that sound that accurately cover yes yes that's exactly right most of my I had some similar questions um and just wanted to clarify um at the close of our last um I had to leave a little early from the budget committee but I spoke with the city manager today and with um the county folks uh and and so I'm glad to see that we can we can potentially make this work with some of that cares funding so thank you for looking into that and uh happy to hear that so that that support can continue for our for our community nonprofits thanks hi my motion stands I have three points I want to make on this one since we've been talking about his historical context the community program's budget has been cut from almost three million dollars to a million dollars over the past two decades and we have asked for you know increased you know application you know hoops to jump through for for applications and for reporting purposes um so that's one two the administrative costs for determining you know who exactly where which program won the cuts right and then two which of the programs might we might be able to fit into this other category um most likely a process being set up that is going to require uh uh nonprofits to apply for that funding so um so on the administrative cost to the city for doing that for such a small amount of money seems um it just doesn't seem necessary to me um and that kind of gets I'm just going to now go back around to one of my earlier comments that this kind of gets at my big concerns about the administrative kind of consultant heavy approach that we take to this kind of funding um we could just leave it in place and you know take one consultant contract for you know that produces a power point for us and just leave it be so the that third uh concern is the burden on nonprofits to be able to um you know for to try to restore you know five hundred or a thousand dollars in some cases very small non-profits that um do provide critical services and the determinations about what's essential and what is food essential is childcare essential are you know senior service you know what I mean there's all all kinds of things to be considered essential and I would argue that they all are so you know I'm not going to um withdraw my motion my motion stands and um if others want to uh come up with an alternative after the vote um if that's necessary then what we can do that but I mean I just think this is this is just kind of a ridiculous thing to be nitpicking about um in the in the grand scheme of things so we'll leave it there council member Matthews and council member Byers I think I'm agreeing with council member Brown but I just want to get clear with it so my understanding is we anticipate with a reasonable degree certainty that we're going to get some care funding within the relatively near future in the amount of several hundred thousand dollars is that a correct statement I guess that's the city manager yes yes our allocation is going to be approximately actually it's approximately uh half a million um yes so I really uh support the motion if this is what it is of um not making the cut with specific direction that the um amount of that cut the backfill to the maximum degree possible with the anticipated care funding period I don't support giving any further direction on the care funding because we have a bazillion cares related issues to face so when we get that money then that's a longer discussion have I understood it correctly that's the question yeah I was waiting to be called upon uh yes so I didn't provide that um additional clarifying direction but yes that is the thinking that um to the extent possible uh the um the that amount could be backfilled for the organizations that are eligible uh for care tax funding yeah Matthew's brought up what I was going to bring up so I'm ready to support the motion understanding that the amount of the care's money will backfill and make it whole make everyone whole okay I just wanted to get clarification Martin when did you say that this you expect these dollars to come in for the care funding because this is new information for us tonight I was just checking with Bonnie I believe that they've given us a notification already of the amount that we're received which is approximately half a million dollars the council it has to go to council approval so we need to schedule it onto the council and so we should be getting it in the next couple of months it'll be this fiscal year and you will take further action at the council to allocate the funding so it still has to come back to you so I think I said the recommendation was to right have that those funds be allocated for those purposes but you would have to make that decision when it comes back to you um I'll see if uh I don't know if uh Bonnie is the your panel that's from can add to that to know from I guess I'll just for me clarification say um I hope to get the services the essential services covered in terms of the safety net providers but um also recognizing that there's other essential services that have been drawn on more so than others and how are we ensuring that they're able to access those dollars and if I'm hearing you correctly Martin I I heard that there's certain services that won't qualify for the care sellers is that accurate exactly but the uh as I understand that it has to be COVID related although many um nonprofits and I happen to know some of this that serve on several boards of nonprofits are doing quite a bit of additional COVID related response such as second harvest food bank community bridges so uh there is that uh ability to to make that case for many organizations but there would be others that would not I would suspect I don't know for sure so we can't promise that it will be one for one uh you know offset for every single organization uh as well and uh a direct list comes on here and I think can can further clarify thank you yes just to clarify a little further the the funding specifically from CDBG for CARES Act is specifically COVID related and there are requirements that it must not be replacing general fund dollars so we in order to do that we need to make sure that each of these organizations if they're applying and want and to be eligible for the funding that they are providing specific care and services related to COVID and I think most of these organizations are doing that so hopefully most of them would be eligible I will say though I'm not sure how many of these organizations would apply we do have a limit to the number of organizations that we can fund with the CDBG funding there are some minimum amounts that we can award due to the amount of reporting that has to be done by each agency it's it's definitely one of those funding sources for CDBG where the reporting is quite intensive so it's it's just a consideration for those organizations so some of the more established organizations that have received CDBG funding in the past will not have any problem whatsoever so community bridges you know as as the city manager mentioned as well as Second Harvest Food Bank and some of the organizations that are already submitted for either the first CDBG round or even the second round under the CARES Act it will be an easy application process for them but some of the other organizations with that receive smaller amounts from the city might have some challenges with this type of funding okay nice I appreciate that so it sounds like there will be some application sort of or some sort of formal request to get those dollars to go towards their programming one way or another if it goes with the CARES Act I mean I'm not a big fan of bureaucratic structures and I think we want to leverage these dollars especially as we can I know that a lot of organizations are especially the non-profits do sort of struggle with some of the technical resources so how to support them versus the others that kind of attention yeah yeah we'd want to do it as expedited and as easy as this process is possible really because we want to get the dollars out there yeah yeah absolutely thank you this just complicates what I thought the situation was I thought we do not make the the recommended cuts we cover that when we get the CDBG we can we can do some analysis of which groups in which services are doing COVID related and do that transfer back it sounds now like we have been holding applications for each of those backfills you want to just clarify what it is we're doing here I'm and this is just so I know I prefer the simpler but if the simpler isn't possible who that question goes to yeah I uh this is the first I'm sorry I'm thinking thinking this through the first I've heard of this approach because what we I think what you're suggesting comes from around is to go ahead and I suppose we can work with it if the idea is we won't disperse the funds until we kind of work out who's eligible and who's not and then and then disperse them at that point where we know where there's that difference I guess that's what we'd have to do come up with a process like that versus everybody getting cuts and then people applying and making it up as they go through the process I think that's a distinction that you're making from a process perspective and I think we can work just quickly checking with with with Bonnie on that Brown I'll allow you to maybe reply yeah I the the my my intention here is to to not make the cuts today to those programs and then of that $87,000 there will be organ you know there and among our list of organizations that get funded there will be some that can apply for those funds it I'm sure there are creative ways I mean you guys figure out all kinds of ways to do creative accounting and fund balancing so you know I I just want to so with the expectation that that CARES Act funding will go to you know help with the cost of the community programs funding that went and also augmented because more than $7,000 available to us so that's you know I mean with you know so I guess that's my my intention and so the motion was to just not to withdraw those cuts and with the expectation that CARES Act funding will help support some of those programs and I think if we say it that way kind of generally it doesn't you know technically mean that we are backs you know we're using CARES Act funding to perform you know general fund functions that's my you know just my the way I get my sense of it and correct me if I'm wrong I think that the only the only consideration or thought is that that would not as I understand it would not result in any savings to the general fund which is again the purpose of making the reductions but obviously that's up to the city council just having a hard time understanding how it if the if CARES Act funding so if we take $87,000 distributed across the 60 or so organizations that we fund and we say we're not going to make those cuts at this time and then we're going to when we get CARES Act funding figure out you know who gets what as part of that I don't understand how that that wouldn't be you know helping with the general fund so if you're suggesting that once we figure out how it's allocated and then we offset that they somehow then reduce their budgets by those amounts that we've figured out then that would but I wasn't clear where they use it but that was okay I kind of understood you to say let's not fund them and in addition provide funding from CARES if you're saying no let's fund them but once we figure out who's eligible and what they can receive then we offset that then then that would result but that's what you're saying I'm just if that's what you're saying the end it would that is what I'm saying and I believe that which that council members use uh Justice Seattle okay so then that's what and I think that's uh then yes we can we can try to make that work if that's if that's what you're saying yeah I might be the only one in the group that has zero experience with nonprofits obviously I've encountered some of these in my professional capacity on any boards I do not know how they work so maybe someone can enlighten me so for the funding they get I am assuming it's coming from a number of sources