because they are a threat to public health. There are many mosquito-borne illnesses that they can pass on to humans and other animals. Therefore, we want to mitigate their populations. And we're only spraying whenever we have justification, and that could come from our surveillance data or from our inspectors who go out and are looking at different larval production sites every single day. We don't have a spray schedule because everything we do is based on data that we collect. So it's based on the number of mosquitoes that we find in our traps every day. It's based on what the inspectors are finding out in the field. If they're finding a lot of breeding, they'll obviously treat then. But we don't have a set schedule because everything is based on data that we find. We don't do any individual spray requests. You can always submit a request for a spray, a request for a property inspection, or report any standing water that you have around your house. And we'll come send out an inspector. They'll come look at that area, see if it's breeding, and then based on the data that they find, we'll see if that area is eligible for treatment. But we don't do treatment based on special events. We're spraying right at sunset because dawn and dusk are the most active times for mosquitoes. So in order for our treatments to be the most effective, we obviously want to treat when the mosquitoes are most active. And we're going to be able to mitigate the population best at those times.
To the Circuit 13 Juvenile Justice Advisory Board meeting, we will start off with a roll call for the board members. Madam Secretary. Sure, we can wait.
Irene Mazalek and Tina Mobley. Thank you. Judge Kim Brennan. Beth Pasek. Yay, welcome. Major Roberts. Lieutenant Angiokopoulos. Sorry. Thank you. We know that Commissioner Cameron Cepeda will not be attending today. Chrissy Dorian. Present. Thank you. Conchita Canty-Jones. Thank you. Quinn Rainbow. Pastor Alfred Johnson. Thank you. Reverend Glenn Dames, Jr. Clara Reynolds. Present. Markeesha Thomas. Markeesha Thomas. Sarah Gramming. Here. Thank you. Mr. Parkinson.
Here.
Kimberly Williams. Here. Thank you. That is roll call and you do have a quorum.
Thank you, Madam Secretary. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
United States of America, and to the Republic for one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The next item is to address the agenda. Do I have a motion to adopt the agenda?
Second, Chrissy Dorian.
All those approved, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Agenda is approved. And the next item on the agenda is review and approval of the August Minutes. Do I have a motion to approve the August Minutes?
I'll move to approve Rob Parkinson.
Do I have a second? Major Roberts, I second. Thank you. Do I have anyone to oppose? All those who support, please state aye. Aye. Those opposed, state nay. All right, the August Minutes is approved. Next item on the agenda is our award presentations for the Joint AM Hope Service Excellence Award and the Community Champion Award. Major Roberts will be, of Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, will be presenting the awards. We also have some other members who would like to-
Can we have Public Defender McClain, and can we have Court Administrator Rob Snider, and Assistant Court Administrator Angie Smith come up as well?
Good morning, everyone. Good morning. My name is Major Craig Roberts, and I'm a proud board member of the Circuit 13 Advisory Board and subcommittee chair of the Service Excellence Award. Our committee is pleased to announce the recipients of this year's honorable awards, Julianne M. Holt Service Excellence Award, and the Community Champion Award. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to recognize these individuals whose dedication and service have made a meaningful difference in our community. This year's recipient for the Julianne M. Holt Service Excellence Award is Mrs. Judy Royston. Before I have her come up and accept this award, I'd like to say a few words and provide some insight into Mrs. Royston. Prior to her most recent position, Judy Royston forged a successful career with the Department of Juvenile Justice. She served as a chief probation officer in multiple circuits for the department for 16 years, including periods in circuit 10 and circuit 13. As a chief probation officer, she impacted the communities ensuring focus on youth receiving services and treatment. Judy's involvement in the juvenile justice system spans numerous committees and advisory boards, showing strong internal and external collaboration. She has contributed to specific projects, all of which have positively impacted the court's effectiveness and youth act success, excuse me. Judy participated on the Community Advisory Board, Anti-Bullying Committee, Juvenile Assessment Center Advisory Board, Jack, excuse me, Jack Interagency Meeting, Derrick Brooks Foundation Advisory Committee, and the Youth at Risk Committee. In her most recent role with the Administrative Office of the Courts, Judy led by example for her staff, with an encyclopedic knowledge of community resources. She has brought that same enthusiasm for professionalism to the entire court program management team. Judy has been a juvenile justice resource, outstanding professional, and a youth at risk advocate. All of this sets her apart from her peers. Her time serving families of at risk youth will have a long standing impact on the closer county community. Recently, Mrs. Royston has retired from the Administrative Office of the Courts, and we all wish her her new adventures bring her peace, fun, and relaxation. Ms. Royston, can you please come up and take a photo with all we're looking up,
and our eyes are all open.
