Spanish as a native language. So this is an amazing chance for us to feel honored and we appreciate very much the work that everyone here does. Thank you very much to the commissioners for this award and also for the work you do on behalf of immigrants. [applause] honorees. When you come on the stage after you speak, you will receive your award and certificate from our wonderful commissioners and then you can exit stage right. Is that right . Stage right. Ok. Next award is our Industry Leader and this is going to leo sosa. He is an immigrant from guantanamo and he launched throw Youth Technology programs before starting his own nonprofit dove mission, which aims to train young adults age 1624 for careers in tech. He has also worked in many neighborhoods throughout the city helping to connect low income families to broadband, distributing computers and building computer labs in Affordable Housing communities. Please welcome leo sosa. Hello. I like the sound of that. Now were ready. I would like to thank my parents. I arrived to this country of may 10 in 1985 not knowing how to speak english, not knowing about the culture, not knowing what was going to happen to me. I can tell you today its a very special day. I want to thank the San Francisco immigrants right commission for nominating me for this wonderful award. This award is not about me, its about thousands of young people that i have trained for careers in the Tech Industry since 2003. 60 of those people are immigrants. I just left the computer lab inside Valencia Gardens and i asked the cohort how many of them are immigrants. Out of 18, six say they are and the rest of them say their parents are immigrants. Imagine what were doing in San Francisco to connect these people in tech. Again, there would be no admission without organization likthe missioneconomic developm, Mission House and development corporation, the San Francisco house and development corporation, and mercy housing. Those are the pillars that made me who i am today. Without their support, theyll be no Youth Technology programs that i launched, no programs, no computers, there will be no subsidized employment dollars for young people. There will be no scholarships and there will be no jobs in tech. So with those non profits, i started building this model that were going to clothes diversity in the Tech Industry but most importantly, were going to connect high school, middle school, elementary and young adults to Career Pathways that theyre going to provide them to stay in San Francisco, Financial Capability opportunities and at the end of the day, theyll be the next immigrant leaders in San Francisco. So thank you very much for being here tonight and lastly, i want to thank my wife, my family, and everyone that has believed in the work that wore doing in San Francisco in Affordable Housing communities. [applause] [applause] moving right along. Next we have three Grassroots Community organizations in advocates that wed like to honor. First one is vanessa moses. A powerful black bay area leader and the executive director of just cause. She has a long track record of buildings and leadership of working class communities and in 2017, vanessas leadership lead to the formation of bay rising a Regional Alliance of community that organizations working to address inequality and vanessa was a co creator of bay resistance, a Rapid Response network of over 50 organizations. Unfortunately, vanessa is ill tonight but accepting the award for her is gloria. [ speaking spanish ] good evening, my comrade here and i are representing the work of cal sahouta. Present present present [voice of interpreter] thank you very much for this recognition. It means a lot. We would like for the immigrant community to be here as well. The community we work for and the community that works for us on the daily with a lot of effort. [applause] [voice of interpreter] i would like to say its the immigrant Community Across the world that is the main economy for the world and it is because of us that we would like to have happiness, peace and love. [applause] [applause] our third grassroots leader is kind in need of defense. Not the health bar but the organization so kind works to ensure that no refugee or immigrant child faces Immigration Court alone through direct legal representation of children and they recruit and train pro bono attorneys and advocate for policies that protect the rights of unaccompanied children. Kind is a member of the San Francisco immigrant Legal Defense collaborative and its attorneys participate in the Rapid Response networks and volunteer as attorneys of the day in Immigration Court. We are so fortunate to be able to honor kind. [applause] hi, everyone. My name is katie and im a managing attorney for kind San Francisco and fresno offices. Thank you so much to the San Francisco immigrant Rights Commission for this honor today. Im joined by our amazing, Incredible Team here in San Francisco. We are a large team. We have lots of important work to do and were so honored to be recognized today. Kind represents unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children in Immigration Court proceedings. Our clients are part of abandonment in their country and theyre in court alone. Including children as young as twoyearsold but we represent here in San Francisco. I was in court today along with my other attorneys and being surrounded by young people, by children in Court Without attorneys it was overwhelming. But kind with support from the city, from all of the partners here, were a proud member of the San Francisco immigrant rights, immigrant legal defence and with support from that collaborative from the mayors office, the city of San Francisco, from observ c c. A. A. E create a model and example for other cities, for other places across the country, the work were doing here in San Francisco. I want to thank our staff here today. [applause] i want to thank our friends and family who are here and most important, i want to thank our clients. Theyre brave, resilient and examples of all of us and were so proud to work with them. [applause] congratulations to our grassroots leader. Ok, if you guys are checking your nba scoreboard on espn, make sure your phone is on silent. Ok, thank you. Well let you know in a minute. Our next honoree is a San Francisco native and mother of four and shes the head of the committee. She has been involved in Community Organizing for years. Not only does she chair the committee but she formed this organization to support yemini American Communities in the bay area during periods of social unrest. Her advocacy and organizing efforts challenge harmful, National Security and foreign policies that impact the americans and their families here and back in yemen. Please, welcome gihan. [applause] good evening, everyone. Thank you to the San Francisco immigrant Rights Commission and to the office of Civic Engagement and immigrant affairs. To the city of San Francisco and its leadership for this recognition. I am truly honored. As a San Francisco native, i am proud of how my city has been at the forefront of protecting immigrant communities. Especially during this harsh, anti immigrant islamophobic political climate. The Yemen Community has been so brave. So brave in resilience and these times even while still impacted by the war in yemen. Even still separated due to the muslim ban. To my community, i am inspired by your strength. And will not stop being an advocate for our causes. To our allies, i thank you for your solidarity. Our struggles are bound and our liberation is bound. I would not be here today without my family. Shout out to my family. And my team are also chairs of the Alliance Committee