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MINUTES OF MAY 24, 2000 PROGRAM COMMITTEE MEETING
At Log Cabin Ranch, 500 Log Cabin Road, La Honda, California

1. (ACTION) Roll Call
Meeting called to order at 9:45am by Comm. Arámburo. Johnny Miller, Stewart Wobber (Interfaith Network), were present. There was no quorum, so Comm. Arámburo conducted an informational tour of the facilities with specific attention to the school program. Comm. Dupré arrived at 9:55am. Comm. Hale was excused.

2. (DISCUSSION) Tour and discussion with staff and youth at Log Cabin Ranch, to review and gain familiarity with the programs and services being offered.
Some points of information offered by Johnny Miller, and Stewart Wobber.

· The Interfaith Network has been providing a great amount of resources and help to LCR. They provide religious services on the weekends. They have helped set up a computer lab of PC compatibles, and the instructor for the class (recently vacated).

· The school based computer lab is being used, with staff from the SFUSD. The number of students completing the GED program and passing the test is increasing. There is a growing interest among the youth to take the GED test. The connection between the Ranch and City College is good. A Dr. Augustine is personally seeing to it that youth who successfully come out of the Ranch and are looking to City College, get their paperwork processed. Johnny reported a meeting between the schools, the Dept, where they discuss a project they call "Project Connection" which addresses this process of referring Ranch grads to City College.

· The carpentry program already has two who are slated to go further after leaving LCR; one enrolling in Asian Neighborhood Design and the other in YouthBuild. Some carpentry projects around the Ranch are being done by the youth (eg. the decking around the Admin. building).

· The culinary program is in place. They are going to be doing upholstery. The Vision Youth program is still operating, and they are starting a weekend academy where they will teach environmental education (science, ecology, etc.)

· The population is at 34, but has been as low as the high 20s. They have been getting a slowly increasing number of admissions, and hope to have the population in the 40s.

· There is a new interim Principal for the school program. Pat Preminger. The summer time Principal will be Joe Buenavista. The school has been identified as an upcoming "Digital High School" whereby they can get federal funds to wire the school so that it has Internet access.

· The woodshop is being closed temporarily until a safety inspection/assessment can be made by OSHA. Many of the young men indicated that they enjoyed the carpentry program and that they hoped it would lead to vocational opportunities for them.

· The pond is being worked on. Already a herbicide has killed most of he algae, and much of the tule reeds have been removed. They will continue removing the reeds, and the plan is to plant fish in the pond

· Upcoming programs: they are hoping to get their animal program underway, and will be in touch with the 4-H clubs that indicated a willingness to work with them, but this will wait until some other tasks are done such as the lighting around the perimeter of the blacktop.

· Stewart Wobber reported that he is working up an Aftercare program to assist with the Ranch’s Aftercare (two POs are assigned as Aftercare POs: Michael Jones and Gabe Calvillo), and asked for information on community resources that they can refer the kids to as they are coming out.

· A representative from World Impact is coming on Saturdays to work with the youth.

· Johnny has instituted a monthly group meeting between the youth and himself, without staff attendance, to encourage an open exchange regarding any issues, concerns they may have with staff or the facility. This session is in addition to the closer personal work and interaction that staff is having with youth now.

3. (DISCUSSION) Public Comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission.
There was a short question and answer session held at the end of the tour. Some of the points were the increased security due to previous issues with drugs on site, or potential emergencies and being able to access quick response. They are working with the local Sheriff dept. to deal with these concerns. Visitations to the Ranch are now restricted to parents/guardians, and siblings under 8 yrs of age. And they are putting in a security gate on the access road.

Comm. Arámburo expressed concern for the low numbers of youth being referred vis a vis the apparent increase in commitments to CYA. With improved programming at LCR, it would seem much more beneficial (both economically and educationally) to place youth here. This was shared by Miller, and Comm. Dupré.

Comm. Dupré mentioned that Supervisor Brown would be holding hearings on the recent violence in Bayview, and in the City in general.

4. (ACTION) Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 11:45am.

Minutes adopted August 15, 2000

Meeting Information

Programs_Committee