SFGov

back to Juvenile Probation Department home page

Programs_Committee

2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000

MINUTES OF AUGUST 20, 2002 PROGRAM COMMITTEE MEETING
held at Youth Guidance Center Room 328           375 Woodside Ave San Francisco, CA 94127

The Minutes of this meeting set forth all actions taken by the Commission on the matters stated, but not necessarily the chronological sequence in which the matters were taken up

1.          (ACTION) Roll Call
The meeting was called to order at 5:50pm by Comm. Bonilla. The Chair of the Committee, Comm. Richard was excused. No other Committee member was present, so the meeting was adjourned. The meeting was reconvened at 6:00 upon the arrival of Comm. Dupre. There was a quorum.
2.          (ACTION) Approval of July 16, 2002 meeting minutes.
The minutes were approved as written.
(public comment) There was none.
3.          Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission
          There was none.
4.          (DISCUSSION) Report from PrIDE on the Richmond District Afterschool tutorial collaborative.
Liz Jackson-Simpson reviewed that this was the last report prepared by the American Justice Institute, under the previous contract. La France and Associates is now the new contractor for that project, and is still getting situated in the dept.
She introduced the Director of the Afterschool collaborative, Oliver Hat, and highlighted some of the services provided by the program. Basically it is a 6 site operation of afterschool enrichment program services, and while they serve children 6-14yrs old, their service population has been primarily elementary school aged students. It is funded through TANF funds which supports the operations out at Cabrillo Elementary. This report is based on the assessment of 56 clients. Some of the scales were inappropriate for the age group. It found that there was an increase in the population's ability to express themselves, manager anger, and in family relationships. The majority of the youth in the program, lived with their biological parents. Parents are involved in the program.
Oliver Hat had not had the chance to review this report so did not have specific comments related to it, but he summarized some of the things they do: eg. They put out an annual art booklet showing some of the work of their youth. They also have "cultural" events that revolve around different cuisines of the different cultures of participants, and this is something parents are involved in.
The youth were very involved in the collaborative's programs during the summer, spending more time at the program than they did at regular summer school.
Liz Jackson-Simpson introduced Laura Lanzarotti of La France Assoc, the new PrIDE contractor. L. Lanzarotti reviewed that they were doing a follow up with all the CBOs to get an assessment of where they are at for the moment, to make sure the work started with AJI is completed.
She mentioned that they subscribe to the theory of change model of evaluation where they look at what is supposed to happen (the desired outcomes) and figure out why there are deficiencies and what needs to be changed to improve the results. She also mentioned that in the assessment stage they will be speaking to the Dept staff to get their input also.
Their first report will be on Huckleberry Youth Advocates.
Comm. Dupre asked if they will be sitting down with all contractors and making sure everyone is on the same page and in agreement with what is going to be done, given the resistance to the PrIDE work under AJI. Liz Jackson-Simpson said that they will be trying to make the forms, the reports, as user friendly as possible. Comm. Dupre said that this would be helpful if gotten out to the media/public so that positive things that are going on are made known to the public and not just the occasion negative incidents that get out. Comm. Bonilla asked for a time to sit with L. Jackson-Simpson to get an overview of the past AJI/PrIDE work, purpose, etc. so he can get up to speed on where it has come from, and where it is going.
Oliver Hat commented that with all the demands from each funding source, like DCYF, many of these contractors are being requested to do a lot of paperwork, aside from providing the services, and he cautioned the PrIDE program about not providing enough support to get the paperwork done.
Comm. Bonilla echoed this. L. Jackson-Simpson mentioned that they were aware of this concern and is an item that the Children's Council (a collaborative think tank body) is keeping in mind.
(public comment) There was none.
5.          (DISCUSSION) Update on the progress of the LCRS Advisory Committee.
Donald Sanders gave a short review of the meeting of July 31. He recounted that there was a certain amount of frustration over non attendance of some members of the committee, by those who have been consistently coming. They felt held back by this. It was decided to push forward, and a meeting/orientation at LCRS was set up for Tues, August 27. Everyone on the original list (who have not come) will be called to confirm their status.
Comm. Dupre asked the Secretary to assist the Program Comm. Chair contact those individuals who were asked to sit on the committee, to finalize the membership. He also asked that a copy of the Protocols be given to Donald Sanders.
Comm. Bonilla asked if the original deadlines would have to be moved back since the committee is getting off to a later start? And should the size of the committee be reduced?
Comm. Dupre suggested that the Program Comm Chair be given some time to resolve the membership issue before any action is taken.
Comm. Bonilla commented that if by the next Program Comm. Meeting there does not appear to be progress by the Advisory Committee, he will move to reduce the size of the committee and extend deadlines.
Comm. Dupre commented that he wants all energies to be positive and not take away from things that are going on at LCRS.
He also asked that notices regarding the Advisory Comm. Mtgs, and notes of their meetings, be sent to the Program Committee members so that they could attend if they want.
Comm. Dupre asked what the population was at LCRS. Ans. 28.
D. Sanders commented that he is under staffed. A Sr. Supervisor will be retiring in Oct. Current staff are working double shifts more than once a week. He said that human resources in the Dept seem to be slow in responding to his needs.
Comm. Bonilla stated that he had asked the Dept for a list of all vacancies and their plans for filling them. He will be looking into the personnel issues in the Dept.
Comm. Dupre suggested some of the Commission sit down with the Dept admin to go over the situation to see what the overall picture is. He is making this a formal point for the minutes.
(public comment) Jim Fithian reported that the woodshop teacher is returning. He said that they are now directly connected to the school district so that they can access programming records directly, and make sure that their work at LCRS is included in the cumulative folders. The curriculum will be coordinated to the needs of the students' graduation requirements.
Ques: how many of the LCRS students are in the TI program. Ans: none right now. When the TI program starts next week, 3 youth will be going. The first group worked out well.
Comm. Dupre asked Fithian to document the statistics he mentioned (increase in grade level proficiency).
Comm. Bonilla echoed the importance of seeing the tangible results, the improvements by the youth, as evidence of the effectiveness of the program.
6.          Announcements, requests for future agenda items:
Comm. Bonilla asked for the following action items: to keep or cut the committee's size, and an action to extend the deadline for the advisory committee's work. He also asked that a representative of the advisory committee attend the Program Committee mtg.
Comm. Dupre repeated his desire to have this advisory committee to be complementary to the work being carried out at LCRS.
(public comment) there was none.
7.          (ACTION) Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:52pm

Meeting Information

Programs_Committee