on behalf of our related partners in california, san francisco housing corporation, and ridgepoint non-profit housing corporation, it's my great pleasure to welcome you to the grand re-opening of hunter's point west and westbrook. give it up. [ applause ]. >> hunters point east-west in westbrook are two of the city's rental assistance demonstration projects. the overall program consisted of transferring 29 of the housing authority profits to local non-profit and private housing organizations for recapitalization, renovation, and private management. more detailed information is available if you're interested. this mammoth city-wide program which included almost 3500 units

of affordable housing throughout san francisco required the collaboration of a host of public agencies, developers, consultants, contractors, funders, and, most importantly, the residents of hunters point east-west and westbrook themselves. the program demonstrates the city's commitment to leaving none of its residents behind and we are very proud to have been part of it. none of this would have been possible without the vision and leadership of our local elected and appointed officials, many of whom are here today and we'll do some shout-outs a little bit later. thank you for celebrating with us. let's get started. it gives me special pleasure to introduce our first speaker. i'll tease you a little bit here, see if you can think about who that would be. she's a native san franciscan. a former redevelopment agency and fire department commissioner. former executive director of the african-american art and culture complex in the western addition.

president of the board of supervisors. you might be getting it. presently our current and future mayor. so a steadfast champion of affordable housing, community empowerment, and the creation of a more just and equitable san francisco for all. great pleasure to bring to the stage our very own mayor london breed. mayor. [ cheering and applause ]. >> mayor breed: thank you. hello, everyone. i am really excited to be here today because this is a long time coming. when we first set out on a path to just reenvision public housing throughout san francisco, it wasn't easy. i remember when i first became a member of the board of supervisors and i went to our mayor ed lee and talked about our priorities, i made it clear that public housing was my number one priority. he supported those efforts.

in fact, i grew up in plaza east in the western edition, where i lived in public housing for over 20 years of my life. those conditions were very challenging. it wasn't just sadly the poverty and the violence that existed in my neighborhood. it was also the actual physical conditions of where i lived. the mold, the bathroom that basically had a number of challenges. we never even had a shower in the public housing unit that i lived in. the roaches, the lack of support that we got from our facilities crew to actually make the kinds of repairs where we could live in a place that was safe and live in a place that was the way that it should be for any resident of this amazing city. it was important to me that we

made a change in san francisco because the same conditions that i lived in are, sadly, some of the same conditions that still exist in public housing today. so we set down this course to try and make changes. no, we didn't have the resources completely to basically start all over from scratch, but we did have an opportunity through the r.a.d. program, the rental assistance demonstration program, to really make investments now so that we can change the conditions of where people live now. that was so important. there were people who were concerned, including the residents who were skeptical about whether or not what happened in the filmore would happen in the bayview hunters point community. i too was concerned about that. in fact, the public housing development i lived in had 300 units and after it was rebuilt

through hope 6 which was a whole other program before hope s.f., there were only 200 units built. so clearly, everyone was not coming back. that's why when i first started as a commissioner on the san francisco redevelopment agency and we set out on our path to try and rebuild double rock and other places, it was important to me that we did it differently than we did in the past, so that residents played a critical role in not only deciding what fixtures and windows and how they wanted their community to be, but they remained a part of their communities. so that's exactly what we did. it did require a lot of patience and moving around and a number of things. yes, again, i know that people were a little uncertain as to whether or not we would get this project done because promises have been made over the years and promises not kept. but today a promise is kept.

