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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 01112005 - SD.7 FHS #58 Contra" TO. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS +' Costa FROM: Family and Human Services Committee BATE: January 11, 200�k's'"(l) County 7 SUBJECT: Countywide Youth Commission SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION Recommendations: 1. ACCEPT the 2044 year end report from the Countywide Youth Commission, as recommended by the Family and Human Services Committee. 2. DIRECT the Clerk of the Board to work with DoIT to set up a separate mailbox for acceptance of public comments via electronic mail within the office; DIRECT the Clerk of the Board to publish the mailbox address on the Board of Supervisors agenda, and formalize internal procedures for checking and printing public comments received prior to 9:00 a.m. on Board days, and transferring them to the Chair for inclusion in the of the public meeting; DIRECT the Clerk of the Board to publish the procedures and addresses for submission of public comment via postal mail or electronic mail on the "i" page of the agenda under the Section entitled "General Information"; and DIRECT staff of all advisory bodies to the Board of Supervisors to publish an electronic mail address on their agendas to receive public comment on agenda items up to one full work day prior to the published meeting time; 3. REQUEST County advisory boards and commissions discussing issues impacting youth to adjust their meeting time for those issues to allow attendance by youth outside of school hours; 4. ADOPT a policy of actively seeking youth input through the Countywide Youth Commission before implementing any major youth-related policy changes in those instances when time permits a formal request to the Countywide Youth Commission for comment; and 5. REQUEST County advisory boards and commissions that deal with issues relating to youth consider designating at least one seat as a youth representatives and ENCOURAGE these groups to work with local schools and the Countywide Youth Commission when filling these seats. Fiscal impact: None. Background: On October 5, 2004, the Countywide Youth Commission presented recommendations to the Board of Supervisors to foster involvement of the County's youth population in public policy and government and referred the recommendations to the Family and Human Service Committee. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE _X APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): F - 'a MARK DeSAULNIER H GIOIA ACTION OF BOARD ON ! %N, I 9, tW, APPROVE AS RECO ENDED OTHER Staff is to report back to the Board in six months time with the impacts these policies have on the workload of the office of the Clerk of the Board. VOTE OF SUPERVISORS UNANIMOUS ABSENT p�} I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE= ( �! ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD AYES: NOES: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ATTESTED 0 U,\ c),�- JOHN SW ETE ,CLERK OF fHE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Contact Person: Dorothy Sar�soe(5-10179) CC: CAO EHSD BY: UTY FHS #58 SUBJECT: Countywide Youth Commission Youth Commission Recommendation #9: That the Board of Supervisors adopt a policy requiring all committees, commissions and advisory bodies that deal with issues directly affecting youth and their families to conduct their meetings between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Comments: The recommendation would require that the weekly Board of Supervisors meeting, as well as meetings of the Family and Human Services Committee, Family and Children's Services Advisory Committee, Family and Children's Trust Committee, First 5 Contra Costa Children and Families Commission, Juvenile Systems Planning and Advisory Committee, Local Child Care and Development Planning Council, all municipal advisory councils and all other committees and commissions which act as advisory bodies to the Board of Supervisors, meet between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. In some cases these bodies are already meeting during the recommended hours. In most cases, these meetings after hours would require payment of overtime or compensatory time to a large number of people who provide staff support. Meeting times for the weekly Board of Supervisors meetings are directed by County Code 24-2.402 to be conducted "... from nine a.m. until adjourning or continuance, on every Tuesday ..." Meetings of the Board of Supervisors are open to any members of the public who wish to attend. When items of interest to an adult member of the public are listed, people take time off work or set aside time in their schedules to attend the meetings. High school youth desiring to participate in government should be expected to obtain the necessary permissions to attend meetings during scheduled school time. Advisory Boards and Commissions may be amenable to working with the Youth Commission on possible changes to meeting times to accommodate attendance by Youth Commission members at those meetings where issues affecting youth will be discussed. In some instances membership by youth may also be considered by those Boards and Commissions which regularly address issues of interest to youth. Youth Commission Recommendation #2: That the Board of Supervisors adopt a policy allowing public comment on items before the Board and its advisory bodies via electronic communications, postal mail, and if viable, phone messages. Comments: Public comment may currently be taken via electronic mail or postal mail. There is a procedure in place for accepting public comment via postal mail at the address for the Clerk of the Board listed on the cover of the weekly agenda. A procedure could be formalized to accept comment via electronic mail received by 9:00 a.m. on the day of the Board meeting. A special mailbox could be set up in the Clerk of the Board office which would be checked on a routine basis up to that time. Advisory bodies to the Board of Supervisors are staffed by County personnel who have their contact information listed the on agenda. The same procedure could be used for accepting public comment via electronic mail or postal mail. Live public comment via phone is not feasible in the Board of Supervisors chambers due to the configuration of the telephone system and public address system in chambers. Other advisory bodies meet in varying sites throughout the County and change locations frequently. it is not feasible to ensure all meeting sites are adequately equipped to receive live public comment via phone. Youth Commission Recommendation #3: That the Board of