And we are doing our Diwali presentation, and we have two incredible guests, our former mayor of Los Angeles, and most recently, ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, as well as the new consul general for a new consulate that's opening up right here in Los Angeles, the second consulate here in the state of California.

Appropriate given the number of South Asians and people who want to travel to India, but it's incredibly exciting to welcome them as well as so many members of our community here.

So I'm so proud to return to City Hall for the first time in three years as a guest of Council Member Rahman to celebrate Diwali.

And the last two and a half years I've been representing Los Angeles and representing our country as US ambassador in India.

And as exciting as Diwali is here, let me tell you, in India, it is a moment when the entire country celebrates.

You see lights and dias, these blessings that people put out, firecrackers going off, people dancing, singing, and really remembering the things that are about light overcoming darkness, good overcoming bad.

So this is very close to my heart because every other country has representation here, but our Indian consulate wasn't here.

So it means a lot that Diwali is brought to a lot of people and that we can share our culture as well as the teachings of our festival.

It's not religious, it's more victory over good over evil, but it's more celebration of lights.

So that everybody is getting on the lighted path.

We are quite excited in the community, and also having opened the Indian consulate for the first time ever in Los Angeles.

We look forward for this collaboration and cooperation between the two countries, and especially with Los Angeles, which is so diverse.

Today our best part was uh the dole, the Indian drums and the Indian dances, and so many Indian people with the Indian outfits coming to the city hall, which reaching here it's not easy with the LA traffic, but a lot of Indian community came here to represent Diwali as nowadays as our California state holiday.

So it means a lot to represent at this level.

It's such a proud moment for us Indian Americans to be celebrating Diwali, the Festival of Lights, uh the Los Angeles City Hall.

We've worked so hard, there's so many of us, and to have that representation in Los Angeles, it really means so much to us.

Definitely, it means so much to finally be represented on such a big stage, and very big special uh shout out to councilwoman Nitya Rahman for all the work that she's done to put together such a wonderful, lovely event.

I know how hard it is to grow up without others knowing your culture.

So I felt it's very that it was very important for us to get Diwali approved within California.

Governor Newsom signed AB 286 into law this year, designating Diwali as a state holiday, only the third state in America to do so.

And this was in no small part thanks to the efforts of the Valley Indian Seniors Association and Nishta Gol, who lobbied and pushed for this.

I found that there was a bill by a council member up north, and I created a petition on it and got thousands of people galvanized to send messages to the various governmental representatives to get Diwali approved.

This is amazing.

So we are felt like we are included, and the inclusive approach makes this city really great.

A global tech showcase of innovations took place on the waterfront.

Inventors and entrepreneurs gathered to display the startup ideas that could fuel the marine industry and blue economy.

And then are able to branch out from here based on the curriculum that Brave the Recreates for them to allow them to go from a startup all the way through commercialization and then into a much bigger company over time.

And hopefully some of that lands here at Alta C because we want to see these jobs happen here at the Port of Los Angeles within our local community here in Los Angeles.

Alta C has open houses every other month to showcase projects that are going on here today, but also to showcase all the other tenants at Alta C.

So what we want to make sure is that people understand that the city of Los Angeles, the Port of Los Angeles is doing great things down here on the waterfront, trying to advance new technologies in the ocean, but also to educate the next group of people coming into the business world so that they understand that there's an opportunity to be educated here, to go through workhorse training here and to find a job in this new economy.

This year, one of the biggest things that was so much of interest is really bringing together our global community, and they get to see what's happening here in LA.

Right here, we are shaping the future.

We are creating and fostering solutions.

Worldwide connectivity is on display in the San Fernando Valley.

Taking an idea from Armenia, Tumo LA is an after-school center with a difference.

The technology there makes the center a gateway to a digital future.

Tumo is a technology learning center that is targeting students ages 12 to 18.

There's everything from robotics to 3D imaging, coding.

Everything that you can think of that touches technology and media is found right here in Tumo.

I know how important spaces like this are to young people to see themselves, not just as the users of technology, but as creators of technology, and having this down the street from your home from your school is so important.

Right now we have 600 students enrolled.

Of our students, 44% are girls, and 80% of our students come from families from low to moderate income hospitals.

This is a program that's gonna provide assistance not only on the technology front but also to understand how to manage and become good leaders.

This is a program that's free, absolutely no cost to the student.

You just have to bring your curiosity to learn.

Founded in Armenia, and now here based in our community in the Sacramento Valley.

A cup of coffee is a good reason to head to the local bakery, whatever the weather.

And at Coffee with a Cop, the flow of information between neighbors and the police department is also a community-building practice.

We're here today at La Rochelle, which is an awesome bakery in the community of uh the Greater Teleuca Lake neighborhood on Vineland and Atsego.

And we're here at the invitation of the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council to participate in their coffee with a copy bank.

Basically, just uh build a partnership with the community, and we try to host them at various locations throughout the community so that we address each individual neighborhood, but get feedback from them, see what their problems are, how we can better address their problems, and uh educate them on what they can do to help.

The uh lead officers are very invested in the community.

Uh they're very sensitive to the needs of the people, and they really listen through 17 or graduating or whatever gospel.

A lot of bad news sells, and we want to get out.

Hey, this is what we actually do.

This is all the positive stuff that we bring to the table.

Then they can then take that to their community, to their neighborhood watch meetings, their neighborhood council meetings, and push that message about, hey, actually, the LAPD North Hollywood does this, that, the other.

We have a community survey that we'd like everybody to spread and take so that we can learn how do we help you the best.

This is a wonderful casual uh setting that we can come and have the questions, our concerns addressed to the police officers, and in turn for them to let us know how we can help them.

Thank you very much.