It's all yours. Thank you, Rob. Shaking. I'm pretty overwhelmed by this, and everybody that showed up. I can't thank you enough. I've got to put my glasses on because I had to write down some things. But this was huge. First, I want to say how truly honored and grateful I am for this award. Ms. Holt has always been a mentor to me, and she provided guidance on juvenile justice issues, teaching me the importance of building relationships and bringing people together to solve problems, and receiving an award in her name is extremely meaningful. I've spent my entire career in juvenile justice, and one thing I've learned, that no person can do it alone. This board has been ... I said I was going to do this. This board and the stakeholders in Hillsborough County have been instrumental in addressing challenges facing youth and families, and whether it was violence, crossover youth, civil recitations. I mean, we've worked on so many things, trying to keep kids from deep ending into our system, and our community partners have always stepped up. When I look around this room, and I see everybody here that has a part of this, the state attorney's office, law enforcement, the children's services, I mean, the court administration. It's just, you know, Rob, DJJ, I can't thank you enough. Many of you I've called in the past, and just like, help. That's usually my phone call, like, help, how do I do this, or can you tell me how you do this? And everybody's always listened, answered my phone calls, and I can't thank you enough. I've got to special thank you to Rob Parkinson. When I retired, I called him and said I want to come back the first time, and everybody knows Rob is just amazing. I've learned so much from serving on boards with him, his history, his knowledge. It continues to amaze me. And when I, to the CAM members, thank you for your commitment. I also want to recognize the wonderful staff I've worked with throughout my career. They helped turn my ideas into action, and I've watched so many of them get promotions. I mean, I look at Ryan, he's now Chief Probation Officer. I have my staff back here that are here, and just watching them has been truly rewarding. Jennifer is now taking my place as Civil Citation Director, and it makes me super proud. So finally, I want to recognize my court administration, and my best boss ever, Miss Chief Deputy Angie Smith. I want to thank you for all your support in hiring me. Coming back to juvenile diversion has just truly been where my heart is, keeping kids out of the system. So thank you, everybody, for picking up the phone. I think I'm staying retired this time. So, unless my husband, he's on- You're doing phoning. My husband's on intensive probation. We'll see how he acts. So, but I will treasure this honor, and thank you very much.
This year's recipient for the Julianna M. Holt Community Champion Award is Mr. Darrell B. Daniels. Before I have him come up to accept this award, please allow me a couple minutes to speak on his character of commitment to service. Mr. Darrell Daniels is a dedicated community leader and youth advocate whose work with Derrick Brooks Charities Youth Programs has transformed the lives of countless youth. With a mission, root in empowerment, mentorship, and opportunity, Mr. Daniels has spent years creating pathways for undeserved youth to succeed academically, socially, and personally. He is the former president of the Tampa Hillsboro Urban League and currently serves as the executive director of Derrick Brooks Charities Youth Programs. He often says his most important roles have been father, grandfather, and mentor. Mr. Daniels has conducted workshops and presentations in more than 25 states and three countries. He's speaking to audiences such as the United States Department of Labor, National Conference of Preventing Crime, National Association of Police Chiefs, United States Department of Justice, and numerous other national organizations. Each month, he facilitates a monthly forum called Community Police Relationships, where representatives from HGSO, TPD, and other law enforcement agencies across the state engage in open and honest dialogue with youth to promote understanding and connection. This forum truly gives clinicians, community leaders, law enforcement, and parents insight into what the youth are thinking and feeling. Additional initiatives he leads include a back-to-school event with local law enforcement and the Earl Silas Bridging the Gap event where youth compete with first responders and friendly challenges to highlight shared values and common experiences. He also partners with Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to advocate for youth and community employment opportunities. His work reflects compassion, consistency, and a profound belief in the promise of every child. For his steadfast commitment to service and his enduring impact on the community, please give me a hand as we recognize Mr. Darrell Daniels.
