YouthWeek
Extending the one day “Youth Fair” into a week-long series of youth activities,YouthWeek was supported by many city-wide agencies serving youth. As the lead-coordinating agency, DYCD organized groups of activities revolving around six themes. The kick-off at City Hall included a presentation by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of the first annual Michael S. Modell Award for Youth Services. Special activities included a “Youth Speak-Out” essay contest (three Grand Prize winners accepted Apple laptop computers at the East River Festival in Astoria Park), guided tours and games at the NASDAQ Marketsite, Summer Reading Clubs at the New York City Public Libraries, and mural painting throughout the boroughs.

DYCD Academy
DYCD, in partnership with Kingsborough Community College’s Office of Continuing Education, now offers certified training to CBO staff. Training workshops are conducted by DYCD’s contracted technical assistance (TA) providers. Launched in July 2001, the first sequential course offering was in Non-Profit Management. A graduation ceremony for the first DYCD Academy class will be held on December 19, 2001.

HealthStat Coordinator Initiative
DYCD hired eight NDA HealthStat Coordinators to provide direct enrollment of children into HealthStat. They have enrolled 2,754 children in various health plans through Child Health Plus since June 2001. Youth Outcome-Based Contracts In Fiscal 1999 the Department implemented outcome measurements within its CSBG programs to ensure compliance with federal reporting standards. Building on this outcome model, DYCD for the first time in Fiscal 2001 released its Youth Development and Delinquency Prevention Request for Proposals (RFP), one of its largest solicitations, with requirements for youth outcome measurements. This move is critical in moving beyond counting the number of children who attend a particular program, to measuring what the children take away from the program. As such, the new human service outcomes, measuring both child and program development, although complicated to develop, are a necessary component in DYCD’s youth portfolio.

Citizenship Serving Greater Numbers of People and Communities
Previously serving 771 immigrants a month and filing 598 applications a month with INS, CNYC now serves an average of 1085 immigrants a month and files an average of 851 applications monthly. CNYC has expanded the number of neighborhoods it visits on a regular basis from 4 to 10. By integrating the new N400 form into its computer system, CNYC is able to conduct outreach to assist as many citizenship applicants as possible before the anticipated application fee increases from $250 to $310.

Community Action Board (CAB) Restructure
The CAB currently has forty-four Neighborhood Development Areas (NDAs). In keeping with the statutory commitment of the program to ensure meaningful participation and proper representation of the communities served in the City’s Community Action Program, the number of Regions was increased from 16 to 19. The purpose of this plan is to establish a Phased-Process for the reconstitution of the CAB to provide for representation of the 19 Regions supported by The Rules Governing the Conduct of the Community Service Block Grant Program in New York City. This reconstitution Plan also provides a process whereby Neighborhood Advisory Boards (NABs) will participate in the selection of the Representatives of the Poor for seating in the 19 Regions. The inclusion of the NABs in the reconstitution of the Representatives of the Poor sector of the CAB is deemed by DYCD to be the most democratic means of meeting the conditions of broad representation and participation of those persons the Community Action Program seeks to serve.

Comprehensive Contract Management System (CCMS) – New Audit Module
The Department’s Information Technology and Contract Agency Audit Departments implemented a major new module to CCMS to allow for the tracking and monitoring of audits completed by DYCD’s contracted independent Certified Public Accounting firms. This component tracks the scheduled completion of these audits conducted of the Department’s approximately 1,000 contracted community-based organizations. The module also tracks the need for and receipt of corrective action plans, where such plans are needed.

Redesigned Youth and Homeless Program
DYCD changed, enhanced and strengthened the service delivery for runaway homeless youth in New York City beginning with the issuance of an RFP in October 1999. It established the mechanism for a system designed to allow for an innovative, integrated and coordinated approach to services and service delivery by creating new services and establishing a solid link between Street Outreach Services, Drop-In Center Sites, RHY Residential Service Programs and other ancillary services and programs. DYCD, for the first time, established a continuum of care model that sought to address service utilization and the enhancement and availability of on-site services. New programs funded included “discreet“ street outreach service programs, a 24-hour RHY Drop-In Center and a 24-hour RHY Hotline. Concomitantly, DYCD also embarked on the development of comprehensive contractor data collection instruments and forms to help DYCD gather important data on its service population and to assist us in our future program planning efforts. DYCD successfully developed a DYCD RHYP Implementation Manual and provided RHY contractors and other service providers with over 90 hours of training to assist our contractors to meet State Office of Children and Family Services regulatory requirements.

