Meeting Information

Full_Commission

MINUTES OF JULY 24, 2002 REGULAR MEETING
held at City Hall rm 400 1 Dr. Carlton B Goodlett Place San Francisco, CA 94102

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 6:00pm Comms. Hale, Dupre, Chuck, Bonilla were present at the gavel. Comm. Richard arrived at 6:30pm
2.           (ACTION) Review and approval of June 26, 2002 meeting minutes
The minutes were approved as written. Comm. Richard had a concern that his comments were not recorded equally in the minutes as other Commissioners’ comments were, and that he hoped in all future minutes, all speakers would have equitable representation.
(public comments)
3. (DISCUSSION) Chief Probation Officer’s Report.
a.          Status report on Juvenile Hall Replacement Project
Chris Bigelow had nothing new to report.
Comm. Hale asked what was being done in keeping staff updated on this project. The Chief
          Said that they had not had a general meeting recently about it, but expect to have one around Sept. There are circulars posted around the building that announce various aspects of it.
b.          Update on FY 02-03 Budget Status
Mark Lui reported that the full Board met on Monday but had nothing new to report. They will be meeting again on the 29th and hopefully then the budget will be passed. The Budget Committee accepted Harvey Rose’s recommendations regarding the Dept’s budget. (cut in CYA contract -$75K; cut Sr. Counselor; cut in OT of $150K; but an increase of $250K in OT accepted; cut of Asst Director of LCRS; --the funds for that position were left in the budget, but not the position—the Dept will try to fill that position through some personnel actions to get the position back. Various positions from Juvenile Hall were cut, but they could change. Local 790 still in negotiations with the Mayor’s office on the “give back” and depending on how this turns out, there may be a chance to get back the Hall positions.
In regards to the current fiscal year budget, it appears that it will balance. There is still a balance of $50K but the Dept’s costs for STC training, could take $120K from the Dept before closing the books.
The Dept still has to pay CYA for commitments made this year, totaling $470K. Overall, the Dept should finish with a surplus.
Comm. Hale asked about impact from the cutting of the counseling positions. The Chief said that if the number of kids in the hall remain low, then maybe the loss of the positions will not affect us much.
Currently the Dept is working with Local 790 on setting alternative work schedules, in one unit, and it if works out, they may be able to do it throughout the hall.
(public comments)
Comm. Dupré asked about the utilization report, showing Instituto de Familiar de la Raza had 10 vacancies. Lonnie Holmes explained that there has been a recent dearth of referral of Hispanics, but a more recent tally would show probably half that number of vacancies. As for DDAP, their numbers do fluctuate up and down.
The Chief said that one of the groups working on the JDAI process is looking at how our providers could provide additional pre adjudication services to kids who would otherwise end up in Juvenile Hall.
Comm. Dupré asked about the stat showing that Western Addition was tied with Hunters Point for the second highest population of youth in juvenile hall. Was this a new trend? The Chief said that this is not new, or unusual.
4.           Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation
Commission.
There was none.
5.          (ACTION) Consideration and possible action on Program Committee’s recommendation regarding continuing support of the Dept’s general fund supported community based contractors
Comm. Hale asked to separate the individual contractors due to a conflict of interest in regards the Bayview Hunters Point Foundation grant. Comm. Richard reported that he had requested the contractors appear at this meeting so that all Commissioners would be able to hear what the contractors were doing., Comm. Bonilla
Asked that the contractors report how they track the academic achievement of the students they serve.
Liz Jackson-Simpson said that she wanted to use the process followed by the review of the TANF grants. She briefly reviewed what the programs were, mentioning that the various benchmarks for the programs were different for different programs. This assessment represents a snapshot of 6 mos of operation, and are self reports from the orgs, and an assessment by the Senior Analyst (Lonnie Holmes).
L. Holmes commented that most of the CBOs have been providing services to the Dept for nearly 10 years, and a strength is that they have had very little staff turnover, which adds to the success of the programs.
·          Community Youth Center
The strength of this program is its bilingual approach, and the stability of its staff. There were no outstanding questions.
·          Potrero Hill Neighborhood House
The program coordinator mentioned that the support for vehicle maintenance is a great help as she has to make many trips to serve the client base. As to academic progress, she mentioned some of the processes they use to try to keep up with the students’ progress. Enola Maxwell stressed the need to provide more health/mental services to youth.
