Youth Service Advisory Board

Youth and Family Advisory Board Meeting December 19, 2017 Time: 8:45 a.m. In Attendance Angelo Callis (Youth and Family Services), Erin Haggan (Youth and Family Services), Angela Rae Duhaime (PFS Coordinator), Pat McMahon (Community Rep), Jodi Savage (Norwich Free Academy), Jaime Miller (Norwich Tech), Emma McGuinness (NYFS Intern), Officer Steve Callender (Norwich Police Dept), Katelyn Wagner (Norwich Public Schools), Kerri Sisson (Joshua Center), Judith Post (Community Member), Sue Dubb (Uncas Health District). Old Business/Program Updates • Norwich Youth Action Council sponsored Winter themed Family Fun Night in early December with about 90 participants including kids and families. NYAC had arts & crafts, cookie decorating, photo booth, along with Judi Jones from Creative Game Parties who donated her time. Santa also made an appearance. • Teen Leadership Council had 14 students from NFA complete the program this Fall. One group from main campus developed a program to address issues of depression and anxiety at Kelly Middle School and will hold a Coping Skills Fair during the Aspire Program on Jan 30th (Pat suggested a booth at the fair focused on dealing with heartbreak). The second group from Sachem Campus will be collecting donations and making care packages to give to St Vincent De Paul to give out to homeless citizens during the Point and Time Count on Jan 23rd. • Cool Directions, which is an access to work program designed primarily for 12th grade students, has a new staff member, Marie Vargo, and her contact info is 860-823-3778. New Business • Teen Homelessness Count – Norwich has a grant that allows the completion of a survey to determine the amount of under housed/homeless individuals in Norwich. For adults, this survey is conducted on January 23rd, called the Point and Time Count. The grant allows for NYFS to survey 8th-12th graders in the local schools the last full week of January. This survey needs to be conducted one on one. There is a train the trainer being conducted at the Norwich Recreation Department on January 11, 2018 from 1pm – 4pm. o Katelyn indicated she could help get the survey completed with 8th graders o Pat indicated that the Young Marines may be able to assist o Sue mentioned the Medical Reserve Corps as a resource o Questions were raised about the age that students trained to conduct the survey would need to be and also if youth participating in the survey needed parental consent.
Angelo reported he will follow up with sending out details of the population that can be trained to give the survey and then asks that Youth Advisory Board members share that information with potential volunteers. • Uncas Health District representative, Sue Dubb, reported that she is approved to do flu shot vaccinations for those in need at no charge and can do home visits to conduct them if necessary. She provided her card to Erin to give to Sachem Campus principal. • Toys for Tots – Pat suggested that NYFS register to be a provider agency for next year’s season. He will help through the process of registering if interested. • Parent Workshops – NYFS is interested in providing a series of workshops for parents and are looking for ideas on topics and ways to engage parents to attend. o Ideas given included: QPR trainings, Ct Legal Services presenting on educational laws, Social Media workshops to include both youth and parents, how to talk to kids about drugs and other “tough  subjects”, collaborating with Police to do a program called “Hide & Seek”, which teaches parents what types of things to look for in kids rooms that would indicate drug use, knitting circle or other skill building groups wherein various topics for discussion are brought up, Self-Care strategies for parents dealing with stress, cooking classes, learning about budgeting. o Ideas for engagement include: schools offering extra credit for attendance at workshops, collaborating to present at already scheduled events held at schools that parents frequently attend (Deb Lachance or Amber R would be contacts for knowing about events), engage PTOs (especially at elementary and 6th grade level), provide parents with a survey to determine what topics parents want to learn about, offer multiple workshops at one time so parents have a choice. Norwich Prevention Council • Quilt Unveiling was held in November. The City Council would like an unveiling in Council Chambers on January 16, 2018 at City Hall, 3rd Floor 7pm. All are welcome to attend. • Open Mic Night – Jodi reported that NFA Prevention Council is interested in sponsoring one of these in February at the Rec and she needs to know some available dates towards the end of the month. Norwich Prevention Council. o Jodi reported that the NFA Prevention Council is also interested in sponsoring a High School Movie Night and maybe a cooking night in collaboration with Norwich Tech students. • Drug Take Back Month (April) - Jodi reported that some of her students have drafted letters to local pharmacies corporate offices that will be sent out at the end of the week requesting permission to set up tables to provide people with information about the drop box at the local pharmacy. She reported that students are hoping to do this in April. Angela indicated that she could support the project with some of her grant money to develop 3 marketing materials to hand out from the information tables. • Suicide Prevention Week/Walk – Jodi and Jamie will discuss a date and time for a sub-committee meeting and invite Erin to discuss details. Suicide Prevention Week is held the last week in April (23rd-27th) and the Take the First Step Walk is on April 28th (Saturday) o April 28th is the main date for Drug Take Back day in Norwich so NPC will collaborate with Community Policing to have them attend the Walk. Announcements Angelo announced that NYFS received $5000 grant to use toward hosting a series of events, to include 4 Narcan trainings in collaboration with the Health Department. They will have the opportunity at this training to distribute up to 60 kits between the months of Jan – April. Additionally, NYFS will be hiring someone for 10 hours per week to work with local athletic directors, principals etc. to develop programming to meet the needs of the school in raising awareness about the risks of prescription drug misuse. Next Meeting January 16th, 2018 @ 8:45am Norwich Youth & Family Services – Rec Department Meeting adjourned at 9:50 a.m. Page 2