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Minutes 07-25-96 MINUTES OF THE ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH MEETING HELD IN CONFERENCE ROOM A, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1996, AT 7:00 P.M. PRESENT Shanna St. John, Chairwoman Angela Girtman, Vice Chairwoman Marvin Blitz Denise Panton Betsy Wallshein, Alternate ABSENT Eric Davis David Helwig Marie Lengert Hattie Miller, Alternate Chanelle Bowdry Whitney Tompson, Student Regular Member 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson St. John called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. 2. MOMENT OF SILENT PRAYER A moment of silent prayer was observed. 3. AGENDA APPROVAL - Additions, Corrections, Deletions No additions, deletions, or corrections were made to the agenda. Motion Mr. Blitz moved to approve the agenda as presented. Ms. Panton seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. 4. MINUTES APPROVAL No additions, deletions, or corrections were made to the minutes of the last meeting. Motion Ms. Wallshein moved to approve the minutes of the June 27, 1996 meeting. Mr. Blitz seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. MEETING MINUTES ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 25, 1996 5. GUEST SPEAKER Marlene Passell - Palm Beach County Children's Services Council Ms. Passell is the Public Information Director of the Children's Services Council (hereinafter referred to as the "Council"), which is a special taxing district in Palm Beach County. She advised that the property tax money goes directly to programs for children and families. She said Boynton Beach is served well by the afterschool program and two programs through the Police Department which the Council pays for. The Council also funds the Latchkey Afterschool Program at Rolling Green Elementary School, some of the summer camp activities, and another program through the Police Department. These programs are worth about a half million dollars that the Council is funding in Boynton Beach alone. The Council has been in existence for ten years and has given away $100 million in Palm Beach County to programs for children. The Council services about 150,000 children. At this time, Commissioner Jamie Titcomb arrived. Ms. Passell advised that the Council was created by the legislature. It is run by a 10 member board, 5 of whom are appointed by the Governor for four year terms. The other 5 members consist of the District Administrator of HRS, the School Superintendent, the Juvenile Court Judge, a School Board member, and a County Commissioner. All of the Council's meetings are open to the public and are held on the third Thursday of each month. The Council has a staff of approximately 40 people, including program monitors who make sure the programs are meeting the objectives, serving the number of children they are supposed to, and are not duplicative. If programs do not work, the Council will drop them. The Council funded 129 programs this year in 10 different priority areas, including dropout prevention, juvenile delinquency, child care, and child abuse. However, it is looking at a new way of funding this year, which will probably be a new national model. It is looking at the needs of children at the various developmental stages. For instance, from birth to five years old, they may need child abuse prevention and prenatal care for parents. Elementary school age children may need out of school activities, and teenagers may need to know about teen pregnancy and HIV prevention. The Council is also looking at family strengthening through a variety of programs dealing with mental health and substance abuse prevention. The Council also has neighborhood based programs where instead of funding major agencies, it recognizes that many neighborhoods know what the needs of their neighborhoods are. Last year and this year, the Council funded low income neighborhoods, helped train them, and let them decide what services their neighborhoods needed. This was done in Pleasant City in West Palm Beach, and is the coming wave of social services. Services are no longer going to be provided in offices. There are going to 2 MEETING MINUTES ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 25, 1996 be programs right within communities. The Council is basing a lot of its funding on whether there is collaboration among agencies so that the taxpayers' money is being spent right and so that these agencies are not serving the same group of people. The money will follow the child instead of going to an agency. Therefore, when a particular service is needed, the funding will be there. A case manager will refer the family to all the different services available. Ms. Passell explained the Universal Home Visiting Program that is going to be implemented in this County soon. Every parent who leaves the hospital with a new baby will be offered home visitations by a nurse and social services. This is not just for low income people who have not had prenatal care. St. Mary's and Good Samaritan Hospitals are going to be the point of entry and every mother is going to be offered this program. Many times when nurses go into the home to help with one thing, they can see what else is going on in the home and offer other services. This program