you all today. thank you for coming. [cheers and applause] we are so excited to be hosting this budget signing today. i want to tell you a little bit about the richmond neighborhood center for those of you who might not know. then neighborhood center offers a number of programs for families, children, seniors, and adults in the richmond. we strive to be a hub of resources, providing services directly and working with our partner nonprofits at this location. whether through our afterschool program, our food pantries, or our community festivals, like our upcoming autumn the moon, we are a center for building community and a sense of belonging for everyone. these are the values that our mayor is committed to and has prioritized in her budget, which she will be signing here today. we are excited to continue partnering and working with the city to create opportunities and

strengthen our support for all of our diverse communities all over san francisco. thank you all for being here today. [applause] >> thank you, michelle, and thank you for letting us use this amazing facility which serves so many young people and families across the richmond district. welcome to the richmond, but i know supervisor fewer is also anxious to welcome you here. this is an incredible community and i think that sometimes, when we are doing a lot of work in city hall, we forget about so many neighborhoods because we are right there in the middle and we are downtown, and of course, we are in d5 and other areas, and d6, but we don't make it to the west side of the city sometimes. we don't make it to the southeast sector of the city, so michael as mayor is to make sure that we not only spend more time and provide more resources to various parts of our communities

in san francisco that sometimes have been neglected, that we make that right kinds of investments in those communities , and so that's why we're here in the richmond today yes, we work with supervisor fewer as the budget chair. this year was absolutely amazing and yes, she fought for this district, but she also fought to prioritize equity and the things that are important to all san franciscans. it was truly a pleasure to work with her and to get this budget done. [applause] when i think back to why i got involved in politics in the first place, i think back to the first time that i advocated for resources for the western addition to the board of supervisors. that advocacy, carol was actually on the board at that time, many, many years ago, and

a big supporter of the communities and equity, and really fighting for resources both here and in sacramento. we would show up, we would advocate, we would talk about the importance of our issues, and members of the board would answer the call to make the right investment. yes, we still have a number of challenges in this city, a number of important investments that we know we need to make, in this board of supervisors spend countless hours listening to the public, listening to me, sometimes, but ultimately, putting together what i believe is a very comprehensive budget that is fair, that is equitable, that makes new investments, and that is really focused on accountability, as well. and it was under the leadership of president of the board who

had the vision to appoint sandy fewer as the budget chair because he knew that she would not take any mess from her colleagues and they all put forth their ideas, but ultimately, she wanted to make sure that this was a consensus budget, and everyone had something to be proud of. thank you to both supervisor fewer and president yee for your leadership. thank you to rafael mandel and who is here today. incredible advocates and supporters for the communities and incredible advocates and supporters for residents of the city. i also would like to thank our budget team and kelly kirkpatrick who is the director of the budget. [applause] kelly, stand up, we can't see you. [cheers and applause]. >> her countless hours and worker work to get this budget done.

harvey rose and his team from the budget and legislative analyst. usually the mayor doesn't think them, but as someone who served on the board of supervisors and has a lot of love for the work that they do to really analyse the budget within a short time period, i just want to thank them for their hard work to get this job done was pause -- [applause]. >> thank you to brendan rosenfield for crunching the numbers, him and his team. all the department heads, the ones that were grilled hard-core and were able to fight for their resources and get what we needed for the public. i mean, the budget was a battle, but it was a good battle. it was one of the best budget processes i've seen in a really long time, and i'm not just saying that because this is my first budget as mayor, i am saying it because everyone had an opportunity to make a request and have their voices heard.

