today. >> thank you. >> that's it for this episode. we'll back for another shortly. for sfgovtv, i'm >> good morning everyone. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i want to welcome you all to alamo square! alamo square is one of the most beautiful iconic places in san francisco. we get tourist all over the world who come here to stand behind me and hang out with george and other folks who live there at the painted ladies and

have wonderful experiences. the other people who also look at this neighborhood and want to be here sadly are people who are breaking into cars and stealing items fraul not only the local residents who live here, but many of the tourists who come here. can you imagine going to a city, a beautiful iconic city like san francisco and all a sudden your entire trip is ruined because your passport is stolen? this has been going on far too long. now, the reason why we are all here has a lot to do with the need to make some adjustments. over the years, we have seen real challenges in the past between the police department and neighborhoods, and in fact, we worked very hard hand in hand with community and with the police to address those reforms. in fact, we have so many great members of the community actively engaged building

bridges and helping to protect the community and helping to curve the violence and it is no wonder san francisco has had one of its lowest homicide rates in decades as well as a huge clearance rate. [applause] so thank you to united players. and thank you to the street violence intervention program. they show up for folks in communities across this city including the folks in chinatown. these african american many behind me, who patrol chinatowns and other neighborhoods to keep the seniors place. in addition to police there are alternatives to policing and appreciative to the members of the board of supervisors, a number of commissioners, our leaders from all over san francisco, neighborhoods from the richmond to the tenderloin to the sunset to geneva towers and other places, people are coming out with one message,

yes, we want reforms to our police department, but unfortunately members of the police commission have gone way too far. some of you remember and we chose this place deliberately, when there was a car break-in and the police were there, and the police and other members of the public disrupted that particular situation, so it didn't escalate, however, when the car sped off, many people wondered why the police could not pursue and make sure that that person is brought to justice. part of some of the changes to policies have limited our officers ability to be as effective as we know they can. people are always wondering, why didn't the police do this, why didn't the police do that and it all goes back to many of these new consistently changing conflicting policies that have not helped with reforms. they have only made san

francisco less safe. [applause] so, now we have to make some changes, and i appreciate the members of the board of supervisors who are here, because as much as we try to work with the board of supervisors, as much as we try to work with the police commission and we have one of-two of the commissioners here today, it continues to be a uphill battle. what we are introduced today is a change that is necessary. a change that recognizes that we have evolved. a change that recognizes that we want safe streets in every part of san francisco, in every neighborhood. we want to see change in san francisco. we don't want to just hear about it, we want to see the change in our policies and in our investments to get our city to a better place and that's why we are here , for a safer san francisco.

[applause] so, let me tell you what this is. we are taking something to the ballot. we are going around the board of supervisors, going around the police commission, we are going straight to the people of san francisco, because we need the people of san francisco to know all the details of the challenges that made it so touch for us to do simple things we know the public wants to see. we are going directly to the voters. i have been visiting police stations all over the city, attending community meetings. everyone is speaking the same language. whether someone has been a victim of a crime or even people who are former perpetrators of crime want to see change in this city. willing to roll up their sleeves and work with us to do the important work that is necessary. now san francisco is a compassionate city. we believe in second chances. we believe in helping people.

we ban the buck so if you are looking for employment, we have all most 5 thousand vacant positions in san francisco. working with us to do something that does want get you in trouble and make somebody feel worse because of the crime you committed. we want change and here's how we'll do it. first, are the tools. safer san francisco will authorize the police to install and use security cameras. many of you thought that was already possible, but no, it is not. [applause] it authorizes them to use drones. to use drones. modern technology so when that person is trying to get away, instead of in some cases a chase through the city streets, how do we follow them and how do we make the arrest necessary. it will also allow the department to use some of the latest in technology. we can't be living in the dark ages when technology-san

francisco is a ai capital of the world. we have technology tools and we need to use them. no more, no you can't, no you can't, no you can't. let's get to yes so we can make our city safer. [applause] second, are the rules. safer sf directs the police to pursue criminals when they commit a crime. that's it. the ability to do their jobs without obinstruction and not micro managed and ability to do their job without having a complaint go to department of police accountability that is not related to the job, more so then related to basic hr stuff. it also eliminates requirements for unnecessary paperwork. we don't keep sending officers back to their desk when they can be out on the streets.

