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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-05-25; City Council; 20240; Winning Teams Grant for Aviara Oaks Middle SchoolCITY OF CARLSBAD - AGENDA BILL AB# MTG. DEPT. 20,240 5/25/10 HNS WINNING TEAMS GRANT FOR AVIARA OAKS MIDDLE SCHOOL ODYSSEY OF THE MIND TEAM DEPT. DIRECTOF CITY ATTORNEY CITY MANAGER /—f RECOMMENDED ACTION: Consider the request from Aviara Oaks Middle School Odyssey of the Mind team for grant funding and either adopt Resolution No. 2010-123 or deny the request. ITEM EXPLANATION: Attached is a letter from Diedre Girod, coach for the Aviara Oaks Middle School (AOMS) Odyssey of the Mind team, requesting City Council consideration for grant funding under the Winning Teams Grant Program (Exhibit 2). Recently, the AOMS Odyssey team competed at the Regional Competition in Palm Springs and placed first qualifying them for the State Competition held in Northern California. At the State Competition, the AOMS Odyssey team placed 1st and earned an invitation to compete at the World Finals held at Michigan State University. The competition is three days in length, from May 26 through May 29. Seven Odyssey team members, two (parent) coaches and one school district representative are scheduled to travel to Michigan. During their trip to the World Finals, AOMS Odyssey team members will be exposed to the challenges of tomorrow, asked to develop creative solutions to the problems at hand, and meet students from all around the globe. Council Policy No. 51, attached as Exhibit 4, sets forth the criteria and process for funding community activities, including participation by winning teams in national level events. The AOMS Odyssey of the Mind team request is for a world competition which differs from the stated intent of the Winning Teams Grant. However, the event is located in the United States. Therefore, international travel is not required. AOMS Odyssey of the Mind team has asked for financial support under this grant program to assist them to attend this event and compete for Carlsbad. While the request differs from the intent of the Winning Teams Grant, all eligibility requirements of the grant have been met: s The participants are all 18 years of age or under; and S The team is an organized non-profit agency; and v' The request for funding has been made prior to the date of their event; and s At least 90% of the participants in the team are residents of Carlsbad. DEPARTMENT CONTACT: Courtney Enriquez 760-434-2812 courtney.enriquez(a)carlsbadca.aov FOR CITY CLERKS USE ONLY. COUNCIL ACTION: APPROVED DENIED CONTINUED WITHDRAWN AMENDED Xn aa D CONTINUED TO DATE SPECIFIC CONTINUED TO DATE UNKNOWN RETURNED TO STAFF OTHER -SEE MINUTES Dan a Page 2 FISCAL IMPACT: The estimated cost for entire Odyssey team to travel to the World Finals in Michigan is $11,856, or $1,185 per individual. Each student is participating in fundraising efforts to help offset the costs for the trip. The team is actively trying to engage and educate the community about their endeavor through strawberry sales, wine tasting as well as connect with private sponsors. The AOMS Odyssey of the Mind team is requesting the City Council to provide a $2,000 grant to apply towards their trip. If the Council chooses to fund this Winning Teams Grant, approval of the attached resolution will appropriate $2,000 from the Council's General Fund contingency account for the AOMS Odyssey of the Mind team. The City Council's General Fund contingency account has a $500,000 provision for FY 2009-10, with a current account balance of $460,331. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: The appropriation of funds does not qualify as a "project" under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per State CEQA Guidelines Section 15378 as it does not result in a direct or reasonable foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. EXHIBITS: 1. Resolution No. 2010-123 approving the Winning Teams Grant for AOMS Odyssey of the Mind team and appropriating $2,000 from Council's General Fund contingency account. 2. Letter from AOMS Odyssey of the Mind 3. Council Policy 51 4. Winning Teams Grant Supplemental Application Exhibit 1 RESOLUTION NO. 2010-123 5 2 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING A WINNING 3 TEAMS GRANT FOR THE AVIARA OAKS MIDDLE 4 SCHOOL ODYSSEY OF THE MIND TEAM AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS. 6 WHEREAS, the City Council adopted City Council Policy No. 51 which 7 addresses the criteria and process for funding community activities, including 8 participation by winning teams in national competitions; and 9 WHEREAS, Section 5 of City Council Policy No. 51 states that the City Council 10 may approve Winning Teams Grant to youth teams to offset the cost of travel expenses 11 to national championship competitions; and 12 WHEREAS, the Aviara Oaks Middle School (AOMS) Odyssey of the Mind team 13 has submitted a letter requesting funding under the Winning Team Grant for their trip to 15 the World Finals held at Michigan State University; and 16 WHEREAS, the Odyssey of the Mind team consists of seven (7) students from 17 Aviara Oaks Middle School and will be accompanied by two (parent) coaches and one 18 representative from the school district; and 1 Q WHEREAS, travel will cost $1,185 per individual and the cost for the entire team 20 to travel for the World Finals totals $11,856; and 21 WHEREAS, the Odyssey of the Mind team has requested a $2000 winning team 22 grant to financially assist the team in its World Finals competition; and 23 WHEREAS, all eligibility requirements for the Winning Teams Grant have been 25 satisfied per the City Council's Policy No. 51. 26 /// 27 /// 28 1 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of 2 Carlsbad, California, as follows: 1. That the above recitations are true and correct. 