and so i'm just proud of how comprehensive this budget is. yes, it is the highest budget in our city's history, $12.3 billion, and i don't want people to think we have control over the spending of all these dollars, because we do have enterprise departments like the airport, the port of san francisco, the public utilities commission, but ultimately, we made some new investments because not only did i spend time having a number of budget town hall meetings all over san francisco, i know the supervisors spent time with their various constituents, and we took that feedback to incorporate it into our budget, and i just wanted to highlight a few of the things that i know are some of the most pressing issues that we face in san francisco. since i've taken office, about a year ago, we have been able to make over a billion dollars of investments in affordable

housing throughout the city and county of san francisco. [applause] we have been able to do that because our unexpected windfall of the funding, because of our investments in our current budget, and because you all are going to pass the 600 billion-dollar affordable housing bond this fall without raising property taxes. [applause] part of that budget includes not only building new affordable housing and providing support for low and middle income families, it also provides preservation of existing affordable housing, and so i know that preservation around a small sight acquisition was really important to supervisor fewer because of so many seniors in the richmond district living in some of these buildings that are up for sale and have the ability to purchase those buildings and protect them for those low income seniors and it is so critical to the long-term stability of affordable housing in san francisco. i am excited about funding for

rent subsidies and trying to keep people housed, our rights to civil council, and making sure that people who are facing eviction are not doing it alone. so many amazing investments in housing, and now we've just got to get rid of some of the bureaucracy that gets in the way of housing. homelessness, which we know as a number 1 issue that we face in tenth -- in san francisco. we have additional support for more navigation centers, for more shelter beds, because we know we need them and we need them yesterday. providing 100% affordable housing with wraparound services for formerly homeless individuals is something that is critical to addressing the number 1 crisis in our city, and we made those investments. $53 million to expand our behavioral health program and other health services in san

francisco. [applause] thank you supervisor mandelman for your support and leadership around mental health reform in our city. we have already opened 100 new mental health stabilization beds on top of what we already have, and with this additional funding , we will be able to open another 100 new beds by the end of this year. we also have a need for people to use the bathroom, so we are adding more pitstops, we are adding more big belly trash cans , we are adding more targeted street cleaning, and we are using our 311 data to really make those investments strategically in the right places. we're deploying another 250 officers, hopefully, as we get them across the finish line of the academy, so that they can walk the beat in various neighborhoods, talk to merchants , get to know the communities, and help with preventing crime from happening in the first place. we know that our commercial corridor and so many

neighborhoods need so much help and support, so we have made investments to support for sought improvement, tenant improvements, pay various fines and fees, and other things that we know small business communities face, including seven businesses right here in the richmond district you will benefit from some of the new small business investment our city proposes to make. it is the beginning. there's more that we need to do to protect and support are small businesses, and i have been fighting with my director of small business because i want us to cut even more fees for small businesses in san francisco so that it's not a burden to them staying open in the city. [applause] through hard work, the minimum compensation ordinance was done. it was brutal, but we got through it, and so many very low income wage earners in san francisco are going to get a well-deserved raise and have already, in some cases.

we have expanded our cal fresh program and our county assistance program, and we know that equity was at the forefront of this budget. and thanks to the leadership of supervisor vallie brown and supervisor fewer, they helped create an office of equity where we are making investments to really try and shine a light on what we know are real challenges around access, education, affordability, and the things that continue to show really racial disparity that needs to -- that we need to take a look at, provide the data, and really make the right investments to turn it around. opportunities for all, as you will know, is a program that is near and dear to my heart. making sure that every high school student in san francisco has access to a paid internship, and i want to thank all of the city departments for stepping up and providing internships, and now it is time to halt -- holds

the private sector accountable, to not only contribute, because a deafening contributed to opportunities for all, but they need to have more placement for our young people, and that is what i'm committed to moving forward. thank you to supervisor mar who is not here with us today. we worked together to fully fund free city college for san francisco. [applause] so i just want to say, to all of our senior folks who are here today, you don't have to be a young person to go to city college, you don't have to be a kid living at home with your parents to go to city college. city college is for all san franciscans. so let's take advantage of the amazing classes that they have. in one of the things i want to mention before i turn this over to supervisor fewer, as i know that, as mayor, i don't necessarily have complete control over our board of education, but i went to public schools here, and we know that

supervisor yee and supervisor fewer also went to public schools here in san francisco, and the challenges that sometimes exist as certain schools versus other schools is something we need to address when we talk about equity. so for the first time ever, this city is making significant investment in addressing what we know are the biggest challenges at those schools. and includes teacher retention at certain schools in the southeast sector and other parts of the city, we are making a 10 million-dollar investment to provide additional bonuses to teachers in those particular schools to make sure that we try and hold onto them to work with so many kids that have, what we know sometimes are real challenges, but we are also making investments and wellness centers in our public schools. to make sure that kids have the support that they need when going through what we know can be a very challenging time in their lives.

