##VIDEO ID:agEMDrfByEQ## there we go there we go there we go what happened I I don't know I had to sign in from um from the web I see Ray you have my name what I think it's because I sent you the link my bad probably good I'm having a crisis of of uh identity here identity there's two Phillips hey algra hi how are you doing good how about you pretty good um I know Deborah is about to join us she was just getting to her office where her internet is more stable um fair that is an issue it is how do I change my name it should be the three dots go on your self and then you can go to rename got it Ray you didn't make it home I I left for a little bit okay I wasn't going to be able to get all the way home so I'm back out I'm back hanging out 30 minutes ago for me I did what you did come you were trying to leave early and I just kept getting things pushed on me and then I was like oh my gosh I gotta go yes same came home and a whole lot more okay so LTE has joined the gallery up not heard anything from everald to say yay or nay that he would be here um but if we don't have even if we don't have everybody we're not voting on anything so we can still hear information tonight I think I just learned something that's I didn't know that that was a that was a stipulation um we've had a r commission has had numbers issues a couple times and we and and we I don't know if we were voting I think we probably were voting so it doesn't matter one way or another but I think once or twice in my three years we have we have said okay we'll reconvene we'll send out a a new meeting date if we didn't me qu right I'm learning we we always are learning I think um definitely so maybe I'll just read the thing that I have to read and start the meeting at 6:36 this is the community safety and social justice committee meeting um it is October 9th we have another Phillip everybody is Phillip tonight that's my fault everybody the way that I shared the link was for sure my link sorry oh and okay so we are all here um so I was just about to read the thing that I read pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting May do so via Zoom or by telephone no inperson attendance of members of the public will be permitted but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means um so we will go over any announcements and then we'll have member reports public comment standing items of Crest Dei Rob and Youth Empowerment updates and we do have Ray harp from the recreation department here to talk a little bit about Youth Empowerment um then comments and questions sent to town manager goals discussion presenting at Town council meeting upcoming agenda items and meeting schedule public comment anything we didn't reasonably anticipate and adjournment um so does anybody have have any announcements no announ or a member just a little one oh you have an announcement okay's set oh I to hi all um just a little quick announcement so can you hear me fine yes yes okay good um so at Meadow View which it's what used to be renew which used to be South Point um there's a going to be a costume parade on Tuesday I think October 29th at 5 PM um I just got the email today from the office manager and it's going to be a parade with you know kids and and whatnot but I guess at the end there are some organizations that will be there um handing out candy I'm not too sure what the organizations are um but I was um since I got the email today late on I will be inquiring from the manager um to see if an organization could be like a committee wait I couldn't we couldn't hear you alra that sounds like a cool little Community event and a perhaps way to if if committee members would be available and welcomed a way to go into one of the neighborhoods that we've been talking about doing some Outreach in too when is that again L October 29th Could you um after this meeting just share it on with us on the on the just send it to us so we have it yes all right thankss member reports um so I guess I have some some reports um one uh is to say that we do have a new member for CSS JC which is exciting um uh myself and others took part in kind of interviews and um Dr Pat Romney will be joining us um she's already been voted in by the Town Council on Monday and then um she's you know you know she has to get sworn in all of those things but we'll be able to invite her for our next meeting um and then during this past month to uh we did two do interviews with two other people um and then we'll wait on on the outcome of that and appointments for the next month with that too but hopefully we will be um we'll have full membership and soon which will be exciting for us to to have so that would be really cool um the other thing someone from the community did uh let me know um about the parking situation and and ammer I guess what's going on is that um it's not just this person but others uh that they kind of use the parking um app in in ammer and then um what happens is that they get even though they pay for the the parking they get tickets and then afterwards it's almost like the town is getting like double dipped like they're paying through the app and then then getting tickets and then being told that they have to kind of like appeal and all this other stuff so this is is someone obviously you know a bipac person bipac people they don't have the money for this they don't have the time for this in terms of appeals and um and paying uh so I just want to put that out there because I said I would I would share what's going on um with the town um with the town manager and with those that are listening town councel and everything that that needs to be uh dealt with because um no one needs to be getting uh you know double cited and and get fees um when they've done exactly what they were supposed to do right which was use the app pay and now they're getting ticketed um this has been happening I guess over and over again person the the person and people have complained and they're not getting any resolution and that's why they they're coming to us um because obviously that is not a good thing so hopefully um that will get addressed I know I've had issues with the parking thing myself um when I use my card sometimes it doesn't work I always have to use change so I think you know you all I think ammer kind of Automation and machines need to be looked at because obviously something's not working um because I can I can attest to um some issues that that's occurred along those lines um the other thing I just know that there's you know a lot of met with a variety of different Community people um throughout the month uh who are just concerned you know across the board um around some of Cs wg's um recommendations and how long they're taking and so and so on uh but we can talk about that during the agenda uh but just to say that obviously um we are the post right this committee uh Comm uh Community people come to us talk to us let us know what's going on and that's why we then talk about it on a monthly basis and that's why we have a lot of questions and inquiries because that's the expectation right we're the we're the committee that deals with um inclusion diversity Equity safety for amers so we are the ones that need to ask these questions and I'm just making a point to say it because I know that a lot of people don't like that we ask questions and that we inquire but that is the the point of cssj so member reports comment I do see four attendees in the audience um if you would like to make a comment you can use the raised hand feature and we will bring you into the room um there will also be an additional public comment period at the end of the meeting so if you don't have anything to say yet but you have something to say later we will give you another opportunity to speak stands up right now so we can move on to the agenda items um and we'd love to start with Ray um to hear a little bit about the town's efforts towards Youth Empowerment well I I think I I want to kind of you know like back it up a little bit so Ray hi uh thank you so much for agreeing to to to come and and meet with us um and you know of course I want to turn it over to you and you know let you like introduce yourself tell us a little bit about yourself um but I also want to tell you a little bit about us right we're we're the community safety and social justice committee um we're the committee that has been tasked um well the the the kind of follow-up committee from the community safety working group that made all of the those different recommendations that established Crest established the diversity Equity inclusion department and we made several recommendations one of it was an establishment of U A Youth Empowerment Center which would be youth um bipar youth Le right and a a safe haven for bipar youth but obviously service all youth right A A Youth Empowerment Center that would focus on a variety of different activities for young people um Theater Arts uh Sports um you know also um homework help or tutoring and things like that and a variety of different things but really A Safe Haven a place that would be in in town to find a space in town where PE where young people could go and this we we were able to make that recommendation because we had heard from a variety of young people that that was in need we also recommended an establishment of a multicultural Center and we recommended uh an establishment of a resident oversight board which would be a board that would be in place so that if anyone has complaints around the Amish Police Department then they could go to that Resident oversight board which would be made up of independent group of people to be able to um you know file the complaint and have an independent process to deal with with issues um and so we also our other um group to advise um you know the town manager Town Council Town departments around these issues around Equity inclusion diversity um safety um in in ammer uh we're also you know will advise and and ask questions around the budget um and we'll be here to Monitor and help and any issues that come up um you know in terms of dealing with um Equity inclusion diversity safety we're the ones that will be uh bringing up and the community brings these issues to us so um several it was in August there was a meeting and we got some clarity that for me you know and a lot of our members we thought that the Youth Empowerment was under the diversity Equity inclusion department so di Department right which Philip is is representing today and Pamela young is the director throughout this year two years I guess the the the the the focus is that now de deals with some youth programming but they're not in charge of establishing the Youth Empowerment Center right and then we've been told by the town manager because we asked some questions we were told that now the Youth Empowerment Center and the establishment of that is under Recreation which would be you and the finance director okay so then based on that conversation uh myself in algra we decided to invite you and the finance director but there was a little bit of a mixup with that because I ended up inviting was Holly Drake I believe who I guess was interim Finance director when the last one left and then there's a new one Melissa something I forget her name right now I apologize for forgetting her last name and so now we've been in touch with her and so what we've done is invite her to the next meeting because that's what I we were told that Now Youth Empowerment Center is under both of of of your your and Melissa's Department um the other question and the other thing that we'd like you to address is that supposedly there's this group unnamed that is meeting the discussing a Youth Empowerment Center an establishment of Youth Empowerment Center and so we want to get more information about that I know that Camille was part of it Philip is part of it um we've heard maybe the Don Hugh Institute is facilitating discussions um we know that Youth Empowerment Center has $500,000 we want to know a variety of different things in terms of what is going on and and really what the situation is in regards to that so again thank you so much for coming and um yeah if you could introduce yourself tell us a little bit about yourself and then kind of go into the into some of those questions okay thank you um first of all uh I don't have a I don't have any sort of a a presentation prepared for you I don't I haven't prepared any any uh report for you so to speak um this is very new for me because I think some of the timeline that you share there is like I'm not on that timeline like you you presented a a a a description of of like the flow of of responsibility over the course of the three-year life of this of this uh mission that I that that I haven't been involved with the whole time but uh but I'm sure that'll come up in our conversation later on um uh again thank you for having me uh uh I'm Ray harb I have been the director of recreation here for three years uh you know I've got a long I came to Recreation from a long uh career in the schools and teaching working with working with young people of all ages in a variety of different ways in the classroom out of the classroom uh you know my my life energy is largely built around uh ideas touching upon Youth Empowerment for a variety of different variety of different individuals um when I when I took over it was actually pretty new my coming aboard was right after the pandemic which of course shifted a lot of things in the town and shifted a lot of it was the same time coincidentally in some ways it was the same time that that uh that some things were happening and changing and some ideas and some