because they're not operating on this miniscule budget um is there anything in the safety net of the fallout of COVID that um from the federal or state government that allows nonprofits to apply for funds directly from the federal or the state government for funds that maybe have been impacted due to um the situation okay yes yes there are um again serving on the board of directors I know that for sure there are multiple sources available from the county and directly from the state for uh CARES uh COVID impacts uh now it depends on on what the organizations are doing so it's uh it's not every single organization um but because of the pandemic uh uh there have been allocations given that are directly to nonprofits from other other other pots of funds um in our case they give us funds and then they give you the city council the discretion of using it for our own programs or for community programs uh it's entirely up to you uh like for example I can tell you with respect to the half a million dollar allocation uh some of what staff would like to reserve some of that amount for is for homelessness response uh COVID related because we anticipate having some impacts on that uh in addition to obviously the community programs uh but yes to answer your question there is some of that available as well so if this was like you know if they did lose these these amounts they they could potentially get it elsewhere too the situation for every single organization but potentially for some of them yes that it would be available feel free to invite me any of your your meetings uh nonprofits so I can learn more yeah yeah but again I can't speak to every single organization in the exact amount but uh it's certainly available to some of my own personal experience you know I think a lot of what these organizations some profits get funding from all kinds of sources I'd be happy to any of them probably give you a little our own virtual background with that what we're talking about right now is the level of funding support they get from the city of Santa Cruz they all get money from a whole lot of other places um a varying amount um and so again my understanding is that we will keep the funding at the original level without the cuts with the expectation that when the care funding arrives we will backfill to the maximum extent possible to reduce the amount of drain on the general fund and that's where it ends and then any other decisions about the care fund will be made at a separate time because I agree there's a whole lot of things it could be spent on I also just want to point out the community foundation did an absolutely spectacular fundraising community drive specifically core care's relief funding and they have dispersed it to community non-profits that's been the whole idea is to for them to be a focal point for community donations and disperse it quickly to non-profits who are doing important COVID relating work so there are other ways for the community to support this is just about the city funding I would just add I also was going to invite councilmember golder to have a conversation about this you know and if you want to look at the community programs the breakdowns I have that document and but councilmember Matthews kind of covered that and just the the only other thing about you know this blank statement that well yes you know their organizations are getting funding from the state and the federal government to you know to help with their budgets yes that is the case however it in many of those cases and all of the cases that I am aware of in our community those funds are for very specific cares related functions that may be new functions that these organizations are ramping up to try to to do to serve the community and so it's not like they can just find the you know thousand dollars or without you know the federal government's just gonna you know backfill in that way so it's really you know it's this is a way for you know unrestricted funding for non-profits that is pretty critical for them to keep their to stay whole as I think so you know try to help clarify a little but if you want more detail I'm happy to suck anytime yeah I and I think I think the whole council shares you know shares the commitment to these organizations a lot of people don't know if it's a nonprofit or something else that's providing them these all all these services but I think I think we all have a long history of supporting and and acknowledging the the safety gap that a lot of these organizations serve in our community I I won't ask for an amendment to the motion but I I do hope that as the staff reviews things that I think there are there is a level of essential services that I think we want to achieve as we continue to make our way through the COVID issue and so I'm hoping as we sort through how this is going to get administered that some of those types of considerations and I'm thinking about making sure food can get to families I'm thinking about you know rental assistance I'm thinking about you know if there's legal assistance kind of things you know these kinds of things that are keeping people stable in their homes making sure families have food childcare I think is very important so people can get to work if they need to go back to work so hopefully we can divide the system that you know again doesn't necessarily choose one or the other but kind of keeps an eye on the kinds of things that are most helpful for people at the point in time and I'm just going to say publicly because we're on TV the Santa Cruz Community Foundation for any non-profit organizations I serve on boards of many served on boards and and and run non-profit organizations Community Foundation of Santa Cruz has both a COVID-19 relief fund and a wildfire impact fund so again if nonprofits are in need of assistance that's another place to to look in the near term to to the point that many non-profits gather funds from a lot of different places so please take a look at their website as well take advantage of our our little TV time here I'm supportive of the motion as well but I do just want to publicly make those notes around sort of looking at some of these essential things that I think deserve to maybe be a little bit more robust in our giving so thank you thank you council member Watkins I just wanted to echo those comments I think that's sort of essentially what I was trying to say earlier is that there are certain things that have come up and that how government can be nimble to really ensure that some of these basic services and needs are really met for our community and so how we move forward we can also go forward with that awareness so I know you didn't want Vice Mayor to make it as a formal amendment but I just want to recognize and echo those those comments in that direction City County Task Force on UCSD expansion. I wanted to see if we could find a way to be in or reduce it so that it can remain open for at least part of the week. Thank you council member Golder this is one that is really hard for me too I'm wondering if we could perhaps given the conversation we had earlier direct staff to return with you know a plan for you know some options for keeping the the museum open that we could then consider and make that decision with a little more understanding of where we might get some additional funds and or volunteer involvement one possibility. Yeah I think direction to staff is appropriate and that might be a I don't know if we need to make that into a motion or I'm sure that Tony is is probably happy to happy to try to make this happen. I've already reached out to some of the surfing groups sounds like a lot of people are already already starting to get organized around this so I think if we can just have the commitment from Director Elliott to potentially work with some community groups that hopefully maybe we can figure out a way to either have a reduced schedule or figure out how to fill the gap so they're just in some brief checks this evening since I brought this up it looks like there's some some real energy around trying to trying to resolve this deficit so I but if we need a motion to direct the the Director Elliott to do that I'm happy to make that motion after after further discussion okay I support this general direction we have to either we have to adopt the budget so see they're going to have a cut or not a cut or something in between so maybe Tony do you want to suggest but I get the impression we all think there's very great potential for additional fundraising and volunteer support for this so um it kind of a oxygen like support modest amount and Tony's nodding his head Donna's nodding her head so I think that's that's what I would support just a lifeline while we rework. And then as out there on the hours you're going to stump me on the hours question I was ready on the budget question as uh if Rachel can log on as Rachel's logging on here Rachel's a recreation superintendent um just quickly from a budget standpoint um the the annual budget for temp staff is approximately 27 000 since we're already a few months into the fiscal year um that value uh essentially the the cost avoidance having not been open at the surfing museum is approximately 8 000 so um you know just as a as an option in a frame of reference to be 27 000 minus to 8 000 um I think specifically let me see here I think it's actually 8 400 dollars so anyway if you're looking for an exact number um as an option that would be that but I'll send it over to Rachel for the hours here to the council members yes the hours vary um throughout the year so they're open a longer amount of time during the summer but they do reduce in the winter months I think they're closed on Wednesday for example and then they have shorter hours during the week um the surfing museum is allowed to operate as Santa Cruz County is in the red um zone and so when we're in purple indoor museums are not allowed to operate so it has remained closed just because it's been unable to open we are able to open under red and so we were looking even just at a reduced schedule on the weekends in red just trying to accommodate on the tourist traffic that come in on the weekends and even in red we are only allowed to open at 25 capacity and the museum is very small so we were focused on you know our funds on the weekends when we could accommodate maybe one person or a family at a time in the museum so it will be a modified opening even when we open just due to the COVID restriction not be that would not be spent um I think the idea here is just my hand up to you know or Justin's the mayor to get towards a motion or some kind of um so I'm thinking why don't I maybe put a motion out to see if we can get closure on it um I'd like to make a motion that we retain um $10,000 in the line item for the museum uh under the parks and recreation budget to maintain limited hours for the surf museum as allowed under under COVID rules and um to direct work with community non-profit partners for additional funds as needed to maintain um the museum and a in a reduced hourly reduced our situation for the rest of through the end of June through the end of June 2012 yeah I'll I'll second it but I think we could also say to um um work with additional volunteer and fundraising to operate the museum to the greatest extent possible I mean why restrict ourselves yeah that's that's a good amendment I'll take that amendment thank you I had more layers of red tape but is there a way to add in like maybe increasing any retail or retail opportunities or opportunities to make money at the lighthouse and um I took a really interesting class history of museums when I was up at the university and I know those kids always have to do or don't always need to do community service I wonder if reaching out to them to come down and do hours uh volunteering in the museum I don't know how to facilitate that so I think if we if we can put in the motion direct staff to explore partnerships with community non-profits and partners on fundraising to raise funds to keep the museum open to the greatest extent possible and review additional business opportunities