so many great things. again, 12.3 million. i could be here all day talking about all of the things that we are doing to make the right kinds of investments, but i just wanted to highlight those few to let you know that in addition to these investments, as i have said from the very beginning, it is important that we understand the value of a dollar. the value of how this city makes investments, and what it means to people's lives. it can be the difference between a young person ending up dead or in prison or in some terrible situation, and someone ending up mayor of san francisco. and that's how i see our investments, as an opportunity to make sure that good things happen for people here in san francisco, and we create a

better future with these incredible investments. so make sure, all the departments, you spend this money wisely. you don't take pen and paper home that you don't need. [laughter] and you do your very best to show folks in this city that we are the greatest city in the world because we put our money where our mouth is, and because of that, we are able to create a more thriving, equitable, safe, and secure city for all san franciscans. thank you all so much for being here. [cheers and applause] with that, i would like to turn it over to our budget chair, supervisor sandy fewer. [applause] >> thank you, madame mayor. good morning, everyone. wow. on behalf of my 80,000 residents in the richmond district, i would like to welcome you to

this part of town where our summers look like this every day off mac. >> but where we are doing good work to strengthen and grow communities. the richmond district neighborhood center is leading that effort with the work on the one richmond initiative, the home delivered grocery program, and is the main provider of active school programming in the richmond. i would like to thank the executive director and her staff for hosting us today. thank you all for coming out. i am glad that the budget is being officially finalized today as together to witness the signing of the budget by the mayor, i'm also appreciative that i was given the opportunity to serve the city in the capacity as budget chair this year. this, is most of you know, is a process that involves the expertise, commitment, and hard work of many, so i would like to take a moment now to recognize and thank them.

chelsea, i know she is here somewhere. my legislative aide who worked tirelessly meeting with community groups, playing and -- planning and designing the entire budget process and was the go to person with all things budget related. our interns for the summer helped us tremendously on the budget, working behind the scenes. so many things to jack, melissa, and janine. i must also acknowledge my other legislative aide, angelina, and ian, "kept the office running at the knees of my district addressed while we were deeply busy with the city budget. i would like to thank the members of the budget committee, president yee, supervisors mandelman, stefani, and ronen. after many long hours, shared anxiety, and a lot of learning. it is with a sigh of relief and pride that we are at this point in the process. many thanks and recognition to the wonderful budget legislative analyst. with whom we work closely with

and depended on heavily for guidance and recommendations. i want to thank our controller and his office for all the support, advice, and expertise, and many thanks to the mayor's budget office and to mayor breed for working so closely with us to ensure a smooth and collaborative process. my deepest appreciation for the clerk's office and linda wong for keeping me on track. thank you to john for keeping this legit. of course, this process would not be complete without the voices behind the 400 million-dollar in community asks. so thank you to community advocates who took the time to educate us on how this budget can help supply the need and support for safety net for the most formable in the city. and lastly, i would like to thank the city workers. the backbone of our city that makes the whole machine work to serve our residents. i want to especially thank our department heads who fight not

only for their budget, but for their ability to serve the people of san francisco well. honorable work beyond measure, and most of the time, without recognition or appreciation. being devoted, dedicated, public servants. [applause] this budget prioritizes the issues of affordable housing development, the expansion of beds for homeless residents, and rental subsidies for some of our most vulnerable tenants. it focuses on services and support marginalized communities , including children, seniors, and people with disabilities, immigrants, communities of color, lgbtq communities, low income workers. with an ever growing wealth gap, and inequitable opportunities by race, language, gender, sexuality and more, it is critical we invest in assurance that every san franciscan can thrive. i think this is a budget that reflects those values.