First, I want to thank my Lord and Savior for blessing me and giving me this opportunity. I often say to people, I have failed at everything that I wanted to do, but I have exceeded at God's will. So I'm blessed that I can do God's will. Secondly, I want to say that I am on a team. And that team enables me to look good and receive this award. As I look around this room, I know three quarters of the people in this room have worked with three quarters of the people in this room. Whether it be juvenile diversion, DJJ, public defender, state attorney, Tampa police, Tampa fire, Hillsborough County Sheriff, and many others. So if I didn't call your name, it's okay. I want to thank my advisory committee, many in this room, for helping me turn young people's lives around. I believe that no child is expendable. I believe that every child deserves the right to reach his or her full potential. And we can do that or help them if we just put in a little energy, a little corrective action, and a lot of tough love. And last but not least, I want to say to the recipient before me, Judy Royston, what a way to cheapen a great award that you got by including me. I just want to tell you, Judy, you got out just fast enough last week because you no longer will get those emails from me asking who sent this referral, but you have a strong team. So I just want to say to be included alongside someone like Judy Royston, to be recognized, it is not me. I'm just the vessel that's been used to empower communities and change lives. And for everybody, including the team that makes me look good, I am grateful. Thank you.
At this time, we can take comments from members as far as the recipients of the awards, if you'd like.
I'd just like to say a few words to our recipients. Thank you for everything you've done every day of your professional life to make our kids' lives better. We appreciate you, Mr. Daniels. When people talk about you in the community, they say this is a man who leads by example each and every day. And that is a very rare commodity in our community. And again, we appreciate everything you do. To Judy, when you told me you were retiring yet again, I really felt a pain in my heart. Because you are such an integral part of this system of care. You are a problem solver. You are a bridge builder. I could probably talk about this now because you don't work for DJJ and the statute of limitations is up. But the things that you've done to make sure that Hillsborough County youth got the resources they needed. And I'm just going to give a couple of examples. A number of years ago, the concept of an evening reporting center came up. And as is often the case, Hillsborough was first to be last. We had a false start. We started a program. It wasn't fully vetted. And quite frankly, the statute didn't really have an easy process for kids to be referred and receive services. And that model ended up not working. But you didn't give up. A couple of years later, you saw that a community in South Florida had gotten an appropriation for an evening reporting center and wasn't going to be able to execute it. And you did your magic and you talked to Tallahassee. And then a couple of months later, we had funding to help start an evening reporting center, which has been fairly successful and have expanded and enhanced and included and adapted a gun violence program and wraparound services and post-release services. And not a lot of people know that's because you saw an opportunity elsewhere in the state and were able to use your relationships and your partnerships to secure that money for Hillsborough County. Another good example, when we're having issues with juveniles with DV issues, family DV issues, and we formed a committee and we problem solved on that issue and we ended up coming with the DV respite program. Unfortunately, the SINFINS model didn't allow for that. And Florida Network did not have a provision to fund that in any form or fashion. And again, you did your magic and you explained the circumstances to Tallahassee and they acquiesced. And we got a DV respite program here. And those are just a couple of examples where you used your superior knowledge of statute code and opportunity and brought resources here to our Hillsborough County youth. I don't think I've ever seen that in another circuit that I've worked in. So you are absolutely incredible. I'm really heartbroken that you're leaving. I hope that you'll get tired of watching reruns in a couple months and want to come back and volunteer. And I know you have some traveling and visiting with family. But do consider coming back in some form or fashion even as possibly a mentor to youth or even just to give us advice on making sure we continue to do a good job. So thank you, Judy. We appreciate you. We miss you already. Anyone else?
I'd like to say something. Everybody knows I love Olivia Benson, right? And I always say that Judy is my real life Olivia Benson because just like on the TV show Law & Order, at the end of the program everything always works out. She always like wraps it up in a pretty box and makes it work out. You will be so missed, my friend.
Angie, could you push the button on the right?
