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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Sophie Zhang, Family Employment Awareness Training Project Manager at Chinese American Planning Council
1:55:07
ยท
141 sec
Sophie Zhang from the Chinese American Planning Council testified about the importance of city contracts and funding for providing essential services to the community. She highlighted the need for swift implementation of the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for human service workers and emphasized the importance of transparent procurement processes.
- Shared a personal story about helping a Chinese-speaking mother access critical services for her child with disabilities
- Expressed gratitude for the historic $741 million COLA investment for human service workers
- Urged the council to ensure COLA implementation is straightforward and to seek guidance on including unionized staff
Sophie Zhang
1:55:07
Okay.
1:55:07
It was on.
1:55:08
Thank you, chair one, and the members of the contract committee for the opportunity to testify.
1:55:13
My name is Sophie Zhang, and I'm the family employment awareness training project manager at the Chinese American Planning Council, CPC, the nation's largest Asian American social service organization.
1:55:25
I started at CPC as a part time staff assisting with the excluded workers' fund application process, my main responsibility was to provide language support to potential applicants.
1:55:37
One morning, I got a call from a service provider for people with disabilities.
1:55:42
The gentleman on the other end of the phone was asking if I could help with a three way call with a mother that only speaks Chinese.
1:55:50
He was in urgent need of some information from her to help with her child's service application.
1:55:56
At the end of our session, the mother said, my son would have lost his medical services if it wasn't for your help today.
1:56:04
I'm so grateful that CPC is always here for us.
1:56:08
Because we are so heavily reliant and restricted on city contracts and fundings to provide our life affirming services, we are grateful to testify about issues that impact the communities we serve, and we are grateful to the council for their leadership on these issues.
1:56:26
Last year, the administration announced a historic investment of $741,000,000 as part of a cost of living adjustment for an estimated 80,000 human service workers.
1:56:41
This was part of years of tireless advocacy of the Just Paid campaign led by the Human Services Council, and we are we were thrilled to work with the council and the administration on this.
1:56:55
We need to ensure that the COLA is swiftly implemented to get to all human services workers and that the implementation is straightforward and simple for providers without impacting programs.
1:57:09
We also urge the council to seek guidance on how unionized staff will be included.
1:57:16
By ensuring transparent and swift procurement and robust human services wages that our staff can depend on year after year, we can better serve our community members.
1:57:26
Thank you for your time.