good morning everyone. and welcome to galleleo high school. let's go mighty lions. you guys know i used to be the announcer over the p.a. system during home run so that's where i get it from. first, i want to thank the principal, principal baneau who's here with us today one of the co-chairs for peace. someone i think the only person who was left since i was at galleleo high school ms. grenell is here. betty grenell. she was there every time i showed up to do the announcements for the p.a. when i was the girl's vice president and it's really great to see you here because it makes me

still feel young. somebody's here since i was a kid. well, i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i want to just recognize a couple of our officials who are here today before we get into this announcement. we have members of the board of supervisors joining us. i see supervisor safai, supervisor stefani and supervisor melgar. thank you to our board members for joining us here today. we also have some of our school board members including superintendent dr. matthews. as well as jenny lamb is joining us. thank you so much. and kevin boggess is over there. there you go, kevin. okay. the you're on the left over here. you guys didn't catch that joke

we also have our district access sorry, recorder. supervisor haney just joined us. our city attorney. thank you so much david chiu for being here. carmen chiu. the director of the department of children, youth, and families maria sue. the director of the office of early childhood care and education, ingrid mosqita charles davis the human rights commission. so many people who care about supporting our schools and our kids and i think we have a couple of folks from labor uesf thank you for joining us as well as many of our parents from all over san francisco and our students and all of you just you know your names. so i've got to say, i'm really happy here today about the decision i had to make.

i really agonized over this decision. this is probably the hardest decision that i've ever had to make as mayor because it's about the future of our children when i think about i ms. marshal who's also here. when i think about my time in schools in san francisco, some of the best times i had in my whole life were right here at galleleo high school and when this field would be actual grass where we would sprain our ankles running up and down the field and watch the football games and the performances and other things and our pep rallies and homecomings and all the fun activities took place here at this school and so many amazing memories were made. and when i think about my time at galleleo high school and the various schools i went to, i can't help but think about

during this pandemic what so many kids were going through, right. what would have happened if i couldn't come to school and participate in activities for my senior year. what that would have done to me. i live to walk across the stage and graduate. i would have been completely devastated if i couldn't go to the games and see the boys on the football field. i would have been losing it as a teenager. going through puberty and all the stuff going on here. we used to come across here cutting class to see the boys play and practice and then get chased out of here by the coach by coach white who this field is named after by the way. anyway, i just think about all those times and i think about what these kids missed out on, but i also think about how would i have survived because my grandmother wasn't really as active. you had to study and make up

your bed and clean up the house. but so many of the parents joining us here today, you know, your advocacy was not just about your kids, it actually helps so many other kids that didn't have an advocate. and so when i think about what we've been through over the past few years and the struggles and the challenges, i know there's a lot of work to do. i know that we can't make up for the last two years, but you know what, we can sure try. we can get started today on the future of our schools and we can get started today on what it means to not only support and uplift our educators, but to also put our children first. it's time for the schools in this city, our public school system to get back to the basics of educating our children, of making sure that, you know, we have 8th grade

algebra and we have the various classes and the support that these kids need to grow and thrive. i never thought college was an opportunity that could be afforded to someone like me until in the 10th grade, ms. luke's history class, american history, we had a representative from u.c. davis and i said no i could never get into u.c. davis and it was because of people like ms. luke and others and supported me is why i ended up at a place like u.c. davis. and so they had the excitement about their kids. and we have to make sure we get that excitement back because that's how we're going to get past this. that's how we are going to thrive. making this decision was hard. i talked to a lot of people. i talked to people i didn't

even really want to talk to. i'm talking about people who just walk up to you on the streets and you're late for something and they're like mayor, can i tell you something about what i think and i'm like sure. but you know a common theme amongst everyone i talked to, every organization, every group of parents, they always talked about putting kids first. dealing with the challenges of mental health loss. dealing with the challenges at the forefront of what these children have experienced because we as adults have experienced it too. but just imagine as a kid and what they're going through. they talked about wanting people who had the kinds of qualifications where they can understand how a school district is run and understand how not to micromanage the superintendent and how to make sure that we're focusing on the basics even as we, yes, deal with some of the other important issues the we're not