this is a budget that says, to those of you who are struggling to stay here, for those of you who are struggling to provide here, we see you. thank you again to mayor breed, and to president norman you for entrusting me with this responsibility. and now that it is all over, i am not sure, actually, that my colleagues or my staff would agree, but i think i'm willing to do this for another five years. [laughter]. [applause] i want to thank all of my colleagues at the board, especially board, especially our budget committee members for your confidence and collaboration. thank you to the people of san francisco who entrust us with the money earned off the hardbacks of hard-working san franciscans. and now let's -- let's get this thing signed. i like to present the president of the board, norman e. -- norman g. -- president norman

yee. [applause] [laughter] >> i'm sorry, i can't hide the fact that i'm freezing. [laughter] welcome, everybody. this district is the most important district in the northwest sector of san francisco. [laughter] i really want to think them air, your staff, and i know i will be repeating what has been said, but it is worth repeating when people work so hard to put the most important document together for san franciscans. so once again, mayor, your director over there, kelly,

thank you very much. thank you very much to ben rosenfield and your team. and the budget legislative analyst. thank you for putting this budget together. but more importantly, when i became president in january, one of the first things i said was that i'm going to make this board of supervisors, this set of 11 people, the best that we can ever have in san francisco. to serve our community, to serve our residents, to serve the most vulnerable, and the most important committee to help serve these people is the budget committee. and i knew i had to make the strongest budget committee that i could think of, so as mentioned, it was really an honor for me to ask supervisor

fewer to be chair of the budget committee, and i was so happy. she just kept on saying, oh, no, no, i don't know, i don't know. for christ sake, sandy! you were chair in the budget committee on the board of education, yes, you know how to do a budget. you are as good as anybody on the board of supervisors. so thank you for accepting it. you did a marvellous job. give her a hand. [applause] but like all of us, one person can't do it all. she needed a team. she needed four other supervisors to help her. that includes supervisor mandelman right here, thank you. [applause] and supervisor ronen and supervisor stefani who were also part of that team.

and to really make it special, to make it the best team, i put myself on it. [laughter] in all seriousness, i'm really glad that this budget was put together the way it was, and it was as transparent as i've seen it over the last 70 -- seven years. people were engaged, people had a voice. everybody felt like they had a voice, and that was because of the openness of everybody, not only the budget committee, but also the mayor's office. advocates came, we went out into the community, and we put a budget together that has, to me, one of the best budgets i've seen because we are beginning to look at the issues and see what we need to do to solve it. we needed to do things.

we needed to be creative and putting the money where it could be effective, and i think people really looked at it carefully with that lens. you know, how do we get equity on this? how do we serve the people? how do we make sure people can be successful whether they are regular people working, whether they are people on the streets that can't work right now, whether it's the children that we are talking about that could be great adults, and also, our seniors. i can't say enough that we are the fastest growing population in san francisco is seniors. we need to make investments because, as many of you know, right now over 50% of the people entering homelessness for the first time our seniors. we need to make investments. i think this budget reflects

that need. thank you very much for that. the other thing that i want to say that hasn't been mentioned in this budget is, you know, when families are struggling already, you can barely pay the rent, and all of a sudden they are strapped with childcare, maybe for one child, $25,000 a year, or two children, of the $50,000 a year. a teacher couldn't afford that. nobody could afford that. so once again, this budget reflects that need. we are really trying to support the low to middle income families so they can raise her children in san francisco. this is what this budget does. on top of all that, we didn't forget about our infrastructure. we did not forget about our parks, our fire department, our police department, and our department of public works to have more staff to clean up the streets and so forth, so this is

what this budget does. it supports the infrastructure, and it also is created to find solutions where we need to find solutions. let's get it on and signed this budget. thank you very much! [applause] >> all right, folks. it is time. let's do this. supervisors, please join me. [indiscernible]

