Invest in Youth

CoalitionTuesday, May 6th, 2014

• Secure a fund and/or city department that serves the explicit needs of children and youth in the City of Richmond;

• Create opportunities for young people to influence decision-makers on the needs and priorities of children and youth in the City of Richmond;

• Develop an oversight committee that will ensure that the fund or department follows best practices.

IYC Campaign Goals

• In 2008, Tony Thurmond, previous city council member was charged with implementing study session on the topic of a Fund or Department for Children, Youth and their Families. Youth Together, RYSE’s founding agency, was the lead organization calling for this work.

• In 2009, the RYSE Collaborative began exploring how to utilize Measure T for a DCYF in Richmond. Multiple stakeholders met with the Mayor to discuss the possibilities and interest. Mayor McLaughlin expressed a desire to follow up on the study session that never happened.

• Measure T didn’t pass and without a sustainable revenue possibility in the middle of a recession the City halted on moving forward.

History of Process

• In 2010, RYSE, in partnership with Healthy Richmond, convened a small working group to rethink the strategies around DCYF.

• While this new configuration of individuals and organizations was ready to move this work forward the focus moved to new revenue generation in partnership with young people, which converged around the Soda Tax.

• RYSE set multiple meetings with Council Member Ritterman to talk about the Soda Tax being a potential revenue generator for a sustainable fund for children, youth and their families.

• Shortly after the Soda Tax did not pass, RYSE was contacted by Margaret Brodkin about our interest in pursuing a Fund for Children and Youth in the City of Richmond.

History Cont.

● RYSE’s Listening Campaign● Health in All Policies – Richmond’s General Plan● Building Healthy Communities/Healthy Richmond● TCE’s Boys and Men of Color Initiative ● RYOT: Development of a Youth Platform● Out of School Time Collaborative● What else???

Current context & opportunity for a youth friendly city

Initial Steering Committee

Bay Area Community Resources City of Richmond East Bay Center for the Performing Arts First 5 Contra Costa County Funding the Next Generation Healthy Richmond Latina Foundation Office of the Mayor, Richmond Pogo Park RYSE Center The Ed Fund Youth Enrichment Strategies

The Invest in Youth Coalition is a new citywide

coalition of individuals, community based organizations, city

government and funders working to make Richmond a youth and family friendly

city.

IYC Agreements➢ Accountability to agreed process.➢ Follow-through on commitments.➢ Focused participation and adherence to message. Transparency in how we work

and communicate.➢ Consistent participation=opportunity for decision-making.➢ Each core participant is responsible to ensure that anyone sent in your place has a

full understanding of the purpose and where the process is to date.➢ Participation does not guarantee receiving any funds should they be made available.

This is about creating an objective process for grant allocation in the City of Richmond and moving away from insider/outsider dynamics.

➢ Assume best intentions; know that there will be healthy struggle, and commit to compassion and honesty in addressing one another when challenging situations arise.

➢ We are all here because we want to see children and youth thrive.

Purpose of FundThe objective is to create a city fund serving children and youth in Richmond, ages 0-24, in order to ensure optimal health, wellness and safety. Specifically, funds would be allocated around community-informed strategies including but not limited to the following:

• Arts and Culture

• Youth Leadership

• Health and Wellness

• Outdoor education and recreation

• Violence Prevention, Response and Restoration

• Youth Employment/Career and Education

• Early Childhood EducationThe proposed city fund would include a City of Richmond youth and adult community oversight committee that would ensure youth voice and participation in the development of the fund as well as ensure ongoing accountability and transparency in the prioritization, distribution and evaluation of the fund.

Strategies & Working Groups

Budget Analysis

❏ Understand current City budget and allocation of resources towards children and youth.

❏ Develop an asset map of current supports for youth and money leveraged to support these existing programs.

❏ Develop a Children’s Budget that prioritizes the needs of children and youth and assigns clear costs to ensure young people in this community get what they need to lead fulfilling lives.

Half-Cent Sales Tax

❏ Work on sales tax campaign and advisory measure securing at minimum 50% for children and youth programming. The beginning of a more robust children and youth fund and/or city department.

Youth Engagement

❏ Advocate for a City of Richmond Youth Council.

❏ Host Richmond Youth Exchanges.

❏ Host Week-long Youth Organizing Institutes.

❏ Youth-led candidates forums. ❏ Develop a youth platform

that defines key priorities and needs for children and youth in Richmond.

❏ Advocate for an oversight committee that includes the youth council.

● Develop a Children’s Agenda/Budget

● Document current budget and spending

● Plan Youth-led Candidates Forum

● Alliance for Justice Trainings

● Securing resources for consultants

Next Steps for IYC