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Minutes 07-27-00MINUTES OF THE ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH MEETING HELD IN CONFERENCE ROOM "C", WEST WING, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2000 AT 7:00 P.M. PRESENT ALSO PRESENT Dorothy Davis Amy DeVries Evelyn Geathers Hattie Miller Mary Morera Stephen Waldman, Vice Chair Lori Wilkinson Sherri Claude, Assistant to the Director of Recreation ABSENT Amanda Hollis Steven Kuehn, Alternate Shanna St. John, Chairperson- I. CALLTO ORDER In the absence of Ms. Shanna St. John, Chairperson, Vice Chair Waldman acted as Chairman of the meeting and called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. I1. MOMENT OF SILENT PRAYER - PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Vice Chair Waldman called for a moment of silent prayer and requested Ms. Miller to lead the members in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. II1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Vice Chair Waldman added item "B" under New Business, "Grants". Motion Ms. DeVries made a motion to accept the agenda as amended. seconded the motion that carried 7-0. Ms. Wilkinson IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF June 22, 2000 MEETING Vice Chair Waldman stated that Chairperson St. John wished to clarify a statement on Page 3, paragraph 4, 4th line, which read: "After Chairperson St. John contacted United Way, the schedule for sending out the booklets and postcards was to be determined by the Board." Chairperson St. John wanted it to read, "When Chairperson St. John contacts the United Way, the schedule for sending out the...". Chairperson St. John wanted it known that she had not yet made contact with United Way. Meeting Minutes Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida July 27, 2000 Motion Ms. Morera made a motion to accept the minutes of the June 22, 2000 meeting as amended. Ms. DeVries seconded the motion that carried 7-0. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS, PRESENTATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE 1) Vice Chair Waldman introduced the newest board member, Ms. Evelyn Geathers, and she was warmly welcomed by all. 2) The Youth Council is having a car wash at the K-Mart on Military Trail on Saturday, July 29, 2000 at 9:00 a.m. VI. PUBLIC AUDIENCE None. VII. OLD BUSINESS A. Youth Expo After considerable discussion, the Board set August 12, 2000 at 9:00 a.m. in the library for the first of two workshops on Youth Expo. Action Items: Vice Chair Waldman to arrange for Library and call Sherri Claude with confirmation. School contacts were divided up among the members. Each member had a certain number of contacts to be made. Specifically mentioned were that Ms. St. John would contact St. Josephs and Spady; Steven Kuehn would contact Lake Worth Christian; Amy DeVries would contact Forest Park, Seacrest Christian, and Atlantic. Ms. Wilkinson has a number of contacts. The first call will be to the principal and the second call will be to the fine arts teachers. Sherri Claude will invite each member of the Community Relations Board to attend the workshop on August 12th. Dorothy Davis to ask her contact to put together rules for a science contest by mid-August. All members are to solicit sponsors! This may be money, in-kind donations, publicity, trophies or any other valuable services or supplies. Bob Borovy to contact Plastridge and President of HarDrives. Hunter's Run (Tom Lynch) needs to be contacted. Vice Chair Waldman will prepare a draft and Sherri Claude will do a press release in August. Ms. Wilkinson proposed a traveling trophy be purchased that would be awarded to the school with the most participation in the Youth Expo program. The Board concurred. 2 Meeting Minutes " Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida July 27, 2000 B. Bob Borovy Student Award Vice Chair Waldman said there had been two articles in the paper lately about children and asked Sherd Claude to try to get them for a scrapbook. Mary Morera thought she had both articles and would supply them. The Board has a start on the money for the next year's award from Mr. Finkelstein's $100.00 donation, but more money needs to be raised. The Board has to decide if it wants to give the money to one person or several people. It was decided that the school contacts for Youth Expo could be combined with the Bob Borovy Student Award and that the school Open Houses this fall would be a great time to get the right people in one room. A school calendar of Open Houses is needed. Vice Chair Waldman stated that this could be firmed up at the August workshop. B. Stand for Children Due to a misunderstanding, nothing was done for Stand for Children. Vice Chair Waldman said that communication could be improved. He asked Sherri Claude to research what the Commission did last year and try to duplicate it again this year. C. Teen Center Chairman Waldman reminded the members that the interim report was planned for presentation to the City Commission at their meeting on September 5, 2000. Lori Wilkinson has done the needs assessment and submitted it to the same schools that got it last year. She has interviewed and completed forms for 15-20 people, with a goal of at least 100 young people. The group discussed the best way to gather responses. Some forms will be posted at Ezell Hester Center and the Library. Lori Wilkinson will interview teenagers at the mall, after clearing it with Sheila Bell in Mall Administration. She also plans to go to the Youth Council and get their responses on the form. Dorothy Davis asked Ms. Wilkinson for some forms to be given to the Youth Director at her church. Mary Morera offered to publish the survey in the Golfview Harbor Homeowner's Association newsletter. The survey will also be sent to a sample of youth from the Youth Volunteer Bank. The members want to involve some community activists in the Teen Center project. Lori Wilkinson read a list of names of people who might be interested. Vice Chair Waldman said the Board would have to be specific in stating what was needed from the community representatives, stating that it was not money but ideas and contacts that were being solicited. Mary Morera said that they would have to first be asked if they were interested in participating. A more specific letter could be sent to the ones who responded that they were interested in participating. Vice Chair Waldman asked the members to think of as many people as they could before the board's next meeting on August 24, 2000, so they could be invited to a workshop on the Teen Center project. 