[applause] if a officer revives somebody who is overdosing from narcan and two other officers are standing there, and everyone has their camera on, why does all three of those officers have to do a report in writing? one report, video footage from three cameras, that's efficiency. that is not something that should even be debatable. third, [applause] third, under the charter, the police commission, which is appointed by me approved by the board of supervisor and appointed and approved by the supervisor, whole lengthy detailed process and people are like, mayor, mayor, are you responsible for department? yes, i am but the police commission is responsible for policies, and they from my perspectivity, many of them are doing things to roll back important things that keep san

franciscans safe. it is very problematic. people wonder are people riding bikes on the sidewalk, why can the police not pursue and use surveillance? safe sf puts in place a transparent process so they are not making policy decisions with advocates in isolation. they have to take this to to community. they center to come to alamo square, have to go to richmond and have a transparent and they have to explain themselves to the public why a change of this nature needs to happen and they have to do a basic analysis, so people understand that how much amount of time is going to take for paperwork and what does this mean in terms of keeping officers off the streets. police officers should not be spending more then 20 percent of their time doing paperwork in order to keep san

franciscans safe. this really puts limits on their ability to do so. no more general orders today. general order tomorrow. conflicting general orders and all a sudden the officers are like okay, i got to sit in my office for at least the next couple hours, my captain has to explain this to me, that takes officers off the streets and then it is confusing and are a whole another ball game with no time for implementation t. is ridiculous. it is insane. [applause] so, those are the things that we are changing. the tools, the rules and the commission and their ability to make policy without informing the public about what that means. because, even though these things may seem simple, they are very complex in terms of what is happening. many of you again, asking the questions, why, why, why.

why can't the police do this? they want to, but they have a sworn oath to obey the general orders that get passed by the commission. now we are going to the voters and say voters of san francisco, this is what is happening. these are the basic tools we need to improve public safety in san francisco. support safer sf today. [applause] and let me just wrap up by saying, despite the challenges, our police officers have been doing an extraordinary job. doing the best they can. [applause] you know, we have done a lot of changes to alternatives to policing. people struggling with mental illness. we have our street crisis response team. we have our street violence intervention programs and other non profits who are on the ground working to deal with

some of those challenges. bringing the police and other resources to prevent crimes and to also help with retaliation and other issues, and as i said earlier, san francisco is seeing low record low numbers as it relates to homicides and also high clearance rates, which demonstrates if you cross those lines, we will do a thorough investigation and we will come for you. that is what that means. we have seen the bay car operations work where we have made significant numbers of arrests and we are starting to see those car break-ins continue to decline and we want to keep it that way and we are out there. you may not see us until you get caught, but we are out there. and with regards to this retail theft, i just want to say, remember when you go into wallgreens and stealing from yourp grand mother and aunts

farm pharmacy and can't go to another place to get her medicine, you are destroying the opportunity for these places to be open in your neighborhood, you are creating a health issue for your relatives who rely on these pharmacies every single day so we have retail operations going on as we speak. we have made arrests at walgreens, dior, lululemon and will continue to do this work so you never know what store you might walk in and something may happen where you may get arrested. to be clear, this is not something that we wanted to push for. because san francisco believes in second chances and opportunities and we will work with you on that, but these lines have been crossed time and time again. our compassion has been taken for weakness, as if anything goes in san francisco. no longer does anything go, despite the lack of tools we need, we are still doing the

job. we are still making arrests. we are still following up with our investigations. we are still doing everything we can to bring people to justice to make san francisco a safer city for everybody who lives here and visits here. that is our goal and that is why it is important that when we go to the ballot in march 2024 we need voters to turn out in record numbers to vote for safer sf! [applause] there is so much more i can say about this, but the last thing i will end on is, i grew up in this community and i'm here with people who i grew up with. times were not easy. in fact, the relationship between me and our community and law enforcement wasn't a good one. would we have liked to see some reforms happen back then to help deal with that challenging relationship?