[laughter] >> thank you. all right, we're done. [cheers and applause] >> hi. my name is carmen chiu, san francisco's aelectricitied assessor. today, i want to share with you a property tax savings programs for families called proposition 58. prop 58 was passed in 1986 and

it was helped parents pass on their lower property tax base to their children. so how does this work? under california's prop 13 law, the value we use to calculate your property tax is limited to 2% growth peryear. but when ownership changes, prop 13 requires that we reassess properties to market value. if parents want to pass on their home or other property to their children, it would be considered a change in ownership. assuming the market value of your property has gone up, your children, the new owners, would pay taxes starting at that new higher level. that's where prop 58 comes in. prop 58 recognizes the transfer between parents and children so that instead of taxing your children at that new higher level, they get to keep your lower prop 13 value. remember, prop 58 only applies to transfers between parents and children. here's how the law twines an

eligible child. a biological child, a step child, child adopted before the age of 18, and a son-in-law or daughter-in-law. to benefit from this tax saving program, remember, you just have to apply. download the prop 58 form from our website and submit it to our office. now you may ask, is there a cap how much you can pass on. well, first, your principal residence can be excluded. other than that, the total tap of properties that can use this exclusion cannot exceed $1 million. this means for example if you have two other properties, each valued at $500,000, you can exclude both because they both fit under the $1 million cap. now what happens hwhen the totl value you want to pass on exceeds $1 million. let's say you have four properties. three with current taxable value of $300,000 and one at

$200,000, totaling $1.1 million in value. assuming that you decide to pass on properties one, two, and three, we would apply the exclusions on a first come, first served basis. you would deduct properties one, two, and three, and you would still have $100,000 left to pass on. what happens when you pass on the last property? this property, house four, has been existing value of 2 -- has an existing value of $200,000, and its existing property value is actually higher, $700,000. as i said, the value left in your cap is $100,000. when we first figure out your portion, we figure out the portion that can be excluded. we do that by dividing the exclusion value over the assessed value. in this case, it's 50%. this means 50% of the property will remain at its existing value. meanwhile, the rest will be reassessed at market value. so the new taxable value for

this property will be 50% of the existing value, which is 200,000, equaling 100,000, plus the portion reassessed to market value, which is 50% times $700,000, in other words, 350,000, with a total coming out to $450,000. a similar program is also available for prepping transfers fl interest r from grandparents to grandchildren. if you're interested in learning more visit our website or. >> good morning. welcome to life learning academy. my name is craig miller. i am a founder and the chief operating officer at the school. we are so thrilled to have everybody here today to

celebrate this milestone event for the school, to provide a home for the kids who need us the most. terry and i and the entire life learning community could not be more grateful to all of you for everything you've done. i'd like to thank the sponsors for today's event. bear with me, it is a very healthy list. the northern california carpenter's regional council, ey, lows, jamel and tom perkins, linkedin, russell reynolds first bank, community vision and capital consulting, rubicon, kayhill construction, and oliver

and company. i also want to recognize a few donors who have made the dorm possible. tipping point. valerie powder, the zeler box foundation, the louis r. laura foundation and linkedin. this group, along with the city, and sfusd exemplify a public-private partnership model that has come together to meet the needs of young people in san francisco. we are honored to have mayor breed with us here today and to have mayor willie brown's daughter, susan brown, here with us as well. without question, it is because of the support of mayor breed and mayor brown that we are standing here today about to

open this beautiful dormitory for kids. [ applause ]. >> it's pretty cool. i would like to begin our program by introducing susan brown, who is going to comment on her father's long-term commitment to life learning academy. susan. [ applause ]. >> thank you very much, craig, for that very warm introduction. i'm susan brown and my father is willie brown, former mayor of san francisco. he was unhappy because he could not be here today, but he asked me to see what i could possibly say. so i'm here to give you a few words. so our family is extremely proud and extremely happy and extremely excited for these dormitories.

in 1998 when my father was mayor, he formed a partnership. and because of that partnership, life learning academy exists. what began with that partnership would culminate into what you see here today life learning academy, an organization which not only provides excellent educational excellence and experience for students but has acted as a catalyst for change for so many people who have walked through the doors. hundreds of lives have been positively impacted by -- through their programs over the years. and the dormitories today is a goal that they set, which is basically their mission statement at life learning academy. so it is my great honor to introduce to you today the principal of life learning academy dr. terry delane.

