Vice President Kamala Harris was in the Bay Area Friday for a high-dollar fundraiser and a quick meeting with small business owners in San Francisco's Chinatown.
She met with Mayor London Breed, and several local business leaders, for what ended up being a very brief discussion.
The goal of the meeting with small business owners in Chinatown was to outline the funds that will be spent to help small businesses over the next few years.
According to the Biden administration, trillions of dollars will continue to be rolled out through the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act and the infrastructure law.
The roundtable was held at the Chinatown branch of the San Francisco Library. Harris’ message was part encouragement, part stump speech.
“The work we did at the height of the pandemic was about making sure that our small businesses could stay open,” she said. “But the work has also been about an investment in the medium and long term to grow small businesses in America, which, by extension, means growing the job market, growing jobs.”
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This was the vice president's second Bay Area stop. Her first being a high-dollar fundraiser at a private home in Hillsborough.
It was a quick visit to the Bay, the vice president was only scheduled to be on the ground for about eight hours.
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While she was in San Francisco, Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, was across the Bay in her hometown of Oakland at the East Bay Youth Development Center conducting experiments with about 100 students, their parents, and educators.
“When I’m here, I see the future. You may not know this yet, but I may be looking at the next Kamala Harris out there or the next astronaut out here,” said Emhoff.
He, and two Bay Area natives, including a NASA astronaut and scientist who was born in Novato, showed the students they too can achieve those goals – just like they did.
“And that’s why it’s so crucially important to have relatable role models that look like our underrepresented youth, so that you know that there’s space for you,” NASA astronaut Yvonne Cagle.
Also there was a native Oakaland who founded a company that specializes in promoting STEM learning. She said she’ll be there helping keep the students’ passions for science and tech alive.
“It is my journey and my passion to bring our students opportunities, internships,” said Catameron Bobino, communications in STEM founder.