here. [applause] and my organizational bffs on the ground still fighting the good fight. Is San Francisco will stand up and fight back. Thank you. [applause] [applause] all right. Next stop, im not going to read you the score yet. We have our publicprivate nonprofit collaboration and our honoree this year is the latino cultural district. It began in 1999 as a Grassroots Organization formed by Community Members in the Mission District. Its Council Members represent merchants, residents, landlords, service non profits, arts, organizations and the mayor established a latino cultural districts. The mission is to preserve enhance and advocate for latino, continuity, and. I first just want to thank the immigrants Rights Commission for this great award. We all do and folks from the Commission District are also honored to receive this award. We became a cultural district in 2014 but we have an active since 1999. As you know, the Mission District has been impacted greatly by gentrification displacement in the last 10 to eight years and weve our work is great and we realize we cant do this alone and theres a lot of us involved in the neighborhood with our allies and our neighbors and our merchants and our non profits and artist are all involved in this great battle to preserve our community, our culture, our business. Everything that creates our community, everything that makes us viable and sustainable is that were trying to preserve. So, we cant do this alone and so we have all of you, at the city, to really help us preserve our community. We cant do it alone. Thank you. [applause] [applause] our next award is special. Its the vera hail champion of justice award named for our late i. R. C. Commissioner who, as all of you know, a very fierce advocate for immigrants and the underserved. She never let us forget for a second who we served and challenges us always to never stop fighting for the rights of others. The San Francisco public defender immigration defence unit was established on may 23rd, 2017 by our late brother, the late public defender jeff hadachi to ensure that detained immigrants facing deportation and Immigration Court have accessed to council. The unit has handled more than 240 cases and helped stop the deportation of around 75 of its clients. Pretty good success rate. It is now among the largest and the best known publicly funded detained removal defence providers in california. Accepting the award is deputy public defender jennifer freedman, who many of you know from her outstanding work in new york state and francisco, our long time colleague and champion. [applause] good afternoon, thank you. I want to thank the Immigration Rights office and immigrant affairs for this recognize and all of us in the immigration defense unit at the public defenders office. Through the generous support of the city of San Francisco, we, the public defenders immigration unit, represent detained immigrants facing deportation right here in San Francisco. There arality attorneys and five support staff. This work has never been more important and never been harder. This unit was designed by our fear less leader to fight back. We believe fiercely that every immigrant deserves zealous representation, even those with criminal convictions. Everyday, were bringing our public defenders spirit and determination to the table to bat many on behalf of our immigrant neighbors. We represent the entire San Francisco community, all of us. When we show up to court and demand our clients rights. Together we are fighting back. We will not allow this administration to deprive our clients of their faraday in fain court. Thank you for making this possible. We would not be here without all of your support. [applause] each year the Commission Recognizes an emerging youth leader and this year we are honoring karla laurel, west bay filipino Multi Service center. Karla is a Second Generation filipinoamerican and bay area native. She began working at west bay a decade ago as a volunteer helping to launch the first culturally sensitive College Prep Program for Filipino Youth in south of market and expanded west based services to immigrant families from other countries. As executive director, now remember, 10 years ago she was a volunteer, 10 years later shes executive director. Not bad, huh. Karla supports west bays mission to enhance the quality of life, of underserved youth, seniors and their families. Good evening, everyone. Thank you to the San Francisco office of Civic Engagement and immigrant affairs. The executive director, clerk, the immigrant Rights Commission and its chairs for this amazing honor. First and foremost i want to thank god for this amazing honor. I would also like to thank all of those who have made a difference in west bay for the past 50 years that weve been in service. To all of the board members, past executive directors, our Community Partners who are here as well. And all those that have dedicated themselves to the work who have supported me and west bay. Thank you for being here today. I stand here simply as a face to an organization who have had the privilege of working with such a vibrant community, a filipino immigrant families. We have now gren to support vietnamese, latino and recent immigrant families as well. It was brought to my attention a little while ago that i am the first filipino to get this award. [applause] and as the director of an organization that started before i was here, and is rooted in 100year history of filipinos in San Francisco, and representing the largest immigrant community here in San Francisco, im humbled and proud. Filipinos have been here in San Francisco and especially in the south of market neighborhood and so this award is for them. For the families that work multiple jobs, dont have their children here because they couldnt take all of them here because ive had the immigration laws work and the mothers and fathers who are made parking lot attendants, drivers, securities at the mall and working two, three, four too many jobs and all while putting their kids through college and hoping to achieve this same American Dream that we all want. And also, to the recent immigrant, young adults and youth, who are working to support their families as well while paying their way through college. To all the filipinos in the south of market neighborhood who would never get this recognition or acknowledgment. Although i maybe the first filipino to receive award the wont be the last and it doesnt mean there are heroes and leaders that have been here and continue to be here whose names you may never know. I am here sim plo simply to rept them and let everyone know were here. Weve been here. Youve been here and you matter. I would like to acknowledge and recognize a particular young lady, who i met with she was a youth. When i began my journey working with this immigrant community. She came to the u. S. From the philippines as a young child and has been a part of the west base since she was in the fourth grade. She never let her circumstances growing up in a dangerous neighborhood or any label define her potential. Shes our Program Coordinator for our middle school youth and a College Graduate from San Francisco state university. Yes where she works her butt off. [applause] to get on the honor roll and be a working student as one of our staff so shes graduating with zero student loans. Yes so although im honored to get this award i wanted to dedicate to my wonderful, amazing staff, my inspiration. Thank you so much. [applause] [applause] karla is self less and a great leader. It gives me great pleasure to introduce our volunteers of the year, not just one but you get four. All members of the same family. And theres just the most