including um the retail uh the retail structure and use of volunteers um for maintaining open hours how does that sound is that where museum that could yeah I I think all of that is exclusive of the amendment which was just to reach out and involve community and all of the above I don't think we want to be too specific with what we expect everyone to be feeling go out and be creative I do have a clarification though on the wording when I get mayor's attention okay yeah go ahead saying investigate other retail I mean that's really broad I hope we meant that doesn't send parts looking at opening coffee shop I don't know what you meant by that but well I guess um customer golder brought it up I assume we're trying to retail within the museum yeah yeah that's all I was meaning like selling some more postcards or no I got to raise a couple bucks I'm done with my comment no I actually have some familiarity with the runnyo's museum way back in time they do their damnedest yes they got about four square feet there you know what what doesn't sell and I agree they try and milk the best they can out of it so that's what I just think we're keeping it simple for the motion intent is is not coffee shop the retail opportunity maybe yeah we're clear of that a COVID-19 sweatshirt save them a certain museum I don't know something like that around the rage rangers and tell councilor matthews recuses herself um I'm willing to in the budget aside from the rangers please keep a little further clarification and I apologize I didn't answer this ask you this earlier in regards to the gang intervention and prevention funding the pride program and the youth academies what what types of programs are those and what's the potential impact for these cuts of education in the DA's office and others to collaborate on things like buying cleats for kids and in helping with a variety of other things to keep kids busy and during the summertime for instance as well as mentoring that has taken place those are fairly small amounts 20 to 30 thousand dollars if I recall correctly um it's off the top of my head I'd have to actually go and look at the line items but uh that's what those are primarily for partners are aware of that those cuts coming the motion at the same absence like park rangers and to the retain the victim's advocate realize that there's sort of a domino impact here but I think essentially that the hope is that we um maintain the victim's advocate position recognizing how valuable it is particularly in this time in regards to supporting our victims but we've seen sort of heightened numbers of domestic violence and clearly the mental health aspects and obviously she's a aside from the individual but obviously that that position is really critical right now because we're hitting that end and then in regards to sort of what the CSO park ranger conversation I think that could actually do as we make them we continue to vote on whether or not to maintain the victim's advocate so I would separate the two I completely understand excuse me what you're what you're saying councilmember and uh I think the difference I think what the mayor is privying at is if the position was cut it could wind up being a CSO position that would reduce the amount of CSO positions available at the ranger level also uh for those that could go over reapply and go over to that position so if it's retained wholly on its own that's just a completely different issue and just to clarify too and the intent would be if the victim advocate was a CSO that they would retain their victim advocacy functions except it would be in the CSO classification as opposed to the victim advocate classification so they would just be in a different classification but would continue to to provide the same service just to be clear and it would not result in a a reduction or impact to the individual in so far as their pay and compensation is mentioned to move this forward if there could be an intention to retain the victim's advocate position and we could further discuss whether we wanted to reclassification of that position as we discussed CSOs and park rangers later the question yes our intention would be to try to retain the victim advocate yeah so perhaps maybe you should discuss the rangers and then depending on on how that goes then you can clarify the victim advocate I think I think the question is the issue is that if you uh if the council does proceed with with the uh the reorganization of the rangers and CSOs then that provides a space or an option for the victim advocate to move if that's not the case so if the council does not proceed with the organization then there isn't a place for the victim advocate to to move and so therefore it has that impact so the council may not want to proceed under that scenario as well for the purposes of process then as I'm hearing you correctly that ideally we wouldn't take action on the police budget and we would have councilor matthews recuse herself at this moment I would motion and then we'll go ahead and go ahead and begin the discussions around the park rangers but I'll just state my intention which is to keep the victim's advocate position at this time and one former let's go ahead and withdraw the motion and then proceed with the conversation around the park rangers oh I was going to bow out I think I think we've settled down that it's really all about the CSOs because it uh I was comfortable from our discussion earlier today with chief mills what what it means and what those people will be doing and one will be a CSO a CSO will have that working title I guess you call but her class their heat sheet classification would be a CSO uh it all works out I don't know that there's an issue other than agreeing on the moving towards CSOs instead of park rangers maybe some of those park rangers will become CSOs as well so I think that's all the tense and talking a couple months ago with chief mill so it's been a while but I think we've pretty well resolved it if everyone agrees that having CSOs I think I said earlier I like the title but uh there's so much more flexibility and you can look for specific criteria that we're looking for at that moment so anyway I'm just ready to move forward with the the budget as outlined knowing that this that will happen the application process to be sure or would they have a reclassification I'm not a hundred percent sure with the with the rules the intent was to have everybody to reapply but we can certainly you know we think very highly of our victim advocate who's been here for 28 years and has done a marvelous job and I can't say enough good about what that person has done I would just have to check with HR to make sure that it's fair all the way across the board and that would that were consistent with the rules whatever that might be just one point at Lisa Lisa's on and can explain that further but it would be in an internal process only but go ahead Lisa yeah we we have multiple processes that we can use the first one that we would use is our internal um the process obviously we have more bodies than we have positions and so the intention would be to develop an internal recruitment list for those that are qualified for those positions and then interview from that and then if they exist the list is exhausted they aren't selected if somebody isn't selected we also have a current list of CSO applicants that we would then look to that list one other you know piece would be is that for the victim advocate duty some CSO part of their duties we would have to go to the POA which I anticipate wouldn't be difficult but we do have to negotiate that the those duties would move over to um the CSO because it's within the same bargaining unit so I do want to make it clear that the intention is to go through an application process of an internal um recruitment first then to the external list that we have existing thank you for the clarification I have to say this is one of the most difficult decisions I think that's come before me in I don't even know how long and like quite frankly it woke me up at night nightmares and I've lost sleep over this issue and I feel sick about it because I'm so passionate about public safety and so I'm just really torn and then having you know been in education so many years and pink flip so many times I know that it's really hard on individuals and families when you do get laid off and you have to figure out you know what next kind of thing and just whatever the outcome know that I'm sure I'm not the only one that we're not taking this decision lightly and that it's only in the context of this unprecedented crisis that we are even discussing this right now I don't have any paper or pencil in front of me so I can't form the motion that I would be articulate enough but I think um if Bonnie has written down what uh city clerk has written down what you said I will move that motion just as you outlined but I need her to read it because I did not write anything down maybe somebody else has written has it ready to go but could you ask the clerk to do that sure yeah Bonnie did you were you able to capture the language from you yes um I didn't catch who made the motion or second is I don't wait got there yet but park um to approve the police budget regarding park rangers and creation of CFO positions with one of those being the role of the victim advocate so move that motion retaining the park rangers and that title and several of them I want to go back to the earlier early this evening actually trying to answer the difference between a park ranger and a CFO as I understand CFOs would have that flexibility to do whatever the department needs them to do and if that is to have two of them in Pogganamper and our open spaces I something I I'm missing maybe someone who's not going to support this motion could help me on that but I thought that it all made it made sense to me let me put it that way that we will have those bodies they will be able to go into the program and go lead tours when things get normal and have that ability to a lot more uh more I don't know I don't want to say social services or um a sort of another level which will be part of the community rather than a park ranger so I think I think it's just expanding the duties and being able to hire those appropriate and hopefully many will get to stay they won't lose their job so anyway that's all I think that I think we really talked about this earlier tonight I'll just I can share my screen if you want great thank you thank you Bonnie this is Lisa I uh I see that says nine but the positions that are actually up for elimination are 12 oh okay I was going by the resolution I don't know if this could be a friendly amendment or if there's another way to discuss this but basically um I'm wondering just knowing that it's I know it's about the positions not the people but the person in the victim advocate position has been with the city for a number of years and if I heard correctly 28 must be close to retirement and so I would I mean just I'm not sure if it would be possible but to keep that position classified as it is and not have it be one of the six community service officers in this motion and then um moving forward collaborating with the district attorney's office in the next few years about how they could possibly take over that role as a victim advocate but when one of the callers called in and brought that not every victim has I don't know how they said it but basically has closure going to court kind of a thing and so there it could take years that I don't know I just would like to see some sort of transition period and seeing as that person is probably close to retirement age maybe several years of a transition while keeping that position intact could be considered with the numbers for mayor but they have several uh that's that eliminates just one more position from the department to come up with the total that we needed so that would eliminate that would reduce the number of positions available to to make CSO's from the range record by one. Well there's logic on this a little bit and that this person has been there for 28 years in this