2020-10-07 Youth Commission MinutesPage 1.1.1
Youth Commission Meeting Minutes 10/7/2020
Commission members present:
Aaron Nateephaisan
Brook Roberts
Brooke Rinehimer
Treasurer Caitlin Chung
Finn Paynich
Grace Kamila
Hunter De Leon
Jacob Sawyer
Secretary Owen Lee
Sydney Pearson
Zane Marulitua
Commission members absent:
Staff Present:
Kim Anderson
Shannon Burley
Council/Community Members Present:
I. CALL TO ORDER
Brook Roberts motioned to call the meeting to order at 6:02 pm over Zoom
Secretary Owen Lee seconded that motion
Motion passed unanimously
Brook read the Native American Land Statement
II. MINUTES - Approval of 9/16/20
Brook Roberts moved to approve 9/16/20 meeting's minutes with one revisions
Secretary Owen Lee seconded that motion
Motion passed unanimously
III. RECRUITMENT UPDATES/NEW MEMBER INTROS
- Shannon talked a little bit about how the recruitment process went
- New and returning Commission members introduced themselves
- Returning members: Jacob Sawyer, Brook Roberts, Owen Lee, Caitlin Chung,
Sydney Pearson
- New members: Hunter De Leon, Brooke Rinehimer, Grace Kamila, Finn Paynich,
Zane Marulitua, Aaron Nateephaisen
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IV. OPMA
- Everyone gets a COE email
- Email is important because it saves everything
- Someone can, with a public records request, ask for Youth Commission communications
- Check email often, if not daily
- We also use GroupMe
- Shannon will send out informational packet with responsibilities and information about
OPMA
V. OFFICER SELECTION PROCESS
- We need to elect officers
- Officer positions are:
- Chair: presides over all meetings using Roberts' Rules of Order, keeps discussion
organized, involves all members
- Co -Chair: performs duties of Chair if the Chair is absent
- Treasurer: handles financial affairs along with a city staff member
- Secretary: keeps formal records of Commission process, creates agenda, sends
out documents after meetings
- All positions are open
- Running for:
- Chair: Owen Lee
- Co -Chair: Caitlin Chung, Jacob Sawyer
- Secretary: Brook Roberts
- Treasurer: Sydney Pearson, Brooke Rinehimer
VI. HOW CAN WE TAKE ACTION WITH MENTAL HEALTH?
- Last month, we had Edmonds's first Suicide Prevention Month
- We want to continue momentum
- Health and Human Services budget evaluation
- How can we view their budget?
- Shannon will send us the link to Mayor Nelson's video as well as the City's
budget book
- Mayor Nelson shared his budget priorities, increasing budget for Health and Human
Services in a short video
- Later this month we present our budget priorities to Council
- Ideas about how to take action on mental health:
- City -funded therapists and social workers
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Beginning discussions between city, commission, and district about more
counselors in the district and more diversity and training for counselors
- Mindy as well as a full-time social worker will both be important contacts
We now have access to the waterfront center, as well as Verdant, who can
provide funding for ideas
At the Old Woodway campus, there is Edmonds Heights, Scriber Lake, and
various other programs
We need to figure out how to set up more programs and have more access to 99
- There are a few churches that might rent out buildings
- Edmonds Lutheran Church
We could offer virtual services during this time
One really big issue is helping people know that things are happening
People who need services the most don't follow the city on Facebook
Consistency is important because it helps people come back and spread the
word of something being available
- Schools and the food bank could be a really good way to the get the word out
about different services offered
We can talk to professionals about how to approach underrepresented groups
Shannon is interested in creating a video by youth for youth to help normalize
conversations around mental health
We could create our own compilation of resources around mental health
Social media could work well for those with access to it
It's important that information distribution is anonymous
Making a website of resources and promoting it through social media could be a
really good plan
If we put together resources, it's important to recognize that there are problems
beyond anxiety and depression
- We need to make sure we do our research
Access and education are both important
Important to build off of what we have
Counselors are more focused on class, college, schedules, etc
We need to think about creating a diverse approach
- Cultural issues?
- Non -English resources?
- We can reach out to people who have the resources
We have so much power, and we have to figure out how to use it and what to
use it for
We can make recommendations to the City Council
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VII. OTHER YOUTH ISSUES IN EDMONDS
- Voting is really important to many of us
- How can the Youth Commission approach voting?
- Shannon will look into us creating a video to show what we as Commissioners want
people to support
- Commissioners can share what is important to us as youth
- Homelessness in Edmonds is also a huge issue
- Reaching out to the homeless population with resources is extremely important and
also challenging
- If we held an event we could look at tying together resources for the homeless with
mental health resources?
- Over 16% of the homeless population are youth
- There's a presentation done in 2019 that Brook is sending out with significant statistics
- There are "car camps" for the homeless available
Secretary Owen Lee moved to remove our eighth item, "Possibility of Virtual Forum (and
planning)" from our agenda and discuss it at our next meeting
Brook Roberts seconded that motion
Motion passed unanimously
IX. WHAT IS CITY COUNCIL COVERING?
- Council discussed plan that could potentially cause problems for Perrinville watershed
- Another meeting on November 2nd
- Approval of project delayed
- Comes down to a yes or no because project cannot be modified
- We don't know the danger that this could cause to the watershed
- It is zoned for development, so it must be developed no matter what unless the city
buys the land
- This could potentially be less harmful than a different development
- Council is also beginning to prepare for the budget
- CARE funding is for food bank, small businesses, etc
X. ADJOURNMENT & HOMEWORK
- Homework: new members need to send a bio and picture to Kim
- Returning members need to update their bio
- INCLUDE PRONOUNS IN BIO (and we can discuss asking the mayor to include pronouns
in city email signatures)
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Secretary Owen Lee motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:33 pm
Brook Roberts seconded that motion
Meeting adjourned