brown and mary ellen pleasant. and let's not forget the challenges, ridicule, and racism that they endured while standing up against persecution. next, i want to acknowledge you, director tomlin. one of the first things you wanted when you came to the agency was to meet with the group, and that was the catalyst to allow black and african american voices to be heard. now i would be remiss -- i don't see tom mcguire, but i want to acknowledge him for helping in when he was acting director prior to jeff's arrival, and he created a comfortable space to invoke the dialogue. after our very first meeting with director tomlin, there was just this greater sense of hope that rebuilding was going to happen, and this journey would require our help, as well. it was very obvious that director tomlin knew if he wanted to make a difference, he had to go to the epicenter of equity, and he came to us. i would like to acknowledge that kimberly ackerman, who's here, the director of san francisco's h.r., she came in to us to create an

brown and mary ellen pleasant. and let's not forget the challenges, ridicule, and racism that they endured while standing up against persecution. next, i want to acknowledge you, director tomlin. one of the first things you wanted when you came to the agency was to meet with the group, and that was the catalyst to allow black and african american voices to be heard. now i would be remiss -- i don't see tom mcguire, but i want to acknowledge him for helping in when he was acting director prior to jeff's arrival, and he created a comfortable space to invoke the dialogue. after our very first meeting with director tomlin, there was just this greater sense of hope that rebuilding was going to happen, and this journey would require our help, as well. it was very obvious that director tomlin knew if he wanted to make a difference, he had to go to the epicenter of equity, and he came to us. i would like to acknowledge that kimberly ackerman, who's here, the director of san francisco's h.r., she came in to us to create an