NoRTEC Youth Council
Meeting
9:00 AM to 10:0 AM
July 27, 2005
Holiday Inn, Chico, CA

Dear Youth Council Members and other interested parties,
Meeting Announcement - July 11, 2005

Just a quick note to advise you that NoRTEC will host an abbreviated Youth Council meeting from 9-10, prior to the WIB/GB meeting, on July 28th at the Holiday Inn, Chico. If you recall, the focus of our last Youth Council meeting on 1/27/05 was a dialog on the direction and viability of the Council in the future, and the level of youth planning and participation that currently exists in each county within NoRTEC.

Recap of January 27, 2005 Meeting

Michele Piller and Linda Wright led a discussion concerning the Small County Initiative (SCI) project, a 2-year, $90,000 per/county grant that has been made available through the California Department of Social Services to Del Norte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity to assist these counties to plan for and provide integrated services to children and their families. Several program managers attending the meeting indicated that they were unaware of the SCI project and that they had not been requested by their local DSS to submit proposals. As the Director of Trinity County's Department of Social Services, Linda Wright submitted that WIA is not generally included on the list of programs that DSS typically collaborates with on such projects. Linda saw a real need for DSS to build a relationship with WIA, and stated that would act proactively to get WIA collaboration in the next funding cycle of the Small County Initiative project, as well as other DSS projects. She also volunteered to make a presentation to County Welfare Directors to encourage them to engage WIA programs as local partners, and agreed to report back on this presentation at the next Youth Council meeting.

During the discussion of the SCI project, it became clear that there was some level of a youth services planning group in each county within NoRTEC. The general consensus was that there was a definite need to assess local youth planning group potential for optimizing local youth services, including coordinating "partner" efforts, in each county. Youth Council members agreed to look into these groups in their own counties, and report back at the next Youth Council meeting on their group's membership and current focus. Members also agreed to report back on what their respective counties were doing with regard to the SCI project.

Discussion Topics For This Meeting

The plan for the Youth Council meeting scheduled for July 28th is to continue dialog on the level of youth planning and participation that exits in each county. Council members should be prepared to report back on issues specific to their respective counties, including Small County Initiative updates.

In addition, we would like to have a short discussion on current and future plans to institute "fee for service" for certain services that are or could be provided by NoRTEC youth programs. The funding for youth programs is woefully inadequate. We are being encouraged to seek additional funding elsewhere, primarily "donations" or other grant sources. A novel and mostly untapped source of additional funding is fee for service. Examples would be "Checkers," a Butte PIC youth operated restaurant, and the Summer Youth Crew projects for private businesses, operated by the Job Training Center Business One Stop Services, Tehama County. Examples of services in the planning stage are "Get into College" counseling (personal guidance in the college search & application process), College Essay Writing Workshops, and Life Skills Workshops.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the Youth Council meeting on the 28th!

Betti