Minutes - December 11, 2002 - YC
NoRTEC
MINUTES
WIB YOUTH COUNCIL
Wednesday, December 11, 2002
Redding
- Call to Order
- Roll Call
- Approval of Minutes June 18, 2002
- Regional Youth System Grant
- Possible Funding Sources for Youth Programs
- Mapping Local Youth Programs and Resources
- The Role of the NoRTEC Youth Council
- Next NoRTEC Youth Council Meeting
- Adjournment
The meeting was called to order by the Chair, M. Piller, at 9:05 a.m.
Of the 20 Youth Council members, eleven were in attendance, nine were not. Roster
Janet Blackketter moved to approve the minutes, with a second by Jocelyn Boyer.
Helen Ramstad, Director of the Sonoma County School to Career Partnership, and Sue Sawyer, Director of the Shasta-Tehama-Trinity School to Career program presented an overview of the California Department of Education (CDE) "Youth System Capacity-Building Grant." Ms. Ramstad and Ms. Sawyer, Regional Coordinators for the grant, said that the CDE funding of $50,000 had been directed to each county through the County Office of Education for the purpose of building and/or strengthening local relationships between education and the WIA system. Key grant goals include the mapping of community resources that are available to meet the needs of local youth in the areas of academic development, career development and personal/social development, and collaboration with community agencies to design fully integrated local youth development systems. Ms. Ramstad and Ms. Sawyer informed Council members that they have already begun providing technical support to some NoRTEC counties, including Del Norte, Shasta, and Tehama, who are in the process of developing local plans with their County Office of Education. Council members were given the primary contact names for each County Office of Education and were urged to become involved to the extent possible.
Dan Obermeyer, Lake County Community Development Services, presented on youth training and employment-related supplemental funding sources that could be used to supplement existing WIA Youth Program funds. Mr. Obermeyer talked about the variety of funding that is available and provided a handout to Council members that included information on sources of funding, geographical area considerations, the importance of targeting specific needs, and methods of application.
Cindy Salatnay, Rural Human Services, and Dan Zuber, Del Norte County Office of Education, spoke briefly about their community asset mapping work funded by the CDE Grant. They shared that they have just recently completed a community audit to identify local youth-serving institutions, organizations, and funding sources, and will be engaging several young adults to assist them in evaluating the needs of youth to be addressed in a youth service system.
Barbara Hanstein and Janie Gaither, Siskiyou Employment & Training, also reported on their efforts to establish a local-level youth services planning group. The indicated that there was a high level of interest expressed by local youth serving entities in forming such a group and they have set a date for their first meeting to discuss group objectives. Mapping various youth service resources, assessing local youth demographics and needs, and identifying youth service system designs in Siskiyou county will be main agenda items for this meeting. The primary contact person for the Siskiyou County Office of Education is also expected to speak to the group regarding coordinating efforts with the CDE Youth Development System grant. Ms. Hanstein and Ms. Gaither agreed to report back to the Council on the progress of their local planning group.
C. Brown reiterated that because of the unique structure of NoRTEC, the NoRTEC Youth Council should be viewed more as a clearinghouse for informational sharing and mutual aid, than a regulatory body. He said that while actual Youth Program work will be accomplished at the local level with local control and oversight, the Youth Council will function mainly to provide support for local level planning, help with coordination of effort, assist local counties with grant writing, and support regional grant writing attempts.
C. Brown also said that since mapping local youth services and programs is very useful in helping to identify opportunities for enhancing coordination of effort and resources, conducting local level asset mapping should be the Youth Council's main push at this time, preferably in a coordinated effort with the CDE Youth Development System grant. Youth Council members concurred with this recommendation and indicated that they will work toward getting this started in their respective counties.
The Youth Council will meet again in April, 2002. The focus will be on resource mapping effort updates, and updates on local level involvement in the CDE's Youth Development System grant.
There being no further Old or New business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:50 p.m.