saying school renaming isn't important and looking at the history of some of these names and having an educational moment to have a discussion about what that means, we're not saying that's not important, but getting our kids back in school is important. making sure they and our teachers are safe is important. making sure that they thrive. that's what today is about. and let me tell you after meetings and conversations and all of that, i'm so happy and i'm so proud that we have three amazing women who all have kids in our public school system who all had a common theme of service. who all cared deeply about seeing a change. who all want better for our children and who also care about supporting our educators. who understand that there are hard decisions ahead of us and

who are willing to ignore the politics to focus on our kids. this is not about what they will do according to what i want them to do. these are three very strong capable women. who i am confident will do what is best for our children, for our educators, and for the school district. and so ladies and gentlemen, i am proud to announce, well, you know who they are right now, you see them. the appointment of ann chiu, the appointment of lany

matomedy we've got to get that name right. and also lisa wiseman ward. so let me start with anne. now i know you saw her out in the streets being fierce trying to get parents to register and vote. but she's just as fierce as a mama bear. well mama lion in this case because her sons go to galleleo high school. she's participated in the p.t.a., but it wasn't just that that drew me to ann. ann who started her own businesses. who worked in tech. started and sold companies and understands balance sheets and finances and all of these things when it comes to

business which is why i thought she would be perfect and she served on the board's bond oversight committee to help with addressing the challenges of what we need to do around how we spend money on responsibly on supporting and enhancing our schools in san francisco. i'm really excited. so many people called me about lany and i was like why don't i know her? i know about schools and people and stuff. she is a quiet force, she likes to do the work. she's a co-chair in peace where this city believes in public schools and sets aside

allocated resources to support our public schools. and, in fact, making sure not only the money gets to the right places, but that she listens to the parents and the feedback from the people who are going to be most impacted to make the right decisions about resource that is go to our children. and one of the key things i like about her is, yes, she's kind of technical and woke and into the weeds of stuff, but she's smart. she's smart and she understands that that technical stuff which is not always exciting to talk about is necessary when making important decisions so i'm really excited that lane is highly recommended. she comes from parents that were schoolteachers of public schools and los angeles, her father immigrated to the u.s. from iran. and she has just a wealth of

knowledge and information and understanding and a deep passion about doing what is necessary to support and uplift our public schools. and last but certainly not least, lisa. well, professor wiseman ward. and also attorney wiseman ward. someone who children attend public schools like they all do, who's raising your kids in the mission with her very talkative husband who cares deeply about immigrant rights and dedicated her career to supporting immigrant families through legal channels. the resources, a professor at stanford who's responsible for the immigrant rights clinic

there that helps educate even the next generation of attorneys to fight to support immigrants in this country and her thorough knowledge and understanding of the educational system and her understanding of what many parents told me were important to them especially for those parents who may not speak english and the need to have someone who understands their challenges, who's willing to listen and communicate in their language. it's critically important as someone who speaks fluid french. that's me. who speaks fluent spanish. i wanted to make sure those families were not left out of a void in this system. and so i feel really good because, again, it's not just about their children.

it's about equity. it's about the achievement cap. it's about the kids that are being left behind. it's about changes to the school system. it's about making sure that regardless of parent advocates or any advocate that those kids who have no voice or parents may not be able to speak english have a voice in this school system. and a key part was we will listen. we will listen to families. we will listen to educators. we will listen to the people. we will listen to the voices of our children to understand what they want whether we agree with it or not. what is going to be in the best interest of our children and their future because i know we all feel the same way. i know we feel a certain kind of way about wanting to see

