DRAFT

MINUTES

COMMITTEE ON MINORITY AFFAIRS

FEBRUARY 4, 1997

12 NOON

PRESENT: Chairman Clinton I. Young, Jr. Members: Lois Bronz, Bob Darcy

Secretary : Lynne Creighton

OTHERS: Blanche Walker, Exec. Dir., College Careers, Doug Thornton,

President, Tri-State Transportation

The meeting was called to order at 12:20pm by Mr. Young.

The minutes of January 14 were approved on motion of Mr. Young, moved by Mr. Darcy

and seconded by Mrs. Bronz, passed by a vote of 3-0.

Ms. Walker gave a presentation on the College Careers Program:

College Careers is a private, not-for-profit corporation organized for the purpose of taking educationally and economically disadvantaged young people of Westchester and Fairfield Counties out of poverty by offering them the opportunity for higher education combined with unique counseling services.

College Careers has an educational program designed to help young people that have been

overlooked by the schools, or incarcerated, introducing them to education and monitoring

their progress. The program helps them fill out applications and to develop decision-

making skills. College Careers has helped over 1500 young people in Westchester and

is celebrating their 30th anniversary.

Ms. Walker is particularly concerned about Welfare Reform. She expressed her concern

that young mothers are dropped from education programs. She feels that these young

women can be successful. When they are dropped from the welfare program they come

to College Careers, but there is no money in the budget to cover day care costs.

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College Careers offers two pre-college programs:

1. Consortium for Youth, which is a job readiness training program.

2. High School Equivalency Tutorial Program. This program works with young people

who have been kicked out or dropped out of school. They take trips to museums,

corporations, colleges, etc. Half of the day is devoted to education, the other half

to counseling. This enables the student to secure a high school equivalency diploma,

and the counseling, combined with cultural enrichment, helps raise the students’ self-

esteem and improve relationships with teachers, family and employers.

Ms. Walker finished her presentation by saying that College Careers will contniue to do

as much as they can for these young people, but could use additional staff and progarm

funds.

Mr. Young thanked Ms. Walker for her presentation and introduced Mr.Thornton,

President of Tri-State Transportation, as well as Commissioner of the Westchester

County Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Mr. Thornton spoke about the criteria for chauffeurs, and expressed his concern

regarding guidelines that are being adopted, which would involve checking to see if

any of the chauffeurs have committed criminal offenses, especially felonies. The new

guidelines would also include fingerprinting and other changes.

Mr. Thornton feels that although some of these men may have committed crimes in the

past, they deserve a chance to reestablish themselves in the community. He sees himself

as a role model for them and personally trains them to become chauffeurs.

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Mr. Darcy wanted to know where the line is drawn on prior offenses and the types

of offenses.

Mrs. Bronz said that there should be a time frame, a level of felony and a period to

demonstrate a level of competency.

Mr. Thornton asked how he could obtain information on the level of felonies and Mr.

Young said through the District Attorney’s office and that he would try to get a contact

person for Mr. Thornton.

Mr. Young entertained a motion to adjourn at 1:00pm, moved by Mr. Darcy and

seconded by Mrs. Bronz, passed by a vote of 3-0.