yes. but we are doing that now and haven't give chb up and now those same people who may have been a part of the challenges of the community are now the leaders in the community, fighting for a safer city. fighting for a better san francisco. making change and providing opportunities to see people lives better. that's what this city is about and that's what we will continue to be about, but what we will not continue to allow to happen on our streets is the lack of accountability. we have a police department that is prepared to do what is necessary to make arrests. we have a district attorney who is prepared to prosecute case s, and we have people all over san francisco who want and deserve better. safer san francisco will deliver better for the people of san francisco. [applause] with that, i like to turn it over to one of the few

supervisors on the board of supervisors who actually supports common sense public safety measures, supervisor catherine stefani. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed. it is a pleasure to be out here this morning with community and public safety advot cans and applaud the mayor for this measure, because it is so needed. the other day i was in the presidio in my district at the festival and after i spoke there was a man waiting for me, waiting to speak to me about something, and he came up to me and said, supervisor stefani, do you have a minute and i said, of course. he said about a year ago my son was murdered and i have been work wg the san francisco police department who have been absolutely incredible. the homicide investigator has been there for me and my family every step of the way, but the problem he is pulled to other details and he is not able to devote hundred percent attention to it because of our

staffing shortage. when we are 600 officers short, that has real impacts in our community. it has real impacts for families suffering because they have unsolved homicide investigations when we know our police officers want to dedicate everything they have in them to solve those crimes. this measure is a step in the right direction to make certain we are doing everything to address the shortage. we can't just go out and hire 700 police officers tomorrow, but we certainly can look what the police commission is doing, we can look at the paperwork, we can look at everything preventing the policing, the type of policing we need in this city. p i'm a sformer prosecutor and have gone to our stations in my district and sat with officers one on one and asked them, what is the impediment to your job? what is the problem? you are being accused of not being out there. they talk about the paperwork and policies that come down that are confusing and

conflicting and duplicative and this measure will do everything to make certain we give the officerss the tools they need to keep san francisco safe, so i'm a big proponent of safer san francisco and i want to again applaud the mayor for putting this forered forward. thank you everyone for being here. [applause] >> thank you so much. you know, i really want to express gratitude to mayor london breed for safer san francisco ballot measure. i think this is worthy companion to the work we get and finally deliver on the promise of fully staffed police department. this is a smart on crime approach. this removes needless inefficiency. san franciscans deserve a police department with the same access to surveillance technology as every other county in california. it makes so sense we have the most restrictive and onerous

surveillance technology policies that are preventing law enforcement from doing their jobs. i represent the south of market neighborhood. i live in midmarket. this is a neighborhood where the restrictions on surveillance technology are nothing less then a fentanyl dealer full employment act and needs to end and grateful to mayor breed for her leadership in doing that. [applause] the safer san francisco ballot measure will streamline onerous restrictions on police officers use of camera technology. it will hold criminals and fentanyl dealers accountable. it will make san francisco safer and most important, it will help save lives. please join me in supporting this important measure and thank you mayor london breed. [applause] >> i'm supervisor engardio and represent the sunset. san francisco police department is a leader in reform and that's a good thing, but reform

cannot get in the way of effective policingism we need it, we deserve it. we need and deserve both, reform and effective policing and this common sense measure gets us there. that's why i'm grateful for the mayor to put this on the ballot because we dont have enough supervisors who could put this on the ballot ourselves, so it is important for the voters to have your voice heard and take control and go to the ballot in march and enact this common sense reform so our police can get their job done. out in the sunset everyone asks for more police to be walking on the merchant corridors and foot patrols, but can't do that if they are stuck in the office doing all this paperwork. this helps free them up to do their job, gives the tools they need and something that we need in san francisco. thank you. [applause] >> thank you and again, i know-i wish we had more support from the police commission, but at least we have two of our

good commissioners here, commissioner larry yee and at this time i will ask commissioner deborah walker to say a few words. >> thank you. thank you. thank you mayor breed. i think for appointing me to the commission, but also for this really important effort. i have been on the police commission for a little over a year, and on a weekly basis if not daily basis i'm really frustrated by the current system that allows police commissioners, which should weigh in to have a opinion representing the communities we live in, but none of us are law enforcement, none of us are training law enforcement and yet we are dictating policy that tells the police how they are supposed to enforce the law on the streets. i spent time recently at the invitation of the department to meet with the new officers who

