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Minutes 07-18-07 MINUTES OF THE YOUTH VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROJECT MEETING HELD ON JULY 18, 2007 AT 4:30 P.M. AT THE MADSEN CENTER BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present: Jose Rodriguez, Vice Mayor, Boynton Beach Regenia Scott, Manager, Neighborhood Services Beverly Johnson, Executive Director, YMCA Laura Elena Santos, Marketing Coordinator, LaPalma News Kathleen Perry, Principal, Boynton Beach Community High School Elivio Serrano, Vice President Programs, United Way of Palm Beach County Buck Buchanan, Board Member, Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce James Kidd, Principal, South Tech Community Academy School Robert Taylor, CFO, Bethesda Memorial Hospital Lt. Kelly Harris, for Matt Immler, Chief of Police, Boynton Beach Police Department Tana Ebbole, CEO, Children's Services Council, PBC Robin Johnson, Director of Outreach & Improvement Services, Palm Beach Community College Absent: Ashley Buckley, Administrative Services Manager, Boynton Beach CRA Mikel Jones, Mikel D. Jones, P.A. Lena Rahming, Director Boynton Beach Child Care Center I. Welcome and Opening Comments Jose Rodriguez, Chair of the Youth Violence Prevention Project, called the meeting to order at 4:42 p.m. II. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared a quorum was present. III. Introduction of Guests Chair Rodriguez introduced Robert Taylor, Bethesda Memorial Hospital representative and referenced the attendance policy. Chair Rodriguez explained staying cohesive, as a group, was important. He expressed his appreciation to the members for their commitment to the effort. He asked the members to email Ms. Scott with convenient times to meet. It was anticipated that once school started, the schedule would change. 1 Meeting Minutes yvpp Boynton Beach, FL July 18, 2007 IV. Agenda Approval Motion Mr. Kidd moved to approve the agenda. Ms. Perry seconded the motion that unanimously passed. V. Approval and/or additions to the minutes of June 20, 2007 Executive Committee meeting. There were two changes to the minutes. The spelling of Mr. Serrano's first name, Elivio, was incorrectly spelled as Elvio, and Mr. Buck Buchanan was incorrectly noted in the minutes as "Mr. Buck". Motion Ms. Johnson moved to approve the minutes as amended. Ms. Scott seconded the motion, which unanimously passed. VI. Chairman's Comments A. Status of the YVPP Coordinator position. Chair Rodriguez explained the fiscal implications regarding the City budget were still uncertain. There was a possibility that Ms. Scott's position with Neighborhood Services could be eliminated. The Youth Violence Prevention Project Coordinator position would be left open until after the budget ramifications were fully known. Should Ms. Scott be negatively impacted by the budget, Chair Rodriguez explained it was important for her to remain in the program and she could shift to the coordinator position. Other members expressed their organizations also were feeling the impact on the tax issues. The members noted, that oftentimes when cuts are made, children are the ones that are impacted. The committee agreed if the Youth Violence Prevention Program was to have meaning, then the right people need to be aware of what the committee says. Ms. Perry explained very serious issues needed to be addressed. VII. Old Business A. Seed Funding Report and Recommendations Chair Rodriguez reviewed a summary of the seed funding applications for the committee to determine funding disbursements. 2 Meeting Minutes yvpp Boynton Beach, FL July 18, 2007 Ms. Johnson reported they received three proposals for funding. These were from Juvenile Transition Center, Mad Dads, and the Community Development Foundation. Ms. Johnson had a handout that broke down the organizations by cost, number of teens to be served, unit costs, and project description. The total project costs were reviewed. One condition of receiving seed funding was the organization needed to develop a measurable accountability matrix to review the results against. The goals and outcomes for 90 days worth of funding might be setting up accountability system or organizing to measure outcomes on a full year basis or some other type of logic model. The United Way provided training to do this and a discussion ensued it should be a condition of approval that these organizations attend mandatory training. Ms. Johnson explained providing accountability was an issue included in the original solicitation. Further discussion followed and it was explained the outcomes the City would expect, if an organization received funding, would be goals outlined in the Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives. But in the most basic terms, the goals were to reduce violence, reduce unemployment rates, increase graduation rates and help youth chose a path not related to violence. Mr. Serrano commented the goals of this project were sent by Ms. Scott and were preliminary. From there a strategic planning group would meet to develop those specific goals and objectives. The group met and thought it would be a good idea to meet with a teen group. The long-term goals, from a development process, were still being promulgated into a strategy to be addressed and