City of Galveston Families, Children and Youth Board
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City of Galveston Families, Children and Youth Board First Annual Report December 2002 Policies & Procedures History Membership List Table of Contents Section A Mission Statement Calendar of Board Meetings Section B Annual Report Appendix A Abbreviated History Appendix B Policies & Procedures Appendix C “What’s Up Galveston?!” Appendix D Mini-meetings feedback Appendix E One-year and five-year Goal forms Section C MEMBERSHIP Voting Members Alternates Community Consultants Ex-Officio Members City Staff What To Do When You… Procedures To Follow… MISSION STATEMENT TO PROMOTE THE PHYSICAL, ACADEMIC, PSYCHO SOCIAL AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF ALL FAMILIES, CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN THE CITY OF GALVESTON FCYB Calendar 2003 January 7 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 14 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. February 4 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 11 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. March 4 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 11 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. April 1 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 8 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. May 6 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 13 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. June 3 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 10 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. July 1 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 8 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. August 5 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 12 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. September 2 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 9 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. October 7 Board Meeting Old Central Cultural Ctr 4:30-5:30 p.m. 14 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. November 4 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 11 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. December 2 Board Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. 9 Executive Meeting Rosenberg Library 4:30-5:30 p.m. CITY OF GALVESTON FAMILIES, CHILDREN AND YOUTH BOARD FIRST ANNUAL (INTERIM) REPORT DECEMBER 2002 MISSION STATEMENT TO PROMOTE THE PHYSICAL, ACADEMIC, PSHYCHO SOCIAL AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF ALL FAMILES CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN THE CITY OF GALVESTON CREATION On November 8, 2001 the Galveston City Council unanimously passed Resolution No. 01- 057 to establish the City of Galveston Families, Children and Youth Board (COG FCY) to promote communication and collaboration among volunteers, agencies and organizations, both governmental and non-governmental. The purpose of the FCY Board is to target families, children and youth concerns identified as important and urgent and develop possible strategies/solutions for City Council’s consideration. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The City of Galveston Families, Children and Youth Board of Directors gratefully acknowledge the generous time, energy and guidance provided by City Council members and City staff in its first year of operation. With their assistance, the COGFCY Board has experienced a year of steady growth. There have been four parallel tracks in which the group placed much energy. First, the COGFCY Board needed to learn how to operate efficiently within a city board structure. Second, it needed to become knowledgeable about city services. Third, the Board needed to learn what citizens believed to be important in improving the lives of families, children and youth on the Island. Finally, the Board demonstrated it could collaborate with City Hall by supporting the City Grants Department with a RFP for Technical Assistance to benefit Galveston youth. Thanks to prior help of many community volunteers (Appendix A), the City of Galveston Families Children and Youth Board was ready to adopt Policies and Procedures for presentation by Marilyn Soloway, By-Laws Chairman, and her Committee at the first organizational meeting (Appendix B). Another important order of business was to work with the City on confirming Board appointments prior to the Board’s confirmation; thereafter, Nominating Chairman Bing Skyiepal and the Committee met bi-monthly to review and fill un-expired terms of members. The first track the Board pursued was to learn to function efficiently like other City boards. The COGFYC Board established its guidelines for officer duties, committee work, City Hall and community commitments. Therefore, it was able to take action as an efficient unit in a short period of time. The City Codes and the COGFYC Policies and Procedures helped the volunteers’ ability to serve the community. The Legal Department, composed of Suzi Green and Mike Miller, plus the City Secretary Staff including Charlye Wright, Terry Williams and Barbara Lawrence were of invaluable assistance in helping the Board function smoothly. A second track the Board