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Minutes 10-27-22 MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION AND YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD ON OCTOBER 27, 2022, AT 6 P.M. AT CITY HALL COMMISSION CHAMBERS 100 E. OCEAN AVENUE, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Lori Wilkinson, Vice Chair Franky Lazo, Assistant Director Francoise Calixte-Dieuvil Recreation and Parks Frando Patterson Pedro Macedo Jessica Wilkinson Kate Houseweart ABSENT: Dr. Valerie Valcourt, Chair Tarynnicolle Rhodes Chevette Gadson Nicole Prado I. Call to Order Vice Chair Lori Wilkinson called the meeting to order at 6:01 P.A. II. Pledge of Allegiance The members recited the Pledge to the Flag, followed by a moment of silence. III. Roll Call A quorum was present. IV. Approval of Agenda A request was made to shift Announcements/Presentations/Correspondence to after Old Business. Motion Ms. Houseweart moved to approve the amended agenda. Jessica Wilkinson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. V. Announcements/Presentations/Correspondence Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 27, 2022 A. Lyndora Frazier, Mentoring 4 Kids Program (M4K) No presentation was made. B. Cory Walls, Teacher at Atlantic High School & Founder of Steve's Club Cory Walls spoke to the Board about Steve's Club. She explained that she has been a teacher at Atlantic High School for 10 years, and four years ago she was meeting a lot of children who lost a caregiver, or sibling and she would always gravitate to them. She said that the teachers self-identified the students through their classrooms and learned there were 34 students who lost loved ones. She commented that she approached the principal to have an afterschool program, Steve's Club, to bring the students together. This year, she had 48 returning students to Steve's Club, which was named after her father, whom she lost when she was very young and last year, they had 81 finishing the school year, and as of today she had 73. She noted that this was just for Atlantic High School. She stated that she looks for teachers in different schools to be sponsors of Steve's Club at their school, that can relate to losing a loved one. She explained that currently, they are at Atlantic High School, Royal Palm Beach, Suncoast, Carver Middle School and Morikami. She stated that they are working on offering the club at Spanish River and the goal is to get grief support across the Board to all the kids, and provide grief training to teachers. She explained that she is not a therapist, but if a student needs extra help, she ensures they receive it and sometimes gets them to a mental health expert on campus, or off campus through different partnerships they have. She said that they provide life skills, college readiness, scholarship research, and they started a scholarship for graduating Steve's Club students. She reviewed the goals of the club and how often they meet. She commented that November 17th is National Children's Grief Day and she approached the principal to request all students wear light blue in remembrance. She explained what activities they will be doing and what they have done in the past. She said that the New York Life Foundation partnered with them, and any school who partners with them will receive a $500 grant from New York Life to help support the program. She explained that pre-Covid, 1 in 13 children in Florida lost a parent or caregiver before the age of 18 and with Covid, they do not have statistics, but their guess is over 200K children lost a parent due to Covid before 18 in the US. and 5.2M in the world. She was told this is the only grief support in school anywhere in the country. Having grief support inside the school has been unique according to experts. She answered questions that the members had and she requested that the Board try to help her to get Steve's Club into Boynton schools. Ms. Houseweart volunteered to assist and will contact Ms. Walls as did Ms. Calixte- Dieuvil. Ms. Walls commented that 19 schools reached out to her to start a Steve's Club, but she did not hear from them when the school year started. She advised that she gets 2 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 27, 2022 snacks donated from Publix and that she would like to pay the sponsors additional stipends, as it is a lot of work. Vice Chair Wilkinson commented that the Board's role is to advise the City Commission on issues and she thought it would not be a huge ask of the Board if they penned a letter, they can promote it to the City Commission. She suggested that they could make a presentation to the City Commission. She stated that they can also send the same letter to all the school board members. VI. Public Audience None IX. New Business A. Fall Festival Wrap Up Vice Chair Lori Wilkinson stated that a lot of people attended the Fall Festival and donated. She thought it went well overall. She said they made about $170. Vice Chair Lori Wilkinson commented that she thought the event needed to be advertised more ahead of time, and she would still like it to be a more competitive event, for example between schools, churches and between City departments. She mentioned that there was a snafu, where the City had recyclable bags to hand out to people, and they used one to hold the money, which they accidentally gave out. She said that the money was replaced. She stated that a lot of people wanted to decorate a pumpkin and she thought small pumpkins for children to decorate would be good. Ms. Calixte-Dieuvil thought there should be some type of small pumpkin competition on a donation basis. Mr. Macedo commented that Recreation and Parks had a tent with arts and crafts for kids, and he thought if they did the same, they would raise more funds. He agreed that more advertising would be helpful. He thought decorating pumpkins would be very good and purchasing them would be very good. Vice Chair Wilkinson stated that a lot of people asked if they had Zelle, Venmo or a cash app and she spoke with Mr. Young about it. She stated that he thought there was something they could do. X. Old Business A. Fundraising Proposals 3 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 27, 2022 Vice Chair Wilkinson stated that the Sweets Foundation is a Board she has helped in the past, that is disbanding and has funds to give. She said that the Foundation was looking for a non-profit to transfer their funds to and she volunteered the Board. she announced that the Foundation is going to give the Board $5K, through the Greater Boynton Beach Foundation, because the Board is not a 501 C3. She was excited about the funding. She also announced that the Kiwanis Club she belongs to is disbanding and donating to different organizations they partnered with over the last few years, including this Board. She said that the Kiwanis Club is giving the Board $1 K, so they will have funds for the Borovy Award. She stated that the Kiwanis Club has poured beer at SunFest for at least seven years, but she thought the Board could take over half of it. She said that the Board would partner with the Kick Start Foundation, that offers karate scholarships. She proposed the Board take on the SunFest event with the Kick Start Foundation. She explained that the Board would need to be involved for four days, and the event brings in between $4K and $6K each season, which would provide the Board with the opportunity to be self-sufficient. There was discussion regarding the Easter event. Mr. Lazo explained that the City is still discussing locations for the Eggstravaaganza Event, because the former location was under construction. He stated that he will keep the Board apprised. New Board Member Katie Houseweart introduced herself, stating that she is working on her Masters for Forensic Psychology. She said that she has two boys who attend Poinciana and she is the PTA President. The members briefly introduced themselves. B. Outreach C. Bob Borovy Student Citizen of the Year Award Mr. Lazo stated that he spoke to Ms. Claude and mentioned that the applications will be available December 1St, and it will be advertised in Funfare and online. Vice Chair Wikinson gave the history of the award and commented that she would like to see it advertised more, because they only get a few applications and it may be because the monetary award is only $1 K. She said that the award is given in May at a City Commission Meeting, and the award is advertised on Facebook and online. She explained that they send the information to all the schools and guidance counsellors and she noted that Atlantic High School sends out a list of all the scholarships that are available. 4 Meeting Minutes Education and Youth Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 27, 2022 XI. Future Meeting Dates: TBD Mr. Lazo gave potential meeting dates for the combined November and December meeting. There was consensus to meet on Wednesday December 7t" at 6 pm. XII. Adjournment Motion There being no further business to discuss, Mr. Patterson moved to adjourn. Ms. Calixte-Dieuvil seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:57 P.M. Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist 5