are working on policy creation, and that's where the dgo's get discussed and we were discussing the department general order about writing department general orders and we went around in a circle for at least two hours and everything in it was contradictory as the schedules and who is supposed to weigh in and that is just one. that's the order on writing orders. this needs analysis. we need to actually look at the rules we are talking about and analyze them to the effect it is having oen the force. i also want to say-i want to reiterate, we are so behind on technology because thof ham strung ability for us to try out policies. we are short in officers. there is a way to use technology to help enforce the law and deal with the issues the mayor outlined and supervisors outlined, but we

need to be able to put it in the cars and put it on the-in the cameras and actually make it so the officers dont have to use three hours of time after their beat to do paperwork. i really hope that we all in the city can support it. it will help us all do the job to do reforms in our department. we have one of the most reform minded departments in the country. we are a national model for that, but we need to do reforms as well as keeping our streets safe, so thank you. i totally support this and i hope we can get everybody's vote. thank you. [applause] >> and thank you chief bill scott for being here and folks from northern station who are joining us. just two neighborhood speakers that i want to introduce. first from the street violence intervention program. i want to ask howard smith to say a few words. [applause]

>> good morning to you all. to our mayor and police chief scott and to the community. i think this is-what i say one thing to the commission is this, whenever policy is made, when rules are made, it is made for the most part for the safety of the community. but we have to remember it is made-it has to be made in the spirit of the community. it can't be politics, it can't be self-personal agendas, it has to be made with the spirit of the community and spirit of keeping our seniors safe, keeping our children safe and keeping our community safe, so i support this 100 percent. i thank you mayor breed for having the courage to stand up and do some things that against the norm. i appreciate that. chief scott, i appreciate you for continuing to battle with us in the community, because when our communities are safe,

we have a good relationship with the police department. that is when our communities are safe. i want to say that to the commission. remember, when you make those policies it has to be in the spirit of the people you are trying to keep safe. thank you. [applause] >> thank you howard, and last but not least from the richmond district, i want to invite up to say a few words, mrs. lee. [applause] >> hello. [waiting for translation]

[applause] >> hi, i'm leung chow.

i'm supposed to do interpretation, but since the mayor talk about embracing 21 technology and with the ai, i'm going to use what she just read with a very common app and i'm going to be translating english and i'm going to push the voice button. if it works, then we embrace technology. let's see how it works. >> good morning, my name is lee. i live on clement street in richmond. shop fest have been happening frequently in my neighborhood which greatly effected our neighbors shopping and personal safety. last month i attended a meeting at the richmond district police station. that meeting, the police explained to residents that the new guidelines set by the police commission stipulate that police officers cannot

pursue thieves and robbers. we citizens are shocked by this ridiculous policy. we are extremely disappointed with this police commission decision and we support the mayor's policy of correcting this wrong. in addition, crime problems often occur where i live. a small number of neighbors have installed anti-theft video cameras. you must have a video system that comprehensively covers every area in san francisco allowing the police department to effective track gangsters. therefore, i strongly support the mayor's plan to make san francisco safer and this is the unanimous position of the neighbors i know. thank you all. [applause] >> i'm go to lost my job, but- >> don't worry, we got 5 thousand positions available with san francisco.

so, there you have it folks. again, thank you all so much for being here today. as you can see, there are so many people from so many different communities. there are merchants here, residents, folks who work in senior centers, folks who work on the streets of the communities. we have to make a change and make a change today. this will go on it ballot march 2024, so when election time comes, we will be out there turning out the votes to get people to show up, to support a safer san francisco and send a strong message. we are watching you police commission, we are watching the board of supervisors, and dont just say you want a safe city, make the changes to the policies that will lead to the results we need and deserve. thank you.