439 units of affordable housing for people, for families, for this amazing community. through the r.a.d. program, we have already been able to rehabilitate more than 3,000 public housing units in san francisco. no longer are we going to treat our residents, who happen to live in public housing, differently than we treat everyone else. that's why this investment is so important. not only in rehabilitating something as simple as making sure that the windows can open, that the heater is working, that the showers are working, that there isn't opportunity for mold or other things to impact the living conditions, but free wifi. free wifi for all of the residents here so that folks have access to do job searches,

housing searches, or anything else that anyone else could do in our great city. so i am really happy and excited to be here because this is a new day in san francisco. part of what my goal is to not only change the physical conditions of our community, but to make sure that we take care of these communities and we take care of each other. because we are one community, we're one san francisco. sadly, we have lost so much over the years due to violence, due to hopelessness and frustration. part of my commitment to communities all over the san francisco that feel neglected, that feel like they're forgotten and not necessarily a part of san francisco is that i'm coming to your neighborhood. i'm coming to make sure that we make the right kinds of investments, that we provide job opportunities or opportunities

for you to start your own businesses, that we make sure that we are taking care of kids in this community. in fact, our investments in our public school system has been one that's unprecedented. over $80 million of investments, including additional teachers' stipends so that we can focus on teacher retention in schools that serve this community. making sure when our kids are dealing with trauma, that we have mental health experts in our public schools. my commitment is to make sure that there are wellness centers in every public school in san francisco. it starts with our kids. it starts with taking care of each other. it starts with developing a new generation of hope for san francisco. so this project is so much more than just rehabilitating units. it's really changing a community

and making things better now and for the future. it starts with us and we're in this together. we're going to get there one step at a time. i want to thank the john stewart company, mayor's office of housing, bank of america, and who else was part of this project? related. thank you. it means a lot to have incredible partners. we don't do this work alone. but most importantly, i want to thank the people who live here, who trusted us to make this happen, who work with us every step of the way. it means a lot to have the support and trust of a community in order to get things done. that's exactly what we were able to accomplish through this amazing project together. so congratulations. this is just the beginning of i know more that's get to come. thank you. [ applause ].

>> that's what i'm talking about. mayor, you're so good at that. you're just flying without notes. i'm hanging on to these things for dear life. we do the work, but that's the leadership that gets it done. thank you also for the $23 million in local financing and rent subsidies that made this effort possible. [ applause ]. >> and your unwavering support for affordable housing and ending homeless in our city. >> [ indiscernible ] -- >> i'm about to do it. okay. that's what i was going to say. most recently the leadership, in the form of the proposed $600 million housing bond, which we are going to pass in november, okay. [ applause ]. >> thanks also and a shout out to our current supervisor for his ongoing leadership around the housing issues in district

10. thank you. supervisor walton. our next speaker is bill witty, chairman and c.e.o. of related california. one of california's largest developers of affordable and mixed-income housing. since founding this company 30 years ago, bill has overseen the development of 16,000 residences, including over 12,000 affordable housing units and he has more than 5,000 units in development. he is a busy guy. earliest this year also completed the rehab of another r.a.d. cluster, 300 units. it's my pleasure to my friend and colleague bill witty up to say a few things. bill. >> thank you, jack. it's a pleasure to be involved with a company, john stewart company, who has not only been a stalwart provider of affordable

housing for years, but close friends of mine. i'm particularly pleased that john stewart is here because i'm no longer the oldest person in the room. cheap shot. sorry. i have to tell you, i've been involved in affordable housing in the public and private sector for 40 years. i'm pretty familiar with what's going on around the country. there is no mayor in the united states who has spent more energy and effort to ensure that public housing is given new life and upgraded and become part of the community than mayor breed. we should acknowledge that. it doesn't get the attention that it should. you heard why, but we don't read about that so much. it's really a story that needs to be told. i just want to say that this is great. i appreciate the residents' patience in letting this process unfold.

but we expect to be judged not just by how it is today, but how with jack and david sobel, how we are as long-term partners and owners. so the story is, as the mayor said, just beginning. i can assure you that it will remain a good story. this housing, just so everybody is clear, is permanently affordable. it's not just affordable for 10 or 20 years. this will always be high-quality affordable. [ applause ]. >> i want to thank some people who were operating in the weeds to make this all happen, starting with under the mayor's guidance the mayor's office of housing, dan abrams and his staff who have been involved in all of these around the city. mayor's office of housing