greatness in these kids and we know what's possible especially those of us who've had the opportunity to work with these kids and, yes, they drive us crazy, but there's always something in each and every 1 of them, that spark, that spark, ms. grenell, you see in those kids and you're like, there's something special about that kid. and so now with a good solid school board, i think that we're going to be headed in the right direction. so, with that, let's get these members sworn in. oh, i guess i should stand over here. all right. please raise your right hand and repeat after me and i'm

going to point to you to say your name. so i... >> ann chiu. >> do solemnly swear i will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic that i bare true faith and allegiance to the same that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter and during such time as i

hold the office of member of the board of education for the san francisco unified school district. congratulations, ladies. [cheers and applause] >> all right. our new school board members, they have something to say. and we're going to start with you, ann. >> thank you. thank you so much, mayor breed for the introduction and for entrusting me with this extremely important role. i feel the weight of this position already. i think it's going to get

shorter. let me tell you about myself. i spent 10 years in pennsylvania through middle school, high school, and college and then i came out to u.c. berkley for graduate school and i fell in love with san francisco. after my graduation and could founded a dotcom in the original dot com boom and then a significant new challenge that's different from my previous professional challenges and experiences. i became a a mother. i have to say that raising children has been more challenging and more rewarding than any professional job than

any job i had. and they grew and changed. i have to adapt and learn constantly and i think all parents know that. i'm very lucky to have fraternal twins because they're very different. they look different to begin with and while every external factor was the same, they grew to be almost polar opposites. this showed me the diversity of personality, strength of and of each child that is in their nature helping each of them find and hone their strength and passions is what i feel as my responsibility as a parent. in this experience as a parent that i feel the weight and

responsibility of being a school board member. i'm now not just responsible for my own kids, i'm now responsible for all the kids of san francisco and i want to recognize, appreciate, and foster the talents and strengths in each and every child in our care. so that they can find their own path in life. being a first generation immigrant, i also want to lift up the concerns and interests of the significant immigrant parents community in sfusd as mayor breed had mentioned and i'm so glad to have a partner who understands that intimately. immigrant parents come to america not just to find a better life for themselves, so they can have a better life for

their parents. that's exactly why my parents came. immigrant parents have so many challenges in addition to raising children not least of which are language barriers and being unfamiliar with the american education system. we need to help these parents so that they can partner with our schools to help their children get the best education they can and realize their own american dreams. beyond the immigrant community, i also want to lift up the voices of the chinese and asian communities and represent them and work with all the different communities represented by our students in sfusd. i'm really looking forward to that work. i'm honored to be selected by mayor breed and take this responsibility very seriously. i'm also extremely excited to be joining the board with two

very confident professional women who are mothers . [ applause ] >> together with the current commissioners, we will work hard to turn a new page for sfusd, and put all the children of san francisco on their own path to success. thank you. >> thank you, mayor breed. and thank you, commissioner chiu. you both spoke from my heart and you may be hearing a lot of the same things from me. but first and foremost, i want to thank -- send a thank to the thousands of parents and community members who advocated tirelessly on behalf of our students and educators these last several years. yes. i'm incredibly honored to be

chosen to serve on the san francisco school board and i know how important our public schools are to our children and our families and i also know how hard the last two years have been for so many. i don't want to dwell there, but i do want to acknowledge how much progress we've made from march 2020 through shelter-in-place followed by a year of public school closures. today, we are turning the page. it's a beautiful day with even more hope and this is because of the relationships that galvanize parents, families, and the greater community to bring our voices together to prioritize all of our children and what they need to thrive in the present and in the future. my focus is to bring my experience and our collective experience to help all families and children in the city to get the support they need as we do the really challenging work to get our district back on track. i'm a native californian and a san franciscan for over 20 years. both my mom and step dad taught

