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Minutes 09-20-01MINUTES OF THE ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH MEETING HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2001 AT 7:00 P.M. Present Shanna St. John, Chairperson Steve Waldman, Vice Chairman Evelyn Geathers Mary Morera Lori Wilkinson Carlos Masso, Student Willie Pearl Wilson, Alternate Absent Dorothy Davis Hattie Miller Phyllis Stern, Alternate Sherri Claude, Assistant to the Recreation Director I. Call to Order Chairperson St. John called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. I1. Moment of Silent Prayer - Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag The members observed a moment of silent prayer in memory of the people lost in the recent attack on America. This was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Ms. Evelyn Geathers. II1. Approval of August 23, 2001 Minutes Motion Vice Chair Waldman moved to approve the minutes of the August 23,200t meeting as written. Mr. Masso seconded the motion that carried unanimously. IV, Approval of Agenda Motion Vice Chair Waldman moved to approve the agenda. Mr. Masso seconded the motion that carried unanimously. Meeting Minutes Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2001 V. Announcements, Presentations, or Correspondence Chair St. John shared a flier from Odyssey Middle School inviting all to attend an Open House on Thursday, October 2, 2001 at 7:00 p.m. in the cafeteria. She remarked that it was a beautiful school and she hoped that Board members would attend. Ms. Wilkinson mentioned the Oceanfront Concert to be held on Friday, September 21, 2001 at Oceanfront Park, Boynton Beach, featuring the Island Heat calypso band. VI. New Business A. Guest Readers for Latchkey Afterschool Program, Sherri Claude Ms. Claude reported that Ms. Debbie Majors asked her to bring this program to the attention of the Board. The City recently received a grant from the William H. Donner Foundation for a reading program in the Latchkey Afterschool Program at Rolling Green Elementary School. She is looking for guest readers to read to the children and is now scheduling October, November, and December, although people will be needed throughout the year. It is held on Fridays from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m, at Rolling Green. The Afterschool program provides the storybook and approximately twenty children ages 5 - 11. If anyone is interested, they may call Debbie Majors or contact Ms. Sherri Claude. B. Visiting Speakers Program (Steve Waldman) Vice Chair Waldman has a list of speakers from Florida Atlantic University and other groups that he believed would speak free of charge. He envisioned a program to which the parents could be invited. Chair St. John suggested that a committee be formed to investigate the matter and bring it back before the Board. Mr. Masso thought it was an excellent idea and that it was important to get the word about about the Board's activities. Ms, Wilkinson thought that having speakers was fine except that the speakers were often soliciting the Board's assistance for projects they had formulated. She believed the Board was already busy and that there were more than enough projects on the Board's calendar now. She thought speakers who wished to share information would be a great idea. Chair St. John suggested that having the speakers be a quarterly event and that the talks be given at the same place each time. Set up four at one time and in one flier, announce all of the dates and places, for the sake of continuity. United Way was suggested as a co-sponsor and their facility was mentioned as a possible place to have the speakers. Carlos Masso and Lori Wilkinson volunteered to work with Vice Chair Waldman on this project. The members were asked to think about topics for speakers and bring their ideas to the next Board meeting. VII. Old Business A. Bob Borovy Award/Scholarship - Revised Application 2 Meeting Minutes Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2001 Chair St. John read a letter from Sherri Claude, Assistant to the Director of the Recreation Department, which clarified some Board questions about this award and Commissioner Fisher's grant from his Community Investment Funds of $5,000. A copy of the letter is attached to these minutes. Chair St. John thanked Ms. Claude for her efforts in preparing the response to the Board's questions. She clarified that the $5,000 granted by Commissioner Fisher for this award was restricted to a student residing in the Corporate limits of Boynton Beach. The Board discussed the scholarship versus award ramifications. In Ms. Claude's opinion, scholarship implied a use for educational purposes to some degree, through either merit or financial need. Chair St. John believed that the Commission should be asked to clarify their definition of a scholarship program. Chair St. John reiterated the discussions and motions of the previous meeting on this topic. The award was to be in cash in the amount of $1,000 