That always helps. I'm generally not known for being really quiet. But I do want to say how wonderful it is that this board has recognized Judy's work and her dedication. This recognition is so richly deserved. I know Judy and she loves awards and she loves attention. But it's so important to take moments like this. One of the things I know is that life requires a balance and it often takes away from each of us from our families. And I think it's important today that your family has joined you to see what and then just to get a glimpse of the work that you have done Judy. So I am officially the last supervisor Judy had. I am like Rob and heartbroken and I'm hoping that she returns and someone else will get that chance. But for anybody here that is a supervisor, just imagine the gift of working with Judy. I think we've all talked about her depth of knowledge and it truly is extraordinary. But one of the things for young professionals to understand is there was no magical moment in her life that this knowledge just became imparted to her. She began as an intern with DJJ. Every job she has had has led to moments that have allowed her to have such systemic impact on our community. Her work ethic is unwavering. I was going to say she was instrumental in the selection of Jennifer. And yet this morning I saw her again. It's this Jennifer and her new duties as a member of this board. And then I have to tell you, I'm not sure but I am pretty sure that she worked past five o'clock on her very last day. She is a trusted colleague and she has earned the respect and admiration of some of her staff. We have program managers here and clearly this board and I just want to say how much I appreciate these qualities. I have said it before and I'll say it again, what I admire most about Judy is her ability to move through life with grace and diplomacy. And that is the essence of who she is and quite frankly I believe why she has been so successful. I will say she has built relationships. She has inspired confidence and she has made a lasting impact on countless people throughout our community, including all of us in this room. Judy, your vigor for the juvenile justice system is uplifting and I am incredibly grateful for your friendships and congratulations again on this award. Wanted to check real quick.
Anyone else would like to speak? Going once, going twice. All right. So thank you, Major Roberts for chairing this committee and helping us select two very deserving award recipients. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, sir. All right. So we'll move on to the next agenda item, which is standing business member updates for probation. Current statistics. There's currently 145 youth on probation, 37 on conditional release, 26 on supervised release. We have 28 on electronic monitoring. And of note, the department has increased the number of electronic monitoring units available to ensure if more youth are released from electronic monitoring, we will be able to meet that demand. DJJ also has the restoring hope annual conference coming up in December, which is December 15th and 16th. December 15th is 8 to 5 and the 16th will be a shorter day, 8 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. I do not have anyone from prevention here to provide updates for prevention. Moving on to delinquency citation.
Good morning. Jennifer Euro with juvenile diversion with court administration. For the stats of October 2026, we had 44 community citations and 13 school citations for a total of 57. For October of 2025, we had 24 citations and 50 school for a total of 74. The dominant charge for October was DV battery with 15 and petty theft with 15. We had 23 females and 34 males. Thank you.
Thank you. Next, Hillsborough County Children's Services.
Good morning, everyone. We currently have one truancy youth in our program for SINs and two domestic violence youth at shelter. As many of you received an email this last month from Ryan, the call for proposal for full service for SINs-FINs contract is live on the Florida Network's website. So please review that if anyone is interested in that full service contract. And in that transition, Heather Cazola has recently taken a position with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Her last day was last week. So she is on to a new opportunity with Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. And last but certainly not least, we are live receiving clients at Feeding America's Tampa Bay location. Or Feeding Tampa Bay. I always call it Feeding America. I've been with them for too long. Feeding Tampa Bay location. So we are seeing clients there starting this coming week. So any referrals that are in that area, we are excited to give families the opportunity to come to that wonderful location. That's all I have unless anyone has any questions.
Thank you. Any general member updates this time? All right. So that will move us to our subcommittee reports. So we'll start off with innovation zones. Conchita Canty-Jones.
Good morning, everyone. Conchita Canty-Jones. Just a brief update. We met on, I think it was October the 16th in reference to the new innovation idea which is for pathways and employment. And basically just to catch everyone up, the idea is to work with youth that are on probation and provide them employment. It can range from working at a restaurant to some other things in reference to apprenticeship and things that's connected to employment. So our goal is to work with the youth 16 to 18 years of age, about 25 youth, and provide them employment. Some of the discussion was, you know, entry level positions, what that looked like. We decided that even if it's a position at McDonald's, the idea is to still mentor them because we believe that they are transferable skills that can help the youth as they're on their career journey. One of the things that we did at the last meeting was to look at some vendors in reference to supporting the youth in employment because we understand the challenge of working with youth at that age. In addition to that, we also wanted a referral process in order to streamline the youth and be able to evaluate them. So right now we are building the plane, putting passenger on the plane, putting the gas in the plane. We're doing all of that, of this innovation idea, and we will continue to meet and keep everyone updated. Thank you.
Any questions at this time? All right, so we'll move on to Detention Solutions Subcommittee. Mr. Parkinson. Chair.