[ applause ]. >> okay. some people out there who really know me know that i don't need a microphone, but i'm going to do what i'm told to do today. number two, i left my notes at home. so what i'm going to have to do is just go from what i know. i have been here from day one for 20 years i have witnessed kids come through these doors and in this school and commit to change and commit to non-violence. i am really lucky because i am somebody that has never forgotten where i come from. when i was 16 years old what stands out in my mind as a runaway and heroin addicted, i was with a boyfriend who was

really violent. one night he beat me up, threw me out of the apartment we were in, in the middle of the night. what stands out for me is i was sitting on the street corner crying and alone and trying to figure out who to call. everyone needs to have somebody to call. not too long after that i got a chance -- a second chance at my life and i went to delancy street foundation, where my life was saved. i met mimi and i learned about community and i learned about fami family. and it has been my mission because i know that i owe for the rest of my life to right what's wrong for our kids.

and especially those that don't have a safe place to live. [ applause ]. >> this building which you will all see is not a dorm. it's a home. what it represents is love and support where these students that live here will be able to thrive and grow and have the best of what they deserve. to build a circle of support of which you all are now a part of. when we go through this dorm, you will see how covered we are. we have the willie brown memorial -- mayor willie brown memorial family room.

we have mayor london breed's beautiful baskets that she sent to us yesterday for every kid that's going to be living in there. we have mayor ed lee's legacy in our memorial garden named after him. we can't be better covered than that. [ applause ]. >> i am managing not to break into sobs because this is such an amazing day and i am thrilled because it is now our mission to make this a model so that other schools know what is possible when you can no longer go home each night knowing that you have kids that you love every day that don't have safety, not okay. and can nobody tell you what

can't be done. now i'm tired of yelling at you all. it's not your fault. sorry, craig is used to that. he said, no, that's not you yelling. that's you talking. so i have here with me a young woman named lynnie. i call her lynnie and i've known her since she was 16. she knows what it's like not to have a safe place to live and she found herself a family. and then after being in a few high schools, she came to life learning academy and thrived. i want her just to tell you a little bit about herself and she came here from long beach to be with us. she is family for ever family. our life learning family has been going on for 20 and our kids never forget us. so i'd like to introduce lynn

ward. [ applause ]. >> good morning and thank you so much for having me. my name is lynn ward and i'm a proud alumni of life learning academy. i was raised in a housing project by my grandmother. i'm the youngest of five sisters born to parents struggling with addiction and mental illness. i found comfort in books early on and excelled academically. i earned scholarships. i was always seemingly good on the surface, but my life home was very chaotic. the environment was making it hard to succeed and my neighborhood was filled with the enticing entrapments of the street lifestyle. this all came to a head in my junior year in high school where i was incarcerated for a robbery

with a group of girls. this was a culmination of a long-time struggle for me on two diverging paths: the school or the streets. i had a choice to make and it grappled internally with this decision. i had a hard time believing in myself and could not see that there was a life different than the one i was born into. so there i was facing serious charges, kicked out of high school. i needed a change in my life and my best friend's dad asked if i was ready and to make a phone call. that phone call was to terry, the principal of life learning academy. i interviewed with her, and during my conversation i realized my life was not a game, that turning my life around was important to her, to the school, and that i had a community that was willing to support me. i knew this because terry told me herself that she would be on me like white on rice. those were literally her words, and she was.

