Youth 2017/12/07MINUTES
YOUTH COMMISSION
Downtown Community Center, 250 E. Center Street, Anaheim, California
December 7, 2017
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:
STAFF PRESENT:
Sandoval, Kathleen, Chair
Joe Perez, Community Services Superintendent
Alexandra Retana, Vice -Chair
Brian Chwan, Community Services Supervisor
Marc Flores
Beth Lapkowski, Administrative Assistant
Graeme Flynn
Aldwin Galang
Jessica Gomez
Alyssa Guerrero
Isabel Hernandez
Siobhan Jasso
Dayton Ly
Britney Mai
Gisselle Mascareno
Michael Mikail
Jasmine Nguyen
Erika Padilla
Jessica Pham
Juan Saldivar
Annie Truong
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT:
Daisy Avalos — Excused
Denise Urrea — Excused
Damar Valentin — Unexcused
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
1. CALL TO ORDER: The Youth Commission meeting was called to order at 3:58 p.m.by Chair Sandoval
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Vice Chair Retana led the Pledge of Allegiance.
3. UNSCHEDULED PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: None
4. SCHEDULED COMMUNICATION: None
5. CORRESPONDENCE: None
6. Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Nguyen made a motion to approve the November 2, 2017 meeting minutes; Vice
Chair Retana seconded the motion; the motion passed unanimously.
7. BUSINESS:
a) Anaheim Elementary School District- After School Programs: Joe Perez introduced Jason Ferrel, Pupil Services
Specialist from the Anaheim Elementary School District, who provided Youth Commissioners with a PowerPoint
presentation and overview on the after school programs that the Anaheim Elementary School District has to offer to
children.
Early Childhood Development Department- Early Development Index (EDI): Joe Perez introduced School Readiness
Coordinator, Lynda Durand, who provided a PowerPoint presentation and overview on the Early Development Index
(EDI), which is a special project the Anaheim Elementary School Districts has been working on for almost 10 years.
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Anaheim Union H.S. District - Joe Perez introduced Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Diane Donnelly-Toscano,
who provided a PowerPoint presentation and overview of extra curriculum activities the Anaheim Union H.S. District
has to offer youth, such as campus clubs, civic learning, dual enrollment, and athletic programs.
b) Anaheim Police Department — Police Explores Program: Joe Perez introduced Officer Ed Arevalo, from the Anaheim
Police Department who provided a PowerPoint presentation and overview of the Anaheim Police Explorer Program.
c) Commissioner Marc Flores introduced the first item of discussion, which was the idea to hold a contest to design a
logo, motto, and acronym as a way to represent themselves as a commission for the City of Anaheim. Commissioner
Galang added to the discussion by requesting information on what types of prizes would be given to those
commissioners or youth who would win the logo contest. Vice -Chair Retana suggested asking City Council to donate
a gift towards the winner of the logo contest. Joe Perez informed commissioners about the Southern California Teen
Coalition, where different cities get together to have youth and staff develop a service brand. He added that youth
commissions amongst themselves decide on a logo by creating subcommittees were they introduce 3 designs and
bring them back. He informed commissioners that this would be a great opportunity for those who are artistic and
design oriented to lend their talents. He also informed commissioners of the option of forming subcommittees and the
need for allowing enough development time to represent the body of High Schools in Anaheim. Chair Sandoval,
suggested first brainstorming the logo amongst the commissioners since they are on a time constraint and it is a
large city with many schools. Commissioner Flores motioned to create a subcommittee to come together and create
a logo, motto, and acronym as a group. Commissioner Galang second that motioned, but the motioned failed.
Commissioner Nguyen motioned to have everyone who is interested in creating the logo, motto, and acronym to
bring their ideas for the next meeting for discussion; Commissioner Gomez seconded the motion. Motion passed.
d) Commissioner Flores introduced the second item of discussion to commissioners with the idea of creating a digital
platform where people can come together and be able to access the City's resources. Chair Sandoval informed
Commissioner Flores that a digital platform already exists such as a student's records, where students can track their
academic progress throughout kindergarten and High School. Commissioner Flynn clarified commissioner Flores'
idea as integrating a form of a cloud system where teachers can create any form of annotation and new teachers can
also have access to the student's files. He believes it's a creative idea, but is concerned that financially it would be
difficult as a committee to raise money to create a system that would allow current/future teachers to have access to
student records. Commissioner Flores also addressed his concerns about how difficult it is to navigate through the
City's website. Vice -Chair Retana informed Commissioner Flores that she finds the city's website to be very easy to
navigate, and mentioned that it would be difficult to implement because it would mean creating a new website. Joe
Perez added to the discussion by informing youth commissioners that the City's website was modified two years ago
to be more user friendly, based on other cities' websites. Commissioner Galang, thinks it's a great idea to have a
specific website where all resources, programs, and services are easily available, but believes it would be difficult to
put all the information into one site. Chair Sandoval also believes it's a great idea to make the City's resources more
accessible to people, but would like to work with the platform the City of Anaheim already has and suggested having
the youth services stand out within the current platform. Commissioner Nguyen also agreed with Chair Sandoval on
modifying the current website, because starting from scratch would take too long and would require too much
resource. Commissioner Flores motioned to create a sub -committee that is focused on redeveloping/reforming a site
specific location that is Youth Services and programs. Chair Sandoval made a motion to modify the existing website
to add more information and subcategories for more accessibility. Vice -Chair Retana seconded the motion; motion
passed.
e) Commissioner Flores introduced commissioners with discussing ideas to expand the Anaheim Police Department's
Explorers program by identifying the needs of the program, calculating the expenses of those needs, and developing
a small budget to present to the City Council. Chair Sandoval agreed with the idea of trying to get more funding for
the Anaheim Police Department's Explorer program and getting more attention from the city, but suggested that it
would be more efficient if they broke up into sub -committees such as the age categories, previously discussed in last
month's meeting. She also suggested proposing sub -committees for the next meeting by separating them into three
age categories. Commissioner Ly added to the discussion by suggesting to commissioners that those who are
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December 7, 2017
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interested in this item should attend the meetings and bring back information to commissioners on what ways would
be best to better publicize the program. Chair Sandoval suggest holding off on the proposal of the sub -committees for
the age categories, until next month's meeting.
f) Commissioner Flores introduced the last item for discussion of creating a day of celebration for the UC application
deadline were they can provide schools the resources to host this event and teach students about the importance of
attending college. Joe Perez informs the commissioners that Project S.A.Y. provides students with the opportunity to
get help filing out FASFA applications and help with UC/CSU application submissions. Vice- Chair Retana adds to
the discussion by mentioning that many people are going into the military, post -secondary education, trade schools,
community colleges, and out of state private universities. She believes that it would be better if they had a day of
celebration for higher education and post -secondary plans. Chair Sandoval agreed with vice -chair Retana on the idea
of creating a day of celebration for higher education and post -secondary plans.
8. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS:
a) Brian Chwan addressed to commissioners to save the date for the 2018 Volunteer Recognition Luncheon which will
take place on Wednesday, March 21statthe City National Grove from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Commissioners will
be provided additional information closer to the date.
b) Joe Perez informed commissioners about the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Ponderosa Family Resource Center,
which will be held December 19, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.
9. ADJOURNMENT: Chair Sandoval adjourned the meeting at 6:44 p.m.