technically didn't used to be around public housing. they've taken over the task and done a remarkable job under the guidance of the mayor. the contractors who spent a lot of time and energy to make sure that we got the rehabilitation right. nibby brothers, cahil construction who worked on east-west deserve a lot of credit. mimi sullivan who is the architect. while you couldn't change the buildings that much, a lot of time and effort was spent on designing the interior of these buildings so, as the mayor said, these would be market-rate quality units, not just for the short term but for the long term. then our own staff at related. our project manager andrew

sccofar in the back and our northern california affordable group. as i said, this isn't the last you're going to see or hear from us. i expect to hear from you if you think that there's something that warrants attention. finally another prop a plug. don't just clap. you got to vote. show up and vote for prop a. thank you. [ applause ]. >> show up and vote, bill, because i think your call to me involved a very large check as well. donate as well. he left that part out, but feel free. bill, i hate to break it to you. when john arrived, you were not only the oldest guy, but not quite the funniest guy either. john, we're going to give credit where it's due. bill, thank you, very well said. next up is another of our co-developers and the lead

provider of supportive services for our residents here at hunters point east-west in westbrook. david sobel is the c.e.o. of the housing development corporation. a 31-year-old community-based non-profit located here in bay view, hunters point. over the last six years david has assembled support and staff. under his leadership, the organization has grown from four people to a staff of 30, which provides housing development, preservation, financial empowerment, counselling, supportive services, economic development opportunities to over 5,000 low and moderate income residents every year. also well-known, at least to me as an accomplished jazz, blues, and rock keyboardist, but you'll have to go to their annual gala to hear that, please help me welcome david sobel. [ applause ]. >> by the way, the board of directors did my performance review last night.

it would have been great if you were there. good morning, everyone. we are indeed proud to have partnered with such an auspicious team that others are mentioning in name and i will save time and not repeat everything. it has been extremely gratifying to take part in and witness a transformation of extremely dilapidated housing, turning it into safe, comfortable homes for families that remain affordable in perpetuity. but it is also about more than just the housing here. the city has the great foresight to ensure that there was workforce development and onsite service connection to make sure residents have at their doorstep access to other resources. we are proud to have partnered with hunters point family. dev mission on the stem program that we have initiated across

the sites here, all of whom are doing fantastic work and enhancing what resources are available to residents every day. i want to call out our services team, an amazing group of people, some of whom are here today. even if they're not, they deserve some recognition. [ applause ]. >> this team is fantastic. you show up every day doing challenging work and being a big support to residents. we cannot talk about services without acknowledging hodc who every day, week, and month are pushing, supporting, and guiding our programs, as they should. thank you for that. finally, these past five years

are not about all of us speaking today. it's about the residents who endured decades of deplorable conditions. five years of hard work is great. but the people who live here suffered through much longer hardships. that's what this project is really about. developing community, bringing onsite services, engaging with residents, having a long-term vision with our city partners and everybody up here and all the residents, that has been the most rewarding part. we have really appreciated the positive impact of walking hand in hand with residents every day. learning from them. they hold us accountable, and we've appreciated that as well. at the very beginning of this project, five years ago or so, when we went to our initial meetings, the residents said this is a ploy to kick us out. they said, you're going to raise our rents.

we didn't. they said, you're not really going to renovate these buildings. we did. you're not really going to have services onsite. we did. this was founded to help people stay in san francisco, remain in their homes, communities, schools, businesses, congregations, and that's what this project is about as well. thank you for all of your support all around. the resident leadership especially, we've enjoyed working with you. i know we're going to hear from one of the resident leaders. thank you all. it is our pleasure to be with you here today. [ applause ]. >> well said. it really does make one think that how -- while certain leaders in washington seem to be doing their best to pull our country apart, here in san francisco we are doing our best

to reknit these properties into the fabric of our communities and neighborhoods. we are doing our best to now bring the san francisco housing authority itself more directly into the family of city agencies that work closely with mohcd and the other agencies at the city to provide affordable housing. and the kind of work we do here as david so eloquently articulated, to just bring people together, reintegrate things, and really fight back against the forces that are trying to pull us all apart. thank you, david. well said. while it probably goes without saying, that's when i say it anyway. none of this can happen without money, lots of it. for that, we in the city turn to bank of america, merril lynch. they have been key to our success.

