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Minutes 02-08-01MINUTES OF THE BLACK AWARENESS 200'1 COMMITTEE MEETING EZELL HESTER CENTER FEBRUARY 8, 2001, 6:00 P.M. BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: ALSO PRESENT: Stephanie Mingo-McKoy, Chairperson Angela Girtman, Vice Chair Theresa Burse-Floyd Robert Dwelle Pearl Norfus Durrent Mowatt Lillian Artis Courtney Cain Charles Yeager Carolyn Yeager Loretha Daniels Melissa Vlaun, Special Events Mgr. Ginny Shea, Marketing/Promotion Teresa Zabik, Special Events The meeting began at 6:20 p.m. There was no agenda. Debbie Majors found a multi-cultural directory, which she said had a wealth of information on busineSs, professional, political, social, education, and other contacts. Melissa ordered 5 copies from the Sun Sentinel which she will share when they arrive. Ms. Vlaun distributed updated budgets that had been requested at the last meeting. Ms. Vlaun also announced that 8' x 2' banners could be done for $40.00 each in the City Sign Shop with a two-day turnaround time. Ms. Shea said that was quite inexpensive, with the normal price being $100 each. Chair McKoy said she would try to have a request in by the day following the meeting for 12 banners. She wanted the Black Awareness Logo on them with the City's logo at the bottom. At the top she wanted it to say: BLACK AWARENESS CELEBRATION --- and underneath the logo, 2001, smaller than the Black Awareness Celebration, dressed up with some kind of Word Art. Ms. Shea asked if they really wanted to put a year on it and Chair McKoy said they did because they planned to change the name. Ms. Shea said they may not want to spend a lot of money since the name would be changing and Chairman McKoy said they could spend $500 or $600 and use some money from the advertising contract if she did not hear from Mr. Horne. Mr. Horne was to advertise for three weeks and according to the Chair, that began on the day of this meeting so there was not a lot of time. The Committee thought the banners would be the pole type and Ms. Vlaun advised that they were not. She said they could have pole banners but they would have to take them Meeting Minutes Black Awareness Committee 2001 Boynton Beach, Florida February 8, 2001 to a seamstress to sew because the top and the bottom need to be connected. Chair McKoy said that would not be a problem. The hardware for the banners was discussed. The going price is $95.00 each for the hardware, and various ways of acquiring it were discussed. Ms. Shea will try to find twelve pieces of hardware from the GALA banners or some other event to lend to this event. She asked where Chair McKoy wanted the banners put up? Chair McKoy said that the number of banners would have to be gated by the number of pieces of hardware the City could find. If the City found 6 pieces of hardware, they would have six banners. Chair McKoy wanted one coming to Boynton off the Boynton Beach Exit from 1-95 and going up Seacrest, on Boynton Beach Boulevard, and on Gateway. They hoped to get some banners out west to draw the crowd from out there. Ms. Vlaun suggested she e- mail her with the locations she wanted to assure accuracy. Ms. Shea said they would get Facilities to put them up, and that it would take two men a few days to accomplish it. The poles are Florida Power & Light poles and their special permission would have to be obtained. Chair McKoy said to let her know if there was going to be a problem and she would try another avenue through her contacts at FP&L. Ms. Vlaun said she had posters made for Steve Waldman and Angela Girtman for their event(s) at the Mall. Ms. Shea showed the committee a Press Pack that included all the Press Releases in it for their information. She said a special mailing had gone out today to all the newspapers. Chair McKoy corrected the spelling of her name. Ms. Vlaun said that the Press Pack was complete with everything that she had gotten from the Committee. If there were events that were not included, it was because they had not been given to their department. Barbara Scott, her clerk, was to fax releases to the media on a weekly basis. She said she would be calling the Neighborhood Post and the Boynton Beach Times to see if some reporters or photographers could cover the events. Ms. Vlaun prepared a poster she thought they could put around the center on Black Awareness Day with quotes from famous African-Americans such as Angela Davis, Martin Luther King, Mary McCloud Bethune, Rosa Parks, and others. Ms. Vlaun solicited suggestions for famous African-Americans, saying she would research it on the Internet. She said the poster was a rough draft and she asked for Committee involvement. Also, they had done a Bertice Berry poster. Chair McKoy was in touch with Mr. Horne, who was the person aggressively seeking their entertainment and advertising: If the Committee did not get something in writing soon, they would not need the advertising. She said the ads were going to be run twice a day. Ms. Shea said it was running on cable stations. Chair McKoy said she had seen the commercial and it was a great gesture on the part of the City but if they had input as to what events they wanted to highlight, they would have