delivered and the fund disbursement and monitoring of the short-term progress needed to occur as well. Chair Rodriguez thought this item should be placed on the agenda, Ms. Ebbole expressed it might be better to apply, through sound research, what kind of programs were effective. Ms. Ebbole asked how they would structure the program to obtain accountability for receiving the funds, which sets the framework. She noted though that alone would not be enough to reduce violence. Historically, it was noted, funds were allocated without the requirement of any deliverables. Chair Rodriguez thought a recommendation about the funds should be made and then address the contingencies attached to them. Ms. Johnson explained all three programs needed to break out the programs to just the teen segments. The Community Development Foundation teaches skills youth could take into the workforce. Their funding would be to outfit the station in preparation for the youth and had to do with start up and infrastructure type issues to handle the program once implemented and properly targeted. 3 Meeting Minutes yvpp Boynton Beach, FL July 18, 2007 The committee had no recommendation on seed funding for the Juvenile Transition Center. The Mad Dads program was recommended for funding providing the program was strictly for the high school students. The committee discussed job training and the importance of training for jobs that were needed and available. It was good to expose youth to jobs to spark an interest. Mr. Kidd cautioned it might be better to delay funding to research the issue further as opposed to providing funding and doing something that could look like a misappropriation. There would be no sense in providing job training for jobs that there is not a need for. There was general agreement to provide at least a basic skills set. Additionally, the committee recognized there was a need for jobs in the aerospace and health care industries. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Kidd agreed it was important for the committee to develop its own specifications, expectations and then go through an RFP process, and then have various programs tell the committee if they could meet the specifications. He expressed the committee needed to sell them on what they are trying to accomplish, as opposed to different organizations saying this is what we could do. He thought there could be a creditability gap. Chair Rodriguez explained the long-term goal would have clear expectations but there was a need to have short-term goals. He explained they received the grant in March and part of the application process outlined programs needed to be identified in the RFP. Chair Rodriguez explained the committee agreed to potentially fund the three programs identified with seed money concurrent with their developing a long-term strategy. He wanted to allocate some resources to at least one of those groups The committee thought there should be an overall focus to provide a career path and an emphasis should be put in writing the organization would prepare youth for jobs, ensuring they can write and have the appropriate skills. It was understood the youth were at risk populations. A discussion about program standards ensued and the program needed to show progress. There was general agreement the program should have higher-level expectations. Robin Johnson, Palm Beach County Community College, Director of Outreach Service and Improvement, was present. She advised the college had programs that worked with economically disadvantaged youth and at risk populations and announced she had several programs in high schools through out the county. She agreed the expectation should be at a different level. She commented this was not an area where there would always be jobs, but the correct skill sets could be part of the program and could assist youth in exposing them to occupations that have a future. Otherwise, she added, the youth feel gypped. 4 Meeting Minutes yvpp Boynton Beach, FL July 18, 2007 There was agreement the programs funded would further the cause of the committee and the committee discussed how to frame the question to the various program providers. Which way to fundamentally approach the issue was discussed, to indicate this is what the committee wants to see implemented, or the committee liked an existing program and wanted to add it to the program. Mr. Taylor thought unless the committee's expectations were customized and the program service providers held accountable, the funding may not provide what was necessary and gaps could exist in the program goal. Chair Rodriguez pointed out funding would be contingent upon meeting the committee's requirements. Ms. Ebbole thought the committee was looking for a commitment from certain agencies, not a statement of bringing in programs to fund to arrive at certain outcomes. Chair Rodriguez asked for confirmation that the consensus today was to fund the Mad Dads, with contingencies to reduce risk and participation in the United Way training to be accountable for the funds. Mr. Kidd so moved. Ms. Ebbole added the committee should not be funding agencies, rather they are funding services and program designs that were viable and effective to get the support needed to the youth. Recognizing what came in, the executive