The community here. When molly molly first told us about the grant because she works with Small Businesses. She has been a tremendous help for us here. She brought us to the attention of the grand just because a lot of things here were outdated, and need to be uptodate and redone totally. Hands in front. Recite the creed. My oldest is jt, he is seven, and my youngest is ryan, he is almost six. It instills discipline and the boys, but they show a lot of care. We think it is great. The moves are fantastic. The women both are great teachers. What is the next one . My son goes to fd k. He has been attending for about two years now. They also have a summer program, and last summer was our first year participating in it. They took the kids everywhere around San Francisco. This year, owner talking about placing them in summer camps, all he wanted to do was spend the entire summer with them. He has strong women in his life, so he really appreciates it. I think that carries through and i appreciate the fact that there are more strong women in the world like that. I met dandrea 25 years ago, and we met through our interest in karate. Our professor started on cortland years ago, so we grew up here at this location, we out he outgrew the space and he moved ten years later. He decided to reopen this location after he moved. Initially, i came back to say, hey, because it might have been 15 years since i even put on a uniform. My Business Partner was here basically by herself, and the person she was supposed to run the studio with said great, you are here, i started new Nursing School so you can take over. And she said wait, that is not what i am here for i was by myself before for a month before she came through. She was technically here as a secretary, but we insisted, just put on the uniform, and help her teach. I was struggling a little bit. And she has been here. One thing led to another and now we are coowners. You think a lot more about safety after having children and i wanted to not live in fear so much, and so i just took advantage of the opportunity, and i found it very powerful to hit something, to get some relief, but also having the knowledge one you might be in a situation of how to take care of yourself. The selfdefence class is a new thing that we are doing. We started with a group of women last year as a trial run to see how it felt. Theres a difference between selfdefence and doing a karate class. We didnt want them to do an actual karate class. We wanted to learn the fundamentals of how to defend yourself versus, you know, going through all the forms and techniques that we teaching a karate class and how to break that down. Then i was approached by my old high school. One once a semester, the kids get to pick an extra curricular activity to take outside of the school walls. My old biology teacher is now the principle. She approached us into doing a selfdefence class. The girls have been really proactive and really sweet. They step out of of the comfort zone, but they have been willing to step out and that hasnt been any pushback. It is really great. It is respect. You have to learn it. When we first came in, they knew us as those girls. They didnt know who we were. Finally, we came enough for them to realize, okay, they are in the business now. It took a while for us to gain that respect from our peers, our male peers. Since receiving the grant, it has ignited us even more, and put a fire underneath our butts even more. We were doing our summer camp and we are in a movie theatre, and we just finished watching a film and she stepped out to receive a phone call. She came in and she screamed, hey, we got the grant. And i said what . Martial arts is a passion for us. It is passion driven. There are days where we are dead tired and the kids come and they have the biggest smiles on their faces and it is contagious. We have been operating this program for a little over a year all women entrepreneurs. It is an extraordinary benefit for us. We have had the Mayors Office investing in our program so we can continue doing this work. It has been so impactful across a diversity of communities throughout the city. We hope that we are making some type of impact in these kids lives outside of just learning karate. Having selfconfidence, having discipline, learning to know when its okay to stand up for yourself versus you just being a bully in school. These are the values we want the kids to take away from this. Not just, i learned how to kick and i learned how to punch. We want the kids to have more values when they walk outside of these doors. [ ] supporters of the eagle plaza. [cheers and applause] this morning, i was honored, my Business Partner, mike leon. On this historic day. I want to take the warmest welcome possible to the honorable mayor london breed, supervisor haney, supervisor mandelman. The greatest community, members of the leather and lgbt cultural district and the friends of eagle plaza. Were all here today after a long road. Great accomplishments. Eagle plaza started as an idea. Six years ago my Business Partner and i met, built and have a conversation about breaking ground for construct, where we floated idea of the construction of the plaza. Between the San Francisco eagle bar and the construction. A plaza unique to the world that will honor the leather and lgbt communities, serve as a focal part for them to have events. And now this idea is about to come true. Its fitting this was elected for the first public plaza dedicated to the Leather Community. Its been the home for this community for decades. A special thanks to supervisor haney and mandelman for introducing and pushing forward the legislation to permit the construction of eagle plaza. [cheers and applause] without their efforts, eagle