So yes, on August 21st, the CAB created the subcommittee to engage in problem solving related to the closure of the Hillsborough Juvenile Detention Facility. As folks may recall, there was a suboptimal notice on that closure. We only had a few weeks, couple weeks, three weeks, I believe it was, before the closure. So the committee was, or the subcommittee was formed to do problem solving, basically on three tiers. First tier was address various issues related to youth and families being able to access their family members. The state attorney's office being able to communicate back and forth, the public defender's office, executing their legal duty to meet with the youth that they're representing. Juvenile Assessment Center, knowing how to transfer kids to and fro. School district related to educational services for youth that were in detention to make sure they had continuity in receiving their educational services. And then, of course, appropriate social services for the youth upon reentry into the community. So the subcommittee was meeting every about couple weeks based on availability. First few meetings were very hot and heavy. We had a lot of problem solving to do. And to the credit of this CAB, a lot of the operational issues were addressed pretty quickly, probably two weeks, three weeks. So that left us to deal with longer term solutions. And as you may recall, and many of us were present when the DJI secretary did the groundbreaking on the new detention facility off of Columbus. For whatever reason, they were not able to move forward with that location. So that left us in a situation where, as we thought we had an emergent solution coming online very soon, we did not. So in terms of the long term solution, the Board of County Commissioners ended up directing county staff to work closely with DJJ to find potential alternative locations for the new detention facility. Very early on, we identified the old facility off of Seffner, I-4, I believe it's the first Mango exit. And that had the old Hillsborough alternative residential program for those of us that have been around for a long time. It was an alternative residential commitment program for youth with co-occurring issues, development issues, behavioral health issues, and the like. And that was closed down, I believe, in 1999. And in 2004, DJJ said we don't need the property anymore and returned it to the county. And that's important to understand as we're problem solving. A lot of the DJJ facilities throughout the state are built on city or county properties. And DJJ builds the buildings, but the counties or cities own the property underneath. So it's essentially these long term leases that have to be resolved. So again, in this situation, the Hart property was returned to Hillsborough County in 2004. And for the most part, it's been left to nature. There's a fence around it, it's overgrown. Most of the buildings wouldn't be usable for any significant purposes. Now there is a small nonprofit that rents a small section of it in the northeast quadrant. But in essence, there's a 20 acre property that the facility was built in. But the county actually owns a total of 40 acres in the vicinity. So that was an early potential site. DJJ has expressed some interest in it. DJJ Tallahassee, they went out there, kicked the tires on it. They think it has a lot of potential. And it also has a lot of potential for vertical integration over time for additional DJJ services. Again, there's lots of room to grow. So based on the Board of County Commissioner's directive, our facilities and real estate department is working with DJJ to come up with a draft agreement and lease for that property. That lease will eventually have to come back to the full Board of County Commissioners for approval. But as recently as this week, they're working very diligently on the details. So that's where we are in the long term solution. I've been told that we're looking at about a two year process once all the siting and permitting is done. Hopefully DJJ can put some heat on that once it gets approved, but we'll see. The next issue we are looking at is an interim solution. Two years is a long time. You know, I've talked to some of our facilities people who say that something of the scope is probably closer to a three year process. So stakeholders really want to look at an interim solution. So probably in our second or third meeting, we had a few stakeholders who contacted us and said, hey, we have a facility that could possibly be used for an interim detention facility. So in the last three weeks or so, Regional Chief Cohen and I have been traveling around Hillsborough and parts unknown like the Sisters of the Traveling Pants to look at some of these facilities. Some of these facilities are better suited than others. Some of these facilities and properties are very large and we wouldn't need to use an entire facility. We would probably just use a small section of the property. As we looked at them, we looked at them in terms of, okay, what resources would need to be utilized to turn this facility into a detention facility? Things like caging of the windows, building the sally port, that sort of thing. More recently, we looked at a facility that was not technically in Hillsborough County, was a former DJJ commitment program right over the border in Pasco County, literally right over the border on State Road 54. It was sold off by DJJ in 2024, I believe it was. It was a moderate risk girls program and it was sold off as surplus and the individual that bought it planned to turn it into, the property into a assisted living facility or something of the like and he has not moved forward on it. So the facility is still covered with 10 foot fences. It's still laid out separately with a residential dorm and a school room building and an admin building. Geographically, it's literally the same distance from the courthouse to the Pinellas facility as it is to this facility, except it's more linear and you don't have to go through a bridge. I mean, literally, you can get on North Florida and drive just straight up where it turns into 41 and be there. It probably shaves about 20 minutes off the trip versus Pinellas. So that was, was that last week or the week before? So that could be a potential as well. It would need a lot of elbow grease to convert. It also has not been air conditioned for two years. So as it often happens to buildings in Florida, you have, it would need extensive cleaning. But that's where we're at. So we visited a number of facilities. Chief Cohen is stratifying the data that he has and putting it together and, and he's going to be sharing it with Tallahassee and we'll know more later. You know, obviously we had an election and we had some things considered that will impact access to public funds moving forward. So that could also potentially have an impact on this issue. But that's where we're at. Because most of the heavy lifting was done, we decided to roll this back into an ad hoc committee and then give reports during our regular juvenile justice board meeting. So I know it was a lot of work, hot and heavy, and I appreciate all the work that our stakeholders did to meet, to make time. We had the judiciary be very involved to make sure that everyone knew what they needed. There were some novel approaches to youth release that was considered early on. And the judiciary was very vocal in making everyone aware of what, what implications there were and we appreciate that. And again, it was instrumental in making sure that we can address all those initial issues that needed to be addressed. To one, ensure the efficient administration of justice, two, ensure the safety of our youth and their families and the safety of our community. So that's where we're at. Chief Cohen, would you like to add anything? Yes, good afternoon everyone.
