Street w. This new data and focus on the 200, we can make a difference. I think when people are ready for treatment and volunteer for treatment, that is key. I also think we need to recognize that one of our challenges on the streets that some people will refuse treatment. Some people in the most dire needs of treatment will refuse treatment. So we need to be there when people are ready to go into the services and meet them. When theyre ready. But we also need laws like the conservatorship law to provide people with the support for shorttime conservatorship to help them save their lives. These are lifesaving interventions. And that persistent compassion is what we have seen here and what weve come to expect from our director of Mental Health reform in. A few short months, hes transformed the way many of us think about caring for people experiencing the intersection of homelessness, serious Mental Illness and Substance Abuse disorders. This is a population, as youve heard of 4,000 people who require specialized solutions. Kit take a while. It can take time for them to achieve their goals. But we know that wellness and recovery is possible, as youve heard today. And with our partners at the department of homeless systems and Supportive Housing, thank you, jeff, for being here today and the Human Services agency. We have agreed for the first tomb on ways to identify, treat and house the most vulnerable population in our city. And mayor london breed to spark the champion of harm reduction, someone who understands the inequities that lead to core Health Outcomes and that we must continually push harder to overcome. Under her leadership, San Francisco continues to invest in health care and housing that our city needs. Thank you, mayor breed. And thank you all for being here today. Thank you to the team and lets move forward together. [applause] thank you. Again, thank you so much, yolanda, for sharing your story. And stories like yolandas is why we do the work. It is what we care about the most because the fact is, you know, people go through challenges. People go through struggles. And nine years being clean and sober takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of courage and to get up here and tell your story will have such a tremendous impact on so many other peoples lives and hopefully encourage them to get the help and the support that they need. And i think that is important to remember in having the conversation about the struggles and the success stories. Because we are not going to give up. And i know that people in San Francisco are frustrated by what they see on our streets. Im frustrated. But im not going to give up. I think it is important that we have ways to help people. That with our additional 53 million in investment and Behavioral Health program that our additional 100 million in investment, the Homeless Supportive Services indicates that were willing to make investments. Now it is time to put those investments to good use. And to understand that every dollar we spend on this issue is a dollar that can change someones life. And so we have to be deliberate in our approach to really focus on this and make sure it is not a political issue. This is a longterm plan of action that will deliver the kind of results that will help people, like yolanda, get really a Second Chance at living a healthy, productive and thriving life. So thank you for all of you for being here today. And again, i want to express my appreciation to the team and the folks who are working with so many of the clients that i know things can be challenging, but the fact that youre here, i know that youve not given up. This work is rewarding, especially when youre able to get the kinds of results that show that supporting people like yolanda do yield and so it really means a lot to have so many incredible, dedicated people doing this work every single day because it is not easy. And ill tell you that, you know, because you all know that i spend a lot of time walking the streets and having the conversations and going out there with some of our teams and having the conversation. Within two hours of walking just four blocks, i was mentally exhausted with the conversations that i had and also trying to get people the help and the support that they needed and just work that the energy and the emotion that goes into trying to help people every single day is something thats admirable and i want us to really appreciate the folks who are part of, you know, our mental teams and our Nonprofit Organizations and our homeless out reach workers and even Law Enforcement and the work that were out there doing to help change and save peoples lives. This is the first of many steps that we plan to take and, again, this is, i know, a very complex issue. Its not wraped in the usual political package that the press, i know, wants to see it wrapped in. But this is actually what we need to do. Get into the nuts and bolts, make the right decisions and get out there and make the changes that will help impact the people that we are here to serve. So thank you all so much for being here today. And dr. Colfax and dr. S blanlz dr. Bland will be here to answer any further questions that you might have. Thank you. [applause] [ ] homelessness in San Francisco is considered the number 1 issue by most people who live here, and it doesnt just affect Neighbors Without a home, it affects all of us. Is real way to combat that is to work together. It will take city departments and nonprofit providers and volunteers and companies and Community Members all coming together. [ ] the product homeless connect Community Day of Service Began about 15 years ago, and we have had 73 of them. What we do is we host and expostyle