Date:  

September 15, 2005

Facilitator:  Maureen Cary

Location:

3 Blue Streak Blvd., 2^nd floor, School District Administrative Offices

Recorder: Robin Ambrosino

Attendees:

Robin Ambrosino, Kelley Bayer, Lori Beer, Jim Bell, Stacy Bold, Maureen Cary,
Kari Cushing, Becky Dixon, Judy Ekman, Gary Forward, Roberta Goliber,
Dianne Greene, Elizabeth Herlihy, Stephanie Lang, Mike Laudicina, Tim Moon,
Karen Pettigrew, Brenda Quinn, Judy Tirelli, Dave Torres.

Materials Distributed:

Parents Who Host press conference flyer, Take Back the Night flyer

News and Announcements

·      MADD Saratoga is now called MADD Capital Region. The area covers Columbia and Greene counties all the way up to the Canadian border. MADD has been having some internal changes, but the organization and its mission are still the same.

·      The location of the high school After Prom is still unknown, since Hi Rock Lanes are slated to become condos later this year. The new YMCA may be a possible venue.

·      The new YMCA building on West Avenue is slated to be completed in either March or October 2006, depending on the permit process from the city.

·      In-kind contribution worksheets were distributed to Partnership members for the time from January 2005 to September 2005. Partners were urged to fill in the dollar amounts associated with the time, materials, or other contributions they’ve donated to the Partnership during that time frame.

·      Saratoga County Treatment Court will hold its 5^th graduation next Wednesday, September 21, at 3 p.m. at the county court building.

·      Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services of Saratoga County will host its 3^rd annual Take Back the Night program on Wednesday, October 6^th from 6 – 8 p.m. at High Rock Park in Saratoga Springs to protest and raise awareness about violence and sexual assault against women. For more information, call 583-0280.

·      Parents Who Host Lose the Most is a 12-county initiative to prevent underage drinking. There will be a press conference to celebrate the success of the spring initiative and kick off events for the upcoming year. The press conference will take place on Thursday, September 22 at 9:30 a.m. at Notre Dame/Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady.

·      Saratoga Spring’s truancy prevention initiative with the Saratoga County District Attorney’s Office has been expanded to include Greene county. Greene is the first county in the state to initiate the program with all school districts county-wide.

·      A high school transition program for 9^th graders is being launched by the Partnership, the Prevention Council and the school district this fall. The funding opportunity for the program came up in late spring last year, so was hard to attract 8^th graders to an unknown concept after the school year was over. As a result the group of kids at risk for not succeeding in high school will be small this year. The Partnership’s new Youth Development Specialist has begun working with kids who expressed interest and will meet with them monthly to promote self-confidence, help students deal with stress and anger management, and develop more positive relationships with teachers, friends and family. This year’s 9^th graders are also the first cadre of DARE campers in the high school, so we want to continue to support them. High school administrators have been very supportive of the initiative.

 ·      Byllye Avery, Founding President of the National Black Women’s Health Project, will speak about “Health Care Justice:  Why We Need It and How We Can Get It” in Page Hall at the University at Albany’s Downtown Campus at 7:30 p.m.on Thursday, November 3^rd. This event is free and open to the public.

Partners should complete their in-kind worksheets and return them to staff either before or at the next meeting on Thursday, October 13^th.

Partnership Updates

§     Former Youth Development Specialist Nicole Karas has taken a position as an 8^th grade English teacher at Maple Avenue Middle School. We wish her well and hope to keep her in the loop as the middle school’s All Stars advisor. The new Youth Development Specialist is Kati Behrens, who has worked for The Prevention Council for the past several years as a prevention educator. She has lots of connections with youth groups in the community, has worked for Cornell Cooperative Extension, and was also involved with After Prom party. We’re glad to have her aboard.

§     The 4^th successful year of DARE All Stars camp came to a close in mid-August this summer. The camp served 159 children who are now 6^th graders at the middle school, along with 16 7^th and 8^th grade DARE Camp Helpers. Partnership staff are already working with school and police officials to plan for next year.

§     The next Strengthening Families parenting course will start on Tuesday, October 11^th and will run for six consecutive Tuesdays through November 15^th.  If anyone was trained as a facilitator and hasn’t facilitated yet, we’d be interested in having you facilitate some sessions. There will be another course starting this spring. This fall, we’re set for facilitators. We’re also hoping to expand the course specifically at Dorothy Nolan Elementary School, which has expressed interested in hosting the program for 5^th grade families.

§     We hope to find out next week about whether our most recent Drug Free Communities grant application was approved.

§     There is a free training coming up in Pennsylvania at the end of October hosted by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. Dates are October 24- 27. If anyone is interested, let staff know.

§     Partnership staff gave an informal survey to members in June – results suggested we be more focused, project driven and action oriented. Staff decided committee work would help us get back on track. Staff identified three committee areas. Partnership should identify a committee that appeals to them, but keep in mind that the groups can change as the need arises. Since not everyone will be here for every meeting, members should feel free to join any committee whenever they can come.

Public info and data collection
Events and activities
Coalition building and membership

For the next few months, committees will meet for at least 30-45 minutes during each monthly meeting and then report out. Staff will keep a running log of each group’s plans, while committee members will determine which ideas to follow through with now vs. later. The ideas for each committee were generated at the June meeting. Idea lists can be added to or altered as necessary.

This planning process will not only help staff work on next year’s grant application, but it will also help involve members in planning activities.
 

Coalition Building and Membership
Committee

Events and Activities
Committee

 


Public Information
& Data Collection

The group is working on a community mobilization event before the end of the budget year. They’d like to invite an outside speaker to bring ideas to the Partnership this fall.

The group also considered providing trainings to different target populations in the community to attract them to the Partnership.

Group discussed creating a Parent Action Committee by providing information to parents at the Maple Avenue Back to School Night and soliciting their input. Suggested placing a kiosk with All Stars pictures to attract pictures and then have brochures about how to get involved.

Group discussed the need for a Youth Action Committee vs. a Youth Advisory Committee.

The idea to hold a Partnership-sponsored Pumpkin Festival came up at the June meeting. The goals would be to get our name out, to work with the DAB, and to do something fun together as a Partnership.

Group discussed possibility of doing something at First Night, a Job Finders program like the YMCA used to have, recognition events for community members and Partnership members alike, and an initiative to hold athletes to a particular code of conduct.

Group decided to work on Common Goals newsletter for this fall, to review the community data content in the 2003 Risk Profile for possible changes to  the updated document, to link information about the Partnership with other partner organizations, and to find a way to get parenting information out to the public – ideally through the Partnership website.

If the group can create a flyer in time for Back to School Night, the Partnership can set up a table in the main hallway.

Maureen will look into the logistics of park permits, etc. in time for the next committee meeting.

Robin will find out how to access and update the new Partnership website before the October meeting.

Committee will come back next month with a list of highlights from the most recent Youth Survey for addition to the next Risk Profile.
 

Next Meeting

 The next Partnership meeting will take place at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 13^th in the district administration offices at 3 Blue Streak Blvd.