was implemented in Hawaii, and Hawaii now has the lowest child abuse rate in the country. The hospitals are going to have a "warm" line for new parents to call and speak to a medical person to have their questions answered. If there are serious problems, the medical person can refer them to doctors immediately if it is in the middle of the night and on the weekend when you cannot get a doctor. This pilot program will start before the end of the year and will fit in well with Governor Chiles' State-wide program, "Help Them Thrive, Birth to Five". Ms. Passell said there will be one number for people to call and find out about the services available in Palm Beach County. She pointed out that many services are available, but people do not know how to access them. Ms. Passell distributed the annual report of the Children's Services Council, a list of all the programs it funded this year, and the Executive Summary of the State of the Child. She pointed out that at Visions 20/20, one of the biggest areas of concentration was afterschool and out of school activities. She requested the board's input and help in this area. She advised that this is going to be one of their biggest areas of funding next year, and the Council is going to need the cities' help to let us know what is needed and to get the communities involved in helping to provide it. This year, she is on a committee for camp scholarships for low income children. Last year, the Council was able to send almost 300 children to camps in the County. The average cost to send a child to camp for eight weeks was $190.00. She stated that this kept the children off the streets and allowed the parents to work. She advised that a couple of years ago, the Council was inundated with telephone calls from people who were outraged with child abuse. The Council created a County-wide program called "Our Community, Our Children". It is a public education campaign to give parents a single phone number to call in times of stress. Many parents are stressed out because of other things that are going on in their lives, and they are turning on their children. A kit will be given out in the hospitals to every parent who gives birth to provide 3 MEETING MINUTES ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 25, 1996 parents with alternatives to hurting their children. The Council also sets aside $50,000 each year for physically impaired children whose families cannot afford a wheelchair for their child or a computer that is going to allow the child to communicate for the first time. Ms. Passell stated that the Council provides year-round training on a variety of issues dealing with children and families. This training is open to the public and costs between $5 and $10. This was instituted because many agencies were sending their people out of the County to be trained. The Council felt there were experts in this County who could provide training so that the agencies would spend their money on direct services instead of training. She will make sure this board gets on the mailing list to receive the training calendar. Chairperson St. John asked if there are any programs that Ms. Passell thinks that Boynton Beach is not involved in that it should be. Ms. Passell felt that, in general, all of the cities are going to have to take better care of the children in their own communities. She said Boynton Beach has very good programs, such as the scholarship program to allow children to go to camp for $40 instead of $80. However, it bothered her that they were not allowed to go on field trips. She felt all camps should be equal and that a child should be able to experience the entire camp, regardless of their income level. She advised that the City of West Palm Beach matched the Council's funds and all of their children went everywhere together. She suggested that this board and the Recreation Board discuss this and get the business community involved. She pointed out that it is cheaper to send a child to camp than it is to have him picked up by the Police and brought to the juvenile detention center. Vice Chairperson Girtman advised that a few years ago, the board wrote a proposal for additional funds for the Latchkey program at Rolling Green Elementary School. She inquired about the waiting list. Ms. Passell advised her to speak to Debbie in the Recreation Department about that. She advised that the Council started cutting funding last year because they felt that if children are important to the cities, the cities should budget more money for them. The members of the board thanked Ms. Passell for her presentation, and she left the meeting. Item 7.B was moved up on the agenda to accommodate Commissioner Titcomb. 