Hard to develop strong partnerships. I want to welcome supervisor Catherine Stefani. [cheers and applause] supervisor safai, City College Trustee i. V. Lee, fire chief janine nicholson, we welcome her david lazar. Representing San Francisco airports, front seth francesca garcia, and on her way is the sharp director Kelly Densmore who is the new director of the office of Sexual Harassment and assault response and prevention. So tonights theme is building pathways to safety. We recognize that Domestic Violence is an issue that impacts every gender, race, sexual orientation, immigration status, and we need to meet our Diverse Community members where they are. We are so proud of our Partner Agencies that work so hard every day to expand womens safety. If you are from one of our Partner Agencies, make some noise. [cheers and applause] please stay until the end of the event. As the sunsets, city hall will be let let purple for Domestic ViolenceAwareness Month. This is the only time of the month that it will glow purple. It is truly magnificent. A wonderful selfie shot. So i want to welcome we are welcoming our president , the commission on the status of women, the strongest Womens Commission in the country. Lets give that a cheer. [cheering] the president the lifelong advocate for women and girls and has acted as a champion for policy change in education and community and economic development. She just stepped off a plane from india, so please help me welcome president rhianna zawart hi, everyone. I am very honored be here and to represent the strongest commission in the country. Im joined tonight by our Vice President , commissioners. Can we give it up for our commissioners . [applause] the reason why this commission and this department is so important is because every day we live the theme of this month which is building pathways to safety. According to the National Coalition against Domestic Violence, an average of 20 americans experience Domestic Violence every minute. That is 10 million victims in a single year in the u. S. And according to the coalition, Domestic Violence survivors receive 8 million lose 8 million working days. The numbers are there and they are scary. We cant get lost in the numbers because we have to remember what happens when people are victims and survivors of Domestic Violence. And what im proud of today with this commission is that we have provided an impressive dented 8. 6 million in funding to communitybased organizations working across the city to support victims and survivors of violence and their families with crisis lines, counseling, case management, legal services, emergency and transitional shelters. Can we give it up for a . 6 million in services for the city and county . [cheers and applause] for example, we provide essential funding to three Domestic Violence shelters including the first in the nation, the asian womens shelter pick the first in california [speaking spanish] and st. Vincent de paul society. Through these grants, we are serving thousands of victims and survivors. In 2017, our partners filled in 25,000 service calls, provided 25,000 hours of counseling and reach 12,000 individuals in violence education and prevention programs. Our Strong Network of partners and Provider Services and dozens in dozens of languages works to ensure that their work with the survivors is done in a culturally competent and sensitive way. Again, we always look past the numbers and the humanity. The people that faces every day to make sure that we are providing the needs of this community. So make some noise again for our Partner Agencies who are doing this work every day. We are so proud of you. [applause] even with all of that, the demand is greater than the supply. For every one person served in our Emergency Shelters, we are about four people who are turned away every day and placed outside of San Francisco. We have to do better. There is more work to be done to ensure that survivors and their families are on a path toward safety. Every day, survivors are faced with the impossible choice between remaining in an abusive environment that are potentially lifethreatening, relieving and becoming homeless. Or leaving and becoming homeless. We must invest in expanded services and more shelter spaces for Domestic Violence and their families. By providing safe places for survivors and supporting them to rebuild their lives, we can break the cycle of violence. Is our guest of honor here . Fantastic. With that, i want to introduce someone who i am honored to work with. Our supervisor Catherine Stefani , i know is not afraid to stand up and defend survivors and his leadership in this city and county is unprecedented when it comes to finding pathways to safety. Give it up for supervisor stefani. [cheers and applause] thank you so much. I want to thank the department on the status of women and the Domestic Violence consortium for sponsoring todays event and everyone who came out today to show your support. It is an honor to join Many Community partners as we continue to fight against Domestic Violence. I look forward to the day when we dont have to do this. We have made great progress in the city but we know we have a lot more work to do. According to a recent United Nations report, the most dangerous place for a woman around the world is in her home. More than half of all women, homicide victims in recent years , were killed by their partners or relatives, and while we know that it is not just women who are affected by Domestic Violence, women are far more likely than men to experience violence in the home. In the United States, more than one in three women will report experiencing abuse by domestic partners in their lifetime. This abuse impacts not only the victims, but entire families and communities. One Domestic Abusers have access to guns, the effects are deadly. We know that over half of female victims were killed by the partners in the United States are killed with guns. If you are a woman in the United States, you are 16 times more likely to die by gun violence by an intimate partner then in other countries and we also know that most Mass Shootings in the United States, over 50 of them, are related to Domestic Violence listen to this statistic. This one blew me away. 92 of all women killed with guns in highincome countries in 2015 were from the United States 92 is absolutely unacceptable. We know that, and in so many cases, Law Enforcement and families feel powerless to stop tragedies. We have been hamstrung and getting weapons out of the hands who would harm their partners and family members, and there is no single way to win the fight against Domestic Violence, but we will not win unless we continue to bring attention to this important issue and pass legislation at every single level of government. That is why i will introduce my ordinance to implement the gun violence restraining order law and a very happy to be doing that with the help of deputy chief lazar. Gun violence restraining order laws give families and Law Enforcement the power to temporarily remove an individual s access to firearms before they commit acts of violence. Is also known as red flag laws. Gun violence restraining orders save lives. I look forward to passing this legislation at the board of supervisors and continuing to work for commonsense legislation to protect those affected by Domestic Violence. It is really so inspiring to be here surrounded by our citys leaders and advocates who are all working, we are all on the same page, to end Domestic Violence in San Francisco and i look forward to continuing that work with you all. