HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.03.2023 Youth Commission MinutesCity of South San Francisco
Youth Commission
Meeting Minutes: Monday, April 3, 2022
City Manager’s Conference Room, City Hall, South San Francisco, CA 94080
6:30 pm
Commission Members:
Present: Ethan Mizzi, Melissa Hua, Aaron Adriano, Sophia Cyris, Nika Mariano,
Nataly Quinteros, Julia Tsuei, Megan Yoshida, Danielle Leong, Sara Vides
Absent: Claudia Miller, Jiancarlo Ray, Daniela Aceves, Jasmine Ho
Staff Members:
Present: Tamiko Huey, Management Analyst II
Maryjo Nuñez, Management Fellow
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Call to Order:
Meeting called to order at 6:39pm.
Agenda Review:
No changes to the agenda.
Approval of Minutes:
Minutes from July 11, 2022, approved.
Public Comments:
There were no public comments.
o Items from Staff
▪ Sweatshirts go to youth cultural arts scholarships
▪ City won an award for Cultures United
▪ Ingrid no longer the secretary
• Motion to approve minutes
o Motion by Commissioner Hua
o Seconded by Commissioner Yoshida
o Minutes approved
Friends for Youth
o Mission statement to empower youth with mentorships and community relationships
o Provide every person who needs a mentor with a mentor
o Challenges that youth face
▪ Racism
▪ Immigration
▪ Class
▪ Violence
▪ Homelessness
▪ Bullying
▪ Mental health
o Mental Health
▪ Psychological distress among youth has skyrocketed from the pandemic
▪ In 2021, ER visits for suspected suicide attempts were 51% higher for adolescent
girls
o Wants to bring core 1:1 mentoring program
▪ This program has been around for 40 years
▪ Match 1 youth (8-17 years, living in the bay) to 1 mentor (commit 6 months -
1yr) and meet 2 hours weekly
▪ Free activities like arts & crafts or STEM provided to mentors to do activities
with youth
1:1 outcomes
o 1:1 outcomes
▪ 95% had a positive attitude towards school
▪ 80% avoided suspension
o Planning on starting Group-School-based mentoring program
▪ Go into the classroom
▪ RWC, East Palo Alto are among the cities already participating
School Based Outcomes
• 100% recommend the program
• 89% express wish to attend college
• Application Process
o Takes about 6-8 weeks
o Fill out Google form; complete application, complete background check, etc.
Commissioner Leong: how do the mentors and mentees match, especially for the younger kids since
they can’t really write essays?
Crespin: when youth come into program, they have to be recommended by teachers or other adults,
then interview the youth, and then create a youth profile: background, why they want a mentor, etc.
Once they find a match, then share the profiles with the families and the mentor and if all agrees, it
becomes a match
Commissioner Leong: can Friends for Youth also help young adults, around college age? This transition
age can be difficult…
Crespin: this is something we could consider; it seems like it would be very impactful
Vice Chair Hua: how do you recruit mentors?
Crespin: The mentors have to be at least 20 years old; will go into the different colleges at career fairs,
etc. but also use social media to spread the word; have mentors in their 50s too… it’s pretty open as
long as they want to help the youth and meet the requirements
Chair Mizzi: are you working with the school district? At all the schools?
Crespin: SSFHS and Parkway Heights Middle School
Commissioner Adriano: the only way to be part of the program is through a referral through a
counselor?
Crespin: well, if a parent wants their kids to be a part, FFY can give the referral form to the parents to
give to the teacher/counselor
Commissioner Adriano: how does homeschooling work?
Crespin: it would probably be similar
Chair Mizzi: After the fall, if FFY could return and present updates, then would be appreciated
Youth Poet in Residence updates
• Chloe Chou is the current YPR
• Youth commission is all invited to the book release
• The party is to announce the next YPR as well!
• Secured funding for next year ($500 for the YPR in 2024 and chapbook published for them too)
• More applications this year than last year
• There will be a more accessible version online
Commissioner Leong: how did you print it out? It would be helpful for folks who didn’t win, to make
their own books
Marty: made all the books
Commissioners Leong and Yoshida willing to help the creation/stitching process
Marty: even though didn’t win, those who applied are still invited to submit poems for their own
chapbooks
Commissioner Leong: this is similar to zines, would love to have something like ZineFest
Commissioner Adriano: so, is this YPR part of the national YPL program?
Marty: not yet, but maybe next year … Also, this year, we did outreach to SSFHS and Baden HS but we
only received applications from ElCo
Tamiko: can share this information with the YIG students and the staff liaisons there
Chair Mizzi: can add info on YPR to the YIG boba slides
Chair Mizzi: you should present to the school board
Tamiko: you can ask me, and I can share with them
Marty: Comic Arts Fest is also going on in April, this is a partnership with a lot of libraries in San Mateo
County
Marty: any feedback for next time?
