Agenda

Return

City Council Regular Meeting

Meeting Date:

04/27/2021

BACKGROUND

The Schertz Sweetheart Program has been coordinated by the city for 14 years. The program originally began under the umbrella of the Schertz Business Association back in 1989 which was a predecessor to the current Chamber of Commerce. The program was a traditional pageant program that focused on evening gowns, talent, and interview portions and culminated in a coronation of court members. The number of court members has varied over the years but there have been 4 members for the last 9 years - Miss Schertz, Miss Sunshine, Miss Jubilee, and Miss Friendly City. The court has represented the city at various special events and participates in parades in neighboring cities. The court also participates in a service project. Originally the program had fairly good participation, but over the years has waned, and ultimately only serves 4 youth.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we were unable to host the traditional pageant program and coronation in 2020. Thus, city staff created a virtual application process whereby participants created talent videos on their own at home and uploaded them to a site for the judges to view. They participated in live Zoom interviews with the judges and participants also pre-recorded a "Ted-Talk" type video on a persuasive speech of any topic of their choosing. The judges utilized these videos and virtual interviews to make their selection of the 2020 Court. Opportunities for the court to participate in activities and programs was limited in 2020 due to the pandemic, so the court experience was not the same as it had been. In 2021, we will utilize the same process because even though we are hosting special events and programs again, the Civic Center is being used exclusively for vaccine clinics and SCUCISD is not renting any of their auditorium facilities for outside use at this time.

Since the pause in the traditional program really forced us to revaluate how we put the program on, conversations among staff began again about changing the program. Over the last several years there has been discussion of evolving the program into a more inclusive format that can impact more youth. City staff did research on the Texas Municipal League's (TML) Youth Advisory Commission (YAC) program and looked at what other neighboring cities are doing such as Youth Leadership New Braunfels. There are currently 38 Youth Advisory Commissions across the state and there is an annual YAC Summit hosted once a year by TML. The YAC initiative provides cities with energetic volunteers for civic projects, gives city leaders a fresh perspective on issues challenging our cities, and creates a sense of accomplishment for youth. The Youth Leadership New Braunfels program is so popular that they had over 100 applicants for 30 slots. The program focuses on city government, leadership skills, healthcare and social services, and higher education. Participants go on a retreat and participate in a graduation ceremony.

GOAL

The idea is to evolve the Sweetheart Court into a leadership program entitled Schertz Young Leaders. The new program would have up to 20 participants and would be modeled similarly to Youth Leadership New Braunfels. Schertz Young Leaders would focus on leadership, communication, civic responsibility, community service, public speaking, and teamwork. Participants will get to engage with the business community and civic leaders, participate in a team-building retreat and community service opportunities, and represent the city at various special events.

COMMUNITY BENEFIT

The community will benefit from having engaged youth in the community who participate in service projects and learn about civic responsibilities. These young leaders will be ambassadors in the community and encourage engagement from the next generation to support their community. City and community leaders will benefit by having a fresh perspective on issues challenging our city.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION

City staff recommends evolving the Sweetheart Court program into the Schertz Young Leaders program in FY 21-22.

FISCAL IMPACT

Currently, the budget for the Sweetheart Program is $10,000 per year and the scholarship portion of the program is budgeted at $4,000. The program budget could likely be reduced without the need to put on a traditional pageant. The scholarship portion of the project could remain but be split among participants at a lower-level scholarship, or be eliminated. Once city staff receives feedback on the direction of this program, a more detailed budget for this program will be created. At the very least, this program evolution would not increase the current budget.

RECOMMENDATION

City staff recommends evolving the Sweetheart Court program into the Schertz Young Leaders program in FY 21-22 to be able to impact more youth in the community.

Attachments
Future of Schertz Sweetheart Program