done it differently. Ms. Vlaun apologized for the City and said they would do this next year. Ms. Vlaun said she was going to get one of their best Camera Club members to take pictures. Pictures were taken last year but no one knows where they went. Chair McKoy said if they were trying to generate revenue, those would be the events they wanted to highlight, the revenue generators like the luncheon. Ms. Shea thought it was something that Wayne Segal 2 Meeting Minutes Black Awareness Committee 2001 Boynton Beach, Florida February 8, 2001 would continue. He paid for the advertising and her department paid for the production of the ad for any of the City events. Chair McKoy said she was grateful for the advertising assistance. Ms. Shea said that she and Chair McKoy could get together in the beginning of January to discuss the events that needed to be highlighted next year. Entertainment Chair McKoy said the entertainment was all set. They had Ruby Baker and Bobby Singer who does older, traditional R & B and a little blues. He was going to be in the 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. timeslot. Ruby Baker, who is a jazz artist, was going to be in the 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. timeslot. Chair McKoy had found another group who could perform if the advertising did not come through. In discussing the advertising contract, Ms. Vlaun said if Chair McKoy needed a check by the following Friday, she would have to have the request in hand by Monday. Chair McKoy said she could not do anything until she got the contract and she had not heard from Mr. Horne. She said they could work on good faith right now but that he could not expect a check until the contract was signed. Ms. Vlaun said her group would have to see the contract firSt also. Chair McKoy gave a Certificate of Insurance for the car insurance to Ms. Vlaun. Chair McKoy was waiting to hear back from Bank of America on sponsorship money. She was hoping they might want to underwrite the entertainment stage. The carnival was taken care of. Ms. Vlaun was meeting with Oakley to make sure everything was all right. She said that last year it had been $150. She promised to call Chair McKoy after that meeting. Chair McKoy emailed the vendors as to the arrangements for tables, booths, tent, electricity and so forth. Those vendors were under the impression that those things were available. Some of the vendors will not be expecting electricity such as Bethesda Hospital, who would be giving out literature. Ms. Vlaun will find out what the vendors require in terms of electricity. Chair McKoy was looking for someone to do face painting. Ms. Shea said that Clowning Around in Lake Worth did it and they charged people and that wasn't good. If you pay them up front they;won't charge. It was suggested that the Youth Advisory Council might like to sponsor the face painting event Ms. Zabik and the Committee discussed the revised schedule of events with the logo on it and the various programs that could be used to make changes in it. Mr. Durrent Mowatt arrived at the meeting and introduced himself. He said he was employed as a driver locally and had a home business making fresh juices. He wanted to do this at the Black Awareness Event on February 24. Chair McKoy gave him a vendor application. 3 Meeting Minutes Black Awareness Committee 2001 Boynton Beach, Florida Februa~ 8,2001 Ms. Zabik showed the program for the Walker luncheon to the Committee and asked for comments. Chair McKoy asked for one hundred posters. Ms. Girtman asked if they would be able to blow it up to poster size? She wanted it larger. She was told she would have to go to Kinkos to have it blown up. Chair McKoy wanted Black Awareness Day changed to Black Awareness Celebration, Ms. Vlaun said that the one that said Black Awareness Celebration was of very poor quality. She thought it had been scanned and fixed and it did not work well after that.. Ms. Vlaun suggested that the Committee have a graphic artist produce something that would be suitable. Melissa said she would have copies made and would give them to Chair McKoy on Monday. Ms. Vlaun told Chair McKoy that it would be all right to use the concession stand. Ms. Zabik said as the parade co-chairperson, a response was needed from the Grand Marshalls, Chair McKoy said they were trying to get Otis Thorpe because he was playing for the Miami Heat and was a Boynton resident. He is no longer with the Heat and had gone up north. She said she would check into Venus and Serena but that they may be difficult to get. If they were not available, Chair McKoy was going to call Alonzo Morning's agent and see if the Committee could get Alonzo Morning and Tim Hardaway. Melissa Vlaun said they were pretty hard to get. Chair McKoy said, "Nothing beats a failure but a try". Courtney Cain asked about talking to Maestro at 99-Jams. He said they could possibly help to get Isaac Bruce, a receiver for the Rams. He made the Pro Bowl this year but he was injured. Chair McKoy said she would call Clarence and see if his son could do it. Ms. Vlaun asked i~ the Committee wanted any kind of sports activities as part of the event? She said the Marl ns had a bounce house and she thought