YCB hosts Speak Out! Speak Up! Youth Town Hall Forum

The Speak Out! Speak Up! Youth Town Hall Forum on May 24th, 2005, at the Zuhrah Shrine Center brought together young people, policymakers and community leaders to talk about making Minneapolis an even better city for youth. The focus of the forum was on young people and listening to their perspectives on community needs.

Speak Out! Speak Up! featured the work of close to 100 young people who participated in a youth asset mapping project undertaken by the YCB and Yo! The Movement. These young people walked their neighborhoods in teams to discover what assets, both traditional and non-traditional, exist for youth and where gaps in services exist. At the forum, the youth mappers displayed posters that they created featuring their findings. After the poster display period, there was a panel discussion featuring three young people, Johnesh Thomas from MERC Alternative School, Dwayne Williams from North High School and Terry McMorris from Patrick Henry High School as well as Minneapolis Police Chief William McManus and YCB Board members Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, City Council Member Natalie Johnson Lee, Minneapolis Public School Board Member Peggy Flanagan, and Minneapolis Foundation Vice President Karen Kelley-Ariwoola. YCB Board member and Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman moderated discussion between the audience and the panel members. And Hennepin County Commissioner and YCB Board member Peter McLaughlin closed the event with a challenge for us to put a human face on youth issues for state policy makers.

Close to 200 people from across Minneapolis attended this highly successful event. Many YCB Board members and other elected officials including City Council members and Park & Recreation Board Commissioners were on hand to talk to young people about their work in identifying the assets in their communities.

Part of the program included a presentation of recommendations from the “mappers” gathered through focus groups with each neighborhood crew. Recommendations include:

1. Encourage neighborhood residents, both young and old, as well as businesses, faith institutions and other neighborhood organizations to become more actively involved and friendly to young people.
2. More positive relationships between children, youth and police.
3. Better marketing of existing programs to young people and parents, particularly for under-served youth.
4. Address barriers to participation (e.g., transportation, serve multiple age groups so siblings can participate).
5. More variety in types of activities and more jobs, particularly for teens. Real-life opportunities to be involved in their community, like the youth mapping project, were particularly well liked.

YCB Welcomes New Board Member, Judge Herbert Lefler

The YCB welcomes a new board member in June: Judge Herbert Lefler, Presiding Judge of Hennepin County Juvenile Court. Judge Lefler replaces Judge Denise Reilly who served on the YCB board for several years.

Judge Lefler is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and John Marshall Law School. After a career in private practice, he was appointed to the bench in 1995. He was elected in 1996 and reelected in 2002. Judge Lefler has been a judge in the Juvenile bench since 1997; previously he was assigned to the Criminal Court.

Minneapolis represented at National League of Cities Leadership Academy

The YCB’s application to participate in the Leadership Academy on City-Schools Youth Planning was accepted. The academy, hosted by the National League of Cities’ Institute on Youth Education and Families (YEF Institute), will introduce a new technique for effective long-range planning for children and youth in our city. In addition to someone from the YCB, we were required to put together a team that would include representatives from the school district, from City Hall, and a youth. The team from Minneapolis will be YCB Executive Director Judith Kahn; Minneapolis Public Schools Community Education Manager-Special Projects, Hedy Walls; Kinshasha Kambui from the Mayor’s office; and a student from Washburn High School. They will join representatives from 11 other municipalities at the Leadership Academy, which runs June 12-14th in Baltimore Maryland. In addition, Judith has been asked to participate on a panel to talk about Minneapolis’ current planning activities.

Phat Summer Celebrates its 11th Year

This is the eleventh year of Phat Summer, a free evening recreation program for 12-18 year olds that provides safe and positive activities. It is a very popular and successful collaboration between the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, Minneapolis Public Schools, and the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board. We expect to serve 5,000 youth this summer. Phat Summer utilizes existing resources by unlocking the doors of school, park, and community buildings later into the evening to provide accessible, safe, supervised spaces and activities. Neighborhood-based recreational opportunities for teens are the main focus of the program.

This year the YCB received a generous gift from the NorthWay Community Trust to ensure that Phat Summer would continue for youth in Minneapolis. NorthWay stepped up with a $100,000 commitment to fund Phat Summer 2005. In addition, Hennepin County will be providing between $20,000 and $25,000 to support Phat Summer. The YCB and its partners are extremely grateful for these wonderful gifts and the positive opportunities it will provide for our youth this summer.

For 2005, there are 23 Phat Summer sites (4 school sites and 19 park sites). Park sites offer Phat Summer two to three nights per week. School sites are open five nights a week. Phat Summer runs from June 20-August 12 from 7:00-10:00 pm. There will be Phat summer kick off events at the sites during the first week of the program on June 23rd.

2005 Phat Summer sites are:

Creekview Park	Martin Luther King Park	Powderhorn Park
Farview Park	Painter Park	Stewart Park
Logan Park	WhittierPark/School	American Indian Center
Luxton Park	Central Park/Green School	Franklin Middle School
North Commons Park	Longfellow Park	Henry High School
Northeast Park	Matthews Park	W. Harry Davis Academy
Armatage Park	Pearl Park	W. Harry Davis Academy
Bryant Square Park	Peavey Park