possibilities were coming in here I was I came aboard as part of those possibilities and early on I was I was invited by the finance director to I was basically given the opportunity to to take part in a uh you know to to manage the $500,000 grant that was given to the town of ammer through arpa um and and when he described it as being the uh the the needs assessment and feasibility study it's looking for that's looking into the uh the town's uh future possibility of of establishing Youth Empowerment Center where all those things that uh uh Deborah just introduced those ideas and and perhaps more could be centered out of my my I didn't hesitate one of the things it it fed my my educational interest and I I feared that my job in Recreation was going to take me away from some of those interests in some ways and it was always a mission of mine to make sure that that that whatever I do I'm still at adding some of those features into our programming and so this was a chance in my first few months to to reestablish what it is that that drives me as a professional what drives me as a teacher what drives me as a recreation director and I wanted to be able to make see that through I agreed to take that on I agreed to make that uh you know sort of my my first pet project one of my first pet projects here as the recreation director and got some moment in that direction um um and so so my introduction to Youth Empowerment I've been involved in this conversation since basically since the beginning of my time here um I've been it's it it was an interest it remains an interest and in the and the and the over the course of the of the threee life of this grant uh my department without having the ability to to stand inside of a center and look around and see all the things that have happened that's not the way things work here in the first place but it certainly wasn't the way that things worked here for us without being able to stand in the middle of a center and say this is what's going on and decide what what the what the next steps were we have we have taken on the responsibility of of uh bringing in programming that I think speaks to the mission that was very much involved in that cswg report which early on in my conversations a number of conversations with the finance director the former fin with the former Finance director we had a number of conversations about sort of what that charge was and I've I haven't studied it in a little while I put it down when I was when I was uh when I stepped away from that this project a little bit but I I I did get a chance to look thoroughly into that report and that became my marching orders syst some to some extent that became this was the energy I saw the I saw the the the energy of the community I saw the energy of the the research I was I was impressed by the ways that it that it that that it's intent matched up with my intent without without looking at I I haven't been involved in that research here but my idea of a Youth Empowerment Center and the purpose and the reason behind a Youth Empowerment Center was very very similar to what I saw in that report and so I had already Linked In to to some of that energy that that energy was the was the my purpose in making this work so I'm I am at least somewhat right now familiar with that cswg report I have it I've look I've come back to look at it for different reasons over the course of my time here because I think there was some some strong Community energy in there um but then I stepped away I think there were there were some concerns that Recreation was involved D in the very beginning of that project so I stepped away from the project it wasn't about about why it was under Recreation about where the where that interest was and I I I was out of that conversation for I was margely in the conversation just as sort of what do you think about this but I took myself out of the conversation when when a number of different factors came in uh and so where we are right now is I've continued consistently to be looking for ways to do Youth Empowerment program to do programming that that made sense for my department made sense for for the town of ammer it made sense for the for the mission that was in that uh uh cswg report um uh my department and I have made a you know a a mission a a follow-up mission of of putting Youth Empowerment programming into our into play and we have the beginnings of of some very very I think important and and strong work that a lot of people have put put in some work to try and to try and accomplish and there's more stuff to come um uh but but in terms of the reason why and I apologize because I know I took a couple days to reply to the invite to come back here one of the reasons is because the the the uh the assumption that I was in charge of this I didn't want to assume any responsibility that I don't have and so and so my my being here I've I've I I am authorized as a as a as a staff member who has an interest in the future of Youth Empowerment programming here but I am not in I am not responsible for the $500,000 grant money um that's on the T that's on the table um you that's I think that's my my my best introduction for you as to what brings me to this room T to to this meeting tonight what brings me in here and hopefully as as an engine of of progress and make as an engine of making something happen in our Collective future uh I'm I'm I'm here because of that uh my I'd be happy to answer any questions about about sort of What U I guess any any questions that I can answer that I that I uh have the place and Authority to answer I'd be happy to answer any questions about myself and about my own interest and about sort of where we're going from here is the best that I can offer you here in a in a in a in a going forward perhaps a more official capacity but but there's only so much I can answer about where we have been so um I I have some questions in terms of of you know and and you know again thank you for just coming and and talking with us um yeah there wasn't any expectation that you would do any formal presentation or anything like that we're just excited that you were able to come out um because like I said we haven't really been getting um too much um responses to our questions um and we've posed questions to uh the town manager and you know hasn't been as clear in terms of things but um as you stated right the the the recommendation that cswg and I was part of the cswg as original member of cswg and now you know part of cssc so when we created that recommendation for the Youth Empowerment Center as you stated was very intentional right it's very much because we need a place to empower our young people and especially BK young people and those who are marginalized in in this community and so we wanted something that really was going to focus in and and stop you know and and get that that that emphasis that mission um accomplished and so um our recommendation was made B made you know in 2021 we're in 2024 now right um and so there's been a lot of like you know juggling around in terms of where you know the youth Youth Empowerment Center is so for me I guess my question is so you said you were involved in it before but now I so I guess just more clarity like so are you involved I I do do you share this with the the finance director I mean are you officially helping out with Y or no I mean I guess I don't know so who is in charge of the $500,000 the $500,000 is once again there were multiple reasons why I stepped out of the Direction one of them was was uh Community pressure I I I know and I've been on I've been on multiple sides I don't want to say both sides of the issue but I've been on multiple sides of these conversations in town and I completely with respect step back because I thought my and Recreations being involved was a complication for the issue and so early on I I I I said you know that's not I don't need to I don't need to be in charge of this of this piece of it um and and the town moved it back into the into the grants manager's hands that's the finance department okay the finance department was responsible for that um in the in the wake of of a bunch of other things happening and and I can't speak with any official record as to the decisions that were made because I stepped out I'm not in that conversation I'm not in the in the mechanical conversation about that right now but but I can I can tell you that that um it was a I'm sure it was a challenge in the in the Department with their changing staff with their with you know when their Finance director left when the former Finance director left then then now having it removed from Recreation and now in a in a department a finance department that was in flux that makes it a lot more difficult to to to manage that that money there I know there were efforts to try and do that I know there were efforts I was I was margely involved again conversations with people that were that were in it but that was not my responsibility I I had energy for it at one point I was my thing at one point but that wasn't I have a bunch of different things as a director that honestly I probably should have been looking at when I was for the months that I was in charge of the of the uh project in the first place um uh and so and so then when we're looking at managing that it it was originally placed under Recreation it was moved out of recreation because uh uh it was moved back out of recreation into the into the finance department to manage that and now we're at the stage where we have to figure out what we're doing with the with that grant money um yeah because I mean that's one of the things that Paul got back to us he said that I guess that this grant money needs to be um expended because I have his response right in front of me by December 31st of of 2024 well no it has to be committed by by December 31st 2024 and then expended by December 31st 2026 so you know December's right around the corner it needs to be committed by then I I'm I'm wondering what does this commitment look like right um you know so if it's in the the the you know in the baileywick of the finance department um that's why we wanted to talk to the finance director but if like I said but we it was our mistake you know made the mistake of not sure because of of the changes who was the the one that was actually the finance director so we have invited her you know for our next meeting and hopefully she'll attend so that we can get some clearer um information regards to it but I guess my second follow-up question then I'll I'll let you know other cssc members also ask questions is okay so is there stuff going on in terms of like a group meetings taking place around a fe feasibility study assessment because I think you mentioned that so are meetings going on um and you know what are those meetings about what's being talked about because you know like I said I've heard that Phil and Camille is part of it I I'm just wondering why a member of cssc wasn't invited to any of these meetings since we are the the group tasked to kind of look at these issues and make sure that cwg's recommendations are actually implemented and and monitored and and you know and successful so so what is going on I guess I think there's one piece I I know I did hear your second part of your question was okay what's the the the group and the meeting sort of stuff that I believe you're I don't know what I can clear up about that but I can tell you this that uh before I before I address that um the the $500,000 uh Youth Empowerment Center Grant which I hate the fact that the word Center is in it because I think that set a standard I think that set a bar for us that that I don't think was intended but I think it was misplaced it was early to place the center in there in that Grant because $500,000 the the intention for me I what I felt in the beginning was that that that the end goal was to find a center here but it was not I think it may have confused some people and said that that $500,000 goes into a center that $500,000 Grant was a grant that was set up specifically for A needs assessment and feasibility study um that's what I was that's what I was asked to do with the needs assessment feasibility study the needs assessment is a smaller piece of that the feasibility study is a huge piece of that uh um and my I can speak as I'm going to try and go back in time as my managing this this grant my my intention was to was to explore all of the uh obstacles uh challenges to explore all of the different uh uh potential funding sources uh comparisons in terms of other uh youth centers uh that were run municipally that were run in the private sector that were run in basically the the concepts of a Youth Empowerment Center to see what was possible in an ammer Youth Center um $500,000 as I believe that you all probably know is not going to build your building that's not going to build your building and that $500,000 also is is something that is uh uh you know it's because it's limited to the life of the grant it also doesn't answer the the the issue about long-term funding of the program and its programs uh the the recommendations about salaries about about Vehicles about program expansion the the the recommendations that came with the cswg report and naturally are attached to to uh any conversations that that ammer or any other town would have to have about building a building something of this significance of magnitude we can't afford ammer can't afford to to throw a sensor out there and and have it fall apart part because there's not a plan for its future so that feasibility study that that I think is the most important piece of that $500,000 