Landlord Tenant Attorney Queens

							                            COMMUNITY BOARD SIX
                          YOUTH SERVICES/EDUCATION
                                MARCH 3, 2004

ATTENDANCE:

PRESENT:
T. BARRETT                            E. BROUGHTON                          B. GENEVICH
Y. GIRELA                             M. HENRIQUEZ-MCARDLE                  M. KOLMAN
B. STOLTZ                             F. YORK

EXCUSED:
K. BATTAGLIA                          B. BROOKHART                          C. CONTRINO
A. DE MARTINI                         T. RICKS                              D. VITO

ABSENT:
A. BENI                               G. CONWELL                            E. FELDER
B. LONGOBARDI

GUESTS:
D. DEROSA                             L. BRANCH



                                   MINUTES 

Meeting called to order at 6:20 p. m. by Fran York, Committee Chair.

Fran opened the meeting by introducing Robert Feldstein, Director Red Hook Community
Justice Center.

Robert presented the committee an overview of the Justice Center. The Center is the
nation's first multi-jurisdictional community court, seeking to help solve neighborhood problems
like drugs, crime, domestic violence and landlord-tenant disputes. At Red Hook, a single judge
hears neighborhood cases that under ordinary circumstances would go to three different courts –
Civil, Family and Criminal. The goal is to offer a coordinated approach to people's problems.
The Red Hook judge has an array of sanctions and services at his disposal, including community
restitution projects, on-site job training, drug treatment and mental health counseling – all
rigorously monitored to ensure accountability and drive home notions of individual
responsibility. The center provides an array of unconventional programs that engage local
residents in "doing justice." These include:
     Mediation that can be used to settle youth, family, housing and neighborhood disputes.
     Red Hook Public Safety Corps in which local residents provide community service in
         Red Hook for one year. In return they receive job training, a living stipend and an
         educational grant.
     Project TEACH trains teenagers to provide HIV and Health information and training to
         other youth in the community.
     Youth Court trains youth to serve as judge, jury and attorney, hearing real cases of other
         youth who admit responsibility for low-level offenses. In the process Youth court works
         to develop youth into leaders of their community and engage them in positive activities.
         The youth who admit to theses offenses are referred from criminal and delinquency
         courts as well as the local police departments. All intakes are done by social workers at
         the center.
Bette Stoltz asked if the Center had the resources to track the young people that have gone
through the program. Robert stated that this is very hard to do, but Columbia University was in
the process of doing a study on the program. He further stated that some of the youth that have
come through Youth Court are now members of the program.

Tarika Barrett asked if the program was being duplicated around the city. Robert informed the
committee that the Red Hook Center was not the first and there are Centers in Harlem and
Crown Heights. Although there have been representatives from various countries, i.e.: England
and Scotland who have come to view our programs.

The February minutes were reviewed and accepted.

VOTE: Fran noted that at the February meeting, we voted to request the Board write a
letter to state elected officials to request that $25 million in SYEP funding be allocated this
year as it was last year. SINCE THIS WASN’T RAISED AT THE FEBRUARY BOARD
MEETING, SHE WILL REQUEST A VOTE OF SUPPORT AT THE MARCH
MEETING.

Fran informed the committee of a plan by Good Shepherd Services to change their current
short term diagnostic center for boys located at 262 9th Street to a non-secure detention
center for boys and possibly girls. The program was presented and discussed at the CB6
Humans Services and Housing Committee last Monday, and they voted to request the support of
CB6 at the March meeting next week. The major change is in the funding. The facility is
currently being funded by Administration for Children Services (ACS) and will now be funded
by a grant from the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). The new program will provide
services for eleven youth instead of twelve in a program with increased structure, and more staff.
Fran stated that Good Shepherds Services has been operating a similar program in Queens for
several years without incident. They will try and provide educational services on site if approved
by the State, if not they will bus the young people to the DJJ School in the Bronx.

Fran handed out the notes from January’s committee meeting regarding the Youth survey
and asked the members to pare down and clarify what we want in terms of what could be
changed and/or added to enhance what the youth have already done. The committee
members divided themselves into five different groups:

                           1.   Health/Mental Health
                           2.   Safety/Violence
                           3.   Formatting
                           4.   Community Involvement
                           5.   Employment/Education


Attached is a synopsis of the various discussions. These questions will be shared with youth at
the next meeting as we prepare for continuing this project in the fall.

The meeting ended with a discussion on how we would present our feedback to the youth.
The committee would explain to the teens that the work they put into the survey was exceptional
and it generated certain questions and issues from the committee. We should then ask them what
they think and allow them to discuss it.

After some discussion, the committee agreed to hold the next Committee meeting on
Wednesday, April 21, 2004. This was done to accommodate the involvement of the young
people since they will be on vacation during our regular meeting day.

