05/08/2017 Youth Commission Regular Meeting Adopted 09/11/2017CITY OF GILROY
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR
YOUTH COMMISSION MEETING
6:00 P.M.
Monday, May 8, 2017
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6:02 p.m. by Chair Carpenter.
ROLL CALL & SECRETARY'S REPORT
Members Present: Carpenter, Athwal, Fajardo, O'Connor, M. Plaza (late), Sabharwal, Apte,
Lopez (late), Song, and A. Plaza (late)
Members Excused: None
Members Absent: Drews
Staff Present: Monica S endej as and Heather Kyles
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
Motion was made by Commissioner Apte to approve the minutes of the April 10, 2017
regular meeting as written. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Fajardo. The
motion carried unanimously with a 7-0-0 vote (Commissioners Lopez, M. Plaza and A.
Plaza were not present for this vote).
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Motion was made by Commissioner Song to approve the agenda for Monday, May 8, 2017.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Athwal. The motion carried unanimously with
a 7-0-0 vote (Commissioners Lopez, M. Plaza and A. Plaza were not present for this vote).
COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. College Application Workshop on April 22, 2017 — Commissioner O'Connor reported that
the event was a success and Manuel Fabriquer of College Planning ABC did a great job.
There were two attendees as well as three Commissioners present. Commissioner O'Connor
stated that she wasn't surprised about the low turnout for the event. She said because of her
trip to Russia, she was unable to promote it the way she wanted to. However, she felt it was a
very informative presentation with lots of good information that she didn't even know, and
Manuel had personally worked with her on her . college applications. Commissioner
O'Connor was . thankful for the coffee and pastry donations from Starbucks that
Commissioner M. Plaza was able to secure. Commissioner O'Connor had all the
Commissioners sign thank you letters for Manuel and Starbucks. Commissioner Fajardo
shared that he came to the event and was very impressed with the information shared and is
interested in having the Youth Commission do this event again next year. He said he felt this
was a great event, especially for Gilroy, because there aren't a lot of resources like this
available in Gilroy. The recommendation from Manuel was to have the event in early
September next year and in the morning, if it's held on a Saturday.
B. Basketball Clinic on May 13, 2017 — Vice Chair Sabharwal reported that the flyer has been
promoted on the Recreation Department social media sites, in the Recreation Office, with
Late Night Gym and at the Gilroy Youth Center. Staff gave Vice Chair Sabharwal flyers to
take door to door in the San Ysidro Neighboorhood. Vice Chair Sabharwal asked for
volunteers to distribute the flyers and Chair Carpenter agreed to take half the stack of flyers.
Vice Chair Sabharwal was going to take some flyers to the Gilroy Library. Vice Chair
Sabharwal reported he had five volunteers to work the event, they would be arriving at San
Ysidro at 9:00am, and would be bringing the basketballs. Staff reported the medals had been
ordered and would arrive this week before Saturday. Staff will be purchasing the water and
snacks this week. Recreation Staff Sonny Old Elk Jr. will be at the event, to help -run the
clinic and provide additional supervision. Commissioner Fajardo will be at the event and will
take pictures.
C. Scientist or Artist? Event — Discussion was tabled until the discussion under New Business,
Item C: Events for Next Year. Refer to the notes in the Events for Next Year section.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
OLD BUSINESS
A. Practice Presentation to City Council —Vice Chair Sabharwal and Chair Carpenter
practiced their presentation for Council and received feedback from the Youth Commission.
They felt confident and ready for the presentation on May 15 in Council Chambers at
6:00pm. All Youth Commissioners will wear the black polo shirt and dark pants.
NEW BUSINESS
A. Presentation by Pravani Kethanaboyina Re: STEAM - Pravani Kethanoboyina introduced
herself and the STEAM program. This is a program by students (high school) for students
(elementary school). Those working in the STEAM program can earn community service
hours. The program is expanding, and so the Youth Commission was asked to assist with
ideas on how to get the word out about volunteer recruitment for the program.
Commissioners suggested publicizing at Gilroy High School and Christopher High School,in
the Fall, leaving flyers at the Gilroy Library, asking the newspapers to advertise the program
in the community events section, and talking to the Science Department Heads at Gilroy
High School and Christopher High School. Chair Carpenter said she will talk to the
Activities Director at Christopher High School to see if Pravani Kethanoboyina could present
the program at the end of May. Pravani Kethanoboyina thanked the Commissioners for their
input and time.