Grant uh uh was that feasibility study was essential to figuring out how to put a program like this how to put a center if that's if that is the end goal but how to get put programming like this in place that could survive over the course of years and years and years uh to have the life of this is more than I believe there was more than a million dollars I know it wasn't it wasn't forbid but there was a million dollars or more of salary that were suggested in the cswg report and that doesn't come from nowhere programming of course Recreation directors some of the some of the pro some of the things that we looked at as being Pie in the Sky things that will happen in a in a in a Youth Empowerment Center some of the things that that that I spoke to people who were involved uh uh I spoke to some people uh about sort of planning out of moving ourselves towards towards this I I I believe that uh you know our our our the the same vision that I think was in the cswg report that that inspired me to be involved in the in the process altogether those things happen some of them are recreational some of them are definitely not and and some of them are definitely not sort of underneath my umbrella as a Rec director but the idea is to is to find a space and programming a place where these things can happen that the town can figure out how to how to make that part remember of course the Dei and Crest were also infants at that time time um um uh but our uh Our intention in building this building the structures here we're we're trying to say if we are going to if we're going to um spend this much money and commit ourselves to this much money yearly how can we make that work how can we make how can we make a Youth Empowerment Center and all the costs now and in the future of that how can we make that work and not set ourselves up for failure um and that's a much harder task than even than certainly than I thought going into it I know that there were challenges in in my time of of being in charge of that but uh you know that was that was a much more uh complicated complex uh uh planning process than I think uh that that I or the former Finance director had in mind when we were brought in um it was complicated by other issues about about our our uh you know our our Partnerships and that sort of thing but we were we were definitely looking into trying to make those Visions happen for the center happen for the town of amoris um in terms and and so I just want to the first part of my response to that question is uh to make sure it's very clear that that the the grant was not for was not to open a Youth Empowerment Center that's not the that's not what the grant money was for and I and I wasn't involved in messaging that to anybody here I've had the conversation with colleagues of mine that that that I think it was was uh enlightening to understand that that the birth of this of this grant was not about taking $500,000 and saying go hey recre amous Recreation take this $500,000 and make a Rec make a Empowerment Center and then and then see what happens that $500,000 expires and then we have nothing um the grant was for needs assessment and a and a feasibility study so that we could so that we could move in the direction of that of that Empowerment Center it doesn't happen with a $500,000 grant that Center doesn't happen there um I can I can try and answer I don't I don't know what I can give you on it but I can try and answer the the uh second part of your question is there anything that you want to ask about what I just said there the the second part of question I have a ton of questions but I'm going to let my other cssj C members so I don't like take up all the all the airspace so y'all y'all follow up some questions if not I will so Ray um given that this was just visibility study and post cswg work group what has the town done in terms of that study in terms of this in terms of the which study how was it how has the town spent 500,000 um the town right now and spinning down the money two things that I believe may have been shared with you uh are the and I it was in some of the questions I think that you all have had in the past here uh one of them is a is a it's a it's a inventory of it's a physical space inventory um we are looking at at an inventory of buildings that we have again that works down the line for us to eventually be able to find um find space that might work for us um uh looking at the spaces that are uh looking at the spaces that are are that the town owns the town own physical space of the Town owns and operates something like uh I think the easy one for me to say because it's something that's on a lot of people's minds I don't think I'm like if if people are asking what happens with Wildwood the question is Wildwood is shutting down because of certain reasons what happens if if if if the Wildwood is going to be repurposed and use for something else then then we are using that money to get a full fiscal survey of the space that we own and operate um some of those spaces could eventually be repurposed for for Youth Empowerment for the per for the for the meaning of Youth Empowerment so this is basically getting an inventory on all of our physical spaces and all of our building spaces especially those that that may be of of interest for us um the second part is I know you all have heard about it is the you know the intent to try and do a uh an a programming inventory um of of of town programs I wasn't I'm not involved in collecting that information so I can't speak to any any of the details about that collection process I can tell you as somebody who is now interested in in uh and and and and you know open to to being involved in the future of this of this idea the idea of Youth Empowerment Center uh exists long beyond the the life of this grant of course before and after the the life of this Grant and and my wanting to be involved in the next phases of this I can tell you that it is useful for me to have a to have a full programming inventory uh and able it's it's it's a living a living inventory of programs available for uh for for involved for kids in in a target age that are trying to get involved that want to have things to do that that the town needs Beyond Youth Empowerment but certainly it helps us for for figuring out directions of programming inside of a of a future Youth Empowerment Center uh to find out all the programs that exist in this town uh that's that cater to or speak to the target audience um and so that that uh inventory that programming inventory uh uh that was conducted that that is in the process of being conducted by Donna Hugh is something that is that that I think is useful for me for for a bunch of different reasons um uh but in the in the overarching long longterm goals here it is it has a limited and important role in giving us inventory information to move forward so do we have an inventory of available programs for in the town that is uh that is in process right now that's that is what that's what the uh that's that's what the Donahue Institute helped us with in terms of gathering that information from public private from uh town schools public private trying to collect opportunities collect programming opportunities for for emous Youth and and I ask this question understand that you may not be able to answer but given that this ARA funds was just for a study um is there any commitment any Financial commitment on the part of the town to actually fund a Youth Empowerment Center I can't answer that I do not know of any of any commitment into funding a Youth Empowerment Center I can tell you as a matter of I believe fact that $500,000 doesn't doesn't doesn't lock in there in terms of the commitment to to the Youth Empowerment I think the town is committed to our IDE ideas of pursuing Youth Empowerment through programming um uh I can't speak to whether or not the town has officially authorized officially committed money towards the Youth Empowerment Center thank you thank you others with questions LTE algra guess I'm just wondering a little bit more about what Recreation has been able to provide in terms of empowerment so far and what it might if it if it considers itself a future partner in this endeavor so what what what the recreation department has offered already in terms of Youth Empowerment programming um during this time period happy to um uh we have in a a combination of different Partnerships we're doing uh one one partnership is uh with Crest APD and responders is our Rise program which was based out of our our own uh uh out of our Recreation Grant we've paid for that out of our Recreation grant for programming it is a uh it's it's completely voluntary uh on the part of a small number of students um it's it has uh it has a I think a very Progressive empowering sort of uh a mission behind it which is to try and get kids who in many ways are are you know made through in school or in you know out of school who may who may self-identify or have been identified as people who are as young people who are it's almost like a like a classic diversionary sort of sort of conversation but it's something much more and goes beyond that it's a it is a um it's it's a weekly seminar run by The Rise program the Ross Institute uh out of Boston which is basically looking at some some uh um you at the issues of trying to trying to trying to build identity inside of kids and build connections for them within their communities we had our first pilot program with that last spring and the that I think there were some really really powerful we we it's a series of Workshop conversations it's a series of of of you know identity exploration it is some some a partner teamwork sort of things it's basically ongoing Retreat activity to get kids to think about themselves and their space and community and their identity and to challenge themselves while they're challenging those people who are investing in them and building building relationship relationships inside I know that uh we were we were very very fortunate to have uh you know some incredible Partners from those from our town agencies including Crest including APD we had we had uh some some very very focused and and and um Mission based uh relationship based uh uh uh uh creative community building that was going on in that program and uh you know as we get ready to start our second year here soon I I I I I would like to obviously put in a plug for my department just say that the second year is is uh is intending to be stronger better is in it we intend to have that uh uh you know the the response and the feedback from kids was that this is something that we want this is something that we need this is something that we look to do on Saturday mornings this early Saturday morning sort of thing and it could be a drag for a lot of us the mo the uh uh morning movement and mentoring program program which is our larger and sort of higher profile uh uh uh program that's run in cooperation with the family center at the schools um uh we helped it's a a school initiative from two or three years ago where they started bringing kids in small number of kids started coming into school before before the the start of the school day um they came in to basically to basically uh get into the school early kids with attendance issues I think it sort of started with kids that had attendance issues and trying to get them to school early uh and get them sort of moving around and get them active uh before their school day starts uh uh we came to them last year and they welcomed us with our be grant money to expand their program to provide busing for a larger number of kids to come in and to provide programming that looks at uh tutoring mentoring they do some some uh building they do some field building they have Partnerships outside of the amoris public schools we have the colleges that come involved to do some uh uh basically mentorship and training with with kids some of it is athletic getting in a gym and shooting and playing some of it is we do some uh craft work on the side we do some the UMass cheerleading group came in to run some things with a bunch of our kids and they weren't all sort of uh cheerleading uh cheer leading uh hopefuls but to do some to do some stunts and do some do some activities with the UMass cheerleading team UMass football UMass basketball UMass field hockey a bunch of UMass athletes come in and it's a chance to sort of uh talk about people and building goals building building up there it's a mentorship program that I think also is in its early stages and evolving into something that's that's bigger and stronger we have a a number outside of this uh outside of this ARA Grant we are now in the process of looking for uh funding and life beyond the grant because if we don't then it has to shrink back down again and we have a lot of a lot of community uh a lot of community interest in providing us with funding to keep that program moving it is a it's one of the most dynamic things that we've put in place um there's 40 kids on any given day that are going to school an hour and a early uh presentation of the school committee we had there were parents that were that were uh parent there were parents that were that were incredibly thankful and and uh you know we're speaking about what sort of impact it has on their kids in terms of terms of building a conference building a ownership of their own space in the schools and letting kids go in there and feel like this is space one of the big issues that I think we find with uh students of color maybe in particular is sometimes when you're in these institutions where even if the numbers are are a little bit more