Open House and Panel Discussion with FLYY

On behalf of our friends and colleagues at FLYY, we would like to invite you to join us on Tuesday October 8^th at FLYY, (Forward Learning Youth and Young Adults) for an Open House and Panel Discussion with FLYY Students and Parents.

3 Marsh Court, Madison, WI 53718

 

Come and learn about FLYY’s unique approach to services for teens and families.

- Learn more about FLYY below and on their website at http://www.flyyexpeditions.com/FLYY/FLYY.html

On Tuesday, October 8th:

5 - 6:30 PM: Open House – tour the facility and meet the staff, families, and stakeholders.

6:30 – 8 PM: There will be a talk given by some students and parents about their experiences with FLYY along with an opportunity to ask questions enjoy a discussion.

Attending this program will give you an idea of the mission and work of FLYY and the skills learned by its participants. You may go forward inspired, able to incorporate some of FLYY’s excellent spirit into your own life and work.

ABOUT FLYY:

FLYY is a non-profit, community-based, experiential education organization offering expeditions for people ages 14 to 18 and 18 to 30 who are under served, overlooked, or seeking inspiration and hope.  FLYY is a youth and family-serving organization that seeks to prevent at-risk and adjudicated teens and young adults from becoming chronic offenders, substance abusers, truants, or dropouts.

FLYY’s strength-based approach includes wilderness expeditions, community service, parent/guardian and family involvement, and guidance for the transition home along with ongoing aftercare. Studies consistently indicated that prevention and experiential efforts are superior in effectiveness and less costly than many traditional methods incorporated in juvenile justice. Lower rates of incarceration and recidivism are also seen when prevention/intervention efforts are utilized.

FLYY staff members provide incredible support while youth engage in a lifestyle change emphasizing self-analysis, cooperation, and reflection. Expeditions help youth find new strengths and pride while offering unique opportunities to escape from technology, societal pressure, and natural tendencies to prefer immediate gratification. Families gain skills and knowledge that them create more positive futures together.

Lodi Community Action Team Coalition October 20th Meeting

In attendance: Steven Ricks, Lisa Lee, Mike Lee, Jennifer Gorman, Paula Enger Discussion was held as to what needs to be done to satisfy DFC grant requirements as well as what needs to be done to maintain the LCAT vision that gathered all of the people at the table in the first place.

Need an Adult Liaison to establish and work with a youth group in Lodi. The liaison will receive a $2200 stipend for this commitment. Liaison needs to be determined by next meeting.

By-Laws approved: Motion was made by Mike Lee and seconded by Lisa Lee to approve the By-Laws with the changes made during the discussion.  The Motion carried. Steven Ricks will make the changes to the By-Laws and send out an electronic copy to the group.  Hard copies will be distributed at the next meeting.

The LCAT Logo was decided on. Steven will send Paula an electronic copy. Paula/Jennifer will create letterhead and orientation packets using letterhead.

Discussion was held as to how to create a sense of urgency or “buzz” around the LCAT. We need to get out “the story”, create excitement and create a media campaign for LCAT.

Contacts would include:  Mike Powers from 102.5/Doug Steel from 106.9 and Zac Schultz from the local news network.

Conversation started on a “BEST” campaign where we possibly put up ads, flyers, posters, etc. asking the questions:

WHAT IS BEST?

WHAT IS THE BEST?

DO YOU WANT THE BEST?

Very important discussion and plan was made for the upcoming Public Hearing at City Hall on November 1st at 7:00 PM.  There will be two Ordinances that LCAT is sponsoring: Social Host ordinance and an Alcohol License Demerit ordinance.  It is critical that members in support of the mission of LCAT attend and show support for these two ordinances.

Steven will contact all those who signed on to be a sector representative for LCAT including the new youth pastor who took Blake Severson’s place.  He will encourage them to attend as well as remind them of their commitment to LCAT.  Contact Jennifer at the paper.

Paula will contact the Sheriff’s office, CCC staff, Julia Sherman (already done and she is not able to be there) and other key leaders to try to get their support in being there.