Comm. Hale agreed that there needs to be better and wider coordination between youth service providers.
·          Vietnamese Youth Development Center
They have had no serious problems in their operations and look forward to continuing good results in the upcoming year. Comm. Dupré asked if they had noticed any trends in the population they were serving. Ans: parent involvement has been increasing over the years, and this is a very valuable resource.
·          Bayview Hunters Point Foundation
Currently there are 21 active cases, with a couple of new ones just referred. They are going to add another part time staff to aid in this program. Some examples of what they consider success for their participants. Any improvement over what previous behavior or achievement patterns were, is considered a success. Eg. a one grade point improvement, going to school a couple or a few hours a day more than they had been going, or more days a week than they had been going. Comm. Dupré asked if there is a trend emerging in the Bayview Hunters Point. Ans: yes, younger and younger kids are getting involved.
·          Morrisania West, Inc
A trend they see is that post Sept 11, the young people seem more serious. Maurice James stated that they are integrating this program more closely with their other program services.
·          Office of Samoan Affairs
They are working hard to pull more resources into their services so that they can better serve their clients. They are putting some of their cases into college programs to give them alternatives to their prior activities. They asked for consideration of an icrease to their grant amount.
Comm. Richard asked L.Holmes to respond about the results of curfew checks the organizations do. Has this been consistent and do the results show that clients are abiding by the restrictions?
Comm. Bonilla said that he was happy to hear that they were referring youth to city college. This is the type of result he was looking for. Comm. Dupré asked if there were any emerging issues in the Samoan community. Ans: there are younger girls becoming involved, and the insularity of the family structure doesn’t allow them to seek outside help.
·          Instituto Familiar De La Raza
They reported that they do weekly checks on the school progress of their clients. They pay attention to the academic programs their clients have to make sure they are attaining the required credits. This is especially true for the IEPs for special ed. students. What is a trend in their community? Lots of younger kids and many monolingual youths who are referred to them as pre adjudicated clients. Comm. Richard asked what a typical day is like. Ans: they have to be in touch with the family, the schools, the PO, the courts, and at any point may have to meet with one or more per day to discuss the client’s case. This is in addition to the direct meeting with the client and seeing them while they are participating in different services (eg. discussion groups) They are concerned for the safety of young girls due to sexual exploitation and growing web based activities.
·          CYO-San Francisco Boys’ & Girls Home
They work in conjunction with SFUSD’s Bay High School, until they return to their own homes and possibly get re integrated into a district high school. Sometimes, they may stay with Bay High. This year they have been providing more individual and family therapy for the youth (not funded by this contract). They have been trying to serve more girls with gender specific staffing and service. The contact between this org and the SFUSD staff is close so they are always on top of how the youth are doing at school. Comm. Richard asked how long the average stay is at the shelter Ans: 90 days to 5 mos. The extension beyond 90 days can be ordered by the PO or the Courts.
·          Ella Hill Hutch Community Center
They do a mentorship program and it is hard getting mentors because they want to know how much money they get. Comm. Dupré asked about emerging issues. Ans: young females involved in violence. They are supposed to serve 32 youth a year. He has 16-17 on his caseload at a time.
·          SF YWCA
They have been doing a good job in opening up the girls they work with to other life opportunities, eg. college, job options. They have been also doing photography workshops and this has been a very positive experience for the girls. Comm. Dupré asked about the site they work from. Ans: they have a good relationship with the new owners of their building so there is no problem with them continuing their work there.
Comm. Richard mentioned a program called Young Women for Growth, and suggested they touch base with them.
·          Detention Diversion Advocacy Program
No representative was in attendance.
·          Mission Neighborhood Center
No representative was present.
·          Huckleberry Youth Services
They work with status offenders on short term, crises intervention, counseling, with some referral services to other orgs.
Comm. Bonilla asked why DDAP and Mission Neighborhood Center were not present. L. Holmes said he’d get back to the Commission about that. Comm. Chuck asked if the staff had any thoughts regarding the changing characteristics of the populations being served by individual organizations. L. Holmes commented regarding the problems with gangs, the increased numbers of shootings, and other types of criminal activities demands that people redouble their efforts to steer young people away from such behavior. He said that we need to re look at the approaches we are using to address the problem. In responding to the question of curfew checks, he said that this is up to the discretion of the PO as to frequency and times to make the check.
