Community Services and Youth Committee - Regular Meeting

I don't think I like that. He can't

do that. He

might do it.

He might do it, lady. I might

do it. And we're just waiting for her son. Okay. Might do do it.

Good. We'll have a quorum. Good to have a quorum. Yes. Yes. Yes. On the what day? Okay.

You're over here. You're over here. Oh. They're moving it. You know they

move us. They say they move

us because we're citywide.

It does make sense. So they rotate us around.

We or if we don't belong to anybody, so they just move us where they wanna move us. Us.

Oh, I have to be the first one to You are gonna

be the first one to call on.

Are you the one that's way down in the South? I can't.

Do we have a board packet?

Yes. No. I mean, they mail emailed us, but that's it. There's a minutes up there, but there's no packet. Give us a hard copy.

It's only the minutes, though, and

the it's not all of the.

Where where did you pick it

up at?

Right there. It's up there. The

only thing is there is the agenda and

All the way up here?

Where is this? Yeah. I'll take it. You're gonna get a smaller packet today, guys. Are

they gonna stop printing all that paper? Actually, she's so busy. It doesn't make Yeah. So Yeah.

I have I've been in my. You go, girl. You know?

Agenda for today. I think that's what she just asked about. Choice.

Well, because Yes. We like to leave.

Thank you. I got two oh, chair notes. Okay.

But I I don't think the presentation is

gonna better.

You know? When they have all those slides, I don't think we need that time. I think that's just bam. No.

Like herding cats in it.

Ready?

Pursuant to the City Council Rules of Procedure and Order members of all boards and commissions and the public are reminded that they must preserve order and decorum throughout the meeting. In that regard, members of the boards and commissions and the public are advised that any delay or disruption in the proceedings or a refusal to obey the orders of the Board of Commission or the presiding officer constitutes a violation of these rules. The City of Riverside is committed to fostering a workplace that provides dignity, respect, and civility to our employees, customers, and the public they serve. The city of Riverside wishes to make all of its public meetings accessible to the the public. Upon request, this agenda will be made available in appropriate alternate formats to persons with disabilities as required by 42 USC 12,132 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

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Select the raise hand function to request to speak. An on screen message will prompt you to unmute and speak. We will now have public comments. Veronica Cortez is our speaker.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Veronica Cortez. I'm the recreation services coordinator for Ismael Villegas Community Center. I'm here to invite you guys and to let you guys know that we have some eldertainment and senior programming coming in the next few weeks. We would love to have you guys at our center.

We have anywhere between dances, presentations, luncheons, so we would love to see you guys there. Believe miss Marni will send you guys a list right now with all of our upcoming events at last year Senior Center, Dale Senior Center, and at Viegas Park. We have presentations like Age Well, Drive Smart. So if you have a time to go to La Sierra Senior Center, they have a red, white, and blue luncheon. We also have at Viegas Park, we have a couple of dinner dances in a few weeks and well, actually, one on Thursday if you guys have free time from three to six.

We're having a boogie nights. And then also a lunch dinner in honoring of all the parents, fathers in Father's Day. And then also at Dale's, we have an excursion coming up, the California Science Center, and then also brunch at the box office. So if you guys have some free time in the next few weeks, we would love to see you guys there. And, yeah, that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now close public comments and move to the presentation, Blue Enhancing Communication and Safety, from the Riverside Police Department.

Afternoon. My name is Donna Granillo. It's such a pleasure to be here with you ladies. Thank you. Riverside Police Department, I'm your community services officer for the downtown area. I'd like to introduce Andrew.

My name is Andrew Garrow, also a community services officer with the Chief's Office Community Services Bureau.

So we're here today to present to you our Blue Envelope program. And I don't know if it's gotten around enough yet for folks to know about it, but it is a fantastic program. Andrew is going to hand Marni some handouts. So the Blue Envelope program is a special needs program for Riverside Police Department. We're just starting out, but there's the surrounding police departments are participating as well.

And so for the Blue Envelope program, this is a program that allows we have some goodies here that allow for a person who has, for an example, someone who's on the spectrum, someone who's autistic, we've stretched and put ours also covering a dementia, anxiety disorders. So you know that feeling when you're in a vehicle and you're getting pulled over. I like to add this part because it is a big deal when you're getting pulled over. But if you have someone who has a special need or if you have someone who has some extra anxiety or is on the spectrum as big, this is something that is the blue envelope that goes in your vehicle on the visor. And so you all you have the example there of the blue envelope.