3 Meeting Minutes Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida July 27, 2000 Mary Morera suggested the Teen Center workshop be announced at the Commission meeting. E. Bowling Tournament Vice Chair Waldman reported that the bowling tournament had been a great success, with a net profit of $200.00. Vice Chair Waldman thanked Lori Wilkinson, who had assisted at the event, and also the following people: Lynn Moore, Frank Azcarate, Brad Ruskaup, Jessica Ruskaup, and Joey Branson. Some ideas to make it better next year included pre-registration and pre-set teams. F. Volunteer Project Chairperson St. John spoke to Wayne Segal about the mural program and asked for a volunteer to find out who owned the building on the Rolling Green property. Chairperson St. John would like to incorporate this into the project in January or February. Ms. Geathers believed the building belonged to the School Board. Vice Chair Waldman offered to get the address and research it at the City Clerk's office. G. Youth Volunteer Bank Sherri Claude reported that as people had called her she had been sending out information. Vice Chair Waldman suggested that the Youth Volunteer Bank forms be distributed at the school Open Houses this fall along with a packet containing all the pertinent information and forms from the Board. Ideas were discussed for improving participation. At the moment the forms are sent to people who are already involved and they tell their friends. Ms. DeVries suggested that if a visit were made to the schools, the person to visit would be guidance counselors, Key Clubs, and in Atlantic, the 8th period volunteer group. Also, the contact should be made with the heads of these organizations and not just the school secretaries. H. Guest Speakers The guest speaker project was discussed. Various changes in plans and schedules have given a net result of no speakers so far this year. Vice Chair Waldman spoke of the value of ideas from other persons working in the area of children and youth and .suggested the Builders Clubs, sponsored by the Kiwanis organization as a potential speaker. The Board concurred with Vice Chair Waldman's offer of arranging a speaker from either Kiwanis and/or Builders Clubs for the August 24, 2000 meeting. Ms. Wilkinson stated that she believed the group should concentrate on a few things and do them well, rather than try to do too much and not do a good job. She said there were eight projects and 10 people. Several people in the group echoed this concern. Vice Chair Waldman said that a long-range plan could be established and that everything did 4 Meeting Minutes Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida July 27, 2000 not have to be done all at once. For this a knowledge base was needed and this, in Vice Chair Waldman's opinion, was what guest speakers provide. NEW BUSINESS A) Change of Venue for Advisory Board on Children and Youth Meetings Vice Chair Waldman asked Sherd Claude to request that the Board be allowed to use the Chambers for the presentation of the Youth Expo awards for the meeting on November 30, 2000. The Board members proceeded to offer their opinions on the change in venue for the Board meetings and asked that their comments go into the record. Their comments are summarized as follows: The practice of having Boards meet in the Chambers.has a long history in the City of Boynton Beach. Many people have been sitting on boards and meeting in the Chambers for 25 years or more. To be suddenly told, "You have to go to a conference room now", is demeaning to people who are supposed to be VIP to the City. The Board believed it was political and they believed ALL boards were being negatively affected due to the actions of one Board, who should have been counseled/admonished individually. They believed that if a particular person or Board were perceived to be intimidating, then that person or Board would be intimidating no matter where they were having a meeting. In summary, the Board did not appreciate this action by the City and felt it detracted from the important job they do. The Board believed that the decision should be reconsidered and that the Boards should be allowed to meet in the Chambers. The Board would like the City Commission to look at the issue and give their opinion as well. Chairperson St. John sent a letter in opposition to this change in venue, but wanted the individual Board members to be able to express their feelings and thoughts on the matter. B) Grants Vice Chair Waldman stated he had information on a grant from Motorola, which had to be returned to them by September 15, 2000, and asked for volunteers to write the request for grant money. The Board must decide the amount of money to request and what it would be used for and the decisions should be made and the grant request written by the Board's next meeting, August 24, 2000. Ms. Davis spoke in favor of school supplies for the children, an ongoing need. The fact that Target sells school supplies and also makes grants led the Board to consider asking them for money also. The Board was asked to think of projects and bring them to the August 24, 2000 meeting to discuss and make final decisions so the grant requests can be submitted. If time permits at the end of the August 12, 2000 workshop, this topic could be considered. Meeting Minutes Advisory Board on Children & Youth Boynton Beach, Florida July 27, 2000 Ms. Wilkinson just completed a grant-writing workshop and will bring the materials to the August 12, 2000 meeting of the Board. IX. Next Meeting: August 24, 2000 X. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 8:45 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (two tapes) 6