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Minutes 01-19-11 MINUTES OF THE YOUTH VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROJECT MEETING HELD ON JANUARY 11, 2011 AT 5:30 P.M. AT THE CAROLYN SIMS CENTER, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Vinola Rada Buck Buchanan Nate Nichols Steve Waldman Frank Ireland Gertrude Sullivan Sgt. Cannon Mary DeGraffenreidt ABSENT: Jose Rodriguez, Chair Doris Jackson Sherie Johnson Vickie Henderson Wally Majors I. Welcome and Opening Comments Mary DeGraffenreidt called the meeting to order at 5:37 p.m. and welcomed those who were present. II. Roll Call – Recording Secretary Roll call was taken as noted above. III. Introduction of Guest Don Scantlan introduced himself. IV. Approval and/or additions to the Agenda Mr. Waldman moved to approve. Mr. Nichols seconded the motion that carried. V. Approval and/or additions to the Minutes of November 17, 2010. Mr. Waldman moved to approve the minutes which was seconded and carried. Meeting Minutes Youth Violence and Prevention Project Boynton Beach, FL January 19, 2011 VI. Chairman's Comments None. VII. Old Business A. Meeting with BBHS Principal Action: Steve Waldman was asked to get a meeting with Principal. No word yet. Mr. Waldman indicated he still has not been able to get a response for a meeting with Principal Oswald. Last time he spoke to Mr. Majors, he understood he was going to try to connect with him also. Mr. Waldman is going to go over to the high school on Friday and will make sure to get Principal Oswald to connect with Mr. Majors or the Mayor. The YVPP has not had any success in contacting the school. School is about to end and it is difficult to get in contact with anyone. The purpose of the meeting was the Mayor wanted to know what kind of relationship we had with the high school. It was explained to the Mayor that we have a relationship with the high school and we made contact at one point. The City is trying to set up something with the school so that if kids are suspended from school, they will have a place to go. The Palm Beach School Board has a program at the R.M. Lee Center that already gives kids a place to go when they get suspended, so this program would mirror the same thing, but could act as a back up plan. It was noted Principal Oswald has attended meetings in the past. B. Social Skills Development Class Action: Mayor requested that some social skill development classes be added to the program. Two programs have been added and are currently being checked to make sure their insurance is in compliance with Risk Management policies and requirements. Once Mr. Magazine approves the liability insurance, the programs will be able to start. Hopefully, they will get started sometime this month. VIII. New Business A. YVVP Update: Program Overview and Extension Since the last meeting, and the discussion occurring for months about hiring staff for the new programs, two new employees have been hired. One is the Teen Program Specialist and the other is the Office Associate position. The Office Associate will be helping Ms. Henderson and the Teen Specialist will be working with the high school principal, students and within the community to generate interest in the program and will be working hands on with many youth in the community. She will be the advocate for the program. Her name is Rhonda Williams. The Office Associate is Stephanie Soplop. - 2 - Meeting Minutes Youth Violence and Prevention Project Boynton Beach, FL January 19, 2011 The existing grant was extended from October 2010 to December 21, 2010 and has expired. The Commission approved the extension of the new grant from December 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011. Since that time, we have been able to keep seven of our providers. After March 31, 2011, there is uncertainty what will happen with the County, if funds will be available, or even if Youth Empowerment would still exist. If not, fundraising will be necessary. Recreation staff can monitor and oversee a lot of the activities, but many of the providers under the grant will not be used. The County wrote a grant that allowed each Youth Empowerment Center to hire a social worker for its programs, which will target at risk children within the community. One of the concerns brought up at the last meeting was the age range. Attempts are being made to address this concern with the County to lower the age requirement. The goal is not to turn anyone away. JTC will provide a tutor for the program and provide snacks for all the youth registered in the program. Ms, DeGraffenreidt met with Stephanie McKoy. Originally, her program was going to service after school children, Hester and ARC Center. Ms. DeGraffenreidt discussed the children in this program and the need to look at the children who may come in for after school assistance. Her concern was if it was allowed to house and place them there, the youth registered in the Youth Empowerment program would have to be targeted also. Her program will be a good enhancement to the program. B. Teen Council Frank Ireland met with Rhonda Williams and Vicki Henderson and discussed the plan to have a lunch with the Commission based on the kids' desire to meet with the Mayor and some of the Commission. Ms. Henderson drafted a letter and the disposition is not known yet. A meeting was attempted for this week, but nothing is confirmed. Six youth are registered. C. Events and Other News – Open House Ms. Henderson is planning on hosting another open house for YEC to re-register existing participants in the program that have to be re-enrolled for the next fiscal year and to be able to open it up to new participants who are interested in enrolling. Ms. Henderson, in an effort to enhance community awareness, would distribute flyers at Wal-Mart, Boynton Beach Mall and different centers to get information out and have providers present to talk to parents and youth and pass out additional literature. The tentative date is February 26. One change that is being