committee was a long way from where it needs to be. Rather than funding agencies to deliver the services, the committee would be funding them both for a planning portion for three months, and to work with them to get the right resources that people would know about, so they could develop the right program. Otherwise, the committee would be wasting their time. Mr. Kidd left at 5:49 p.m. The committee essentially was allocating funds to help an organization plan what the committee wanted the program outcomes to be, but they needed to be customized to this geographical area, meet the demographics specific to this area and provide the skill sets the committee was seeking. The RFP sent out asked for this information; however, the answers were not provided. Ms. Santos left the meeting at 5:52 p.m. The recommendation was to work with Mad Dads and the Community Development Foundation to help them understand what the intent of the RFP was, and to move it into the direction the committee needed. Mr. Gibson asked if a contingency would be after identifying programs, those organizations sit on the Strategic Planning Committee, otherwise he felt the committee 5 Meeting Minutes yvpp Boynton Beach, FL July 18, 2007 was funding programs when the committee was trying to implement a community change. They haven't identified the population, but the geographic area is known and the target outcome. Mr. Gibson thought those organizations could gear their programs to the same goals. The committee recognized the effort was not a short-term endeavor. If the monies were not spent by September 30, 2007, the funds would be lost because they did not rollover. Chair Rodriguez explained $300K has been sitting since March. He explained the committee could take baby steps. He explained the committee might be close to the point of over-planning. There is an anticipation that funds would be allocated. Mr. Buchanan agreed and thought funding Mad Dad's would be appropriate. Mad Dads would be funded for three months to deliver services. Ms. Ebbole thought, in addition to funding Mad Dads for services, funding to begin support for the development and increase quality of the program would be helpful. Mad Dads would receive service funding. Ms. Robin Johnson explained if the committee allocated just $10K, to the Community Development Foundation, they could advise them their proposal was not strong and to add the planning piece and resubmit. With Mad Dads, she recommended not providing the total funding up front. She thought they should show some deliverables for the current program. She also noted some of the youth have problems that perhaps could be addressed by spending seed money to hire professionals and some organizations could implement other pieces. Those were pieces she wanted to see in the existing programs. The first component of the recommendation is the committee fund the programmatic request of Mad Dads, focusing on the high schoolers and that the funding be structured associated with deliverables that the team would develop. In addition, they would identify funding for planning and they would be expected to work with United Way and Prime Time. The second part of the recommendation was to provide seed money to the Community Development Foundation so they were participating in a planning process to get to the framework of the skills they identified. Clearly, they were identifying them as reading, writing, public speaking, employment skills, and social skills and that plan would be presented to the committee in three months. Chair Rodriguez explained the committee was not happy with the programs from Juvenile Transition Center and the Community Development Foundation but were agreeable to them being funded from a planning standpoint so they could organize around what the committee thought was appropriate. There was agreement all three organizations would receive $10K. 6 Meeting Minutes yvpp Boynton Beach, FL July 18, 2007 Motion Mr. Buchanan moved to fund all three organizations for $10K each for planning purposes to meet the committee's intent. The program funding for Mad Dads for 90 days of operations would be $39,837.53. Ms. Perry seconded the motion. A letter outlining other contingencies and requirements that were attached to the funding would be drafted and submitted to the organizations. Vote The motion passed unanimously. B. Teen Council Focus Group Report - Daniel Gibson, United Way of PBC. Mr. Gibson reviewed the Youth Violence Prevention Project Youth Focus Group meeting, which took place on June 22, 2007. Mr. Gibson reported close to 15 youths showed up from a diverse background. Mr. Taylor left the meeting at 6:10 p.m. Mr. Gibson explained the meeting did not cover why violence occurred; rather the sense gleaned from the meeting participants was they did not know why it did. The meeting covered nine areas ranging if there was a problem with violence in Boynton Beach, where it was happening, what type of violence was being seen and what age the violence is experienced. Other areas covered were what could the community do, what type of activities were recommended by the group, when is a good time for these activities, what is already available and whether the youth use the services, The youth expressed they wanted to see free intramural sports