Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240713

Watching my low rider. Now that wouldnt have happened 30 years ago because 30 years ago i would have probably been ticketed or my car would have been towed. You know what im talking about . We have come a long way, low and slow. There is a lot that has been said about whats going on in this country. I just want to thank all of you that came out to the march that we had to protest about children being encaged. I want to thank you because youre standing up to close those camps. I want to thank you because youre standing up to keep families together, because in our culture, the number one thing thats most important to us is family. So the first award is famed after an incredible, amazing woman that was born in 1930, and i just ask somebody if i knew the math right. She is 89 years of age. I am speaking about delores. [cheering and applause] i met delores when i was 12 years old, when mi papa sent me away for the summer and sent me to volunteer for the united farm workers. I had no idea what i was doing but let me tell you, after a quick week of being there with delor delores, i thought we were poor, you go out to those farms and you find out what poor really is. Delores has dedicated her entire life, a mother of nine children, and still gave and continues to give up her life to the betterment of our people. Recently i was here having dinner for the 60th anniversary and we talked about how many times we were outside this building protesting. It is a beautiful opportunity to have been here that night, as well as today, we come a long way, but we still have a lot of work to do. What a lot of people dont know is that in my book, delores was a better negotiator than cesar chavez. Im going to ask you to stand up for a minute, stand up. Im going to say a chant and after i say a chant, you know what you have to say. Close the caps. [speaking spanish] keep families together. [speaking spanish] dump trump [speaking spanish] thank you. With that, for this award for delores, i want to introduce my sister, another strong woman that i have had the honor of growing up with and doing so much organizing and work in our community, the one and only, and shes really brown. Shes so brown her last name is brown. [laughter] please welcome tracy brown. [cheering and applause] thank you all for being here. Its truly an honor to be among so many powerful latinos. I wanted to invite our mayor breed to come up on stage and if someone could bring a chair up for her. She belongs on this stage. She is making this place inclusive and including the latino voice in what we do. She is a native san franciscan and today were claiming her as latina. We have to have her next to our honorees. It is truly an honor to be here to recognize these three great people. I could talk about all three of them forever and i could add some stuff about london, mayor breed, but im only here to talk about them. Its my honor to read about her and im going to stay to script. You all know me. Some may not. She is a role model. She is a mover and shaker. She is a [speaking spanish] she is a person we call when we need to get shit done. She will know who to call. She will bug the crap out of them until they do it. This is how we, in our community, have gotten stuff done with people like her. A legacy award, what does that mean . We need to celebrate life while people are living. We need to celebrate their contributions here and now. [cheering and applause] so, it is my honor to introduce her who has deep roots in the San Francisco community, a lover of california history and San Francisco history, and i mean i can ask her any question, including the Haunted Church on 23rd, and she will know the answer. She is a leader of the golden state. She has held numerous posts of distinction in the city and county of San Francisco, including the American Institute of architect, the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club, Mission Girls, one of my personal favoritin favoritin favori favorites, San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of commerce, board of examiners for the building inspection, San Francisco city hall preservation commission. She has served as a member of the port land used an advisory board. This is a lot of volunteer work. One of her primary goals in life has been to do whatever she can do to improve the quality of life for others and especially for latino business, latino families, and latino residents. Through Community Activism and coalition, and encouraging young people to get out there and step into leadership, and use the power of voting. She has developed positive and powerful voices here in San Francisco as a role model to many, and in 2010, she led the effort in reconstituting that San Francisco Latino Democratic Club with Community Input in supporting latino candidates based on criteria, rather than external politics. So we love that youre running julian. In 2012, she established the Latino Historical Society as a reaction to the Latino History and because of documentation of its historical assets, we were left out of the rezoning of the Mission District. Not anymore though. In 2017, a San Francisco latino forum was established where she led the effort in building and she was instrumental in helping push the 1950 Mission Street Affordable