Youth Commission

Agenda Village of Arlington Heights Youth Commission 660 N. Ridge, AH 60004 February 15, 2024 6:00 PM I. CALL TO ORDER II. ROLL CALL III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. January 18, 2024 Minutes IV. REPORTS V. OLD BUSINESS A. Teen Job Fair VI. NEW BUSINESS A. 2024 Voting Awareness Project VII. OTHER BUSINESS VIII.PUBLIC COMMENT IX. ADJOURNMENT Persons with disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services, such as an American Sign Language interpreter or written materials in accessible formats, should contact Erin Mercado, at 33 S. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60005, emercado@vah.com or (847)368-5793.  Youth Commission 2/15/2024 Item: Minutes Department: HHS ATTACHMENTS: Description Type January 18, 2024 Minutes Minutes  Minutes Village of Arlington Heights Youth Commission Arlington Heights Memorial Library 500 N. Dunton Ave 2nd Floor, Room I January 18, 2023 6:00 PM I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Son called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. All stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. II. ROLL CALL Present Also Present Alice Son, Chairperson James McCalister, Commission Liaison John Peterson Absent Ava McQuade Dr. Afroz Hafeez Chyrel Moore Detective Taryn Gombar Christopher Hong Lucy Jochaniewicz Nathan Georg Owen Smith Jennifer Borrell Matt Healy Gabe Cherwin III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Minutes from October 19, 2023 A motion was made by Commissioner Georg to approve the minutes of the October 19, 2023 meeting, seconded by Commissioner Moore and approved by unanimous consent. IV. REPORTS 1 A. Commission Reports 1. Library Chair Son said that she was very busy over winter break. She mentioned that the library has a brand-new kid space with a lot of updates. Kids World has a new entryway with LED lights. She said they held a big celebration on January 8th and hundreds of people came out to see the space, which was really fun. Snow days happened shortly after and the library experienced a surge in activity. Chair Son announced that they are in the planning stages for the summer season. She said they just completed finals study lounge and mentioned two upcoming programs. The first is the Dice Guild, which is a D&D program and the second is an anime program. 2. Park District Commissioner Healy said that winter break was a busy time for the Park District. They reviewed some statistics and pleased to see that between 7,000 to 8,000 people passed through and roughly 1,000 to 1,200 people passed through the ARC. The Park District is also preparing for summer activities, with many job opportunities available. They typically hire between 300 to 400 people for the Park District during the summer. Another exciting event coming up is the pre-tween event for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, which they haven't hosted in a few years. For those interested in volunteering, they are always looking for help with the Park District's events, such as movies in the park. Finally, they are getting ready for summer and excited about the upcoming season. 3. Police Department No report. 4. Schools Commissioner Moore said that everyone enjoyed their winter break and is back in session. 5. Commissioners at Large Commissioner Georg from Rolling Meadows said that basketball season is ongoing, and lacrosse is upcoming. He also mentioned that it is not too stressful for seniors right now. Commissioner Cherwin from Rolling Meadows said that college applications are now complete, and they await the next steps. With decision-making deadlines on the horizon, they should expect to hear back from some schools, such as UI, within the next week or two. Keep in mind that big-name schools may have multiple rounds of acceptances in March, so they will have more choices to make as seniors. Commissioner Smith from Prospect said there really isn’t much going on right now. Commissioner Peterson from Prospect said that they are focusing on college related matters and their basketball team will be playing against Rolling Meadows tonight and hopefully they win this time. Commissioner Hong from Buffalo Grove said that things are quiet and finals went well. Commissioner McQuade from St. Viators confirmed that there is not much activity taking place. 2  Commissioner Borrell announced the addition of two new conference rooms to the hub at the library. V. OLD BUSINESS A. Teen Health Programming Chair Son addressed the teen health programming. She said they have extensively discussed the significance of both mental and physical health, but wants to know if this is a project that the Commission is truly passionate about pursuing. They can continue to discuss it, but ultimately, it's up to the Commission to decide whether or not they want to take action. After much discussion between the student Commissioners, they concluded that this particular subject has made little progress over the years. Therefore, it was suggested to remove it from the agenda and shift focus towards more feasible tasks that can be accomplished within a reasonable timeframe. Roll was called for a vote to remove this subject from the agenda: All in favor and motion was carried. B. Snow Shoveling Program Chair Son noted that the program's numbers had