activities that were not competitive. Parenting questions were not topics discussed at the meeting. The committee noted there was a lack of free sports activities. The PAL (Police Athletic League) had a cost associated with it, as did the YMCA. The YMCA had financial assistance but the youth, in order to receive a discount, needed to file an application and do not return them. There was discussion there was creative programming for these types of activities and Ms. Scott thought this could be a program that could be created and funded. Chair Rodriguez suggested the Steering Committee should be looking at these types of programs. A discussion on having the Steering Committee Chair serve on the Executive Committee was held to share the results of this Youth Council with them. Ms. Scott thought the strategic planning piece should be worked. 7 Meeting Minutes yvpp Boynton Beach, FL July 18, 2007 Ms. Ebbole asked if it was feasible to use the funds to set up a scholarship program that kids could participate in between now and September. Mr. Gibson commented re-entry youth would be a good issue to focus on. Internship and employment opportunities would be of benefit to youth. Video games were not of interest. Youth wanted a place to sit back and relax. Arts programs were mentioned but were nowhere as popular as intramural sports. If youth would meet in a recreation center, music was important, but not a television unless video games would be used. Beverly Johnson noted it was important for youth to feel they had a place. She elaborated they felt pushed out by the seniors at the YMCA and commented a change of leadership at the YMCA had since occurred. c. Update on Heart of Boynton Intergenerational Gathering event, July 28. Mr. Gibson spoke about the above event and explained the youth did provide some suggestions on what they would like to see at the event. Mr. Buchanan left the meeting at 6:34 p.m. Ms. Scott advised they did reach out to different organizations and asked them for a representative on the Teen Council. It was also noted the churches were contacted and three of them were participating. Discussion about the strategic plan took place. Mr. Serrano thought convening a small group to determine what that plan should be like would be helpful. Ms. Perry agreed the strategic planning has to happen and would be a quick turn around. Ms. Perry would email some dates next week to meet. The composition of the Strategic Planning Committee also took place. There had been agreement to have representatives from the Steering Committee, the Executive Committee and the Teen Council at the strategic planning session. Chair Rodriguez thought the Chair and Vice Chair of the Steering Committee would be serving. There was discussion on whether the Teen Council had organized enough to have a representative. There was a participant who had made it known he was interested in helping. Chair Rodriguez thought there should be Teen Council formal representation to assist the Executive Committee. He thought Mr. Gibson should make a presentation of the findings of the Teen Council to the Steering Committee and request they prepare some recommendations to the Executive Committee. On August 23rd at 10:00 a.m. there would be Steering Committee meeting at Workforce Alliance. Members would email Mr. Serrano dates and times to meet for the strategic planning session. It was anticipated the strategic planning session would last one half day. It was thought having between 8 and 15 people on the committee would 8 Meeting Minutes YVPP Boynton Beach, FL July 18, 2007 be a good number. Until there was a strategic plan, the committees would be meeting without a purpose. There would be a teleconference for the preplanning and framework of the meeting next week on Tuesday and they conference on the 26th. Mr. Serrano would advise the time. Chair Rodriguez cautioned about paralysis by analysis. VIII. New Business A. Discussion of Proposed Teen Activities and Improvements at Ezell Hester "Youth Empowerment" Center This item was not addressed. IX. Member Comments Ms. Scott announced the intergenerational event was progressing nicely. There would be a number of tables set up, there would be brochures on the teen program, there would be Teen Council applications and Mad Dads would be there. There was agreement they would try to get tee shirts on Youth Violence Prevention Program at Boynton Beach to create awareness and market the effort. There could be some promotional items. Chair Rodriguez wanted to be clear with the direction of the funding who would report back to the agencies with the findings and parameters in which they would be funded. Ms. Scott and Beverly Johnson would work on this issue the next day and it was recommended Mr. Taylor be sent the letter for key points. Chair Rodriguez wanted to ensure the original RFP tied in. The next meeting of the Executive Committee is scheduled for August 1, 2007. Ms. Scott read what was sent to the community organizations in the RFP. Ms. Ebbole urged the program participants should be certified as non-profit and be working with the Center for Non Profit Excellence. X. Adjournment There being no further business to discuss, the committee properly adjourned at 7:03 p.m. G ClwllJ. ,0 j i 'Wt\ Catherine Ch~rry~ Recording Secretary 9