thank you so much from being here today. i'm san francisco mayor london breed. we are in the square request a number of city officials who really honored to be in the presence of people who have been working in the community and our police departments and others and we are here to talk about the launch of a program that's absolutely necessary to protect our seniors there the api community. so, i'd like to start by thanking chief scott and the san francisco police department from being with us

today. this is along with the police deparking loment larry yee. our administrator carmen chew and other members you will hear from from neighborhood organizes that are partnering with the city to launch what i think is an incredible program that will address the challenges we have seen happen. not just here in san francisco all over the country. i can't image anyone watching some of the videos we have seen. as she was robbed grandfather was killed. some of the really tragic occurrences. they have really been tough, i know, it's tough on us as a

city the api community. more than any other community this community was discriminated against our leadership in the federal government tried to divide us with the number of comments made pertaining to the virus the businesses in chinatown suffered we still have not recovered. that's why we are all here we would like to change things we would like things to get better. when i was a kid i remember at the time 70s, 80s, and a lot of crime like purse

snatching and other things. some of us might remember the guardian angle. the guardian angle was a group of volunteers together to patrol the streets they were the angles and guardians of the city when i started getting actedtively engaged in the western edition it was because, sadly the violence, the gun lie vance in particular a group called crn community response network now fbip. they were people, like some of the menu see here today. when there was a shooting they would sometime prevent a shooting from happention in the first place. they would definitely be on

the ground. sometimes it takes more than just a police response after the fact. it takes the community coming together. they must stop the violence from happening. these could have been worse but we work together. we work together as a community we didn't want to continue to see people die in our neighborhood. people we grew up with and loved. we wanted to change that. overtime street violence intervention programs have evolved. they become really somewhat like the guardian angle of the community. mostly focused on places like the bay view hunter point and western edition. i appreciate their work and dedication because these are people coming from those communities. when i became mayor one thing i wanted to do more than

anything else is to keep residents of the city safe. so, when this up tick of violence occurred with our eldily asian community members the first thing i taught about was the street lie lance intervention program i asked them, this is outside the scope of their responsibility. i asked if they would hepa troll chinatown and lookout for the seniors and communities we know there were challenges. without hesitation, they said yes. as a result of this and the work with cyc the collaboration to make sure not only are we keeping people safe but building cost culture

relationships the last thing i'd like us to do is let these violent attacks divide the communities. the african-american community in the city stands in solidarity with our api brothers and sisters someone raised by her grandmother. when i look at my grandmother in chinatown i see them as my grandmother and i would like no harm to come to them. i'll do everything to stop that from happening. [ applause ] >> today we would like to talk about the program we are launching in san francisco. this is in expansion of the program. this is in collaboration with cyc andself help for the

elderly. they needed someone with a relationship in the community they want to make sure we build that trust and relationship. sarah has been doing amazing work. not just with the kids but here in chinatown and other parts of the community to build those relationships. this program will involve street violence intervention programs and community members and cyc. they will be in neighborhood specifically patrolling neighborhoods like chinatown. the tl, tinderloin. leyland avenue. they will be the guardians of the community where we know we have a large population of

seniors that come out to walk everyday. they come out to do their exercise in the park. they pick up groceries and shop and medication. we will take care of our communities. we will take care of our seniors, all of us. the other part of the program because we know covid-19 has not and the only thing that put seniors in a situation toself isolate. --self isolate. we want them to feel comfortable doing what they have always done anyself help for the elderly delivering over 1 million meals during the pandemic they will have people they will make available to our senior community starting here in

chinatown where we will partner seniors with someone who can help walk them and take them to run their errands so they feel safe it takes a village, it really does. what i'm hoping we get out of this is not only the fact that we have seen after the crimes have been committed which have seen the arrests that have been made the police have reacted swiftly and taken people into custody and we want i couldn't sayties to be severed. we'd like to get at the heart of why and how do we change the hearts and mind of people who would ever feel they could do something like this to another human being especially an elderly person.

i have to also work on that part. accountability is one thing, prevention is the key in stopping it from happening in the first place. this new program along with all of the other efforts we are trying to do to prevent violence in our api community in san francisco will make a real difference. i'm grateful for all of you here today and volunteer their time to take care of, you know, our seniors and the api community. it will take a village and it starts with a great program and expansion of a program. we will have eyes and ears and boots on the ground in the streets everywhere. those of you who think you will come to san francisco and victimize anyone in the

community you have another thing coming. we will not tolerate it. we will stand-up and stand strong against the hatefulness and violence that's inflected on people who don't deserve it. so, with that, i'd like to introduce annie that's been incredible during the pandemic. we know seniors were mostly impacted as a result of the violence. in san francisco almost 80 % of those over the age of 65. any of you know any seniors that need to be vaccinated. there is a pop-up site here. we would like to get him vaccinated and members of the community and enjoy a peaceful and safe life in san

francisco. [foreign language] >> thank you. >> good morning, everyone. mayor, chief scott, and friends from the media and community. i'm annie chong.

