Months and two days for the celebration. He is bringing champagne so dont miss it. Here we go. Five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause. ] we spoke with people regardless of what they are. That is when you see change. That is a lead vannin advantage. So Law Enforcement assistance diversion to work with individuals with nonviolent related of offenses to offer an alternative to an arrest and the county jail. We are seeing reduction in drugrelated crimes in the pilot area. They have done the program for quite a while. They are successful in reducing the going to the county jail. This was a state grant that we applied for. The department is the main administrator. It requires we work with multiple agencies. We have a community that includes the da, Rapid Transit police and San FranciscoSheriffs Department and Law Enforcement agencies, Public Defenders Office and adult probation to Work Together to look at the population that ends up in criminal justice and how they will not end up in jail. Having partners in the nonprofit world and the public defender are critical to the success. We are beginning to succeed because we have that cooperation. Agencies with very little connection are brought together at the same table. Collaboration is good for the department. It gets us all working in the same direction. These are complex issues we are dealing with. When you have systems as complicated as police and health and proation and jails and nonprofits it requires people to come to Work Together so everybody has to put their egos at the door. We have done it very, very well. The model of care where police, district attorney, public defenders are communitybased organizations are all involved to worked towards the common goal. Nobody wants to see drug users in jail. They want them to get the correct treatment they need. We are piloting lead in San Francisco. Close to civic center along market street, union plaza, powell street and in the mission, 16th and mission. Our goal in San Francisco and in seattle is to work with individuals who are cycling in and out of criminal justice and are falling through the cracks and using this as intervention to address that population and the Racial Disparity we see. We want to focus on the mission in tender loan district. It goes to the partners that hired case managers to deal directly with the clients. Case managers with referrals from the police or city agencies connect with the person to determine what their needs are and how we can best meet those needs. I have nobody, no friends, no resources, i am flatout on my own. I witnessed women getting beat, men getting beat. Transgenders getting beat up. I saw people shot, stabbed. These are people that have had many visits to the county jail in San Francisco or other institutions. We are trying to connect them with the resources they need in the community to break out of that cycle. All of the referrals are coming from the Law Enforcement agency. Officers observe an offense. Say you are using. It is found out you are in possession of drugs, that constituted a lead eligible defense. The officer would talk to the individual about participating in the program instead of being booked into the county jail. Are you ever heard of the leads program. Yes. Are you part of the leads program . Do you have a case worker . Yes, i have a case manager. When they have a contact with a possible lead referral, they give us a call. Ideally we can meet them at the scene where the ticket is being issued. Primarily what you are talking to are people under the influence of drugs but they will all be nonviolent. If they were violent they wouldnt qualify for lead. You think i am going to get arrested or maybe i will go to jail for something i just did because of the Substance Abuse issues i am dealing with. They would contact with the outreach worker. Then glide shows up, you are not going to jail. We can take you. Lets meet you where you are without telling you exactly what that is going to look like, let us help you and help you help yourself. Bring them to the Community Assessment and Services Center run by adult probation to have assessment with the department of Public Health staff to assess the treatment needs. It provides meals, groups, there are things happening that make it an open space they can access. They go through detailed assessment about their needs and how we can meet those needs. Someone who would have entered the jail system or would have been arrested and book order the charge is diverted to social services. Then from there instead of them going through that system, which hasnt shown itself to be an effective way to deal with people suffering from suable stance abuse issues they can be connected with case management. They can offer Services Based on their needs as individuals. One of the key things is our approach is client centered. Hall reduction is based around helping the client and meeting them where they are at in terms of what steps are you ready to take . We are not asking individuals to do anything specific at any point in time. It is a Program Based on whatever it takes and wherever it takes. We are going to them and working with them where they feel most comfortable in the community. It opens doors and they get access they wouldnt have had otherwise. Supports them on their goals. We are not assigning goals working to come up with a plan what success looks like to them. Because i have been in the field a lot i can offer different choices and let them decide which one they want to go down and help them on that