7. OLD BUSINESS B. Advisory Board Mission and Duties - Polling Commissioners 4 MEETING MINUTES ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 25, 1996 Chairperson St. John stated that at the last meeting, the board discussed its missions and duties as a board, which they found a little vague, and were instructed to call one Commissioner to ask for direction. Chairperson St. John referred to one of the duties, which is the formulation of a comprehensive city child care policy, and asked Commissioner Titcomb exactly what the City wants. She said she spoke to Mayor Taylor and Commissioner Bradley and they said they want the board to make recommendations to the City Commission about where the board thinks the City should go, what the children in the community need, and what programs should be addressed. Chairperson St. John felt the board needs to prioritize what the City wants the board to look into, and stated that the Visions 20/20 document should give the board an idea of what the City wants. Commissioner Titcomb said one of the reasons that people are brought to boards is that they are considered to have some sort of expertise or interest in the area of the board that they are sitting on. He suggested the board analyze current situations, identify problems, brainstorm solutions to those problem, and then make recommendations to the City Commission. He also suggested having a joint meeting with the Recreation and Parks Board to find out what they are doing and where the problem areas are. He said the formulation of a comprehensive city child care policy is a pretty big responsibility. Chairperson St. John felt it was encompassing and wondered if it refers to child care centers, babysitting, home care, child abuse, recreation, afterschool care, education, or preschool. Commissioner Titcomb pointed out that Ms. Passell can tell the board what resources are currently available. He thinks that before beginning to attack the formulation of a comprehensive city child care policy, the board should first do some research to identify what is already in place and where the deficient areas are. For example, the board should find out what child care needs are not covered by the City or private industry, and what percentage of children are being served by various programs. He would hate to think that there are children in this City who are not in a program because either they are not aware of it or because they cannot afford it. He advised that the number of slots available and staffing and budget issues create parameters and limits for what the City can do. He hoped the board would look at things like this and come to the City Commission with the deficiencies that they have identified and recommendations for solutions, and possibly even identify programs or grants. He pointed out that there are ongoing needs and assessments in the area of child care. He has worked in public service advertising and public service programs and in most situations, the majority of problems experienced in society relate back to childhood issues. You can solve some of society's problems by identifying these problems and finding solutions for them. Commissioner Titcomb stated that if the board clearly lays out the benefits to the City, people would be willing to commit the funds necessary to expand programs. Chairperson St. John asked if there is one priority issue the board should start to tackle. 5 MEETING MINUTES ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 25, 1996 Commissioner Titcomb pointed out that the summer camp issue is probably not a priority issue because it will not be addressed again until next year. However, the Commission will be going through budget hearings, so there is still room for a little maneuvering. He pointed out that school will be starting soon and this brings up the issue of truancy. Mr. Blitz noticed from perusing the materials distributed by Ms. Passell that there are truancy programs in place in some cities. He said there may be a lot of things out there that we are not aware of. Commissioner Titcomb stated that identifying a program, doing the legwork, and making the information known to the people who can implement it or fund it goes a long way towards resolving some of the problems or at least reducing their impact. Chairperson St. John advised that the Palm Beach County Children's Advocacy Council is drafting an afterschool child care program. However, it is up to the principal of each school whether or not to implement this program. The School Board is also drafting a child care policy. Commissioner Titcomb advised that we are supposed to be interacting with the School Board and the schools to resolve problems. He felt school buildings should be occupied from dawn to dusk; however, it is a funding issue. He pointed out that on teacher training days, the students are released from school at about noon while parents are still at work. He wondered if there is a higher incidence of problems associated with that early release or between 3:30 and 6:00 p.m. when the children are not in school and the parents are still at work. He said if this is identified as a problem, perhaps the City can work with the School Board to open these public facilities, staff them with volunteers, or identify a funding source or grant dollars. He felt the board should tackle one task wholeheartedly and when it is resolved or passed onto other powers, then the board can work on another issue. He stated that rather than trying to establish a comprehensive policy, if you take care of three or four issues one by one, the comprehensive policy almost becomes self evident. Chairperson St. John felt Commissioner Titcomb gave the board a little more direction. Vice Chairperson Girtman pointed out that many of the duties established when the board was first formed have been taken care of. At that time, child