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Meeting Information



Programs_Committee

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MINUTES OF MARCH 31, 2004 PROGRAM COMMITTEE MEETING of the JUVENILE PROBATION COMMISSION
held at Youth Guidance Center Conference Room   375 Woodside Ave  San Francisco, CA  94127
   

1.

(ACTION)  Roll Call

The Chair called the meeting to order at 6:41 pm.  Comm Bonilla was present at the gavel.  ACPO Johnston, L. Jackson-Simpson, D. Sanders, T. Diestel were present for the Dept.  J. Fithian, SFUSD.

2.

(ACTION) Review and approval of October 28, 2003 meeting minutes 

The minutes were approved as written.
(public comments)

There was none.

3.

Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Program Committee of the Juvenile Probation Commission
There was none.

4

 

 

(DISCUSSION) Report from the Ad Hoc Committee on Log Cabin Ranch bed rentals.

D. Sanders gave brief re-cap of the progress of the committee.  Working groups dealing with 3 aspects of the Ranch have been formed and they are meeting.  The notes to those meetings are available from the JPC office.

Comm Richard asked if a price has been decided on for the bed space.  No decision has been made yet. The commissioner asked how many beds were available.  Ans:  84.   population? 19. B. Johnston reported they had a meeting at the Mayor’s office, with reps from DPH, DHS, to explore blended funding options for the Ranch.  Comm Richard said he also has had discussions with the Mayor about the Ranch and is confident that the Mayor wants to keep it open.

(public comments)
there was none

5.

 

 

(DISCUSSION) Report from D. Sanders regarding programming at Log Cabin Ranch. 

Sanders said that they have had connections with the communities in the East Bay and this side for the past 15 yrs.  They have a library program being taken care of by some of the residents, who are paid a maximum of $550. by the time they leave the Ranch. It’s open every day.  Op-Net is another program, operating on weekends.  The Ranch has now adopted its previously ‘unofficial’ website as the “official” website. 

The student council is being re started up. They have a drummer who comes down to work with them.  Writers’ Corps is still working with them. They are working with free weights now, and there is a ‘professional’ overseeing their use.  They are also involved in the Northern California Ranch League.  Unfortunately some of their best players are not keeping their conduct points up to be eligible to play.  Comm Richard encouraged them to give acknowledgement to the athletes for their accomplishments in sports.  Sanders gave the commissioner the name of the contact in charge of the sports program.  The commissioner will be in touch with the contact and work something out.

He mentioned some of the therapy programs also in operation.  A complete list is available from the JPC office.

There was a short discussion regarding the types of youth sent there and the type of programming that’s available at the Ranch.  There was a great concern for the shortness of the commitment (nobody thought it was long enough to effect any change).  L. Jackson-Simpson said that currently the only operative vocational related program was the photo journalism/ Op-Net program.

Comm Richard offered that the staff could call the commissioners with requests for assistance, information for resources, etc.  He also mentioned the lack of positive public relations regarding the successes of the Dept (LCR), etc. which needs to be developed.

B. Johnston stated that the Chief has regular meetings with the judges regarding LCRS.  He said that possibly the youth held in the hall are not appropriate for the Ranch, due to the severity of their crimes.  He said that discussions are looking at possibly making the Ranch a resource for younger kids rather than the last stop before the “big house.”
(public comments)
Daniel Agamotu, a former Ranch resident, commented that there needs to be more community involvement in these meetings, especially with the younger folks like himself.

6

(DISCUSSION) Report from T. Diestel on programming in Juvenile Hall

T. Diestel said generally the transition has put restrictions on their operations. Now all programming is unit specific. If they cannot blend units together for a single program, they have to have the programs in each separate unit.  This goes from the school program, to the spirit life program, to all other activities.

They have a gender specific programming for girls. Music therapy, a writing workshop, Queen’s Bench, SAGE.  They have a lot of girls specific programs.  They have a mentor visiting program, which provides adults to come visit with youth who do not have visitors during visit hours.

Comm. Richard asked to have this at the Ranch. Maybe through the Spirit Life program. He offered to contact the churches in SF to see if they could take this up.

The JH library is on book carts.  Warner Bros. Donated 200 PG-rated  DVDs for use in the hall.

Omega Boys Club, and the Beat Within, still continue.  There is an API support program.  St. Peter’s Church provides Spanish-speaking youth with spiritual services.  Project Imagine, with Rec&Park, come up.  Each One Reach One is a theater arts program.  and they have a drummer that comes up.

Diestel further mentioned that the school program is a part of the regular district operations, and the curriculum parallels that of other high schools.

Comm Richard had a concern that youth leaving JH, after an extended stay, were not able to get their credits earned while in JH.  J. Fithian explained how they were calculating credits now (which they didn’t do in the past).  But he thinks the practice has been that it is only calculated and given to the SFUSD when someone requests it.  He suggested making it practice to just calculate everyone’s credits upon leaving the hall, and sent to the district for inclusion in the student’s record.

Fithian said that it was the responsibility of the counselor in the receiving school to gather all the academic records of the student.

Comm Richard asked whether a meeting needs to be had with Superintendent Ackerman to resolve this.

Fithian said that there should be an MOU between the SFUSD and the Dept, which lays out clearly all these issues and how they will be dealt with.  He said that Title XV said that it is supposed to be there, but he’s never seen it.  He suggested getting to Frank Tom about this.

(public comments)   
there was none.
                                                                                                                                                            

7.

(DISCUSSION) Report from L. Jackson-Simpson on upcoming RFP processes, and current status of CBO programming.

She reported they’ve had meetings regarding TANF spending plan.  The JJCC voted to provide $1 million to supplement the general fund supported programs, bringing the total to $1.7 mil. The RFP will go out in  2-3 weeks.  The Chaplaincy and Drug Assessor will be in competition in this process.

She said all the contracts were processed in very short order. She thanked her division staff. They did all the site visits so that the PrIDE contract will be able to provide a comprehensive report from both sides:  CBOs and Probation.  This report will be available by the May, 04 Program Comm. mtg.

(public comments)
There was none.

8.

(DISCUSSION) Report from the Chief on overall status of programming for upcoming fiscal year.  The Chief was on vacation so there was no report.

(public comments)
There was none.

9.

Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Programs Committee of the Juvenile Probation Commission
L. Jackson-Simpson announced the Gang Free symposium tomorrow.

Comm Richard announced that he had met a Terry Lewis (music producer?) who is interested in giving donations of equipment to set up recording studios in detention centers, and other residential care facilities.  He will be in contact with Mr. Lewis to further this discussion along.
J. Fithian said that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis’s first client was Janet Jackson.

10

(ACTION) Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:10 pm.