friendly than you know maybe they're more friendly in amers than they are in other areas one of the things we find with students of color is that ownership of the space is a challenge if it's if you're in a white institution if you are in a institution where the the teacher faces are not yours if you're in an institution where it feels like you're learning stuff that's not yours and so one of the things that I think I think is is is under the surface and makes this program so so useful so vital and why I think so many people are looking to try and find how they can invest and volunteer and get their get get in to help us out with this is because the amount of ownership that kids have over the schools where they operate is impressive and so again my staff has put a lot of hard work into looking at these things it's not all of like like all of our views of what Youth Empowerment looks like in the long run all of us have have ideas of Youth Empowerment that go well beyond that but those two programs in particular are ones that speak to a very specific uh uh uh purpose of Youth Empowerment one one particular aspect of Youth Empowerment they they speak to they speak to a focused part of why this project was so important to me when it was presented to me um we're looking at building a we're looking at building right now a a a a youth entrepreneurship uh program that was that that uh Philip and I have been talking about have been discussing about um and and we actually have have we've made some concrete inrs into making that happen for us here in the spring uh Dei and Recreation are both share a a uh an interest in in building uh literacy interest and and uh uh skills in the area of of of of of building business building business Instinct of of running a business and I and part of that is working through getting involved uh uh getting involved business folks from the area to come in and help us but we have the tracks already in place between EI and Recreation we have the tracks in place right now to make a program that I think you know all of our programs and our ideals are something that we we think will be something but I think that can really be a part of our programming going forward and speak to specific things that aren't I don't want to say just because we do some fantastic things with ball and sports B know ball and sports sort of stuff uh but but it it is not ball and Sport stuff it is not it's not uh if if they're images of what Recreation is these are things that transcend uh you know sort of sort of recreation a place where where where wck kids can go out there do wck Sports and they have a good time out there um these are ways for us to build community and build build integrity and build uh build some some some control over future I'm talking too much thank thank you for any other questions sorry I was just saying thank you for I think that was a very thorough description of some of the programs that we've kind of heard mentioned so I appreciate that I'm very proud of those programs as my staff is also very proud of the programming the kids you know the the kids that are involved it's not all the kids but it's a a large amount there's 65 kids enrolled in morning movement uh and there's a wait list uh you know I say you know I say that they are our best our best Advocates and I'm coming to school at 7 o'clock in the morning and they don't have to start class until 8:30 think or nine o'clock they don't have to start class until nine o'clock they're I I think their Buy in is is speaks enough about about sort of what meaning it has for them and their Community their fam certainly will speak for L do you have any questions because if not I have some followup questions uh no my questions have been getting answered um Ray you know obviously and I know about the morning movement I've actually known about it um for a long time and how it even started um so I didn't know though that Rec had kind of you know that you all are being supportive of it because I know before it was more kind of like you know group of teachers and and or volunteers that kind of started a very small and and all that because my son was a middle schooler he's a high school right now so a lot of his buddies went to the uh morning movement and everything um so I'm very may I clarify really quickly that that it is a school program like the schools I don't want to I want to make it very clear on the record here that that that's not our it is their idea and that's as important as any other part of this recreation's role and it's not a small part it's a very big part is in investing and expanding that and putting more eyes on it and allowing it to have a bigger life in the future but we're very very proud of what we've done there and the school it's it's I I credit uh uh Dr Marta goar and and her staff over there for for giving that seed okay great thank you for that Clarity because yeah I wasn't sure now whether it had gotten taken over or what have you but more partnership then with much and things like that um and obviously yeah I'm I'm excited about that that that's great you know and I think you know program programming that can get done in the meantime um is wonderful but I think I want to clarify because like I said I was on part of the cswg the original group and we we did and we do say and our recommendation is for a center right um we do want a center we want a center that is a safe space for um you know um all children all young people but especially bipac young people and we want it to be bipac le right youth Le bipac youth Le right so I think yeah the programming is wonderful but it's not bipac youth Le right um the pro programming is wonderful but it's not you know kind of you know even though it is helpful and it's empowering some some young people of color but it's not you know bipar youth kind of focus and stuff like that so we we're very intentional we are very intentional in terms of what it is that we are asking for and we are asking for a center and we are asking for safe space because a lot of spaces in town that allegedly say there safe space for for bip youth are not safe space for for bipar you right so we're looking for a center a space in town that would actually be dedicated for that and I understand and I'm happy listen you have been the first person from town to actually give us some answers so kudos to you I'm really excited about you right now because we haven't gotten as much Clarity from anyone else up until this point so I'm very excited about the fact that you've explained that the $500,000 is actually for feasibility study and assessment and feasibility study wow great thankfully someone has told us that because it was a lot of fudging around not really coming forward not really saying it not really okay so $500,000 for that and you've kind of broken down why it is but the point of the matter is if that $500,000 is for feasibility and assessment then where is the other money going to come for the actual center right because for us too we don't want the delay tactics we don't want those types of things we want to actually see the timeline and see the deadline right the timeline to the deadline to the when is it going to actually happen type of situation as opposed to you know kind of like you know these half information not full you know um sentences in terms of what's Happening um and that like you said the Donna hu Institute is the one that's doing this visibility study thank you for telling us that because we've kind of heard may I correct may I correct Don is not doing a feasibility study well assessment they're they're doing survey inventory of programming which is not the same thing so okay so so right now we're at the stage of and that's what I want to be very clear right because I guess it's still not very clear so right now we're at the stage of assessment so part of the money then is being used to assess part of the 500,000 or you wouldn't know that it would it be the finance director that would know whether part of that money is being used to assess I I can tell you that that part of the of that grant money is being used to assess physical space and programming okay so that part of it is being used to assess and then the other part will be for the visibility study right The Next Step will be visibility study I cannot speak to that okay all right so that that could be something that we'll we'll talk to the town manager then or and or the finance department CU they'd be able to tell us right I I I mean I assume so okay um because you know the town manager did say that there's supposed to be a commitment done by December 31st so that's why I'm asking all these questions because we really want to know what this money is being used for you know right now at least we have a a sense that it's it's at an assessment stage so I guess the other part would be um are you involved in this assessment stage too with with with others I guess like this unnamed group with others so um I can tell you the unnamed group I know that that's the that's the hanging piece here yeah there's not a there's not a a a committee that's been formed as staff we we're Philip's a staff member I'm a staff member Camille's a staff member we have uh Donna Hugh is not at the table talking about talking about uh feasibility for the for the Youth Empowerment Center um um we are talking there are members of the staff which the three of us here right now have all been in discussions about what what can we do about programming we are talking for me I needed to I need to make sure that I was talking about uh uh programming I wanted to make sure that we're talking about if if you know what whatever happens and whatever is happening with that Grant we wanted to make sure that there is that there's a commitment to programming that we can do so the things that we're doing in Recreation are sort of what I'm bringing to the table and saying can we find some way to continue to do this can we find some way to expand on programming here can we can we look at ways to do this I've talked with Philip about some of these and that's that is and and sort of joining with Dei and and so Philip Camille and I have sat down and spoken about some of our intentions here but in terms of programming interest I could be your guy in terms of in terms of these are the things that we're trying to do in the direction of of of Youth programming um you know and so so separating myself from the Grant I can tell you that that the commitment that I have is in finding space for programming um finding finding space and finding some Vitality for programming that means Recreation programming but that also means programming that transcends uh soort of what would be traditional Recreation all right um so I guess next steps right what would be the next steps in terms of the the okay so there's an assessment going on for the Youth Center there's programming going on um and then there's our group right the CSS JC that is the group that was tasked for you know seeing the the fruition of of the the yec the Youth Empowerment Center and and being implemented and then monitoring right and so what would be the next steps because we're not getting information obviously and so that's why again I'm very grateful for you for coming and actually you know sharing some information because we're not getting information from from the town unfortunately and we're we're being um kept in the dark which obviously leads to mistrust right from the community because we are you know people come to us to ask these questions and so when when we're not getting answers to the questions this mistrust right and that's why we always say the town should be transparent because then you deal and then you build trust right with the community when you're transparent and you talk about what's going on so therefore what are the next steps is okay how are we going to as cssc continue to have information in terms of the Youth Empowerment m center right whatever stage it's at so and when I say Youth Empowerment Center I say the umbrella right youth programming assessment feasibility study whatever stage that's all our baywi that's all our umbrella right so how are we going to get that information um should you be coming to our meetings to report to us because di pamelo is very clear last time that she's not involved in Youth Empowerment Center and that di is involved in some program and you've alluded to that right um but that's it right so we need to be informed of what is going on so how do we get that information boy I wish I could share with you first of all you don't have to apologize for keeping the word Center in your conversation I uh my I know that's a that's a Target goal of yours it's a it's a Target goal of mine I would love to see that I just can't speak to his not part of my it's not part of my marching orders right now um the uh uh in terms of in terms of the order that that you know sort of next steps how do you get that I'm not um I'm not authorized to tell you that I'm going to be able to give you information that I'm not authorized to give you but I can tell you that uh you know I I mean I hear you I can I can bring that to my team and find out if there's something that I can share with you or if there's something that can be shared with you that's very specific I I mean the the question about the direction towards thatat Youth Center um as being the the the the end goal I I mean I I don't think that's off the table for anybody but I don't think that's where where um where I am in and spinning the arbor Grant right now okay I see um uh Phillips um hand up yeah I was just going to add in that conversation that