12/15/95

Meeting with Sister City Assn

1:00 pm



Present:	Larry Evans, Bill Laffe, Mersada Begovich, Helen Boyle, Seth

		Spaulding, Vince Costa



A representative from Mike Dawida's office was to attend, but cancelled

that morning. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss involvement of

Allegheny County  and County Commissioners in the Sister City

Association efforts to promote sister cities in general and to talk about

specific projects like the Sister City relationships with Ulaanbaatar and

Sarajevo.



Since Jim Johnson the Dawida rep who was to come to the meeting did not

show, Laffe introduced two ideas for consideration for the Bosnia Project.



	1.) Presley Ridge Schools  

		Tri-state program aimed at helping "At-risk youth". Each state

		handles this differently. Western PA has a school on the

		Northside called Presley Ridge School. Handles 450 kids per

		day. These are kids the public schools can no longer handle and

		come from 9 counties in Western PA. the West Va. program

		provides group homes. National and international interest has

		been expressed regarding the programs. There have been visits

		from representatives of a number countries, including: Poland,

		Czech, Brazil, Portuagal, South Africa and Argentina to name a

		few. An internatioanl team is being assembled which would

		work on a training program which could be implemented in

		these countries. The make-up of the team will be: one

		representative from each country with the US providing six

		(three from Pittsburgh). They were thinking of including Bosnia

		in this effort as well.

		- This does not relate direectly to our efforts in Bosnia since

 		   they focus on junior and senior high students.

		- This may develop as a side activity or benefit from our

 		   contacts. Suggest Laffe talk to Lynn Cohen for better

 		   understanding of the situation.





	2.) Arsenal Family and Children Center

		Developed under Dr. Spock while here in Pittsburgh this

		program supports community involvement in children

		activities, pre-school to third grade, after school and on

		weekends. It is active-learning based in its approach.  It is

		supported by a company called Creative Playthings which

		makes playground equipment for children, especially for the

		disabled. It was established by a religious sect called

		Haterites (?). They are akin to the Quakers. They preceive their

		business as a mission and therefore reinvest any profits into

		the company. They are interested in working in Bosnia with

		pre-school and early primary children.

		- Suggestion that the owner (?) of the company, Mrs. Von Kurns

		   (?) met with Lynn Cohen and Noreen Garman to discuss the

 		   situation. Laffe to call Costa on 12/20 to make

 		   arrangements.



Spaulding noted that the key efforts of the USAID