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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974-07-18-YAC-rpt.pdf Report of the Youth Advisory Commission (September 1972-1973) I INTRODUCTION Recognizing that the youth of Lexington may have needs which are not being adequately met or fully discussed, the Board of Selectmen established in 1972 a Youth Advisory Commission with the express purpose of "promoting communications between youth, parents, and groups concerned with youth; serving as an information source for all ; providing an open forum for public discussion of new programs; supplying leadership for community needs which are not now being met; and promoting programs which are designed to stimulate under- standing of the problems of youth " II EVALUATION OF 1972-73 ACCOMPLISHMENTS Generally the first year of the Commission' s activity was directed towards organizational matters and towards meeting specific charges from the Board the Board of Selectmen I '? A By-LOWS. Changes The first change was a reduction in the size of the membership of the Commission from thirty to twenty-three A thirty member Commission was thought to be an unwieldy size, making It difficult to personally know one another and making it all too easy to say "my active participation isn't really necessary, there are twenty-nine other members who can do the work " When first suggested, this recommendation was supported, with the reasoning that "it wouldn't be to cut the number of people working with youth, but to strengthen the members and unite those that do come " Secondly, to conform to the school year and to insure an orderly transition in Commission membership, the date of appointments has been changed from April 1 - March 31 to July 1- June 30 B Role of Executive Board tr The role of the Executive Board has been defined to be four fold in nature; .y 1 . To elect a Commission Chairman and Secretary 2. To make recommendations concerning subcommittee structures and to propose directions in which the commission should move 3 To periodically review the progress of the commission in achieving its goals 4 To carry on the day to day business of the commission and to rake decisions on matters requiring immediate action I ' C Role of Committee Members The Youth Commission is unlike some committees which can sit back, wait for requests to be brought before it, and then vote Yes or No Attendance at monthly meetings Is important but the purpose of such meetings is largely to share the ideas and progress coming out of individual subcommittees The success or failure of the Youth Com- mission depends almost exclusively upon the amount and quality of work that is done by subcommittee members Just being present at general meetings will be the least important of your responsibilities D Publicizing the Existence of the Youth Commission Publicizing the existence of the Youth Commission was thought to be a preliminary but nonetheless important step in our work Articles were printed by the Minute-Mart and an entire page in the Annual Town Re- port was set aside for us. However, as explained at various points below, it was decided that more lasting recognition and public aware- ness could be obtained by presenting the Town with concrete achieve- ments rather than merely writing about what we were doing or hoped to do. E "The Commission shall prepare a comprehensive town-wide inven- tory of youth programs, sources, and facilities and shall continually review this Inventory " (by- laws, section four) This booklet, entitled Here in Lexington, has been compiled, pub- lished, and distributed to every household in Lexington The inven- tory included both public and private youth oriented programs avail- able in Lexington Whenever possible, direct contact with organizations rather than the use of form letter requests for information was the primary means of obtaining data for inclusion in the inventory This insured that the activity booklet was as complete and as accurate as possible Further, it established an all important personal line of communica- tion between the Youth Commission and youth related organizations In varying degrees, the compilation, publication, and distribution of the inventory accomplished the following major functions I It publicized the existence and some of the work of the Commission 2 It provided the youth of the Town, parents, recreational leaders, youth oriented organizations, and counsel- and guidance personnel with a complete listing of all youth programs, activities, and related services now available in Lexington ' ° M 1 i! 3 Having such information readily available is an important prerequisite if the Youth Commission is to evaluate the merits and weaknesses of existing programs and to supply- ing leadership for community needs which are not now being met 4 The annual updating and reviewing of this booklet will re- quire the establishment and maintenance of a continual con- tact with a wide variety of community resources F Speakers' Bureau The Youth Commission formed a Speakers' Bureau and presented a series of panel discussions on the topic of youth needs and problems. Participants included town officials, youth directors, psychiatrists, and social workers Two donations were made to Re-Place in the name of the Youth Commission Our last program was presented before a dinner meeting of 200 Raytheon executives Other host organizations, included Rotary, Visiting Nurses' Association, and the Hancock Men' s Club G "The Commission shall identify the problems and needs of youth" (bymlaws, section four) This was the least successful of our first year activities One immediate and obvious observation of the Commission was that there is no single set of youth needs and problems Because of this, a sub- committee was formed and given the charge of identifying the needs and problems of Lexington' s alienated and hostile youth, of Lexington' s articulate and actively involved youth, and most importantly of those youth who fall somewhere between these two extremes Just as there is no one set of youth problems and needs, the subcommittee decided that there will be no single procedure for it to follow in acquir- ing all the information needed to meet its charge One thing that is certain, however, is that the subcommittee must reach out to the youth of Lexington and not wait for the youth to come to it As an initial step, the subcommittee has prepared a multi-page question- naire to be answered by all high school students Although several hun- dred copies have been printed, the questionnaire has not yet been dis- tributed When distributed and tabulated, it is hoped that the questionnaire will be helpful in the following areas j I The identification of such needs and problems will require a close communication with all of Lexington' s youth This will , in turn, publicize the existence and work of the Youth Commission and also the fact that there is a town sponsored committee that is willing and anxious to listen to what the youth of the Town have to say i • • ° 4 2 A compendium of the needs