to the first place winner and $250 each to the second and third place w~nners. There would be no request for a transcript of grades. Ms. Claude made some changes to the application based on the discussion at the last meeting and presented them at this meeting for the Board's review and approval. Chair St. John thought the Board might want to reconsider the amount of $1,500 they voted on for the annual award. She reminded them that this was money that had to be raised every year after this money was gone. Since she voted against it, she could not bring it back up but asked the Board to consider whether this was an amount they really wanted to give out. The people who voted for it have to be willing to go out and raise that money once this grant is gone. Ms. Wilkinson thought everyone was aware of his or her fund-raising responsibilities. Further, she believed that if one year the Board only raised $1,000 instead of $1,500, that this would not be a problem. Mr. Masso responded that he had wanted the award raised even higher and that he was more than willing to solicit funds for this or any other Board projects. Mr. Masso asked if student members of the Advisory Board on Children & Youth were eligible to compete for the award. The Board agreed that student Board members were eligible. Ms. Wilkinson mentioned the advisability of "blanking out names" for the judges and possibly finding judges that were in no way related to this Board. They also discussed the requirements for judges. Some wanted only judges who knew Bob Borovy, as long as this was possible. Others thought it was good to have the current year's winner be a judge the following year. Mr. Borovy's widow was suggested as a possible judge. Ms. Claude believed that one person from the Board should be a judge. Advisory Board members from other Boards in the City were also suggested. Vice Chair Waldman suggested a change in the required essay to "What I Learned from Doing Volunteer Community Service" versus the previous, "Why Volunteer Community Service is Important". The Board agreed that it was important that the requirements for the essay be quite specific so that the entries could be more easily judged. Mr. Masso liked the new title and thought it should be this year's topic. Ms. Wilkinson thought the topic was fine but would prefer to eliminate the "stock" title, merely asking them to write an essay on what they had learned during the course of their volunteer work. 3 Meeting Minutes Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2001 Motion Mr. Masso moved to approve the changes to the Bob Borovy Student Scholarship Award and making the essay "What I Learned from Doing Volunteer Community Service". Ms. Geathers seconded the motion that carried unanimously. B. Volunteer Project at Rolling Green Chair St. John advised she had met with the Boy Scouts and the Parks Department and the dates they recommended were January 5, 12, or 19th. Any two of those dates would be acceptable, one for preparation and one for the project itself. The Parks Department will choose the final dates, depending on their convenience. Ms. Geathers will contact the principal of Rolling Green and obtain her opinion on a potential community garden site, a picnic area, a mural, and whatever else Rolling Green wished to incorporate into the project. The fact that January 5 would occur on the Christmas Break was mentioned as a potential problem. In November, a postcard advertising the event will be sent to the Talent Bank Volunteer list. A point person was needed to receive the calls from the volunteers and Vice Chair Waldman offered to be that person. Advisory Board Forum, scheduled for, November 17, 2001, in the Library, at 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Chair St. John advised that she had the letters and lists used in the past on disk and woUld provide it to the Committee Chair for this project, Ms. Lori Wilkinson. Chair St. John suggested a potential topic for the Forum, "Promoting Community Unity" but was open to other choices the Committee might make. Chair St. John noted that baby-sitting had been provided in the past. In general, each Board member introduces himself or herself at the beginning of the meeting and gives a brief synopsis of a particular Board project. D. Youth Volunteer Bank Ms. Claude mentioned that she thought the City might be able to provide a volunteer opportunity for a few hours on a Saturday morning and that this would be a good way to remind people of the project Volunteer Bank. She solicited ideas from the Board members for such projects and offered to assist in any way she could. Vice Chair Waldman mentioned that he had taken the Volunteer Bank forms to various area schools such as Christa McAuliffe, the Boynton Beach Community High School, and Citrus Cove Elementary and discussed the program with the principals. He asked them to give the forms to a guidance counselor or someone and get them out to the youth. His belief was that if the information could be gotten out to the schools, the response might be better. Chair St. John said that high school students could be guest readers for the program at Rolling Green. Ms. Claude suggested offering extra hours to those people who signed up a new volunteer for the Bank. Ms. Claude stated that someone on the staff was putting together a list of the volunteer opportunities in the community. Chair St. John suggested calling United Way about their Extreme Teens program. She also suggested contacting the churches. 