Jim Smith introduced our speaker today, Amanda Gesing.  Amanda is the 21st Century Grant Coordinator for Jamestown Public Schools.  She is originally from Northern Kentucky and is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University.  

 

Amanda has over 17 years of experience in youth development and school community collaboration.  She began her career at Big Brother & Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati where she coordinated school based mentoring programs in 3 different states and 12 districts.  

 

In 2007, Amanda began working for Chautauqua Striders.  Over her 10 years at Striders, she oversaw youth mentoring programs, training and recruiting mentors and eventually became Director of Mentoring and Life Skills Education.  More recently, she has transititioned to her new role at Jamestown Public Schools.  

 

21st Century Community Learning Centers provide opportunities for academic enrichment, particularly for students attending low-performing schools; offer supplemental services such as youth development programs, after school activities, health and wellness education, and counseling; and help families of students served by the centers become more involved in their children’s education.

 

Jamestown Public Schools will receive $579,500 over a five-year period, yielding nearly $3 million dollars over the life of the grant for Jamestown Public Schools. The funds will be used by Jamestown Schools to provide supplemental services and enrichments for some 500 Jamestown elementary and middle school students.

 

Jamestown Public Schools relies on many community partners to ensure the success of this program.  Partnerships allow us to bring in experts into the school day or after school programs.

 

JPS is looking to take the collaboration aspect up a notch.  The district is looking at all the data to be more intentional to ensure referral of the right students to the right programs.  Students face large hurdles in their lives and it is important to have all the key players in collaboration on the same page to make this program even more successful.

 

Thanks for a great presentation Amanda!

 

Today's speaker was David M. Crane, the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), from April 2002 to July 15, 2005.  During his tenure, he indicted, among others, the then-President of Liberia, Charles Taylor.  Ran was replaced as chief prosecutor by his deputy Desmond de Silva. On April 26, 2012, the SCSL, sitting in The Hague, convicted Taylor on various charges.

 

SCSL prosecutors Crane, DeSilva, and Brenda Hollis traveled to The Hague, Netherlands on Sept. 26, 2013 to witness the upholding of Taylor’s 50-year sentence by the special court’s appeals judges.

 

Crane spent 30 years working for the United States federal government. His former posts include Director of the Office of Intelligence Review, assistant general counsel of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Waldemar A. Solf Professor of International Law at the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s School.

 

Crane has a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law and a M.A. in African Studies from Ohio University.

 

Crane was appointed a Professor of Practice at Syracuse University College of Law in 2006. He teaches international criminal law, international law, national security law, and the law of armed conflict.[2][3]

In conjunction with Syracuse University College of Law students, Crane started Impunity Watch, an online publication which seeks to inform the world of human rights violations in real-time.

 

Another Syracuse University College of Law project is the Syria Accountability Project (SAP). SAP was begun in 2011 as a project of Crane’s International Legal Practice course at SU Law and now involves 50 SU law students. SAP works collectively with several international organizations to provide impartial analysis of open source materials so that President Bashar al-Assad and his subordinates—as well as members of the Syrian opposition—can be prosecuted openly and fairly under the Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute, and/or Syrian Penal Law.[4]

 

On Oct. 29, 2013 Crane testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations about the possible establishment of a Syrian War Crimes Tribunal.

 

In 2012, Crane was elected to chair the board of the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York.

 

Crane spoke to his editing of the recently released book, The Founders, a book about the four pioneering individuals who launched the first modern-era international criminal tribunals.

 

The Balkan Wars, the Rwanda genocide, and the crimes against humanity in Cambodia and Sierra Leone spurred the creation of international criminal tribunals to bring the perpetrators of unimaginable atrocities to justice. When Richard Goldstone, David Cane, Robert Petit, and Luis Moreno-Ocampo received “the Call” – each set out on a unique quest to build an international criminal tribunal and launch its first prosecutions. Never before have the founding International Proseecutors told the behind-the-scenes stories of their historic journey. With no blueprint and little precedent, each was a path-breaker. This book contains the first-hand accounts of the challenges they faced, the obstacles they overcame, and the successes they achieved in obtaining justice for millions of victims.

 

 

John Lloyd introduced Amy Rohler, Executive Director of the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County and former director of Community Helping Hands.

