Youth Service Advisory Board

NORWICH YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES ADVISORY BOARD MEETING September 14, 2010 ROOM 335, NORWICH CITY HALL (860) 823-3782 - FAX (860) 892-6031 Email: nyfs@cityofnorwich.org MINUTES The Norwich Youth and Family Services Advisory Board Meeting was held on September 14, 2010 in Room 335 in Norwich City Hall. Those in attendance were as follows: Kay Eyberse-Coordinator Jodi M. Vara-President Janet Paton-Community Member Vouise Fonville-DCF Laura Wraight-Norwich Public Schools Soledad Metcalfe-Juvenile Probation Hilary Sandberg-NHS Staff Angela Rae Duhaime-Community Member Guests: Marc DiShaw-Juvenile Probation Excused Absences: Ashley Sebastian-Youth Member; Debbie Kievits-Community Member; Ryan Kelsey-NPD; Duncan Profitt-Community Member Kay Eyberse called the meeting to order at 8:30. Kay started the meeting by having everyone introduce him/herself, sign in and update any email information. Marc DiShaw from the Connecticut Juvenile Probation was introduced as a guest. Laura Wraight will be our new Norwich Public School Representative. The minutes from the July 13, 2010 meeting were distributed. Attending members read them over, no corrections were noted, and the minutes were approved. Quarterly Report ~ The quarterly report for July 1-September 30, 2010 will be distributed at the next Youth Advisory Board Meeting on November 9, 2010. Program Review ~ • Summer Youth Employment- The Summer Youth Employment program this year employed 141 at risk youth between the ages of 14-23 for the summer. The program will be ending at the end of September. We are pleased that at least four older youth who participated in the program have been hired for permanent employment by their worksites. • Girls Circle- A new program called Girls Circle will be starting on October 5th. Girls Circle is a 30 week self esteem/prevention program for girls in 7th-10th grade. This program will be lead by Jodi Vara at Kelly Middle school. A second one will be held at Teachers Memorial Middle School. Girls Circle is run in collaboration with the A.S.P.I.R.E. Program. An additional session of Girls Circle will start in February.  • Mother/ Daughter Night Out; Father/Son Night Out- Starting in October this new workshop will assist mothers and preteen girls in 5th-6th grade develop communication skills and cover topics related to body image, relationships, and self esteem. If successful, this workshop will be offered every other month. Any female adult guardian or caretaker is welcome to accompany the preteen girl. Father /Son Night Out will run the same evening and cover similar topics. • Antibullying Workshops- Four evening session Antibullying Workshops for parents will be starting in November. The November session will be for preschool, Kindergarten and 1st grade parents, the January session for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade parents, the March session for Middle school grade parents and the May session for High School parents. These workshops will last 2 hours with food and childcare provided. Saturday Antibullying Workshops for youth are currently being developed. • Norwich Youth Action Council- The Norwich Youth Action Council is currently being developed which would be comprised of 15-20 local youth working on structured projects related to their interests and Community involvement. Jodi Vara, Kay Eyberse, Angelo Callis, Sheila Hayes, and Deb Kievits recently had a meeting with Mayor Nystrom to discuss forming the Norwich Youth Action Council. There was confirmation from Mayor Nystrom that he and the City Council will be involved with the Youth Council and that the Youth Action Council will be a subgroup of the Norwich Youth Advisory Board and report directly to them. After discussion among the attending members of the Norwich Youth Advisory Board, it was decided upon to recruit youth who are already actively involved in the Community and have demonstrated leadership qualities rather than hold elections for the positions on the Norwich Youth Action Council. Grant Updates ~ • NYFS has applied for a Woman and Girls Fund grant. Any grant money awarded will be used towards continuing the Girls Circle programs. Failure to receive any grant money from this grant will not affect the Girls Circle program from taking place. • NYFS has applied for a grant through SERC that would be used towards funding Parent Leadership and Teen Leadership programs. • NYFS is pleased that the Young Parents Program grant was approved for funding for 2010-2011. NYFS received a 5% increase in the funding over last year that will allow NYFS to hire a part time employee to help out our full time case manager for the program. Discussion ~ • Angela Ray Duhaime spoke about school surveys that were conducted in local schools for 2010. These surveys are conducted every four years and are used to see trends in risk factors that are affecting school aged youth. This information leads to changes in offered programs to educate youth and improve conditions in our local schools and the youth’s lives.  • Janet Paton spoke about the possibility of the City of Norwich cutting the Adult Education out of the budget for next year, 2011-2012. She spoke how this would greatly affect the local Community. • Vouise Fonville of DCF updated the group on the Differential Response System to be developed for the State of Connecticut. The new system will most likely start early next year with the Norwich office being the pilot office to start the program. • Kay spoke about forming an advocacy subcommittee for NYFS to tackle the upcoming budget season. This committee will be responsible for organizing a coherent response to potential budget cuts. • NYFS will be having a staff planning retreat. If anyone has any suggestions of any programs or services you would like to see done differently or something new offered by the NYFS Department, please let Kay know. All suggestions are welcomed. Wrap-Up ~ Two questions were posed for thought, • “What does Youth and Family Services need from me?” • “What can Youth and Family Services do for me?” Next Board meeting will be November 9, 2010 from 8:30-9:30am. Room 335 in City Hall Refreshments will be served. All are welcome! NYFS is now on Facebook. Check it out for program updates, tips and upcoming events!