No preview available
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-01-23Dryden Youth Commission ® January 21, 2003 Minutes Present: Jean Simmons, Kristen Blackman, Walt Matyjas, Nita Baldwin, Kris Bennett; visitors Karl Heck, Eric McConnell, Dan Schmohe Absent: Penny Green- Brown, Russ Kowalski Jean called the meeting to order at 6:05pm, Since there wasn't a quorum, minutes from Dec. couldn't be approved and officers couldn't be elected. Existing members and liaisons introduced themselves and described the work of the commission, funded programs and where the funding comes from. The visitors introduced themselves: Karl Heck has completed an application for appointment by V. Dryden to the DYC. He has 2 children and is the deputy director of the Cortland Housing Authority. Eric McConnell is interested in one of the T, Dryden seats. He has 5 children in his blended family and is interested in family focused recreational opportunities. Dan Schmohe has applied for the newly created position of recreation director for T. Dryden. If hired he hopes to establish regular links with DYC. He worked for the last 2 years in a NC recreation dept. and before that for the C. Ithaca forester. Goals for 2003 Although no quorum was present, it was decided to look at the DYC goals. Walt suggested setting outcomes for the DYC and including them in the goals. Suggestions made by the group included: 1) maintain a quorum at all meetings so business can be done 2) spelling out different ways youth can be involved (possibilities include serve on DYC, make presentations about programs they've participated in (including United Way FOCUS philanthropy group), give feedback about needs) 3) defining "target population" more clearly and look at who is being missed; who are being served and why (are middle schoolers still the prime focus ?) 4) creating a DYC mission statement and then setting the goals to address the statement 5) setting goals for numbers of youth to be served in DYC programs 6) look at whether the goal is to serve certain numbers of youth or kids with greater needs 7) define "at risk" youth 8) address the challenge of the community not being aware of programs and services 9) expanding the goals to include a "why" and a "how ". Kris asked whether the current goals, in bold, are the "what° and if we added a "why" to them if that would be better. It appears that the items listed below the bold goals are the "how." 10) use results from the Nov, 2002 forum and apply them to the goals 11) adding a goal to improve communication between the DYC and the 3 sponsoring municipalities (or make a plan for annual attendance and presentations to Village and Town governing boards). All agreed that having a mission statement would be a good first step and all agreed to draft a sample, or some discussion points, for next month's meeting. Results of November Dryden Forum, Countywide Forum Review Kris distributed handouts showing the responses of the survey completed at the Dryden forum and the combined responses of the 6 forums held countywide. All were interested in addressing the barrier identified as "not aware of existing services" and the challenge "lack of part time youth jobs" as we do goal setting. Kristen reported on the countywide forum review meeting, held Jan. 11. Countywide information was shared and discussed; Kristen thought it would be good to get together with other commissions again when there would be more chance to talk among themselves. Updates from County Youth Bureau 1) Kris sent out letters to programs funded for 2003. 2) The Tompkins is County Youth Bureau will be changing its name to the Dept. of Youth Services 3) Kris passed out a revised budget to all, based on funding decisions made in Dec. 4) Kris passed out a revised roster of DYC members and contacts. 5) Kris passed out a copy of the ad that CCE ran in the Dryden Shopper for the next round of programs. 6) Kris reported that the After School Skating program will be running for 5 weeks beginning Mar. 5, 7) Kris sent out requests for end of year statistics and reports to programs funded in 2002 and should have information ready for the March meeting. (Dan suggested creating a Power Point for this that could be used to publicize DYC activities and for presentations to Village and Town Boards.) 8) To follow up on the discussion in Dec. to try to transfer unused funds to CCE, Kris reported that CCE was unable to make this happen; they wanted to prepay for the ad in the Shopper but were unable to reach anyone in the Shopper office at the end of Dec, We should be more on top of this next year, looking at the claims and unclaimed funds in Nov. Discussion re. Youth Conservation Corps Kris reminded all that communication will need to occur with IYB re, this summer's YCC since they were not fully funded to map out what will be different from their proposal. What are DYC's preferences? DYC would prefer that IYB find the additional $1200 to fund the program fully. If they are unable to do this, DYC prefers that the number of youth hired stays at 8 but that they work fewer hours. Kris pointed out that it might be wiser to reduce from 5 weeks to 4, rather than reduce hours each week (which would not significantly reduce the cost of IYB supervision). Kris mentioned that the difference is less than $1200; IYB used a rate of 10% to calculate fringe on youth salaries when it really is 7.65% (saving approx. $120). In addition, there are youth absences so not all money is claimed but it's risky to count on a certain amount being available due to absences. There was discussion re, whether youth could be supervised by someone other than IYB in the future — perhaps Dave Hall could do this? We would need to figure out how this would affect his summer programs. One other idea: have DYC apply for United Way funding. Kris will talk with Allen Green and ask him for a revised proposal. Other Kris passed out copies of the working calendar to those who needed it. Kris will not be at the Feb. meeting but will be able to prepare the agenda and other materials. DYC decided to ask Carissa to try again to plan a logo design contest for DYC, using youth entries. Kris will contact Carissa about this, Next meeting: Feb.18, 6pm at Dryden Town Hall. DYC Minutes Page Two January 21, 2003