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much, supervisor stefani. A couple other folks to recognize. Representing the sheriffs office, we have deputy kathy johnson. Give a wave. [applause] i will invite back to the podium president zawart to introduce our very special guest tonight. I am back and i am really honored again to be back to introduce one of my personal heroes. The mayor of San Francisco london breed, who is a committed and compassionate womens rights advocate who we know is not afraid to stand up to defend survivors and under his leadership the city has been working to further prevent. I think that is key here. We cant erase, there is no silver bullet, but this mayor is committed to preventing this every single day. Without further ado, mayor breed [applause] thank you. Good evening, everyone. I want to thank each and every one of you for being here to recognize something that is so critical to what we need to do in terms of the work of the city and county of San Francisco, and that is honoring and remembering survivors of Domestic Violence and making sure that their memories are not forgotten, that we do not forget who they are, in some of the challenges that they experienced. In fact, we know all too well the history of our city and our country. In fact, the neighborhood that i grew up in, it was not uncommon to sadly see men beat up their girlfriends and their wives. And when the police would get called on occasion, and i have had this experience directly, they would come and sadly, in some cases, people would pretend as if nothing ever happened and no one would be held accountable for that because the fact is, so many of those women were living in fear, in fear of what might happen if they did stand up, and the times on the kinds of situations they were in requires us to make sure that we are doing more to protect people. To make sure that no matter what relationship you are in, that you shouldnt have to fear your partner, your spouse, or fear that you dont have support or Resources Available to you to help in case you are in a situation like that. We are here today to remember that there is still work to be done. In fact, here in San Francisco, although we have invested millions of dollars over 8. 5 million into programs and services and resources that help those who tragically are victims of Domestic Violence and help with crisis hotlines and help with shelter and other access to services, we know that there is still work to be done and we are committed to the work. We also know that sadly, in the bayview Hunters Point community, we are seeing record numbers of Domestic Violence incidents that have been reported. As a result, we have to be focused on new ways in which we can make it easier to help people who are in need of help. In the San FranciscoPolice Department, we have launched a new opportunity for an app that is called hard. It is an application that, using technology, that assist Police Officers right on the spot with identifying what is happening in the situation, and asking the right questions, and more importantly, how we directly connect people who are victims with services right away. It is the first step in so many other things that we know we can do as a safety to be innovative, to be creative around creating opportunities to connect people to resources. Knowing that, is tough for someone maybe, it can happen to anyone at any given time, and any relationship. So it is important that we continue to provide the supports , to provide the resources, to remember the tragedies that have occurred, to never forget those, was specially who have lost their lives, and to really commend and thank the survivors who have come forward to tell their story and to be advocates for change around this most critical issue. Today and tonight, in fact, we light up city hall in the color purple. The purple the color that recognizes Domestic ViolenceAwareness Month in San Francisco , and when we see San Francisco lit up this color today, we think about the people , the experiences, the stories, the challenges that have existed, but more importantly, we think about the resilience of such an Incredible Community of people who have stepped up, told their story, and really have been able to make change happen. The difference between what happened in the past when i was growing up and what happens now, when there is an issue of Domestic Violence and the police come, someone is going to be held accountable. It took a long time to get to that point, but we are in a better place with more work that needs to be done, and i know, with the commission on the status of women, with the San FranciscoPolice Department, with so many incredible nonprofit organizations that continue to work on so many of these issues every single day, that it is only a matter of time before we finally get to a better place where we dont lose a life over Domestic Violence in the city and in the country. Thank you all for coming out today and for your advocacy and work and support on this very critical issue in our city. [cheers and applause] thank you so much. Another round of applause for the leadership of mayor london breed. We are so excited about this new announcement that will really bring more of the victims survivors services. We are really excited about that our next speaker is beverly upton, executive director of the Domestic Violence consortium, which brings together an incredible network of organizations to support survivors of Domestic Violence and their families. Beverly was a key partner in putting together tonights event please join me and giving her a warm welcome. [applause] thank you so much. Im so honored to stand here with emily again this year. We have lighted city hall purple for about a decade and we have seen a lot of progress in that decade. We have been gathering here to show the citys commitment to ending Domestic Violence, violence against women, and violence towards San Franciscos most vulnerable residents. We gather here today to honor those who certainly have survived and are here with us. They are our heroes, but this is also a time that we get together and honor the folks that are answering the crisis line 24 hours a day, that are running the shelters, 24 7, 365 days a year. [cheers and applause] keeping survivors and their children safe. Lots of children in shelter. Im sure you will hear more. They are teaching, training, working with survivors, working with youth, we have a pil you we have youth here today. They are taking the tough cases. They are getting the restraining orders, they are taking these complex cases that are so confusing and there are so many details, and the abuse has gone on for so long, it takes a good, Legal Community to unravel those cases, support their survivors, and take them where they need to go. We have that. I see jerel here, i say kimberley here, i see our attorneys from the justice and diversity center. We want to honor you for being in the trenches and really coming through for survivors and their kids. This is what we are here for today. This is what the mayor is supporting, this is what the department and the commission on the status of women are supporting. This team of survivors here, now , 24 hours a day, but we wouldnt be here without our city partners. Emily and her team at the department on the status of women are such great leaders. They support 24 hours a day these agencies. They help us make sure that our staff are right and help us tell the story. They help us connect with city hall every day. They help us connect with the commission on the status of women. None of us would be here without our city partners. We wouldnt be here without the Mayors Office, we wouldnt be here without mayor breed, and we wouldnt be here without the board of supervisors. The board of supervisors works with us every year to make sure that we have the resources we need to meet new communities where they are, to support our immigrant brothers and sisters, our transgender brother and sisters, our native american brothers and sisters. Absolutely. As mayor breed said, we have a lot to do. We have more to do, and we are going to need more resources, but i know they