ROCK
‘N ROLL MEETING
Reshaping
Our Community Justice with Knowledge, Reform, Optimism,
Latitude & Love
Thursday, March 28, 2002
AmeriCorps Office
Attendees:
Khia Donahue (Youth Prevention Specialist), Michelle Maike (Evaluation
Consultant/Praxis), David Lewis (Volunteer Mentor), Casey Cordery (Volunteer
Mentee), Zac Addleman (Family Planning of Clallam County Youth Mentor), Laurel
Back (Area Manager NW Services Council), Bev Ludwig (CASA), Susan Alexander
(LEAP), Jody Moss (PDRC), Shari Ramsey (Guest), Gena Royal (WSU/4-H), Sylvia
Orth (Evergreen Family Village), Christy Maloy (AmeriCorps Member)
Presentation:
Shari Ramsey
(singer/song writer) presented an idea about hosting an Outdoor Benefit Concert. Flyer
information is as follows: A
group of volunteers from the community is “proposing an Outdoor Benefit
Concert with tickets to be donated to local non-profit organizations assisting
in health, recreation and well-being of children and families.
Organizations receiving tickets would keep all proceeds from their
ticket sales. Although ticket
prices will be printed on the tickets, each organization may use their own
discretion to set the sale prices. The printed ticket prices is estimated at $20.00/each.
The benefit concert is tentatively planned for late-May,
although this may conflict with the Juan de Fuca Festival and your input and
feedback is appreciated. The site
has yet to be determined, suggestions are welcome.
Donations are being sought from local businesses to provide
refreshments, flowers, decorations and prices for the contest/raffle winners.
Additionally, community support for stage venue, sound logistics,
promotions etc. would be appreciated.”
Shari would be the primary performer providing her talent free of
charge. She said she performs a
wide variety of music styles and she would have a table with her CD’s for
sale. For further information or
suggestions, please contact Shari at: sharierose@hotmail.com.
Laurel Back –
Northwest Services Council & AmeriCorps: Laurel coordinates both the Northwest Services Youth Program
and the AmeriCorps Program here in Clallam County.
She broke her presentation up into two parts.
1)
Northwest Services Council:
Is a non-profit agency which sponsors the Youth
Program through a grant under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).
The Youth Program is a free service to eligible youth to help them
succeed in school, plan a career and find a job.
Previously, the programs primary focus was on life skill development
(checkbook, shopping, employment skills) but about two years ago through the
sponsorship of WIA the focus of the program has shifted toward more of an
educational focus. Although the
program still works on job preparedness, the primary focus is on education.
They have just embarked on a new scholarship program which gives youth an
allowance of $50.00 every two weeks if they stay in school, are on time, get
good grades and refrain from drug/alcohol use (monitored through U/A’s if
necessary). Laurel has presented
the program to several of the schools throughout Jefferson and Clallam County
and they are very supportive. The
schools will make referrals of appropriate “at-risk” youth and are glad to
have another tool available to keep kinds in school, keep them focused and
motivated.
The target date for the start of the program is for the second semester, after
Spring Break. Requirements for
getting on the program include 1) kids must be referred by the school by the
designated representative, 2) screening criteria by NW Services to include a
combination of the following barriers: pregnant/parenting,
offender status, fired from previous employment, lacks employment, receiving
food coupons, and between the age range of 14-19.
Also available are Learning Incentives
Scholarships for youth enrolled in school.
These incentives include: testing
out at 10th grade competency/$100 for each category, money for
graduating or getting diploma ($1-200), GPA between 3-4.0 up to $150.00.
Referral forms will be available through the schools. Laurel will send out information as soon as the program is
finalized. NW Services Council
staff would like feedback from the community as to how it works with youth
referred so please let them know what you think if you know youth who
participate in the program.
Jody Moss mentioned the STAR program
going on at the middle schools for youth flunking more or one class.
The youth are asked stay late or come to school early and work in the
library until they get caught up. This
might be a good group of youth to focus or connect with for future referrals.
Middle School Principals are Chuck Lisk (Stevens) & Brad Boudreau
(Roosevelt).
Other NW Services Projects: Lincoln
School Project: Partnership
between the Historical Society, Carpenters Union and NW Services.