for decades for the los angeles unified school district. my dad is an iranian immigrant who arrived here in san francisco as a teenager who only knew a few words of english. it was public education that offered him the foundation and support to find his way into the country and eventually become a professor. and i'm a public school kid all the way from kindergarten through my m.b.a. we all have our individual paths to walk and for most of us, it's not a straight line. my curiosities fostereded life-long friendships, challenged me and taught me needed skills and to be deeply engaged with a city that i loved so much. my education offered me professional opportunities in technology and telecommunications and public service as a clean energy government regulator and policy analyst, hence the woke preamble. i won't go too deep there and as a board member for the

bicycle coalition and our beautiful san francisco bo tan algarden. and as a volunteer manager and ranger for the horse patrol program. but now i'm focused on public education itself. since my kids first attended sfusd over 10 years ago, i've been actively involved in p.t.a. and volunteering in classrooms and schools in whatever way i could be of help to teachers, staff, and families. so much so my kids would tell me, you don't have to come to this one, you don't have to do this thing. just last month, i did complete a four-year term as a member and co. chair of the enrichment fund community and advise committee which reviews about $80 billion provided to sfusd for enrichment and core academic instructions. i advocated for much needed compliance, accountability and reform to ensure our san francisco city funds are

utilized for city benefit as well as our generous city and student priorities. i saw a need for a great deal more transparency into what is being funded, the trade-offs being made and to have honest conversation about what's working for our students and what is needed to best serve our students to achieve their dreams no matter what school site they attend. families and children are an essential part of a vibrant part of the city. i love our city. i am here because i want sfusd to be what it should be. a world class public education system that all families in san francisco consider as a great option for their children. a district with strong partnerships and support throughout the city and a place where all students and educators are given the support and tools they need to thrive. we have a lot of hard work to do to get us there and looking forward to working with my new

colleagues being sworn in and i'm excited to work with all of you. and to build new partnerships. again, i wish to thank our mayor for her continued advocacy for our students and children and i wish to thank the families and communities that advocated fiercely for students and will continue to do so. and a special thank you and deep gratitude to my husband, and my kids for supporting me on this unexpected journey. [ applause ] >> i am grateful and honored to be standing here and i'm committed to do the hard work before us as we turn the page. thank you so much. >> and now i'd like to introduce commissioner wiseman ward. >> thank you. i think i'm going to get used to that, commissioner. good morning. almost afternoon everyone.

my name is lisa weissman ward. i'm the mother of two public school children, a 1st grader and a 4th grader at claer don elementary. i'm grateful to mayor breed for this opportunity to serve and to work alongside the current and incoming school board members and doing the best that we can for the students and for the educators. the district is facing serious challenges. many of which were caused by or exacerbated by the pandemic. the list is long. it includes things like learning loss, mental health crisis, and ever growing opportunity gap for many students of color and ever growing opportunity gap for many student who is are facing socio economic challenges. financial woes for the district and fundamentals like getting our teachers and staff paid for

important work they've done. parents are frustrated. and rightly concerned about their children. educators are frustrated too. but despite these challenges, i'm going to echo a theme of hope from my new colleagues, we're here with a sense of hope and a commitment to working collaboratively to turn things around. i focus my career at the intersection of teaching and immigrants' rights. as a deportation defense attorney, i represented hundreds of families struggling to stay in the country. many of whom depend on the san francisco public schools for their childrens' education. as the associate director of the stanford law school and the immigrants rights clinic, mentoring and supervisoring i supervisored law students engaged in the challenging and important work of defending the rights of noncitizens and along the way, i've learned a lot.

i've learned the importance of i've learned the value of negotiation. i've learned the value of listening. and i mean really listening. listening and then asking questions. i've learned the value and importance of not just asking what is it that you want, but why so that i can understand perspective. i've learned the value and importance of investing time into building repore in order to better find common ground. i've learned the importance of process because even if at the outset we don't agree, when we engage in a process that's thoughtful, that's transparent and that's fair, we'll be in a better position to move things forward. there's a lot of things that need to get done and i'm really looking forward to working with and learning from students, their families, teachers,

