HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-10-190 Dryden Youth Commission
October 19, 2004
Minutes
Present: Kristen Blackman, Eric McConnell, Tracy Kurtz, Patty Mooney, InShlk Lee; Kris Bennett, Linda
Schoffel, Dave Hall, Bridget Gaines
Excused; Alan Macomber, Nita Baldwin
The meeting was called to order at 7;05, New rep reseri tative from the Town of Dryden Patty Mooney was
introduced and welcomed. Minutes from Sept, were approved.
Updates from Cooperative Extension - Bri_dget has hired a youth with municipal jobs funds to work at
Southworth Library. May have anoth er arranged for the Adelson Library at the Cornell Lab of Cmithology_
Js lining up youth jobs for 2005. Girls gaup this year has a different composition, fewer kids "with issues ",
a more balanced group. Green Thumbs is going well, 11 youth involved, They've started a compost and
[here will be a daily collection in- school of compostabies. The high school envirnomental class came once.
They are integrating the lessons of the Horticulture Apprentice Program, th e youth are learning how to use
equiprnent and are maintaining a previously neglected area near the school, They will be planting bulbs
which were provided through a beautification grant. Culture Club is expanding the participants' cultural
knowledge, they are making Native instruments, doing international cooking.
Dave - The Shopper ad yielded lots of kids wanting to enroll in programs. 24 are currently in Primitives,
Dave received a $5000 rant from a local anonymous fonder which will be used for a Primitives leaders p
retreat to the Adirondacks in the spring. He is offering 2 sessions of Animal Helpers to alleviate the wait list
for this popular program (Craft project was cancelled. Outdoor cooking is lots of fun. He's recruited a
youth to help with the Web Page Design project, He's also doing a webpage for Primitives. Teen
Challenges will start soon.
Linda - Distributed a newly developed flyer on Rural Youth Services that was created by Amy Rand who
works at CCE on reality Check. Additional copies of the flyer can be provided by CCE as a tool to inform
communities and leaders about R S, RYS is implementing an evaluation project this year; each program
manager chose one program for evaluation (Bridget - Green Thumbs, Dave - Primitive Pursuits), The info
gained should be useful for sharing with legislators and will hopefully become routine over time, Linda also
shared an update on the CCE Dryden budget for the year, all spending areas appear to be CSC, Linda also
informed the DYC that Dave has applied for a half-time program rnanager position in Danby, his home
community. She asked the DYC to consider the question: if Dave is offered and accepts the position, is
Dryden willing to keep Dave at half -time . If yes, how does Dryden want to approach the other half -time
position? Linda reported that Bridget is not interested in this time in full -time, After a brief discussion the
DYC agreed that they would be willing to have Dave reduce to half -time and would work with CCE to hire a
new half -time program manager,
Municipal Updates - Kristen went to the Village of Freeville trustees meeting on Bet_ 5 and gave them the
2003 DYC annual report and spoke in general about the DYC, Patty Mooney, Village Clerk, inquired about
the vacancy for a Town seat (she lives in the Town). Kristen gave her some information and referred her to
Kris who spoke with her, sent her the application, and told the Town about her interest. The Town has
appointed her. Since the Freeville school will be closed next summer, the summer rec, program has
arranged to use the Freeville Church,
Tracy, Alan and Kris have a meeting scheduled on Oct. 25 with Mayor Reba Taylor and Chief Margaret
Ryan from the Village of Dryden to discuss the Police & Community Program. Kris will also be meeting
with Jennifer Staton, the new Dryden Recreation Director, and invite her to the next DYC meeting.
Discussion on SUNY course & survey - Tracy reported on the SUNY Cortland rec, management class that
has decided to conduct a recreation assessment survey for Dryden. They are planning to do a phone
survey of all Dryden residents in February. Tracy and the Rec. Commission attended one of their recent
classes to give input on the survey and questions that will be used. The DYC made a few suggestions,
including possible questions to add. Kris suggested that we share 2 pieces of information with them: the
results of the survey and needs assessment done in late 2002 by the County Youth Services Dept. in
conjunction with 6 local planning groups (including the DYC). Also to suggest that they connect with the
United Way /Human Services Coalition about the Compass 2 survey and needs assessment conducted last
year. Kris gave Tracy another copy of the CYSIDYC info. and Tracy will pass it on.
Updates on programs, monitoring - Cooperative Extension held an open house recently at Ithaca's Stewart
Park; Dave Hall and some of his Primitives participants were there to demonstrate and were very popular!
Kris asked Linda for a few photos of youth participating in programs that could be used for displays or in
publicizing programs; Linda will get some to her. The CYS Dept. hosted a presentation on Oct, 18 by Fight
Crime, Invest In Kids, a national group including law enforcement people who support strong programs for
young children and teens as a strategy for preventing crime and ultimately saving money. The Dryden
Youth Opportunity Fund is hosting a roundtable discussion next week on Oct. 27 at TC3. All DYC
members were invited. Kris is unable to attend; Tracy and Eric reported that they are planning to attend.
® Kris spoke recently with Paul Streeter, the President of DYOF. In the year or so since they launched, they
raised —$7000 in communtiy donations. They held a grant process in Mar /Apr. and awarded ~S3500 in
grants to 6 projects, 5 of which are school- based. They have since received a $5000 grant and decided to
fully fund the Jr. Honor Society leadership project and decided it was time to hear from the community re.
its wishes for the fund. They expect to issue another Request for Proposals in Jan /Feb. though people can
apply at any time. They have a website: www.dyof.org He is willing to attend a future meeting of the DYC
to report on the roundtable and to link with the DYC. The Commission was interested in this, Kris will make
arrangements for the Nov. or Dec. meeting.
Other - Commission members discussed that it's difficult to keep track of the services available for Dryden
youth - who runs them, etc, Kris suggested that in 2005 the DYC do a special project, a services inventory
like the County's OJ Guide to Teen Services & Activities. The inventory could then be put on the internet.
All agreed this idea deserves further exploration: Could kids be hired through MJP to help gathering the
info and creating a website? Or could we approach the DYOF for help with this? Could Welcome Wagon
get the info to new town residents? WW does not exist but perhaps the info could be given to realtors or
landlords to share with new home buyers /renters. Kris reminded all how this task would be consistent with
the need identified at the Dec. 2002 forum of increasing the availability and access to information about
programs. More discussion is needed on this.
Kris distributed an updated roster. By consensus the DYC agreed to meet at 6:30 on Nov. 16 and to move
the Dec. meeting to the 14th, also at 6:30. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm.
DYC Minutes Page Two October 19, 2004