event, and we were the very force organization to do this but it worked so well that 250 other cities across the globe host their own. Theres over 120 Service Providers at the event today, and they range anywhere from hygiene kits provided by the basics, 5 to prescription glasses and reading glasses, hearing tests, pet sitting, showers, medical services, flu shots, dental care, groceries, so many phenomenal Service Providers, and what makes it so unique is we ask that they provide that Service Today here it is an actual, tangible Service People can leave with it. I am with the hearing and Speech Center of northern california, and we provide a variety of Services Including audiology, counselling, outreach, education, today we actually just do screening to see if someone has hearing loss. To follow updates when they come into the Speech Center and we do a full diagnostic hearing test, and we start the process of taking an impression of their year, deciding on which hearing aid will work best for them. If they have a smart phone, we make sure we get a smart phone that can connect to it, so they can stream phone calls, or use it for any other services that they need. San francisco has phenomenal social services to support people at risk of becoming homeless, are already experience and homelessness, but it is confusing, and there is a lot of waste. Bringing everyone into the same space not only saves an average of 20 hours a week in navigating the system and waiting in line for different areas, it helps them talk, so if you need to sign up for medical, what you need identification, you dont have to go to sacramento or wait in line at a d. M. V. , you go across the hall to the d. M. V. To get your i. D. Today we will probably see around 30 people, and averaging about 20 of this people coming to cs for followup service. For a participant to qualify for services, all they need to do is come to the event. We have a lot of people who are at risk of homelessness but not yet experiencing it, that todays event can ensure they stay house. Many people coming to the event are here to receive one specific need such as signing up for medical or learning about d. M. V. Services, and then of course, most of the people who are tender people experiencing homelessness today. I am the representative for the volunteer central. We are the group that checks and all the volunteers that comment participate each day. On a typical day of service, we have anywhere between 40500 volunteers that we, back in, they get tshirts, nametags, maps, and all the information they need to have a successful event. Our participant escorts are a core part of our group, and they are the ones who help participants flow from the Different Service areas and help them find the Different Services that they needs. One of the ways we work closely with the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing is by working with Homeless Outreach teams. They come here, and these are the people that help you get into navigation centers, help you get into shortterm shelter, and talk about housing1st policies. We also work very closely with the department of Public Health to provide a lot of our services. We have all types of things that volunteers deal do on a day of service. We have folks that help give out lunches in the cafe, we have folks who help with the check in, getting people when they arrive, making sure that they find the services that they need to, we have folks who help in the check out process, to make sure they get their food bag, bag of groceries, together hygiene kit, and whatever they need to. Volunteers, i think of them as the secret sauce that just makes the whole process works smoothly. Participants are encouraged and welcomed to come with their pets. We do have a pet daycare, so if they want to have their pets stay in the daycare area while they navigate the event, they are welcome to do that, will we also understand some people are more comfortable having their pets with them. They can bring them into the event as well. We also typically offer veterinary services, and it can be a real detriment to coming into an event like this. We also have a bag check. You dont have to worry about your belongings getting lost, especially when that is all that you have with you. We get connected with people who knew they had hearing loss, but they didnt know they could get services to help them with their hearing loss picks and we are getting connected with each other to make sure they are getting supported. Our next event will be in march, we dont yet have a date set. We typically sap set it six weeks out. The way to volunteer is to follow our newsletter, follow us on social media, or just visit our website. We always announce it right away, and you can register very easily online. A lot of people see folks experience a homelessness in the city, and they dont know how they can help, and defence like this gives a whole bunch of people a lot of good opportunities to give back and be supported. [ ] as latinos we are unified in some ways and incredibly diverse in others and this exhibit really is an exploration of nuance in how we present those ideas. Our debts are not for sale. A piece about sanctuary and how his whole family served in the army and its a long Family Tradition and these people that look at us as foreigners, we have been here and we are part of america, you know, and we had to reinforce that. I have been cure rating here for about 18 year. We started with a table top, candle, flower es, and a picture and people reacted to that like it was the monna lisa. The most important tradition as it relates to the show is idea of making offering. In Traditional Mexican alters, you see food, candy, drinks, cigarettes, the