hi, i'm chris and you are watching san francisco rising. this is about rebuilding and reimaging the city. we will talk about revitalizing downtown. >> thank you for having me. >> the initiatives in the downtown area and enjoy

businesses. perhaps you can tell us about your plan. >> yeah, sure. well, you know, first i'd like to acknowledge we are here visiting union scare. this is the heart of the city and people come to celebrate life's greatest moments whether it's the holidays or buying your prom dress or getting married. you always think about union square as a place to celebrate. we would like to continue in that celebration especially postpandemic. this is a great place to celebrate life. we want to be creative getting people outdoors. we are still coming out of the pandemic and enjoying what we have to offer think about the beautiful hotel and historic district. we have world class shopping destinations and theater here

we are using our strike thattic plan there was a time when weus people want r want a bit of everything appeared experience. one of the newest initiatives is union square. in you come down you will see blooms cascading from hotel awnings and blooms on historic building fronts. you will see them on bus stops. you can go to many of our restaurants and they have cocktails. they have food and of course, being connected withification we have our bloom gown that's behind me. so, a announcement f

ways to celebrate blooms. this is another great time of year for union square we are kickoff the holiday celebrations. they bring out the animal window. we have ice skating. music is another great way to come and enjoy union scare. we are a recipient of the latest grant. this is bringing it into the public life. we are doing it here. this is in our park. it's really show this is great when it comes to music.

>> we have been ignoring the fact for the districts it's a pretty common place across the country and opportunity to transform our spaces. >> yeah, i agree with you 100%. >> we have 13,000 hotel rooms. what if we had a school or soccer this is something we couldn't do before. our rates prior to the pandemic was under10%. we are higher now. >> we have businesses like cable car a lot of history and innovation here as well. we want to be ready for the

opportunities. this is where some office spaces will come. we are seeing office leases in union square. the cable car comes through it. why not come to work in a vibrant space. >> a lot of the businesses have been remarkably resilient. can you share success stories and talk about how they have been supporting them. >> this aligned with what i just said about historic neighborhoods. they have seen everything from the great depression on. in fact, the earthquake of 1906. we have been around for hundreds of years. celebrating 116th birthday. open to the public in october. they are not gone. they are just down the street a beautiful store where people

find great fabrics. contemrare just here on powell street. a lot of the luxury retailers are expanding neighborhood print. >> we talk about the area with a rich history. what about the spaces and stronger sense of community. >> yeah, you know. i have to say these challenging times brought the community together. we had a unique opportunity here. was an opportunity to look at the district and assess where we might need something. we need a bit more of everything. we broke it down into different categories. we looked at economic

development and change offering. people were accessing, you know, nightlife, food, or shopping differently out of the pandemic. we wanted to look at marketing and what it meant to get the news out about what we were doing in the district. looking at our own organize as well and what we would need to get that out there. also creating a safe space. we are creating a safe and secure area. our locals in particular you can go shopping anywhere in the bay area. any of those places will look like any other place. in san francisco, you are somewhere special. this is a unique place and we needed to get it right. we have done that work and

continue to support our district and see different ways to do business here. to be creative and innovative. we were able to change the planning code to make it more flexible to do business here. we are the c3r. we have three floors of retail maybe today we don't want two levels maybe we just want one level instead of too much retail we need a school or something else. very exciting times and really interesting people and ideas. >> that's great. >> so, i guess, finally, what do you have for san francisco residents and businesses to be apart of this. >> this is the gateway of san francisco. it only drives.

right now, we are so many and still love our great city and what we would like to see. this is san francisco and the residents. look around, have a coffee. listen to music on the weekends. we have so much to offer union square. with that, support these businesses. we have a number of openings, a number of businesses betting on union square. in fact, we have a new hotel. the owner is from back of house, that's the name of the organize. they brought us several other residents and now this wonderful restaurant, i

italian restaurant. this is on top of the old restaurant. it will have a rooftop and one of the largest in san francisco. it's a london based business abdomen and betting on n square. we have a great bar scene popping up and speak easy and pch. hawthorne, school. this is the place to come down and enjoy. come, don't forget union square is the place to be. certainly in the years to come. a very difficult time of course for any major city. we are dealing with the same thing. explore and support our businesses here. we'll continue to thrive. come on down, you will be wildly, also surprised at how beautiful it is since we are still blooming. >> thank you, that's great.

it's great to hear your optimistic outlook on restoring this part of time. >> thank you for having me and taking a little time to showcase our heart of san francisco. >> thanks again. >> thank you. >> that's it for this episode. we'll be back with another one shortly. thank you for watching.