care was a number one issue. Since then, a lot of new centers have opened. Another issue was more cultural activities for the children. The board arranged for the Philharmonic Orchestra to come to the Civic Center and the children were able to handle the instruments. It was a very successful program and has since been taken over by the City and Hunter's. She suggested reviewing the materials Ms. Passell distributed and the Visions 20/20 document to help formulate some priorities. She suggested scholarships for school activities such as cheerleading, the photography club, band, and chorus. She said if children find something they like in school, their behavior will change, they will attend school regularly, and keep up their academics in order to stay in these clubs. However, some children cannot afford 6 MEETING MINUTES ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 25, 1996 to buy the equipment they need to join these clubs. Chairperson St. John asked if the City is going to hire a grants writer and if this board would have access to that person. Commissioner Titcomb stated that the City is going to hire a grants specialist to identify and apply for grants for all types of programs within the City. He believes every department and every board would have access to this person. Commissioner Titcomb suggested that the board review the ordinance that established them and amend it to reflect today's issues. Chairperson St. John stated that according to a report from Child Care Resource and Referral, child care centers are still needed in Boynton Beach. Commissioner Titcomb advised that the programs that the board brings forth should address the City residents, especially if funding is a key component. Chairperson St. John thanked Commissioner Titcomb for his input, and Commissioner Titcomb left the meeting. 6. CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Chairperson St. John stated that Nellie Denahan, Chairperson of the Education Advisory Board, advised her that on Monday, the School Board is voting on the 237 Loan plan to build the Boynton Beach High School. Ms. Denahan requested everybody to call the members of the School Board to express their support of this issue. Chairperson St. John advised that she sent for information regarding the Books for Disadvantaged Children program, as well as information on a free clinic. There was an article in Sunday's Palm Beach Post regarding this free clinic. 7. OLD BUSINESS A. Youth Expo Reports Chairperson St. John advised that the Community Relations Board is having a multi- cultural festival on November 16th at Boat Club Park, and they agreed to display the works of the Youth Expo contest winners at their festival. Chairperson St. John offered to display information about their festival at the Youth Expo, and she also asked them to share information about their entertainers with the Community Relations Board. She also spoke to the Chairpersons of the Education Advisory Board and the Recreation and Parks Board about having an Olympics type event in November and asking the Commission to proclaim November as multi-cultural awareness month in the whole City. 7 MEETING MINUTES ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 25, 1996 She suggested only having one donation letter for all four contests, and asked Mr. Blitz to be in charge of the donations. She asked the members of the board to list the people they have already contacted to avoid duplication, and to list the people who should be contacted. Ms. Wallshein suggested that the donations be divided equally among the four contests. Chairperson St. John called Channel 42 to see if they would like to set up a booth at the Youth Expo. She contacted some Indian dancers from FAU and an African dance troop from Riviera Beach. The African dance troop consists of children, and they are usually paid to defray the cost of transportation and meals. Chairperson St. John will work on trying to get transportation through the City. She also contacted the Suzuki String Players and the Guatemalan Center, whose dancers and musicians were willing to perform. She advised that Dawn Klepps would like a booth to distribute information about her commercial business, which is not a non-profit organization. The board did not think this was appropriate. Chairperson St. John will refer her to the Community Relations Board to perhaps purchase space at the Multi-Cultural Festival. Chairperson St. John advised that the School Board has approved all the contests, and she and Ms. Panton worked on the cover letter to the principals, and a flyer. The board agreed that posters should be displayed in the schools, businesses, and City Hall. Ms. Wallshein will be taking over the photo contest from Mr. Helwig, and a volunteer is needed to take over the art contest from Mr. Blitz, since he is now in charge of donations. B. Advisory Board Mission and Duties - Polling Commissioners This item was dispensed with earlier in the meeting. 8. COMMITTEE REPORTS See discussion under Youth Expo reports. 9. PUBLIC AUDIENCE None. 10. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board, the meeting properly adjourned at 8:33 p.m. 8 MEETING MINUTES ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 25, 1996 Eve Eubanks Recording Secretary (One Tape) 9