we're talking about over three-quarters of a billion dollars in debt and equity for the program. here at hunters point, they provided over $150 million in construction financing and over $120 million tax credit equity as well as funding for residents during construction. we went to bank of america for funding because that's where the money was. they were ready to put it to good use. to paraphrase elanie, where is the money at, that's where i'm going. okay. i didn't get it quite right. you can school me later. don't beat box it? okay. i get a little carried away sometimes. anyway, back to the script. it gives me great pride to introduce a proud resident of san francisco herself, liz minik.

>> these are always hard acts to follow. thank you so much for having us today. bank of america was founded in this amazing city in 1904. two years after, we had one of our largest earthquakes. at the time bank of italy at the time spent most of their resources getting people back in their homes. housing has always been integral to what we do. that's when the call to action and rehabilitating the 3500 units around our city came, we were so delighted and honoured to provide $2.2 billion. so $2.2 billion in financing for the san francisco r.a.d. program. as has been said, this is all about the residences. this is ensuring that people can be in the homes that everyone deserves. again, thank you so much for having us today. i will continue with a thanks for our great partners related,

john stewart, and san francisco housing development. our wonderful team who has worked tireless over the last six and seven years to get this done. mayor breed, we couldn't have done this without our leadership. thank you. [ applause ]. >> $2 billion doesn't go as far as it used to, but it adds pick up. the engagement and support of our residents was absolutely crucial to our success. i'd therefore like to acknowledge quickly and thank all the officers for our three tenant associations at the three different sites, many of whom are with us today. susan mcallister, renitia raina, elise minor, ivan sepulona.

those are all from the east association. from the west we have joe nyamalaga, ronald anderson. and from the other associations we have many people as well. thank you all. it takes a lot of work. you're volunteers. you're out there helping the residents organize and bring issues to us. you're keeping us honest, committed, and engaged. we appreciate the partnership that that represents. speaking on behalf of the residents today is renée, as i mentioned earlier, president of the westbrook tenant

association. she's a passionate community leader who encourages and assists residents in advocating for their own best interests. born in the bay area, she takes great pride in engaging and helping her community, understands the challenges of the residents, has a strong commitment to educational values, and her skill and compassion make her both a voice and a beacon of hope for the residents. it is my pleasure to have renée mangdangle to the stage. >> hi, everybody. thank you, mayor breed. i would like to thank related, john stewart company, of course my tenant association. yesterday was my birthday, 9/11. anyways, i'm kind of nervous. i'm not much of a speaker.

anyway. this building came a long way. i come from the peninsula, and when i came in here it was like pulling teeth. i did not want to move here, but i did. made the best out of it. i became a community leader. and hunters point west with marlene harris, she hired me to be event planner and personal chef for all three sites. then i met hunters point east and of course westbrook residents at that time. i just want to thank everybody. thank you. [ applause ]. >> you're following the sage advice of roosevelt, be sincere, brief, and be seated.

you're going to go far in politics. anyway, this is short and sweet. we want to spend time listening to some more music, touring apartments, having some food, breaking bread together. i want to thank again all the distinguished speakers. i want to do a special shout-out to our technology program partners for the wifi, the training, et cetera, here at this site. it includes the city's department of technology, monkey brains, dev mission who's been mentioned, the community tech network, microsoft, you've heard of them, adobe. they all pitched in on the technology side. we appreciate it. there are so many companies and public agencies that have contributed their time, energy, and hard work to making these properties a success. i wish i had time to recognize them all. i can't. time is short. i'm going to name a few, sort of speed recognition. our architects, our general

contractors did an amazing job renovating and breathing new life into these communities. thank you. i'm going to repeat a few thanks that came up earlier. from the city and county of san francisco thanks -- [ indiscernible ]. from the john stewart company itself, i want to shout out to our founder and chairman john stewart himself, margaret miller, dan lavine, jenny collins. and our former project manager adam levine who came from east bay to see the fruits of his labors. i want to say hi to many of those who couldn't be here