things that the person that the offerings where being made to can take with them into the next word, the next life. Keeps u. S us connects to the people who have passed and because family is so important to us, that Community Dynamic makes it stick and makes it visible and it humanizes it and makes it present again. When i first started doing it back in 71, i wanted to do something with ritual, ceremony and history and you know i talked to my partner ross about the research and we opened and it hit a cord and people loved it. I think the line between engaging everyone with our culture and appropriating it. I think it goes back to asking people to bring their visions of what it means to honor the dead, and so for us its not asking us to make mexican altars if they are not mexican, its really to share and expand our vision of what it means to honor the dead. People are very respectful. I can show you this year alone of people who call tol ask is it okay if we come, we are hawaii or asian or we are this. What should we wear . What do you recommend that we do . They say oh, you know, we want a four day of the dead and its all hybrid in this country. What has happened are paper cuts, its so hybrid. It has spread to mexico from the bay area. We have influence on a lot of people, and im proud of it. A lot of tim times they dont represent we represent a lot of cultures with a lot of different perspectives and beliefs. I can see the city changes and its scary. When we first started a lot of people freaked out thinking we were a cult and things like that, but we went out of our way to also make it educational through outreach and that is why we started doing the prosession in 1979. As someone who grew up attending the yearly processions and who has seen them change incrementally every year into kind of what they are now, i feel in many ways that the cat is out of the bag and there is no putting the genie back into the bottle in how the wider public accesses the day of the dead. I have been through three different generations of children who were brought to the procession when they were very young that are now bringing their children or grandchildren. In the 80s, the processions were just kind of electric. Families with their homemade visuals walking down the street in San Francisco. Service so much more intimate and personal and so much more rooted in kind of a Family Practice of a very strong cultural practice. It kind of is what it is now and it has gone off in many Different Directions but i will always love the early days in the 80s where it was so intimate and son sofa millial. Our goal is to rescue a part of the culture that was a part that we could invite others to join in there there by where we invite the person to come help us rescue rescue it also. Thats what makes it unique. You have to know how to approach this changing situation, its exhausting and i have seen how it has affected everybody. Whats happening in mission and the relationship with the police, well its relevant and its relevant that people think about it that day of the dead is not just sugar skulls and paper flowers and candles, but its become a nondenominational tradition that people celebrate. Our culture is about color and family and if that is not present in your life, there is just no meaning to it you know . We have artists as black and brown people that are in direct danger of the direct policies of the trump a administration and i think how each of the artists has responsibilitie responded ss interesting. The common we think over 50 thousand permanent residents in San Francisco eligible for citizenship by lack information and resources so really the project is not about citizenship but really academy our immigrant community. Making sure theyre a part of what we do in San Francisco the San Francisco pathway to Citizenship Initiative a unique part of just between the city and then our 5 local foundations and Community Safe organizations and it really is an effort to get as many of the legal permanent residents in the San Francisco since 2013 we started reaching the San Francisco bay area residents and 10 thousand people into through 22 working groups and actually completed 5 thousand applications for citizenship our cause the real low income to moderate income resident in San Francisco and the bayview sometimes the workshops are said attend by poem if san mateo and from sacking. We think over restraining order thousand legal permanent residents in San Francisco that are eligible for citizenship but totally lack information and they dont have trained professionals culturally appropriate with an audience youre working with one time of providing services with pro bono lawyers and trained professionals to find out whether your eligible the first station and go through a purview list of questions to see if they have met the 56 year residents arrangement or theyre a u. S. Citizenship they once they get through the screening they go to legal communication to see lawyers to check am i eligible to be a citizen we send them to station 3 thats when they sit down with experienced advertising to fill out the 4 hundred naturalization form and then to final review and at the end he helps them with the check out station and send them a packet to fill and wait a month to 6 weeks to be invited in for an oral examine and if they pass two or three a months maximum get sworn in and become a citizen every single working groups we have a learning how to vote i mean there are tons of Community Resources we go for citizenship prep classes and have agencies it stays on site and this is filing out forms for people that are eligible so not just about your 22 page form but other Community Services and benefits the