made to the program this year is that CJC is requiring YEC to provide registration cards for all its participants. An ID card would be required for each participant. That would have to be done for about 227 youth. The ages for the current program are 12-21, but only six are consistent participants who attend every meeting, etc. - 3 - Meeting Minutes Youth Violence and Prevention Project Boynton Beach, FL January 19, 2011 st On December 21 YEC had a holiday party at the Center and approximately 80 to 85 youth were in attendance. Food was provided and each received a gift. Brenda Oakes of the CJC also attended. Ms. Henderson is urging to continuance of more outreach. It is uncertain what will happen after March 31, but hopefully there will be one position which will be a social worker position. Whether or not the person would be able to start at that time is still in question. All of the new and returning providers should be coming in next week. The youth in the program had a two week break which allowed everyone to come together and regroup and revamp the program as necessary. Mr. Waldman offered his assistance for the open house on February 26, 2011. IX. Member Comments Nate Nichols added comments about fundraising. He feels it is difficult because the return must be worth it. Many times a lot of time and effort is spent and the end result is 100.00. If you get the right people and really utilize empowerment, it could be very successful. The calendar of other events in the community needs to be considered along with the timing. Ms. Rada is personally aware of many people that would come. She suggested a Halloween bash for parents on a day other than the actual Halloween holiday. It would be an event for a good cause. An event was held in the past where corporations donated food. Not only would parents attend, but youth would also. Many corporations and businesses could make donations to eliminate any spending. Marketing is the key along with getting the right people to promote the event. The big issue is the CJC and what the future plan is beyond March. The monies are going to be there, but after that there is no guarantee. About a month ago, the County was not interested in hearing from CJC because they were also going through their budget process. Outside sources of revenue such as grants and corporation donations have to be found. Eventually the Greater Boynton Beach Foundation will be able to help out, but right now they are committed to the Barrier Free Park. Ms. Rada explained they must ensure their activities are in line with the CJC. Ms. Sullivan explained this center is on the low end of funding. West Palm Beach had a jump on everybody because the City, outside of CJC, gave them $1 million on top of the funds CJC gave them. Each center is unique and the programs are not the same; they only have to run under the same guidelines. Ms. Rada emphasized the need again for fundraisers. More meetings are needed to plan and get with companies that could donate food and other things. Costco donates to the School Board meetings and to the Church. Home Depot donates plants. Requests need to be sent months in advance. Ms. DeGraffenreidt was able to write a Children's Services grant, but some other grants were denied. Other agencies applied for the same grants. Ms. Henderson was sent to grant writing training to be able to gain more knowledge on how to write a grant. - 4 - Meeting Minutes Youth Violence and Prevention Project Boynton Beach, FL January 19, 2011 Providers are not needed to keep participants here. The goal of this program was to deter crime and to give the youth an outlet that they have here. If we lose our providers, it does not mean we lose our programs and all the amenities. We should still be able to function even without the providers. If we can find a grant, along with the social worker continuing to provide the life skills, that would be great. That is the goal. Whenever Brenda Oakes finds a grant, she emails it to all the centers. The City is beginning next year in a $9.5 million deficit and could be up to $12 million. As long as the economy remains as is, there will be an absolute distaste for anything that sounds like an increase in taxes. Staff must dig for every grant as help from the City cannot be expected. However, if one event brings in $10,000-$12,000, the more events you do, the tougher it is going to be to net money for each one. For the last two years, the City has balanced its budget on essentially transferring rainy day funds out of other funds into the General Fund and those "wells are all dry this year". A monthly event that generates a little may be better than one big event a year where you think you may get a lot. There will be a program; it just might not be like it is today. Parents need to be involved. There are many youth who are in desperate situations who carry emotional, physical or financial burdens and they need the program as their advocate. Ms. DeGraffenreidt commented that the Board should attend a meeting. The invitation is always there but they do not attend. Mr. Nichols clarified his earlier comment. The comment was not about the fact that something was not going to happen because he feels that there is an overall commitment. His comment was meant to follow up on the word "advocacy". Advocacy leads to money and there is a question as to what the strategy has been to connect the CJC? The County has not yet said they are NOT funding. What are the outcome measures that can be demonstrated so that Brenda Oaks knows the type of programming that has been going on? Ms. DeGraffenreidt advised the County does not look for the Centers individually to report. The data the CJC asks for is gathered every month and reported to the County Commission. The failure is that the CJC did not get the data together to present to the County. x. Adjournment There being no further business to discuss, the meeting properly adjourned at 6:28 p.m. ~.iJJ-CLUc{ C~r-- Ileana Caruso Transcribed from one recording - 5 -