I think that if you ask Ray kind of where he is currently right now in his office he will share that uh he is currently in the middle school for his space um as well as Dei is at the bank center Crest is at the bank center the senior center is at the bank center so I think speaking to your point of space I think space is for sure an issue um for these programs and and then a creation of a whole another program and so with that I think that talking about the feasibility study to kind of maybe see what we can redirect space to to free up some areas to then have some space I think that that conversation is larger than any of our departments that we are currently a part of right now okay well I I guess the the other thing like I said though is that um you know one or another though we are going to continue to ask these questions and we're going to continue to put the pressure on the town um to um you know monitor this very closely and so whether it is you all you know ask us to have a member in these conversations with a town Personnel or we will continue to to to ask the town manager as well as um you know continue to invite staff in to talk to us because you know like I said this is essental Cal Central recommendation of the cswg and so it's a Central Central um um part of what cssc is is about and and and should be monitoring um so but I understand that you all don't have the answers and so we are in dialogue with the town manager and you know we we've sent him follow-up questions and comments which he said he's going to uh be responding um to us in the next few days I I I would assume right so um so this dialogue is going to continue and my thing is again I'm I'm putting it out there for the town I mean come on be transparent you know have us in the loop have us in the conversation it's it it it just doesn't work the way that that that the town works right which is which is hide the ball um the hide the ball method is not good hide the ball method is is is never a good method it's a bad method and so the the best method is the conversate and and and communicate and share share information that's the best method um and so um yeah but thank you Ray app hear and so just real quick I I hear you on that just know number one do follow up do you know bring your questions to Paul um Town manager has the ability to answer questions that I don't have the ability to answer uh and don't want to speak out of turn um I will tell you that uh in terms of that transparency I I'm transparent to a fault okay I'm I'm I I need you to know that one of the reasons why why I there's a bunch of things I'd love to share with you uh but they're not on point and and transparency sometimes is read as commitment and I'm and I'll tell you that and this isn't the last conversation I'm going to be having with the CSS JC and you Deborah or what have you but but transparency sometimes is read as commitment uh you know my transparency is a lot of times U it's it's hey I don't think this is going to happen and that seems like a commitment it's done or transparency sometimes feels or is read as my ambition my hopes and my dreams and my vision for a Youth Empowerment Center which I get just as motivated about as as that cswg did which you involved in um I get I get similarly motivated in those situations and I don't want that that that that that uh that star-eyed optimism to be read as commitment either and that's that's where I just need you to understand me as somebody who's going be involved in this in this process well thank you really appreciate it and thank you for taking the time out of um your evening and agreeing to talk with us um definitely very appreciative of it I appreciate it thank you everybody have a good night you too move on to the crust update and I I guess I I want to just kind of interject real quickly before Crest update um Camille um I had um sent some questions to to the town manager in terms of just um CSS JC so one like note taking for our minutes cuz minutes are very important for our um our meeting we need to have minutes so I'm not sure what what's happening with that two um posting of our agenda you know that those have been happening like you know you know the night before two days before what have you so I we I really want us to get on a you know a schedule of okay the minute to I mean the the agenda is going to be posted by this date so that then we can have the agenda ready by this date and so then you know things and and we're going to talk about the reports and so we can have the agenda with the reports connected by this date so that then it's posted um and then like I said we need some minutes because then I know that obviously the the recording gets posted later and that's not within your baileywick I know but it gets posted later so you know algra and I just wanted we're the co-chairs of of of of csjc so so we we need I and I understand that right Jennifer left and and left the big hole and and and we haven't had any type of real consistency in regards to it since then but I I do want us to have some consistency so so do you have any um kind of responses to that in terms of minutes and and and by when our our our agendas can be posted so that then as co-chairs we can get agenda items sure not a problem okay for as far as the postings um just so you know uh the town has it set up or and I'm not sure where it is but has to be done 48 hours in advance the posting to be put up which would be since the um meetings are Wednesday at 6:30 means they must be done Monday at 6:30 by 6:30 pm okay um we have yes by Monday by when by by when okay so that's by when it needs to be posted so should we get it to you like let's say the Friday before so if we get it to you by the Friday okay so I'm trying to work now on getting them the the idea behind this before was trying to get them up and posted for Friday okay this week yeah so Friday would be better so if you got it Thursday Friday would be better okay so we'll get it to you all by Thursday then by Thursday okay Thursday of the the the previous week great thank you okay and as I stated in my email I have delegated the the um the minutes okay uh to um uh staff so uh Angel who is our administrative assistant so oh so he's he's basically listening to the meeting oh she sorry so she's listening to the meeting and then taking notes and then we'll we'll be kind of she will get she will get the the um we'll get the meeting tomorrow tomorrow or Friday and we'll be able to do the minutes from the recordings oh okay she'll do the minutes from the recording okay yes and then um and then usually though we adopt the the minutes but you know I don't know if we need to formally do that um I guess we can just kind of talk more internally because the other part could be that you could just kind of as long as um Angel kind of sent us the minutes let's say like after the minister is done if if she shared it with us then if we had any corrections right because that's the only thing if we had any corrections to it then we could just submit it to her because I don't like all these Robert rules of this and that so um submit it to you I guess to you know to you and then those Corrections could be made and then we could just post them um honestly I know because I've never posted the minutes so I would have to find out about that minutes minutes have to be voted in oh they do all right so then what we need good for me okay so then what we need to do is to by the next meeting then um well if if once once Angel has it has it done send it to us so we can review it and then by the next meeting we can what say if we have any corrections what what's what's the Robert what does Robert say Phillip I think that they used to be in our packet right like at when when things were running smoothly with minutes regularly they would come in the packet and we would have an agenda item at the top that was like approve minutes the only thing is what I'm saying is that I would want it because even that didn't run as smooth like in terms of like sometimes we would get it and especially if it's like well I guess if we post it on Thursday if we if we if it gets posted it on Friday then yeah we'll have enough time to read it and then vote on it okay yeah if we do it like that if we if we getting if we're um posting everything with our packet and the minutes are included in the packet on Friday then we'll have enough time to review it and then vote on it on Wednesday that's how we we could do it that's how you could do it and also um I'm trying to choose my words very wisely here because I've been recorded and there's Mass law that I have to follow and all that uh as a committee you all cannot communicate together to an email of course individually to an email to someone that is correcting minutes may be done so and then voted in so if you have any corrections I would just suggest not to do it to the larger group rather just to the individual doing the minut no but that's what we're saying uh Philip so we're taking out the corrections because since we're now you know we got to do all these you know things that that you've stated so what we'll do is that we'll include it in the pack it it it gets posted on Friday we'll review it and then if there's Corrections we'll discuss it at the meeting on Wednesday we'll discuss it so that there will be no discussions between when it gets posted and when when we meet on Wednesday perfect everal I I was going to say that is what we would do is if either of us find an error we discuss it publicly at the meeting and correct it on the record yeah yeah so we'll do it like that all right in terms of because I know last time we had talked about having question you know kind of a template to work off of and we did not chain Comm we we people sent suggestions and I compiled it into a document um remember remember they sent it just to it was one to the two of us so yeah it wasn't like yeah um so our Hope was that that also would be included in the packet that that if that was the template that cres and dii were working off of in terms of giving us updates that would be from the template that we had come up with collectively individually actually Edy could you could you post that like the proposed format because Camille I guess we're going into the next piece which is around Crest and everything as what algra is stating right we sent out this and and all of us at cssc is in agreement with this that we sent out a format in terms of how we want the monthly updates so we do want something in writing um that we want to be included in the um in the packet so if we're sending everything in by Thursday our agenda we want like the crest U written up update as well as Di and we'll talk with Philip later di written update to be part of the packet and then and then like this we we we can then have it as part of the the report so I will let you know now um I have passed that on along to the town manager okay to discuss because that is a lot of information and a PowerPoint included okay so I have passed that on to the town manager and I am waiting for response to from him um as far as when moving forward with this so um so if the PowerPoint is the issue you don't have to do the PowerPoint that's fine but we we definitely need generally with meetings giving a oral presentation of the what we're doing on um there is a lot of stuff you've got here and this is basically um like I said I spoke to you know email the town manager and I'm waiting for information back before I make any comment on wait but so I want to I want so we want to explain what what it is why it is that we we're asking for these right so we're asking for this information because one Crest is is a department that is the mission is to be an alternative to policing so these questions and these categories that we're we're asking for over here is actually the categories that were um discussed through the leap that that did that original um analysis in terms of what are the the different areas that Crest should be uh responding to so a lot of like that information that we've been given in the past it really doesn't make too much sense to us these categories actually will make sense to us and if we're able to see it right if it's able to be like in a graph and it's able to even like eval had said if it was in an Excel spreadsheet right where then you can kind of and we can see it side by side on a month-to-month basis it would make more sense to us as as a committee and we want data that makes sense we don't want data that just for data's sake if it's just for data's sake what's the point of it that is that is a very valid point and that is one of the reasons why we are working on our data set so that it will be easier to pull this kind of data and actually make it more easily read readable um one of the things that we're doing is again I've said this before about working with qual Trex on making our how in defining what our parameters are for our data so in this way once qual Trek is set it will be much easier to pull the data and give charts and whatnot versus what's going on now which is we're still working on it by hand so a lot of this information you know we have some of it but along with our standard operating procedures this is something that is in the midst of it is not completed yeah no I I get that but the thing is is that you know that's something that's been that's been going on even before you came uh Pamela when she was part of the interim team and leading the interim team we were told that we were going to get data that never happened um so soop you for a minute here one second okay so I just want to say a couple of things um this