Mount Pleasant Youth Council

MOUNT PLEASANT YOUTH COUNCIL Thursday, October 5, 2023 5:00 PM Mount Pleasant Municipal Complex Council Chambers 100 Ann Edwards Lane, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 MINUTES 1. Call to Order Ms. Griffin called the meeting to order at 5:06 p.m. Eli Barker, Mia Weis, Porter Yount, Evan Nussbaum, Rose Dillon, Jackson Naylor, Layla Giddens, and Lane Yarborough were all present. Addison Utsey was absent. Ainsley Scarlett was not present when the meeting was called to order, and arrived at 5:10 p.m. 2. Public Comments None 3. Approval of the minutes from the September 7, 2023 meeting Ms. Griffin moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Ms. Dillon. All present voted in favor (Ms. Scarlett was absent for the vote). 4. Adoption of Youth Council Bylaws Ms. Griffin moved to adopt the bylaws as presented, seconded by Ms. Giddens. All present voted in favor (Ms. Scarlett was absent for the vote). 5. Election of Social Media Chair Ms. Giddens said she would like to be considered for the Social Media Chair position. Ms. Yarbrough stated she would also like to be considered. [Ms. Scarlett arrived at 5:10 p.m.] Ms. Griffin called for a vote by a raise of hands. With a vote of 8 – 3, Ms. Yarbrough was elected as the Social Media Chair. Mr. Barker, Ms. Dillon and Ms. Giddens voted for Ms. Giddens, and Ms. Griffin, Mr. Naylor, Mr. Nussbaum, Mr. Rucker, Ms. Scarlett, Ms. Weis, Ms. Yarbrough and Mr. Yount voted for Ms. Yarbrough. 6. Discussion and approval of priority projects for the session Ms. Howard stated she had put together a list of the quarterly projects discussed at the previous meeting, and some of the items that were listed on their form responses to find a direction to proceed. Ms. Griffin said there is a larger priority project which lasts the entire term, which is the main focus, and then there are quarterly projects which are smaller projects. Ms. Griffin suggested combining some of the drives such as coats, food, and toiletries for the winter, even if they do not go to the same organization. Ms. Dillon also suggested having the collection period be two weeks instead of one. Ms. Griffin said she thought that would work well. She said for the toiletry drive, those items would go to Homeless Hope and Ms. Weis said East Cooper Community Outreach (ECCO) also takes those items. Ms. Weis also suggested putting a collection box at Town Hall. Ms. Griffin said local businesses can be asked to put a box out as well, as it is not restricted to schools. Mr. McLawhorn said the Town participates in many drives, so permission would need to be sought before a collection box can be placed at Town Hall. Mr. McLawhorn said there needs to be a focus on what type of toiletries, such as for females, or children, so you are not getting random products. Ms. Griffin said that Homeless Hope focuses on small hotel-sized items. She asked who suggested a food drive, and if there is a specific organization for which donations would be collected. Ms. Dillon said that ECCO takes clothes and food. Ms. Griffin said Toys for Tots is from November 1 through December 21, and she asked if Youth Council would like to move the other drives to another part of the year. Ms. Howard said this would be a project where we contact Toys for Tots, and there would be a designated time to go to the warehouse in North Charleston to help them sort toys. Ms. Griffin asked if anyone with Toys for Tots had been contacted and if there are a specific number of spots. Ms. Howard responded in the negative stating she wanted to get Youth Council input on whether or not this was a project of interest before arranging a time. Ms. Griffin said once a date has been confirmed, Youth Council Members would need to spread the word to get volunteers, and service hours could be provided. Ms. Weis said the drive could be moved to the spring since there are many that occur during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mr. Naylor said he serves on the Youth Volunteer Corps and he can spread the word through them. Ms. Griffin said the larger drive would be in the spring, and the winter drive would be Toys for Tots. She said the marsh sweep is the next item to discuss and suggested moving the drive to fall, and having the marsh sweep event in the spring when the weather is warmer. Ms. Howard said there are no scheduled marsh sweeps for the remainder of this year, and nothing has been planned through a larger organization. She said she spoke with Cody Robinette who is with the stormwater division of the Town, and he would help organize a marsh sweep if there is interest. Ms. Griffin said last year the quarterly projects were split so that three main Youth Council Members would take the lead on planning. She said right now, we have identified a spring marsh sweep and winter Toys for Tots, which leaves the drive and reef construction, unless anyone has any quarterly ideas they would like to add at this time. Ms. Griffin asked who