and problems of the youth of Lexington will provide an Important source of information to those town boards and committees charged with making youth related policy decisions 3. The knowledge of such problems and needs will serve as a yardstick by which to evaluate the capacity of existing programs, services and facilities and is important if the Youth Commission Is to effect- ively supply leadership for new programs 111 Suggestions for 1973-74 The following are only suggestions By no means are they meant to define or to limit the work of the commission during the coming year Instead, they are meant to provide a starting point for discussion. A "The Commission shall identify the problems and needs of the Youth of the Town " A subcommittee should be formed to distribute the questionnaires printed last May and to tabulate and interpret the results The final report should be made available to Town Boards, Town Meeting Members and to the MYrtute-Man which has expressed an interest in printing at least excerpts B " The Youth Commission shall ntke recommendations on matters pertaining to the youth of the Town " (by- laws, section one) These matters may be chosen by the Commission itself or referred to it by other Town Boards or Committees Examples are further specified in section four of the by- laws and include those which shall promote the communication between youth, parents, and groups concerned with youth and those which shall promote programs designed to stimulate understanding of the problems of youth Ilustratlons of programs which this commission might select to study to make recommendations on, and/or to follow through to fruition include 1 Youth Referral Service This was enumerated as a goal in a one page report of the Commission' s Opportunity Subcommittee dated June 15, 1972 As a modest start, I envision a subcommittee of the commission visiting companies, businesses and town agencies in Lexington and surrounding towns A list would be prepared of such bussinesses, the number of summer and year round part-time employees that each hires, the name of whom to contact for an employment application and interview the nature of jobs that are available, and the pay scale The listing could be printed in the Minute-Man and/or distributed through the schools E it would accomplish three goals I Publicize the existence and work of the commission 2 Facilitate the searching efforts of Lexington youth • a q b 3 Make companies aware of the employment problem and encourage them to give serious consideration to hiring additional student help The Towns of Arlington and Needham have progressed to more ambitious projects In these towns, the service consists of maintaining a direct contact and liasonwith prospective employers and the registration of youth seeking full-time, part-time and summer employment The purpose is not to provide a direct employment service involving pre-employment interviewing, screening, and job follow-up but to free up and to collect youth employment opportunities through one central source which serves to plug the needs of the youth employer into those of youth seeking job assistance The service is widely publicized in both the Arlington and Needham communities Needham indicates that its project has been highly successful while, in Arlington, 25% of the applicants have been placed Because of a decrease in the number of summer job opportunities that were coming into the Needham office, a publicly financed summer job project was proposed to the Board of Selectmenwhich would have involved the Needham Youth Commission, Public Works Department, Council on Aging, and i] the School Department The proposal eventually received favorable approval i+J with the major exception of the funding aspect It has been submitted to the state and federal governments for possible state and federal funding 2 Calendar of Youth Activities At the suggestion of the Needham YouhtCommission, the Needham paper now publishes weekly a calendar of activities, programs, and services of special interest to youth It appears in the same section of each week' s paper, is a central source of information to the youth community, is used by groups for the purpose of planning their own meetings and projects, and has been a major factor in eliminating overlap and duplication 3 Town Government Course The need for such a course is founded on thepremise that one cannot fully appreciate town government or even begin to propose meaningful changes without first taking time to completely understand it The course would not be historical In scope but would explore the powers and responsibilities of the Town Meeting, Town Manager, Town Boards and Committees It would introduce the student to town by- laws and park regulations and would provide such practical information as to rioting require- ments and as to the procedure to be followed in having a proposal placed in the Town Warrant 1 r a. A. 1 • e » 4 Panel Discussions In one form or another, this is a program which should be I continued Needham has developed a croup discussion program for parents It is a cooperative effort between the Family Service Association of Greater Boston, the Norfolk Mental Health Center, and the Needham Youth Commission Experienced professional group leaders direct the discussion series and when necessary provide suggestions for topics to be discussed The discussions center on topics brought up by the participants The group leader helps the participant to explore the issues, contributes his expertise on an issue, and encourages the participation of all group members The importance of the family unit and the relationships within it are stressed so that parents are helped to see that because the values and attitudes of their teenage children differ from theirs does not mean that their relationship is in jeopardy Parents enrolled in the Needham program are assigned to a group consisting of five to eight couples and an experienced group leader Each group meets once each week for a two hour evening session for ten consecutive weeks A fee of $5 per couple per session is re- quired to defray the cost of the program 5 Youth Commission Bicentennial Subcommittee The Bicentennial can be used as a glorification of the past but, more importantly, it can be used as a time to evaluate how well or poorly the country has fulfilled its original ideals In any case, the Bicentennial years seem an excellent opportunity for Lexington' s youth to originate, sponsor, and implement a Bicentennial project which will be a lasting benefit to the community IV Concluding comments The Commission hopes to become a vigorous representative of youth opinions, problems, and concerns However, the Commission is essenti- a11v composed of youth members and it will be up to these youth representatives to mold the Commission into an organization which rr is responsive to their needs 3 , Last years Youth Commission was successful In having a great degree fer of trust placed in it by the Board of Selectmen This is a trust which future Commissions should be aware of and build upon '