[ indiscernible ] -- thanks to michael mincus and thanks to all the other people who contributed their time and energy to this impressive effort. so that's it. thanks for coming. please stay for food in the community room, tours of apartments, more music. so if i could just get the speakers all to follow. [♪] >> my name is kamal lane, and i've lived in san francisco for 30 -- let's say 31 years.

i lived there a year february 29, 2017, my grandma's birthday. the thing that's cured my home is the mayor's office. when my number was called, i was excited because my number was number three. to rent a home in san francisco means that i'm able to be with my family to support me, me to support them. then, the opportunity for my daughter to get a good paying job. my favorite thing of my new home in hunters view is the view of the bay bridge, oakland, and a piece of the golden gate. it's peaceful and quiet, and they have a lot of activities for families. they have art class, where you

can paint, they have trips, where they take the children. we went to a black art museum, we went to a jazz festival, we went ice skating. there's a lot -- they have a lot of activities up here, and that's one thing that i really love about it, i love my bedroom. it's peaceful, it's quiet, where i can think, play, and just have my quiet time. i love my bedroom. this is my home because this is where i live. me and my children, we love in here, we -- just being with my grand kids and loving somewhere and having somewhere is home. we love being together, and your heart -- wherever your heart is, that makes it home for you.

>> welcome to pricidia middle school. i am emma dunbar and i had the enormous privilege to be the principal in this community. thank you all for joining us. [ cheering and applause ]. >> i want to give a very warm

welcome to my students, to our staff, to elected officials, board members, mayor appliappli and our trusted partners at sales force. i couldn't be happier to host you all on this yard just opened for our new school year after four years in the making. it is a prime example of what investment in our public schools can look like. four years ago, mark benniof, along with the mayors and superintendents from oakland and san francisco, stood on this very same yard to celebrate the third year of the sales force grant. at that time, there was success to celebrate. wifi in every middle school, computers and ipads available to every school, the established of the principal's innovation fund. we may not have appreciated how much more celebrating there was

to come. to date, we've now seen over $40 million invested in the students of san francisco unified school districts. [ cheering and applause ]. >> and $20 million invested in the students at oakland unified. [ cheering and applause ]. >> this has had incredible results in math, computer science, and college readiness throughout both of these great cities. what i want to share with you today is what this means for presidio and what i observed seeing these transformations. not just to our physical environments but to our students' lives. here is an example of what our community has seen since 2013. increased student access to and interest in coding and robotics.

teachers and students collaborating in online environments in every classroom in our school. in addition to our beautiful new space, our community enjoys partnering directly with sales force volunteers who have supported our teachers throughout the school in creating welcoming environments for learning. we know that our students thrive when we can surround them with the support of everyone in the community, from teachers to volunteers to corporate partners to parents. i'd now like to personally thank and introduce mark benniof co-c.e.o. and chairman of sales force who has championed this great, incredible, amazing work for our students. [ cheering and applause ] .

>> thank you so much for coming today. it's a gorgeous day and always the hottest day when we do these announcements. i just want to say you have an amazing team up hear that i want to call out. we have principal dunbar. thank you for everything you're doing. [ cheering and applause ]. >> and we have two of our fabulous mayors here in san francisco and oakland, mayor breed and mayor shaw. thank you. [ cheering and applause ]. >> and we have our amazing team here of our superintendents kyle and vincent, thank you for everything that you're doing. [ applause ]. >> we have anthony from the sales force foundation too. thank you, ebony. [ cheering and applause ]. >> doing work like this really does take a team. one member of our team is not up here and we're thinking a lot

about him. that is ed lee. it was really mayor lee that had the vision that we felt so strongly about to work on the 12 middle schools. that was seven years ago and now we can see today here is this incredible manifestation of our middle schools getting rebooted and it's in his memory that we're doing this work. let's remember him and let's say thank you as well to all of you for being here. thank you for your support of our kids. thank you to the kids also. so thank you guys for coming here. [ cheering and applause ]. >> one thing about doing this is the kids are always like, this is boring, when is it over? it's going to get worse before it gets better. [ laughter ]. >> i apologize. no, it's okay? you're interested in this? all right.

