Mount Pleasant Youth Council

TOWN OF MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA MOUNT PLEASANT YOUTH COUNCIL Thursday, December 17, 2020 5:00 PM Mount Pleasant Municipal Complex Council Chambers 100 Ann Edwards Lane, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 Minutes Ms. Isabelle Turner called the meeting to order at 5:04 p.m. Mr. McClain Stoklosa, Mr. Ethan Curb, Ms. Eliza Taylor, Mr. Walker Carswell, Ms. Cally DeMoura, Ms. Isabel Raykova and Mr. Chad Weis were all present. Mr. Myles Chisolm, Ms. Josie Massanet and Ms. Abby Sullivan were absent. 1. Public Comments There were no public comments. 2. Approval of the minutes from the November 19, 2020 meeting Mr. Chad Weis moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Ms. Turner. All present voted in favor. 3. Continued discussion regarding priority projects Ms. Sims stated she spoke with the staff liaison and a member of the Culture, Arts and Price Commission and they are generally supportive of the idea of the Cultural Fair. The Port and Seafarer’s Society does a Taste Around the World event every year, which is their major fundraiser. Ms. Sims said they were not able to have the event this year. One of our Council Members is a board member and he put Ms. Sims in touch with their President, Clark Cromwell, and she explained to him what the Youth Council’s thoughts were, and discussed a possible opportunity to partner with them for an in-person event in the spring. Mr. Cromwell was very excited as this is an organization that has wanted to get involved with the youth in the area. Ideas were discussed such as having a passport program for the event to try and attract families. She said a date of Saturday April 24 was agreed on as it lines up with the existing Fleet Week activities. She asked the Youth Council Members to mark their calendars as they will all need to be involved, working and representing their Council. The park will already be set up for the Blessing of the Fleet event. She stated she will be meeting with Mr. Cromwell and Kathryn Whitaker from the Culture, Arts and Pride Commission in the next few weeks to discuss more specific details, and they will also see if some of the shipping companies would be willing to sponsor the event. Ms. Sims stated the next project she wanted to discuss was the Our Community, Our Children event. She had a conversation with Chief Ritchie and Nancy Shipman who is the Director of Wake-Up Carolina and runs the event. They felt strongly that the event continues in some capacity, but in a safe manner. This year it will likely be just a morning session and will be live-streamed so that those not comfortable with attending in person can watch it. Ms. Sims said the Youth Council member will need to push it out heavily via social media, and the tentative date is the morning of May 8. Ms. Shipman said that their teen and young adult classes have completely filled this year and they have had to add sessions because of the high demand. The mental health facilities in the area are struggling to keep up with the intake request for young people in the community as it has been a very stressful and isolating year. Ms. Sims said that Ms. Shipman relayed to her that some of the treatment facilities are looking at transitioning only this segment of the population because there is such a high need. Ms. Sims stated she was going to reach out to Lucy Beckham High School to potentially use the auditorium as Principal Dassing has been very supportive of this Youth Council and wants to be more involved. Ms. Sims stated she also spoke with the state department of mental health about Youth Council wanting to be involved, and they discussed the legislative bill requesting funding for certified health counselors in every school. She said that bill did not make it to the cross-over for the last legislative session, so the bill died, but they are expecting it to be re-filed for this session that starts in January. Ms. Sims said she was going to check in to see if the bill had been pre- filed, and at that time it would be appropriate for Youth Council to, if they desire, draft a letter of support and it would be a good opportunity to engage with our new local legislators and let them know this is an important subject. Ms. Sims said the state mental health department referred her to the director of the Berkeley Charleston Dorchester mental health facility and said they are always looking for volunteers to help with projects. Ms. Sims stated she has reached out but not been able to connect with the director. She said she knew that every June they have a conference for mental health initiatives, so that might be something the Youth Council wants to promote via social media and though it is after the end of this Council’s term, they would probably still welcome volunteers. Ms. Sims regarding the oyster bed re-nourishment project, she has been in touch with the Department of Natural Resources and they only do these projects during business hours, so that would not be feasible. She asked about the possibility of a weekend event, and the response was that they have certain weekend events throughout the year. They are larger events so the Youth Council could tag onto one of those, unless Youth Council can get the numbers to justify a standalone event. DNR said there is a Veterans group that does a project every year at Remley’s Point, and this year it is on March 13. Ms. Sims said she has not spoken to the group, but the options are to reach out to them to try and partner with them, or if the desire is to hold a standalone event, then we would have to guarantee 100 participants. After some discussion, the consensus was to partner with the Veteran’s group at Remley’s Point and then to have a standalone trash pick-up event. She asked the Youth Council members to encourage their peers to get involved with these events. Ms. Sims said she would reach out to the Veteran’s group and get the details. Mr. Stocklosa mentioned there are trash bags made out of fungi and he would send the article to Ms. Sims to look into. Ms. Sims said regarding the trash pick-up, the Youth Council Members would need to start reaching out to groups, schools and civic organizations to participate. The Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce has already committed to being involved. She said the original idea of Youth Council was to have organizations or groups adopt a site in order to capture the community as a whole instead of having everyone all at one location, and the Council agreed that is still the plan. Ms. Sims stated she had a map of locations that are not as popular for trash pick-up events, and groups can sign up for those  areas. Ms. Sims asked what day Youth Council wanted to plan the event and the consensus was to pick a day in March. Ms Sims said to recap the upcoming events: Our Community, Our Children is May 8 in the morning; Oyster bed re-nourishment is tentatively March 13 in the morning pending discussions with the Veteran’s group; Looking for dates in March for a trash pick-up which she would try to schedule toward the end of the month; Cultural Fair will be April 24; the mental health initiatives will be based on what happens with the legislative session which starts in January. Ms. Sims said the intent behind reaching out to the director of the Berkeley Charleston Dorchester center (Jennifer Roberts) is to see if there is anything the Youth Council can do in the interim. Ms. Turner said the paperwork to start a mental health club at Wando High School has been submitted. 4. Discussion regarding posts for youth council social media Ms. Sims said the social media posts need to be increased as there has not been much traffic to the various platforms. She asked what topics Youth Council wants to promote. She said the Town puts out an Around the Town newsletter weekly that can be promoted. Ms. Turner suggested live-streaming the Youth Council Meetings, and also getting together after the meetings and posting a recap. Ms. Sims said she would speak with the Communications team about the requirements for live-streaming. Ms. Turner asked if Youth Council could post to social media if they have not had the Town training. Ms. Sims responded in the negative, as they need to understand the guidelines related to posting to a municipal account. Mr. Carswell said it would be good to post when the Youth Council meetings are happening to promote them, and Ms. Sims suggested also putting out a call for topics. Ms. DeMoura suggested having the main Town accounts push the Youth Council social media accounts out to the public as well. Ms. Sims also suggested doing member spotlights. Ms. Turner asked if the old posts to social media could be archived and start fresh with a “Meet the Board” at the bottom of the  Instagram, and then post the weekly reminders about events, meetings and live-streams. Ms. Sims said as she received information that was pertinent to high school students, she would pass along to them to post to social media. She said those that would be posting to social media would need to meet with her and decide who is going to handle which parts, but she likes the idea of the recap and reintroducing the members. 5. Adjourn 5:50 p.m. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Christine Barrett Clerk of Council December 17, 2020