I invite you all to take a moment to think about the individual journeys that each person makes when leaving their country to get to ours. Try to imagine the suffering and hardship caused by war or famine or natural disaster. To imagine the perpetual fear of living with political and religious persecution. To imagine leaving behind everything and everyone you know and seeking refuge thousands of miles away. Imagine a young child being taken away from his teachers and his classmates having to learn a new language and to adjust to a different culture. Let alone in Texas. The truth is I don't know if I could do it. I don't know if any of us could do it. I don't know if we could find the strength and courage that you see here today and the fathers and the mothers and children that find refuge in our city. Their stories like you inspire me and they make us appreciate the things that we often take for granted. I want to mention to you a young African man I met a few months ago named Rahani. When he arrived in San Antonio he began working his way through high school and received his GED. He went on to San Antonio College where he is now ready to transfer to University and pursue an international business degree and he has a goal of returning home to help those who are left behind. In the time I have been on council I have gotten to experience a sense of optimism and hope that is strong in San Antonio's refugee population. Now we are working to make sure that strength is matched by native San Antonio's eager to lend a helping hand. We face many challenges as a community improving support and providing support for refugees. Some believe that governments should provide all of the answers and solutions. Others see the private sector as providing the best ones. I think about it a little differently. The essence of our partners here today and they are all around here serving food and providing services is no matter what they are from the public sector, the private sector or the faith community is to provide hope to be better neighbors during times of need. The strength of their work is in the compassion of those who supported through volunteerism or donations. Such compassion is at the heart of our city and was shown in 2005 when the city of New Orleans was crippled by Hurricane Katrina. The images of that natural disaster are burned into the memory of the Gulf Coast but it was the response of this city that was the enduring story. San Antonio under the leadership of Mayor Phil Hartberger opened our homes to over 12,000 evacuees, roughly the same number of international refugees that are here today. In the time of great need our city provided housing, healthcare, food and hope. President Franklin Roosevelt said, if your neighbor's house is on fire, you don't haggle over the price of your garden hose. Our pleasure, the armistice is dedicated to President Roosevelt and it's in his words that embody the servant heart of San Antonio. In 2005, in a time of national crisis, San Antonio stood with open arms and welcomed our neighbors with compassion and without conditions. Refugees in San Antonio who we refer to as newcomers, or who I like to call new neighbors, face many challenges from access to healthcare, housing, education to transportation. But with organizations like Catholic Charities, the CRS, Northside Independent School District, the University Health System, and faith communities like St. Francis, St. Matthews, and the House of Prayer, our city is stepping up to be better neighbors. The partners in these efforts celebrate the true meeting of world refugee day, devoting time, material resources, and compassion to provide hope and a foundation for a new life in America. I am happy to let you know as a city councilman on behalf of the City Council, Mayor Juliana Castro, but the city of San Antonio is not standing idly by. Since last year, I have been convening refugee summit meetings at City Hall, where service providers and new neighbors have been sharing their experiences and finding ways we can better collaborate to ease the transition into San Antonio. As a result of these summits, we have been able to identify some of the gaps in service that exist in our current system of support. The outcomes have included the collaboration among partners for refugee after school programs, as well as a commitment from VIA to translate bus routes in multiple languages along the Worst Bot corridor, where it is badly needed. VIA, the employees have also donated bus passes to the refugee children soccer program, which is spearheaded by Bobby Blount, the president of the North Side Independent School District. Wouldn't it be great, very soon from now, that we have a level soccer field here, that refugees in San Antonio's from all over the city can come and celebrate the universal language. This is truly the World Cup, is it not? And we identified several areas in dire need of pedestrian friendly upgrades along Worst Bot as well, ensuring that our streets are safe for those who are getting used to the Texan rules of the road. More work is yet to be done, and there is a lack of mental health providers for newcomers, as well as a need to make sure that those refugees who come to our city with specific skills are provided the opportunity to use those skills. It's fair to those families, and it's a good thing for our community. Everyone in this field understands the importance of housing opportunities, quality education, transportation options, and health care access for all of our neighbors. This is especially true for those who are calling this city home for the first time. So I will repeat a promise to you that I've made at every opportunity. I will continue to elevate the public dialogue about our new neighbors, and make sure that our community recognizes the stories of refugee families. And we will continue coordinating with anyone who seeks solutions to the challenges faced by our neighbors. So on this world refugee day, let us celebrate what makes San Antonio a great American city. That for those seeking opportunity and hope, we are a city of welcoming neighbors. Thank you for all that you do, and may God bless these families that have sought a better life in our city. Thank you. We're one of the most diverse communities in Texas. San Antonio is, and in district 8, even more so, the ethnic and cultural, political, religious, socio-economic, diverse, and communities profound. So being able to work with refugees and different communities and getting things right as a community in this area of town is so vitally important and says that if we can do it in our backyard, we can do it in the rest of the city and the rest of the state. Actually, it's funny because this is where the medical assets are in the city, the dense medical assets, medical centers here. We have the highest proportion of refugees that are brought in through the state department here in district 8. But the worst spot, I-10 corridor, this area of town is actually the population center. It's a dense-edensity map of the population. This is the center of town. So it is an extremely metropolitan area. It is a place where logically, if you were to point to where, you know, the confluence of culture and religion and community are, it makes sense that we're celebrating World Refugee Heritage, or World Refugee Day here at San Francisco. We don't provide direct service. What we do is we provide support to organizations that are providing support in these areas. So for instance, we work quite a bit with Catholic charities, with their different programs. So it's not direct service. But that's something that we're, I mean, it's not all about capital, it's not all about revenue. So what I've been trying to do with the refugee summits is bring all the people together in one room, provide some, I guess, a collaborative umbrella, a meeting space, and an effort to bring all the services into coordination. Because doing so, we can find out where the gaps are. We can also find out where we can find efficiencies in the process, too. So there's a lot to be learned. There are many cities in Texas that are working on this Houston, has a fantastic refugee service community. So I've taken a trip out there to learn from their community as well. This is not a problem. This is an opportunity for us to show how we can work together as a community. And so we're glad to be part of the effort.