all right. then let's do it. thank you, principal dunbar for welcoming us to this beautiful presidio middle school and to you and all the staff at presidio that make a difference for our kids. thanks to our great partners and all of our leaders and great principals here. if you're a principal in san francisco or oakland, would you just stand up and be recognized. [ cheering and applause ]. >> you know, these principals who are on the frontlines every single day in these schools and with these kids doing this leadership work. they have our best hopes with

them. as part of our program, as our principal innovation program, gets $100,000 a year over the last seven years to do what they think they need to do for their schools. i admire their creativity and desire to improve the education of each school, but i just want to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the schools. it's so powerful. and i also want to thank the kids. thank you for all of your hard work too and everything you're doing to have a great education. because i'll tell you, the best ideas for our schools come from our kids. as we've been working with the schools, of course we have ideas and our visions and we remember when we were in school or when we were in middle school, but what it means to be in middle school today is different than what i was when i was in middle school. thank you to you guys for keeping us in touch with what's important and using your voices

and also speaking your truth and saying what you really want for your school. it's the kids actually before you who have graduated and over there at george washington high school who said that they wanted a new playground, that that was very important to them. you can thank them because they used their voices and said that's what they wanted. that's why we're here very much today. keep in mind as you go forward that we want to hear from you, what you're doing. we're all here because of you. we're all here because we believe in each and every one of you. we believe in your future and we believe that you are going to create an amazing future. we've had our chance. our chance is over. [ laughter ]. >> now it's your chance. so we're looking for you to be the leaders and to take us forward and hope fulfully. i'm here as your neighbor, not just a c.e.o.

when it comes to our public schools, a lot of people say they want to help but they don't know how to. well, a few years ago ago, some of you heard this story before, i came over here, walked through the door, and i said to the principal, how can i help? what can i do? that's a message for each and every one of us. the principal is the local c.o. of that school. all we have to do is knock on that door and say, how can we help you? every c.o. can adopt a public school. every company can adopt a district. every one of us can do something. i think that that is what is so powerful. ultimately, it's the connection with the principal that's so important the more work that we've done in the public schools, we just get reminded of that over and over again. in my mind, i always say how do i make presidio the best school on the planet? each of us wants the best for

our kids and make these the best schools that we can. so often it's the principal that knows how to make that happen. thank you to our principals. thank you for what you're doing. this has been an amazing process for me. as i've been working on presidio middle school, i've had a lot of friends who have gone through this school and i didn't know that when i started the process. i'll tell them this story. i've adopted this school and this is what we're doing and so forth. different friends of mine have said, i have went there, did you know i went there, one of our board members went there. the amazing thing happened is my mom came to me and said she was here for one year. [ laughter ]. >> isn't that amazing? so my mom was here for one year. i don't know how she did that. i don't even know how that happened, but luckily i got some kudos from my mom when i said we're working on presidio middle

school. so we so stronger believe at sales force that we're here for all of our stakeholders, not just the shareholders. we're here to serve communities, public schools, everyone who is part of san francisco, oakland, or anywhere we're doing business. we're thinking about the bigger picture. that is how we guide our company's management and our leadership. this is part of our mission. that's who we are at sales force. that's very much why for the last seven years sales force has forged really an unprecedented collaboration with the school districts of san francisco and oakland. we are happy to be their largest b benefactors to support them. our journey has only started. we are at the beginning of what we can do with the schools. we are committed to the long term for our schools. we are there for our districts

and for all of you. it's why we adopt public schools at sales force, 34 of them in the bay area. 100 around the world that have the same spotlight on them that presidio does. here we have a commitment that every one of our senior vice presidents at sales force has a adopt a public school. it's part of their responsibility. this school is my school, so they lucked out. [ laughter ]. >> but a lot of the schools have the same level of attention and support. our colleagues who i want to thank and who are here have given 4 million hours in volunteerism since we started the company. if you're a sales force employee, raise your hand so i can thank you. [ applause ].

