2.

(ACTION) Review and approval of July 27, 2005  minutes, March 16, 2005 Program Committee minutes, Nov. 18, 2004 Finance Committee minutes.

All minutes were approved as written

(public comments)
there were none.

3.

Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission

There were none.

4.

(DISCUSSION) Chief Probation Officer’s report:

The Chief reported that he did a “sleep over” in Juvenile Hall, so he was able to observe 3 successive shifts. He commented that even if a young person came from a solid and caring background, the experience of being in juvenile hall does make one feel that you are alone, with no connection to an outside world, and can feel very traumatic.  He is convinced that we need engaging, advocacy services and programs to develop competencies in the youth so they don’t pass through the doors again

• report on Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
• report on Dept budget status
• report on Juvenile Hall replacement project
• report on Juvenile Probation Dept. Public Relations Committee

       Garry Bieringer gave a short report on demographics of detainees at the door.

      Numbers of girls decreasing, numbers of AAs increasing, 1 out of 4 come from 94124 zip, robbery is the most frequent offense, 26% in June.  He reported that attention is being paid to special detention cases, and admissions overrides are being more consistently reviewed by a supervisor.

      The Chief commented that many of the robberies are for 12-13 yr olds, using knives to rob adults.  He said that the kids run a parallel exposure to the child welfare system.

      Mark Lui reported that the 04-05 budget year deficit of $1.5 mil, was closed out in balance from reduction in WC, increasing inter-dept recoveries, reductions in payments to CYA, reduction in materials and supplies and work orders, and an additional $1 mil. In revenue given to the Dept by the Controller. This resulted in a $1 mil surplus, but he doesn’t know if it can be carried over.  He will ask.  Comm Fetiçō asked for a copy of the close-out doc. (showing what was done to balance), and also a breakout on CYA payments.  Comm Ricci also asked for details on the close-out.

      the Chief reported that the project director from DPW has notified us that there are no more funds

      budgeted for project modifications.

      Liz Jackson-Simpson reported that they have had a couple of meetings, took a tour of the new juvenile hall facility, discussed the “wall of fame” –a wall that will show significant individuals who worked with youth they’ll meet again in Sept to continue talking

      Comm Hale said he had wanted them to investigate what it would take to name a space /building for Cheyenne Bell.  Refer to City Attorney; initiate the process to actualize this.

      Comm. Ricci said she agreed that it should be inclusive of all those who deserve recognition for their work with young people.

      Comm. Rodriguez said the directive was to find out how to get it done. (name for Cheyenne)

(public comments)
There were none.

5.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Update on Log Cabin Ranch, with a report from the Mayor's Committee on Log Cabin Ranch.                                         
Comm. Queen said that it was not confirmed that someone from the Mayor’s committee would come to make a report, even though they were invited.  He reported that at their last meeting, they were still in the process of revising and finalizing their report, so nothing has been made public yet.

Comm. Hale expressed his disinterest in reading what the committee had to say.  Comm Queen said that it was made clear to the committee that the report would come before the Commission for their comments, and go to the community. Maybe by the next meeting there would be something to discuss.                                   
(public comments)
Greg Gordon, PO, felt that there should be a dress policy at Log Cabin Ranch to give it other than the “reformatory” look of the youth wearing white T’s and jeans. Make it look more like a school, so when the youth come out they have a sense of “proper” dress for success.

6

(DISCUSSION/ACTION)  Discussion of possible scenarios, mechanisms for continuing with evaluation analysis of CBO services outcomes.

Comm. Ricci reviewed that Liz Jackson-Simpson commented that they now lacked the ability to analyze the data that will be collected on the CBO contracts/services, since the PrIDE project is no longer funded.  Comm Ricci felt that something needed to be done to assure our ability to assess effectiveness of community services for our youth.  She was also concerned that the plan to train the Dept staff to take over PrIDE, which was to prepare for just such an event, the de-funding of the contractor, wasn’t done.  L.Jackson-Simpson said that the analysis was always going to remain with out outside contractor.  Comm. Ricci said we need to make sure such a situation doesn’t happen again, so conditions in the contracts should guarantee the dept be prepared to take over at such times.

She suggested the commission form an ad hoc committee, with the Chief and his designees to explore what analytical tools and who could be enlisted to perform this task.

Comm. Stiglich asked how CBOs dealt with complaints by their clients?  Liz said that CBOs are required to have a system/policy for dealing with grievances.

(public comments)
there were none

7.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION) Presentation by community representatives on issues of community needs, and community-driven, district based planning strategies, with possible recommendations for future actions.

Comm Queen thanked George Smith and the Ella Hill Hutch Ctr for hosting this meeting, and the audience for attending. He welcomed Supervisor Mirkarimi, who spoke about the need for greater attention to his district, by a phalanx of city agencies and community groups, to find answers for jobs, housing, violence, school closings, and an avalanche of individual problems. He spoke of the need to see things in their inter-relationships and multifaceted character, and expressed his support for district based planning, asking for more of the community to be at the table.

Mike Brown, OMI commented that not enough attention is paid to the OMI district, and that the only youth facility (the Beacon Ctr) serves middle school aged youth.  They need more. They need vocational programs.  Comm Queen informed him that the next commission meeting would be held in the OMI and hoped that he would come and speak again.

George Smith, Dir. Ella Hill Hutch Ctr, welcomed everyone, and lamented that it was a struggle to try and keep programs and services going in the Western Addition (giving an example of a gang prevention grant that they lost to another org. in Japantown). Mr Smith, who is Co-Chair of the District 5 planning consortium said he endorsed the concept of district based planning and was willing to participate in it.

Andrew Howard, OMI Beacon Ctr, former employee of Ella Hill Hutch, disagreed that Beacons were not serving an important population. This was the population that needed to be reached before they got involved in criminal activities.