NW Services provides the youth and pays for them to get the education
and carpentry training. At the
end of 12 weeks, the youth are totally prepared to get join the Carpenters
Union. The program is just
gearing up to start again this year. 12
youth (18-21) will be selected and begin working the 12th of April.
As there are not a lot of carpentry jobs available on the Peninsula,
youth are encouraged to spread their wings and challenge themselves to look to
other locations for employment and see what else is out there.
Last year, two youth traveled out of state and are working full-time.
SKY: Partnership between Choice School, Pacific NW Trails Assoc.
and NW Services. Youth receive
classroom training in Science and Math and are trained in tools and equipment
on how to build trails. The
program includes a week of living out in the woods as a group while they
worked on the construction of a trail out of the old railroad bed. The plan is to eventually build the trail across three
states. This has been a wonderful
experience for the youth who have participated.
Work Experience:
Youth come to NW Services Council and are set up to participate in a
work experience program. NW Services pays the wages and the agency provides mentorship
and training.
2)
AMERICORP: AmeriCorps
was started by Pres. Clinton and was his version of Peace Corps.
The program was created so that people would have an opportunity to do
Community Service Work here in our communities at home.
For a number of years it was not real popular with the overall
Republican party. It wasn’t
clear if funding was going to be renewed when Pres. Bush took office however,
he has been completely supportive of National Service and is definitely a
supporter of AmeriCorps asking the nation at large to commit to at least 2
years of volunteer service in your lifetime.
“AmeriCorps is a nation service program that allows people of all ages and
backgrounds to earn help paying for education in return for a year of service.
AmeriCorps members meet community needs with services that range from
housing renovation to child immunization to neighborhood policing.
The Clallam AmeriCorps members serve as tutors and mentors to
struggling learners. AmeriCorps
members commit to eleven months of service.
In return, each member receives a modest living allowance, student loan
deferment, health insurance, child care (if eligible) pre-service and on-going
training and a $4725 post-service educational award for full-time service.
“
Projects operating throughout Clallam County include tutoring/mentoring in the
following locations:
·
Three elementary schools, and Choice & Connections (the
alternative high school and middle school) in the Port Angeles School District
·
Housing Authority residents
·
Healthy Families’ Development Center/ Therapeutic Daycare in
Port Angeles
·
North Olympic Youth Center – Tempest
·
Elementary schools and Sequim Community School in the Sequim
School District
·
Rainshadow Foundation in Sequim
·
Crescent School in Joyce
·
Quillayute Valley School District in Forks
·
Quileute Tribal School on the Quileute Reservation in LaPush
AmeriCorps members work with approximately 150
kids a year in tutoring and 150 kids a year in mentoring and have successfully
over-achieved! Currently recruits
total 25 FTE’s (full-time equivalent) and two part-time FTE’s.
People are selected from within and outside the community.
They must be able to pass a criminal background check, be at least 18
years of age, participate in an interview process, and attend approximately
three weeks of training. AmeriCorps Volunteers also do community projects
throughout the year. They
organize projects around MLK day and Make a Difference Day, and are working on
a project for Earth Day involving beach clean-up activities.
Any time you have service projects that you need more hands with please
contact the AmeriCorps office as volunteers have to accrue 1700 hours in
Community Service Work to get their education award.
They are always looking for more opportunities, so please #457-6202.
Gena Royal introduced Christy Maloy, their new AmeriCorps working at WSU/4-H
office – Yeah Christy! WSU/4-H
just got a little bit of money for an after-school program and they will be
working with Christy on developing that program.
She is doing a wonderful job so far and they are very happy to have her
there.
Project
Updates:
Jody Moss reported that the Restorative Justice Mediation Program survived the state budget
crisis and is still here – yeah!! There
is a need for more mediators – basic training usually scheduled each fall.
They are offering a RJ refresher 3-hour training.
The mediation process includes 2 neutral volunteer mediators who are
trained to facilitate a meeting between two parties in a non-judgmental
format. Our traditional justice model is designed to shame
“offenders” for their behavior. The
goal of Restorative Justice is to get that person face-to-face with the other
person and allow them to say I’m sorry and to find out what the impact to
that other person really was. Jody
recalls one incident regarding a graffiti charge where the offender learned
how it impacted the family. During
this process the victim stopped vilifying the offender and the offender gained
a better understanding of the impact.