4 2. That the Finance Director is authorized to appropriate two thousand dollars 5 ($2,000) from the City Council's General Fund contingency account for the 6 Aviara Oaks Middle School Odyssey of the Mind team. 8 9 // 10 // // 12 // 13 // 14 15 16 17 18 " 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 // 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED at a Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Carlsbad on the 25th day of May, 2010, by the following vote to wit: AYES: Council Members Lewis, Kulchin, Hall, Packard and Blackburn. NOES: None. ABSENT: None. CLAUDE A. LEWIS, Mayor ATTEST: Exhibit,2 Dear Ms. Hildabrand, I coached a team of sixth grade students at Aviara Oaks Middle School in Carlsbad in a unique after school activity, Odyssey of the Mind. Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. We apply creative thinking to solve problems ranging from building mechanical devices to presenting our own interpretation of literary classics. You can find out more about Odyssey of the Mind at \vww.odysseyofthemind.com. Four of the seven team members have competed in Odyssey of the Mind for four years now. This year our team chose to compete in the "Nature Trail'R" problem. The team worked throughout the school year to design, build arid present a human-powered vehicle and camper that performed several required tasks during a team-created skit. One of our team members drove the vehicle around our own team-created Nature Trail. On the Nature Trail, the vehicle overcame an obstacle, cleaned up the environment, encountered wildlife, and underwent a repair. We presented our vehicle in a themed performance revolving around the vehicle's travels. The team competed in the Regional competition in Palm Springs and placed first qualifying for the State Competition in Northern California. At the State Competition, the team placed 1st and earned an opportunity to compete at the World Finals competition held at Michigan State University from May 26 to May 29, 2010. The World Finals competition will include teams from all over the world - 800 of them. The team is really excited to present our vehicle and compete against teams from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. The team members also get the chance to meet students from all over the world and see how they solved the same creativity challenges that our team faced. Getting our team to the World Finals competition is going to be a creative challenge for us too. We need to raise money to pay for our own travel, food, and housing for our seven team members, our two (parent) coaches and a school district representative. We also need to ship our team-created vehicle, large wooden backdrops, props, and costumes all the way from California to Michigan. That brings me to the reason for writing this letter. I am wTiting this letter to ask the City Council to consider approving our team for a "Winning Teams Grant" to help offset the cost of our trip. We look forward to hearing from the City Council and look forward to your support of this highly educational activity. Our grant application is enclosed. If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to call. Thanks in advance for your support. Sincerely, Diedre Girod AOMS Odyssey of the Mind Coach cdgirod@roadrunner.com (760) 525-0388 - Exhibit 3 Page 1 of 2 Policy No. _ 51 CITY OF CARLSBAD Date Issued - 1/8/08 COUNCIL POLICY STATEMENT Supersedes No. 1/20/04General Subject: Community Activity Funding Specific Subject: Process for Funding Community Activities Copies to: City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, Department and Division Heads, Employee Bulletin Boards, Press, File BACKGROUND : The City Council has, in the past, chosen to fund community activities with General Fund monies. This has included the allocation of funds to agencies that provide various enrichment programs to Carlsbad residents and visitors. During the 2003-04 budget process, the City Council directed a council subcommittee to evaluate the current process and recommend changes to facilitate that process. The following policy outlines those changes. PURPOSE: To establish the process for distributing funds for community activities. POLICY: 1 . It is the policy of the City of Carlsbad to allocate funds for community activities. 2. Organizations funded under this policy may receive grants for no more than 3 years, with the exception of the Community Activity Grant. Organizations funded by the Community Activity Grant may receive grants for 3 years and then cannot apply for grant funding for a minimum of 2 years. After at least a 2 year hiatus, organizations can again apply for grant funding and receive a maximum of two additional years of grant funding. 3. Community Activity Grants a. These grants provide funding for enrichment programs for the community. b. The amount of funds to be allocated will be determined annually during the budget process. c. Once the budget is adopted interested groups will be notified of the application process. d. The application process will consist of the following: i. City application for funds ii. Public hearing before a citizen review panel iii. Recommendations submitted to City Council. Page 2 of2 e. The City Council will establish a review panel comprised of citizens and city staff to evaluate the applications, and make recommendations to the City Council. The review panel will be comprised of the following: One representative from each quadrant of the City, one member of the Senior Commission, the Library Board, and the Parks & Recreation Commission. f. The review panel will consider the provision of matching funds from other sources in evaluation of the applications. 