suggested the reef construction and Ms. Howard said there were multiple votes for environmental projects, but no one followed up with a plan of action, so she put it on the list as an idea. Mr. McLawhorn said the oyster reef construction is done through the Department of Natural Resources with a sea grant in which the Town actively participates, so Claire O’Loughlin and Cody Robinette in the Stormwater division would have more information on how to participate. Ms. Weis asked if that is something Youth Council would volunteer for or plan. Ms. Howard said there are a select number of spots, so if that is something Youth Council would like to participate in, spots would need to be reserved for the December 1st event. Coordination with the schools would need to be sought in order to obtain excused absences for the classes that would be missed. Mr. McLawhorn said this project is scheduled around the tides. Ms. Griffin said that sounds like a project for just the Youth Council Members, and asked if everyone knew whether or not they would be in town on that date. There were a couple of members that were not available. Mr. Nussbaum asked if December 1 is a definite date. Ms. Howard said there are set dates and they have not released the schedule for 2024. Mr. McLawhorn said the oysters are collected from the recycling centers, and they must be taken to sit in the sun for a year to kill any bacteria or invasive species that may be in the shells before they can be bagged and used to construct reefs. Ms. Griffin said there is already a winter quarterly project and asked if they wanted to create a broad umbrella environmental project, and maybe have someone do some research and provide information as to what direction to proceed. Ms. Dillon said there are two clubs at her school that do beach sweeps, so maybe if other schools have clubs that participate in this, we can create a gathering of clubs, and it would count as community service. Ms. Griffin said perhaps we could plan and host it. Mr. McLawhorn said if it is a marsh sweep, Mr. Robinette in Storm Water can help, and that is one of their big yearly goals for community outreach. Mr. Nussbaum said that the Department of Natural Resources does volunteer projects other than oyster reef construction, but he can look into it for the next meeting. Mr. McLawhorn said if they are looking for another environmental project, he has his team spend about 10 minutes picking up trash wherever they are working. He said that might be an idea, to do something like spending 10 minutes a day every day for two weeks, wherever they are, so a set date would not have to be made. Ms. Griffin suggested creating a project that could be organized where donations are collected in the same way as a reading marathon, and the money could be donated to a specific environmental group. She asked if donations could be collected, and Mr. McLawhorn said he would need to check on it. Ms. Dillon asked if the money would come from parents and family and Ms. Griffin responded in the affirmative, adding that local businesses could be approached as well. Ms. Griffin said the specifics would be left to the environmental group. Ms. Weis said the food drive could be held in the summer. Ms. Griffin said the spring project would be handled by the environmental group, the winter project will be Toys for Tots, and we have drive ideas. Town Council Member John Iacofano said it may be a good idea to have East Cooper Community Outreach speak to ask them how they can be helped. He said Youth Council’s involvement in the community is very important. He said the Town just earned the All- America City designation again for the third time, and Youth Council was a very large part of that. Ms. Dillon said the Mount Pleasant delegation had the most youth members compared to other states, so we are ahead of the game. She said one thing she noticed is that cultural and artistic topics were highlighted, that other states were doing well, and one of the Town’s focuses was mental health and disorders and working with them. One example is as Migliori’s pizza who hires teenagers with Down’s Syndrome. Mr. Iacofano said a previous Council was raising money for a basketball court and once they got things moving, Council voted to fund the project. He said Youth Council does make a difference and they are appreciated. Ms. Weis said she knows of an organization called Kids on Point, which is based downtown and they provide a place for kids from lower income families, saying that could be an organization for which we collect donations and maybe do some volunteer work. Ms. Griffin said we need to solidify the fall and winter quarterly projects and reconvene on the ideas for the spring and summer projects next month. Ms. Griffin said we have the drives and Toys for Tots. She said the drive would be broad as to what is collected. Ms. Weis said the fall is a short time, and asked if we would have time to get organized. Ms. Griffin said the winter quarterly