Supervisors place an electronic comment form on their Web sites utilizing a system similar to the one used by members of Congress. Comments: Each Supervisor has a hyperlink for email listed on their webpage. The email hyperlink is the same style as that found on Congressman George Miller's page. The page for the 108#" Congress has a form to fill out which screens for the proper Congressman and will eventually lead a constituent to an email or surface mail address to contact their Congressman. The form is an additional step in the process of contacting the Congress to make sure they are contacting the correct Congressman. For our Board of Supervisors, we do not need to add another step in order for constituents to contact their Supervisors. FHS #58 SUBJECT: Countywide Youth Commission Youth Commission Recommendation #4: That the Board of Supervisors adopt a policy of actively seeking youth input through the Countywide Youth Commission and other means before implementing any major youth-related policy changes. Comments: The Board of Supervisors welcomes input from the Countywide Youth Commission on implementation of major youth related policy changes. Most major youth initiatives are run through the Family and Human Services Committee, which already has an internal policy to solicit input from the Youth Commission for comments/participation. The Youth Commission routinely gets copies of Family and Human Services Committee agendas, and each year the meeting time is changed to later in the day to accommodate members of the Youth Commission. However, a majority of the referrals to the Family and Human Services Committee revolve around the oversight of programs, and the Countywide Youth Commission has not expressed much interest in most of the business of the Committee. Also, sometimes issues are time sensitive and do not permit a formal request to the Countywide Youth Commission for comment. In those instances, like budget hearings, the Countywide Youth Commission can attend just as other advisory bodies do when they are interested. CAO analysts can be important sources of information on items being considered by the Board of Supervisors as presented by the County departments. The Countywide Youth Commission could use them as a valuable resource for learning about issues. The District Supervisors are also available to discuss issues concerning youth in their Districts. The Countywide Youth Commission can play a responsible role in the collection of information on items of interest to them through regular contact with the Supervisors. COMM COM 2004 Summary of Accomplishments Presented to the Family & Human Services Committee on December 13, 2004 The Countywide Youth Commission is an advisory group to the Board of Supervisors on youth-related issues. Established in 1994-1995 through the leadership of Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier, the Commission is comprised of 25 young people between the ages of 12 and 18 who reside or attend school in Contra Costa County. Each Board member appoints three Commissioners from his or her District and the remaining 10 Commissioners are appointed to At-Large seats with an additional At-Large Alternate position. Term of appointment is two years, with the District and At-Large seats coming up for reappointment in alternating years. Adult Volunteers (one from each District) also help support the Commission. Each Commissioner is expected to attend the monthly meeting, which is held on the fourth Wednesday of each month from 6:34pm — 8:34pm. Meeting locations rotate among West, East, Central, and South County. In addition, each Commissioner must serve on at least two Committees during his or her term. Current Committees include: a Policy o Communications o Events/Outreach Commissioners have represented the CYC in various advisory roles. Commissioner Barnhart served as liaison to the Library Commission this year. The commission has also worked with Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher's Office, Alcohol and Other Drug Services Division, Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board, County Sheriffs Department, County Library, Family Maternal Child Health Coalition, EarthTeam, Family Center of Northern California, Making Waves, numerous cities, and transportation agencies such as the CCTA, CCCTA and the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition. We plan on continuing these collaborations and creating new ones next year and beyond. The Commission, in partnership with the Board of Supervisors, sponsored the seventh annual Youth Hall of Fame awards in March 2004. The Commission also identified major issues present in the Forum Report (transportation and police-youth relations) and began the process of working with many county agencies and departments to create resolutions to these issues. 2004 Countywide Youth Commission Summary 1 Presented to Family&Human Services Committee December 13,2004 Summary of major activities of the Commission in 2004 Communications The main goal of the Communications Committee is to promote the Commission to other youth and the rest of the community. This year, Communications accomplished this goal through the website, youthcommission.net, and The Commission's newsletter, The Bridge. The website was revised this year and contains minutes, agendas, meeting dates, The Bridge, and other various bits of information which provide instant access to Commission information including CYC applications and Youth Hall of Fame nomination forms to download and complete. Three editions of 1,000-1,500 copies each of The Bridge were produced and distributed to County libraries, Board of Supervisors, middle and high schools, Kaiser, and the Teen ,age Program. Members of the Communications Committee wrote articles in The Bridge with topics such as budget cuts, college admissions, the war in Iraq, gay marriage, and other current events. Furthermore, the communications spent time on organizing and formatting Public Service Announcements that will be sent to various local radio stations to create awareness of the CYC and its goals. We also spent time reviewing and creating possible replacements for the CYC logo. The Commission e-mail address is used for distribution of monthly agendas, press releases, and for responses to questions and 1 or application forms. The on-line media distribution includes County libraries, Supervisors' offices, other youth programs, community and daily newspapers, school-related groups, and various media contacts. Events & Outreach This year, a significant responsibility of the committee was to recognize the local youth's commitment and service to their communities, peers, and