Housing project. She is a licensed architect. She holds a masters of architecture, and b. A. In art. As commitment to the next generation is evident through her continued advocacy of supporting women and girls, community, rising superstars, and many of the people she mentored are here today and she has mentored many people over the years, who has went on to work towards making San Francisco a better place for all. It is a commitment that she instills in all of us. Please join me in honoring the legacy work and the award. [cheering and applause] so you know what im going to say. Really on behalf of the community, its not for myself. So, now i get my composure. Thank you tracy brown. I am humbled. Its an honor to receive the achievement award. Thank you mayor breed and the San Francisco latino heritage committee. This award i share with my [speaking spanish] in the community. Im only an organizing tool for the community to have a voice. Its your voices that need to be heard here at city hall. Jim, oscar, sam, roberto, you know and you have to acknowledge that most school work that gets done in the community is by women. Dont laugh. [applause] mom, okay. [crying] thank you for teaching me Self Determination and unconditional love. [cheering and applause] i love that im a San Francisco resident. I thank my dad for the sacrifices he made and the gifting of my love for history. I thank the good lord for continuing to teach me how to forgive, who i need to forgive, and thank you for having a mentor like Margaret Cruz that mentored such people like roberto hernandez, john and isabelle. Throughout my professional career, my motivation comes from the word no. No, youre not College Bound material, yet i persevered and got my masters in architecture. [cheering and applause] no, women arent good in interiors, so now im a registered architect with my own business for over 25 years here in the San Francisco. The words that move me forward to get things done are [speaking spanish] which is determination. Im a latino, a licensed architect and i provide employment for many students and im not your typical architect. Im an architect that believes in reinvestment into community, to improve the quality of life. I want to publically thank Robert Sanchez of casa sanchez in the back, who is a legacy business here in San Francisco and antonio ruiz, who has been in business for over 40 years and employed over 100 people of color in the city of San Francisco. [cheering and applause] i thank them because these were my two mentors when i first started my business. So, tony is the type of person that will still be out there running the backhoe and working with his crew. He still does it today. I was a second wave of professionals that graduated from the university with a professional degree. The first wave recruited to u. T. School of architecture where many vietnam vets like another mentor of mine, frank fung who now serves on the planning commission. Many come from low income communities. When they graduate, they dont have access to strong job networks and some are found working in retail and some have changed careers. What needs to happen is creative thinking to include them in San Franciscos workforce, for those architecture and engineering firms that do work with the city and to provide those paid internships so they can get experience. As many of you know, i spent a lot of time working on 24th street, 1 with the 24th Street Revitalization Committee under the leadership of jim gonzales, susan, and jose medina, where we designed. I organized a group of latino organizers and planners to start urban design plans for the street. Just like someone said before, when the Mission District was rezoned i attended a Community Meeting organized by the Planning Department to present the rezoning plan. We found that the Latino Communitys history and historical assets were missing from the report and major history period, being between 1960 and 2000. In talking with ellen martinez, he suggested that a Community Partner with a Preservation Organization to ensure the history was documented. This led to the creation of the San Francisco Latino Historical Society. Soon, we were in partnership with San Francisco heritage to create a citywide latino context statement. We have been assisting the community for the use of preservation tools to protect the community with gentrification workshops, first here in San Francisco, l. A. , and then san diego. Im cutting this short. Also in doing this, we know that we need new leadership, we need someone that understands how important it is to keep our communities intact. [cheering and applause] to dialog with the community and to find Creative Solutions for all. We dont like to be talked down to like some have in the creation of those red bus lanes. Its our language and our culture that create place, not just the architecture in the streetscapes. There is a lot more work to be done. I spent over 40 years organizing here in San Francisco in mentoring the next generation and leadership. I am thankful that i had the opportunity to assist in advancing latino leadership in such that dennis, susan, alicia, josh, and joaquin. I want to thank the employees that have become part of my family, that are here in the audience tonight. In closing, the Latino Community needs to Work Together to advance