classification so to a certain extent just logically it makes sense to kind of maintain that until a natural shift would occur um so so then if then it's going to take up one of the six CSO's then the potential outcome would be then to make it so that there'd be five CSO's and a victim's advocate that would make the cost mutual is that correct maybe that's a question from our team or Andy? Yes I was just uh talking to Andy about that and that's what I understood Rene trying to uh Councilmember Gold they're trying to to say here um so it's uh I'll turn over to Andy I mean I think from a cost perspective I think it's it would be relatively the same I believe um so I think it'd be relatively cost neutral but it would be more the operational impact of any yes that is that is correct manager that that it would be fairly close yeah so that would achieve the essential listening level saving and so keeping a victim advocate and having five CSO's so to succeed so to be quick I need amendment to do that in my motion amendment to the main motion or should I just change it we do have a second I need it in front of me again or is it just understood let me uh why don't I recognize councilmember Gold and then if we need to circle back and then if we need to do it I got it yeah sounds good it was basically that yes what everyone just said is capturing what I was expressing yeah I if somebody could if you could restate that for the motion or for the minute please me I'm advocating that we keep the victim's advocate position until a natural transition maybe um when Miss Snyder retires and um then look for other options so if that means having to change the CSO positions to five and not can we be sure nothing's like sure in life but how can we be sure that if we make this shift that these CSO's will be out walking the parks because I have to say I spent a lot of time time up there poking it you know cruising around and I always see the Rangers and I've you know I to make sure it's still going to be safe up there for people that are hiking or biking or whatever bird watching whatever you're certainly welcome to that obviously to put in the motion that part of their duties would be in the parks and we would certainly agree to that I think one of the things again you have to understand is that hopefully all of the not all Rangers but the Rangers who are interested are welcome to apply for the CSO position and then wind up working in the same parks in the same areas that they are currently working um you know we are losing a couple of positions and that will have an impact but at the same time these are the same folks do the same duties right now with just enhanced responsibility and capability as well okay me again so is it possible to also add I know we talked a little bit when um council member Brown brought up as funding starts to come back to bring back people not in public safety but more in the interpretive roles I can speak to the water department and the sanitation department that lead like excellent field trips and so I would love to see that in the open spaces in the beaches would it be possible to provide some direction that you know moving forward as funding starts to come back that would be something we would have again yeah I can comment on that I mean absolutely of course I mean the council can can certainly ask that we look at that and we can move forward towards that and I think there's any number of ways that that could develop um you know the best case scenario quite frankly would be if there's some change in November at the federal level and we receive similar funding of the level that has already been adopted by the uh the congress at least the house of representatives that would probably allow us to restore these cuts at that level uh and maybe enhance in some ways uh although that's one time funding it would you know at least allow us to the restorative minimum um and enhance sort of one time sorts of things to respond to the pandemic uh that would be great um but we won't know about that then there's some certainty on that the other two is I think the the community will have an opportunity to have a conversation with the community uh particularly as it relates to parks about the level of support a level of effort because we do have a need even before the the COVID pandemic you know there is a great need for particularly infrastructure funding uh in our park facilities um and even then we were we were still struggling to meet the maintenance need of the parks as well as the the the range of functions so I think uh we'll we'll have an opportunity to have conversations with the community about whether they're willing to support those things potentially with respect to perhaps looking at about measure for example um and as you saw in our projections you know we will get to a point to where we can restore things other it's a few years away but we wanted to be quicker than that I think having conversations with the community there's certainly our potentials to do that we were looking at some of those options before the pandemic that look promising and I think we can look at options for variety of things and the beaches and levees like yeah that opens spaces that too if I may just make one more comment though I just had one more thought with respect to uh council member Golder's question the other thing too I think just to keep in mind is that again hopefully there will be some relief at the federal level but the other thing that you're going to have to think about that if we don't and we have to make the additional cuts next year that that's an additional four million so and again I'm thinking about the community and level of service uh in in this round we've cut a lot of the vacant positions we've cut a lot of the supplies and services part of the budget so uh unfortunately that is even going to be that's going to be as it's not more difficult than what you're facing out we have to do that level of cuts because it's it's so I think the conversation with the community will be even more critical because we're going to be seeing even further uh degradation of services and uh so I just wanted to point that aspect of it as we look ahead that it's not just uh uh making up for what you've cut now but we're having to come up with additional uh levels that are you know comparable to what we've done done now and it'll be a challenge as well so I'll have to think about that in terms of the community conversations I think a clean motion is better not anticipating what's going to happen in the future and in city managers talk to us we're just at the beginning of this budget nightmare so I would just leave it clean that would be my suggestion I wouldn't even anticipate you know until that's retired and then it's for CSO just just retain that position period I'm happy to move the recommendation as you described it seconded by Mayor Meyers


Welcome back to Why In The Morning at Why 2 5 4 channel is where you can find us across all our social media handles at Michelle Ashira is where you can find me across all my social In this particular session we dive into an interview that looks at online marketing strategist and in studio I'm joined with Catherine Kakai. She is a digital media strategist. Hi Catherine. Hello. You do it. I'm fine. Thank you. I've just mentioned your title, right? That's what you do. Tell us who Catherine is. My name is Catherine Kakai. I'm a digital media strategist. I specialize in social media management, content creation, branding, digital marketing, copyrighting, graphic design and photography. So basically I help brands with digital strategies for them to be able to create brand awareness on digital platforms such as social media. Alright. Fantastic. Guys back at home. See this is the conversation for you.  Remember to Why 2 5 4 channel at Michelle Ashira is where you can find me across all my social. So Catherine. Yes. When growing up, is this something that you like, you foresee? What did you desire to be when you're just growing up, when through life? Actually, growing up I wanted to be a lawyer. But that dream died in FOM2. But now when I was going to campus, I really wanted to do journalism. So I studied communication and media. And from the moment I started doing journalism, I was in love with social media. I love spending a lot of time on social media. Just socialize with people. But with time I was able to learn that actually it can be a career. And when I decided that that's the career path I wanted to be, I ensured I grew towards that direction. Alright. So who is a digital media strategist? Digital media strategist is a person who offers digital strategies for brands, for digital platforms such as social media. Yes. And I think for a particular section, it's most definitely clear that every business should have an online presence. Yes. And this came to pass and kilom to a call and especially after COVID-19 happened and the regulations whereby now we moved digital. So what is the best strategy to sell digital? Actually you have to, for brands like now, we are in a technological world and we are growing. And according to statistics, only internet users, there are so many. So for brands, one of the strategies is having a social media presence and ensuring you do market research for your target audience. Yes. Okay. Let me take you back. Kidogo. So tell us, for anyone who is watching this conversation that we are having and they want to get into this space, now they have like a clear as a grifo just of what you do and they would love to be in this particular space. What sort of educational background does one need to have? Actually, nowadays it's so there's access of information thanks to internet and online. So you can learn a skill just from the various platforms on YouTube. There are online platforms that give online courses. So you decide what you want to do if it's digital marketing like me. Even Google has Google Learn Digital where you can go and learn digital marketing skills. So there are various platforms like YouTube, Udemy, they offer free courses for young people. Also for anyone who wants to learn and perfect their skills. Yes. So all I need is my smartphone, Wi-Fi or even Bandos. Yes. And I have the information. Yes. Fantastic. For how long have you been doing this? Professionally three years now. Okay. But like I told you, the moment we joined Kampas, I was like this and decided this is the line I'm taking. I decided to grow in that line. All right. So for a business, so this is a business startup. We are coming up, we are thinking about how to set up, right? So what are a couple of requirements for a business startup to just put in mind about the business before embarking in a digital marketing space? Doing market research for your target audience because you know like now digital platforms like social media, each one of them has a purpose. Each one of them has statistics of the kind of people who are there. I think they are your target audience. So you need to do market research to know like who are your audience, who are your target audience. Like if you are dealing with a product that targets young girls or women between 20 to 30, which platform can you get them. So doing a market research and also ensuring that the platform you are choosing it has the audience you are targeting will make you succeed. Okay. Still on target audience, when it comes to now let's shift content creation, what determines the best outlet for a particular piece of content? Creativity. And getting also market trends, what's happening, like what do people like? Do people like short videos? Do people like long videos? Because things keep changing, like with digital, actually with digital media, you cannot predict that this will be here for long, like something can come up. Like you remember back then, there was a time Snapchat was... I was the infant. Now it's TikTok and you never know another platform can come that is better than TikTok. So you need to be researching and you get to know what's trending. Like what are people, which platform are people going to so that you can also move there. Okay. And how can