The ordinance is available for inspection by going to the Lodi Clerk.

Meeting adjourned at 7:00 PM

Paula Enger

Project Coordinator

Lodi Community Action Team

Lodi Hearing On Alcohol Ordinances

On Tuesday November 1st the Lodi City Council held an open hearing on two Odinances under consideration. A Social Hosting Ordinance that addresses hosting Alcohol related events at your place or residence and a Demerit system to help regulate Alcohol License infractions. There was a lively discussion on both sides and some good points were made about the current wording of the ordinances. Both Ordinances were referred to the HR Committee, chaired by Karla Schultz. All alcohol license holders have been invited to participate in the rewording, so if you would like your voice heard, please contact Karla Schultz through the Lodi City Hall.

You can find the current wording for both ordinances here - Lodi social Host and Demerit ordinances.

January Meeting Minutes

City OrdinancesPaul Fisk gave an update on the status of new ordinances and updates to ordinances that the city is currently working on.

Synthetic Cannabis  - Ordinance adopted and should be enacted after publication.

Several Ordinances have been brought up to date and had deposits coordinated.  They include

• 253-6 Disorderly Conduct
• 253-14 D  Alcohol Beverages - Restrictions relating to underage persons
• 253-14 B  Alcohol Possession / consumptions in a parked Vehicle
• 253.44  Operating while suspended

Steven Ricks indicated that the next push for the community action team would be to enacted a Social Hosting ordinance and a brief discussion of timing and needs was had.   A decision was made to wait until after the Spring elections.

Planning Discussion

Paula conducted a planning discussion.  The Discussion centered around programs that are currently being conducted that we wish to continue and new programs that we would like to start.

Environmental changes

• The Prescription Drug Round Ups
• Alcohol Compliance Checks
• Working on a social host ordinance

Community Collaboration includes

• Supporting the school with Project Northland; Love and Logic; Teen or Peer Court;
• In school youth group;
• Town Hall meetings;
• Parents Who Host
• Parent Pledge
• Improvements to Website to create a Community Forem
• Security Camera at the Park

This discussion was for information gathering purposes and no decisions were made at this meeting.   It was decided to continue the planning at the February meeting and make final decisions for 2011 and recommendations for 2012.

DFC Grant

Paula discussed the Drug Free Community Grant.

We are in the process of applying for this grant and are in the information gathering phase.   Over the next month we will need to complete the grant writing phase.   A subcommittee was created to help with the grant proposal.   This team includes - Paula Enger, Steven Ricks, David Dyb, Fred Schumacher, Curt Hossman.  the Team will make regular reports at the monthly meetings.

LCAT Meeting for June '10

The Parents Who Host campaign was another success.  Curt told the group that a resent survey suggests that the PWH campaign is one of the most recognizable programs that CESA is a part of.   Yard signs should be taken down and will be collected over the next week.   Thanks to everyone who hosted a sign.

The mission statement, beliefs and Strategy was submitted to the group for approval.   Only minor edits were suggested and accepted.   It was decided by the group that what we have at this point is very good to start with.    The Group adopted the submission with the suggested edits.   See the complete statements below.

Steven will add the statements to the website and create a single page broacher to be used when meeting with various groups.

Steven will also contact the newspaper with this new information.

Recruitment of active members was discussed at length.   We have a large group of people who follow what we do and help out on occasion.   We have a small group of people who attend meetings and take on a majority of the planning and organization.   It was decided that we need to make an effort to engage more people who can help with the planning and organizing.   We also need to determine if there are any strategic areas that we need to specifically find people to help with.   One area that continues to come up is in the area of sports and athletics.    We currently do not have any active member who is part of the athletics organization in the school district.   Kristina was tasked with talking with Coach Pals at the high school to see what support he could lend to the group.  It was proposed that a more open meeting environment may be a key to getting more people to meetings.   Patrick will look into using the Rec Center for our monthly meetings.  He will also see if we can advertise these meetings in their facility.