path. It is all on you. We are here to guide you. We are not trying to force you to do what you want to do or change your mind. It is you telling us how you want us to help you. It means a lot to the clients to know there is someone creative in the way we can assist them. They pick up the phone. It was a blessing to have them when i was on the streets. No matter what situation, what pay phone, cell phone, somebody elses phone by calling them they always answered. In officebased setting somebody at the reception desk and the clinician will not work for this population of drug users on the street. This has been helpful to see the outcome. We will pick you up, take you to the appointment, get you food on the way and make sure your needs are taken care of so you are not out in the cold. First to push me so i will not be afraid to ask for help with the lead team. Can we get you to use less and less so you can function and have a normal life, job, place to stay, be a functioning part of the community. It is all part of the home reduction model. You are using less and you are allowed to be a viable member of the society. This is an important question where lead will go from here. Looking at the data so far and seeing the successes and we can build on that and as the department based on that where the investments need to go. If it is for five months. Hopefully as final we will come up with a model that may help with all of the communities in the california. I want to go back to school to start my ged and go to community clean. It can be somebody scaled out. That is the hope anyway. Is a huge need in the city. Depending on the need and the data we are getting we can definitely see an expansion. We all hope, obviously, the program is successful and we can implement it city wide. I think it will save the county millions of dollars in emergency services, police services, prosecuting services. More importantly, it will save lives. Mayor breed my name is london breed. Im mayor of San Francisco. I am so excited to be here. I have been talking about this legislation since even before becoming mayor. Im so grateful were at this point. I want to start by thanking state senator scott wiener for his incredible leadership on this important bill that finally got signed by the governor and one that were going to be putting into action right here in San Francisco. I also really want to thank supervisor Rafael Mandleman for his leadership and getting it through the board of supervisors so we can move forward on an act that we know is a critical step to help us address Mental Health reform like never before in San Francisco. Thank you to the Episcopal Community services for hosting us today. The bishop here provides permanent Supportive Housing for over 100 people in this building, an outcome that we want for all people who go through conservatorship. Thank you to the department of adult and aging services, the public conservatorship, the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing. It does take a village and it takes all of these departments in order to accomplish what we know is an important goal to help people who we know are suffering on our streets. Were here today because we know that compassion and kindness play a role in addressing what we know has been a real challenge. We know that some of the people that we see on our streets who are dealing with homelessness, Mental Health challenges, and Substance Use disorder on our streets are people that we need to come up with new solutions to help. For people who are experiencing just one of those things, its hard enough, but just imagine all three. The reality is sad. Its a repeating cycle where people are in and out of our jails and hospitals. In the same areas that they once were with no help and no plan in sight. The biggest challenge we have is that in some instances, people are refusing what were offering. Its not just its not humane to just say that someone has the right to be out on the street dealing with the same challenges over and over again and allow them to do that, especially because we know what happens in San Francisco with the challenges that people are experiencing. Thats why we need in some instances to conserve them, to help them stabilize, to provide wraparound services, and to get them on the right path. For example, el laguna honda hospital, we know that is a rehabilitation center. There are some people who have been given help and support and transitioned out of laguna honda into situations where they can not only live on their own but be provided with support from healthcare workers and other social services in order to live independently. We know with a physical challenge its possible, so why not with someone suffering from mental illness. Thanks to this legislation written by senator scott wiener and signed into law by our governor, we can get started doing just that. As i said before under the board of supervisors, under the leadership of supervisor a mandelman, we are moving forward and taking the necessary steps to start the process of conservatorship. The citys Attorneys Office is working closely with others to bring these cases to court and get the help that they need. We all know that San Francisco has a long history of providing compassion to people, but when people dont accept help and the alternative is they may die on our streets, we have an obligation to step in. Senator wieners law requires that we form a working group charged with assessing the new conservatorship and making sure were meeting the needs of those who qualify. Ive