 Melody Woosley, Department of Human Services Director, City of San Antonio. So Melody, tell me how this came together and why? And so in this spring really the City Council Quality of Life Committee requested that city staff look at current regulations that are associated with feeding the homeless. And so we started doing that research. They also asked us to come up with some policy options and recommendations that would help us improve access to services and also to possibly coordinate services between organizations. And so we did some research on national best practices. We talked to comparable cities to find out what they were doing. And really the third piece of that was having a conversation with the organizations that are involved in this work. And acknowledging the work they do, understand what is happening, and then this is kind of the final piece to go back and start forming some recommendations. We absolutely plan to continue the conversation with these groups that participated today and others and hope that along the way we'll get some more really great ideas. Did you hear things that give you some hope? Absolutely. I think there was a lot of willingness to partner, willingness to coordinate. There's a lot of honesty in the room, a lot of good comments about work with the police department and the work that the police do, a lot of comfort with that. And so I think there's absolutely a good foundation to start with. And some good suggestions about how to improve some of the quality of the food or the safety of the food. Maybe the city helping to provide food safety handling classes is one of the things that Ms. Cheever recommended and we think that's a good idea. But this is the first time really that this collection of people who all are trying to do good got together under one roof. In a long time, and I think Scott Ackerson mentioned with Haven for Hope mentioned that before Haven opened there had been a couple of conversations with the homeless community, some of them. But I don't think it was this large or we had as much participation or as much input. So I think this one was much more perfect. Something that Scott said today struck me very much and he said we can't do it alone. And I think the city is completely understands that the city can't do it alone, especially when it comes to serving vulnerable population and those who need more assistance, maybe disabled or have mental health issues. You know, in everything we do in Human Services we partner with other organizations and collaborate. Anytime we start a new initiative we say okay, who can we collaborate with and partner with because we don't have all the resources or all the solutions and we need to leverage the resources and thinking of other groups. And so I think that applies to this issue as much as it applies to any other. What else are your takeaways from today? I think the takeaways that we had are people who want to keep going with this conversation. So that's what we'll focus on doing. Good afternoon. This is a great turnout and on behalf of the city of San Antonio I really appreciate you all of you being here and showing up and participating in this event and this conversation. The city has a long history of commitment to addressing homelessness in San Antonio. As Tony said I do direct the departments of Human Services for the city of San Antonio and that includes coordination of homeless initiatives that the city is involved in as well as management of the homeless investments that the city makes. And so before we get started with our discussion I want to provide and that Tony will facilitate. I also want to provide some background and an overview of the issue that we're here to talk about and our review of homeless feeding policy as well as the goals for today's summit. And so as background in April and May the city council quality of life committee requested that staff provide a briefing on the current policies that regulate feeding of the homeless and compassionate feeding and also to conduct research on practices and around the country and in comparable cities to San Antonio. The city of life staff council members recommended that staff develop policy options and recommendations that will support the compassionate efforts of charitable organizations and individuals as well as protect the health and welfare of the community and the homeless. Based on our review of best practices and the input that we received today from you we will plan to present policy options and recommendations to city council in the fall. So the purpose of today's summit I think it's important to start out and give you a framework of what we're doing here today. The most important thing is that we want to get your input on this issue. We're asking for your help to identify the barriers and challenges to feeding the homeless and those that are in crisis are vulnerable. But even more importantly we want to get your ideas and your solutions and some of your ideas about the opportunities for feeding the homeless in the community. Additionally we really want this summit to start the conversation. This isn't a one time thing. We want to have ongoing conversations with you. The city does. But we also want you to have ongoing conversations between yourselves a way to coordinate services and ensure that the homeless are being served in a safe manner. And so you've heard us say many times over the last few months that the city does not have a law or a regulation regarding homeless feeding or that prohibits homeless feeding. The city code starts with and follows state law that's first and foremost and it's state law for food safety and then it also includes mobile vending and food establishments and distribution of food. These regulations apply to food that is sold or given out and it also regulates distribution of food for all organizations as well as charitable organizations. The distribution of food on private property without the permission of property owners may also be subject to trespassing laws. And I know everyone here believes that food safety is important. I don't think there's any doubt about that. One of the handouts at the your table does talk about the things that any group can do what what is legal what permits are available what processes are open to the community to provide food in a charitable way. And so now you know with your input we want to identify more opportunities for serving serving the homeless and so that's really the goal of today. And so in reviewing policy options our primary focus is to ensure the safety and welfare of the community while encouraging and facilitating charitable acts. Ensuring food safety is particularly important with vulnerable populations who may be subject to more impact from bad food. They have less opportunities to see medical to seek medical attention. It's important that we protect that. We're also concerned with protecting property in the environment whether it's public or private property we want it to be left clean and safe. And to be frank this is the challenge of homeless feeding that we get the most complaints about. And the mess that's left when food packaging is thrown on the ground or when bathrooms are not available and we know that this is not happening with every organization. But it's something that would be need to be addressed in any policy that we either review or develop. And finally connecting the homeless to other services that's the other thing that's that's very important to the city. You know we can provide food today and that's important but we want to make sure that people have the opportunity to connect to services that help them provide food for the rest of their lives. And so how can we facilitate ongoing coordination and provide opportunities for coordination. One way is through the community's homeless continuum of care the South Alamo Alliance for the homeless also known as CERA. So CERA is a network of providers and stakeholders in the community. It already exists. They are always looking for new organizations to provide insight and feedback on what's going on with the homeless. There are a lot of unique there are multiple needs and not every there's not one agency that can serve them all. And so CERA really provides a network of those agencies and we would encourage any of you to participate in that network. We have a membership from CERA here the executive director Billy Hubbard. And so hopefully through today's conversation you can get to know about that organization. And finally you know the human toll of being chronically homeless is high and it's also avoidable. We spend a lot of resources on emergency care for the homeless medical health care justice system social services and we think it's important to try to avoid that. And that is really the reason for the city's significant investment in homelessness in total the city's annual budget includes $9.3 million for homeless services. The majority of that yes is at Haven for Hope but a lot of that goes to community organizations such as Sam Ministries, St. Vincent DePaul, St. PJ's organizations that are providing homeless prevention, rapid rehousing, and shelter services as well as mental health services. It's a comprehensive continuum that we want homeless people to have access to. And so yes Haven for Hope is the city's primary homeless investment and we do encourage the homeless and people nearing homeless to seek services there because they're comprehensive and transformative. And we encourage you to also as you touch the homeless in a lot of ways you're the front line and you have access and you have relationships with homeless individuals. And so we do encourage you to help the homeless seek those opportunities and part of the reason we're here today is to have that discussion. And so we want to dive right into our conversation and get started on that and so I'm going to turn it right back over to Tony.