Data goes in here. It says on the very front of the envelope that you can put your driver's license, your vehicle registration and your insurance card. So this is something officer. There's a sticker that goes on the back of the vehicle. There's all our goodies here if someone that they see has a bracelet on. You've got your lanyard. You have a reflector card, little stickers. You have a little button. So there's quite a bit of stuff here. There's the license plates, you also have the seat belt that goes on the seat belt while you're sitting in the vehicle, and then the license plate covers.

So this is an alert to a law enforcement officer that there could be some extra needs here that I need to take the time out and approach this a little bit differently. And so this is really important because I think it's a stress factor for a lot, not to mention if you've got someone who stims or is moving the car around and the officer is coming around saying, you know, seeing something like what's going on, it could be a caution. But when they see this, it gives them an extra little, okay, I mean, maybe need to approach this a little bit differently. So we have participated, thanks to Andrew here. We were on a personal mission, him and I, at some point to get some of these special needs programs brought out so that RPD, Riverside Police Department, can be a part of So there's some other little details.

I'll let Andrew talk a little bit about the details. I'd like to talk about all the fun stuff.

The overall goal of the program is just so that there's officer awareness of special needs and that we can offer some assistance when they are communicating with our officers while on patrol or in the community that they may need some assistance in communicating. So the envelope really helps the officer figure out what those barriers are so that he can adjust his or she can adjust their communication with that individual. The envelopes can be picked up from any of our front counters. Currently

at

the Orange Street station as well as the Magnolia Station, they can schedule an appointment with Donna or myself to pick up the SWAG material so that we can give them more information on how to use it appropriately. And then we also have the special needs reunification flyer that was given to you guys, which is a secondary program that works in combination with the Blue Envelope program, which is more of a registry for those who want to keep track of their information. They can go in, put the information into a portal, update the information as they need to. They can also upload photos and images, as well as any additional documents for their individual. Anything else?

I think the program is fantastic because I think like Andrew said, you need to come to the stations to pick up the documents. That way we kind of know what's happening. There's no program or database that it goes into and so this is why it makes it simple. You can come to the stations and ask for that blue envelope, no questions asked. And for the goodies, you can talk to Andrew or myself and we can hand those to the persons, individuals who need them. So thank you so much.

Any questions? Commissioners?

Any questions? Commissioners? Thank you very much.

Thank

you. I'm not clear, I know, for drivers. But is this for adults and other adults with special needs situations, children? I'm just not clear on and the second part of that is, you said that the person has to come to you to get the paraphernalia or the blue envelope. What kind of distribution and where are you distributing information about this? Thank you.

And so there's no age limit. If there is, you know, there's no age limit at all and the different types of disabilities, we're not cutting anything. I think it's really important for everyone to know that this is something that's important for a caution, it's a precaution. Just an extra safety, if you can say that if I was to get pulled over by a police officer, what would be the safe approach? This is really simple.

Anytime that someone wants this balloon, we're keeping a better track of it when they come to the police department to pick that up. So it's not something that we can hand out. I do a lot of activities where we have tables, and it wouldn't be something that I would hand out at the tables. This would be something specific that you would come to the station. A parent can come, an adult can come, and a senior can come, I need a blue envelope, and there's no questions asked. And so if that does that answer any of the two questions? Is that okay? Oh, Andrew is going answer.

I'll just expand on that. So in addition to being able to pick it up in the front counters, we do bring some out into the community when we're at events, like Donna had mentioned. We also promote it on Facebook. We have on Wednesday evening, we have a blue envelope training to the community that's in partnership with the Inland Regional Center and the Autism Society of the Empire. And so those are the different types of avenues that we are promoting the event or the program as well as on social media with our public information officer. And then currently, there is an active website on the city's site that gives information on the Blue Umbrella program as well as all the details that you were presented with tonight and our contact information.

Commissioner Bass.

So who initiated this idea? Is this just River Side? You said other cities were doing it?

Yes.

So who came up with this idea?

Do you want to talk?

Yeah. So the Inland Regional Center, which is kind of an agency that oversees the disability community, they work in collaboration. They received a grant from the Department of Rehabilitation from the state, and they are contacting the different law enforcement agencies within the area. I believe right now they have about 16 agencies within our area that they are working with law enforcement college campuses, and they are the ones that are outreaching directly to the agencies and offering the collaboration.

Now, I'm a little bit confused because I got the idea that it's people that drive the car. But you're telling me, can anybody that has these special needs just keep the envelope in the car?

Yes. So it's a two part project. So the envelope is designated for the drivers, and then the swag is kind of geared towards in the community. So you'll put the sticker on the car, the key chain or the lanyard, the seat belt cover. Those are all things that anybody can wear. So the driver doesn't necessarily have to have a disability. It could be the passenger in the vehicle as well. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you for that.