Comm. Bonilla moved to approve the above continuing grants, with the proviso that DDAP and Mission Neighborhood Centers come to the next Commission to report.
Comm. Hale amended Comm. Bonilla’s motion to exclude Bayview Hunter’s Point Foundation, to be voted on separately. Comm. Richard made this motion.
The Chief clarified that the motion is to approve the grants up to the amounts recommended, dependent on funds availability.
After public comment, the question was called. By roll call vote, all Commissioners voted in favor of the motion.
Motion passed 5-0.
Comm. Dupré took the Chair to ask for a motion on Bayview Hunter’s Point Foundation grant. Upon motion, with second, a roll call vote was held and Comms. Dupre, Bonilla, Chuck, and Richard voted in favor of the motion. Comm. Hale abstained. The motion passed 4-0.
Comm. Dupré stated that he would like to see the longstanding CBO providers recognized in some way by the Dept.
Comm. Richard echoed this. He asked L. Holmes of the possibility of hosting a “mixer” for all the CBOs wherein such recognition could be made. He offered to help make this happen. He also said he wanted to come by all the CBOs to see what they are doing. Liz Jackson-Simpson thanked the Commission for the suggestion and agreed.
Comm. Chuck also agreed. He wondered if there were any ways the Dept/Commission could help get the word out to a wider public who might be interested in giving financial support to them. Comm. Hale thanked the CBOs for all their hard work.
(public comment)
A youth from Y-Mac stated that he was in support of the JDAI process. Comm. Hale said that it was important to have youth organizations like Y-MAC be active in the decision making process, but he also said that it is important that young people are provided with accurate information, so they are not misled and speaking from incorrect information. He is troubled that many of the young people are being manipulated and given mis information (Y-MAC not withstanding).
6.          (DISCUSSION) Report on the Log Cabin Ranch Comprehensive Plan - Donald Sanders & Liz Jackson Simpson
The Chief reiterated that at the last meeting, the Dept reported it would have a revised plan to be distributed by the August meeting, but this would be an overview of that.
D. Sanders reported that last year they had a 60% success rate, and this year so far they are at 0% recidivism. He said this was due to their community based, culturally competent, consumer guided programs. In revising the programs they have started a comprehensive assessment protocol, added counselors, social workers, substance abuse counselor, removed dead time. Liz Jackson-Simpson mentioned a prior program she was working with through a federal grant, which brings a multi disciplinary approach to working with the youth at LCRS. There is now such a team of workers who are working with the youth once they enter the ranch, and not just when they are ready to leave. The grant allocated $300K for the work at LCRS. The different resources they have at LCRS will also be available to the youth back in the community.
Comm. Richard asked what connection there is with Yo!SF and the ranch. Liz Jackson-Simpson explained that those grants are geographic specific. If a youth does not live within the boundaries of where those centers are located, then they are not eligible for those services.
7.           (DISCUSSION) Review of status of the Dept. anti-harassment policy/procedures for detained youth.
Cassie Coleman handed out a detailed flowchart of the harassment process. There has been ongoing research on the legal as well as logistical questions. The final document is hoped to be ready for discussion at the next Commission meeting (August). Comm. Hale said he is looking forward to a final product which encompasses and is consistent with all the legal issues involved.
(public comments) There was none.
8. (DISCUSSION) Committee Chair Reports
·          Program Committee: report on the discussions held in meeting of June 18, 2002
Comm. Richard said that the LCRS Advisory Committee met and will have its next meeting on July 31. He asked if R. Sanchez, the Chief, Asst. Chief, and D. Sanders to be present also. The other portion of the meeting was for the review of the CBO grants, but it was decided to allow the full Commission to hear the presentations in case they had any questions.
(public comments) There was none.
9. Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission
10.           (DISCUSSION) Announcements, requests for future agenda items.
·          Recognition from the California Board of Corrections, regarding Standards and Training for Corrections
The Chief read a letter from Bd of Corrections commending Cecile Erhemann for her work in maintaining the Dept’s compliance with the State’s STC training requirements. This acknowledgement also extended to Dennis Doyle’s assistance.
Comm. Richard reported that they were holding a 3 on 3 basketball tournament this weekend and would like the Chief to come out and hand out the awards. The Chief declined, saying he would be out of town. The Asst. Chief was asked to fill-in.
11.          (ACTION) Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:22pm. (meeting proceedings recorded by John Knox, YGC Vocational Programs)