HomeMy WebLinkAboutCompass Kitchener - 06-08-11
COMPASS KITCHENER MINUTES
June 8, 2011 – 4:00-6:00
Schmalz Room, KITCHENER CITY HALL
Present: Theron Kramer Hanan Mohamed James Howe Tristan Wilkin
Sarah Marsh Kim Knowles Holly Duff Chris Hyde
Staff: Shelley Adams Jenn Grein Mark Hildebrand LoriAnn Palubeski
Regrets: Jasminka Klacar Soha Elsayed
The Compass Kitchener Advisory Committee met on this date, commencing at 4:00 p.m. Theron welcomed all
members to the meeting. He noted two events in the near future, the Public Launch of the Community
Research Ethics Office, as well as A Day of Dialogue with Muslim Women.
1. Approval of Minutes
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The minutes from May 4th were approved.
Moved by Hanan, Second by Chris.
Youth Strategy
2.
With the use of a PowerPoint presentation, LoriAnn Palubeski provided an update on the Youth Services
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Strategy, recently approved by council.
She began with some background, Youth have always been important to the City, however a strategy had
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never been developed. During a review of Community and Corporate Planning, Youth Services was
identified as an area for further development, and as a result, the Youth Services division was formed in
2001. This area focuses on broad and creative engagement and inclusive leadership opportunities,
programs and services that are meaningful for youth.
Lori talked a little about why it was important to place a focus on youth, the leaders of tomorrow. They
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learned through their work that development of a strategy provided an opportunity to check in with
stakeholders and a place to begin conversation. Youth who feel connected to their community are more
likely to settle within the community and will activate our corporate directions and plans in the future. It
also achieves a safe community through social development and supports the City of Kitchener’s
Strategic Plan and all of the pieces tying into this plan including the Leisure Facilities Master Plan,
Economic Development, Volunteer Services Strategy and Community Engagement Strategy to name a
few.
Through working with stakeholders, they were able to building their vision and mandate:
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Vision: We are a leader in building a community in which youth in all their diversity are active and
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influential members; feel safe, supported in their development, valued and connected.
Mandate: To provide inclusive and meaningful opportunities for youth participation in community life
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through access to resources, recreation, leadership development and civic engagement.
The working team used what they have coined ‘the Extreme Approach’ when it came to connecting with
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youth, to ensure they reached youths that may not otherwise be connected with.
Even though there are a significant number of Baby Boomers in Kitchener, there is also a significant
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number of Youth due to the universities in our Region. Our current programming does not meet the
needs of Kitchener’s diverse community. Civic engagement opportunities are important to youth, and
communication is extremely important – a poster on the wall doesn’t work anymore, youth want to be
engaged through social media and many other methods. Parents also aren’t in the loop on
communications and what’s going on with/for youth – this too was identified as an opportunity. The good
news here, after an internal and external review of programming, Lori and team found tons, the
opportunity now is to communicate and get the word out.
From all of this work, Youth Services is now working with 6 strategic directions. They will be working with
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a team in Toronto, Youth Excellence, who will be providing training sessions for staff at all levels and
assisting with review of policies and procedures for youth friendliness.
Youth Services is also holding a You Tube contest, more information can be found here:
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http://www.kitchener.ca/en/livinginkitchener/Youth_video_competition_call_for_submissions.asp
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Several questions were asked, and answered:
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What does youth civic engagement look like to Youth Services? Lori suggested the Kitchener Youth
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Action Council (KYAC) provides a good sample. Having a voice, volunteering, participating in
programs, visiting the skateboard park, each of these examples is engagement. They want to be
talked with, not to.
How do they want to volunteer, beyond talking and participating at a high level in decision making?
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The answer to this is difficult, they tend to like hands on participation, they want to do things they feel
impacts them in the moment. An example of this is Environment – it’s big right now, and they are with
events for Earth Day.
What age defines youth? At the City of Kitchener, youth is defined as age 14-24.
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Has any outreach taken place with the two local universities? Absolutely! Much of the cities youth
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hiring takes place through the university, and many placements are arranged as well. Currently there
are approximately 20 members on KYAC, and about half of these are from post secondary. There is
however some difficulties as well – at times there can be confusion as this committee relates to
Kitchener, however students may live in Waterloo, as well as attend school there.
In your presentation, there seems to be good strategic view in the background, is there any
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measurables available for review? Yes, there is, these will be sent out to the group with the full report.
The Strategic Directions seem to be primarily focused on staff, what is the balance between engaging
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youth and training staff to engage youth? It’s a great point, and actually was not done intentionally. It’s
important to remember that youth are citizens just like anyone else. We’ve found in the past that if it’s
a youth issue, it’s passed to Youth Services, however it’s everyone’s responsibility to do this important
work.
There can sometimes be a disconnect between the person providing youth related programming and
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the youth themselves – either by age or otherwise. Could there be a solution for this? Neighbourhood
Associations try their best with whatever they have available. Youth are a little bit harder to plan for,
however we’ve learned that some ideas work better than others, this includes youth drop in
programming with Youth Services staff, without registration, and where youth have influence over the
programming. The City and Neighbourhood Associations will continue to make this a goal for youth
programming.
The youth being engaged from our local universities, does the City consider these youth to belong to
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the cities population, given they may have only come here for university and plan to leave after? Yes,
we sure do. It’s great to see the mentoring that takes place between the older and younger KYAC
members. Also, many youth that come to the region for school, end up staying and continue to work
in their field of expertise.