4 Meeting Minutes Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2001 Vice Chair Waldman mentioned that he had spoken to the adviser for the Boynton Beach Community High School newsletter and that he was asked if the Board would be interested in having a monthly column in their newspaper. He advised her that the Board would be interested. Ms. Wilkinson stated that a reporter from the Boynton Times had asked her the same thing. Mr. Masso said they had a monthly newsletter at Atlantic and there was a possibility that something could be placed in it as well. Chair St. John suggested having a volunteer opportunity for clean up a half-hour before the Oceanfront concerts take place. They could come in with their parents to the event, do the clean up, and receive a coupon when they turned their bag in for a free slice of pizza or hot dog and a coke. It would be a fun, family thing in which all ages might participate. Ms. Claude was going to ask Special Events if there could be any opportunities during the Halloween event at Hester Center or the Holiday Parade. Ms. Wilkinson said the Children's Museum was opening in November and there might be some last-minute things that needed doing. E. Youth Expo Ms. Claude reported that the Special Events Department was soliciting sponsorships for this event. Chair St. John suggested they use the fact that the mall estimates that 20,000 people a day would see the advertisement. The Youth Expo will be held on October 26 and 27. Chair St. John asked the Board to begin discussing the event for the next year so it could be kicked off a lot earlier than it had been this year. She thought the information should definitely reach the schools as soon as they were open. F. Youth Council Vice Chair Waldman asked if the Board wished to reinstitute the Youth Council and if so, whether it should be split into two groups: Ages 12-14 and Ages 15 and older. The group discussed the various reasons the group had died out. Some thought it was because they did not accomplish enough to warrant coming out to the meetings. It turned into a social clique with almost all the participants from the same school. Also, they set large goals but had very little follow through. It was noted that the youth were very busy but it was also noted that it is the busy person who actually gets things done. One of the things they did was have a candidate's forum. Another suggestion was that the council would have to offer something that other service organizations did not. If they can accomplish the same things in Key Club for example, whose meetings are during the day, why should they come out at night? The Board thought they might want to take a look at Delray Beach's Youth Council that was very active and had a membership of 70 youth. The Board decided to have a brainstorming workshop on the subject and it was set for Saturday, December 1, 2001 at 9:00 a.m. in the Library. The previous Youth Council members will be invited to share their input so that the same mistakes could be avoided. G. Teen Center Ms. Claude reported that Mr. Majors was working on the Needs Assessment and that it might be a four or five-month project. Chair St. John asked what they hoped to Meeting Minutes Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida September 20, 2001 determine in the assessment? Ms. Claude said they would be setting up community workshops, doing mail surveys, studying demographics, and other techniques to determine community needs. Ms. Claude will look for the survey the same company did in Port St. Lucie to give an idea of the kinds of conclusions it arrives at and the areas it covers. Chair St. John suggested that the people who signed up and expressed interest in the program be sent a postcard with status on the project. Ms, Claude will:get back with the Board on this issue. H. Other 1) Vice Chair Waldman offered to contact the Boynton Beach Community High School about putting an article in their newsletter about the Board's projects, dates, etc. The Board thought it was a good idea and Vice Chair Waldman said he would work on it. 2) Ms. Claude brought the Board's attention to an article entitled "Applications Invited for the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards", which recognizes students in middle and high school grades who have demonstrated exemplary community service. The Board thought it was interesting and Chair St. John asked that it be distributed with the minutes. VIII. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (two tapes) (10/1/01 ) 6