Fairbanks Youth Advocates Board Meeting
September 1, 2015
Call to Order: 5:05
Present: Sarah Finnell, Dave Miller, Meryem Kugzruk, Tami Manning, Barb Tyndall, Nikki, Crenshaw (staff), Liz Fabian, Marylee Bates
Absent: Patrick Endres, Chick Wallace
Open in Prayer: Meryem Kugzruk opened in prayer.
Nikki Crenshaw was introduced by Marylee Bates. Nikki is a senior at UAF majoring in psychology and justice. She is getting a Master’s degree in counseling. She does social media for FYA and is getting Facebook and Twitter up to speed. She has a goal of getting 1000 on our Facebook page and the numbers are in the 900s now. Working on communication with other non- profits. Meryem asked what we would do with U-Tube. Nikki said we could advertise events and raise awareness. She said her heart is focused on at-risk youth.
*Minutes: Sarah Finnell moved, Tami Manning seconded to approve the minutes. Approved unanimously.
*Voting Issues:
Barb Tyndall called the references for Dee Antesberger and met with her on Sunday. She will invite Dee to the next board meeting so the members can meet her.
Dean Gustafson has been on the board for some time but has not been at our meetings due to personal issues.
Liz Fabian moved to remove Dean from FYA board; Barb Tyndall seconded. Approved unanimously.
ED Report:
Marylee Bates is back on the work schedule due to staff members leaving, some unexpectedly. One staff member was asked to leave. Hannah, Holly and Tim went on annual leave which was planned ahead. So, at one point, Nikki, Janelle and Marylee ran the shelter for 48 hours.
Marylee has hired five new ladies. Three of them worked at the Denali Center together; Carolyn, Amanda, Enid and have come on staff part time. Amelia was a volunteer who was hired as staff. We have no house parent yet. Marylee said we could use one more person.
Community—Marylee has attended the neighborhood safety watch. We have our own policeman we can call if needed. She also attended the FNSB meeting on marijuana to give input. She did eight shifts at the fair and attended the Chamber three times this month. She called them and asked for a bill because she had eaten there three or four times. They said they are covering her costs for now.
Marylee is giving many tours of the shelter—about two a week. They had one Congressional group traveling to Alaska to inspect various entities.
The Door is housing as many as seven kids so far; it varies between five and seven. Janelle is working with families. They have had mediation with four families. Mike is billing us for mediation sessions at a $40 flat fee. There will be an evaluation session to assess the success of this service.
The property on 137 8th Avenue has been torn down. The counseling building is almost ready.
There are 144 collegiate athletes from the National Association of Christian Athletes coming to Alaska next summer. They are coming for a golf tournament but to do service projects as well. They form groups of twelve to do community projects. Since we don’t have big projects to do right now; we can send them to serve others in our name. They are coming next June but applications for projects need to go in now.
Marylee will conduct Vista interviews tomorrow for our campus project. Whoever is hired will come in November.
HMIS—Homeless Management Information System. This is a national program we are mandated to participate in. Management changed hands and now we have to do it more thoroughly. Marylee and staff spent eight hours being trained to put in data. They were given five test cases so far and this takes a lot of time and energy. The phone rings all day. So the plan is to use the counseling receptionist at Clearwater and have her answer FYA phones as well.
Marylee and staff are reviewing and redrafting FYA financial policies.
Marylee attended the chamber meeting where Pat Pitney, from OMB was the speaker. She painted a bleak picture and said it is time to think lean and mean regarding the budget. Less money is coming to non-profits in the future. Marylee said we have been conservative but need to be more so in the future.
Attendees were encouraged to go to Alaska.gov website to give feedback to legislators and to spread the word about the site. There is a 90 second video. Click on “Join the Conversation”.
Financial Report: Treasurer’s Report August 2015
Liz Fabian discussed report for end of July. The report is available on-line.
Discussion of buildings and their value. We were not exempted from paying taxes on the counseling building. The latest bid to tear down the white building is $28,000. We will solicit other bids.
One Homeless night—Meryem Kugzruk reported on the planning, work groups, and jobs accomplished. Marylee said response is low so far.
Green House renovation: Dave Miller said the green house is almost done. More money was procured at our last board meeting and it is probably going to cost about $42,000 when completed.
Schedule next meeting: September 29 from 5:00-7:00
Bio updates: Liz Fabian emailed hers this morning
New Business:
Dave Miller reported that a property we have wanted for our campus is for sale. The board needs to assess what we are doing as far as scaling back. Property could be over $200,000. Dave said it is part of our plan but we probably should not be buying right now. Liz asked if we could buy the property and rent it? Dave said we had determined as a board that we don’t really want to be landlords but he could get the particulars and bring it to the board to make the decision. We could also turn it over to someone else to manage. Sarah said we should look at the price; what we could get for rent, and make that decision. Marylee said that we would have to pay taxes on it if we aren’t using it for FYA and that no one really has the time to deal with it right now. The board agreed. Dave will tell the seller we are not interested at this time.
Meryem Kugzruk attended the North Star Foundation and said that they want to help with One Homeless Night. They donated a credit card machine for the event. Their secretary wants to help with social media. They may have a training session for non-profits on social media.
Another non-profit made hand-made books. It was suggested that they might want to teach an art class to kids at the Door.
The Winter Bear Project does plays on suicide prevention in the villages. Counselors come with them and talk to people in the community. September 11 is their dress rehearsal.
Pass the Hat— will take place October through December to correspond to the end of the year giving. This is the West Valley challenge for a matching donation to what they raise.
Members updated their contact information on the blog.
Meeting adjourned 6:40
Respectfully submitted: Barbara Tyndall, FYA secretary