paraeducators, labor representatives, superintendent matthews, and my colleagues new ones and the current colleagues that i will have on the board to make sure that our school district is a place where all students have the chance to thrive to be anything that they want to be whether it's a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a union apprentice or maybe even the mayor. i believe inning key and opportunity so thank you, mayor breed and i'm looking forward to getting to work. [ applause ]. >> well, as you can see, we've got some mommas in the building. [cheers and applause] >> again, let me just send a shout-out to all the incredible parents who really advocated for change and who advocated to make sure that we improve the

school district and i wanted to bring up at this moment superintendent vince matthews who, by the way could have retired already, but is still here and still working on behalf of our children. we are so grateful for his work and come on up, dr. matthews and say a few words. >> thank you so much. before i begin, i just wanted to say that i'm vince matthews, superintendent of the san francisco unified school district and i'm here with the president of our board, president lamb and i am actually also a student from the san francisco unified school district. i graduated from macketeer high school and i played football there and i want to say how good it is to be back on this

field because we had some victories on this field some of my most creative touchdown dances were right in the corner of that end zone. on behalf of president lamb and our current commissioners, commissioner boggess, alexander, and sanchez. i welcome our three new commissioners. i look forward to working with our new leaders of the san francisco board of education and i want to thank the new commissioners for their willingness to serve the greatest school district in the history of human kind. our mission in san francisco unified is to provide each and every student the quality instruction and equitable support so that each and every one of them can thrive in the

21st century. above all else, we are educators and our priority is and will continue to be helping students to reach their full potential. i look forward to working with all of our commissioners to address the challenges and opportunities before us in collaboration with our district staff, families, students, and community members. while there are many urgent and important matters to realize our mission, at this moment in time, our students and their families are counting on our district leaders to stay focused on these priorities above all else. number one, to maintain healthy and safe learning environments. number two, to create high quality learning experiences for our students that foster engaged and joyful learners and that support each student and reaching his or her attention. to adopt a fiscally responsible

budget that addressing short and long term while remaining student centered and fulfilling our obligations and number four, the one i'm most excited about to hire a new superintendent who is committed to the share core values of our school district and who possesses the priority competencies identified by this community. once again, i look forward. we are excited and welcome to the san francisco unified board of education. [cheers and applause] thank you, dr. matthews. but just for clarity, galileo high school when i attended was the first school in the history of schools to go undefeated for three years straight winning all three turkey days. which is so far i believe

unmatched which was way after you were a macketeer. anyway. it's so great to be here and i didn't get a chance to mention supervisor mandelman and our treasurer, jose cisneros. of the thank you for being here. so many of our elected leaders, our parents, spokes from labor and other places who care deeply about the education of our children, i am hopeful for the future and i know that our kids, our educators, and our public school system will be in good hands. thank you all so much for join withing us here today.

>> it's great to see everyone kind of get together and prove, that you know, building our culture is something that can be reckoned with. >> i am desi, chair of economic development for soma filipinos. so that -- [ inaudible ] know that soma filipino exists, and it's also our economic platform, so we can start to build filipino businesses so we

can start to build the cultural district. >> i studied the bok chase choy heritage, and i discovered this awesome bok choy. working at i-market is amazing. you've got all these amazing people coming out here to share one culture. >> when i heard that there was a market with, like, a lot of filipino food, it was like oh, wow, that's the closest thing i've got to home, so, like, i'm going to try everything. >> fried rice, and wings, and three different cliefz sliders. i haven't tried the adobe yet,

but just smelling it yet brings back home and a ton of memories. >> the binca is made out of different ingredients, including cheese. but here, we put a twist on it. why not have nutella, rocky road, we have blue berry. we're not just limiting it to just the classic with salted egg and cheese. >> we try to cook food that you don't normally find from filipino food vendors, like the lichon, for example. it's something that it took years to come up with, to