schools. The 42 nominations that were received this year represented numerous contributions made by both youth and adults in Contra Costa County, The Youth Hall of Fame honored five young people and one adult in the categories of: Artiste, Good Samaritan, School Leadership, Sports Leadership, Valiant Volunteer, and Adult Advocate. The honorees were acknowledged and presented their awards as part of the annual Cesar Chavez Commemorative Celebration on March 23rd. The honorees' names are recorded at the Board of Supervisors' Chambers in Martinez. The CYC was also assisted in the planning of the 2004 Youth Summit in Pittsburg. The Events Committee was directed with the opening and closing sessions of the Youth Summit. The opening consisted of a game- show activity that tested the participants' knowledge on youth related subjects, while the closing forum gave youth an opportunity to question various policy members of the county. With an attendance of approximately 200-250 youth, the youth summit was a success and we hope to make this a yearly event. The Events Committee has compiled a list of Youth Councils from across the county. This database will be used next year to organize a meeting of the Youth Councils, hosted by the Commission, so that a more unified network may be created between the CYC and individual City Youth Commissions. It is this committee's hope to create a more unified and publicized network of the county's youth. Policy and Bylaws The Policy Committee began to focus on two out of the three prominent points that were raised at Youth Forums that were held throughout the county last year. The Committee sought to address increasing public 2004 Countywide Youth Commission Summary 2 Presented to Family&Human Services Committee December 13.2004 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ transportation opportunities for youth, improving the relationship between youth and law enforcement officers, and increasing presence of after-school programs throughout the county. The CYC researched transportation issues by meeting with representatives from the Contra Costa Transit Authority (CCTA), Central Contra Costa Transit Authority (CCCTA), and Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition. We began discussions with CCTA and suggested that during the creation of Measure C there be included in the transportation budget allocations for safe transportation for youth on order to better address the issue of transportation opportunities for youth. The CYC send letters and representative to meetings to urge the CCTA to maintain the current 5% allocation of transportation funds for the safe transportation for youth if not increase this amount. While the final amount turned out to be 4.5%, this is far better than the proposed amount in previous plans. The CYC also worked with the CCCTA and urged the CCCTA to review reduced fare programs for the County's youth and selling of bus passes at schools for easy access. The Committee intends to continue to work closely with the CCTA on Measure C and CCCTA in the following year. In addressing improving the relationship between the County's youth and law enforcement officers, the CYC spoke with a representative of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office. The Committee decided that more information was required in regards to which issues specifically were causing such relationships to deteriorate. The Policy Committee will design and distribute a survey for youth in order to collect more information to address the issue more effectively. The second area of focus for the Committee has been drafting and submitting a recommendation to the Board. The Committee recognizes that many County committees and governing bodies, like the Board of Supervisors, hold meetings during the normal school day, preventing youth representation or comment. The Committee then drafted a recommendation that would create a means for the County's youth to make public comment via electronic or written means such as through e-mail, regular post, or facsimile. CYC Goals & Objectives 2004-2005 1. Cather the opinions of the youth in the county and covey the information we collect to the Board of Supervisors. • Hold month ly/bi-monthly meetings with supervisors and/or Chief of Staff to discuss youth issues and policies. • Contact and meet with other youth commissions/councils and discuss youth issues and regional projects. • Conduct a youth survey on police issues. 2. Increase the awareness of the CYC throughout the county. • Create more publicity for the CYC in schools • Keep website content updated • Create a youth friendly CYC flyer or brochure • Distribute public service announcements through various media outlets 3. Hold effective events to promote the CYC's mission. • Conduct the annual Youth Hall of Fame • Collaborate with other youth commissions/councils on events for youth 2004 Countywide Youth Commission Summary 3 Presented to Family&Human Services Committee December 13,2004 CYC Committee Goals and Tasks Policy Committee Goals: • Be aware of youth related issues that the Board of Supervisors are addressing, and bring issues to the attention of the commission. • Increase youth awareness of politics, youth rights, and issues that affect youth (suicide, homelessness, etc.) • Bring youth issues to the attention of the Board of Supervisors and advise them on these issues. Tasks: • Compile Youth Forum information and present to Board of Supervisors • Compile info on youth issues and provide resources (politics, rights, etc.) • Propose resolution to the Board of Supervisors for more input from youth o Send recommendations to the Board of Supervisors when youth can't attend meetings • Have individual meetings with the Board of Supervisors Communications Committee Goals: • improve readership and awareness of CYC publications (i.e. The Bridge, CYC Website) • Increase'media ties Activities: • Make CYC website more accessible & user friendly (more appealing & include polls) • Produce The Bridge (at least 2 editions) • Organize collaboration with CCN (possible TV show, PSA, etc.) • Promote CYC through KVHS Radio station Events Committee Goals: • Gather and apply information to aid the pre-formulated goals of the CYC • Present and promote accomplishments and endeavors of the commission and other youth. Activities: • Gather information and create Youth Summit for youth commissions, councils and other youth groups. • Youth Hall of Fame • CYC booths • CYC Get-Togethers ("Committee Competitions") 2004 Countywide Youth Commission Summary 4 Presented to Family&Human Services Committee December 13, 2004 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................