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Meeting Information



Full_Commission

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MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 22, 1999 REGULAR MEETING

  1. Roll Call
  2. The meeting was called to order at 5:40 pm by Comm. Julian. Comms. Shimko, Aramburo, Jackson-Drake, Rev. Chuck were present at the gavel. Comm. Rev. Dupre arrived at 5:48 pm, Comm. Hale arrived at 5:51 pm.

  3. Review of August 25, 1999 meeting minutes

The minutes were approved as written.

3. Chief Probation Officer's Report:

  1. Status report
  2. The Chief introduced the newly hired Ombudsman, Omar Kaleef, a former counselor at LCR. The Commission welcomed him on board. Comm. Shimko asked where the funding was coming from for the position. Currently it is being paid from Mayor's Criminal Justice Council, but it has been included in the Department's next fiscal year budget request. The position reports to Janet Medina and Johnny Miller.

  3. Highlights of the month
  4. The Chief reported that a number of people (youth, parents, and staff) were taken to a Giants game on Sept. 12th. On the 16th, the Vocational Programs for YGC held an Open House to show their new computer learning/GED facilities. Comm. Jackson-Drake commended John Knox and the Vocational Programs, and mentioned the certificate given to the Juvenile Probation Commission for their support of the programs.

  5. Emerging Issues/upcoming events

On Oct. 16th there will be a Juvenile Probation family day picnic/softball game, being organized by probation officers. On or about the second week of Nov. there will be a discussion held at LCR regarding placement alternatives.

Comm. Julian asked if there were any highlights to the statistics. The Chief said that the population is being kept below capacity, by constant attention to expediting the processing and release of youth from detention.

Comm. Hale asked about the comparison of cases of CYA referrals, among the nearby counties, and why SF's commitments are low (due to the wider use of local alternative resources?). Also, how does SF compare to other counties in regards to out of state placements? No answer was available at the time.

Comm. Arámburo asked about the AWOL from the hall. Medina explained that it was a delinquent return from a weekend home pass. The youth is back now. Comm. Julian asked about the recent stabbing death of a 14 yr old in the Mission district. The Chief said that the youth was being worked with through the CARC programs (sic) at Everett Middle School, but was not a ward of the courts.

Comm. Dupré said that he had heard from a group of people from the Western Addition, which had recently visited, Log Cabin Ranch (LCR) commended the staff and work being done there. Comm. Shimko also said some colleagues of hers had spoken highly of their visit to LCR.

The Chief commended Johnny Miller for all the work being accomplished.

Comm. Arámburo referred to materials given to the Program Committee, which showed the extent of programs going on in LCR. (copies will be given to the other commissioners.)

4. Discussion/Action Items:

  1. TANF Expenditure Plan for FY 98-99 and FY 99-00

The Chief asked to table this item until the November Commission meeting.

Side discussion: scheduling the Nov Commission meeting to other than the day before Thanksgiving, possibly the week before (Nov. 17).

b Update by the American Justice Institute and Crime and Justice Research Institute, on the implementation of the Program Development Evaluation System (ProDES)

Chief Williams reported that the Department held a meeting with the Executive Steering Committee regarding the progress to date, and providers to get their feedback on things. Another discussion will take place Friday at the regular providers meeting.

Deborah Alvarez-Rodriguez of the Dept of Children, Youth and Families, offered various resources through her office.

Dr. Trish Oberweiss passed out a document and explained what it showed. She further reported that they have had discussions with the Intensive Home Based Supervision programs (IHBS), and a summary report of that is available. The TANF programs have been interviewed and a report will be done on that, and a 3rd group, the non IHBS programs will be next to be interviewed. She will look into what YGC's MIS has in place and will go to Philadelphia to look at the ProDES operations there (this will take the next few months). Some of the issues coming out in the initial inspections are how to deal with the difference between adjudicated and non adjudicated youth, since there are different needs between them.

Dr. Harris said that already they know the program needing to be instituted here is different than the one in Philadelphia. There are different informational needs for SF vs Philadelphia so that the final product is not the ProDES program, but something else (so it should utilize a different name than ProDES).

Some major differences. ProDES is not designed as a case management support service. Population demographics are different between SF and Philadelphia. There are different indicators that are showing up also. In SF interpersonal communications is showing strongly (between peers, youth vs school, youth vs parents) -anger management, strong interaction with peers, as reported by service providers. The cultural complexity of SF exceeds that of Philadelphia, so the interpretation of the information will have to be sensitive to that.

Comm. Dupré reported that he met with the Community Substance Abuse Services of SF and they are excited about talking to the Chief about partnering with the Department.

Comm. Hale asked about inclusion of information regarding the quantity and quality of contacts with parents and families. Ans: there are only quantitative inferences, no qualitative references. There are some consumer satisfaction surveys done and information from those is cycled back to different interested parties.

The Chief mentioned that this new system will have to be able to provide information not just about the youth in the system, but about the victims, and the community also, if the Department is going to be able to see how the impact of Balanced and Restorative Justice plays out in the future. The Chief said that there should be some results available in yr 2001-2 and 2002-3 that prove the programs are working, which will be needed when TANF funding comes to an end and there needs to be replacement funds found.

Comm. Julian asked if the parents interviewed by the program are representative of the total parent pool. Yes.

5. Public Comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile

Probation Commission. none

6. Unfinished business none

  1. New business
  2. Comm. Julian mentioned that he asked the Chief for information regarding Gov Wilson's juvenile crime initiative, which will be on the Nov. ballot. He asked the Chief to also provide that information to the rest of the Commissioners.

    The Chief commented that it is a basically ‘get tough' on juvenile crime bill, and stands a good chance of passing.

    Comm. Shimko asked for a copy of the Probation Officers' position paper on this legislation.

    Comm. Chuck mentioned AB 235 which is another bill dealing with youth violence, and sets up two commissions related to it. The Chief had no further information on this bill.

    The Chief brought up Proposition G, on the SF ballot, which further exposes city government to public view, down to the level of administrative processes (eg. department meetings, inter departmental meetings, documents for reviewing RFPs). The discussion centered on whether it was a furtherance of good open government or a hammer over the orderly processes.

    Comm. Dupré expressed his pleasure with the discussion held in Program Committee the day before, where it appears to be a number of resources ready and able to extend themselves to furthering the programs and services for LCR. Comm. Arámburo also said that she was encouraged by the discussion and commended Comm. Dupré for inviting the 4-H representatives.

    Comm. Julian reported that he and Comm. Hale will be meeting with a representative from Recreation and Parks to discuss issues brought up in the Commission retreat. He invited any input from other commissioners.

    Comm. Chuck said that there will need to be a Facilities Committee meeting set up.

    Comm. Hale reported that at the next Program Committee meeting, there will be a discussion with Beacon Centers, as there is an investment of Department funds in their operations. He also reminded the commissioners that their ideas and energy dealing with the La Honda sites (LCR, HVR) is always welcomed.

  3. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 6:54 pm.