The minutes of the January meeting are being posted here as they are completed.

SW Common Council Education Committee

At the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence

929 S Plymouth Avenue

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Meeting convened at 6:35 pm.

Participants and Introductions:  Mary Adams (19^th Ward Resident,Board of Ed. Member), Bill Bayer (Jefferson Family Medicine), John Boutet (19^th Ward Resident, SWCC Education Committee Co-Chair, Location19.org manager), Marian Boutet (19^th Ward Resident, Location19.org admin, background in horticulture), Ethan Borshansky (Own and manage property in PLEX and 19^th Ward), Maya Broady, Stacie Colaprete (SBANA / Vision Quest / parent of RCSD student), Eleanor Coleman (Prosper Rochester, Seedfolk Store, Grandparent, Resident and volunteer in area for 30 years) , John Curran (PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S.) , Robin Dettman (Education and Business Organization Development Consultant, on Board of Baobab Cultural Center, works w/ JOSANA Safety Net for School 17), Jacob Deyo (In the City Off the Grid), Gloria Edmonds (PLEX N.A., SWCC Co-Chair), Daniel Esler, Laura Fox (Urban Planner w/ Bergmann Associates, interest in Urban Agriculture), William Gorman (Lived in area 12-15 yrs, Has 1200 gal Mariculture setup, interested Aquaculture), Dorothy Hall (President of PLEX), Dorian Hall (President of Upper Plymouth Block Club), Sean Harrigan (Daughter has started in RCSD), Barbara Hoffman (Freedom Way Bus. Assos / Susan B. Anthony N. A., Renovation of buildings on W Main St), David Knoll (PLEX N.A., Renovates and rents buildings in PLEX), Catherine Kana, Josiah Krause (Project Dev. Coordinator for In the City Off the Grid , consulting Poprsper Rochester for Aqaponics project.) , Adam Logan (Little Flower Community, May be interested in exchange labor for knowledge to set up similar setup in our neighborhood.), Patty Love (Permaculture/ecological design consultant and teacher, Founder of Lots of Food, Program Director of Rochester Permaculture Center), Kit Miller (Director of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence), Mike Moss (Prosper Rochester, Inc., worked in community for 12 years), Jerome Nathaniel (SNAP Outreach and Assistance Coordinator at Foodlink), Bill Nichthauser (19^th Ward Resident, School #19 Volunteer, Oboist), Eli Polzer (Field biologist/botanist, grad student in wetland administration ), Dan Scibilia-Carver (Resident of Ant Hill Cooperative/ PLEX Neighborhood, career in teaching city youth), Dean Schove (19^th Ward resident), Tamara Schove (19^th Ward resident, SW YMCA), Jon Schull (RIT professor, Using Wireless networks to connect coaches with kids for tutoring), Debbie Stein (Interested in sustainability), Mike Stein (Interested in sustainability), Ron Till (Retired RIT Prof, Consults w/ Nazareth School of Education Volunteer at Sch19 and 9, Prosper Rochester), Tim Weider (MCC Professor, Neighborhood Consortium of Youth & Family Justice, Wellventions), Alan Williams (18 yr Resident of PLEX, Gardener, helps out at community garden at Flint and Exchange), Jimmie Winkfield (OCFS / Early Reporting Center, interested in placing returning aquaponics students returning from Industry), Douglas Yormick (Environmental design, urban planing graduate), Mark Zinzow (Computer consultant, new in town, interested in nonviolence and sustainability, curious about this project)

Planned Agenda:

1. Welcome - John Boutet / Kit Miller - 10 min

2. Introductions - All - 15min

3. PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. - John Curran - 20min

4. Prosper Rochester/Community Engagement Through Urban Agriculture - Eleanor Coleman - 20min

5. Discussion of 3 and 4 - All - 20min

6. FREE Focus Groups - Robin Dettman - 10min

7. Walk-in Items - until 8:30pm if needed

Welcome to MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence – Kit Miller, Institute Director

Kit welcomed the group to the Institute noting the day was Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. She reviewed the goals of the institute. It promotes nonviolence, teaching the history of nonviolent movements and methods for avoiding violence. They also promote establishing social structures that avoid conflict such as their support for restorative justice in the community. The Institute also have a great interest in sustainability to avoid future shortages that would lead to conflict. The institute strives to work with all interested groups in the community to advance these nonviolent goals.

The goals of the PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. initiative with its aquaponics program fits perfectly with the goals of the institute and they are eager to assist.

PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. - John Curran

The PLEX neighborhood is nested along the Genesee River south of Corn Hill and COTS and east of SWAN and the 19^th Ward. (See Maps <1> and <2>.) Large portions of the land between the residential streets and the river are a brownfield resulting from pollution left by the Vacuum Oil Company and others. PLEX has gone through a charrette process to do long term planning for these lands once they are decontaminated. (See the 2035 VISION PLAN ) As we wait for the brownfield cleanup to begin PLEX is taking an inventory of empty lots in the residential area and looking at how to use them to enhance the neighborhood. One application is to encourage community gardens.

PLEX is also looking at how to encourage the healthy development of the community as we get an influx of students from the U of R and RIT resulting from the opening of the Erie RR Pedestrian Bridge which connects the bike trail on the east side of the river to the Erie RR bike and pedestrian trail leading through PLEX. The connection of Flint Street to the bike trail provides University students easy access to the heart of the PLEX neighborhood. PLEX wants to see the changes that will take place in the neighborhood be a benefit to all parties.

We are fortunate to have the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence at 929 S. Plymouth Avenue which can help us in this effort. One plan is to develop a “PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S.” where Flint Street leads students into the community. (See the bright green boundary on PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. Map.)   “C.A.M.P.U.S.” is an acronym for Community And Multiversity Project for Urban Sustainability. Included in this C.A.M.P.U.S. are the Flint Street Rec Center and School 19. University students could be a valuable resource for working with students at School 19 and the Rec Center and for working with urban development projects.

The Gandhi Institute property is shown in light green inside the C.A.M.P.U.S. area. The 388 Seward Street property (yellow on the map) behind the Gandhi lot is an empty lot that once had the Plymouth Dairy building on it. That lot could be part of the C.A.M.P.U.S. development. South of that property also behind the Gandhi House is a large empty concrete block building (red lot) which was the Plymouth Dairy garage. We would like to purchase that building but a sale is in process to a roofer who wants the building for storage. The 951-953 S. Plymouth properties south of the Gandhi property (cyan) are also available for use in the C.A.M.P.U.S. project. Somewhere on these properties we would like to set up an aquaponics center. Aquaponics is a way of raising fish in tanks and using the waste laden water from that process to nourish a hydroponics vegetable farm which cleans the water to return it to the fish tanks. This produces fish and vegetables for sale and provides a variety of jobs in the city for our youth. Such a facility in the PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. could serve as a proof of concept that can be replicated throughout the City.

A valuable resource we have for setting up an aquaponics facility is the State School at Industry.  It has a state of the art aquaponics facility it uses to teach its students skills and produce food for the school and for sale of fish to restaurants. The school would love to have PLEX set up a aquaponics facility that could serve as a reentry center where their trained student technicians can integrate back into the community with job prospects. For the City having trained technicians coming back from Industry to the community can be very valuable if we make use of their skills. Setting up sustainable urban food production facilities of this type is a must for our cities in the future. Working with the know-how coming out of Industry gives us a great opportunity to be a leader in the needed push to sustainability.

Another objective of the PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. project is to work with the local universities to enhance the education in our local schools through various partnerships. One such effort would be to have School 19 be a neighborhood school in the PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. It would serve as place where student teacher from programs such as the Warner School at the U of R can get some practical teaching experience working with veteran teachers at School 19. Other building in the PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. could also be used by the universities for activities such as tutoring centers.

(To get a full appreciation for the energy and expertise that was involved in this meeting please review the PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. & Prosper Rochester, Inc. Video: http://youtu.be/SkHQxk-cOTw . The video of the Welcome and Introductions to 1-15-2014 Meeting: http://youtu.be/G5mVuXR-6jM also gives a good perspective of what the Gandhi institute brings to the table and who the participants at the meeting were.)

Prosper Rochester, Inc. presentation -  Eleanor Coleman, Mike Moss

Eleanor worked at SWAN for many years and helped start the Grow Green project and greenhouse there to have students learn how to grow things and sell them at the Westside Farmers Market.  Eleanor left Swan in February of 2013.  Many of the urban agriculture people who had worked with her left also and helped set up Prosper Rochester, Inc. to continue using urban agriculture to keep the students involved.  The problem with just using the Farmers Market is it ends in October.  To deal with this, Prosper Rochester opened The Seedfolk Store at 540 West Main to provide a year round sales venue as well a a place where other activities that involve children and parents can take place.

The objective of The Seedfolk Store is also to provide affordable produce in a food desert.  To accomplish this it is important for Prosper and Rochester to grow its own food rather than reselling food they purchase and mark up.  They started looking at aquaculture to accomplish food production.  In the City Off the Grid is working with Prosper Rochester to provide technical expertise in setting up a aquaponics system.  It turn out that the State School at Industry has a state of the art aquaponics facility and would like to see a facility of this type set up to provide employment to some of the young people they have trained as aquaponics technicians.  The possibility of setting up the facility with the Gandhi Institute is very interesting because they can provide a lot of the community building and conflict resolution skills which can be very valuable with troubled youth.  The aquaponics facility would deal with many community organization which deal with youth and family issues such as OCFS, SW Safety Net and others which already have a relationship with the Gandhi Institute.

