In Attendance: Kathy Ryg, State Representative
Chuck Balling, Gurnee Park District
Michelle Michaels, States Attorney Office
Patti Lappala-Bardell, ISBE EBD Network
Evelyn Dalenheim-Russell, YWCA-Lake County
Judy Fried, NICASA
Wallace Brandies, NICASA
Linda Willms, Afterschool Club
Bruce Johnson, Round Lake Park/Hainesville Police Department
Shana Magidovitch, United Way of Lake County
JoAnn Carpenter, YWCA Lake County
Connie Willegal, Girl Scouts – IL Crossroads Council
Mary Otte, Girl Scouts - IL Crossroads Council
David Husemoller, Lake County Planning, Building & Development
Alex Marx, Mundelein Park District
Jennifer Adams, Northern IL Food Bank
Pat Garrity, Lake County Health Department
Elizabeth Nelson, Lake County InTouch
Meg Hamlet, Metro Achievement Center
Dr. Janet Ring, Waukegan Public Schools
Melissa Ray-Schaefer, Omni Youth Services
Cheryl Carlson, Warren Township High School District 121
Jamie Gallo, Family Care of Illinois
Marie Schalke, Kildeer School District 96
Michelle DiCarlo, Hawthorn Junior High School
Kimberly Kim, Lake Forest Country Day School
Loomis Mayfield, IL After-School Alliance - phone
Theresa Loerch, Rep. Ryg’s office
The next After School Coalition Leadership meeting will be held on Monday,
February 28th at 8:30 a.m. at the Mundelein Police Department.
Announcements:
Michelle Michaels, Lake County State’s Attorney’s office informed the group that they will be sponsoring a seminar on Bullying and Hazing in the School (Part II – Dealing with the Bully) on January 26th at Country Squire. This is a follow up to the January 2004 seminar, targeting those in law enforcement and schools that work with junior high and high school students, with training on identifying the bully and solutions on how we can work together for a positive result. (Sponsored by The Lake County Juvenile Justice Council and Character Matters of Lake County)
Loomis Mayfield, Illinois After-school Alliance reported that we need to continue sending correspondence to the Governor Blagojevich, Secretary Carol Adams, and our state legislators
reminding them of the importance of after school programming. It was agreed that the volume of communication does send a strong message. A suggestion was made to encourage kids to also send letters about how much teen centers means to them. An Action Alert handout was distributed at this meeting and is attached.
Dr. Janet Ring, Waukegan Schools reported that the State may be short-changed on returns of federal grant dollars. This past season only one Magnet grant was returned to Illinois, and that to Chicago, while Florida received seven. Additionally, Illinois only received 11 Carol White Physical Education grants for obesity and cardiac care, especially for urban youth, while Wisconsin received 17 such grants.
It may be time to combine agency and legislative efforts to represent state needs to the United States Department of Education, the Department of Health Services, Juvenile Justice and other funding agencies. Geographic and/or political boundaries notwithstanding, Illinois students and families should have returned to them a proportional share of federal grant dollars. A suggested way to do this is to track awards through ed.gov to create an awareness of that proportionality.
David Husemoller, Planner – Lake County Planning, Building and Development reported that the good news is that the Lake County Community Development Commission approved recommendations to fund 22 public services projects for FY 2005 for a total of $436,574 this past Wednesday night. Two funded programs, OMNI Youth and Big Brothers Big Sisters, provide after school activities. These public service grants account for 15% of the total $2,910,496 CDBG allocation for Lake County, outside of Waukegan and North Chicago, which each have their own separate allocations. The Wednesday night meeting opens the 30-day public comment period, before the recommendations of the 2005 Action Plan are officially adopted.
The bad news is that the President is recommending to cut programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the 2006 budget. The CDBG program may be cut in half and moved to the Commerce Department, which traditionally supports business development. Members of Congress tend to favor CDBG grants as they can use them to demonstrate to their electorates that they are bringing federal monies back to their communities. Congress may oppose these drastic changes.
Chuck Balling, Gurnee Park District thanked the Leadership Team for their letter of endorsement to the Gurnee Park District President and Board of Commissions. The project for the Hunt Club Park had been approved to expand their facility space to provide for more programming in their community including before and after school programming.
Pat Garrity, Lake County Health Department announced that they had received a grant from the IL Department of Human Services, Division of Community Health and Prevention, Office of Prevention - Abstinence Education Project. They will be targeting adolescents in Waukegan and taking an “academic” approach with their Educational Achievement Supports Abstinence project which will include after-school academic mentoring, individual counseling, and transition programming, and tutoring. They will also offer some parent education to support both the students and their families in successfully planning for postsecondary education.
Marie Schalke, Kildeer School District 96 announced that their district conducted a survey about after school activities and linked it to student achievement. They are currently doing action research this year to see if involvement in after school activities will have a positive impact on students who are currently low achievers. At the next meeting Marie will share the results of their survey.
Strategic Planning Committee: Judy Fried reported that they had not received any comments
regarding the After School Coalition By-Laws since the last meeting. However, this is a work in progress and all feedback is appreciated. Please send your feedback to mpenich@lake.k12.il.us A copy of the By-Laws has been attached for your review. A suggestion was to form an ad-hoc committee for By-Laws. Approval of the By-Laws will be voted on at the February 28th meeting of the Leadership Team.
Assessment Committee: Patti Leppala-Bardell reported that approximately 1200 assessment surveys were sent out. As of January 20th, they had 100 returned surveys. The returned surveys came from a diverse group; schools, park districts, faith-based groups, etc. A suggestion was made to re-send these surveys via electronic fax. Explanation of how this is done was discussed. Patti said that they were going to keep going and collect as many surveys as they can and then evaluate the information received from the surveys. The plan is to have this information available as a resource electronically. Please contact Patti Lepalla-Bardell at plwrap@aol.com with any questions.
Special Needs Committee – Patti Leppala-Bardell reported that they are currently working on the registration form for the conference “Tools for Working with Special Needs Youth” Conference to be held on Friday, March 4th at the Crowne Plaza in Mundelein. Dr. Michael Frey will be their keynote speaker and breakout sessions are as follows:
-Working with the Angry Child - Dr. Michael Frey
-Depression & Suicide - Dr. John Dominguez; NSSED
-Dual Diagnosis: when mental illness & substance abuse collide - Suzanne Walker; Rush Behavioral Health
-Developing Partnerships with Parents - Beth Berndt; Illinois Federation of Families
-Self-Injurious Behavior – Dr. Denise Styer, Alexian Brothers
-DCFS: The Role of the Mandated Reporter - DCFS representative
-Autism Spectrum Disorders and
Behavior Interventions - Dr. Shawn Daugherty, Streamwood Behavioral Health
-Managing, Motivating & Engaging the ADHD Student – Dr. Charlotte Edwards,
Counseling
Connections
-The Effects of Domestic Violence on Youth – Rebekah DePuy, A Safe Place
Anyone interested in helping out with the conference, please contact Patti Lepalla-Bardell at plwrap@aol.com .
Next meeting: Monday, February 28th at 8:30 a.m., Mundelein Police Department