prior to the covid-19 you would come to one of our spring banquets. when you put the long jeffty necklace on those over 90 you said they reminded you of your grandmother they said mayor we are adopting you as our granddaughter. thank you very much for bringing seniors that needed relief and you will provide funding and resources so we could restart our senior program. our seniors that are fearful of going to the bank or pharmacies or hospital or doctors appointment. now they request for our elderly staff to provide the personal escort to them we

would like to say it's not just isolated and fearful they wouldn't leave their homes. mayor, the senior program actually started in the 80s. it lasted through the early 2 thousands a they expanded the program when the funding went out and the program closed down. you give us an opportunity to jumpstart it again with a lot of infrastructure. we hope that along with the street violence intervention program we will work on the long-term goals of cross cultural training. cross cultural understanding and protecting our most

vulnerable seniors when they look at the sros they would go to the bank this will allow the seniors to do something very simple. they have to go get tested from the bank and go to the post office and pay the landlord. in that journey they could get attacked almost any time and anywhere. where they are i

urge all of us to have mothers and fathers offer to escort them on the weekend we want to show the love and respect and honoring seniors staying at home is not the solution work with the mayor and cyc and street intervention program whatever we come from a rally like this one. we see a lot of messages of love and support and unity. i hope we learn from this terrible violence that attacks did most vulnerable seniors

each one of us has to stop it. thank you mayor for the good news and resources. we appreciate it.

>> thank you so much, annie. i'd like to recognize another great community partner at visitation valley. thank you for being here with the community and the development center. we are grateful you are joining us with your team next up, as i said before sarah and cyc have been instrumental in the work of building a cross cultural relationship between the chinese and african-american communities. i appreciate the work she does it's an amazing organize that has stepped-up to partner with

us to make the program a successful welcome sarah. [ applause ] thank you, mayor. thank you i'd like to do another special shout out to our sister. there was a response network in the 2000. our sister over there and with all of the fbi members and behind all of these officials because of the funding in 2015 the api crisis response network has provided limited

service and focus on the big time support services. we were able to reramp and partnership to provide a partnership that will reach more seniors and vulnerable community members this is why, as part of the member of the coalition of safety and justice our approach also including case management for survivors and all of the city agencies as well. especially with the help of the elderly it can't be one organizeover group. we have done trust building for a long time. the vision is this partnership

this could take a long time we look at cool school curricm and focus on community relationship and trust again. we have to stand together at the community against hate, violence no matter where the violence happens. developing the capacity of our members across the city to lead safety, planning, and oversight process to ensure healing this is key to address the root cause of the violence. we'd like to thank you for investing in this long-term

program we keep each other safe, thank you very much.

>> i'd like to thank you for your partnership and community enrichment. our final speaker, oh, no. our next speaker will be howard smith from street violence intervention program. howard and i go way back. we grew up in the western community. he has deep roots in the neighborhood and he's a bridge builder and pacemaker and would like to keep our

community safe i'm glad to have him here today. [foreign language] >> thank you very much. i he'd like to first of all say thank you to our mayor not only bringing us together but she herself having her boots to the ground in chinatown to build a bridge and all the stuff we have been dealing with in the community thank you you for your work here. i'm here to say as mayor breeze said earlier when i see a senior i don't look at her as asian, white, or black. i see her as a senior. we were at the hub one day and

the asian lady was 92 years old. i saw her and said let me help you with the box. she kept saying that was very nice of you i didn't think it was nice but the right thing to do we are facing challenges within the last four years on 1600 pennsylvania street there has been--they have--i'm sorry. excuse me. they have been devicive and time to pull together and go back to our roots we are here

to make sure you are comfortable and safe it's hard to follow the act and not speak the language working with the cyc and brothers and sisters we stand in solidarity to make sure things are safe darkness cannot drive out darkness just light we will make your sure seniors which are our seniors are safe.

thank you. [foreign language] >> thank you for bringing that dr. king quote up. i'm not sure if you saw something circulating that said i love you. i know you don't know who i am if people can hate for no reason i can love for no reason too image if we showed love and compassion towards one another what a difference that would make. finally, i'd like to bring up our chief of police bill scott. as i said to you earlier they

have done a tremendous job of apprehending the perpetrator and suspect in the cases we appreciate their diligence and work i'd like to bring up bill scott, chief of police. >> good morning, thank you. let me extend my thanks and appreciate to the mayor for her leadership 2020 was an incredibly difficult year. our mayor made the decision to put san francisco at the forefront of the response to the deadly virus that's something to appreciate in my

opinion adversity brings out the best adversity brings out the best in a strong community. it's about community i'd like to reiterate a few things i'm pleased when these crimes occur against the elderly members we have been able to solve them and bring them to justice we would like to prevent it in the first place. the violence prevention the mayor just made will do that this is about community. we have community