4. Special Event Grants a. These grants provide city funding for Special Events in the city of citywide interest. b. These grants can be requested any time of the year. c. The requests will be funded from Council's contingency account. d. The application process will consist of the following: i. Special event application ii. Special Event Grant supplemental application iii. Approval of special event by special events committee iv. Allocation of funding by the City Council 5. Winning Teams Grants a. These grants provide funding to youth teams to offset the cost of travel expenses to national championship competitions. b. These grants can be requested any time of the year. c. The requests will be funded from Council's contingency account. d. Eligibility requirements are: i. The participants are all 18 years of age or under, ii. The group or team is an organized non-profit corporation or agency, iii. The request for funding must be made prior to the date of the event, iv. At least 90% of the participants in the team or group are residents of Carlsbad. e. The application process will consist of the following: i. Written request to Council ii. Allocation of funding by the City Council 6. This policy may be amended as necessary. Exhibit ~U CITY OF CARLSBAD WINNING TEAMS GRANTS APPLICATION Please complete the following application using the instructions provided on the last page of this application. Attach additional pages if necessary. Name Of Applicant: Aviara Oaks Middle School Odyssey of the Mind Team Address: c/o Mrs. K. Browne, 6880 Ambrosia Ln.,Carlsbad, CA 92009 Phone: (_760__) 331-6200 E-mail: cdgirod@roadrunner.com Contact 1 Diedre Girod 760-525-0388 Name Phone Contact 2 Linda Stuessi 760-331-7202 Name Phone Federal Tax ID # or Social Security #: c/o FAM.E.-odyssey #04-3595774 TOTAL GRAND FUNDING REQUEST: $ 2000.00 ELIGIBLITY REQUIREMENTS Please answer the following questions to determine if your team is eligible for City grant funds: Y N Are all participants on the team 18 years of age or younger? [x"| G Is the group or team organized as a non-profit corporation or agency? [x] G Is this request for grant funding being made prior to the date of the event? [x] G Are at least 90% of the participants in the group or team residents of Carlsbad? [x] G Has this team received less than three (3) years of grants from the City? [x] G (If yes, please note below the number of years you have received grants from the City, if any) None Will the grant be used to offset the cost of travel to a national championship/ competition? [x] G If you answered yes to all of the above questions, your request is eligible for this grant program. If you answered no to any of the questions, please contact Courtney Enriquez at the City of Carlsbad (760- 434-2812) to further discuss your eligibility for the winning teams grant. City of Carlsbad Winning Teams Grant Application REQUEST DESCRIPTION (if necessary, please attach supplemental pages to document) Applicant Background Name of Team (if different than applicant name): What type of group/team (e.g. baseball, debate, rugby): Academic Odyssey of the Mind Number of group/team members: seven Number Of Coaches: Two Parent Coaches and One School District Representative Affiliated Organization: Friends of Aviara Oaks Middle and Elementary Schools Name of the event attending: Odyssey of the Mind world Finals Location Of event: Michigan State University - Lansing, Ml Estimated cost per individual: $ uss.so Estimated cost for entire group/team: $ 11,855.40 Please list the years in which your team has received prior funding from the City: None Names of Officers and Board of Directors (if applicable): Name Not Applicable Title Describe your group/team: Our team consists of seven sixth grade students at Aviara Oaks Middle School. They are competing in a creative problem-solving activity called Odyssey of the Mind. They compete against other middle school teams in both a spontaneous problem and a prepared long-term problem. This is the fourth year for four of the team members. City of Carlsbad Housing and Neighborhood Services Winning Teams Grant Application www.carlsbadca.gov How will a grant to your group/team benefit the Carlsbad community or provide citywide interest? The Odyssey of the Mind is a highly desirable education after school program to offer our residents. It teaches valuable creative thinking. A successful team competing at the world level will attract families to our schools and community. FINANCIAL CAPABILITIES/BUDGET Do you have any additional funding opportunities (i.e. corporate or private sponsors, matching grants, family or individual contributions, or other fundraising efforts such as car washes) currently committed or pending? Please include any financial support (including in-kind services) that you will be receiving from any other City source. Please complete the information below: Name Garage Sale Strawberry Sales Wine Tasting at the Carlsbad Wine Merchant Family Contributions Corprate/Private Sponsors ASB Percentage of financial contribution towards goal 10% (Estimate. Garage Sale on 5/8/2010) 10% (Estimate. Completed sales on 5/19/2010) 10% (Estimate. Tasting on 5/8/2010)o//o 20 20 Please include a budget for program request including funding schedule. CERTIFICATION We, the undersigned, do hereby attest that the above information is true and correct to the best of our knowledge. (Two signatures required) Lirysta Stuessi Signature Coach 4-26-2010 Assistant Coach Date 4-26-2010 Title Date City of Carlsbad Housing and Neighborhood Services Winning Teams Grant Application www.carlsbadca.gov SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION & ALTERNATIVE FORMAT Please submit this application together with a written request (cover letter) to the City Council stating the amount of funding requested and state the intended use for this funding. City of Carlsbad will provide written materials in alternative formats and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to persons with disabilities upon request. RETURN COMPLETED APPLICATION Please hand deliver, U.S. mail, e-mail or fax completed application packet together with your cover letter to: City of Carlsbad Housing and Neighborhood Services 2965 Roosevelt Street, Ste. B Carlsbad, CA 92008 Attn: Courtney Enriquez Telephone Number: 760-434-2812 Fax Number: 760-720-2037 E-mail: Courtney.Enriquez@carlsbadca.gov City of Carlsbad Winning Teams Grant Application Housing and Neighborhood Services www.carlsbadca.gov