appointed three members of the working group and two of us are with us today. Simon pang is the department of the San FranciscoFire Department and has experience with outreach on the streets every day. Thank you for joining us. Kelly dearman is the executive director of the San Francisco in Home Supportive Services public authority. Thank you, kelly, so much for your work in this effort. Rachel rodriguez is the cofounder and director of the Community Payee partnership. She wasnt able to join us today but will be part of the committee. There will be a larger working group that will meet later this month and ensure this group meets the goals it intends to do. This conservatorship is not going to solve all of the issues on our streets, but its better than what we had before, which was absolutely no way to compel people to accept help. But thats why were continuing to invest in Behavioural Health beds. The citys budget includes 50 million for Substance Use and Mental Health treatment beds. Weve launched a comprehensive Behavioural Health initiative to help the approximately 4,000 people that we have identified who are in the most need of Mental Health care and Substance Use treatment. Our city departments are working diligently to create Personalized Care plans for the 230 people of this group who have the most acute challenges. I want to thank dr. Naguseblan for the work that hes done to get us to a place so that we understand what we need to do to start to make smart efforts so that we know the programs that are working and were investing in those programs and making sure that they work for the people that were trying to serve. The fact is for the programs that arent, we need to make a change because we know that there is a need to move forward and address this issue appropriately. Were also expanding our hours at the Behavioural HealthAccess Center and were opening additional new beds at our hummingbird west beds thanks to Tipping Point community. All of these things combined are going to help us achieve what our goal is, and that is to address the crisis. People use that word and throw it around freely, but there is a crisis with Mental Health in our city. Not just what you see on the stre streets, but in general. We need to get rid of the stigma attached to it and we need to make sure we have the tools in place to address it in the most appropriate way. We are committed to making the serious changes necessary and we are so lucky to have a very thoughtful legislator who understands these challenges and who is willing to develop partnerships in order to fight to deliver them so we can make the appropriate changes and investments right here in San Francisco to make them work for the residents who need them the most. At this time i would like to introduce our state senator scott wiener and thank him so much for his incredible leadership on this issue. [ applause ]. Thank you, mayor breed. I really want to thank the mayor for her extraordinary leadership on the really severe Mental Health and addiction challenges we see on our streets every day. This is a problem that has been many, many years in the making and has to do a lot with statewide and National Failures around our Mental Health and addiction safety nets, around housing and having enough of it. Its hard at a city level to grapple with these issues, but the mayor is really taking tangible steps to do that. This legislation has been a twoyear process, as often is the case, with hard issues. Sometimes you have to go back a second year, and this is what we did this year with sb40. I want to acknowledge the mayor, when she was a candidate, was the only candidate for mayor who supported what were doing here. I think the people saw that. Regular residents of San Francisco understand that there is a real problem on our streets and that we cant have business as usual. Because business as usual has not made things better. We have to be willing to try new things. This legislation, i was told when i was sworn in as a new senator, never try to expand conservatorships in california. Its impossible politically. Youll never be able to do it. What we learned is of course its hard and it concerns Civil Liberties, which is something that we have to be very mindful of and very cautious when youre depriving someone of Civil Liberties. But ultimately if you do it in a smart and a focused way, people get it. In the legislature honestly this was overall not a controversial bill. It was controversial in the advocacy community, and we of course respect our devote advocates and worked with them. This is a bill that got almost unanimous support on the floor of the assembly. The biggest criticism i received from colleagues, including some very liberal democrats, is why isnt this program in my area because we have people dying on the streets as well. Part of what this legislation and this Conservatorship Program is about is that it is completely unacceptable for us to sit by while people are unravelling and dying on our streets. Its not good enough to say we have voluntary programs that people can accept. When someone is sleeping in their feces and has open sores all over their bodies that they are not having treated, when someone is running in the middle of the street screaming at cars in the middle of traffic, to say that person should simply be expected to accept voluntary services and take control of their life in that condition, thats not reality. So we as a city, we as a state, need to do more to save these peoples lives. These are our neighbors. These are members of ou