so was my college councilor, the vice principal. i knew the school's number and terry's cellphone number by heart because if i missed school or was late, they were calling me and asking me where i was at. a kid like me, that's what i needed. i needed caring and constant adults who noticed when i missed class, provided me with the resources to earn money and the environment to self reflect. i needed real conversations about the struggles i faced and opportunities for future success. i graduated this past june from cal state university long beach with a master's degree in political science. [ cheering and applause ]. >> i am a senior employee with a small business in long beach, having been with the company for four years. i'm a mentor. i volunteer. i like to travel. i like yoga. i live a positive life.

without life learning academy, i would not be where i'm at today. sorry. life learning academy helps give you the building blocks to build my life to something better than i thought i could be. because of the impact on me, i was invited to speak about life learning academy at a conference this past october in san francisco. mayor breed gave the keynote address at the conference and i was fortunate enough to meet her. she took time to talk to me. she offered me an unpaid internship upon graduation. like me, mayor breed was raised by her grandmother and the housing projects of san francisco and was able to fight her way out through the support of her community and educational opportunities. i admire her because she's charted a path for herself, rising above the obstacles to become the first african-american woman mayor of san francisco. [ applause ].

>> she never forgets where she comes from, where we come from, and continues to advocate for more equitable society, especially for youth, evidenced by, among other things, her ongoing support for l.l. a. that is why i am so honored to introduce her today. ladies and gentlemen, mayor london breed. [ cheering and applause ]. >> mayor breed: thank you so much. thank you so much. it really is an honor to be here and let me just say thank you to lynn. we are so proud of you and this is what this school represents. i got to tell you, when i was growing up, we didn't have life learning academy. in fact, the very same kind of circumstances that lynn experienced was the same kind of circumstances that i experienced. the reason why i was raised by my grandmother had a lot to do

with challenges with my family. and unfortunately, it didn't end up so well for my brother, who's still incarcerated, and my sister who i lost to a drug overdose. so i'm one of six siblings who was really fortunate to have supportive people in my life. that's why the work that i do is so important to support young people, because i know the difference that it can make. so when i worked here at the treasure island development authority many, many years ago -- some of you probably didn't know that -- i remember the day that mimi silver came to the treasure island development authority, building 1, and someone said, well, mimi is downstairs and they called upstairs. they're like mimi silver, send her up right away. people lost it because of the

fact she was there because they knew how hard she worked for the community. she along with others were really putting together under the leadership of the former mayor willie brown this incredible life learning academy and i had the pleasure of working on the lease to get this thing done. i'm really proud of the work that i did. i made the mistake of attending the first graduation 20 years ago. for those of you who go to this graduation, you make sure you have your tissue because i was -- i think i was sitting next to mike delane, terry's husband, and i was boo-hookiing the whole time. these people couldn't believe they made it through. i remember the story of one of the young men who said he wasn't going to school that day when

the delancy van showed up to pick him up. and the guy who was driving said i'll be right here waiting until you get into the van. they would not take no for an answer. they were on those kids like white on rice. they were not going to let one of those kids fail. so that's why today is so incredible. it's long overdue. it's long overdue to have a place for kids who may not have the best environment at home, where we know the challenges of sometimes living in poverty can take you in the wrong direction. where we have seen too many of our kids cycle in and out of the criminal justice system, when we know they have so much indecreed potential to do amazing things. providing a safe place for them to be, a safe place to call home

and be amongst one another and a supportive environment where they are part of a real family, because delancy street is a loving family, they provide love and good food and hugs. terry hugs everybody. that is what you need to grow and to thrive. they've been doing it for 20 ye years. over the years i worked with young people at the african-american culture complex and as soon as i had a child that was in and out one of the schools -- like, i've had kids who sadly went to almost every high school sometimes in san francisco. the person i would call and ask, can you please take my baby because he needs structure, he needs support, terry without hesitation always tried to make a way for any kid at the life learning academy because she knew if she got her hooks on them they were going to graduate and they were going to go on and succeed in life.