you identify? Because if I'm a content creator, I don't want to waste time, right? There's so many apps coming up. As you've said, there was Snapchat. There is still Snapchat, but there was a time it was like the in thing. Yes. Now we have TikTok and then there's so much going on. There was a time even Messenger was in there, but now how do I avoid not to waste time just to acquire this app and just create a following. Tell people on my social, find me on this particular app. How will I know that this app is actually going to hit and I'm going to make a name of myself in this particular platform? Actually when you do statistics, like you're able to know which platforms people are using majorly. Like if you want young people like models, you'll find them on Instagram. That is according to research. Like maybe we know because we have a background in digital media, but now for somebody who doesn't know these statistics online, the platforms are providing statistics. If you want Facebook, if you want Twitter, they'll tell you what kind of audience is there. And actually those platforms, they have campaigns and your campaigns you can target them to specific audience, even age group and things like that. So as much as Facebook has a variety of audience, you can maybe when you're creating content, you ensure you're doing campaigns that target your audience. Alright. So I'm so sure you're part of this team that says business owners, different personalities maybe in business, in career wise, different careers that should have an impactful online presence. Break it down for us. What does that entail? Having an online presence includes having a social media platform and also not just having it and it's their domain, having content on the platform, plus not just any kind of content engaging. People don't have time to waste time on things that are not creative or things that are not inspiring because when you're scrolling on social media, do you just read everything? No. No, you just go specific to things that interest you. So being creative, having a social media platform and ensuring the content is engaging and also interacting with your audience, the people who are on your platforms. If I was to comment on who is the famous aziad page and she replies, I feel so good and I'll never leave her page. Okay. So also interacting with your audience as a person if you have a social media platform and show you're interacting with your clients and also not your clients, your audience and also the content you're creating it meets their needs. Alright. So it's not just posting pictures and videos and leaving my social media? No, it's not about that because now Kenyans, if you take for example Kenyans, Kenyans are very hard to please and it can tell you when the YouTube channels, people are opening up YouTube channels so you find some people committing it's boring, go research, do more research, it's not creative and things like that. Okay. Speaking or still speaking about our target market and audience, so how should companies measure their social media marketing success? I'm using my platform to just advertise different brands, maybe it's a business, maybe I'm a personality in a different career. So how can our business just measure their social media marketing success? Most of those social media platforms, they give you page insights. Like you can be able to track how many gate meets you had, how many people are able to see the content you created on your platform and also we have other apps or softwares you can use like Google Analytics to be able to track progress of how your page is doing. Yes. Alright. So I have a couple of friends who they don't have a LinkedIn presence and I always tell them that it is important also to network and socialize. Is there a way that you can use LinkedIn for marketing? Yes. Actually LinkedIn is a very good platform because basically it's for professionals and you can market even your skills and anything you like to tell young people like platforms like LinkedIn they can really help you. You never know like a skill you're having out there could be your potential client could be on LinkedIn or your potential employer could be on LinkedIn. So having a LinkedIn presence will help you in your job searching or also when you have a skill that you want the world to know. Actually me I use such kind of platforms and through LinkedIn I've been able to get a lot of I've networked with potential clients and very important people. Alright. So we have Stacey from Nakuro. She's asking how can I take control of my brand online through social media marketing because all those are like those negative reviews and yes I want to be present online but again how can I curb the whole situation of negativity? Actually social media can be toxic at some point but the things you can ignore like if you're doing the right thing because people always have something to talk. We have had media personalities or influencers being body shamed but if you're doing the right thing you just do your thing because you cannot control even if you say you'll keep deleting the negative comments sometimes you just have to ignore though it's hard because it can get to you especially if you're body shamed but everyone gets into social media with their own purpose people are struggling with their own issues so maybe they're looking for somewhere to release their anger so sometimes ignore do what you're doing give it your best as long as you're doing your best I'm sure that the good people are giving you positive feedback if everyone is saying this is bad you can go and analyze and say is it worth it if they're saying maybe your videos are not clear you can go and improve on the quality that is a valid thing but if somebody just comes and say you're fat Body shaming which is wrong you can just ignore them Okay so what are some common social media marketing mistakes that businesses make especially during the early stages of starting out Most startups or people lack patience because when you social media and digital platforms it takes time you cannot just start today and you have 10,000 followers it takes process and then also you can have the followers but they will not automatically translate to your clients so you need to have patience but I'm sure out of the 10,000 at least you'll get 5 or even 10 slowly you progress and make progress but most startups now if they engage a digital media strategist if you don't bring it they're not getting clients they will fire you they don't see your work and you're like big brands like Safaricom they are making money they are known but they still have platforms because having a social media platforms help you connect to the already existing clients and new clients plus you need people need to know you exist you're still there in the market that you have not been out like you're not out in the market like you need to know Safaricom is still there as much as they already have clients Okay, let's speak on the aspect of creating a particular certain perception we have situations whereby content created even artists currently this is a compensation going on trending that we have artists who are buying views so is this something that is advisable and is it workable is it effective is it impactful at some point yes Are they real people? at some point no because now if you are a content creator you need to connect with your loyal fans but now if you buy those viewership these are people that they don't connect with you and when you build the base the base of you have a connection with your audience they are able to know they'll be waiting you see the premium gangs on YouTube they are waiting they've seen somebody has uploaded their content and you'll see that's how you see the platforms they have a lot of followers but now when you check the comments the engagements they are zero probably they bought they bought the viewership Oh yeah, because that's some comment section whereby they are saying in this particular allegedly there's an artist claiming that they are buying views on YouTube and when you look about on their likes but the views are over millions Yes, yes So that's how it goes but you know it's good when you build your brand with the people you can connect with and you relate to it so it's much better than just buying people who are not even interested So we have Jonte from Kusumu he's asking how long does he take before he starts seeing results from social media marketing I think that's the same question where we were talking about patience Alright So what is email marketing and is it still effective in today's age? Yes Email marketing involves like having people get to know about you through emails like if you have a website people can log into your website and they can be getting notification just like SMS on their emails like if you have offers or you have new products and things like it's very effective like personally most people nowadays like we have a lot we spend a lot of time online like if you want to know what is happening on BBC and they cannot access the channel I have subscribed to their emails so you get to see what they have posted and things like that So email it's very effective because nowadays is there anyone who doesn't check their email? No if you are in their business world you have to Yeah, definitely most people like being online and to the internet you have to check your email when you wake up in the morning you check your email maybe a client or a job you applied so it's very effective because there's so many people who check their email and you're able to connect to their clients at personal level because you can even personalize the messages you're sending they can ring you've posted this watched this things like that So that's the way that actually increases the click through rates Yes, yes, sure Personalization of content Yes, and actually through email marketing you can target your other platforms maybe you've done a podcast or you have a YouTube video maybe they have not logged into YouTube but you can notify them through the email that hey, this is up on my YouTube channel hey, check this, my podcast is out Yes What do you tell your parents that you do for a living? because I'm trying to avoid explaining that especially to our African mothers and fathers Yes, yes But now at least they understand before they were like and parents they have the mentality of 8 to 5 if you're not going to a physical office what are you even doing? So what are some of general tips for social media success? Like I said In comes to marketing Marketing Like now really by the time you're thinking it's social media you have a niche of what you're doing or what you want to do Like I said doing a market research understanding what your audience is all about so that you ensure your strategies are aimed at targeting your audience and your content is engaging and creativity plus the rules that apply on the platforms Like for instance on Facebook when you're posting Facebook gives a lot of air on newsfeed for titles and topics that spark conversation because the social media platform so if you just post your picture blankly like that and maybe it does not spark conversation it may not get a lot of viewership and something like that but now when you understand how it works like now for Instagram hashtags do work for Twitter also hashtags do work so understanding how these platforms work like what works on like Instagram we know it's pictures so you show your posting quality pictures Facebook ensure you're you're doing conversational you're posting conversational content so understanding how these platforms work and the rules and what involves the content and the platforms will be able to see you succeed in the platforms Fantastic so when it comes to content marketing what are the steps to developing a content marketing strategy First finding a niche secondly doing an audience research also doing a competitors research you get to see what your competitors doing and then now implementing the strategies that like now you have seen doing also research on what are the trending what are other people doing like