>> i'll tell you, these results, it's really working. we monitor if we're doing the right things. we see these incredible results for san francisco and oakland. for full-time teachers for math and technology. a surge of kids who are enrolled in stem and computer science. more young women and more students of color. higher attendance rates. higher math scores. higher grades. you guys all have to get higher grades now, isn't that good news? that's what we're expecting you to be in school more and have higher grades because of this. this year we're going to give another $17.2 million to san francisco and oakland public schools. incredible. [ applause ]. >> i'm excited that we've given more than $67 million to these local schools. congratulations to you. we are well on our way to giving

$100 million to local san francisco and oakland public schools. i hope that is just the beginning. [ applause ]. >> you know, i mentioned mayor lee and mayor lee is no longer with us, but our work together today is an homage to his life and legacy. we see the results of the partnership right here at presidio. when i adopted this school, i asked the students, what do you want? and they said, we want more fun. i said, well, what does more fun mean? well, we want more fun at school. what does that mean? we want more computers, better networking, faster networks, better, faster wifi. and we want to have a better playground too. is this a better playground? >> yes. >> did you like the prison yard that we had for you here before?

no. we thought it was designed by one of the best prison yard design groups. you voted to change it, so we did. where is ron who designed the playground? right over here, ron. [ cheering and applause ] thank you, ron. because when the kids said we wanted a new playground, we hired ron. he is one of the top playground designers in the world. he's done a lot of amazing things. he came over here and he said, my vision of a school playground is just a big pile of dirt that kids can play in and create whatever they want, that i admire the creativity of kids. and i thought maybe that wasn't going to go over very well. but ron is still after that idea. then we came up with a huge vision for what the playground could be. then the kids who were here

before you said we don't like that. that's not a very good idea. we said, fine, why don't we work together. so we created a class where those kids could work with us and ron. for a year they designed the playground you now have. so this playground is designed by the students of the middle school. that is pretty cool. if you're liking it and feeling like they made the right decisions, you should really congratulate them. if you don't like the decisions they made, they're right over there at george washington, and you can go talk to them about it. with a help of a grant at sales force, we teamed up with the school's security guard to start a new book club. some of the students in the club were able to attend a book event with the author angie thomas.

[ applause ]. >> i'm trying to give you inspiration that everyone here can adopt a public school. to walk down a few blocks from your house just like i did. to knock on the door of the principal just like i did and let that journey unfold for you. it's very exciting. the most important thing is to listen to the kids because they have the answers. they represent the future of our world. that's why we do this work, so that they have the education they need to be successful in the future and to take care of us because we're getting old. we're going to need you to take care of us. thank you very much, all of you. thanks to all of you for being here. we're so grateful to everyone. thank you. [ applause ]. >> mayor breed: i'm next. thanks to sales force and mark beniof and all the work that you

have done to change lives in san francisco. what's so amazing about sales force and their incredible leader, mark, is that public service is embedded in what this company stands for. it's not providing software only, which is a great resource to have, but it's making sure that we are all doing our part to give back and support our surrounding community. i'm so proud you're a native san franciscan. we appreciate all you have done and will continue to do to improve the lives of all san franciscans. thank you so much, mark. [ applause ]]. >> mayor breed: i've got to say mayor shaf thinks it is san francisco and is surprised that

the rich man is shining bright with the sun. every now and then the sun shines on the west side of san francisco. i can't help but go back to my time i spent in san francisco. i wasn't probably as well behaved as some of the kids are here today. in middle school, i was a handful. in fact, i'd always have to go to our girls' counselor's office and say it wasn't me this time. the thing about the teachers and principal, they never gave up on me. they supported, encouraged, listened to me. school was my sanctuary. coming from a community -- i lived in public housing. there was a lot of challenges in my community.