>> i try to start every day not looking at my phone by doing something that is grounding. that is usually meditation. i have a gym set up in my garage, and that is usually breathing and movement and putting my mind towards something else. surfing is my absolute favorite thing to do. it is the most cleansing thing that i'm able to do. i live near the beach, so

whenever i can get out, i do. unfortunately, surfing isn't a daily practice for me, but i've been able to get out weekly, and it's something that i've been incredibly grateful for. [♪♪♪] >> i started working for the city in 2005. at the time, my kids were pretty young but i think had started school. i was offered a temporarily position as an analyst to work on some of the programs that were funded through homeland security. i ultimately spent almost five years at the health department coordinating emergency programs. it was something that i really enjoyed and turned out i was pretty good at. thinking about glass ceiling,

some of that is really related to being a mother and self-supposed in some ways that i did not feel that i could allow myself to pursue responsibility; that i accepted treading water in my career when my kids were young. and as they got older, i felt more comfortable, i suppose, moving forward. in my career, i have been asked to step forward. i wish that i had earlier stepped forward myself, and i feel really strongly, like i am 100% the right person for this job. i cannot imagine a harder time to be in this role. i'm humbled and privileged but also very confident. so here at moscone center, this is the covid command center, or the c.c.c. here is what we calledun --

call unified command. this is where we have physically been since march, and then, in july, we developed this unified structure. so it's the department of emergency management, the department of public health, and our human services hughesing partners, so primarily the department of homelessness and supportive housing and human services agency. so it's sort of a three-headed command in which we are coordinating and operating everything related to covid response. and now, of course, in this final phase, it's mass vaccination. the first year was before the pandemic was extremely busy. the fires, obviously, that both we were able to provide mutual support but also the impact of air quality. we had, in 2018, the worst air

quality ten or 11 days here in the city. i'm sure you all remember it, and then, finally, the day the sun didn't come out in san francisco, which was in october. the orange skies, it felt apocalyptic, super scary for people. you know, all of those things, people depend on government to say what's happening. are we safe? what do i do? and that's a lot of what department of emergency management's role is. public service is truly that. it is such an incredible and effective way that we can make change for the most vulnerable. i spend a lot of my day in problem solving mode, so there's a lot of conversations with people making connections, identifying gaps in resources or whatever it might be, and trying to adjust that.

the pace of the pandemic has been nonstop for 11 months. it is unrelenting, long days, more than what we're used to, most of us. honestly, i'm not sure how we're getting through it. this is beyond what any of us ever expected to experience in our lifetime. what we discover is how strong we are, and really, the depth of our resilience, and i say that for every single city employee that has been working around the clock for the last 11 months, and i also speak about myself. every day, i have to sort of have that moment of, like, okay, i'm really tired, i'm weary, but we've got to keep going. it is, i would say, the biggest challenge that i have had personally and professionally

to be the best mom that i can be but also the best public certify chant in whatever role i'm in. i just wish that i, as my younger self, could have had someone tell me you can give it and to give a little more nudge. so indirectly, people have helped me because they have seen something in me that i did not see in myself. there's clear data that women have lost their jobs and their income because they had to take care of their safety nets. all of those things that we depend on, schools and daycare and sharing, you know, being together with other kids isn't available. i've often thought oh, if my kids were younger, i couldn't do this job, but that's unacceptable. a person that's younger than me that has three children, we want them in leadership

positions, so it shouldn't be limiting. women need to assume that they're more capable than they think they are. men will go for a job whether they're qualified or not. we tend to want to be 110% qualified before we tend to step forward. i think we need to be a little more brave, a little more exploratory in stepping up for positions. the other thing is, when given an opportunity, really think twice before you put in front of you the reasons why you should not take that leadership position. we all need to step up so that we can show the person behind us that it's doable and so that we have the power to make the changes for other women that is going to make the possibility for their paths easier than ours. other women see me in it, and i hope that they see me, and they

understand, like, if i can do it, they can do it because the higher you get, the more leadership you have, and power. the more power and leadership we have that we can put out dev mission's goal is aiming to train young adults, youth so we can be a wealth and disparity in underserved communities like where we are today. my name is leo sosa. i'm the founder and executive director for devmission.