 

This is the second time Amy has spoken at Rotary.  Rotarian Sharon Hamilton has been trying to coax Amy to join Rotary for 8 years!  In her previous position, Monday was Amy’s day off, so attending Rotary was not in the cards.  Now that she has a more traditional work schedule, she looks forward to joining our club.  That’s great news!  

 

Amy is very pleased to be at the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County.  She is doing a lot and learning a lot at the same time. Amy gave props for a successful $1.365 million-dollar campaign, which was $31,000 over the initial campaign goal.  A total community effort!

 

Amy spoke about the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative (ESPRI).  Eighteen months ago, Governor Cuomo chose sixteen localities across New York State to receive funds to help reduce poverty.  The City of Jamestown was one of the sixteen localities to receive the $1,000,000 grant.  Mayor Sam Teresi then chose the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County to lead this initiative in the community.  

 

The United Way of Southern Chautauqua County pulled together a task force of community stakeholders.  A series of exploratory meetings were planned to look at data and employment numbers in the county.

 

As part of the meetings, a common needs assessment was initiated to gather data.  The needs assessment also focused on listening sessions with people who were in poverty.  

 

After the series of meetings and data collection, workforce development was chosen as the primary goal.  Specifically, the reduce the number of ALICE (Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed) households.  

 

How is the task force going to reduce the number of ALICE families in the next 10 years:

 

Organizations who received funding are The Resource Center, Chautauqua Adult Day Services, Jamestown Community College, Jamestown Public Schools, YWCA of Jamestown, Mental Health Association, and Community Helping Hands.

 

Initially, nineteen organizations went through the 5 separate workshops that were offered by the United Way.  These workshops increased capacity for non-profits in terms of data and metrics.  Not all received funding, but collaboration started to happen before funding was even determined.  A collateral result is an increased level of collaboration among our local non-profit sector.  

 

Another piece that is critical is innovation.  Local employers are really looking for something that is different than what has been offered in the past.  Soft skills are very important to succeeding in a job. 

 

Helping people connect to supports is key because they have no other way to access them.  In a nutshell, it really is relationship-based workforce development.  Working with employees to help them improve their soft and success skills to help them retain employment is key.  

 

To learn more, please visit http://www.uwayscc.org/empire-state-poverty-reduction.  

 

Lee introduced Diana Porebski, Director of Chemical Dependency and Behavioral Health Services.  Diana took over for Andrew O’Brien in October 2017, who remains on for special projects.

 

Diane is a Licensed Social Worker and was a chemical dependency counselor at UPMC WCA Chautauqua before taking this job.  Diana has a passion for trauma and addictions.  She is interested in implementing system-wide changes to bring a positive influence and expand services to the community in terms of addiction and trauma-informed care.  Her team continues to work on embedding themselves into the community and various doctors’ offices. Additionally, Diana is looking to expand evidence based practices such as mindfulness and medication assisted therapy.

 

WCA Hospital is now fully integrated with the UPMC network.  This brings amazing opportunities and an access to even greater resources.  UPMC WCA Chautauqua’s Chemical Dependency services have an outpatient program.  They always accept walk-ins to help and assist people in need.  UPMC WCA Chautauqua’s Chemical Dependency service also feature an inpatient rehab unit which consists of 15 beds.  

 

UPMC WCA Chautauqua’s Chemical Dependency will be opening a 21-bed residential facility in June 2018.  Residential program funding will come from Oasis NYS – will be funded by the state entirely – first time WCA will receive state funds to fund a program. It is an exciting time because the community has been asking for this.  
 
Diana is also involved with the drug treatment court as well -  has been involved since she started working in October.  Her goal is to advocate for treatment instead of incarceration. Research shows us that a key indicator to getting well is a person’s motivation to change.  Counselors try to tap into that motivational change.  It can be difficult process and it takes time to see a shift.  Treatment options are specifically focused in Chautauqua County only.  The helps people re-integrate back into the community.  Research says if people are closer to their community, then the chances for success are even greater.

The UPMC Chautauqua WCA Inpatient Chemical Dependency and Outpatient Chemical Dependency and Mental Health Programs have been serving the Chautauqua County community for more than 25 years.
Their goal is to provide the opportunity and supportive environment for individuals to receive confidential, compassionate, professional care along the road to recovery. Treatment is personalized taking into consideration the unique needs and characteristics of the individual. This includes someone who may need mental health and chemical dependency/addiction care.

 

For more information, please visit www.wcahospital.org/services/chemical-dependency-and-outpatient-mental-health-programs.html