i was so blessed to have incredible teachers, counselors and principals. i played french horn at franklin ben and i wasn't that bad at it. the opportunity to be a part of an incredible community was what inspired me to want to also give back. because i wanted to make sure that every young person in this city had an opportunity to succeed and to do whatever they want to do in life. there are people who invested in me at a time when i didn't understand what it meant to support the efforts and the work that i was doing in school. now i get it. they were preparing me for a better future. that is our responsibility. it is a responsibility that i don't take lightly. sales force has been at the forefront of really investing, but also holding others accountable to do more to invest in our young people. we have the resources right here

in san francisco. there was a real disconnect between my community and what was happening downtown in the financial district. a real disconnect between all the possibilities that existed in this city. it's why i started opportunities for all, to make sure that every high school student has access to a paid internship. i know sales force provides incredible internship opportunities so these young people can learn firsthand what happens in the world of finance, technology, or any industry they choose to be a part of. whether they want to take over when mark retires in a couple of years. [ laughter ]. >> mayor breed: he says you have to take care of him on top of taking his job. whether -- i mean, i'm term limit out eventually. we're going to need new mayors, councilors, principals. we're going to need the next generation to not only take over the world in all these amazing

positions, but we're also going to need you to save our planet. there is a lot of work to be done and it starts right here, making sure that no child is left behind, no matter their financial circumstances, no matter if they were raised like i was by my grandmother in public housing, no matter where they come from in the four corners of this city, we want to make sure that we invest in our young people and that they have successful. that's what today is about. yes, it is a significant contribution, larger than any we've received in the city, but it's a personal commitment from mark beniof and sales force, many of our officials and others, to do better, to make sure we are taking care of our young people every single day. it matters. it's the difference between what happened in my family. i became mayor and, sadly, my brother is still incarcerated. i lost a sister to a drug

overdose. this is the same family, the same community. what a difference it makes when you make the right investment. so let's make sure that we listen to what mark is talking about. all of the companies out there in san francisco, we're coming for you so that you can take care of our kids and our future. [ cheering and applause ]. >> mayor breed: we all have to start taking responsibility for everybody else's kids too. that's what today is about. i want to make sure that ten years from now that these young people are prepared for the future, they're prepared to take over our jobs. i can tell by the look in their eyes that they're going to do just that. so today is a celebration. thank you all so much for joining us here today. at this time, i want to introduce my sister from across

the bay. she's making it happen in oakland and she's doing great things every single day on housing, on education. i'm just so grateful to have a partner to address so many of the challenges that we know we face in some incredible cities by the bay. ladies and gentlemen, oakland mayor, libby schaaf. >> i brought the oakland weather with me. >> it is so good to be here in our bay area. we may have two cities, but we have one bay. we have one bay area. we know that we rise or fall togeth together. also in memory, since you invoked the memory of our mayor ed lee, someone who lived the

values of regionalism. one thing i hope you all know about the mayors of oakland and san francisco is we are home-grown girls and we are graduates of our public school system. [ cheering and applause ]. >> now, i want to pile on to london's challenge to the corporate community. there is a lot of talk these days about shareholder responsibility, how that is a thing of the past and we need to move on to stakeholder responsibility. i challenge other companies to do what sales force has done. that is put your money where your mouth is and put your love where your money is. the fact that sales force does not just pay lip service to the idea of corporate responsibility but they invest deeply and they

invest with humility. i don't know if i've ever heard a c.e.o. use the word "listen" so much in a speech. i know you have not heard a lot of c.e.o. speeches, but i have. it's not a verb that comes up often. sales force approaches this partnership with our school district with a huge sense of humility, with a curiosity and a desire to learn from you young people who are the stakeholders. that is something that i think has made you successful in business, but it is also making you a success in our community. the fact that you don't just write a check, look at the love of all these blue-shirt-wearing geeks in the back row. notice they let the kids sit in the shade and they are roasting in the sun back there.

that i