Went to Ronald McDonald house for community service Choosing new officers Looking to do more community service

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1 Statewide YAB Meeting Minutes Welcome and Introductions Regions: Northeast Teambuilding picnic ½ day New members Elected new officers in Lehigh Valley Community Service List for whole year o Asked for opinions about what they want to do during first meeting o Second meeting narrow down choices and pick an event that we are going to do each month o Benefit walks Lukemia o Soup Kitchen volunteering o Christmas gift drive o Trick or Treat for foster youth Banquet for external members Lehigh County Northwest Met on August 25 th Family Services and Bethesda now partners in IL YAB will be developing tutoring program for youth in foster care at Bethesda Music Center mentoring/friendship with younger youth North Central Went to Ronald McDonald house for community service Choosing new officers Looking to do more community service Southeast Elected officers and alternatives Little Buddies event mentored Planned future meetings for the year 1

2 Brainstormed on social gatherings sports day, movie night, etc. South Central Meeting next week on 29 th Did community service event at Ronald McDonald s house made dinner for families Doing recruitment for new officers and representatives Southwest Not present at meeting YAB Business Updates Officer Elections o Each region must elect 4 officers and 4 alternates by November o Regions can choose how they elect their officers, e.g. each candidate gives speeches, asking them to lead part of a meeting, etc. o Officers that are currently officers can be elected for another year o Current officers will remain as officers until July 1, 2012 o Officers elected by November will be mentored by current officers until their official term starts in July newly elected officers are able to attend statewide YAB meetings and shadow current officers o All officers and alternates names and contact information must be sent to Janice Executive Committee o Each region should elect or appoint one youth officer and alternate to serve on the statewide YAB executive committee o As an executive committee member, youth help plan the statewide YAB meetings and make decisions in-between meetings o Executive Committee Members Northeast Demara Southeast Tatiana North Central Ashlee South Central Amanda Northwest undecided Southwest undecided Regional YAB Budgets o Each region has $2,000 to spend on YAB related activities o Agency IL money should be used first if available o Regions should plan for their needs and can use YAB funds to support community service projects, transportation to meetings, conference fees for youth, meals for meetings, etc. 2

3 o All regional YABs must follow the budget instructions for reimbursement and submit a budget to Janice every 3 months o Good to discuss at every regional YAB meeting Stipends o YAB members that present must fill out W9 forms in order to get paid o Be sure to include your correct social security number and the address where you want the check sent without this information of if it is the wrong information, your payment will be delayed o Stipend checks usually take between 4 and 6 weeks from the time they are processed YAB Website Ideas Update home page with new pictures, new retreat songs Have separate pages for each region highlight community service events and the goals/accomplishments for each region Search engine for the website to search the website Get google calendar for events and meetings puts it into a calendar format and can get more information on there Need different/prettier color scheme Create an index for the site Separate retreat from YAB site (may not be able to do because of domain name) Each regional YAB should have contact information for government representatives and other stakeholders (children and youth agency directors, county commissioners, etc.) Put youth officers of each region and contact information ask officers first if they are okay with being listed on the internet maybe also include pictures of officers Google maps/directions to usual meeting sites so people can just print directions YAB Impact Report Discussed YAB impact report and statistics Add percentages so you can tell how much of each audience group represents of the entire audience Add subjects of what people are presenting what are the highest attended presentations (we already collect this information and can add it into the report) Add types of presentations, i.e. community service events, panel presentations, advocacy meetings, etc. YAB YouTube Account Purpose get word out to different people including new YAB members, foster youth, stakeholders, people outside of the child welfare system Do a YAB orientation video Videotape a panel presentation 3

