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Town of Lexington Human Services Committee Meeting. 7:30 pm, March 11, 2014 In attendance: Betty Borghesanri, Norm Cohen, Lea Elkins, Emily Lavine, Stephanie Lawrence, Gail Rogers General administration: Lea introduced prospective member Gail Rogers who has lived in lived in Lexington for 18 months, having moved to town from Florida. Gail has formerly involved with home schooling and her professional background is that of a community health nurse. She has a masters degree in nursing and an interest in community -based projects. Human Services Dept, update from Emily Lavine: As of March 11th, there were 18 families living in the Quality Inn. These family units include 20 kids under the age of S. There are 15 school aged children. Lift Up Lexington (part of the interfaith community), an initiative to support the homeless, has become very active. They are providing care packages, food, nonperishables, toiletries, a monthly community meal (to begin soon), and activities during April school vacation period. The interfaith group is not bound by confidentiality, so things are moving so residents are more quickly feeling comfortable in accepting help, There has been a playgroup (in a meeting room at the Quality Inn) that Emily attends so as to make the availability of the Human Services Dept. known. The state is looking in to hiring social workers to work on site at the hotels Presentation by Marsha Lazar of the Asian Mental Health Initiative: Marsha Lazar, former director of Lexington Youth & Family Services, spoke about the Asian Mental Health Initiative. While the director of LYFS, Marsha found that Asian kids were 29% of initial drop ins but they weren't coming returning, They weren't coming back because they were unwilling to tell their parents, which LYFS requires for continuing services. Marsha saw this as a health disparity. She explained therapy is not a part of Asian culture, LYFS was awarded a grant from CHNA of $5,000 for a project to address stress faced by Lexington's Asian teens. Marsha assembled a committee of kids, parents, CARL, counselors, therapists, and other stakeholders who have been working together since October.