now she's probably going to move into this dormitory because this is going to be an incredible place so that we can make sure that despite the circumstances that some of our young people are facing in their home environment, they have a home right here at the delancy street life learning academy. this is one of the most -- and i'm not crying. my allergies are killing me. but this is one of the most amazing things that we can do. this example that we're setting today by opening up this dormitory will be a model for other schools throughout the country. this is how we make sure that our kids succeed. this is how we make sure that despite the obstacles they're facing, that we provide that wrap-around support which includes a place that is safe, that is secure, and provides the love and the support that they

need to succeed. in san francisco we know we have some major challenges with homelessness. when i'm walking the streets in the tenderloin in particular, i see a lot of folks who i grew up with who fell through the cracks. and i can't help but think if we as a city can do better by all of our young people, we will prevent that from happening to them in the first place. part of the investments that we have been making to end youth homelessness in san francisco, including the rising up campaign, has led to -- although the homeless point in time count has gone up for the city as a whole, for youth homelessness we've seen that decrease by 10%. we need to get that to 0. because we have an obligation. i believe as folks who have been fortunate to succeed in whatever

capacity, it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor or what have you, we all can give time and of ourselves to invest in young people to make sure that they grow and they thrive. that's what i'm committed to, not only with the rising up campaign, but with the opportunities for all programs where we will make sure that every high school student in this city has access, lynn, to a paid internship if they desire. so today is an incredible day of celebration. we have waited so long for this, and i can't thank all of you enough, especially the people who have contributed to making this possible. yes, the city was able to provide some support and we should provide support and i will continue to make sure that we make investments to support this incredible institution.

but the people who really contributed and continue to support the life learning academy and making this dormitory a reality for our kids, thank you so much. this is absolutely amazing. it's really an honor to be your mayor and really great to see projects like this happen because this is going to save and change lives for future generations here in our great city. thank you all so much for being here today. [ applause ]. >> okay. so, i mean, mayor breed said she -- the city put in some, but the truth of the matter is without mayor london breed we wouldn't be standing here. the city came to our -- what we asked for, the city gave us. the belief in us and the support from mayor breed, the vision and leadership from mayor willie

brown is why we're standing here right now. so again, i want to really thank them and thank susan so much for coming. she took pictures of willie brown's beautiful plaque when you'll see as we do tours of the dorm. now, what we're going to do first is take some pictures -- well, we're going to take some pictures up here for a few minutes. i'm going to have my kids come up. you can mingle around and have a bite to eat. our chef derrek is amazing. we eat like this every day. food is so important to us. then we'll come back and have tours of the dorm. thank you all so much. [ applause ] [♪]

>> i moved into my wonderful, beautiful, affordable housing march 7th. i have lived in san francisco since i was two-years-old. i've lived in hunters view for 23 to 24 years now. my name is vlady. i use titus and i am the resident commissioner for the san francisco housing facility. from the very beginning, this whole transition of public

housing and affordable housing was a good idea. but many, many residents didn't think it would ever actually happen. it's been a life changing experience. and i'm truly grateful for the whole initiative and all those that work on the whole sf initiative. they've done a wonderful job accommodating the residents, who for many years have lived in delap tated housing. now they have quality housing. i was on a street where the living room and the kitchen and stairs. it wasn't large enough to accommodate. the children are grown. i had the accomplish of having a dishwasher in my home. i really like that. [laughter] i really like not having to wash dishes by hand. we still do it from time to time. the mayor's office has been a

real friend to us, a partner. we know that our city supports us. i love san francisco. just to be able to stay in my community and continue to help the residents who live here and continue to see my neighborhoods move into new housing, it's been a real joy.

>> it is nice we can do this outside. it is so nice out. >> it is 110 degrees in sacramento. >> we have this weather ten days a year, maybe, but now with global warming, it is 30 days. we are here to talk about affordability. it has got to be one of the number one issues for you. housing, homelessness, cost of living, it certainly is for the state of california. thank you for hosting us, thank you for allowing us this opportunity to dialogue with some people who have beneficiaries of your leadership and the work that has been done at the local level to address the issue of affordability. not just as it relates to