Restitution Fund:
Also survived the budget crisis and funding will continue to support
this partnership between Juvenile Services and WSU/4-H Office.
Gena Royal reported that the youth are enthusiastically working on the
development of a drama club with Tempest.
More information to come…
Resource Guide:
A small group of us are working with the Department of Health &
Human Services (HHS) on finishing the “Youth Yellow Pages” or Resource
Guide (we haven’t named it officially yet).
HHS is interested in offering some financial support as soon as we have
a final draft ready. Barbara Ward, Joyce Watkins and Jody Jacobsen are working on
getting this ready and hope to present it to JoAnne Dille, the new Director of
HHS, later this month.
Mentoring:
Jody Jacobsen attended the National Mentoring Summit on March 6-8, in
Seattle. Again, in light of the
budget situation, it has not been clear as to the continuation of this program
but it too has survived the cuts. We
have four new recruits scheduled to attend the training facilitated by Cookie
Kalfur and Jody. Also, the
in-service training regarding ADD/ADHD fell through so if you know of anyone
who would be willing to coordinate a training for us, please let Jody know. We are attempting to schedule an in-service training on
Listening Skills and will have that information available shortly.
Teen Court:
There will only be one Teen Court hearing in April due to scheduling
conflicts. We are preparing to
lose a number of our very experienced volunteers this summer as they leave for
college, however, we have several volunteers who are beginning their second
year with Teen Court and the newer recruits are doing a great job.
Still have only had one diverted offender fail to complete the Teen
Court conditions.
Other Updates:
The Grim Reaper
Program was presented today to the Junior & Senior Class at the Port
Angeles High School. The
presentation is part of an anti-drinking and driving program. Yesterday youth were taken out of the classroom every 15
minutes, put in a black robe and white face and represented a death when
returned to the classroom. One
teen is killed every 12 minutes in a drug related accident nationally.
2 kids were selected to have their families visited by police officers
and funeral home directors. Children
and parents both wrote letters to each other as if they had been killed.
One gentleman was there who had lost 2 children to drunk driving that
addressed the group. A crashed car and body outline were displayed out in front of
the high school all week. The
idea was to do the presentation before spring break.
It was a very emotional program and during the debrief afterward
several youth were visually impacted and provided positive feedback about the
effectiveness of the program.
Bev Ludwig reported that
the Serenity House has a Homeless
Youth Task Force and their primary focus right now is to get food out to
the homeless youth in the county. They
are working to have agencies get a permit for a campfire and have hot dogs
etc.. on the weekends. They hope
to start in May. It is estimated
that there are approx. 200 homeless youth in Port Angeles.
Many of our kids fit the definition of homeless but they
“couch-surf” and float around from friend to friend so they don’t
consider themselves homeless and are not out on the streets.
Meetings take place on the last Tuesday of each month beginning at 2:30
at Evergreen Family Village.
Upcoming
Events:
Attention Deficit and Co-morbid Disorders:
“Mental Health professionals and educators who wish to more
effectively manage and treat children, adolescents and adults with
ADD/ADHD”.
May 16th, 2002, The
Inn at Gig Harbor. Registration fee $139.00.
For more information please
call #1-800-397-0180.
Family Mediation Training: Sponsored
by Peninsula Dispute Resolution Center, May 17th – 19th,
2002, Tri-Area Community Center, Chimacum, WA.
This is a 20-hour advanced mediation training to help mediators
understand both legal and emotional stages for families that are experiencing
divorce or separation. Topics include: The
Legal Process of Dissolution, Calculating Child Support and Maintenance,
Property Settlement, and Parenting Plans; Emotional Aspects of Divorce; and
What Children Need. For more
information call #452-8024.
Methamphetamine Conference: June
26th & 27th, 2002, 9-4:00 PM each day.
Sponsored by Clallam & Jefferson County.
More registration information to follow.
Event
Volunteer Appreciation Dinner!!
Wednesday, April 24th, 6:00-8:00 PM
Vern Burton
Community Center
Port Angeles, WA 98362
Next Meeting
Wednesday,
May 23rd, 4:00-5:00 PM
Tentative Presentation: YMCA Teen
Scene/Teen Court
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