HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-10-25-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVE CE S COME TTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of October 25, 1982
Present Steve Baran, Judy Zabin, Roberta Black, Ilene White, Tom
Zarle , Nancy Zarle, Bea Phear, Renee Hatten , student intern
Minutes
The minutes of the meeting of October 12 were ammended Page 2,
paragraph 2 The committee had discussed prioritizing their recommendations
to the Selectmen, but had come to no firm decision regarding prioritizing
if the process were not to be opened up to other applicant agencies
Sub-Committees
The town has received funding requests from Mystic Valley, CMARC, and
RePlace, which Bea has forwarded to the sub-committees Steve and Bea
met with the CoA subcommittee last week and Skip Reynolds is trying to
reach the CoA chair, George Harris , to plan to have the subcommittee
attend the next CoA meeting on November 9 They plan to work with Bea
in making thier recommendations
Steve requested that the subcommittee be prepared to make preliminary
reports as follows RePlace and Mystic Valley on November 8; CMARC
and CoA on November 22 Recommendations will go to the Selectmen by Xmas
Outside Requests
After the discussion at the last meeting, Steve talked to Jim Crain and,
at his recommendation, to Steve Politi about the possibility of opening
up the funding request process to other agencies that might be serving
the town Both Selectmen approved the idea, especially to gain insight
into new areas of need Both had felt it important to not give the
impression of trying to stimulate town funding, nor that a determination
had been made in advance to forstall an agency getting the type of
funding they had received in the past
The arguments in favor of opening the process are to assist in needs
assessment and to potentially locate a program that is worthwhile The
arguments against are that there is a danger that people will think the
committee is trying to pump up human services , that it will create false
expectations , and that it might prove too much to evaluate
It was decided to put a press release in the Minuteman, sending a copy
to the providers list, that requests a one page statement of goals and
objectives, with a price tag attached if needed The press release
would address the concerns of the Selectmen and point out some of the
criteria for funding Bea will draft a release, checking with Nancy and
Roberta, for the November 4 newspaper The deadline for requests will
be November 19
Providers Council
Renee distributed a draft agenda for the next providers council meetings,
which outlined three potential tracks task force/small groups to
discuss articulated gaps; agency spotlight series; group discussion
on prepared questions
It was felt that there needed to be some continuity in agendas from one
meeting to the next, and that the agency personnel did not yet' know
each other enough to plunge into discussion It was decided to modify
Renee ' s second option, with a focus on crisis intervention, spotlighting
several agencies around that subject Perhaps a case can be presented,
and general discussion arise after a panel discussion Judy pointed up
the danger of getting too clinical, which would be a duplication of
the elderly and adolescent ongoing case management groups
The next providers council meeting will be scheduled for December 6
A panel of presenters will be selected by Renee around the issue of
crisis The issue of information and referral will be addressed by
the committee after the budget period
Enablement
Dave Enman hadplanned to come to the meeting, but was ill The group
has decided to look at two buildings first in a study of the town, and
also has other project ideas Bea and Steve felt that they were moving
along, but were having trouble congeling as a working committee, in
part because health considerations make attendance irregular They are
also continuing to assess the question of subcommittee or independent
status
Respectfully Submitted,
Beatrice Phear
Human Services Coordinator