plaza would still remain as an idea. I would like to thank all of those who contributed financially to eagle plaza and to my eagle family for their support. And, of course, the most special thanks to mayor breed, who removed road blocks, constantly moved the project forward to where were here today at the groundbreaking of eagle plaza. I would like you to extend the warmest welcome to our mayor, london breed. [cheers and applause] mayor breed thank you so much. I am so excited to be here today. Were going to have one of the most beautiful plazas in San Francisco. I remember when it first became mayor and i knew that this idea had started over six years ago when state senator scott wiener was on the board of supervisors and i know a lot of the work he did helped to get us to this place. But i was really frustrated over the two years of bureaucracy. We already had the support. We already had the plan. And the city bureaucracy continued to delay this project. So two years delay was just really unacceptable. So when i first became mayor, i made this one of my first directives and we got the approvals done in three months. So im really proud [applause] that we were able to Work Together to accomplish that goal. In addition to that, because this was such an amazing communitydriven project, 200,000 from the Community College grant was made possible to help fund this project. The work from build inc. And i want to thank Lauren Seguin for being here, as well as the folks from the Park Alliance and the friends of eagle plaza, you all came together to make this incredible project possible. And i also would like to say a special thank you to senator scott wiener who put 100,000 in the state budget so we can have the Additional Support that we need. But heres the good news. We know that there is still a 50,000 funding gap and so that we can focus on the work and not on the resources needed to get the work done, i work with supervisor mandelman to come up with the 50,000 that we need to get this project done. [cheers and applause] mayor breed so to the folks of the leather and the Lgbt Community and this cultural district that was made possible for the purposes of celebration coming together. And in the spirit of pride month here in San Francisco that celebrates inclusiveness and love and all great things we are here in our great city, i would like to say congratulations and thank you all for your hard work. I know when this plaza is completed, its going to be used by so many people, to hang out, drink coffee, read, and celebrate and all the great things we do that make San Francisco such a unique and special place for people to visit and live here. Thank you, all, so much. [applause] now id like to present a very special award that the San Francisco eagle bar to a very special person. This is called the leather feather. And its given in recognition of someone who not only has supported the Leather Community in a special way, but performed Extraordinary Service in doing so. So for making eagle plaza a reality, eagle bar is honored to present the leather feather to the San Francisco mayor london breed. Mayor breed thank you. Thank you so much. Mayor breed thank you. [applause] i want to have you guys now with bob, the chair of the leather and lgbt cultural district. [applause] i am proud to be here for this historic event and the leather district is delighted to have the eagle plaza in our district. And we look forward to its use as a gathering point in the district. I have the honor of introducing rafael mandelman, the District Supervisor and native san franciscan. He supported the Leather Community even before he ran for supervisor and can be seen in local venues periodically. [laughter] now hes reaching out beyond his districts boundaries to take real action to help make spaces like the eagle plaza come into being. His actions to make spaces for leather communities will keep this neighborhoods historic vibrant which will help perpetuate the city as a city for tolerance and acceptance. With that, i present to you rafael mandelman. [applause] supervisor mandelman good morning, everybody. This is such a wonderful morning and as i look out at this crowd of gorgeous people who are doing Amazing Things in our city for so many causes and communities. I see race bannon. Race always deserves a round of applause. [applause] San Francisco is a city that does not forget its history. We build on our history. We celebrate our history and make new things happen next to old things and that is part of the magic of the city. And im so pleased that this plaza is as the mayor said, it took a little longer than would have been ideal, but it is now finally happening. I want to say just a few maybe a year ago, or a couple of years ago, we were worried about whether there even would be an eagle, right . More than a few years ago, but the Community Came together and city hall responded and now not only is the eagle still here, its still a place to enjoy on sunday afternoons and all the time. And thank you so much, lex and mike, but now we have not only the eagle, but this amazing plaza coming here. So thank you, all, for coming out. Thank you all for coming out. But have a very, very happy pride. [applause] thank you, supervisor mandelman. I now have the proud honor of introducing district 6 supervisor matt haney. I met matt when he reached out to the leather and lgbt district when running for office. He expressed support for our community then and is following through with his action. Its these spaces that form a community and those spaces for the leather and lgbtq communities are under constant threat in this neighborhood. Matt haney is not only talking about preserving the culture here, hes sponsoring legislation to preserve