Youth Service Advisory Board

Youth and Family Advisory Board Meeting February 19th, 2019 Time: 8:45 a.m. Attendance Present: Angelo Callis (NYFS), Christine Goracy (PFS), Pat McMahon (Community Member), Jodi Savage (NFA), Tiana Powell (PFS), Judith Post (Community Member) Excused: Jamie Miller (Norwich Tech), Katelyn Wagner (Norwich Public Schools), Gail Palladino Marsh (Juvenile Probation), Steve Callandar (Norwich PD), Sue Dubb (Uncas Health), Deb Barber (DCF), Kerri Sisson (Joshua Center). Absent: Review of October’s Meeting Minutes • Accepted by consensus. Old Business • Board Members Month in Review: o Jodi: Please share the Winter Walk-a-thon flyer that will be on March 2nd at NFA. All the proceeds will go to the local non-profit agencies in attendance. There will be music all day by the teachers. On March 25th Jeff Hatch will be presenting to student athletes during the school day and at night for the community. Jeff Hatch, former NFL player, will be coming to NFA to speak to student athletes about opioids on March 25. o Christine: Working on Juvenile Review Board (JRB), Joining Forces I the elementary school, Norwich Youth Action Council (NYAC) and diversion programs. o Tiana: Almost half way through the Voices girls group with 12 Teachers Middle School girls. • Vaping: Norwich Youth & Family Services is bringing Steered Straight with Norwich Tech and STEAM Kelly Middle on March 13th. This will offer a vape and marijuana presentation for students during the school day and a night session for parents. • Grants: Norwich Human Services is applying for the Drug Free Communities (DFC) grant and has chosen the focus will be marijuana and vaping. The grant would be $125,000 a year for five years. It would sustain the PFS Coordinator position. New Business • New Grants: The How Can We Help grant will be for Reliance Health’s Recovery Coach, Deanna Delaney. She will help 50 people a year will opioid use disorder. • Staffing Updates: Angelo will be out for surgery in March. Erin Haggan has accepted a position at DCF. Christine Goracy has moved into Erin’s position as Youth Caseworker. We will interview for the PFS Coordinator. We have also hired a Youth Employment Coordinator. • Youth Summer Employment: Still waiting for Youth Summer Employment budget. COOL Directions is running. • Group discussion: Marijuana in the workplace and how parents using medical marijuana can affect the children. A policy is being formed by the YSA. Norwich Prevention Council • Vaping Compliance Checks: We will have to meet with SERAC. We’ll put the notice out through the papers. We’re hoping for some time in June. Hartford has put the age for tobacco use up to 21. • Suicide Prevention Walk: Providers have started signing up! Walk in on Saturday, April 27th. • Suicide Prevention Week: Students involved have met ad decided on a scavenger hunt to learn about suicide prevention. They will have a drawing for the winner. Jodi would like to purple rubber bracelets and possibly t-shirts for the volunteers. They have leftover cup sleeves from last year that they will use again. EMPS will have an info table at NFA again during the lunch waves. Angelo will be doing Question Persuade Refer (QPR) trainings. They will focus on stress management, bullying and social media. o Community Piece: Kids will write reasons for living/things that give them joy and tape each reason to ribbons. The ribbons will go to downtown businesses to grow awareness. People in the community can write reasons too. Meeting adjourned at 10:00am Next Meeting: April 16th, 2019 at 8:45am Youth & Family Services 75 Mohegan Rd Page 2