Ben Bautista, Straightforward Club, also echoed the need for jobs for young people.

James Lancaster, Straightforward Club, a participant in their programs, who is soon graduating from college (in Alabama), spoke about the benefits of programs like theirs, which help train and mold youth, and how important it was to give back to the community.

Alfredo Bojorquez, Juvenile Justice Providers Network, supported the concept of district based planning and emphasized the need to include young people, their families and others involved with youth (school administrators, school resource officers) in the process so they are part of the solution and not perceived as part of the problem.  He responded to the question about CBOs’ grievance policies, describing their own.  He said a similar grievance policy for the Dept needs to be developed and publicized so that clients know what to expect and what can be done if dissatisfied.

Abu Kadir Amin, Iman, said that while it is essential that the community is involved in the front end of planning for interventions, they needed to be also involved in the follow up evaluation so they know what happened and can those lessons to future planning decisions. 

Abner Boles, Westside Community Mental Health, supported district based planning, and the naming of a facility for Cheyenne Bell, and offered the assistance of his organization in any way they can help on both counts.

Greg Gordon, PO, asked for expansion of the evening reporting centers to one in the Western Addition.

James Bryant, A. Philip Randolph Institute, thanked the Chief for the participation of several POs in their recent basketball tournament.

Kareem Mayfield, Straightforward Club, who will be turning pro (boxer) soon, spoke about the importance of groups like theirs that help develop youth character, discipline, and give them positive role models, and asked the Commission to consider supporting them.

Henry Medina, case manager, Instituto Familiar de la Raza, lamented that younger and younger kids are now involved in violent acts, and said there needs to be more funds to make more services available, but he personally didn’t know how to go about getting grants, and many orgs didn’t have people who could write for grants.

Comm Ricci informed Mr. Medina that she’d give some information to Dept staff about resources on the net that could go to to learn how to get grants. He should check with staff afterward.

L. Jackson-Simpson was asked about technical assistance that the Dept might give.  She said it would be a fine line beyond which the Dept might be in conflict (perceived as giving preferential treatment or other inequitable help) in an RFP process.

(public comments)

There were no others.

8.

(DISCUSSION) Committee reports, other reports

• President’s comments
• Program committee
• Finance committee

President Queen again thanked George Smith, community members in attendance, and said that the Commission was committed to becoming cognizant of the pulse of the communities in regards to juvenile justice, and will continue to seek their input. The next Commission meeting will be in the OMI, and quarterly retreats (open to the public) are planned, the next one coming in Sept.  He encouraged the community to keep coming and keeping the Commission informed.  He asked Comm Chuck to work with the Chief and L. Jackson-Simpson on identifying a workable evaluation program for CBO services.

Comm Rodriguez reported the main areas of discussion at the meeting (minutes available on JPC webpage), including arming some POs, better coordination between CBOs and POs on court reporting, and how to move forward on district based planning with regards to planning and contracting future services/programs. Comm Rodriquez commented that while they are not saying that the commission would change the policy on arming POs, they are willing to hold the discussion to hear all aspects and their implications.  Comm Queen commented that Comm Hale’s suggestion that POs get out to the community and become aligned with CBO staffs and community residents, so that they may derive more trust when they are out there. And CBO staff might accompany them to home visits.

The Chief made it clear that he is not supportive of arming POs, and does not see this as a direction he wants to move the Dept.  As for district based planning, it is a large topic and he will be seeking out the Commission President to discuss how to get a “handle” on it.

Comm. Fetiçō commented that it was the first of this year, and that the committee was still trying to get a handle on all the aspects of the Dept’s operations, to help establish better processes that will lead to more cost effective measures. The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 26.

(public comments)

Howard Smith said he was unhappy about the disproportionate funding of services/org that do not help “their” kids –ie. African American.

Director of Development of Huckleberry, commiserated with the speaker about the lack of funding but hoped that they could all work together to increase the amount overall.

Rev. Toni Dunbar suggested the Commission’s committees hold their meetings in the community also. She felt there needed to be a broad public education campaign on just what juvenile probation was doing and how to work through it (or know its inter relationships so that people could be referred to support services)  Comm Queen said that Comm Rodriguez had already suggested having committees hold meetings in the community and would be looking into the logistics of doing this.

Alfredo Bojorquez, Juvenile Justice Providers Network, referred to the issue of CBOs directing submitting reports to the courts and said that from past experience he has seen where CBOs submitting their reports to POs resulted in their comments being excluded from final report to the court, so they go by way of the court clerk, to insure that their opinions are considered. While this is allowed, there needs to be a standard protocol set up in the Dept to resolve the problem.

He also was against arming POs.

He mentioned that many CBOs who run programs that are not funded by Juvenile Probation still submit reports to POs about their wards. This helps the PO do their work, and is “extra” effort from the CBO.

Howard Smith again spoke about the disproportionate amount of money going to a CBO (Huckleberry Youth Services) that does not serve the majority of youth in the system.

Jimmy Loyce, Dept Public Health, said these issues heard at today’s meetings are not very different from those he heard as the first president of the Juvenile Probation Commission, 16 yrs ago. He encouraged the commission to be proactive and really bring some closure to some of them.

9.

Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission

Someone (unidentified) urged the Dept to set up transitional housing for youth.  This was a resource supported by the Dept a long while back (early 90s) but has been absent since.

10.

(ACTION)  Adjournment

Comm Rodriguez announced that Comm Queen was being honored (as he spoke) by El Tecolote Newspaper for being a long time community activist for the Mission district.

Comm Queen thanked everyone again for their honest and open expressions at the meeting.  He encouraged them to continue coming, to the next meeting and after, to be heard.

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 8:10pm