followed was educating its membership about City services and needs. During the twelve (12) month period beginning November 8, 2002, ten (10) speakers addressed the Board on various topics: City Board Responsibilities - Mayor Roger Quiroga, Barbara Lawrence Immunization Coalition - Ruth Finkelstein Children’s Report Card - Dan Freeman “Leave No Child Behind” Legislation - Dr. Ben Raimer Ambulance Services - Steve LeBlanc and Greg Kunkel Emergency Management Coordinator - Eliot Jennings Grant Office - Sterling Patrick and Alice Law Testicular Cancer Awareness Month - David Matthews Early Child Care and Quality Education - Dr. Karen Smith DeFeet Breast Cancer Campaign- Dolly Warren The third track of the COGFCY Board was to identify concerns considered important by community groups. First, the Board went through several processes to identify and rank problems it saw as important and changeable. This helped the Board to identify “task force” study themes, chairmen and committee members. The challenge for the Board was to effectively measure its concerns and those of Galvestonians. Thus, the COGFCY Board sponsored seven (7) mini meetings throughout Galveston called “What’s Up Galveston?!” Mini Meetings (Appendix C). The purpose was to gather citizen concerns about improving the lives of families, children and youth. The seven meetings were hosted at public schools within each Councilman’s District and were conducted in Spanish and English. Task Force Chairman and Group Facilitator Kathy Tiernan encouraged citizen feedback. Her excellent crew of volunteer recorders transcribed community remarks for future evaluation by the Task Force Committee. BESTT students provided childcare and ANICO donated food for the children. Speedy’s Kwik Kopy donated the paper supplies to publicize the event. Local businesses donated door prizes for each session. Peter Davis designed the art and logo for the mini meetings, “Point Us In The Right Direction”. The community gatherings were coordinated among fifteen (15) Board volunteers, six (6) facilitators, eighteen (18) GISD staff volunteers, seven (6) City Council members, the Mayor and sixty-two (62) Ball High BESTT students and their sponsor, Leah Rae Marchand. There were one hundred ninety three (193) citizens who attended the meetings and returned response cards. More than one hundred forty three (143) children participated in child care while their parents met to discuss community issues. Discussion occurred at seven (7) public school sites. These public schools included Alamo, Austin, Oppe, L.A. Morgan, Central, Ball High, and Weis. Approximately one hundred twenty (120) citizens also completed cards at the Island Community Center Coats for Kids Drive and Galveston College. Feedback was provided on the following questions: 1. What do you like best about Galveston for its families, children, and youth? 2. What do you like least about Galveston for its families, children and youth? 3. What do you want in the future to make Galveston a better place for its families, Children, and youth? Preliminary results of the focus groups revealed that there are four cluster areas of concern including health, education, safety, and city infrastructure. Most, if not all of the remarks, fell into these categories. The Task Force Committee will refine the issues to prevent overlap in study. Generally, the feedback revealed that Galvestonians were concerned about the opportunity for safe and affordable recreation for children and families. Citizens also wanted street improvements to address flooding. This tied to a general interest to provide affordable housing and to maintain and improve job opportunities for blue-collar workers. Comments were also given on ways to strengthen the ties between families and schools (Appendix D). The next step in the mini meeting process will be to host a City Summit in Spring 2003 to accomplish two things: provide (a) feedback to the public on the results of the fall mini meetings and (b) request families to prioritize their top issues for the Board to study. Thoughtful study and deliberations through the Task Force Committee and the full COGFCY Board should provide useful suggestions for City Council’s consideration. The fourth track the COGFCY Board followed was to use the Resource Committee to assist the Grant Department and the City of Galveston in its application to the National League of Cities Municipalities RFP for Technical Assistance to promote youth participation in strengthening a community. This initiative served as a model for community collaboration by demonstrating that volunteers could be of help to the Grant Department of City Hall by gathering data and information sharing. The City Grants Department was notified on November 14, 2002 that Galveston was one of ten cities selected for Technical Assistance! While the COGFCY Board had a very productive year, it has experienced challenges as a neophyte board. Most of the time it was fun; other times it was cumbersome. Some of the hurdles the volunteers experienced related to Board operations: With regard to the FCY Board structure, the volunteers had to learn to follow city regulations regarding posting of meetings, quorums, and attendance records.