Ohio YAB Officers Retreat

Saturday, January 9, 2016

716 Mt. Airyshire Blvd., Suite 100, Columbus, OH 43235

OHIO YAB Retreat Schedule

10:00 am – 10:15 am, Welcome and Icebreakers10:15 am – 10:30 am, Oath of Office for Ohio YAB Officers10:30 am – 11:00 am, Progress on OHIO YAB Strategic Plan11:00 am – Noon, Brainstorming to Move Forward in 2016

BREAK for LUNCH

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Statewide and Federal Advocacy in 20162:00 pm – 3:00 pm, Communication Strategies in 20163:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Additional Business of the Board

• We exist to be the knowledgeable statewide voice that influences policies and practices that effect all youth who have or will experience out of home care.

OHIO YAB Mission

2016 Ohio YAB Officers

• President Gabriel Young, Mahoning County

• Vice President Michael Bolwaire, Cuyahoga County

• Media Spokesperson Kyley Magee, Miami County

• Treasurer Melissa Stroud, Ashtabula County

• Parliamentarian Re'Shawn Magby, Mahoning County

• Secretary Gabrielle Walker, Miami County

Professionalism

Flip Chart:

How do YOU want the

OHIO Youth Advisory Board

(and foster youth in general)

to be represented by officer professionalism?

Social media

Flip Chart:

How do YOU want the

OHIO Youth Advisory Board

(and foster youth in general)

to be represented on social media?

Social media Don’t post anything about your employer unless

you are sure that it is your company policy.

Don’t post photos that are inappropriate.

Although your profile may be private, there is

always a way that information can be accessed

by others.

Don’t accept those that you don’t know.

Don’t take it personally if recruiters or HR

professionals from organizations do not accept

you as connections…they may draw a line with

candidates.

Don’t post any updates that you are not

comfortable with all future employers seeing.

Post any inaccurate information about prior jobs.

Consider this to be a public resume and ensure

that everything can be validated.

Reach out to someone you don’t know and use

a mutual connections name without checking

with them first.

Ensure that your Facebook page is private.

Often times your profile is set up so that friends

within friends or group members can see your

information.

Scrutinize what you and your friends post

on your pages.

Consider modifying your settings so that you have to

approve posts. You never know what someone is

going to write on YOUR wall.

Google yourself.

Make sure that the results that come back are

favorable. If they aren’t go through the process to

try to get these removed. You want to make sure

that your first impression is as positive as possible.

Manage pictures and tags.

Pictures say a thousand words. Ensure that your

pictures communicate an image that you what you

want to say.

Get involved with media.

Newspapers, magazines, local TV is a great way to

be positively exposed. It always sounds like a good

idea to be interviewed by the local news, just make

sure the topic is neutral.

Oath of Office

• I (STATE YOUR NAME), hereby on my own accord and conscience am prepared to take the oath of office for the OHIO Youth Advisory Board.

• I pledge and/or promise to uphold the constitution, bylaws and governing rules of the Ohio Youth Advisory Board until such time that I am no longer an officer of the board.

• I pledge and/or promise to fulfill the duties of the office of (STATE YOUR OFFICE) to the best of my ability.

• I also pledge/or promise, to the best of my ability, to advocate, defend, and promote the ideals and general welfare of all foster, transition, and independent youth for the State of OHIO.

OYAB Moving Forward in 2015: Outreach and Policy

1. Develop and share OHIO YAB outreach materials so that youth advisory board involvement can be promoted throughout the state.

2. Continue to ensure that youth voice is included in statewide discussions of policy and practice.

3. Focus on outreach, in order to promote the establishment and ongoing development of county and regional youth advisory boards.

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Housing

1. Work with local and statewide partners to create the housing tools requested by youth in 2014.

2. Support the establishment of new transitional housing options, and promote youth awareness of existing resources.

3. Recommend that ODJFS develop a transition plan that is specifically for housing, and includes a Plan B in case the first option falls through.

4. Raise awareness that foster care youth who emancipate from foster care without a savings account are likely to age out directly into homelessness.

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Education

1. Identify and develop a pool of foster care alumni to serve as spokespeople to encourage today’s teens to consider post-secondary education, and create a list of panel questions that can be used in conferences.

2. Meet with the Ohio Department of Education and develop a vision for foster youth to graduate high school and go to college.

3. Work with partners to follow up on youth recommendations to improve educational outcomes.

4. Promote best practices for custodial agencies to support foster care youth and alumni’s educational success.

5. Expand focus to include a high school pilot project.

OYAB Moving Forward in 2015: Youth Voice in Court

1. Partner with Ohio CASA to develop and promote tools to support youth voice in court.

2. Explore ways to better inform and empower youth to understand and navigate the court system.

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Independent Living, Part 1

1. Ensure youth voice on the development of a future statewide independent living curriculum to ensure that it:

- includes hands-on activities- begins with a pilot- includes youth feedback throughout the process- allows agencies to customize the order in which material is provided according to the immediate needs of youth

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Independent Living, Part 2

2. Advocate for youth to be allowed to begin independent living preparation as early as age 13, and for emancipated youth to be allowed to return for refresher courses.

3. Seek partners to assist in the creation of an online Independent Living Clearinghouse to share resources to help youth during their transition to adulthood.

4. Advocate for a review of how training related to IL is delivered to foster parents and caseworkers and experienced by youth.

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Workforce

1. Explore the possibility of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) as a resource for emancipating youth.

2. Seek to overcome barriers for teens in foster care establishing a savings account.

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Ohio YAB Initiatives

1. Continue to develop and seek to pilot the three-tiered mentoring model.

2. Seek partners to continue to develop the Ohio Pride initiative.

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Areas That Still Need to be Addressed

Lunch Break

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Statewide and Federal Advocacy

Opportunities

1. ODJFS All-Staff Meeting on June 2, 2016

2. Supporting Violet with her work on the National Foster Care Youth and Alumni Policy Council

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Ongoing Communication

1. Maintaining Ongoing Contact Between OYAB Officers

2. Outreach and Encouragement to County/Regional Youth Advisory Boards

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Ongoing Communication

1. Maintaining Ongoing Contact Between OYAB Officers

2. Outreach and Encouragement to County/Regional Youth Advisory Boards

OYAB Moving Forward in 2016: Continued Work on Toolkits