B. CMAP Channel Discussion Commissioner Apte shared that Community Media Access
Partnership (CMAP) is a nonprofit community media center serving Gilroy, Hollister, and
San Juan Bautista. CMAP empowers community members and organizations to thrive in a
digital world by providing access to media tools, training, and television distribution on local
cable channels. CMAP is committed to promoting civic engagement, creative self-
expression, and life and career skills for youth and adults. With a membership to CMAP, up
to three people can be on the membership and you can reserve studio time, rent equipment,
broadcast on TV (football games, open mike night, graduations), advertise on the CMAP
channel, and this may be a good way to outreach to youth. The Youth Commissioners had
some discussion about the opportunities that are available if they were to have a CMAP
membership. Commissioner Apte asked that the CMAP Membership be put on the next
meeting agenda (September) so the Commissioners could vote as to whether or not they
wanted the Youth Commission to have a CMAP Membership.
C. Selection of a Youth Commissioner and an Alternate to Participate in GPAC —Staff
Monica Sendejas shared that GPAC stands for the General Plan Advisor Committee and is
working on the Gilroy 2040 plan. GPAC will have their first meeting on June 29 (tentative
date) and will continue with meetings for about a year, with the final meeting tentatively
scheduled for the Fall of 2018. The Youth Commissioner and alternate who serve on GPAC
needs to be able to attend all the meetings. Motion was made by Commissioner Fajardo to
approve Commissioner Apte to represent the Youth Commission on GPAC and
Commissioner Athwal to serve as the alternate. The motion was seconded by
Commissioner Lopez. The motion carried unanimously with a 9-0-0 vote (Chair
Carpenter left early and was not present for this vote).
D. Fireworks Booth Fundraiser — Staff Monica Sendejas shared that the, Youth Commission
has been assigned July 3 to run the Fireworks Booth in the Nob Hill Shopping Center. Last
year, $1,463.45 was raised with this event. Each Commissioner needs to find an adult (ages
18 or older) to work in the booth for them. Commissioners under the age of 18 are allowed to
be outside the booth, but cannot go inside the booth. As Treasurer, Commissioner Athwal
agreed to take the lead in working with the Youth Commissioners to gathering the name,
email address and phone number of the volunteer who will be working for the Youth
Commissioner and will have this task completed and sent to Staff Sendejas by May 31, 2017.
E. Events for Next Year — Staff Sendejas shared that next year, she will be the only staff
member supporting the Youth Commission. Due to this change, next year the Youth
Commission will be limited to two events that they plan, pay for, and staff needs to be
present for. In light of this change, the Youth Commission discussed the Scientist or Artist?
event, Kids Discover Arts booth,' and the Pampered Princess Party. After discussion,
Commissioner Lopez stated she would rather see the Youth Commission continue to run the
Pampered Princess Party, which already has had success and has a following, rather than
working to get Scientist or Artist? . off the ground (the event has a large expense and the
program development and promotion still required a lot of work before the event can
happen). The Youth Commissioners liked the idea of running a booth ' at the Kids Discover
Arts (KDA) event on Saturday, August 26 from about 8:00am to 2:00pm. The art project will
be assigned by KDA staff and paid for out of the KDA budget, so this would not count as one
of the Youth Commission's events. The Youth Commissioners would need to come in before
the event to prepare the materials. Motion was. made by Commissioner Fajardo to run a
booth at Kids Discover Arts event on Saturday, August 26, 2017. The motion was
seconded by Commissioner A. Plaza. The motion carried unanimously with a 9-0-0 vote
(Chair Carpenter left early and was not. present for this vote).
F. Brown Act Training — Most Commissioners reported they had not had an opportunity to
look at the video and read all the documents yet. Staff Sendejas said this will be covered in
the Fall when the new Commissioners are on board.
AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
Vote on CMAP Membership (Commissioner Apte)
Fundraising Efforts (Commissioner A. Plaza)
Brown Act and Conflict of Interest Training (Staff)
Slack Communication (Commissioner Athwal)
STAFF COMMENTS
Staff Kyles thanked the Youth Commission for, their hard work this year and said how much she
enjoyed working with them.
ADJOURNMENT
Vice Chair Sabharwal adjourned the meeting at 7:28 p.m.
FUTURE MEETING
The next regular meeting of the Youth Commission will be held on Monday, September 11,
2017 at 6:00 p.m. in the Gilroy Senior Center Meeting Room.
Monica Sendejas, Recreation Coordinator
City of Gilroy Youth Commission Advisor
Recording Secretary