Lafourche Parish Children and Youth Planning Board Meeting Notes
September 21, 2009
The Lafourche Parish Children and Youth Planning Board met on September 21, 2009 at noon at the Lafourche Parish Juvenile Justice Facility.
Members present included, Judge Walt Lanier, Celeste Gravois, Lani Tarr, Linda Boudreaux, Monica Oncale, Bob Licalzi, Ray Bernard, Mark Goldman, Thomas Turner, III, Anthony Lewis, and Shannan Gros (present through proxy).
Members absent included, Lawrence Autin, Celena Rousse, Arelene Rodriguez, Dana Mathews, Linda Bernard, Sharon Gauthe, John Hall, Angela Koenig, and Chief Warren Vedros.
The meeting began at precisely 12:23 PM. The invocation was given by Ray Bernard and the pledge was led by Bob Licalzi. Judge Lanier called for approval of the Board minutes from the June 8, 2009 meeting. Motion to approve was made by Bob Licalzi and seconded by Lani Tarr.
The meeting continued with the discussion of new business. President, Judge Lanier brought up the discussion of the annual report. It was requested by Bob Licalzi to update the report to include a movement within the parish to provide more services. For example, networking between the agencies, workshops, ropes, contracts between the Juvenile Justice Center , mental health and juvenile drug court. It was also recommended to take out past programs and activities that are no longer serving our parish and to add new ones. Celeste Gravois motioned to submit the report with the changes. Bob Licalzi seconded the motion. The Board voted unanimously.
Our special guest for the meeting was Karen Stubbs, Executive Director of the Children's Cabinet. She brought two colleagues, Ryan Greene and Darryl Kirk, both with the Governor's Youth for Excellence Program.
Karen Stubbs spoke first. She informed the Board on a number of topics including models of other Boards. For instance, several Boards have partnered with non-profits which act as the fiscal agent when the Board applies for grants. The 4 th JDC in Monroe is a very active partner with their local children's coalition. In turn, the coalition piggy backs with the Board and the Board benefits from LANO trainings and grants.
Also in the 4 th JDC, the Board has partnered with the local university to access interns for opportunities such as grant research and writing and data collection.
Another suggestion of Ms. Stubbs was to apply for a grant through the LA Children's Trust Fund which is housed in the Department of Social Services. According to Ms. Stubbs, they have a lot of extra money this year due to the issuing of duplicate birth certificates after the hurricanes and they have not had a single planning Board apply for any grants.
Ms. Stubbs also mentioned low cost/no cost initiatives such as having a different speaker at each board meeting, educating newly elected individuals on what is going on in the area of juveniles in the parish, host community events such as back to school fairs and invite local service providers, compile a service provider directory and distribute it to schools, SROs, and local police. These suggestions could also be used as a marketing tool for the Board. An additional idea was to prepare a survey and distribute it to high school students in order to turn the survey into a presentation for the local PTC or law enforcement agencies. The survey could also be used as a tool to determine the needs of the students. For example, one parish had a high incident of arrests in the evening and it was determined by the student survey that there was nothing for the kids to do.
Lastly, Ryan Greene informed the Board about LYFE: Louisiana Youth for Excellence. Also run through the governor's office, this is an abstinence program which also develops youth leadership, character and goal setting. It is an 8 to 12 week and/or lesson program for 7th-12th graders. The curriculum is easy and user friendly. LYFE gives free training and a free starter kits to anyone that would like to get involved. After the initial training, the study guides are only $5.00 each.
Following the presentations, Mark Goldman offered to donate a web page to the Board. It is at no cost and he will maintain the sight. Ray Bernard motioned to accept the offer of an official web page, Anthony Lewis seconded it. The Board unanimously agreed.
The meeting was adjourned on motion by Bob Licalzi, seconded by Lani Tarr and with no further business, the Lafourche Parish Children and Youth Planning Board meeting of September 21, 2009 adjourned at 1:29 PM. The next meeting is scheduled for December 14, 2009 at 12:00 PM. It will be held at the Juvenile Justice Center .
Respectfully submitted by:
Lani Tarr
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Lafourche Parish Children and Youth Planning Board Meeting Notes
March 8, 2010
The Lafourche Parish Children and Youth Planning Board met on March 8, 2010 at noon at the Lafourche Parish Juvenile Justice Facility.
Members present included, Judge Walt Lanier, Mark Goldman, Celeste Gravois (Debra Thornton), Lani Tarr, Linda Boudreaux, Ben Caillouet, Thomas Turner, Paulette Binion, Angela Koenig (Andre Ford ), Monica Oncale, Bob Licalzi (Kim Prestenbach) and Shannon Gros.
Members absent included, Lawrence Autin, Celena Rousse, Linda Bernard, Sharon Gauthe, Aaron Barnes, John Hall, Ray Bernard, and Chief Warren Vedros.
The meeting began at precisely 12:15 PM.The invocation was given by Judge Walt Lanier and the pledge was led by Lani Tarr. Judge Lanier called for approval of the Board minutes from the December 14, 2009 meeting. Motion to approve was made by Mark Goldman and seconded by Shannan Gros.
There was not anyone from the public wishing to address the Board. However, Obie Johnson, the Juvenile Justice shelter supervisor was in attendance.
The Planning Board has an official website: www.lafourchekids.org which is donated and maintained by Mark Goldman. We would like members to add information the community could use, including links to our agencies. See Mark Goldman about this. You may also find the current minutes on the website.
Because we had a few new members present, Judge Lanier discussed what the goals and objectives of the Board are and how each individual works to make that happen. He also discussed our progressions to date.
The meeting was adjourned on motion by Debra Thornton, seconded by Lani Tarr and with no further business, the Lafourche Parish Children and Youth Planning Board meeting of March 8, 2010 adjourned at 1:09 PM. The next meeting is scheduled for June 14, 2010 at 12:00 PM. It will be held at the Juvenile Justice Center.
Respectfully submitted by:
Lani Tarr