increased since the last update. Liaison McCalister expressed gratitude for the team's efforts in promoting the program, which resulted in a significant uptick in sign-ups. Specifically, 40 teens and 334 seniors have enrolled in the program. Chair Son said with snow expected in the upcoming months, she has additional flyers she can distribute to the Commissioners. She mentioned that perhaps they should set a goal to reach 45 teens. Commissioner McQuade has been attempting to schedule a meeting with her Dean since August to coordinate the placement of posters around the school. However, she has yet to receive a response. Liaison McCalister mentioned Tracey Colagrossi, the Senior Center Manager, sends out a survey to both participating teens and seniors to gather feedback on their satisfaction with the program. Before the survey goes out this year, she plans to send it to the Youth Commission for review and input. Are there any particular questions the Youth Commission would like to include in the questionnaire? Some of the questions that were suggested were: Teen questions: • Was the workload manageable based on the number of houses? • What was their average cost per house? • Do you think there are more teens willing to volunteer who may not be aware of the program? Senior questions: • Was it difficult to find teens to come and shovel? • What is the best way to communicate with teens? Other questions for the program” 3  • Is there a breakdown of the teens’ locations to coordinate closer proximity to the homes that need to be shoveled? • Should there be some kind of communication system between seniors and teens to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding estimated time of arrival? A Commissioner mentioned that he had participated in the program as a snow shoveler three years ago and received a list for a two-mile radius. C. Commission-Hosted Dodgeball Tournament According to Chair Son, the dodgeball tournament that they wanted to host in February has hit a snag due to liability concerns. There is an ongoing debate about who is responsible for liability if the event takes place, which needs to be resolved before moving forward. According to Commissioner Healy, pre-registration is mandatory for tournament participation at the Park District. If you are an Arlington Heights resident under 18, you cannot sign up on your own, as you need a household account. A parent must register each child individually for the event. Keep in mind that kids cannot show up and register on their own, as the odds of getting everyone registered without a parent's help are slim. Therefore, the best course of actions is to put the tournament on hold until a solution is found. Since the Teen Health Programming and Dodgeball tournament is on the back burner, after much deliberation, they decided to shift their focus to educating and motivating teenagers to vote in the primary election. This is a realistic objective that the Commission believes they can achieve. Roll was called for a vote to encourage teen voting: All in favor and motion was carried. D. Teen Job Fair Chair Son is thrilled to announce that the Teen Job Fair is set to take place at the ARC from 6pm – 7:30 pm on March 5th. She explained that the first step is to invite businesses to participate in this event. To start, Chair Son will reach out to all the companies that attended last year’s job fair. An invitation form will be sent to each business to decide if they choose to join or not. She and the Commission reviewed and updated the form. Additionally, she encouraged the Commission to find new businesses to invite to the fair, especially businesses who hire under 16-year-olds. According to Chair Son, the job fair had 19 participating businesses last year, and it was a great success. The ARC location was well-received, and the parents' lounge was particularly popular. Businesses provided feedback indicating that parents were hovering too much. As a result, the long-term goal is to separate parents from teens during the fair. Based on last year's feedback from the Commission, there was a suggestion to host a raffle for the teens. Each business will receive tickets to distribute to interested teens who visit their booth. At the end of the night, the raffle will take place for all the tickets collected throughout the event. One lucky winner will receive a prize. Chair Son has requested three incentives within the $50 price range to presented at the upcoming Commission meeting. To add more value to the raffle 4  basket, it has been recommended that businesses consider contributing a gift card on their submission form. One of the main goals is to attract more teenagers to the job fair. Chair Son is working on a flyer that will be available by February's meeting, and may even be distributed before then. The flyer will be included in the library newsletter, which reaches every household in Arlington Heights. Additionally, Chair Son is exploring the possibility of having the flyer featured in the Daily Herald. Liaison McCalister will also have the Communications and Outreach Coordinator at the Village push it out on social media. VI. NEW BUSINESS VII. OTHER BUSINESS VIII. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Georg, moved to adjourn at 7:00 p.m. all concurred and the motion carried unanimously. 5