Planning Committee

Meeting Notes
January 11, 2001
Hismen Hin-Nu

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT MEETINGS:

• LSA Planning Committee: February 1, 2001, Harbor House
• Matrix Orientation: February 2, 2001, Foothill Missionary Baptist Church
• Half Day Planning Retreat: February 23, 2001, 9-1, Hismen Hin-Nu

DECISIONS/AGREEMENTS:

• Each working group with discuss David Kakishiba’s proposal to focus collaborative efforts around a land use/development plan for a section of the neighborhood.

FOLLOW UP:

• Working groups will report back to the Collaborative at the Feb. 23^rd retreat.

Opening

David Kakishiba, who served as the facilitator, convened the meeting.

Introductions

Each attendee introduced themselves and named their organization affiliation(s).

Quick Business/Follow-up from Last Meeting

• Elena Serrano informed the group of an upcoming protest against George Bush’s inauguration.
• Jessica Pitt asked that anyone interested in being part of the TEAMS year long training program submit their name to her.
• Jeff Abramson informed the group about SCORE—a for profit learning program from New York that teaches computer skill development.
• Junious Williams informed the group of the new WRDF initiative on informal learning opportunities. The initiative focuses on how parents support youth. Oakland is one of 30 cities invited to submit a proposal. The RFP is due February 4. EBCF and Urban Strategies will partner on this and propose that the initiative focus in the flatland neighborhoods. A summary of this will be sent out on the Internet.
• It was also announced that Cole Elementary School would be hosting a Small Schools event
• Hedy Chang announced that she will be joining the Haas Jr. Fund as a senior program officer. She will be phasing out of her work with Making Connections through February.
• EBAYC is looking for three part-time program assistant positions to help maintain order in the after-school program at Roosevelt. The positions are for 16-24 hours per week. In addition, a teaching assistant position is available at EBAYC. Call David Kakishiba for more information at 533-1092 x25. David also announced that there is a tentative follow-up meeting on the small schools initiative with Mayor Brown scheduled for Jan. 26 at Saint Anthony's.
• Elena Serrano announced a meeting scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 20, 10-12pm regarding the MontgomeryWardsBuilding which was to be demolished for housing and small schools, but whose future is now unsure. A developer wants to build market-rate housing at that location.

Committee Updates

Newspaper Group - Eric Cone presenting

• The group plans to release its first edition in February, but are currently searching for a printer. They have hired a new coordinator, Leticia Ntofon, to solicit articles and locate a printer for the publication. The group hopes to eventually get funding for a full-time coordinator.
• The newspaper working group is planning to launch a year-long series of workshops to train community members in newspaper production. These workshops are being designed for public participation and will be held every other Saturday. The idea is to mentor residents in sort of laboratory for one year, after which, they will be proficient in every aspect from reporting to production and will be able to run the paper themselves. The workshop series will focus on these areas:
  1. Photography
  2. Writing and Research
  3. Public Relations and advertisement
  4. Layout
  5. Fundraising
• They will hire 8 instructors who will each receive $1,000 honorarium for their participation.
• They are missing articles on the schools for the upcoming edition of the paper.

Arts & Culture - Elena Serrano presenting

• Eastside Arts Alliance’s 10-week after-school sessions are beginning
• The Eastside Artist's Alliance has several upcoming events:

1. Jan. 26-28 the Institute for Multi-Racial Justice is hosting its second film festival
2. Feb. 12 Amiri Baraka will lead a discussion on gentrification called "Cultural Genocide: The Effects of Gentrification on Community" at either Oakland High or LaneyCollege (location TBA).
3. March 24 Black Panther Kathleen Neal Cleaver will participate on a panel of third world leaders.
4. May - Jazz Festival

• Other news
  • East Side Artists Alliance will have regular meetings to address cultural community arts center.
  • Bay Area Economics is assisting East Side Artists Alliance with a business plan.

Education

• The housing working group has not held regular meetings.
• They want Danny Wan to write a resolution to City Council in support of small schools in the neighborhood.
• There is a rumor that OUSC is taking over land on International Blvd./Miller Ave. for schools.
• David Kakishiba announced that the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth RFP is due Feb. 13-will go through the strategic planning process in the spring to plan for the next four years.

Housing – Jenny Mollica presenting

• This group met at the end of December 2000. They discussed their focus, which is:
  1. New neighborhood developments. They've submitted a land banking application to the City in order to purchase the Garcia building at E. 14^th & 23^rd Avenue.
  2. Address need for homeownership assistance--meeting with HUD CCA of East Bay to get assistance in the Lower San Antonio.
  3. Tenant/Landlord Forums--need more input on how they work, for example: how to guide discussions and bring up issues of 'just cause' evictions.
• The group is putting together a proposal for a homeowners assistance center that would serve multi-lingual communities. The group will need data on residents and will work with Urban Strategies' research department.
• The next Housing and Economic Development meeting is to be announced at a later date.

Outreach

• This group meets monthly. The next meeting is TBA but is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 23 or 24 in the morning. This meeting will focus on strategy for their 3 areas of work.
• They would like to support current issues and to develop a process to deal with additional community issues. They are also looking at some of the ideas for outreach generated at the December retreat, including David's street sweeping idea.
• They are working on a brochure. Currently, there is no central phone number or contact information. Request for a contact agency.
• The Outreach Committee is concerned that the Collaborative’s meeting times are not conducive to including residents.