I was just adding, we're totally, we're actually at 45 youth right now, seven youth committed. Thanking everybody for working with us, making it as smooth of a transition as we can to continue to serve the youth, which they're all at Pinellas detention right now, which they're trying to keep them all there so it's easier for the, we have our transportation team there as well as a Hillsboro operational center here in Hillsboro that we conduct the visitations as well as releases, make it a little easier for parents when they need to do the pickups and releases.
But thank you everyone. So one thing to add, and I neglected to mention it because it was probably part of the original problem solving is, is having visitation site that parents can get to and then having a consistent release site to ensure kids can have access to their clothes and their medications. And Chief Cohen very quickly came up with an interim solution and Deputy Secretary Neerman and Chief Cohen called me to go out and tour what they were doing. I went out there and we literally had deputy secretaries and regional chiefs putting tables together and turning the site into a visitation center. So I appreciate the work that they did. There was a lot of frustration by a lot of stakeholders and Chief Cohen was doing everything he could within his scope of management to address the situation. And when you have regional administrators and deputy secretaries working wrenches and putting a facility together, we appreciate it. We do.
And I just wanted to give you an update on education. We had a meeting on Tuesday morning where Hillsboro County Schools and Pinellas County Schools was on a team's call. And we were talking about anything that needed to be tightened up and we were able to streamline some things and get some technology working so that it can be even easier. So the students going there are getting their records. Everything is done. And then coming back, we're making sure they get back in school right away.
Did anyone else want to share anything this time?
Rob, I just wanted to make a quick comment. One, transportation has been great. We were concerned about kids that were being released getting two back to us and it's been really smooth. So I appreciate all the efforts of everyone getting those kids out of detention quickly. And I'm sure their parents are just as grateful not having to make that trip to go get them. They can be a little closer. But I do have a question. Originally, when we talked about this interim facility usage, there was no funding. Is the project that you're working on now some sort of request for additional funding to have something intermittent?
So two issues, and you know this more than most. Funding of juvenile detention is a shared responsibility between Department of Juvenile Justice and the counties. And basically under the Lot-Valla compromise of 10 years ago, it's a 50-50 model. So the counties pay 50%, the state pays 50%. And every year we get an estimate based on the previous year utilization of what our share will be. So you double that and that's the actual cost. And it's about $4.3 million for the county this year, so it's going to be $4.3 million for the state. So $8.6 million. So that's the money that is used to pay for juvenile detention costs. So even though our kids are going to mostly Pinellas now, we're still paying for the cost of their detention. So if there is a solution that creates a more efficient process, those funds would be used for that. Secondly, we know, and as Chief Cohen and I have visited some of these potential sites for an interim facility, that they're not shelf ready. They're going to need some elbow grease, again, caging in the windows, alley ports, that sort of thing. That's going to have an initial cost. We have been told that there are several local members of our legislative delegation that would be willing to support a local funding initiative through the legislature to get the money necessary. to do that. And I think they're just waiting to see where this process leads. Obviously, the new session starts in a couple months. But we have two or three that are willing to jump onto that. And again, you know, I don't know what impact Amendment 3 will have on willingness to do these sort of things. But they have indicated that they'd be willing to do that. And really what they wanted from us is give us a dollar amount. We need umpteen dollars to cage the windows and put in a cage. One of the problems for me, and this is a historical problem with the chair of cost model with DJJ in that they don't itemize it. It's just a lump sum that we get and this is everything that went into juvenile detention. So I can't pull out and say, okay, this is how much went into building fences and this is how much went to meal services and all that. So my hope is as Chief Cohen is looking at this, he could say we like this location best and we estimate that it will cost us this much to retrofit it. And then we would in turn turn that data over to the local elected officials. And of course, everyone knows that DJJ could do a legislative budget request through their department. We got a new governor coming into the office. I know under the current governor how those things went. I don't know how it's going to go over the new governor, but so we have two avenues. We have, you know, an LBR from the department and then we also have the possibility of an LFI through one of our local delegates. So, you know, given the way this issue was perceived in the community where we had people in, you know, on committees in Tallahassee that aren't even in our community that were nonplussed about the rollout. I think we would have strong support. I really do. But we need that number. We need a number saying this is how much it would cost to retro. This is our preferred facility and this is how much it would cost. Does that answer your question?
