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ASK-Y Meeting Minutes: 5/22/06
Present
- City of Seattle: Valerie Douglas
- CCWW: Richard King
- Columbia Legal Services: Casey Trupin
- CPC: Anna Trombley
- Friends of Youth: Sarah Benton
- Mockingbird Society: Lauren Frederick, Jonelle Abd-Rahmaan, Jessica Garcia, Samuel Martin, Najja Morris, Jim Theofelis
- Ryther: Johnny Ohta
- YMCA: Sean Walsh
- YouthCare: Joanna Ward, Curtis Knopf, Karen Danz
Welcome & Introductions
- Jim welcomed the group and thanked all for attending.
2007 Advocacy Day
- Our primary agenda this year is a bill that would extend Medicaid for foster youth through age 21. It is sponsored by Rep. Mary Helen Roberts. Jim will meet later this week to discuss a companion bill with Sen. Karen Keiser.
- Olympia budget staff are working on figuring out how much this would cost. It would save money when compared to youth who now use emergency rooms for health care now.
- We also have the support of Rep. Ruth Kagi and others.
- We can have the Rotunda and the microphone for a time in the afternoon. The Governor might speak to us.
- Jim asked if we can have a large space like Conf. rms. A, B, and C.
- We will book the Rotunda now, and try to get the Conf. rooms also.
- The date is Friday, Feb. 9th.
- Curtis said that now is the time to start making individual appointments with legislators for that day.
- Curtis reviewed the schedule from last year’s Advocacy Day.
- Curtis will not be chairing the Advocacy Day Committee, but will help out.
- Sean volunteered to work on the Advocacy Day Committee with Karen and Curtis. Casey will be out of town but will help plan.
Training Day
- Mockingbird Staff will coordinate Training Day and all are welcome to help.
- We should have part of the training focus on how foster care is a gateway to homelessness.
Other Committees
- Joanna will chair the Transportation Committee. Rick will check on the availability of transportation with the city. Jim asked if the YMCA and other organizations can provide transportation for their youth.
- Packets: Mockingbird Society will develop and collect the materials for the packets, but could use help putting them all together. Sarah will check on what was left from last year.
- We could have a question committee, to help youth have an idea of what questions they could ask.
- Sam volunteered to speak at Advocacy Day. He will be on the Program Committee with Jim.
- Lauren will email the feedback from last year’s Youth Advocacy Day to the group for planning purposes.
- Mockingbird Society will send out an email alert to let agencies know that if they want to have individual appointments with legislators, they will need to call now.
- Schedule
- 9:30-10:00 meet & greet
- 10:00-11:00 welcome, orientation, guest speakers
- Noon-1:00 lunch
- 1:15 meet at Rotunda;
- 1:30-2:00 special guest
- Johnny asked if we should do specific recruiting of homeless youth who would be particularly interested in the Advocacy Day agenda. Johnny volunteered to talk to these youth about the agenda and how it will relate to them.
Other Issues
- Rep. Pettigrew’s bill might be supported secondarily by ASK-Y.
- We also may support the legislative agenda of CEH. Right now it is mostly adult and family focused.
- Rep. Dickerson is sponsoring a bill to fill in the gaps in children/adolescent mental health services in the state.
- Some group members want to change the 8 hour notification rule to 72 hours. Some youth and parents are willing to speak to this. This would give the youth time to build relationships at the shelter, even if they left later.
- Casey brought up the issue of inherent contempt. Courts have decided a youth can be locked up for violating a court order (ie, running away), even if they haven’t committed a crime. They are being sentenced to 30, 60, and 90 days. These youth may not be violating probation but are being held in contempt.
- Johnny stated that this group of kids needs advocates. Casey said that as far as he knows, there is no bill addressing this. The court ruling will be handed down after Advocacy Day.
- A big issue that underlies this is the fact that youth are not represented in court by attorneys and there are not enough CASAs to help.
- Casey said our state is the only state that allows kids to be unrepresented in court. Kids need both CASAs and attorneys. ASK-Y might be able to address this and talk about it after the session.
- Valerie offered to pick up youth who would be interested in coming to ASK-Y year round.
- Jim will commit to paying youth a stipend if they agree to attend a certain number of meetings.
SKCCH Update
- Over 50 young people and 20 advocates attended the two-day Homeless Youth Summit with the city of Seattle.
- They talked about housing for male/female teen parents; employment services tied to housing programs; healthier food at food banks; bus passes with photos on them so youth can have transportation; and more low-barrier shelters.
- If you want to see the full list, email Lauren and she will let Valerie know.
HYYAC Update
- This subcommittee is pushing to get the same resources that other subcommittees are receiving. The group needs to figure out exactly what they are asking for, so it can be clear when talking to the larger committee.
- Occupancy continues to be a large issue that needs to be addressed.
- The group is also trying to help CEH recognize that transitional housing for youth is different than it is for adults.
- The McKinney dollars that have funded housing programs will now only be able to fund buildings, not services/programs. How can we keep that money in the youth system, and preserve the services? The UDYC shelter receives 40% of its funding from McKinney dollars. These dollars also fund shelters in Auburn and on the Eastside.