perfect, to get the skin just right, the flavor, and it's one of our most popular dishes, and people love it. this, it's kind of me trying to chase a dream that i had for a long time. when i got tired of the corporate world, i decided that i wanted to give it a try and see if people would actually like our food. i think it's a wonderful opportunity for the filipino culture to shine. everybody keeps saying filipino food is the next big thing. i think it's already big, and to have all of us here together, it's just -- it just blows my mind sometimes that there's so many of us bringing -- bringing filipino food to the city finally. >> i'm alex, the owner of the lumpia company. the food that i create is

basically the filipino-american experience. i wasn't a chef to start with, but i literally love lumpia, but my food is my favorite foods i like to eat, put into my favorite filipino foods, put together. it's not based off of recipes i learned from my mom. maybe i learned the rolling technique from my mom, but the different things that i put in are just the different things that i like, and i like to think that i have good taste. well, the very first lumpia that i came out with that really build the lumpia -- it wasn't the poerk and shrimp shanghai, but my favorite thing after partying is that bakon

cheese burger lumpia. there was a time in our generation where we didn't have our own place, our own feed to eat. before, i used to promote filipino gatherings to share the love. now, i'm taking the most exciting filipino appetizer and sharing it with other filipinos. >> it can happen in the san francisco mint, it can happen in a park, it can happen in a street park, it can happen in a tech campus. it's basically where we bring the hardware, the culture, the operating system. >> so right now, i'm eating something that brings me back

to every filipino party from my childhood. it's really cool to be part of the community and reconnect with the neighborhood. >> one of our largest challenges in creating this cultural district when we compare ourselves to chinatown, japantown or little saigon, there's little communities there that act as place makers. when you enter into little philippines, you're like where are the businesses, and that's one of the challenges we're trying to solve.

>> undercover love wouldn't be possible without the help of the mayor and all of our community partnerships out there. it costs approximately $60,000 for every event. undiscovered is a great tool for the cultural district to bring awareness by bringing the best parts of our culture which is food, music, the arts and being ativism all under one roof, and by seeing it all in this way, what it allows san franciscans to see is the dynamics of the

filipino-american culture. i think in san francisco, we've kind of lost track of one of our values that makes san francisco unique with just empathy, love, of being acceptable of different people, the out liers, the crazy ones. we've become so focused onic maing money that we forgot about those that make our city and community unique. when people come to discover, i want them to rediscover the magic of what diversity and empathy can create. when you're positive and committed to using that energy.

>> shop and dine the 49 promotes local businesses and changes san franciscans to do their shopping and dooipg within the 49 square miles by supporting local services within the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant so where will you shop and dine the 49 hi in my mind a ms. medina

>> roughly five years, i was working as a high school teacher, and i decided to take my students on a surfing field trip.

the light bulb went off in my head, and i realized i could do much more for my students taking them surfing than i could as their classroom teacher, and that is when the idea for the city surf project was born. >> working with kids in the ocean that aren't familiar with this space is really special because you're dealing with a lot of fear and apprehension but at the same time, a lot of excitement. >> when i first did it, i was, like, really scared, but then, i did it again, and i liked it. >> we'll get a group of kids who have just never been to the beach, are terrified of the

idea, who don't like the beach. it's too cold out, and it's those kid that are impossible to get back out of the water at the end of the day. >> over the last few years, i think we've had at least 40 of our students participate in the city surf project. >> surfing helped me with, like, how to swim. >> we've start off with about two to four sessions in the pool before actually going out and surfing. >> swimming at the pool just helps us with, like, being, like, comfortable in the water and being calm and not being all -- not being anxious. >> so when we started the city surf project, one of the things we did was to say hey, this is the way to earn your p.e. credits. just getting kids to go try it was one of our initial challenges for the first year