Yes. Thank you.
You're welcome.
I just like to thank Mr. Parkinson for your work on this committee. So committee, I know you put in a lot of work. I know the community stakeholders really appreciate it. You know, helping us work through these problems that were identified and coming up with solutions. Is there anything else anyone would like to bring up?
And as long as we're talking about this, I just want to, you know, again, express my appreciation for all the participants because it was a lot of meetings in a very short time and you all made time for it. But I also want to just shout out to my staff, specifically Eva Dyer, because all of these meetings fell under the sunshine. So that meant getting public notices. That meant putting agendas together. That meant draft minutes. And as our Madam Secretary can tell you, it's a lot of work. And when you have, you know, several meetings in a very short order, just to make sure that we don't go to Sunshine Law Jail, she did the work for us. And again, Eva Dyer was just absolutely incredible during this process, so.
I would concur with that, definitely. All right, so moving on to new business, we have, today we have a presentation from Maddie's Movement.
Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Ray. I'm the Chief Impact Officer of Maddie's Movement. First, I want to say thank you for everyone in here. It's nice to be able to present to a room that already gets the importance of pouring into our youth and the importance of filling the gaps and finding solutions. It's going to be a really good day today. And I want to remind everyone, I'm here to really talk about how we can come together and collaborate. Maddie's Movement is huge on collaboration. I'd like to get on that plane for innovation zones, innovative zones, and just really how we can come together as a community to serve our youth, especially aging out of the system. So to give you a little background about Maddie's Movement and then see how our programs can align with yours or how you can share what programs we could utilize. Maddie's Movement was created three years ago. Our founder, Effie Santos, lost her daughter five years ago in a car accident. She was 19 years old. The amazing thing about Maddie is she knew at a very young age that all kids didn't get the same opportunities. You can't choose what family you're born into. She went to Alonzo High and Children's Home Network is very close by, and a lot of her friends were from the group homes. And Maddie would write in her journal about becoming a social worker and about changing the lives of children. So what Effie did was took that pain and she created Maddie's Movement to keep her legacy going. And what we do is we walk alongside young adults and teens aging out of the foster care system. And we really want them to activate independence and we provide programs. We provide mentorship groups, which is advocates wrapping their arms around them, but teams of them three to five. And we really want them to know that you have a support system. It might not look the way you thought it would, but we're here and we're really here to get you that connection, support and opportunity that you need. I don't think I need to tell you these stats. In this room, you all know the homelessness, unemployed, justice involvement, driver's licenses, education gap. That happens when you age out of the foster care system. And what we do is we really try to decrease those numbers. And those are the numbers. We love a button for every number, one second. Okay, so here's some of our programs that we work with the aged out youth with. So financial confidence, stable housing, support system, life skills and mobility. In our education, we have a GED program that is really meeting the youth where they're at. So if they've dropped out of high school at 16 or 17, if they are 18 to 27, which we've served. We really try to build our programs around where the youth need us and around the partners that we work with in the community so that we're really able to drive results and get them to their next milestone, their next success, whatever that looks like for them. Some of our pathways are education, employment, life skills, driving and wellness. All of those, again, are made to meet the youth and the young adults and the teens where they're at. And I can't stress enough that partnerships with the community has been integral in the success of our teens and young adults and our mentors and our advocates. Our advocate program is really built on an agreement of building independence, stability, but having those people that you can trust. Because I know everybody in this room, you need people to succeed. And that's one thing that we do for our young adults is we wrap our arms around them and we say, hey, we're here, but we want you to build that independence. Let's see some success stories. So we have pictures of our financial workshops. We love to come together and have connection nights and events and things so that our peer to peer, our new gen board, which is kids who have aged out of the foster care system, giving that mentorship and peer to peer guidance to our young adults. One of our Ebony, she is now working in preschool. She had gotten