April Showers Bring Many Opportunities

As spring approaches and DC receives its few months of bearable weather before an always to be expected thick and swampy humid summer, the cherry blossoms begin to bloom and DC becomes a hub for international tourism.

Besides the enormous influx of tourist making metro rush hour even more difficult, spring is a time for the 2013 FY budget season. And amongst the testimonies and hearings it becomes incredibly easy to overlook the vast amount of resources the District has to offer during the spring. And while it’s important to be an active member of local politics, it’s equally important that one takes a step back to examine and appreciate the novelties that make the District what it is.

The season offers opportunities for the District’s youth to engage and participate in many constructive activities; many of these being free! Over the next few months, the District will offer a variety of events ranging from the Cherry Blossom Festival to the DC Jazz festival. Many of the events focus on a cultural or historical aspect of DC and many use these features to demonstrate DC’s relationship to the rest of the world. You can find a list of the upcoming events at:

http://dc.about.com/cs/familyactivities/a/CherryBlossom.htm

In addition, the One City Summer team has worked diligently throughout the Winter to coordinate a variety of camps, summer employment opportunities and special events designed to keep children and youth engaged, excited, healthy and safe. As part of this the District will be re-launching a new and improved One City Summer Website to share events and opportunities in real time (and yes, CBOs will be able to post and highlight what they’re doing too). At the same time youth working with DC Library will be releasing the youth friendly version- youth202.com to make sure that young people have a way to stay connected and hear about the events that will interest them. at the end of this month.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the launch of these websites, but in the meantime, you can find more information about summer activities and programs by checking out the Department of Parks and Recreations spring-summer schedule of youth events.

http://dpr.dc.gov/DC/DPR/Programs+and+Services/Register+for+Programs/2012+Spring-Summer+Fun+Guide

DCAYA is also in the process of organizing a youth advocacy day dedicated to positive youth development. Youth Advocacy Day will offer the district’s young people an opportunity to learn about the legislative process in the District, tour the Wilson Building, and connect with their elected officials. The specifics for the event are still being determined but it will take place on Aril 27^th at time that does not conflict with the DC school schedule.

It will be interesting to see how the 2013 FY budget compares with the current budget and as someone who is new to the advocacy world, I hope its better. It’s obvious that although the upcoming spring events won’t begin to touch the deficit of positive youth development programs in the District, they do offer something. And in a city that is all too familiar with doing very much with very little, the upcoming spring offers another opportunity to do so.

A Post from Korey Johnson, Outreach Assistant

With performance oversight hearing season going on it's been a while since we've posted anything on our blog! This week's post is by DCAYA's Outreach Assistant Korey Johnson who is new to advocacy work in DC.

Last week, DCAYA hosted a community breakfast for community based organizations (CBOS) that serve children and youth in Wards 7 and 8.This event was one of my first experiences with community providers from east of the river and it was brilliant seeing organizations meet each other and DCAYA for the first time. It was tremendously humbling to experience the utmost dedication and passion that community providers from east of the river have for the District’s children and youth. Staff from the over 20 organizations in attendance not only had a sympathetic understanding of the challenges the young people of Wards 7 and 8 experience while navigating the transition to adulthood but also the different obstacles young people face in general.

Prior to coming on at DCAYA, I knew that Wards 7 and 8 suffered from a lack of economic development and that they were reknowned as one of the more dangerous areas of the city. What I didn’t realize was all the ways that social conditions like crime and unemployment had the capacity to negatively affect young people. A large proportion of the youth in these communities deal with child abuse and neglect, homelessness, and unemployment; these issues typically merge and create new obstacles that often produce worse circumstances. Consequentially, youth serving organizations that operate east of the river have a full plate when it comes to trying to lessen the burdens of children and youth.

After our initial meet and greet at last Friday’s breakfast we had a productive discussion about the central issues these organizations face when working with DC’s youth. Some of the most pressing issues included:

• · Lack of funding and complicated funding silos
• · Confusion over where to find best practices and pertinent new research
• · Lack of provider mobilization and collaboration
• · Confusion over how to communicate with the philanthropic community

Interestingly, none of the organizations had a shortage of program ideas or solution regarding their respective areas of expertise. Each CBO had clear plans of how they could best involve themselves in the lives of District youth and assist young people in becoming healthy and productive adults. Instead, the issues that were identified as a major challenges for CBOs revolved around funding, sustainability and a lack of connectivity with each other as well as community resources.