Okay, any other questions? Commissioner Pendergraft.

Hi, sorry. I was wondering if you had any extra materials. We have a couple of folks not here. Just the one of these.

Yes, I'll leave it with Marni.

Thank you.

Is there any comments on maybe just the program or what you think the idea, if you think the idea is a good process. Yes, all right. I love the thumbs up. Right on.

Think it's a great idea. Yes, liked it very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, commissioners.

At this time, we'll have a presentation from Housing and Human Services. Okay, we'll skip down to our consent calendar now. All matters listed under consent calendar are considered routine by the Commission on Aging and may be enacted by one motion in the form listed below. Can I have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

I move to approve.

I'll second.

It's second by Commissioner Pendergra. Start the vote.

You.

Motion approved. We will now proceed to the communication portion of the agenda. You will be given the opportunity to give your committee updates during this item. The item is only to receive ad hoc committee updates. Are there any updates or communications from our ad hoc committees? Housing. Housing.

The only thing I'll comment on housing is I attended the city hall meeting in regards to the Quality Inn. I've been to two of them and most of them, the public is very much in favor of that project and now it is moved into the courts for approval because the city council will not approve it. So it's in the hands of the courts right now. So it's not dead and of course it will have housing for seniors.

You. Senior health. No report.

Well, we just transitioned our ad hoc committee, so can I make a report on the health Because I moved over? I attended the Blue Zones conference, and that was so much fun. I learned a lot. It was so well put together. Did anybody else attend that, the Blue Zones?

So I'm excited about getting involved. They have Moais, which are groupings of people with like interests, and they have several. They have a bicycling and walking and yoga and even a wine club, if you can believe, just to get together socially and drink responsibly and it just is wonderful. I can't participate in too much of it because you need to be able to commit to a ten week course and attend the same evening or day of each week, and I'm unable to do that. But I will be involved in whatever else I can do to move things forward in that regard.

Thank you. Events?

Okay.

Dawn and I attended the health fair at La Sierra so I guess that ties in with the health. It was much smaller, it was very good and there's always the information out there. They stick to health too, They're not kidding around, they don't hand out candy and everything is on the healthy side.

What date was that? That was

April 27, yeah, yeah. We helped with the Janet Goskie May sixth event for older adult services. Now it's a resource fair and it has the usual vendors, a lot of the medical insurance companies. There's vendors with lots of candy and handouts. I don't know if I can add this but so my daughter, she belongs to a group and they hold events for seniors and she says they call it the trick or treaters for seniors.

May I add to that report? Did you go to Galentine's? No. Did anybody else go? Oh, I guess because I wasn't here last meeting. Never mind.

I was with Pam and

Lori, we

were there at the senior conference on May 6, and I just kind of looked at what people were interested in. And I went over to the transit booth because nobody was there. The guy was away from his of table, and I took some of his booklets and put them on our table. And they got scooped up, scooped up very, very quickly. That's such a major, major issue.

And I think if we're talking about doing something out in the community where we can have a face or some kind of presence, I don't know if that's possible. I'm on the wrong agenda item, so I'll bring it up later. So I just wanted to share that. Thank you.

Environment.

Test. Because we had a there's a report for March, right, because we didn't have April meeting, correct? So my report is March. Even though I'm no longer on Environment, I did pass off everything to Commissioner Pendergrass for the environment. But I did attend the heat convening that was on March 27, and it was at the Bolthouse.

Inland Empire Heat Convening. They were talking about the Extreme Heat Action Plan.

Commissioner Pendergrahn.

I attended on April 11 the art event that was held at White Park. On April 30, I went to the Measure Z. It's not time Okay. All right. Next time. Okay. Thank you.

We're still under ad hoc committees. I'm sorry. Mobility.

I was on the mobility previously, and so that was another reason that I was interested in the blue zones, because of their attention to keeping moving. So that was part of that, I would imagine.

I wanted to go back to events. I think you might have Commissioner Clark mention, but I was at the Goskie event on May 6 and worked a table.

Thank you. Are there any updates of conferences, seminars and regional meetings attended by commissioners? Commissioner Pindegraph?

Okay. So on April 11, I attended the Riverside Art Museum Art Alliance event, the art fair that was at White Park. On April 30, I attended the Measure Z presentation at Boardwal Park. And on May 13, I went to the Mayer Senior Forum at University Heights Middle School.

[Commissioner Dove.

[Problems today. Tests.