None… but Mizzi thanked Marty for his leadership on this program
Recess
The Youth Commissioner held a recess at 7:15pm returned at 7:22pm.
Promotores Presentation
• Launched for 1 yr
• Byproduct of racial and social equity plan in 2020
• Team of 3 SSF residents
• This is a navigational model: don’t administer these programs in-house
o They don’t give you food; they help you sign up for food
o Advocate on behalf of the client
o Individualized
• Presentation out of date now; today number is 200 clients
• 91% of clients indicate that Spanish is their primary language
• How to meet clients
o Library
o Phones/referrals
o Schools
o Canvassing
• Many of the clients are 40 yrs or older
• Top 3 service requests
o Food
o Health
o Housing
o EBT (have to be documented: get food boxes from Second Harvest)
▪ This is not a sustainable solution though
o Health
▪ Health coverage unit every Friday
▪ Mobile clinic at Miller
• Initial Requests
o Most ask for food, housing, medical, legal aid
• What they ask for is not necessarily what they will get most
o i.e.: food
• Client Satisfaction
o Average satisfaction: 9.03/10
o 73% learned about new service
o 53% in great confidence
• Advocacy happens in a bi-directional manner
o Eyes and ears of the community → elevate concerns to city staff
o Ex: many residents of district 5 couldn’t pay for boosters or didn’t have a computer so
worked with county to have pop-up clinic
Commissioner Adriano: do they work with EAC closely?
Tamiko: yes, and they will be moving there soon
Vice Chair Hua: you talked about the income, not all of those who need support are not able to get
support, so what happens after that?
Tamiko: there is no limit for income; the only thing is that you have to live in SSF and the income limits
come from the programs that the clients are referred to
Vice Chair Hua: how were the 3 promotores chosen?
Tamiko: this is a grassroots model; the reason why this program works is bc you are hiring from the
community; screened on being able to work with canvassing, etc.; this is not a benefitted position and
they only work up to 25 hours. We did interviews 2 weeks ago.
Vice Chair Hua: so, would you like to keep 3 until 2040?
Tamiko: we would love to expand to 4 people by the next fiscal year
Commissioner Cyris: what does summer internships entail? What are the requirements?
Tamiko: in the past, we had college-level interns and they did data analysis; ask interns to backtrack the
data and create graphs and manage the cases; we would love to have more interns! We are getting
more interns through YSIP and you can join as long as you are bi-lingual in any other language
Tamiko: we barely get any youth; so, how can the Promotores help the youth?
Commissioner Adriano: mental health is important; if the Promotores could become counselors that
would be nice
Tamiko: so, like connections to star vista?
Commissioner Adriano: even just finding a job is something folks need
Tamiko: what do the youth need?
Commissioner Quinteros: budgeting, like financial literacy
Vice Chair Hua: yes finances, like paying for college; didn’t even know about Promotores until now
Commissioner Marino: building credit is something she needed help with; so how to build credit without
supportive parents is something we could do
Tamiko: even if you need something like needing help with credit, let her know. She can present on how
to build credit.
Debriefs on Boards and Commissions
Vice Chair Hua: couldn’t find the meeting link nor the recording
Chair Mizzi: attended a planning commission meeting… he said it was fine; doesn’t really remember
what they were talking about
Commissioner Adriano: on the LGBT commission, passed resolution to change standard from “he” to
“they”
Youth in Government Day Discussion
• Ad hoc committee gave feedback to Maryjo
• 11 applicants for this year
• Leong: Mr. Gassaway didn’t even show the video in the classrooms; could one last push
• Leong: it would be better to have city staff in person come
• Mizzi: he pushed it really hard for my class though…
• Yoshida: [email protected] and [email protected] (El Camino teachers)
The Youth Commissioners expressed their interest in having bananas in fraps.
Items from Commissioners
Chair Mizzi announced that the new city manager is Sharon Ranals. So, the City is now looking for
Assistant City Manager
Chair Mizzi: can the commission write a letter of thanks for Ingrid’s service and give her a pin?
If the Commission could give Ingrid a gift from the Commission’s budget that would be helpful.
Chair Mizzi and other commissioners were not able to receive texts for this meeting. Tamiko Huey thinks
it might be because of issues with T-Mobile.
Chair Mizzi was at the last school board meeting and mentioned that they are working on Measure T.
Commissioners would like a tour of the LPR.
Commissioner Adriano would like to hear general updates for this item.
Chair Mizzi announced that he will be moving to Toronto.
Commissioner Yoshida announced she is going to the University of Portland.
Commissioner Hua announced she is going to either UC Berkeley or UCLA.
Commissioner Adriano announced they are studying abroad in Japan.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned on April 3, 2023 at 8:08pm.