Congresswoman Pelosi Remarks at Mission Neighborhood Centers in San Francisco

Monday, July 12, 2010

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

San Francisco – Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered keynote remarks at the Mission Neighborhood Centers (MNC) at Capp Street in San Francisco. MNC received funding in the Recovery Act for its Head Start program, enabling them to continue serving children from low income families. Additionally, MNC has recently hired new 16 employees through the Jobs Now program. Below are the Speaker’s remarks as delivered:

“Good afternoon! Buenas tardes!

“Thank you very much for your kind welcome, Jim Salinas. Thank you for your kind words of welcome, for your great leadership on behalf of this community, of Mission Neighborhood Centers, and for working families in our country.

“I come here today to say ‘thank you’ to the Mission Neighborhood Centers, to Sam Ruiz, my friend of many years, and Jim Salinas, Chairman of the Board, and members of the Board of the Mission Neighborhood Centers, to the staff, to the participants, to the Girl Scouts, to the friends, to the community affiliate groups, to the children, to the seniors, and to everyone who makes this such a tremendous organization, to be a place that is of national significance because it is a model to the nation of what our public policy should be: to translate into meeting the needs of people.

“I am glad to be here also with my granddaughter, Madeleine. Come here, Madeleine. Madeleine is 11. She lives in Arizona. People ask her what you did: ‘What does it mean to be the Speaker?’ Speaker—it’s the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House. What meant something to you was when I said, ‘I work with Barack Obama,’ and I’m proud to do so.

“But I wanted Madeleine to see public policy in action—public policy that springs from the community. And that is what is so great about what Sam Ruiz does and what all of you do here, because you have solutions that spring from the community. Some of the interaction between the community health centers, with Gladys Sandlin, who helped us so much to pass the health care bill. Today, we are here today to talk about the Recovery Act, and what it has meant in dollars for the Center, and what it has meant in jobs, in the Jobs Now initiative.

“What I saw when I came here is a hot meal for seniors, a Head Start for children, parenting skills for new parents, and again, jobs for people who want to enter the workforce. This Jobs Now initiative is very successful in San Francisco because of the leadership of Mayor Gavin Newsom. He saw the possibilities early on. And what you hear, what you have heard from Walter, from Elena, and from Aura, and from Barbara, was what this community center does, but especially Walter, Elena and Barbara, in terms of the Jobs Now initiative.

“These are jobs, supported by federal taxpayer dollars, in the private sector and in the non-profit sector, in addition to the public sector. And we have had a number of events since this initiative passed, around the city, and every place I hear the same thing: ‘I’m so impressed by the employees that I have gotten to know through this. We want to keep them on. Help us keep them on.’

“And that is what I am asking your help for today. Because in the House of Representatives we have passed the Jobs Now initiative, and again, it is waiting to be passed in the Senate. That is the way it is in Washington, and we are hoping that it will because we need it to be extended. We need all the hope that you heard, in Walter’s voice, and Aura’s voice, and Elena’s voice, and Barbara’s voice, to be rewarded – I should not even say rewarded – but anticipating their needs to have this go forward. Now, not every one of them are a part of Jobs Now, but jobs in the community are a part of everything else that we are doing.

“A while back—was it a couple months now, Sam and Jim?—we celebrated the 50th anniversary. The 50th anniversary at City Hall, this beautiful occasion where people came together from all around our city to sing the praises of what you are doing here. And I come here once again to do that. I loved that evening because it was an evening of giving awards to people who had done so much in the community. And I said then that it’s so important because it enables me to go back to Washington to say that the initiatives that we have passed there are working in the community because they spring from the community.

“Community-based solutions. And they are all about one word: respect. Respect for our seniors; respect for our children; respect for their parents; respect for those who want to find work. So we have to keep this going. I don’t know how long this recession will last. We’re working very hard to make a change there, because we were in a very deep recession and we are still digging our way out. But you have provided solutions. I am grateful to you for that. I can go and say with great pride what I saw here today and that I can advocate with great certainty that we need to continue this.

“There are so many reasons why Mission Neighborhood Centers is a success, and most of those reasons are about people: the people who make it a success; the people who participate in the programs; the people who work here; the people who teach here; the people who learn here; the people who take pride in their association; and the outside affiliate groups, as some have been acknowledged.

“So I come here to say thank for all that you are doing for people. I come here to say thank you for being a model for the nation, for giving me the confidence to say: ‘This works, we must continue it.’ I say thank you for what you are doing to build a better future.

“Respecting the diversity, I always say of San Francisco, the beauty is in the mix. And that is what Sam—oh my gosh, over 20 years, almost a quarter of a century, Sam—I’ve been learning from Sam. Let’s hear it for Sam, he is so wonderful. And our friends in labor, Jim, in many ways our friends in labor have been a very important part of our passing the legislation to begin with.

“As was mentioned about the environment in one of the jobs initiatives, it is so our children have a safe place, a safe, clean place for them to thrive and grow; that their parents can learn parenting skills, that their families can have jobs; and that their grandparents can be treated with the respect they deserve.

“Thank you, Mission Neighborhood Centers.”