Okay.

March 24, Coalition on Aging via Zoom meeting March 31, Boards and Commission training here at the Arch Chamber and May 13, University Middle School for the Mayor Senior Forum.

Commissioner Clark.

Thank you. On May 8, I attended a Wills and Living Trust workshop at Janet Goskie. Yes, and that's every second Friday. I attended that on May 8. And as I mentioned, May 6 was the senior conference. And I'll send this information down to Sandra. Thank you.

Commissioner Bass.

So I've kind of focused in a little bit on the Riverside Country Club. I get invited to the dinners there so and I sometimes try to go and they're fun, they're a very close group of people out there. On the seventh, I went out to their meeting and I shared info on the City of Riverside utility rebate program and the assistance program that the City of Riverside has. And yesterday I went to the Heritage House for their ice cream social. It's

kind of

a fun thing to do, lots of people, it's well attended.

Thank you. I Commissioner

attended on April 22 a volunteer lunch at the Janet Goskie Center where the board members served all the volunteers lunch and gave That's an annual event and it's so lovely. Then on April 29, I was so fortunate to be invited to be part of a delegation to Sacramento, to our capital, to meet with our respective senators and assembly people and staff to ask for a measly 3,000,000 to improve open and the silver tsunami is here and it's only going to get bigger. So it went really well. We were very well received and we continue to keep in touch with them and we're inviting them all to come and visit us at the center. It's wonderful.

Then I attended the senior expo at the Janikoski on May 6 and the senior forum that the mayor did also at University Heights Middle School. And I helped scoop ice cream yesterday at the Heritage House. So it's been really fun. Did you see Philip? I was with him. Okay.

I attended Thriving Thursdays at Boardwell for seniors. That was April 9 and the twenty third. And we made veggie chips on the ninth, and we did dentures on the twenty third. Tinctures is medication. Okay, you know what that is.

Okay, thank you. On April 22, I attended the Board Well Park Advisory Board meeting. On May 5, at Boardwalk, had the Cinco de Mayo luncheon. May 14 was Thriving Thursdays. Thursdays.

We made smoothies that day. And I think we all attended the Board of the Commission's dinner reception, I should say. So think that's enough So when I thank you. I'll thank all of you for that. Okay. Are there any updates for items for future consideration?

Madam Chair? Yes. Commissioner Clark? Thank you. To continue with my conversation a little bit ago that at the event many people took the transportation floor to try to begin to understand that, I'm kind of proposing that we look at the possibility of the Commission on Aging and Transportation having a presentation or workshop or something in maybe one of the parks or a couple of the parks just to find out where the disconnect is that people are very interested in transportation to and from that they can access.

I'm not quite sure how to do it but I just would like to explore that.

Thank you. Good morning, since we've met, may go under Ad Hoc Committee. Any other?

Commissioner Dove? Ms. I'm still really on this card for the phone. And I got an email saying what was confusing about it, you know, when we called the phone number on the cards. Can I play it? Because it's still confusing to me. And maybe it's me. But it can I play it? Is that okay if I play it so you all can hear what it's saying? Has anybody called it? And what did you think?

They have provided a service and all you have to do is follow the instructions that they give you on the voicemail but you're dealing with seniors that don't even put their hearing aids in and then you're gonna, so I was a little bit, I didn't argue with anybody or try to present anything different, I just kind of accepted it for what it was. But I kind of somewhat agree with you.

And I agree with the senior thing, I was like, maybe that's what it is, you know? But listen here, let's listen.

8976 has not been activated. To transfer to the operator, press 0. Or at the tone, begin recording your mess

Stop.

Press 0. Recording. One moment, please. You have reached a nonworking number for the City of Riverside.

And it hangs up, so I'm confused.

I have explained in a couple of emails that you leave a message and that message comes to me. I'll transfer

it to where it needs to go. But how do people who call in this number

know that?

Because you press 0, don't press 0. Just wait till it will say, please leave a message at the tone.

But my question is, we know that, but this is not for us, really, right? It's for the community. So if a senior calls, you know, that's what we're going to do, right? And then so the message does come directly to you, because I left message one, and I never got a call back. So I'm just and I did that a while ago. And here's my thing. And I hate to be you know, this is how I am about it. It's communication. If people can't call us and leave us anything, then we are failing. So I really would like for us to see, can we do anything? Is it a financial thing, money thing, and we can't do anything? Or is there something where they can go straight to voice mail? We don't get all that other stuff. Don't press 0. Can we take that out? And then it just I'll have

to ask. These came from the city clerk and the city manager's office, so I'll find out, see if can get the card

I feel like it's for people who don't know. And when I first did it, it hung up. It hung up on me. So that's just my thing about it. Thank you.