December Retreat Follow-up

Elena Serrano and Don Davenport presenting

• Elena touched on these positive outcomes:
  1. Good picture of the history of the work in the Lower San Antonio from the earlier work to the present work. There are still holes in the history to be filled in on the timeline.
  2. The informal asset mapping from the post-it exercise provided an opportunity for real assessment of available resources. There is still a need to fill out the chart and for more formal asset mapping.
  3. The discussion led to a deeper understanding of where Casey is coming from and help clarify the LSA Collaborative framework.
• The group scheduled a half-day planning retreat for Feb. 23, 2001 from 9am-1pm. The purpose of this retreat will be to provide an opportunity for collaborative members to put their organizational agendas on the table, and to continue the discussion on how to relate the Collaborative’s work to a broader family strengthening agenda. The location is to be announced. A flyer will be mailed in the coming weeks.
• Principles and Values
  • Don made a brief presentation on the principles and values for Stan Gentle who is working on creating a more succinct representation. For those interested in working with Stan on this, please contact him at Harbor House at 534-0165.

Connecting the Three Areas of Work

David Kakishiba presenting

David discussed how the Education, Arts & Culture and Housing and Economic Development working groups have been active over the past six months, but as separate entities not together. While there’s a lot of activity being generated by the working groups, there are external forces at work that are undermining the various efforts underway. He suggested that the Collaborative look at one or two projects that could unify the work of the working groups and provide an identity for the Collaborative. The focus of the project would be on how a particular area or piece of land in the neighborhood gets developed. For example, one possibility would be the 23^rd Ave. corridor. There’s a lot going on there, and many people who live and work in the neighborhood have no clue what’s occurring and no voice in guiding what’s happening. Other possible areas to look at could be the old Safeway site or Eastlake.

If the Collaborative isn’t proactive about how development decisions are being made, things could blow-up. As a neighborhood, it’s important to be very specific, deliberate, intentional about getting people involved around these development issues. David suggests pooling all resources in an area and going door-to-door to get feed back from residents. He also suggests that a Collaborative representative(s) reach out to those LSA residents already active in the struggle.

Reactions

• Don agrees and suggests that there needs to be strategic planning with non-profits and service providers to sit and connect with one another. He suggests that we create an inventory of work done by each organization and all of the various agencies sit down, map out a plan on how to best use each organization. There should be a sharing of resources so that the various pieces of work complement one another.
• Eric Cone suggested the Collaborative adopt two components in the strategic plan, they are:
  1. Identify available community resources now and
  2. Inform/letting the community know what is available
• Junious emphasized that the Collaborative needs a higher visibility of the initiative in the community and that David's idea of finding a group focal point is a solid way to move the work. He also stressed that the group should identify the housing and economic issues on the table before beginning the work. He said that this can be an opportunity for outreach that residents can be responsive to, and, therefore, Eric's idea of having a plan not be reactive but proactive.
• Jenny said that the work could relate to housing. The housing and economic development working group is concerned about the availability of land. She added that everyone keep in mind how this relates to the sub-work being done. This 23^rd Avenue corridor plan can be the cohesive element missing amongst the groups.
• Jessica informed everyone that it was suggested at the Planning committee meeting last week that Outreach committee put a proposal together.
• Hedy suggested that each discuss David’s proposal and how it could relate to the work they’re doing. She added that by doing this, groups may begin to see the commonalties in pieces of the work.

Follow-up

• Each sub committee will discuss the proposal at their next meeting and bring a report back to the February retreat.
• The Planning Committee will meet Feb. 1.

Local Learning Partner

Matt Beyers presenting

• Junious introduced Matt Beyers, Urban Strategies Council senior research associate who did a brief presentation on the Local Learning Partner component of the Casey Making Connections Initiative.
  • Urban Strategies is the Local Learning Partner for the initiative. Matt circulated handouts explaining the LLP role within the initiative. In essence the job of the LLP is to support the work of the Making Connections Initiative through the use of data and research. The LLP will provide documentation of the initiative, a data warehousing and retrieval system, and help develop the community's capacity in data analysis.
• Junious asked that an advisory group be formed from Collaborative members. There was also discussion about a videographer being hired to document the progression of the Initiative.

Matrix

Jennifer Ross presenting

• The organizers are looking for 5-20 organizations in LSA will participate in the program. They are hoping to get root-level relationships with organizations.
• List of about 400 San Antonio agencies available to anyone interested.
• Matrix is:
  • a comprehensive Management Assistance Program. Formal Matrix orientations take 3-4 hours, and workshops are once per month on different topics plus individual TA. Matrix was created as a resource for non-profit organizations.
  • Matrix training covers basic competency for non-profits and includes: training, coaching, TA on one competency to be selected by the organization. An intensive organizational assessment takes place at the beginning of the process.
  • Competencies include: Board development, Management (?), Strategic Planning,
  • Human Resources Management, Outcomes and Quality Management (?), Information Technology, and Partnership. Matrix does not address fundraising as a specific topic but weaves it into the process.
  • There is no cost for this service. Participating agencies are required to commit to the program one year that includes meeting with Matrix consultants one and a half days each month.