's about, but my parents wanted my life to be safe. when i have all the neurological issues to manage, that was just one more to add to it. i was a weird kid. i had my core group of, like, very tight, like, three friends. when we look at autism, we characterize it by, like, lack of eye contact, what i do now is when i'm looking away from

the camera, it's for my own comfort. faces are confusing. it's a lack of mirror neurons in your brain working properly to allow you to experience empathy, to realize where somebody is coming from, or to realize that body language means that. at its core, autism is a social disorder, it's a neurological disorder that people are born with, and it's a big, big spectrum. it wasn't until i was a teenager that i heard autism in relation to myself, and i rejected it. i was very loud, i took up a lot of space, and it was because mostly taking up space let everybody else know where i existed in the world. i didn't like to talk to people really, and then, when i did, i overshared. i was very difficult to be around. but the friends that i have are very close.

i click with our atypical kiddos than other people do. in experience, i remember when i was five years old and not wanting people to touch me because it hurt. i remember throwing chairs because i could not regulate my own emotions, and it did not mean that i was a bad kid, it meant that i couldn't cope. i grew up in a family of behavioral psychologists, and i got development cal -- developmental psychology from all sides. i recognize that my experience is just a very small picture of that, and not everybody's in a position to have a family that's as supportive, but there's also a community that's incredible helpful and wonderful and open and there for you in your moments of need. it was like two or three years of conversations before i was like you know what? i'm just going to do this, and

i went out and got my prescription for hormones and started transitioning medically, even though i had already been living as a male. i have a two-year-old. the person who i'm now married to is my husband for about two years, and then started gaining weight and wasn't sure, so i we went and talked with the doctor at my clinic, and he said well, testosterone is basically birth control, so there's no way you can be pregnant. i found out i was pregnant at 6.5 months. my whole mission is to kind of normalize adults like me. i think i've finally found my calling in early intervention, which is here, kind of what we do. i think the access to irrelevant care for parents is intentionally confusing. when i did the procespective

search for autism for my own child, it was confusing. we have a place where children can be children, but it's very confusing. i always out myself as an adult with autism. i think it's helpful when you know where can your child go. how i'm choosing to help is to give children that would normally not be allowed to have children in the same respect, kids that have three times as much work to do as their peers or kids who do odd things, like, beach therapy. how do -- speech therapy. how do you explain that to the rest of their class? i want that to be a normal experience. i was working on a certificate and kind of getting think early childhood credits brefore i started working here, and we did a section on transgender inclusion, inclusion, which is

a big issue here in san francisco because we attract lots of queer families, and the teacher approached me and said i don't really feel comfortable or qualified to talk about this from, like, a cisgendered straight person's perspective, would you mind talking a little bit with your own experience, and i'm like absolutely. so i'm now one of the guest speakers in that particular class at city college. i love growing up here. i love what san francisco represents. the idea of leaving has never occurred to me. but it's a place that i need to fight for to bring it back to what it used to be, to allow all of those little kids that come from really unsafe environments to move somewhere safe. what i've done with my life is work to make all of those situations better, to bring a little bit of light to all those kind of issues that we're still having, hoping to expand into a little bit more of a resource center, and this resource center would be more those new parents who have

gotten that diagnosis, and we want to be this one centralized place that allows parents to breathe for a second. i would love to empower from the bottom up, from the kid level, and from the top down, from the teacher level. so many things that i would love to do that are all about changing people's minds about certain chunts, like the transgender community or the autistic community. i would like my daughter to know there's no wrong way to go through life. everybody experiences pain and grief and sadness, and that all of those things are temporary. shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services within our neighborhoods, we help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine

in the 49? >> my name is ray behr. i am the owner of chief plus. it's a destination specialty foods store, and it's also a corner grocery store, as well. we call it cheese plus because there's a lot of additions in addition to cheese here. from fresh flowers, to wine, past a, chocolate, our dining area and espresso bar. you can have a casual meeting if you want to. it's a real community gathering place. what makes little polk unique, i think, first of all, it's a great pedestrian street. there's people out and about all day, meeting this neighbor and coming out and supporting the businesses. the businesses here are almost all exclusively independent owned small businesses.

it harkens back to supporting local. polk street doesn't look like anywhere u.s.a. it has its own businesses and personality. we have clothing stores to gallerys, to personal service stores, where you can get your hsus repaired, luggage repaired. there's a music studio across the street. it's raily a diverse and unique offering on this really great street. i think san franciscans should shop local as much as they can because they can discover things that they may not be familiar with. again, the marketplace is changing, and, you know, you look at a screen, and you click a mouse, and you order something, and it shows up, but to have a tangible experience, to be able to come in to taste things, to see things, to smell things, all those things, it's very important that you do so.