Mike Moss then reviewed the schedule that Prosper Rochester has for growing food.  Even if the 390 Seward Street building is obtained for aquaponics the facility would probably take a year to a year and a half to be ready for growing food.  In the meantime Prosper Rochester needs to find locations where food can be grown.  The target is to have a plan by March 1st for the summer growing activities.  We need to be planting seeds to have seedling to plant outside by early April. 

Josiah Krause mentioned that that in this coming year, while the indoor aquaculture facility will not be in place, Prosper Rochester is using the youth employment program which they start this week to develop a soil base site maps for the empty lots next to Gandhi Institute.  They are also trying to get materials and containers to set up outdoor aquaculture at the Gandhi institute during the warm weather when a greenhouse is not needed.  Grow-beds can be floated on the water for hydroponics.

Discussion – The meeting then opened to questions and answers about the the presentations.  Mary Adams asked about the aquaponics curriculum at Industry.  Josia Krause reviewed the project there.  Ed White is the head of the program.  His interest in aquaponics started about a  year and a half ago.  He got networked with the NY State Aquaculture Association which gave him a framework of understanding to get started.  The facility they now have is reputed to be the best in NY State.  The program for the students is project based learning.  They get the kid in there starting seeds, maintaining water systems etc.  That is complimented by life sciences education which teaches them about how these biological systems are interdependent.  After about a month they are given a batch of plants that are their responsibility to grow.  In the City of the Grid is studying the system there closely to be able to replicate systems of that type here.

Adam Logan asked is the program was inter-generational or just for youth?  Eleanor indicated they welcome all ages in the urban agriculture efforts.

Who owns the lots next to the Gandhi institute?  David Knoll, who is involve with this project.

Is Prosper Rochester involved with the Grow Green greenhouse on Samuel McCree Way?  SWAN has just hired a new director so it will be a while for things to settle but it is hoped that they will work well together.

FR=EE Focus Groups - Robin Dettman
Robin is with the education committee of FR=EE (Facing Race, Embracing Equity) which will soon be organizing focus groups for community discussions.  Robin has agreed to organize a group for the South West of the City.  When the program in ready to move forward Robin will contact us to pull a group together.

Robin also mentioned he is working with the SWCC Communications Committee which is looking into at promoting a free Wi-Fi  in the City and he is looking to connect city and private forces to move this forward.  He would like a lead on who to contact in the new Warren administration to discuss wireless communications issues with.

Walk-in Items – Stacie Colaprete gave an update on on the Vision Quest Community School initiative.  It would be a teacher led school.  Stacie handed out the latest draft proposal for the school.  You can access a pdf of it here: 140117 Vision Quest proposal.pdf.   Vision Quest  is being scheduled to discus the latest developments with Dr Vargus some time around the end of January or early February.   Mary Adams suggested that Vision Quest also ask Malik Evens, who now chairs of the Excellence in Student Achievement Committee, to be on that committee's agenda to present.  There have been discussions of this type of school in the committee but it would be good for this parent and teacher initiative to be brought to the committee.

News that the Administrators Union is proposing to hold a no confidence vote on Superintendent Vargas was also mentioned.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm.

Minutes submitted John Boutet

Past meeting minutes can be found in www.Location19.org in the SW Education Forum.   (http://www.location19.org/group/sw-education-forum)

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A video of items 1 and 2 above has been posted on YouTube.  It features Kit Miller's Welcome to our group and her overview of the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence.  It also includes introductions of the participants.

Welcome and Introductions to 1-15-2014 Meeting: http://youtu.be/G5mVuXR-6jM

A video that includes items 3, 4 and 5 of the agenda has been completed and posted on YouTube.  I recommend you view it and pass it on to others who would be interested.

PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S. & Prosper Rochester, Inc. Video:  http://youtu.be/SkHQxk-cOTw

Maps of the area and references discussed in the presentation:

1. SW Quadrant Map showing relative location of PLEX
2. Arial view of PLEX neighborhood showing Gandhi Institute
3. 2035 VISION PLAN of Vacuum Oil Brownfield Opportunity Area
4. PLEX C.A.M.P.U.S.
   
5. State School At Industry Aquaponics OCFS Article  from summer 2013 "The Voice"

For Walk-in Items 7 of the agenda, Stacie Colaprete reviewed the latest news on Vision Quest. She has forwarded this .pdf of her handout: 140117 Vision Quest proposal.pdf