week marks six months that I've been with the Department okay six months and the first couple of months were just get getting to know what's going on with the Department who are our consumers our neighbors Etc and learning more about ammer and what its needs are okay so it has only been in the last two months three months that I've really been able to sit down and work on some of the things that I had decided I wanted to work on when I came in and one of those was the standard operating procedures okay now a lot of things that are going on like we had the GPL the government performance lab that came in before I did okay as part of the Grant and some of the things that they had asked for were um how we were going about things and one of the things that was not set in writing Etc was a very c clearcut um standard operating procedures okay and how things were going with Crest and that's one of the things that we're working on now the other thing that we're working on is finishing up for last dph Grant the Eeps Grant okay and one of the things that just came out today and actually they were talking to us about is that we need to have very clearcut standard operating procedures that are developed so that they can be implemented now a lot of the things that we're doing are based on some of the things that I've already been working on so the standard operating proced procedures are taking a lot of time and these are things that are building the bricks to making this a sustainable Department because that's one of the things that I noticed when I came in that a lot of things that were not most things were not put into place okay um and it it was just a lot of things that needed to be done and that's what I'm bringing to it is some structure some order and some discipline making sure that all the things that should be put in place a lot of the things that were in the original report and the leap report I wanted to make sure that those things get done so that's what I'm talking about why all this stuff I've only been here for six months and only now really getting to the nitty-gritty of what needed to be done so I I know that evil has his hand up and then I can can follow up ail thank you so um can you know the the intent here is to not give you or your team additional work so if I me just ask some simplified questions around what we're asking for um the the origin of your report from whatever systems that you have um does it come to you in by any chance in any Microsoft program like Excel word Adobe one of those CHS a lot of it right now is coming in in a couple of different ways and what we're trying to do with qual treks okay that is the meaning of qual TRX is really get everything together because one of the problems we're having is um the difference between qualitative and quantitative data okay and for those who don't know quantitative data is the numbers and it's really easy to see numbers okay that we went to 10 calls this week that Encompass this many people but what quantitative data does not tell is the whole story which is the quality of it the qualitative data which is that we met with a neighbor um who was having difficulty with um obtaining food so we were able to write them um a Salvation Army voucher to go get some food or they lost some items and weren't able or moving into their own apartment and don't have furniture we were able to write them a voucher and then take them you know to stoping shop or excuse me Big Y to get food those are the things that are not captured in our data the way it is set up now so those are the type of things that we're working on because I want people I want the the uh committee to be able to see a very full and robust um data set so if I understand you you're getting information from different sources and you have to piece them together yes so that's the problem right now is that piecing them all together so it's not an accurate representation I mean if you compile all this data you know um what I'm looking for and this is what qual Trex is supposed to be able to help us do and they're still in the process of it is get all this data in something that's manageable and that's easily readable and that will be a lot easier to present than what I've had to and so again I don't want to give you or your team any additional works let me just ask this question is there anything that would prevent you from say sending me the raw data so I can play around with it to see if I can help in any way to put this maybe in an EXC format and then report back to you as to how I did that and see if that's something that you guys can use or be interested in so we do have some in Excel but again it's not the the what has happened was previously was the data was corrupted so that's why all this stuff is being reformatted so that's the difference in the last couple of months we're really trying to streamline things that's why I say that you know um that it's not being done at Pres okay so again so when I when the last things that I gave you a couple months ago took a long time to get together okay so yeah I'm happy to help if I can to um I I do like Excel I if there's if you want to send me anything and I can play around it and maybe build a template that may work for you that may not work for you I'm happy to do that thank you we can discuss it okay so I I feel like what I'm hearing you say is kind of like what the committee is hoping for is that we do get a more robust picture of what's going on because like you said just hearing raw numbers doesn't really mean much other than like oh you know I can do math and they did more than last month or whatever um right so Bigg problem is is that you know just by the Numbers the numbers don't accurately show all the stuff that we're doing right you know um like one of the things we were talking about I I was talking to the responders today about this and you know one of the things that they mentioned that um we the big thing is that we speak to the people who have been forgotten and overlooked okay and that when we engage with these Neighbors they're the ones that tell us that they are disappointed in the community as a whole and like I really want to get people to understand that it takes time to build trust and that we are starting small um I know that Allegra you had sent me some information before about Durham um North Carolina and one of the things that Durham did is that they did a data set for three years um before they even piloted their program and then the other thing about it is is that they had a lot of information and services and everything set up also the other thing about um Durham is that their program has four tiers okay and two of their tiers are like responders and then they have a group um called the they have um community respon team and then one of the other parts is a care Navigator which provides additional support after so in Crest we are both so that takes up additional part of our time is that not only do we meet people where they're at but after this okay after we see them a lot of times there's a lot of followup that goes along with this so the numbers just tell a part of the story and I really want people to understand that there's so much more to the story than just the numbers so again I think that we're kind of on the same page about that which is why like on the second page we were talking more about kind of individual case highlights because I think when we were getting those it was more helpful to kind of conceptualize what it means when you see that there have been assist citizen calls for example um and I will say I think we also wanted to make sure that we're tracking progress towards what kinds of call types are being added into the repertoire based on what was identified previously by the leap report when conceptualizing Crest so like right so like from here up is kind of what already was you know what we saw from you last last report kind of here down is the stuff that we were hoping to add in and I think I think one of the things about location is just kind of understanding what kind of area you guys are covering in any given day um is it mostly centralized or is it spreading out into some of the other neighborhoods and Actually I don't even know if we are if that is actual location I know we have them through the cads of where everything is like where folks are going um but I have to check and see if it's actually um part of our data collection of what section I know I had a note about that and again since we are consent-based I was looking like the demographics um the only thing we can go on is um you know what people tell us okay or else um phenotype what we see or what we perceive um and as you know what um how someone looks according to um race may not be what they actually are we understand that so I you know like again we we do understand that there been kind of like issues around um getting the data and things like that um or or displaying the data I guess because this this platform or what have you that that that you all are trying to get or going to get or or or or you know not sure but it's just kind of like you know we we we are very you know we want to know like what is actually what is Crest actually handling and of course if what Crest is handling Falls within the parameters of um alternative to policing which again is the the the focus of Crest right and I understand that CR is involved in a variety of different things but again I want to put out my my concern which is you know the fact the mission of Crest right which right now I'm not sure where Crest is at in terms of its mission right um and and even though you know seems like seemingly they they're doing a bunch of things but what are they doing that actually falls within alternative to to policing right which is dealing with some of those things that we stated in this report which was actually within the leap report which is all the nonviolent um type of categories um that need to be there because you know we're very intentional when we created um and recommended crest for it not to be a social service agency so you know well one of the things you have understand is that we are not a social service agency but what I see us as as Bridge so if you again one of the things that was very much um talked about was Durham if you look at how they originally were formed and what their original Mission was and how things have evolved there's a lot of evolving with alternatives to policing okay alternative response so when I talk to people and we talk about you know what do we do it is any call pretty much that does doesn't require it that you wouldn't want necessary police or fire so the same thing of like if you're having difficulty with your neighbor or um you have if you're a business and there is someone that is there that you know is being loud or having you know um not necessarily A Mental Health crisis but just having a difficult day and um or like at the library where they're very open to having unhoused folks you know who are there during the day and now if they get disruptive or something Crest will come and speak to them and a lot of times what's happened is is as I said is building this trust that people are saying this is the first time that somebody's actually Li listened to me or they've come to us because they're having a lot of problems and they said this is the first time that I actually feel hope you're actually listening to me you're actually you know helping me to find somebody to give me help okay whereas these same people could be out on the street um causing difficulty for people okay and things like that um another thing I think of is during the block party um if you notice I think um Deborah you were there and LTE was there I don't not know if you noticed that there was a gentleman there who was having difficulty he is unhoused and there is another person who is unhoused who the two of them were getting into um an argument and he came up to Crest because he didn't want to involve the police and we spoke to both of them and he came over and spoke to um our team for probably 45 minutes to an hour and what he said was is that he didn't want to get violent with this person and he appreci appreci the fact that we took the time to speak with him and deescalate the situation so that's what I feel is crest's Mission it's to be there to help when people don't necessarily want the police okay and need someone there another thing that happened at the block party I don't know if you know is that there was a missing child and we had a picture of the child and everyone went off you know it's every all hands on deck every went went looking for this child and one of the responders found the child turns out the child was with the mother and he showed the picture of the child to the mother and goes yeah that's my you know she was wearing the same outfit um he said okay there's been some you know confusion here can you come back with us back to the fire station um where the sitter was so the sitter was very upset and they were like okay and it turns out but what I the main point I want to bring to this year is that as a person of color who would have probably been much more upset if a police officer had walked up to them and said hey can you come with us I think there's some misunderstanding they would have felt obliged to do it there would have been a lot of fear or whatnot but instead our Crest responder was able to say Hey you know well you know we're trying to figure out do you mind coming back and talking you know came back and everything was cleared up that is a Crest response it is a lot easier for someone to see us in our gray and talk