Staying true to our mission statement we are going to start a campaign to reach out to all the groups in the Lodi Area that work with the youth.   We want to get them on board with our mission and working together in a coordinated effort.  Susan will create a list of these groups and we will make an effort to meet with them individually.   Our goal will be to get them to buy into their group supporting our mission and working with other groups to put on events that address youth health issues, specifically involving alcohol and other illicit use of drugs.

The first event we hope to do working in conjunction with these other groups would be a Youth Health Summit in early October.  At this summit we will present the information from the Choices Survey and hold a discussion on what and how to address these issues.   We will then old a second meeting with the groups involved and make plans based on the feedback received  at the summit.

Steven will put together a draft agenda for the Summit.   He will also create a talking paper for use in working with the various youth organizations.

Mission Statement

The Lodi Community Action Team promotes the creation of a healthy environment that fosters alcohol and other drug free choices among our youth.

Beliefs

• We believe that easy access to alcohol and illicit use of prescription drugs are a major obstacle in teens making healthy choices.
• We believe that for teens to make healthy choices they must live in an environment that emphasizes the positives of healthy choices.
• We believe that active and involved parents are a major component to developing teens that make healthy choices.
• We believe that the community at large is a  major influence in developing habits of the communities teens.
• We believe that legislation, policy change, and education can change our environment  and ultimately influence behavior.

Strategies

• We will provide and support programs that educate and connect the community in creating a healthy environment for our children, such as Parents Who Host, Lose the Most,  Local Drug Round Ups, and the Parent Pledge Program.
• We will develop working partnerships with schools, government agencies and local organizations to coordinate efforts in promoting healthy lifestyle choices.
• We will maintain a Speakers Bureau for presenters and presentation that address drug and alcohol misuse and promotes healthy lifestyle choices for use by community and school groups.
• We will hold an annual town hall meeting to educate and inform the community at large on our progress in the areas of teen access to alcohol and other drugs.
• We will conduct monthly LCAT meetings that are open to the public.

Stewards of Children Sexual Abuse Prevention Training

Take advantage of a GREAT opportunity!Hope House of South Central Wisconsin, in partnership with the Columbia County Family Resource Center, is hosting Darkness to Light's Stewards of Children Sexual Abuse Prevention Training Tuesday, April 20, 5-8pm Family Resource Center 2946 Red Fox Fun, Portage

Stewards of Children is a comprehensive sexual abuse prevention training program that educates adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. The Stewards of Children program is designed for organizations that serve children and adolescents, providing prevention training for staff, volunteers, parents, and other interested adults.

Core Features of the Stewards of Children Training:

• A video integrating segments of sexual abuse survivors relating their stories of violation and healing, with segments from the author of the curriculum and from professionals who interface daily with the problem of sexual abuse.
• An interactive workbook for each participant.
• Discussion about critical issues in sexual abuse prevention and the relevance of these issues within organizations that serve children and adolescents. Led by an authorized facilitator.

Cost: Free, registration required: Please RSVP to the Family Resource Center at 608-742-8482. For more information about the program, visit www.darkness2light.org.

April 20 Stewards of Children training poster

K.I.D.S. Town Hall Meeting

Thanks to everyone that was able to make the town hall meetings.   I believe that it was a very successful event.  The Panel was awesome and were able to answer some very difficult questions and gave out lots of very good advice.   I know that I learned a lot from the evening and it was time well spent.   We will look at doing more of these type of events in the future and if you have any ideas for issues that you would like us to address, just leave a comment, send an email, or give me a call. Thanks to everyone that put this together and participated and a special thanks to both the Lodi Sports and Recreation Center for hosting it and to the Kalahari for providing the door prize.

Saving our youth

The Lodi Enterprise has an article on the K.I.D.S. town hall meeting.   Several of our members are included in the article and it is a very good representation of what we hope to get.

"I want parents to know that this is not a meeting to say 'parents, you should not be drinking yourselves,' or 'parents you've been doing a bad job', that's not what this is about," Persike said. "This is just a bunch of people getting together and saying here are some questions we have as a community. Where can we improve, where can we focus our time and energy and funds?"

Follow the link for the complete story.