Thank you

for your persistence.

Any other future consideration items? Commissioner Quasman?

I'm sorry, I neglected to mention that I did attend a very important function for the Riverside Community Services Foundation and that was our annual gala where we raised money for scholarships for summer camps and activities. Am sorry, I forgot to mention that. It was fabulous and it was so much fun working on it. Thanks.

Thank announcements? Any announcements? I got a question.

Ad hoc. When do we set times when we meet? Because I'm on two new ad hoc committees. And how do we talk to one another? Who's on what? I still don't know who's on.

I've sent the most recent when everybody answered. So if there's nobody, I guess I can send it out again and try to get I know Commissioner Kuhn hasn't picked one, but you should have the most updated list. I know there's one ad hoc that is one person, so I would say maybe talk to some of your commissioners and see if they want to join you. And we do have a new commissioner coming on, so maybe we can encourage her to join you. Board one.

Commissioner Bass.

So usually what I do, Commissioner Dove, usually what I do is I just pick up the phone and call them and I tell them. Yeah, I don't either. Get So everybody's number. I rely on Diane. And we did have an email that we grouped, you know, we gave it a name and we were able to communicate through that. But that's how you do it, you just pick the phone up and you tell people we need to have a meeting.

What I'll do is I will send the email addresses to the individual ad hoc groups to make it easier for you guys.

Okay.

Any other commissioner announcements? Commissioner Clark?

The Alzheimer's and Dementia Association is having a seminar on May 21, and I will give everybody a copy. Hopefully, you'll share it with people in your area. Also, a workshop on stroke, which is May 27 at the Janikoski. This one has

announcements from the city staff.

All right, good afternoon, commissioners. Summer Cremo, Recreation Supervisor with the Parks Recreation and Community Services Department. I'll start off with just a quick overview of some of our events that we've had since we last met. We had our senior excursion on April 24 to the Santa Anita Racetrack where 38 seniors participated. And tomorrow, we're actually sending 53 seniors to the Pantages Theater in LA to see The Sound of Music, which is a very popular one.

We've done three luncheons, five elder tainment events and four potlucks and we've celebrated spring with our senior egg hunt at Boardwalk Park, our swing into the night dinner dance at La Sierra Senior Center, our bloom and blossom bash at Viegas, our Mad Hatter luncheon at Dale's, our Springtime Fiesta luncheon at La Sierra Senior Center, our Spring Fling Soiree at Viegas, our Bortcella event at Bordwell and our Cutting Swap at La Sierra, several spring events. We also celebrated Cinco de Mayo with events at La Sierra Senior Center and Boardwal. We also celebrated Mother's Day and mothering with a Mother's Day tea at Dale Senior Center and in Honoring Her Heart potluck at Viegas. We're also excited that we're moving forward with our SIR workers. And so we've executed an agreement with the Senior Community Service Employment Program and this is a state kind of program run through the county's Office on Aging.

And this is to have senior employees placed in our community centers and senior centers, just to help with basic front desk and basic senior center services. And so we will pilot with two positions at La Sierra Senior Center and Dale Senior Center. And they're currently doing site visits with us to just kind of check their box before they place seniors in our centers. And our senior strategic plan is in phase two. We are currently the senior stakeholder survey is live.

So this is a survey for businesses, nonprofits, religious organizations and governmental agencies who work with Riverside seniors. And this kind of survey is two parts. The first part is one, it helps our department understand the resources that we have for seniors in our community. I know one issue that we have is seniors come into our centers asking for help, and we're not always sure where to direct them to. So part of why we're surveying is to understand if a senior comes in looking for help with housing or food and ways that we can't help them, how do we direct them to the right resource?

So that's kind of step one. And then part two is, these are the organizations who are also on the ground dealing with the needs of seniors and providing services. So they have a great perspective on the senior experience. So we're looking to capture that as well to help inform the actual senior survey that will be delivered later this summer. So lots of fun stuff moving forward and that's all I have

for you this evening. Thank you.

Thank you, Summer. I was very impressed.

And I would just like to say I did attend the board show at Boardwalk Park, and we had a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. And I want to thank Park and Rec staff for thinking of these kinds of activities for seniors. Every time I go to Boardwalk, I'm like, you guys are eating again? So they do a lot of eating, which is good. But anyway, thank you, Mark and Rick. So at this time, our next meeting, June 15 at 4PM. Mark our calendars. And if there's no other business, our meeting is adjourned.