HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-06-20Dryden Youth Commission
June 20, 22006
Minutes
Present: Tracy Kum, JoEllen Bailey, Kristen Blackman, in hik Lee, Cynthia Waterman, Kris
Bennett, Nita Baldwin; guests Jessica Houle and Rachel Kutcher
JeElIen cal led the meeting to order at 6:40 and introductions were made, Minutes from May
were approved.
Presentation b y 0U RS Pro aun (OURS ° Opportunin es, Understanding. Respect, Success)
Jessica Houle grew up in Dryden, living at Congers "Frailer Park for much of her youth, Now a
Cornell student, she founded this program to provide positive opportuni(Ies to young people at
Congers through adult mentors (Cornell students who are matched for a minimum of one
semester with a participating youth). (Powerpnitit presentation made.) CIU.RS is connected with
Cooperative Extension 's 4H and with C:ornell's Public Service Center. The program has been
operating since spring, 2.005, 50 kids showed up at the i.iutial meeting. They curTendy serve ages
5.17 with a primary focus on middle school ages, there are 17 ai thve members. Dave Hall has
helped by presenting outdoor education programming, a camping trip is planned. Congers
Qw-ner /manager is concerned about liability and won't provide meeting space on site. Parents
seem happy l'or the programming but are quiet in their support, The program currently insets at
4H Acres but this is not �4�alk ble far Congers kids, making transportation a huge challenge- '
They recently constructed a willow but there. They cannot count on regular access to a CCE
van, plus since Jessica is not yet 21 years old, she cannot get the appropriate drivers license for
driving a van. Congers suggested they rent a tent for the summer so they did, a 10' x 20' one
with flaps, they are planning to set it up at Congers. The long teimm goal is to build a community
center within walking distance (handout provided), Jessica is exploring a grant possibility ]'rein
Coca Cola to help with funding the buildi Ti g. Details still to be worked out include acquiring
land on which to put the building and working out who would own and maintain the property -
They have researched adjacent undeveloped property and learned that parcels are owned by the
Tourn of Dryden, Congers, Tompkins County and Cornell. DYC members Made several
suggestions of key people to Calk with {Henry Slater, Jen Dube, .Dryden and Free vil le
ColrnmunitV Councils) who might be good resources. )everyone thanked Jessica and Rachel for
their vision, dedication and energy,
]Cris mentioned to OURS program and .DYC that the County Youth Services Dept, wi I be
offering youth event mini- grants between now and the end of the year for a group of young
people to plan an event for other young people, Details are being finalized but grants will Na, up
to $750. Contact Kris for mare info-
Other recreation updates Both Dryden and Hreevi1le camps will be lield this sununer. Freevjle
camp wi11 meet at Dryden High School, Dryden Clamp at TC3, Catnip director civil service glitch
has been resoIved, All D Y C members responBible for monitoring camp programs took
monitoring form,
Summer update Interviews acid hiring have been done, 10 youth are ready to participate, S
funded by DYC and 2 by Tompkins Workforce NY. One of the latter is returning for a second
V
and will assist Megan -Mack {in addition to aiiother I Y 3 employee helper.} Megan -Mack
has requested permission to take on one additional youth, funded through Workforce NY. (see
handout for summa y The van can accommodate 11 passengers, either she or her IYB assistant
would drive the van and youth participants with the other I Y 6 person following in a private car.
She does not feel supervision will be au issue. DYC voted to approve (his request with the
stipulation that youth participants ride in the van and not ire the Private vehicle, ,Kris will pass
this along to Megan -Mack. second YCC item Iris raised is that there is the possibility that 2
of the youth already hired may be veri fied in the n ex t 2 weeks as eligible for payment through
the Workforce ICY Office. The approximate salary and fringe per youth is $785. If this occurs,
it means that D YC funds set aside to pay these youth would not be needed for this purpose and
could be redirected to another use. After discussion. the DYC voted that if this occurs, D C
would after the funds to . Dryden, _ Free V1lie and E for use in youth employment. Iris
W1 wait to make sure the verification comes through before approacl1ing these 3.
Annual Deport Kris final Iv received the repo rts from Village of Dryden and 13rooktondale and
the annual report is Complete. Copies were distributed to al nleinbers. Tracy and Cynthia
agreed to presen( them to the next Town Board meeting (July 13); lnShik. and Kristen will
present to (he July Tillage of Freeville meeting_ We need to follow up with Milan and JoEllen
(who had left the mee(Ing by this time) about sharing with Village of Dryden,
Police & Community Feedback Kris will foI Iow up with AIan to see if he picked up the
feedback forms_
Review Youth needs & Trends InShik agreed to condense the info Kris had compiled into a
short Iist of needs and trends for the D YC to review in AiIy in order to set Priorities for funding
for ?007. We need to decide, before sending out requests for funding applications for 2007,
whether to revise our priorities or target age group. Elected officials from the town and vi11ages
and school district officials will also be inlormed about the needs we iden(ify and what we have
learned.
UYQ Powmein# No time was left to work on this.
Plan for July ing Kris asked whether DY inembers are still interested i
meet n asking funded
camp programs to attend the July meeting to share Info With D Y C and others about their
programs. Al funded programs are expected to make a presentation once a year to D YC. All
agreed they would like this, Iris wi11 contact the appropriate people to ask them to attend. In
addition, Megan -Mack has asked to attend to report on YCC. all agreed this w ouId be good, In
order to have time to conduct other important D C work. Toe agreed to start our meeting at 5:30
PM (at Dryden fligh SChoo1), Tracy will bring pizza (all will chip in to cover cost) and salad.
We vvilII ask the camps and YC C to arrive at 7:00 P1< L iris will plan on sharing whatever
financial info she has in July re. DY 's expected budget for 2007. Since the County process has
barely begun; wr, do not yet have an idea about the 2007 budget for municipal youth services,
Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 Pal_
DYC (Minutes Pace 2 June 20. 2006