certified in DCF. She is working towards getting her more certifications for that. Caitlin is our first entrepreneur. She moved 50 times in the foster care system and was separated from her siblings. She now runs an art studio. She's doing speaking events, sharing her story. She's come such a long way in the last three years being a part of Maddie's movement. We have Teed Licensed Driving Independent. She is now in our car program. She just went through our car program to earn a car. This is really important. Transportation has been a huge issue. Again, I'm preaching to the choir. You all know. So I just wanted to give you some little bit of light in a hard situation, right? Employed, we have now housed, actually last week we furnished five of our young adults that just moved with one of our partners that furnish our kids' houses. And then Quay is actually headed to study abroad. We did not update this to share that. She is in her master's program at FSU. Effie and Lester personally drove her to her first dorm. And she actually goes for Florida Youth Shine to change legislation on benefits for foster care children in the dorms and to get more access to funds so that they can, more kids can go to college. Coco, high school graduation. Her and her one-year-old had just moved into a house last week. And Juan, he came to us and Lester was his advocate and he is now thriving. He's at a full-time job. These are all real stories, right? And Connor, he actually got a car at our last Career Expo. So these are all opportunities I share with you because this is what we do for our young adults. And it's really important that as a community that we know that we all exist so that we can come together and really provide more solutions and more gaps. And with Maddie's movement, you have a team of individuals, volunteers and advocates that want to show up consistently as one of our pillars is consistency and build programs that will really, really help us drive results for our youth. Do we have any questions? Thank you. Not one.
Yes. I just have some comments. I want to thank Kim Williams for bringing your program and your agency to our attention. She said some really wonderful things about the work that you're doing in the community. And ironically, during the process of us scheduling you for this meeting, the Board of County Commissioners ended up giving you a funding allotment for this year. Yes. It was perfect timing. And I just, you know, we all work in the juvenile justice system. Many of us have taken out of our own pocket to pay for GED costs or transportation costs or cap and gowns or DV license exams and things I can't even remember. Chrissy calls you and you just shell out your money. But having a consistent organization with a process and basically a quality assurance that we know that if we're giving those resources that they're going to go where they need to go is very important consistently as a system. You know, the other issue is we knew about your work in the foster care system, but as we started to learn more in the number of dual system kids that you're serving, I didn't know. I didn't know. So thank you for enlightening us on that. Again, thank you, Kim, and thank you, Chrissy. We appreciate everything you're doing.
Thank you. Yes, Chrissy. I have a question. So we have a group of school counselors that work specifically with foster care involved youth. Are you working closely with that group?
So we have to give you a little background. Our recent collaboration. I started a nonprofit called Fostering Hearts Florida that closed the gap on education for foster youth two years ago. And Effie and myself have been running, you know, small nonprofits running alongside each other partnered for about a year and a half. Three months ago, we decided officially to merge and our education program has rolled up under Maddie's movement and our 12 educators. We have been in contact with your school counselors about our GED program and kind of reinventing that from, I know the budget pulled it a couple of years ago. So we'd love to get back involved now that we have officially merged and be able to support those youth and young adults. Yeah. So we've, we've grown very with the collaboration still for admins, right? I'm your admin team. So reach out to me, my cards going around, but it's very important that we reach the youth and we're over about 250 now with the merge. Um, and we're really providing that support and would love to help your counselors and guys about just what kind of plans we can build virtually in person, whatever that looks like. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Thank you.
Thanks everyone. We've been informed. There's no public comments at this time. So can we have a motion for adjournment?
Irene Maslanic, motion for adjournment. Second.
Any opposed? We're adjourned.
Out on. Yes, thanks. Uh, well. Yes. Um, let's come to your right now. Okay. This is our maximum regardless. Uh, my instinct, many times. Uh, my scope is the right. Uh, the DC ones must be able to ask you to Operation Dr pong. Uh, my dream. We're cows and I have kids. Uh, things, uh, right. Uh, to go talk. And again, unfortunately, my vegetable. It's easy to obtain that. So what goes?