the spaces that make soma a destination for people across the country and around the world. The fact that he is here today showing support for the eagle plaza is one sign of his commitment to the communities. With that, i present to you supervisor haney. Supervisor haney thank you, bob. Well, i want to say this one more time. This is going to be the worlds first public plaza dedicated to the Leather Community. Isnt that incredible . World first. And not only is it the worlds first public plaza dedicated to the Leather Community, it is in the worlds first cultural district dedicated to the lgbtq community. Give it up for that as well. Bob, tremendous leadership. I want to thank all of you who worked hard to make this happen. Sf parks alliance, mayor breed, supervisor mandelman, senator wiener. This is an extraordinary effort that made this happen. Far too often the things that make this city wonderful, the things that built this culture, created our identity, the institutions, the businesses, are the ones that are constantly under attack. And sadly thats been the case here in western soma as well for the Leather Community. And with what were doing today, the city is finally saying, not only are we going to preserve those institutions and that culture, were going to celebrate it, have a permanent home for it in our city and were going to do it in western soma. There is no west soma without the Leather Community. Im excited about the future of this plaza for a number of reasons. Also because we need more open space in this part of the city. Soma and west soma has some of the least amount of open space, parks, places for people to relax, to bring their dogs, hang out. And i know this can be an extraordinary open space. I may not have been to many leather events, but i have been here for the beer bust a couple of weeks ago. And this is a community that knows how to come together to have a good time. I want to give a shoutout to a group of people. I want to shout out to the construction workers behind us, who are actually going to build this thing. For all of their hard work, were going to put on hard hats, but they do the work every day. Thank you so much. T thank you all for being here. Well champion the leather district, the eagle and the plaza. Thank you, all, for being here. Good morning, everyone. My name is victor, im the Communications Director for senator scott wiener. This is a project he has spent a lot of energy working with lex and mike for the last six years to make this happen. He was very proud to get in the budget 100,000 to help make this a reality. [applause] i want to thank mayor london breed as well for her continued support of the plaza, as well as supervisor mandelman and haney. The Leather Community has always played an Important Role in the lgbtq community. At the height of the h. I. V. Epidemic, the Community Stepped up to raise funds for h. I. V. Care, research and care for the entire community and continues to do that to this day. This plaza will serve to commemorate that and to continue to allow that work to happen. I want to thank you all for being here today and all of you that helped make this happen today. Thank you so much. [applause] id like to bring up lauren from build inc. Thanks. I dont know where to start. I mean, so many aspects of this are important. People think of us as developers, but really were urban placemakers and this exemplifies the work that is important to us, every project we do. The neighborhood makes its place and has influence on what we can do there. So this is amazing. For my partners, on behalf of my partners, our whole build group, the team at the office, this is the work that is meaningful, rewarding and just makes it all worth while. So thanks to mayor breed, to supervisor mandelman, haney, lex and the whole community to help make this happen. It takes a village and this is our village. Thank you. Lets dig dirt and make it happen [applause] we have shovels right here. Lets go dig. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 turn that dirt woo hoo [applause] love that. Thats a great shot. Thank you. Manufacturing in cities creates this perfect platform for people to earn livelihoods and for people to create more economic prosperity. Im kate sosa. Im cofounder and ceo of sf made. Sf made is a Public Private partnership in the city of San Francisco to help manufacturers start, grow, and stay right here in San Francisco. Sf made really provides wraparound resources for manufacturers that sets us apart from other Small Business support organizations who provide more generalized support. Everything we do has really been developed over time by listening and thinking about what manufacturer needs grow. For example, it would be traditional things like helping them find capital, provide assistance loans, help to provide Small Business owners with education. We have had some great experience doing what you might call pop ups or temporary selling events, and maybe the most recent example was one that we did as part of sf made week in partnership with the city Seas Partnership with Small Business, creating a 100 Company Selling day right here at city hall, in partnership with mayor lee and the board of supervisors, and it was just a wonderful opportunity for many of our smaller manufacturers who may be one or twoperson shop, and who dont have the wherewithal to have their own dedicated retail store to show their products and it comes back to how do we help Companies Set more money into arthur businesses and develop more customers and their relationships, so that they can continue to grow and continue to stay here in San Francisco. Im amy kascel, and im the owner of amy kaschel San Francisco. We started our line with wedding gowns, and about a