When it comes to Leadership Opportunities, KYAC is already engaged, but what about others not
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involved in KYAC? We take small steps in this area, and work to connect with schools, agencies and
groups to ensure young people find their way to opportunities.
How has the city been connecting with schools? Communication is really important. The city has
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developed different programs with certain schools, often times starting small, and letting the program
grow through the school and to other locations.
Compass Kitchener’s workplan has several actions relating to youth, do you see this group being able
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to play a role, without disrupting the work taking place in Youth Services? Absolutely! There are loads
of connections between the work each is planning to undertake, it would be great to work together.
Youth at Risk does not seem to be covered in this strategy, what can we do to help this group?
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Partnership is the first step, the city is connected with ROOF, Safe Haven and a few other groups,
unfortunately programming is not the answer for this issue, however working with service providers is
an excellent way to surround at risk youth with ‘good stuff’ – the tools they need to find the right path.
Theron thanked Lori for providing a thorough update on the Youth Services Strategy. Given the work
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Compass Kitchener has on the workplan, we will likely be connecting again soon. In the mean time, any
additional questions can be sent to Lori directly at loriann.palubeski@kitchener.ca.
3. All Committee Gathering
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Thirty people, and coverage from each of the cities advisory committees, attended the recent All
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Committee Gathering, where connections were drawn between committees and the work outlined in each
of their workplans. The circle diagram, initially completed at the October 2009 All Committee Gathering,
was repeated here with new members and new workplans, identifying great new connections that will
take place over the upcoming term.
The group considered the possibility of using the fall CK Committee-Chair meeting as a follow up on the
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connections developed in this circle diagram, and how it has helped each committee advance their work.
Shelley and Theron will be sending out a message to the Chairs and staff resources in late August, early
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September, prior to the CK-Committee Chair meeting, regarding connections with committees each has
identified, and how these connections fit into the workplan and assist with moving it forward.
An electronic version of the circle diagram will also be shared with Mayor and Council.
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Theron encouraged Compass Kitchener members to provide input into any strategies presented to us
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and/or encountered in the future.
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4. May 30 Strategic Session
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A second strategic session was held on May 30 to collect additional feedback from Council on the
Community section of the Strategic Plan, as well as have Council formally endorse this section of the
plan. An updated document was attached with the agenda circulation.
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With this endorsement, staff can begin forming the new business plans. All suggested actions will be
taken into consideration, additional research completed where necessary, and a prioritized list of
recommendations taken to Council in August.
Questions:
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In past years, the strategic directions were listed however no timeline was provided. This year, could the
plans include additional detail to this regard? Shelley clarified, the Strategic Plan will no longer have
action items listed, but rather have strategic directions and identify trends. Action Plans will form a second
document, still accessible to the community, and timelines will be included here. These business plan
drafts will be taken to Council near the end of August, with the full Strategic Plan taken in early
September – Compass Kitchener will have the opportunity to provide input on the Community Priorities
section of this document.
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Will Compass Kitchener be considering how the get the Strategic Plan into the hands of residents? Yes,
the committee will be responsible to get the word out to the community about the Community Prioritites
section. Communications will be responsible for dispensing the plan in its entirety.
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The action plan serves as both the implementation and interpretation of the Strategic Plan, it would be
beneficial to allow for some oversight by the committee on implementation and interpretation by the
organization. Response and discussion: The Report Card really is the tool to provide this information to
staff. Each plan within the Strategic Plan has received feedback and input many times prior to receiving
Councils seal of approval, and further support is received through Environics and the Who Are You,
Kitchener? processes. Past Report Cards have not been as effective as initially intended to be, as a
result, the process is changing and growing to become what it was intended. Additionally, members of
Compass Kitchener do not have an intimate knowledge or understanding of each piece of work the city
does. Perhaps feedback from the Advisory Committees would be beneficial. Given that the current
process can be confusing – with development of the workplan prior to business plans being in place, this
whole process was suggested as a topic for the next Compass Kitchener All Committee Meeting – How
does your committee workplan fit with the organizations business plan? – This may assist in working
towards a better process for all.
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With new Advisory Committees formed late last year, it’s helpful to provide a thorough background and
orientation for new members. There seems to be a disconnect as priorities were given council approval
last year, prior to new committees being in place and new workplans being formed. Members want to
ensure that the business plans of the organization and the workplans of the committee comes together.
Shelley clarified, not every piece of the business plans will be passed through the cities Advisory
Committees. Advisory Committees will not be familiar with all of the work listed in the Business Plans.
Since Compass Kitchener cannot possibly be experts on every bit of business the city completes, we
must respect the knowledge that city staff possess. The all committee meeting, or chairs meeting may in
fact be the place to ensure workplans are consistent with the cities business plans.
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Strategic Plan to be added to the September Compass Kitchener Agenda.
5. General Business
As Kim may not be able to attend the July meeting, Jenn will arrange a meeting of the Report Card sub
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committee within the next month.
Civics 101 outline to be sent to James, Holly and Hanan.
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The committee reviewed who is participating in each of the areas outline in the workplan.
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August meeting is Cancelled.
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Meeting adjourned at 5:55.
Next meeting:
July 6, 2011
Conestoga Room – Kitchener City Hall
Attendance:
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