it would be free. Chair McKoy said that would be great if it were free. Chair McKoy introduced Charles and Carolyn Yeager from Ft. Lauderdale, who were good friends of herS and supporting this endeavor. Lillian Artis said she did get the May sisters, who do the Praise Dance for the GosPel-o- Rama, and that they would dance on February 24 as well. They had their own mUsical accompaniment. : Pearl Norfus said she gave Dr. Gatson the forms and he was going to return them and was excited about his group stepping in the parade. Chairman McKoy asked the group to make a decision about the advertising. Currently they were in negotiations with Jimmy Bo Horne, who was going to be doing their entertainment. He was also working with 99-JAMS to do the promotions. They were being charged $2500 for the promotions. 99-JAMS was supposed to bring their RV to the event and a DJ too. Chairman McKoy was concerned that the Committee would not be getting its money's worth on this. Chairman McKoy said they would give them ai~ime in the morning and in the evening, a total of ten commercials over ten days. Charles Yaeger said they could get more exposure with banners on the street. The banners are up 24 hours a day. On the radio you only get two short "bursts" a day and that's it. Chair McKoy was to call HOT105 to see what their price would be. Ms. Vlaun said thel two radio spots would generate a lot of exposure, especially during high traffic times. 4 Meeting Minutes Black Awareness Committee 2001 Boynton Beach, Florida February 8, 2001 Vlaun said they would not have to purchase ten days of advertising. She said that people waited until the last minute anyway and that advertising the two or three days before the event would probably be better than so far ahead of time. Everyone agreed with this. Chair McKoy said that would enable the Committee to take $1500 of the advertising budget and get the jazz band they wanted. Chair McKoy said she would call Ms. Vlaun the next day on it. Ms. Zubik said the large wooden signs would be going out by Tuesday in key places around the City. Ms. Vlaun reminded the Committee that if payment was needed for anyone, she needed to have requests in on Monday to get checks by Friday. She also said she would not be doing anything without a written request, regardless of how things had been done in the past. Chair McKoy asked about vendors for African art? Ms. Zubik suggested that George Gadsen was an African-American artist and sculptor and also a professor at Florida Atlantic University. His e-mail address is www._qeorgeqadsen com Courtney Cain was concerned that he had not seen much advertising. Melissa said the newspapers were given the press releases and it was up to them what to print and when. Courtney felt that each event needed equal advertisement and promotion. Everyone agreed that it was important to start earlier the next year on the advertising. Courtney Cain mentioned that there was no press release for the event on February 3. Ms. Vlaun said nothing had come in to her. Chair McKoy said that fell back on the Committee as Ms. Vlaun's office had been asking for the information for at least a month. The late organization of the Committee was mentioned as one of the reasons for the perceived advertising shortfall. Ms. Girtman stated that as soon as the event was over and they had the comments of the people and got back together, they could make up press releases for the following year. That way they would be ready and waiting only for the proper date to issue them, saving time for the Committee for next year. The blanks with times and places could be filled in as they were known. Ms. Vlaun thought the event was coming together pretty well and knew that it would be even better the following year. Ms. Girtman wanted to talk to City Hall in the Mall about putting a display in their window Chair McKoy stated that the times for the carnival had been extended to three days since a one-day event would not be profitable for the carnival vendor. She stated she had spoken to police and they would cover the area. The carnival will be open from Friday, February 23, at 4 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. and on February 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and from 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 25. Chair MCKoy realized she did not have a quorum to have a vote on the matter, but wanted everYone to know that it had been arranged this way. 5 Meeting Minutes Black Awareness Committee 2001 Boynton Beach, Florida February 8, 2001 Chair McKoy said they wanted to get a good variety of food vendors. Taste of Africa and Charlie's Pastries in Ft. Lauderdale were suggested. There was some question about the need for liability insurance for commercial and non- commercial food vendors and some disagreement on whether it was required or not. Ms. Vlaun said she would look into it. Set-Up for the Black Awareness Celebration on February 24.th will be from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The parade will start at 11:00 a.m. The next meeting will be at Hester Center at 6:30 p.m. on February 15. The meeting ended at 7:35 p.m. - Respectfully submitted, Recording Secretary (two tapes) 6