now there are things like stories stories have been brought stories on Twitter on Instagram or LinkedIn so you see what the trending things that are happening and ensure you implement them you know to be constantly creating new content because these are pointed out by you get as a creative you get a blockage you're trying but nothing is coming through you're not being creative you're really trying but it's just like a blockage Consistency is key especially on social media alongside with patients consistency is key like you might be thinking people are not noticing you but the moment you take a break they'll be like why did you stop creating content and people could be not be responding by the actual following but consistency is key don't give up have patience even if you're not seeing results keep doing and also look for if you don't have the skills you can look for a digital media strategist to guide you and tell you like this is what you're doing wrong this is what we can do and things like that On there looking for a media digital media strategist in a situation whereby I was doing constant posting and probably blogging as a content creator and things happened, life happened I stopped doing it so how do I do a come back when it comes to blogging and YouTube and now my people are waiting I neglected them at a particular time so how do I do a come back you can do a video to tell them like what you've been up to why you took a break I've seen somebody like Ketak Trace because like you see most social influencers most of them have other parts of their life they're dealing with maybe they're into business they're into acting so like for Ketak Trace at some point she was busy with her life she took a break from her YouTube channel then she did a video and advertised it on her platform that hey I'm back sorry I've been this and this your audience will be able to understand ah we took a break for a reason maybe you were unwell or things were busy and things like that and now you ensure you're coming up with something better to keep them good okay so for someone who has watched this conversation till now since we started and they're still questioning why do I need a digital media strategist what would you tell them actually you see as a digital media strategist I ensure I'm always researching to ensure I'm implementing the best strategies for you for brands because that is what I do for brands plus most people are busy and then one of the things with social media platforms you need to to be creating immediate feedback like you as a person like now you have your own social media platforms here you're here on TV like if somebody has commented on your page have you been able to go and see like and reply to them things like that so I come in when you're busy with your other things you can be running other things of the business you just relax me and they are taking reply in your comments and things and the audience actually feels good when you instantly reply so managing social media so looking back in this journey what a couple of achievements that you look back will be like I don't regret taking this particularly actually I've been able to network and find the amazing people plus I've been able to encourage young people like actually what triggered what influenced me to venture into digital marketing and going public with my skills was job hunting can be daunting in Kenya at some point but social media is a good tool I decided to I was using it for other people I didn't know it will work for me so I branded myself branded my platforms and I went public with my skills actually there's a post I did on LinkedIn it had 14,000 views I got international inquiries people were like I was like so I've been helping other people market their business I could market my skills make money out of what you love actually even if you're into chapati business or mandazis market yourself online make sure you have a social media presence because people are making money your clients are there on social media waiting for you couple of challenges that you've faced along this journey one of the things is keeping up with the trends they keep changing so I'm constantly on research doing research because the same trends you were applying last year you can't apply them this year so that is one bit and then another thing when you're dealing especially with startups like we had talked about patients people want to see results immediately when they engage you and they don't see they feel like you're not doing work when they don't see like they're getting clients they don't know that it's beyond that and it takes patience so dealing with startups has been a challenge especially I don't understand the importance of social media presence and a social media manager or a digital media strategist but I try to explain to my clients this is what I do and those who see like actually you're doing something for them they appreciate it so I guess people back at home if you're not going to take anything from this conversation just take the fact that you should be patient and consistent allow what you do and stick by it and make sure you make good money out of it so how can people find you across all social media handles if they want to keep this conversation going on Facebook and LinkedIn you can find me on Kakae the digital media strategist and on Instagram and Twitter the digital media strategist at Kakae Digital alright there you have it that is Kathrin Kakae digital media strategist so make sure you follow up with her keep the conversation going across all our social media handles that is at Y2F4 channel so you can find me across all my social Kathrin, thank you very much for creating time to be with us so Rama Gukko will be coming up with another interview on the health segment so make sure you stay tuned so we have so much coming over right here on why in the morning remember if it's Tuesday it's entrepreneurship Tuesday at Y2F4 channel so you can find us across all our social media handles


One of the things I want to share with you this morning is about this greatest gift that we have You know, and I don't know where you're at in your walk with God and your relationship with God For those who don't know like I didn't grow up in church Didn't grow up with religion. I Believed in God. I didn't know anybody who didn't believe in God lived in La Puente by Nogales High School and Everybody I knew was either Catholic or Jehovah Witness Everybody believed in God Not a lot of people practice religion and their faith. They just believed in God Maybe went through, you know first communion and things like that and that was about it Until I moved to Chino Two weeks before 10th grade we moved because someone was killed in a drive-by on my street and it played water polo and Swam at Don Lugo and my friend on my team was a believer and led me to Christ and I was praying like Lord, don't let me get emotional. I don't know why when I teach I get emotional and My life was changed ever since So the week after Easter that year I gave my life to Christ. I was invited to the youth group Praise God. I was invited to the youth group and then the week after I went to the church for the first time Because that first event was a special event at the beach and I surf I surfed yesterday. I was freezing and And I gave my life to Lord. It was the greatest gift I've ever received in my life And when we think about gifts like before that I looked forward to Christmas And I was thinking about it as I was thinking about the study this morning as thinking about you know gifts Remember when I got into skateboarding and it got my first professional skateboard And it was like what I couldn't wink to tell everybody and take it outside and hang out with my guy friends and stuff and skate around the neighborhood and do all these things and Now that I'm older I have my daughters who are 14 and 16 and I'm looking forward to Luckily they're old enough now that they didn't want to wake up early today But I'm looking forward to this afternoon watching them open their gifts Seeing the look on their eyes matter of fact yesterday My youngest helped me wrapped wrapped my oldest gift and She said she saw the gift and she looked at me and she looked at it She looked at me and she looked at it. She goes. She's wanted this forever. I go. I know She's gonna be so excited and She was so excited for her. She wasn't thinking about a gift for her anything else She was just so excited for her sister to get this gift And I think about that when it comes to our faith when it comes to knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior Do we get excited about Jesus? Do we get excited about the gift that we have matter of fact? If you would in verse 10 and 11 it says the angel said of them Do not be afraid as he's as the angel was speaking to the shepherds for I bring you good tidings of great joy Which will be to all the people for there is born to you this day in the city of David listen a Savior who is Christ the Lord? Powerful a Savior The very thing you need see listen during that time the people were in need of deliverance They were longing because of the oppression and everything that was going on during that time They were longing for a savior the Bible says in Galatians 4 verse 4 and 5 But when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law To redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and then when you read in Luke chapter 1 the whole story of John the Baptist Being born is a key is and the angel coming and they're all you know afraid of the angel and the angels like not This is all good You hear about Elizabeth how you know getting pregnant with with John and all these things and they're just overwhelmed with all these things and then Mary The Bible says in Luke chapter 1 That when all these things were said of her what's going to happen to her she simply asked how can this be? And in Luke chapter 1 verse 37 it says it's made possible by God's Spirit But what was made possible? She was counted worthy for what? Well, some of the things that we sometimes forget about she was counted worthy for her ridicule There's this woman who hasn't been with anybody and she's pregnant like Now I'm a youth pastor if a young lady comes to me and said Dustin don't tell my parents, but I'm pregnant like And she says I don't know how it happened Now if your child came to you and said that I'm sure that you probably wouldn't believe them, right and How's Mary like having to deal with this and then we look in chapter 2 and you see in verses 1 through 4 that the senses was taking place and they were traveling there from Galilee to Bethlehem which was 80 miles Can you imagine being pregnant traveling 80 miles in that day? I Mean to us for some of you you might travel 80 miles one way to work today Car train whatever it might be but back then Being pregnant 80 miles can't imagine and here's an interesting thing. She didn't have to go Joseph had to go he had to do the registry, but she didn't have to go. Why did she go? Maybe it was because The gossip the ridicule everything else that she might have been experiencing in her own hometown there But it's interesting how God took this census this governmental thing This thing that maybe people think oh, we shouldn't have to deal with this and all that the taxing of us and you know In God's like I'm gonna use it for my glory. I'm gonna use it to fulfill Prophecy that this child would be born in Bethlehem and It's amazing because I'm thinking about This year and I don't know I've mentioned this before like I don't know if you've ever had a no-good very bad day Starts off. No good ends up very bad And then it turns into 2020 The day went into weeks months But as we're this year has been so overwhelming politically Pandemically all these things and yet It's easy to look at these things that happen in our society and that we're dealing with and take our eyes off Jesus And when we take our eyes off Jesus, we realize we're heading we're lost and we become overwhelmed We're talking to Pastor David the other day and he was telling us about like during Vietnam Time