DCAYA started its outreach east of the river with the goal of hosting multiple convenings that focused on the self-identified issues that these providers face. Using the feedback received at our first event, we’re actively working on setting up another opportunity for organizations from Wards 7 and 8 to better network and collaborate as well as learn a bit more about some of the best practices going on in children’s and youth programming.

If staff from your organization would like to attend the upcoming events or would like more information about DCAYA’s outreach efforts please contact me via email (Korey@ DC-AYA.org).

Advocates for Justice and Education Wants YOUR Feedback on Informal School Exclusion

Our partners over at Advocates for Justice and Education (AJE) have come up with an "Informal School Exclusion Survey" for parents from both DCPS and DCPCS. You can access the survey and get more information on our website.

Please feel free to circulate the survey to parents from your programs!

Join us for a community breakfast!

DCAYA is pleased to announce a community breakfast for youth-serving organizations in Ward 7 or 8 on February 24 from 9:30am-11:30am at THEARC Recital Hall.

DCAYA staff and current members of the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates will be available for a community discussion on the state of youth programs East of the River. This will be a great opportunity for those organizations to learn more about DCAYA and for DCAYA to learn more about their programs!

If you have any questions, want more information or would like to RSVP to the event please contact Korey Johnson, DCAYA Project Assistant via either email korey@dc-aya.org or at the DCAYA Offices via phone 202.587.0616.

We'll bring the coffee, you bring the discussion. We look forward to seeing you all there!

In Defense of CYITC

If you aren't part of DCAYA's supercool Linkedin group you're missing out! In preparation for DCAYA's BIG CALL TO ACTION EVENT on Thursday February 09 in support of the Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, we're utilizing ALL of our social media outlets and in the past few days we've had a great discussion via Linkedin with the local blogger community about why CYITC is deserving of support! Below is just a taste of one of the comments from DCAYA's Senior Policy Analyst Maggie Riden on just that topic:

The original intention of CYITC or the “Trust” was to ensure the development of high quality, diversely funded positive youth development opportunities for the most at risk and vulnerable residents of DC: children and youth. What has been lost in much of the recent coverage around the Trust is 1) the timeline in which political corruption was allowed to take hold at CYITC and 2) the various measures already taken to safeguard CYITC from future unethical meddling and ensure transparent grant-making and strong accountability moving forward.

All of the stories we’ve been reading in the news about CYITC focuses on events that occurred between 2007 and 2010 under the leadership of individuals who are no longer employed by CYITC. In early 2010, when new leadership was solidified, CYITC underwent its first external financial audit, and implemented the systems and oversight measures this audit recommended. In the spring of 2010, Councilmember Tommy Wells introduced and passed legislation banning earmarks, which removed one of the vehicles Harry Thomas Jr. used to embezzle funds intended for children and youth. During the rest of 2010, CYITC implemented its first Financial and Accounting Policies and Procedures manual and the first Grants Management Policies and Procedures manual. The timing of Harry Thomas Jr.'s inability to continue to embezzle CYTIC funds and the implementation of these oversight mechanisms by CYITC and Councilmember Wells is no coincidence. This progress has continued to date, with the appointment of three new, very strong, CYITC Board members in December of 2011. This is not to say that all the issues have been addressed, but our community should use this opportunity to fix what’s wrong rather than pursuing a reactionary path and dismantling a critical facet of our youth programming system.

We know that a strong, functional and de-politicized intermediary has the capacity to leverage public-private dollars, professionalize the youth development system, ensure the provision of high quality programming, and provide a vital coordinating role for CBO’s and other youth serving agencies. An intermediary like CYITC is the ideal entity to quickly and transparently manage grant making for this unique niche of youth programming. This is not an instance where starting from scratch is necessary; addressing the existing and potential future problems honestly, and then collaboratively fixing these weaknesses should be our focus moving forward.

To add your voice to the conversation join the DCAYA Group on Linkedin, follow us on twitter with the hashtag #savecyitc and join us in supporting CYITC THIS THURSDAY February 09th! If you aren't a social media fan, you can always take the old fashioned route and write an op-ed like DCAYA OST Committee Chair Andria Hollis did...