to us versus speaking to a police officer somebody else is having difficulty they will come to us if they see us so along with the mission I think that it's a lot more than just being there instead of the police I agree with that Camille I mean obviously some of these um situations that arose is wonderful that Christ was there and I'm happy that Christ was able to help a the Escalade that is part of their mission but like I said part of their mission right so dis patch you know um you know the the the calls that that are coming into to the police that actually Crest should be handling you know is that actually handling is Crest um handling noise complaints it's Crest handling of disturbances that that don't that are non-criminal it's Crest handling suspicious behavior that are non-criminal that go over to the police there's a variety of other um um Arenas and areas that Crest could be involved in but it's not right that's not happening that's not happening here's here's the thing you have to understand again is when I was talking about standard operating procedures okay one of the things that I think that you're having difficult ulty understanding is the fact that police and fire have over 200 well Amis has over 200 years of police and fire so their standard operating procedures have been built over 200 years Crest has only been in existence since um well they went live September of 20122 okay so that's been two years there were no ST standard operating procedures there were nothing in writing there was nothing working with dispatch police Etc that gave us a um a foundation was not there so even though um uh now it hasn't been a year uh December of last year they went on dispatch there was nothing set up for dispatch to know what crest calls went to also again as I've said I'm working very closely with dispatch to set up these standard operating procedures but they take time again 200 years of what's been going on and they already have that well documented well said but we have to take all of these things that are going into it and go through each one of them and figure out how are we going to do this okay this is a well-being check all right I know that this person or dispatch knows that this person has this much difficulty and if confronted or whatnot depending on how they're feeling you know they could get violent okay they know all these things now the way it comes up in the reports or whatnot you see in the paper or whatnot just a disturbance but again it doesn't show the nuances so that's where training comes in that's where it comes in where working with dispatch you know on their operating procedures and on ours makes a difference I wouldn't want to just send people out on something without having a good base and knowledge so that's part of training and I really want to standardize all these things so that's why I was brought in because I know about building programs so that's where this is coming from it is a program that is being built from the base the foundation up these are things that were not put in place before and with the first director at all the in um the uh Team okay in between didn't feel it was right to put into place all these things when a director was coming in that would set this up so there were some things that were started and now I'm making sure that they are fulfilled and done right I don't want to just do something that is why so many these programs had Pilots to make sure that everything that they had was in place so there is where the difference is and I understand that all these different calls but you have to start with the one call then go to the second call and it has to be very clear and as someone who is in law you know that there are too many things in this litigious society that we have to worry about so I want to make sure that it people are are call types that the language we're using and that's something else the language we're using has to be the same as police and fire okay these are Community responders so they all have to be trained to the same level and that's what I'm doing with people is making sure that we're all on the same page that the training is the same so that when we do as we call them warm handoffs that people understand that we're all working together and I want Town departments and everything else it is all about collaboration yeah I get that I get that Camille for sure um but you know I I understand that it takes time but if you're telling me that it's going to take 200 years it's not gonna take 200 years all I'm saying is that it's 200 set up and the other part of this and the other part you have to understand and I think you do understand this part is that take things that are coming down from a police-based um mindset okay and having to turn them into a trauma informed um uh anti-racist lens you know that's a whole another level that we have to add to it and what um my um uh implementation manager calls it is we're taking all these things things and we have to cify them so we have to make sure when we do these that they are trauma informed anti-racist we need to make sure that we are all speaking language that is um not you know going to cause harm um so again it's I know it just seems like it's it's a lot and over the last you know couple of months I've really you know wore myself out going over a lot of the things because I do believe in this work you know I wouldn't have come here if I didn't so but it's all it's all taking time and it's a lot of work and I mean this is something that you know I love I love doing this and I love setting this up and you know it it's when it's done the other part of this is is that um as Ry alluded to um well talk he didn't to he made clear is that I want this to be sustainable and the way it was set up okay was not necessarily sustainable and definitely you know coming from um first responder being a firefighter and having been the training officer I understand how important it is that everybody is trained to the same level that everybody is on the same page okay so that we all understand what is going on and that is why when I report out things I want to make sure that it is in language that everyone understands and that if there's questions that they're easily answered I definitely get that um do do we know um how how well you know how many responders are in place right now we have four and um this week we are interviewing for responders so we have a diverse candidate pool um and actually it's starting tomorrow so I'm excited so then in terms of like like timelines deadlines in terms of like so the the data that we're requesting and and things like that um what do you think the standard operating procedures and so on so that is gonna so and that is you know um I have somebody working diligently on that and a lot of um a lot of traction has really gotten on that um I don't know if you know this I didn't know this but um well I yeah kind of when I think about it um when you start a job a lot of times the first thing you're done is given a manual okay and it has like you know your I mean like a regular job you would get like your time off you're sick Etc and how to do this so R1 is much more in-depth you know it's um our policies and procceed procedures um what to do if this happens how to deal with this Etc um also it will have um as we're right now setting up training for the new responders and um and that's one of the things that I was working on this week with the responders is finding out what trainings that they had over the last two years that they felt were beneficial to them okay um what they felt was not and what they feel like they needed so I'm getting a comprehensive list of that and that is what's helping to build the training out so um and I'm hoping that we can really get all this stuff done you know before the end of the year I mean like the training comprehensive training set up um get the data all set you know um and work with qual Trex and be able to have something that that makes sense is sustainable um and can be expanded upon you know I mean there's a lot that we're doing but it it needs to be scalable so um my final thoughts because I I actually have to jump off at 8:30 um so I won't be able to stay on but beyond that but my final thoughts in terms of this in terms of some of the things that you said um before the cssc members jump in with questions is you know and and I do get like Crest obviously being on the same page speaking the same language as a fire department and and the APD so that they can communicate but again just making sure that Crest is independent like you said right defin is is focused on being anti-racist and being um you know about deescalation and Trauma informed and everything even though APD and fire department should also be anti-racist and should also be you know focused on you know making sure that they have responses that are are more so trauma informed and then you know Crest dealing with all the other you know aspects so that they're all in line right so even if they're dealing with things it should still be anti-racist it still be you know a trauma in form even though they're dealing with you know violent criminal possible behaviors and you all are dealing with hopefully not all the other nonviolent behaviors right so both should still be kind of responding in that way and then you all have the added deescalation and communication and conversation and all those other aspects of it but yeah I think it's kind of like that that common language to a certain extent goes both ways right in terms of of of some of the things that the the police also need to be focusing on and and the fire department need to be focusing on especially you know and that was one of the things that I asked right right one of the question I asked to Chief Ting was how are you going to make your your department anti-racist right so um and I think I was going to say and that's one of the things that um Chief Ting and I have talked about and also as you know they're um looking for the new fire chief so that is one of the things is working collaboratively with them is really encouraging that and some of the things that we found are some of the um trainings that we're doing that you know um we're working with um like uh motivational inter interviewing and everything else and finding out a lot of the classes that we're doing also the police have and also the fire department has and chief Ting has really you know encouraged people and he really um believes in Crest and believes in his people so and I think one of the things that's really nice that's happening now is that we are getting referrals from police officers that are out in the community and seeing things and realizing you know what this is not us you know have Crest come out here and I mean I think it's wonderful thank you I appreciate you responding to my questions thank you other folks questions now we could move on to Dei yeah we do that no um I think for the sake of time because I know WB you just said that you have to jump off um yeah other members are going to stay on I'm going to jump off right I just want to make um one announcement since all members are here um and then whoever comes on is that um in terms of Resident oversight board I would like to just say that um if not this morning definitely um in the afternoon a contract has been signed to move forward with the consultant in that way um the consultant is me notified so I will not publicly state it right now because I just feel like that's not fair to tell you all who it is before they get that information um but they will get that information by the end of tonight if not have already I just don't know that communication on that way um in terms of moving forward the first step that um Paul would like to do is create and with the Consultants is create kind of a group that will be looking at bylaws um for the resident oversight board and moving forward so this group um per Paul's kind of direction is going to Encompass um Crest Dei uh the Human Rights Commission and csjc as well as HR and of course the town manager's office and in terms of scope and scale of kind of the size of the group I think that he's moving towards the direction of one representative for each group just so that way with schedules timing and for sake of not moving the project any longer than it has already taken that it would just like to just kind of be moved up in that way um in terms of the Consultants they would like to kind of host um the Cs SJC as well as the Human Rights Commission into kind of a public form if you will um of kind of scope what it is that um the oversight board happening everything in that way um obviously I'll let Consultants speak for themselves when they um do so but the idea of the plan is and of course this is the plan so things can change and as I just said this is just news that was given to me a few hours before I hopped on this call is that um in November um the hope is to have that meeting with the CSS JC and HRC to host kind of that and then an individual from both Le all group I think Paul will just appoint individuals from um the groups in town I'm not sure if he's looking to directors to appoint it I can't speak to that but someone from the town groups will be appointed in that way um so November meeting kind of a scope what it's going to look like and then you all decide who is that representative from your all groups and I recognize that you're going to have new members as well so um but I just wanted to give that news before you hop off the call cuz I know that that is the um priority that has or initiative that has been wanting some details on that so good news