that in the newspapers every day. It was talking about death tolls And it becomes overwhelming when you see another number another number another number and it's easy to become overwhelmed with life and even today you know thinking about Christmas and gifts and Maybe not being able to give what we want it to or whatever But we have the greatest gift of all in Jesus Christ our Lord our Savior and And God took this situation of the census Joseph having to go to the Galilee to bring to truth to to fruition this This prophecy about Jesus Now it's interesting because when we think about our lives, it's been said that and I believe this sometimes we prefer peace and abundance, you know Again, one of the things is being a youth minister. I like to be as real as I can with the students and saying listen God's gonna give you joy. He's gonna give you peace. He's his grace his love and mercy, but your life is going to be difficult It will be hard to follow Christ The world will try to knock you down Satan will want to attack you your life will be difficult But don't give up and don't quit because the Bible says he'll never leave us nor forsake us and The Hebrews reminds us to look unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith and we go through tough times And in these tough times, how do we? stand You know as we think about Christmas and stuff, you know, it's interesting to see us Lewis once said God whispers to us in our pleasures speaks in our conscience But shouts in our pain and it's his megaphone to rouse our deaf world And see perhaps through all that we're going through God may be Using these things To speak into your life to draw you closer to him There's a song I first heard David Crowder sing and then Josh our junior high youth minister sent it to me the other day and It's a here's my heart But and he sent it to me and it was Lauren Daigle singing it Here's my heart Lord speak what is true speak what is real and It's just one of this most incredible powerful songs and so when we're going through things and everything where we're going through trials We're suffering when we're we easily forget what life is all about Even for Christmas we forget what life is all about we think it's about gifts. We think it's about all these things It's about the greatest gift. It's about Jesus Christ who came When we think about it, it says in John chapter 1 that in the beginning was the word and the word became flesh and dwelt among us And they traveled to Bethlehem, which means house of bread the birthplace of Christ It's interesting because it knowing that he was born in a manger It's been said that he was placed in a manger that people who act like beasts might partake of the bread of life In John chapter 6 verse 35 and says this that Jesus declares that I am the bread of life He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst Now it's interesting because I want to point out this story as they get there It says in verse 6 it was the days were completed for her to be delivered and so she brought forth her firstborn son wrapped him in a main wrapped him in swollen claws and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end and so This manger this trough this feeding trough for animals No room for them in the end Nobody would make room for this pregnant woman You know, I don't know like when I was taught, you know Hey, you're in a crowded room and there's ladies standing up like as a gentleman stand up and give her your seat at least offer Nobody offered this pregnant woman something of comfort and then it says that The shepherds the shepherds who living out in the fields verse 8 keeping watch over the flock John talked a little bit about that how they would keep watch over the the sacrificial lambs This is an angel the Lord appeared And they were greatly afraid now Shepherds again as John mentioned last night. They're just the common folk They weren't considered any They were ceremonial unclean dealing with the animals And yet they're just the common folk if you would And then angel the Lord appears to them And I don't know about you, but if an angel the Lord appeared to me, I'd be afraid too Like what's going on? And here's the thing that I want to point out this morning as we think about christmas I think sometimes when we think about religion we think about our faith when we think about all these things One of the things I love about christianity one of the things I love about the bible is the reality of it because It's not that god came for the rich and famous It isn't that god's like hey, I want everybody to be rich and famous and I want to show you the world and now he's like listen I came for you the common folk I wanted you to see the love and the grace and mercy that I've poured out for you And the thing about that is is I think it's important for us to understand because when we think about christmas And this gift Have you ever gotten a gift that you feel like I don't deserve this I have some of the greatest youth leaders That walk this earth that serve alongside me and recently for my birthday they blessed me and I opened this package and I I I cried And I'm like no no no you guys like I don't serve with you To I don't want this from you guys like I don't want it to be like that. That's not what our friendship is about And they sat there and go we know We just love you we wanted to bless you and they were all excited to bless me Sorry, it's overwhelming because it's like Our friendship isn't like that. I don't serve alongside you so I can get something like that I serve alongside you so that we could love jesus together and love the youth together And they wanted to bless me And it was just powerful. It's still overwhelming And one of the things today, it's interesting because I don't know if you do this in your house I would presume when you open gifts you probably start with stockings The socks The Let's open all these first gifts, right and then You know that your child is maybe like but wait, where's the one? Right, you know like where's that thing?  It says in verse 10 It tells them the angel says don't be afraid I bring to you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all the people good tidings means good news I literally means we're proclaiming the gospel And so what was happening was god was openly revealing how much he loves us When it talks about this joy It's joy because you can be set free set free from sin and I don't know about you I could tell you when I first became a christian And I still remember to this day because I still feel it where all of a sudden It wasn't somebody told me hey dust and stop doing this and stop doing that But it was when the lord started showing me hey, that's not what I have for you And he started taking things out of my life and adding things into my life he Whether it was music It was friendships. It was all these things And he would add things into my life and he would take things out of my life and I I never realized what true peace was what love was. Oh, I was loved by my parents and They still love me there. I'm so blessed to come from an incredible family But always looking for my identity always trying to be somebody And yet I found myself in christ great joy For all the people And here's the thing. Maybe you feel like you don't deserve peace You don't deserve joy Yes, you do You might say dusting, but you don't know what I've done I probably don't want to know and you probably don't want to say it Even john last night said that there's sins that he's committed that he's asked the lord for forgiveness of that only the lord knows We all know them We all believe it But here's the thing When I think about christmas and this gift the gift of life See jesus we think about his birth we celebrate the birth of christ because we think about the fact that he came to die that we might live And we think about the fact that we have forgiveness that we have the ability to be set free from sin Because a savior is born And it says this will be a sign A babe wrapped in swatting claws lying in a manger And it says in verse 13 and suddenly there was with the angel of multitude a heavenly host praising god and saying Glory to the god and the highest and are on earth peace goodwill towards man Listen I really believe today the lord would say to you don't be afraid Because in first john chapter 4 verse 18 it says there is no fear and love But perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment But he who fears has not been made perfect in love See you don't say to someone who's happy and fearless Don't be afraid But listen we're living in a world lacking joy We're living in a world right now that is oppressed We're living in a world right now that has turned their back on god And I believe just like in the biblical times we could say today i'm bringing good news The savior is alive and well and brings great joy Listen When we think about this savior christ the lord what he's done for us What he's done for all And this glory that's been shown One of the things that I want to point out is this christ who is our peace has been given to man Jesus is is not simply bringing peace. He is our peace He is our peace One of the things that's interesting when we go through hard times and we suffer Maybe you've seen this or maybe this has been you at some point. We run from god Hey, where's god when I needed him he didn't answer my prayer Why try? He ever said that before why try why care? What's the point that thing never goes my way? It feels like the world like benefits from being worldly And it seems like my life every time I try to get closer to the lord and and serve him and all this other stuff More hard things happen difficult things happen and all this And the bible tells us so but you're just like all right lord come on like really I'd like a break here And yet this peace The peace that he can even call him a storm remember when they were crossing the sea And his disciples were afraid and that they were going to drown and Jesus is sleeping in the boat and he wakes they wake him up and said Don't you care they were drowning And he wakes up and he says to the storm peace be still and he calms the storm And he looks at them and he says where why are you doubting? I want to encourage you this morning as we think about christmas as we think about our saviors Listen, you and I need to put our trust in the gift that's been given to us and our hope in him and know that He never leaves us nor forsake us. You know when we think about gifts You ever gotten a gift and your kids opens it and they're all excited and then you're like, oh, it needs 12 AA batteries and I didn't buy back And they're all excited and you're like, okay Hopefully the gas station has batteries because it's only open right now I'm trying to find batteries so they can use the gift the one thing that you were excited that they were excited to have And then what happens? Those 12 batteries end up dying eventually We get something and and it gets worn out and sometimes gifts or Use, you know, we get family members a gift card, you know for a restaurant or this and that they use it They're blessed and it's done We have the gift of life eternal life never ending in christ He's with us always He'll never leave you nor forsake you and so when we think about christmas when we think about this And we think about is the glory that's been revealed I wanted to point out in verse 15 What the shepherd said it says now let us go to bethlehem and see this thing That he has come to pass What's the lord has made known to us and verse 16 it says and then it came with haste You know, it's interesting because I don't know if you ever want to show people things on social media Like oh, you got to watch this video. You got to see this thing Or when there's an accident what we have is lucky lose, right? For those of you who drive the freeway all the time to and from work And there's an accident on the other side of the freeway And there's nothing wrong with your side, but all the lucky lose got to see what's going on over there The car that's just parked on the side of the road There's nothing wrong with it not