4 Would help with recruitment Lots of different projects that we could put together such as KYR (Know Your Rights), grievance procedure, fun stuff, etc. Alumni Participation Policy Discussed as presented and approved without any changes Family Connections and Next Steps Discussed report and recommendations Broke into small groups to discuss next steps and how to change policies Report Out: o Distribution ideas give it to all agencies and their programs, courts, legislators, etc. o Do Public Service Announcements use the internets o Distribute it to schools or on school bulletin boards, school social workers o Make personal videos related to recommendations sibling connections, and keeping family connections - discuss in video how it has helped them and what hasn t worked put on YouTube o Do as part of speaking engagements and trainings Sign Up Sheet Passed around o Have regional YABs as mentors to youth to help with policy recommendations o Cathy Utz presentation o Do community service events to spread the word o Writing letters to administrators, workers, judges, etc. o Do survey for all youth in care this can be presented to the court how many times do they visit, what do they talk about with them, what do they help with, etc. o Add penalties for caseworkers that don t visit Caseworker Quality and Next Steps Reviewed initial notes Next Steps o Communication o Being Reliable and consistent o Knows me and cares - important to build trust establish rapport o Turnover in caseworkers is a problem don t change caseworkers just because I m going to college or because of agency policies o Get more suggestions from youth and make sure that they know what the youth want and need o Caseworkers and how they discuss issues in court Action Step o Justin will send out final draft report to all regions 4

5 o o Regions will discuss report and come up with policy recommendations Policy recommendations will then be reviewed by statewide YAB and finalized YAB Orientation Northeast YAB does brief overview at YAB meetings, also does brief history of each project they are working on o Hands out brochure to youth Content o What exactly does the YAB do? Mission statement o Importance of YAB and that it is serious o Why was the YAB started? o Community service events and outreach helping people outside of child welfare system o How we try to change things for people? o Structure of YAB/by-laws o Talking to stakeholders, OCYF, courts, etc. Impact of who we talk to o Meetings are fun, friendly, and safe but still get stuff done o YAB is voluntary o Highlight things we ve already accomplished Projects o YouTube o Brochure o In person presentations o Facebook/Twitter o Podcasts o Speaking engagements o TV/Radio college radios o Open House Other Business/Ideas Reach out to other YABs in other states to see how they do work and how we can partner o Action Step invite Oregon s youth advisory board and the California Youth Connection to our next meeting via Skype Present to legislators and governor s office Short-film documentary Next Meetings 11/29/11, 1/19/12, 4/19/12, Leadership Event June

6 Action Plan Action Step Elect Regional Officers and alternates Appoint/Elect Executive Committee Members and alternates (1 officer, 1 alternate per region) Person/Region Responsible Due Date Notes All Regional YABs 11/29/11 Send contact information and final officers/alternates to Janice All Regional YABs 11/29/11 Send contact information and final executive committee members/alternates to Janice Send YAB website ideas to YAB website manager for consideration Revise YAB Impact Report Create and post YAB Act 101 Video to YouTube Create YAB orientation video Review and revise YAB presentations to include information from Family Connections report Develop policy recommendations based on focus groups about Caseworker Quality Invite Oregon Youth Advisory Board and California Youth Connection to join next YAB meeting via WebEx Janice Coplin 9/30/11 Have website updated with changes by next YAB meeting if possible Justin Lee 10/14/11 Send out to YAB and post on website when finished Justin Lee Joel Miranda Amanda Colin Al 10/14/11 Start YAB YouTube account send to all of YAB, stakeholders, Facebook, etc. TBD 11/29/11 Post on YouTube account when finished Justin, Amanda, 11/29/11 Review and approve at Antonio, Sara, Braheem YAB meeting try to Dayvina, Missy, Colin, present to a live Tatiana, Ashlee, audience before Chardene, Demara, meeting if possible Glenn Justin sends draft report to Regional YABs Regional YABs create recommendations Justin YAB Executive Committee Janice 10/1/11 Justin sends draft report Approve final version of report at 11/29/11 YAB meeting 11/29/11 Regional YABs recommendations 10/1/11 Janice researches how to have them join via WebEx from different locations 6