new leadership such as maria who is running for judge, superior court judge in march, 2020. [cheering and applause] to the community, i would like you to join the Capital Campaign for the new home for Mission Girls at 1240 valencia, the old Mission Police station. I want to thank you sam for his vision in purchasing this property. If you want to join, please join tracy or myself for that contact information. Thank you for the award and [speaking spanish] [cheering and applause] another round of applause. [cheering and applause] behind every award is a community of vision and to speak of the importance of our next award is valerie, who works for the San Francisco Public Utilities commission of workforce and economic programs. Prior to that she served as a program administrator, and she is here to present the rosario anya award. Thank you. I know were running behind schedule so ill make this brief. First, i want to start by thanking my mayor london bride. So if youre in a latino family or chicandle chicano family, thank you mayor breed. I want you to know how honored i am to present this next award. It goes to an institution that serves a population that we devoted this event to, roots of resilience and resistance. Its called the rosario anya award and she ran missions and vocational schools. Tonight we have her niece here and we have food provided by her legacy organization. [cheering and applause] yes, so there would be good food. [applause] many of our roots come from the original migration patterns of our ancestors. This migration continues today but with harsh political consequences, including the recent, but not so new policies of imprisonment, family destruction, and inhumane destruction of children. Once the children come here, where can they go for a safe and supportive place wrapped in education . They go to Mission Education center. Mission Education Center is the only newcomer Elementary School that welcomes Migrant Children who come from different latino and indigenous ethnicity. Unlike a traditional school, the staff goes beyond the call of duty under the leadership of their principal carla vasquez. [cheering and applause] there is an expectation and culture of nurturing and reinforcing the childrens identity, which is a form of resilience. Counter to the mainstream push for culture sayings, it offers societal integration without the sacrifice of losing a childs dignity and self worth. This evening is also dedicated to action, in a Normal School setting there is this Parent Organization such as a p. T. A. Or p. T. O. At this school, parents are experiencing social and economic trauma and therefore as a community, we are the collective parents and we want you to become involved with the school. They have a group that buys schools and coats for their christmas presents. You can find information in the north court later on this evening. Tonight, we would like to honor Mission Education center. Welcome them please. Carla vasquez and staff. [cheering and applause] how are you . Thank you so much. Thank you very much. [speaking spanish] on behalf of San Francisco unified, Mission Education center, and the absolutely amazing staff, please stand up. Stand up. [cheering and applause] did i get to work with every single day to support our latino, recently arrived laity now students. Thank you so much. [speaking spanish] Mission Education center is just a gem of a school. Weve been around since 1971 to support and serve our recently arrived latino students. What we try to do at our school, what we do, do and what we strive to do every day is provide a soft landing space for our students that are coming to this country under some horrific and traumatic conditions. At Mission Education center, we have the honor to work with our students and our families and were able to have our students come into our school, settle down, support their Spanish Language development while still teaching english and we see that our kids soar once they get to a new school in San Francisco. [cheering and applause] so on behalf of the staff and the hard work that everyone does there and my beautiful little babies, i dont see any of them in the audience right now, but im sure theyre around. Thank you so much. We will continue to do this hard work and [speaking spanish] many thanks. [applause] the work of all these folks is so inspiring and now i would like to bring up a phenomenal woman, the highest ranking latina in labor, gentleme ye champion of workers rights. Olga is also secretary treasurer of the San Francisco Labor Council and president of local 187. Please welcome olga miranda. [applause] olga, olga, olga. Buenas tardes. [speaking spanish] for my monolingual brothers and sisters in the room, if my mother were here, she would tell me to first speak in the language that her mother gave her and then translate that into english, so if you would please allow me. [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] [applause] [speaking spanish] now for the translation. My name is olga and i have the great honor of introducing a brother who i met on the picket lines, fighting for his members. I have the great privilege and honor in representing janitors. And this brother happens to be the Business Manager for local 261. Brothers and sisters [cheering and applause] its a beautiful building. Its a beaut