even dented But for some reason it's making your drive an hour longer Because everyone's got to see it But when there's other things Where's this coming from? I want to see it. I want to get to it I I I want to show you something check this out The shepherds were like we want to go see Jesus We want to see this very thing that's been talked about And it says that they went without haste And they found Mary and Joseph lying in a manger And could you imagine just being there? Running, getting to this place where they see Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus And everything that's going through their head right now That it's all coming to pass what was just told to them and they're just pondering these things But one of the things that they didn't do is just keep that to themselves It says that At verse 18 and all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told to them By the shepherds And verse 17 it says and when they had seen him they made widely known the same which was told to them Go and tell You know as we celebrate Christmas and hopefully if you're going to your whether you're going home or Zooming with your family We have that scheduled this afternoon to zoom with some family members But however you might be Communicating with family and friends My encouragement to you is this we have an opportunity to go and tell I love the fact that now before we open gifts I read this christmas story to my daughters We stop and pray before we open gifts and the chaos that might happen in our living room with unwrapping presents I want to give them jesus I want them to know the same Gift that was given to me that they can have The same gift that was given to their mama My wife they can have I want everybody to know it I want to share with the world this greatest gift As we celebrate christmas you and I have a great opportunity To share what we know to share what we've seen That we don't hesitate always to run to jesus That everything in my life. I want to just run to jesus. I'm hurting. I want to run to jesus. I don't want to run from him I want to run to jesus What i'm doing great. Lord. Thank you. I'm gonna run to jesus My question to you this morning is this I know sometimes people and maybe this is you and if it's not god bless you Thank you for being here But sometimes people come to church on religious holidays like easter and christmas and if that's you Join us stay a while Come be part of our family May you know how much the lord loves you.  He died May you know that May you know that he gives the greatest gift that any gift any price any Can never be given And it's his life That you might have life That you might have forgiveness to sin that you might have hope Notice it says that the shepherds In verse 20 they return glorifying and praising god for all the things that they heard and seen I'm so thankful That the lord has given me my family my friends And most of all my salvation That I have a hope of eternal life a matter of fact the bible says that hope is like an anchor for a soul No matter what happens on this earth we get so Crazy about politics we get so crazy about pandemics We get so crazy about finances and all these things and I'm not saying we don't care about those things we should What I am saying though is The bible is clear that says seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness The bible says that we should be lights and soul The bible says that god has come to give us life and life more abundantly Your role in mind as children of god is to allow the father to love you To hold you And so as we celebrate the birth of christ We remember god's love for us And my encouragement to you this morning is that Even as the angels brought to the shepherds Good tidings of great joy And then the shepherds went and told these stories And as they've ranted to see jesus as they made haste Maybe true of us that in everything that we do that we make haste to Go see the lord Maybe true of us that we go and preach The gospel the good news to our friends and our family Maybe true of us that we know and seek to find out how much more he loves us And may you be reminded this morning that he loves you knowing that you're just a common person he took Ordinary people and did extraordinary things And god has a plan and a purpose for your life no matter how old or how young you are God is going to do incredible things this side of heaven until he takes you home All he wants from us is to say here i am lord I want to be a part of this family.  Help me to know you more See here's the thing when we put things together For christmas most of us people we don't read instructions we just like i'll put it together I don't know if you ever put a cabinet together or something and then you put it together You're like all of a sudden it's like wait it's backward And then you read the instructions and on the first page it says these go this way And you didn't do that because you thought oh it just looks like this And if you would have just read the instructions It would have spared so much time and so much heartache Our instructions It says i love you i want to show you i want to tell you i want you to know about this love Don't run from me Run to me Is it going to be hard yeah i'm going to tell you it's going to be hard Is it going to be rough yep i'm going to tell you all about that I will never leave you though I will never forsake you though I will always be with you though These are the promises we have as we celebrate christmas as we think about our savior And so my encouragement One if you have it today may you receive christ as your lord and savior Two if you have continue in that three don't run from him run to him Run to the lord always may he be your strength and your weakness May he be The one who energizes you and gives you light so that you might be a light to this world


Welcome to the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where I'm joined in the studio today by Maria Victoria Sukkhanik who is advisor for the Secretariat for Information and Communication Technologies for Argentina for ICTs. Welcome to the studio. Hello, thank you very much for letting us speak here in the Plenipot 2018. Believe me, it's our pleasure. I just wanted to start off by talking about some subjects that you've been involved in recently. One in particular has been SMEs and a resolution at this Plenipotentiary Conference regarding small and medium-sized enterprises. I wanted to ask you what role should small and medium-sized enterprises have in the work of ITU? Yes, Argentina has been involved in a lot of issues related to membership and in this Plenipot, fortunately, we could have a new resolution to encourage the participation of SMEs. This is really important especially for developing countries where our main industry, our main workforce is mainly SMEs. So we would like to bring them with a special membership in order to their capacity, in order to have their revenues so that they could be included and participate, bringing all their requirements and all their work mainly to the standardization sector. But also they will be able now to choose to participate in different study groups with differentiated membership and exceeding to all the rights that associates have. Why the focus on SMEs then? As I mentioned for developing countries SMEs is really important. Our industry is mainly, I can say that almost 90% of our industry is composed of SMEs. We do not have big companies and we realize that if we want to bring our main request, our main work here to ITU, we need to include them. In terms of academia, I know it's another subject that you've been discussing here at the Plenipotentiary Conference. As the role of academia is increasing in ITU, how has Argentina helped this rise? Well, we also started pushing academia in ITU, trying to bring them here. We also agreed on PP10 I guess to have a new membership for academia. At first it was a trial, now they are already members and Argentina has now 15 universities associated to ITU, they are working really, really good, they are participating a lot. They are taking leadership roles as associates, as associate reporters, also in focus groups and they are really interesting and another topic that we could advance in this Plenipot related to academia was a new resolution on the ITU Journal and that is really important for them too. It's a scientific publication that ITU has already started one year ago and now we could have a resolution from Plenipot to support this new publication and academia will be really, really interested in collaborating on that. And what kind of topics are being covered in the Journal? The Journal is one topic per publication that is chosen between the three sectors. They have been working on big data I guess or this new issue will be on big data, also they work on learning machine, artificial intelligence and they select one topic in order to have a publication. And how different is this publication to others that have come in the past? Because it's scientific, it has to do with papers, it has a committee that evaluates those papers that are supposed to be published. And this is reference material for academia and written by academia, is that right? Yes, yes. What about smart sustainable cities? I know that smart sustainable cities are another topic that you are also involved with. They are becoming increasingly significant in today's world. How is ITU and its member states helping to make cities smarter and more sustainable in your opinion? Yes, I'm also involved in chair of ITU study group 5 and also vice chair of the Initiative United for Smart Sustainable Cities and as we all can see nowadays, ICT is a tool that we are using in all different areas of our lives and smart sustainable cities are that and what ITU do is to help with standards, with recommendations. Also with the radio communications area, helping to make all these smart cities work and work fine and try to bring solutions to people. But smart sustainable cities at last they are like connected cities or where cities are implementing new developments, innovation, new technologies in order to better the life of people. What makes a city smart and in particular sustainable? Here we have two things, one side the smarter one that not always means using technology but using smarter or intelligent solutions in order to make things work better and on the other side making sustainable. For example, in ITU study group 5 we work on circular economy and there we are developing several recommendations on that, trying also to involve our ICT industry in this matter and trying to make ways also related with energy efficiency, trying because we are speaking now also 5G and all these new technologies and this will consume a lot of energy so we also need to think if we want things to develop and to develop fast how we will also make give solutions or give tools in order to administrate all these new demands especially on energy. And sustainable? And sustainable, well speaking about circular economy we cover the whole cycle not only e-ways that is one important topic in which ITU works a lot both in the T and in the G sector but we cover the whole cycle in order to attend also the reuse of materials and the different parts you can reuse in not only devices but also in the whole process we have in our industry and how ICTs can contribute also to reduce for example the missions in other sectors. You come a long way from Argentina to be here obviously we appreciate your presence I just wanted to give you the opportunity here for diffusing a message to both the participants here at the Plenipotentiary Conference but also our wide audience as well. Well I would like to thank you for giving me this time to address everybody and I will put focus on this new resolution on SMEs I think that now we will start working hard in order to promote this new decision we took here in Plenipot in order to explain all SMEs how the ITU world is for them to bring them here and to contribute to our work. Very victorious to connect. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you. Thank you.