NYC Youthline’s New System
NYC Youthline is the DYCD 24 hour, 7 day a week telephone and information service that provides information and programmatic assistance to young people and their families. In Fiscal 1999, DYCD developed and implemented a new NYC Youthline system expanding on the capabilities of the former system. Youthline II now improves the Department’s ability to manage the extensive database of up-to-date information about providers, to correspond with providers, to produce computer-generated maps of services with superimposed public transportation routes, and to generate statistical reports on the types of calls received.

New Publications: The NYC Guide to Summer Fun 2 and The New York City Family Guide to After School Programs

The New York City Guide to Summer Fun provided a comprehensive, pocket-sized listing of summer youth activities (including YouthWeek programs) offered by youth-serving organizations throughout the city. The New York City Family Guide to After School Programs was produced by DYCD in partnership with the Partnership for After School Education (PASE). It is a resource directory organized by location and program offerings; families can find youth activities either in a specific borough and neighborhood or by the name of a specific youth agency.

Electronic Access for Contract Agencies to Obtain Expenditure Information
Working with DYCD’s Information Technology Department, CAFD began a new customer service initiative in July 2001 to allow CBOs to electronically obtain their expense and payment history reports (for reconciling payments with their banks). DYCD is now able to e-mail notifications to its contracted agencies regarding expenditures and reimbursements, specifically payment information.

Charter School Improvement Fund
The administration provided funding, in the form of competitive grants for up to $250,000 per school, supporting specific capital improvements and equipment. Schools were required to raise private-sector funding equal to the initial 10% performance-based withholding. Twenty schools have thus far received funding in excess of $4,900,000.

A.C.H.I.E.V.E. Stat
A.C.H.I.E.V.E. Stat is the DYCD initiative to produce a data-driven system of accountability and self-assessment. Indicators track performance in critical areas. As a result of analyzing the indicators, the Department analyzes trends in Agency operations. Data is captured in CCMS or the data collection system utilized by each unit; each unit is responsible for the accuracy of its data. In it’s efforts to plan and advocate on behalf of youth, families and communities, A.C.H.I.E.V.E. Stat can protect the City’s investment in services for communities by effectively and efficiently managing the contracting process as well as monitoring the level of services delivered.

First Annual DYCD Art Contest and Exhibit
The Department sponsored a city-wide art contest and exhibit for all DYCD contracted community-based organizations. Over 200 works of art were submitted and exhibited throughout the Department. DYCD judges included staff and administration; an Award Ceremony presented prizes to twenty winners and certificates of merit to all participants. The artists ranged in age from 7 years old through senior citizens. The public was invited to view the exhibit. A slide show of the winning entries will be placed on the DYCD Web Site.

Records Management Project
As a result of the receipt of a Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund Grant from New York State in Fiscal Years 1999 and 2000, a Records Management Project was initiated by the agency. This ongoing project has resulted in the creation of an in-house Records Center. All records have been inventoried and assessed; active records, which must be readily available to the agency, are now accessible. There is now a central repository for community-based organizations’ contract files and related audits.

Implementation of the DYCD Intranet
The Information Technology Department implemented an internal agency intranet with streaming video capability. The intranet will allow staff to learn more about other departments by reading descriptions of their functions, answer commonly asked questions, allow users to access information from city-wide reports (such as the DYCD submission to the Mayor’s Management Report) and allow users to access common agency forms, etc. Each department will have the ability to regularly update its own information thereby allowing staff to have the most current information about DYCD.

Interface with Financial Management System (FMS)
The Information Technology Department and the Contract Agency Finance Department have developed and implemented a system component to create, modify, register, and encumber contracts in CCMS and transmit the data to FMS seamlessly. This allows DYCD’s main contract management system, CCMS, which already integrates contract, program, and fiscal information within the agency to fully synchronize with the city-wide FMS and thereby avoid dual data entry.

New Contract Monitoring Module Within CCMS
The Information Technology Department implemented the Contract Monitoring Site Visit Module within CCMS. It allows contract managers to input information about the status of their field visits into the system, manage standard correspondence to the contract agencies, track the issuance and completion of Corrective Action Plans (CAPS), and provide management reporting (for example, the achievement of contract standards for field visits).