in that way of it is moving forward great news very excited and on that note I'll did you all farewell and um then U algra then you can fill me in on anything I miss all right good night everyone thanks yeah all right um yep so I just wanted to give that update um and then apologies for not getting anything to you all I will recognize that I did not I think the email chain is out there um I received the information I believe on the 30th um from you all to request that information some of this information as I just said I didn't have an update until about 12 o'clock today to give you so my update for Monday would have definitely changed for my update today so um apologies uh we are a department of two and at times it is very much felt that way so um the trainings that the de department is doing for Town staff so every third Friday of the month we have trainings um for different topics last month was kind of a coffee house thing that encompassed a lot of topics um particularly race and ethnicity and this month we are doing um accessibility and a member from the accessibility committee is hopefully joining us for that conversation to talk with staff and it's just more of an effort to kind of get staff up to par with things they may not know or see in their Department that you know it's it's very interesting being a part of that group I think that um not having a disability myself I see the blind spots in things that are not in my day-to-day life that are in someone else's day-to-day life that is definitely just eye opening so it's in an effort to allow staff to kind of get that feel of what it that can happen for um in their departments in terms of departmental training we are trying or not trying we are going to do in January departmental trainings for all departments and it's going to be um specialized in every single department so as you can imagine the Jones library is going to be very different than the PDW um building or people as well as the crest people as well as the senior center so those trainings will be kind of tailored into categories um based off of a survey that will go out to staff to kind of get a fill and as well as um to directors kind of what it is needed between various departments um I'm trying to go along on the list of notes that I have written here from your all um Community engagement we have and terms of racial healing we have a Beloved Community series that happens every other month on the third Thursday evening so our last one was dealing with America's racial history we had about 30 people in attendance we had um great conversation that night I think that um it really is moving forward in terms of um people kind of talking about tough issues and especially in particular of race and moving those things along um in terms of the um resident oversight board I gave you all kind of that um information um I don't know when those things will get coordinated and I don't really know who it's Fallen under I imagine it is the Dei department so when I know more information you all will know more information um I think that in terms of that meeting that the Consultants are trying to do I know that availability is an issue because of the holiday and of course all of your all's holiday so um we we are very hopeful that it happen happens and moves forward in a way that is seen productive for everybody um just for open meeting law clarification say in order to plan a date for a forum that could be done via email because it is meetingagenda setting right correct okay so because I'm just thinking if our next meeting is November 13th then that really like for us to plan something something between then and right the everything else that goes on in November and December correct yeah getting into the holiday season for sure um translation services um happening we so I don't know if you all saw but we have um what are called pocket talks and so those are almost handheld translators that can translate over 80 languages every town department has it um so it is very nice in a way that you know if someone needs help at Dei and we make a handoff to the public health department they have the equipment also to communicate so it's not like oh Dei has this equipment that we can talk to someone that doesn't speak English but then someone else that then needs something else then gets handed to a department that it would be unhelpful for so those devices are all in town hall um various amounts of town staff from our planning Crest police um Dei office the Jones a lot of people are using them and saying they work fantastic that were able to help out people they also do um translation of scan documents in there so it is very helpful as you can imagine for some translation that gets tough for government work um and language that it then is an easy way to communicate and translate for individuals um in that way the communications manager um is new into her role and she is working with various departments for translation um I know one thing that they're working on is with DPW and some signage um so I mean that's going to be great in itself we all use Public Works public spaces that if you a non- English speaker it's probably very difficult to understand what the signus saying if you have no idea so um in that way that's moving forward I am being a part of a language access Round Table that's going to um discuss other municipalities that kind of have already established translation services in their town and kind of what has worked for them what has not worked for them and so that happens on later on this month so translation services I I think is moving in a great direction for the town in terms of accessibility and then um I think the big topic that we kind of discovered or discussed firsthand in the beginning of our meeting is youth um programming in terms of Dei so we are taking some initiative in the Dei office to have some youth programming specifically focused on empowerment and so I think Ry alluded to one of them that um this is just speaking to the town's collaboration aspect of things I think that um the entrepreneurship area is an idea that came from the Dei office that wreck then is now helping workout and as well as um Crest cril is very great and amazing in the collaboration aspect of things that it's now the concept that happened at Dei is now being fil filled through three departments and possibly the Jones library that then will help out in a way to have kind of a junior Market at our um Global Village Festival which is a festival that's happening in place of kind of um the various town events that we've done in the past um it's in a direction that the Human Rights Commission is really pushing forward that it's a lot of work to do all these individual celebrations and not um taking away of the fact that these celebrations need to happen and or be recognized it's just more of a feasible equitable way of doing so because attendance varies at very different celebrations as well as cost as well as just the effort that goes into it so on an equity issue we are trying to then incorporate one event that will happen um in April that then will be en coupled with some Youth Empowerment and I will say I that I have reached out to um uh I think I could say I I couldn't see there being a problem I reached out to the black business Business Association of amers for some um help in that way um we are in talks there's no commitment on their end it is just simple just talks in that way but in an effort to bring everybody together that creates kind of the idea of um Youth Empowerment with the focus on bipo youth as well and that so that is one Avenue there's a couple of other workshops um that we're thinking of doing in terms of empowerment and then I will also say that I would love any input from this committee as well as any people that you know that could possibly help out in this Avenue um I have already had I think three four about to be five meetings with community members um from various areas um in the community so I think that that is one benefit for me um taking this position is that I kind of know some stakeholders and can make a phone call and have a meeting in that way but if you all think that I should be talking to someone that I have not talked to please let me know um as well as if you all think of any um workshops that may be great and of course we are 100% listening to youth in ways that we are in the schools talking to the schools trying to get information that has already been said as Ry has said that um some youth at morning movement kind of discussed in terms of powerment in programs and so that's kind of where the entrepreneurship idea actually came from was that Ray brought it up to me I was like this would be great and I think that it's no secret that I have an eighth grader myself who very much um I think is an entrepreneur but just needs those kind of skill sets of to like okay what happens after you have the idea like what are the next steps and those things will just come into place I think can I ask a clarifying question yep so this envisioned event for April is that are you saying that's in place of things that Dei has sponsored in the past like the Lunar New Year and juneth and right that that is correct it's going to be in place of it we are still doing um Partnerships with individuals so like for um latinx Heritage Month um salsa and the park had a celebration there we were able to help them kind of navigate food trucks and different um Avenues in that way so we are still working with groups to highlight celebrations we are just not taking on the initiative of doing that celebration so same thing with the Festival of Lights um Doan sh Mills is um in talks with me of doing so I'm have helped out with the proclamation and I believe we're going to be highlighting some crafts in that way so we again these celebrations need to be recognized and it's definitely a time for that I think for sustainability of the celebrations um when I was on the Human Rights Commission and now the Human Rights Commission that is it just it takes up a lot of time and a a lot of effort that I think that our department just cannot feasibly do in the long term of language access it's great to hear that it's available in all the Departments and um and that there's going to be potentially some signage in other languages as well is there any talk about like meeting translation or Zoom accessibility for other languages right so I know that right I know that is being um looked into I I don't know anywhere that it has gone I know that um very different Avenues have been looked into for um Lang language translations and I believe that Zoom itself does have a component of it I do think that there is some issues with the and I can't really speak to what those issues are right now that the holdup is there regarding the Dei updates I have no questions but thank you Phil that was very detailed all right if di is oh what is happened is that me sorry everybody I was just saying I was just saying that if Dei is done I am going to go eat with my son thank you everybody um appreciate it all right thank you philli um so Deborah and I did send a follow-up email to Paul I know she referenced that earlier um just ask kind of asking for some clarification on the questions we had sent earlier um so there's no update from him we were just and a lot of the questions actually were questions that Deborah asked Rey so I think hopefully by also asking them to Paul perhaps we'll get some sort of answer um so on the the next thing on the agenda is discussion of goals um I'm wondering how people would feel about tabling that until next month when we have a new member or if people have anything that they really have as a burning desire for a goal um I think it makes sense given that there only three of us left um okay so we can table that and then we also had present pres in at a town council meeting as an agenda item um that is something Deborah and I had talked about from one of the suggestions from public comment last time we met um so that is something that we can reach out to the Town Council president about potentially getting on an agenda um I think it could be helpful to do so in the context of the budget that is coming up um I I did see there was some question as the Town Council is starting to talk about budgeting and how to make a budget for next year and the fact that there will be some shortfalls that Crest was mentioned as a possible place to look at and reassess in terms of budgeting um so that could also be tied in with the goals discussion of putting some advocacy into that area perhaps um so I'm GNA put a pin on that as well for next month if that's okay um we have six members of the public if anyone wants to make a public comment please raise your hand not seeing any hands raised feel like we're about to set a record for like the world's quickest CSS JC meeting and no public comment per per um speak now or wait until November 13th um so our next meeting is November 13th I believe let me just double check the calendar but I think that's the right date I've already said it like three times so if I'm wrong I apologize yeah it it is November 13th yes so we will have a discussion of goals um we have invited the finance director we have not had confirmation that she will come yet but perhaps there will be some additional questions around Youth Empowerment we have our standing items uh Town council meeting anything else anyone would like to add at this time for agenda items emailed about a week before all right well it is 8:49 and I am adjourning this meeting okay thank you thank you everybody bye have a good night night bye you too bye