may need to be pushed to the back end of the Toys for Tots drive, and we should focus on October and the beginning of November for the drive. She asked the Youth Council Members to talk to their schools and get approval for the drives, and boxes will be provided and flyers will be made. She said businesses could also be contacted. Ms. Griffin said Toys for Tots will be contacted to get specifics. She said there should be three people assigned to the drive and three for the winter projects. Ms. Weis volunteered to chair the drive committee and Mr. Nussbaum and Mr. Naylor volunteered to serve. Ms. Yarbrough volunteered to chair the Toys for Tots committee, and Ms. Scarlett volunteered and said that Ms. Utsey would serve as well. Ms. Griffin said the six remaining members would serve on committees for the remaining two quarterly projects, and the drive committee would decide the dates for the drive. Ms. Griffin said the priority project should be something that has a lasting impact on the community. She said if we are going to go the route of a fundraiser for mental health resources, she thought it should be an annual event that can continue through other councils. Ms. Weis asked about the Medical University of South Carolina Happy Wheels program. Ms. Howard said she took the broad responses from the forms and came up with this. Every Thursday at MUSC, they take a cart of toys around the children’s hospital and the patients are able to choose a toy. Ms. Howard said it is important to have some sort of direction at this meeting. Ms. Dillon said Wake-Up Carolina is a large lifesaving database and resource that we have in South Carolina. Ms. Griffin said they had an event here at Town Hall with tables of information. Ms. Dillon said that may be an idea to have one of their representatives come to speak about planning an event. Mr. Iacofano said he has been to some Wake-Up Carolina events and there have been youth there, and it would be incredible if this is the direction Youth Council wants to proceed, to get into the schools and give them a connection to your age group to stop the drug addiction and help these young people understand that there is help out there. Ms. Griffin said about two years ago, a letter was sent to the state from Youth Council asking them to consider funding counselors in each of the high schools in Mount Pleasant. She said she would like to follow up on that and try to integrate it into the priority project. Ms. Dillon said especially since Covid, there has been a disconnect between law enforcement and younger people. Ms. Griffin said that advertising that we have counselors at the high schools could be integrated as well, since many students are not aware they are available. Ms. Yarbrough said it would be good to have projects for which service hours could be earned. Ms. Weis agreed.  Ms. Dillon said she is participating in the mental health summit with Charleston Youth Council, and they are inviting other high schoolers to volunteer and help run the event. Ms. McLawhorn said he typed up some prompts. There is a theme, which sounds like Youth Council is leaning toward mental health. The other questions are to help focus on what and why you want to do it, who will benefit, what to do and how to accomplish it. Ms. Griffin said we need to choose a theme and maybe think about the why the who the what and the how, and come back next meeting after talking to some of our friends, classmates and teachers to see what is important to them. Ms. Giddens said perhaps having students write letters or make phone calls to legislators could count as service hours. Ms. Dillon asked if someone should look into what the state budget is for mental health, and what may or may not have changed and bring it back next month. Ms. Griffin said that would be great. Mr. Nussbaum asked about themes for prior councils. Ms. Griffin said the basketball court was the project for her freshman year, and last year they went to the Municipal Association to present Youth Council to try and get other municipalities to consider it. Ms. Howard said she had a member from the City of Columbia reach out as they were trying to start their own youth council and they were using what the Town is doing as an example. Ms. Griffin said even though the Municipal Association did not choose the Town as the winner, we are making an impact. Ms. Howard said she is in charge of the Old Village 5K on November 11, the race starts at 8:30 a.m., and she is desperate for volunteers to be along the race course. She said four service hours would be given for anyone who wanted to volunteer. Ms. Weis asked if it can be shared with other students, and Ms. Howard responded in the affirmative. Ms. Howard said the hours would be from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. 7. Adjourn There being no further business, Ms. Griffin adjourned the meeting at 5:59 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Christine Barrett Clerk of Council October 5, 2023