Meeting adjourned at 8:00 PM.
                      Summary of Survey Questions Discussion

Health/Mental Health
This group focused mainly on HIV, AIDS, drugs, stress, suicide, nutrition and exercise. Some of
the questions to be added
1. Do you think that drugs are a problem for your age group and/or adults?
2. Do you think alcohol is a drug?
3. Do you think that young people your age are giving enough information about HIV/AIDS
    and how to protect yourself?
4. Are you or a member of your family directly affected by drugs, alcohol, etc?
5. When do you think someone is over weight? 5lbs-10lbs, 10lbs-15lbs, 15lbs-20lbs.
6. What do you generally eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack?
7. What type of exercise do you get outside of school?
8. Do you exercise regularly? Have examples.
9. When was the last time you went to the doctor? Why did you go? Sick, check-up,
    examination for school, camp, job.
10. Do you have a regular doctor?
11. Does your family have medical coverage?
12. Do you have a hero?
13. If you could be anyone who would it be?
14. Are there any questions you have?


Safety/Violence
This group focused on Safety/Violence in school at home and in the community. Some of the
questions to be added:
School
1. Is school a safe environment?
2. Are you attending school everyday?
3. Do you cut classes? 1x a week, 3x a week, 5x a week
4. Are there gangs in your school?
5. Is it easy to make friends at your school?
6. Do adults in your school help mediate conflictual situations?
7. Is your school welcoming to your parents/guardians?
8. Do you feel listened to by your peers, teachers, and other staff?

Home
1. Does hitting mean someone loves you?
2. Have you ever been beaten or abused by a boyfriend/girlfriend?
3. Is hitting ok?
4. Is bullying ok?
5. Do members of your family talk out problems? Or do they scream? Or do they hit? Or do
   they curse?
6. Does your family spend quality time together? What kinds of things do you do?
7. Do your parents know how you are doing in school?
8. Do you tell your parent’s id you have a problem in school or in the neighborhood?

Community
1. Do you feel safe in your community?
2. Can you walk through your neighborhood without worrying about violence?
3. Which of the following would you consider a problem in your community that contributes
   to violence: Drug dealing, dark streets, dark hallways, drinking/drugs, dark parks, fighting,
     and no jobs for youth, having no place to go – hang out in the street or loitering in
     hallways/roofs.
4.   Has anyone ever asked you to cheat, steal, bully, cut school, do drugs, drink, and have sex?

Formatting
This group focused on the layout of the survey. Some of the changes were:
1.   The survey should be divided into various areas:
            Biographical
            Health/Mental Health
            Safety/Violence
            Community Involvement
            Employment/Education

2.   Questions on dreams and aspirations should be added to Employment/Education.
3.   Eliminate questions that ask the youth to write answers rather have multiple choice or
     yes/no questions instead.
4.   Condense duplicate questions.
5.   Eliminate question on world issues.
6.   Eliminate question 5 in the biographical section of the survey. Do you have any
     responsibilities at home?

Community Involvement
Some of the questions to be added:
1.    Where do you get your news from? Internet, Paper (newspaper, magazine), TV, radio.
2.    Are you involved in a Temple, Mosque, and Church?
3.    Is religion important to you?
4.    What activities are you involved in, in your community? Sports, art/music, crafts,
      community service, library.
5.    Are you concerned with issues in your neighborhood? Crime, hunger, poverty, education,
      drugs/alcohol, health problems, gangs/violence, garbage dumping/graffiti, unemployment.
6.    Do you know how to connect to programs and services in your community? School,
      flyers, word of mouth/referrals by peers, church/temple/mosque, and community based
      organization.
7.    Do you have community heroes? (Someone you think does a lot for the community) What
      do they do?
Every time we use the words work/volunteer we should add community service.

Education/Employment
Some of the questions to be added:
Biographical Section
Leave #1 (age) and #2 (gender) but follow with:
3. Are you currently enrolled in school?      Yes_______ No______
   If you are is school check what level.     Middle____ High____ College____
4. Are you currently attending a training or GED program? Yes____ No_____
5. Name of school or program you attend: ____________________________________
6. If you are not in a school, training or GED program, what was the last grade in school
        you completed: _______________
7. Do you work?          Yes_______        No_______
     If working is it:   Full time_______ Part time________ After School_________
                                         Days__________ Evenings________
Eliminate the current #5
Education Section
Add above this section: Answer the following section if you are in school now. If not in school go
next to the Your Future section.
#3. As a second part of this ask:
        Do you cut classes Rarely_____        Occasionally______ Frequently ______
#4 & # 6. I think we decided to eliminate these.
#7. Add: If it is, do you use it Yes______     No_______
        If not, please tell us why not_________________________________________
        ________________________________________________________________

I would take questions # 16 and #17 and place under a section perhaps entitled Your Future
with the following questions:
   1. What do you see yourself doing in ten years?
        _______________________________________________________________________
        _______________________________________________________________________
        _____________________________________________________
   2. If you have a career goal does it include: college________           work_________
        military________          Training for a trade_____________
        If it is a specific goal (such as nursing or transit mechanic,etc.) what is it
        _________________________________________________________________
   3. If you don’t have a career goal, would you like help figuring out a career direction?
        Yes______             No_______

Work/Volunteer Section
#1.    Also add: Where do you work________________________________________
                  What is you job title_______________________________________
#2     Also add: Have you been looking for work Yes_______ No________
                  How long have you been looking : ____________
                  What happened___________________________________________
#5 & #3 Switch the order of these 2 questions