or two. but now that we've been doing it three or four years, we have a group of kids that's consistent, and the word has spread, that it's super fun, that you learn about the ocean. >> starting in the morning, you know, i get the vehicles ready, and then, i get all the gear together, and then, i drive and go get the kids, and we take them to a local beach. >> we usually go to linda mar, and then occasionally ocean beach. we once did a special trip. we were in capitola last year, and it was really fun. >> we get in a circle and group stretch, and we talk about specific safety for the day, and then, we go down to the water. >> once we go to the beach, i don't want to go home. i can't change my circumstances at home, but i can change the way i approach them. >> our program has definitely

been a way for our students to find community and build friends. >> i don't really talk to friends, so i guess when i started doing city surf, i started to, like, get to know people more than i did before, and people that i didn't think i'd like, like, ended up being my best friends. >> it's a group sport the way we do it, and with, like, close camaraderie, but everybody's doing it for themselves. >> it's great, surfing around, finding new people and making new friendships with people throughout surfing. >> it can be highly developmental for students to have this time where they can learn a lot about themselves while negotiating the waves. >> i feel significantly, like, calmer. it definitely helps if i'm, like, feeling really stressed or, like, feeling really anxious about surfing, and i go surfing, and then, i just feel,

like, i'm going to be okay. >> it gives them resiliency skills and helps them build self-confidence. and with that, they can use that in other parts of their lives. >> i went to bring my family to the beach and tell them what i did. >> i saw kids open up in the ocean, and i got to see them connect with other students, and i got to see them fail, you know, and get up and get back on the board and experience success, and really enjoy themselves and make a connection to nature at the same time. >> for some kids that are, like, resistant to, like, being in a mentorship program like this, it's they want to surf, and then later, they'll find out that they've, like, made this community connection.

>> i think they provided level playing fields for kids to be themselves in an open environment. >> for kids to feel like i can go for it and take a chance that i might not have been willing to do on my own is really special. >> we go on 150 surf outings a year. that's year-round programming. we've seen a tremendous amount of youth face their fears through surfing, and that has translated to growth in other facets of their lives. >> i just think the biggest thing is, like, that they feel like that they have something that is really cool, that they're engaged in, and that we, like, care about them and how they're doing, like, in general. >> what i like best is they really care about me, like, i'm not alone, and i have a group of people that i can go to, and, also, surfing is fun.

>> we're creating surfers, and we're changing the face of surfing. >> the feeling is definitely akin to being on a roller coaster. it's definitely faster than i think you expect it to be, but it's definitely fun. >> it leaves you feeling really, really positive about what that kid's going to go out and do. >> i think it's really magical almost. at least it was for me. >> it was really exciting when i caught my first wave. >> i felt like i was, like -- it was, like, magical, really. >> when they catch that first wave, and their first lights up, you know -- their face lights up, you know you have them hooked. >> i was on top of the world. it's amazing. i felt like i was on top of the world even though i was probably going two miles an hour. it was, like, the scariest thing i'd ever done, and i

think it was when i got hooked on surfing after >> my son and i was living in my car. we was in and out of shelters in san francisco for almost about 3.5 years. i would take my son to school. we would use a public rest room just for him to brush his teeth and do a quick little wipe-off so it seemed he could take a shower every day. it was a very stressful time that i wish for no one. my name is mario, and i have lived in san francisco for almost 42 years.

born here in hayes valley. i applied for the san francisco affordable housing lottery three times. my son and i were having to have a great -- happened to have a great lottery number because of the neighborhood preference. i moved into my home in 2014. the neighborhood preference goal was what really allowed me to stay in san francisco. my favorite thing is the view. on a clear day, i'm able to see city hall, and on a really clear day, i can see salesforce tower. we just have a wonderful neighborhood that we enjoy living in. being back in the neighborhood that i grew up in, it's a

wonderful, wonderful experience. now, we can hopefully reach our goals, not only single mothers, but single fathers, as well, who are living that. live your dream, live your life, >> he is joined by vice president and lazarus,darrell honda, tina chang and we will be joined shortly by commissioner lopez . executive city attorney brad will provide the board with an needed legal advice . at the controls, and i'm julie rosenberg, the board's executive director joined by representatives