we're sitting inside a computer lab where residents come and get support when they give help about how to set up an e-mail account. how to order prescriptions online. create a résumé. we are also now paying attention to provide tech support. we have collaborated with the san francisco mayor's office and the department of technology to implement a broad band network for the residents here so they can have free internet access. we have partnered with community technology networks to provide computer classes to the seniors and the residents. so this computer lab becomes a hub for the community to learn how to use technology, but that's the parents and the adults. we have been able to identify what we call a stem date. the acronym is science

technology engineering and math. kids should be exposed no matter what type of background or ethnicity or income status. that's where we actually create magic. >> something that the kids are really excited about is science and so the way that we execute that is through making slime. and as fun as it is, it's still a chemical reaction and you start to understand that with the materials that you need to make the slime. >> they love adding their little twists to everything. it's just a place for them to experiment and that's really what we want. >> i see. >> really what the excitement behind that is that you're making something. >> logs, legos, sumo box, art, drawing, computers, mine craft, and really it's just awaking opportunity. >> keeping their attention is like one of the biggest challenges that we do have

because, you know, they're kids. they always want to be doing something, be helping with something. so we just let them be themselves. we have our set of rules in place that we have that we want them to follow and live up to. and we also have our set of expectations that we want them to achieve. this is like my first year officially working with kids. and definitely i've had moments where they're not getting something. they don't really understand it and you're trying to just talk to them in a way that they can make it work teaching them in different ways how they can get the light bulb to go off and i've seen it first-hand and it makes me so happy when it does go off because it's like, wow, i helped them understand this concept. >> i love playing games and i love having fun with my friends playing dodge ball and a lot of things that i like. it's really cool.

>> they don't give you a lot of cheese to put on there, do they? you've got like a little bit left. >> we learn programming to make them work. we do computers and programming. at the bottom here, we talk to them and we press these buttons to make it go. and this is to turn it off. and this is to make it control on its own. if you press this twice, it can do any type of tricks. like you can move it like this and it moves. it actually can go like this. >> like, wow, they're just absorbing everything. so it definitely is a

wholehearted moment that i love experiencing. >> the realities right now, 5.3 latinos working in tech and about 6.7 african americans working in tech. and, of course, those tech companies are funders. so i continue to work really hard with them to close that gap and work with the san francisco unified school district so juniors and seniors come to our program, so kids come to our stem hub and be exposed to all those things. it's a big challenge. >> we have a couple of other providers here on site, but we've all just been trying to work together and let the kids move around from each department. some kids are comfortable with their admission, but if they want to jump in with city of dreams or hunter's point, we

just try to collaborate to provide the best opportunity in the community. >> devmission has provided services on westbrook. they teach you how to code. how to build their own mini robot to providing access for the youth to partnerships with adobe and sony and google and twitter. and so devmission has definitely brought access for our families to resources that our residents may or may not have been able to access in the past. >> the san francisco house and development corporation gave us the grant to implement this program. it hasn't been easy, but we have been able to see now some of the success stories of some of those kids that have been able to take the opportunity and continue to grow within their education and eventually become a very successful citizen. >> so the computer lab, they're

doing the backpacks. i don't know if you're going to be able to do the class. you still want to try? . yeah. go for it. >> we have a young man by the name of ivan mello. he came here two and a half years ago to be part of our digital arts music lab. graduating with natural, fruity loops, rhymes. all of our music lyrics are clean. he came as an intern, and now he's running the program. that just tells you, we are only creating opportunities and there's a young man by the name of eduardo ramirez. he tells the barber, what's that flyer? and he says it's a program that teaches you computers and art. and i still remember the day he walked in there with a baseball cap, full of tattoos.

nice clean hair cut. i want to learn how to use computers. graduated from the program and he wanted to work in i.t.. well, eduardo is a dreamer. right. so trying to find him a job in the tech industry was very challenging, but that didn't stop him. through the effort of the office of economic work force and the grant i reached out to a few folks i know. post mates decided to bring him on board regardless of his legal status. he ended his internship at post mates and now is at hudacity. that is the power of what technology does for young people that want to become part of the tech industry. what we've been doing, it's very innovative. helping kids k-12, transitional age youth, families, parents,

communities, understand and to be exposed to stem subjects. imagine if that mission one day can be in every affordable housing community. the opportunities that we would create and that's what i'm trying to do with this >> good afternoon welcome to tuesday halloween october 31, 2023, board of supervisors meeting. could you call the roll? >> thank you, supervisor chan. >> present.