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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-09-13-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of the Meeting of September 13, 1983 Present Steve Baran, Ed Foley Judy Zabin Stan Finkelstein, Howard Reynolds, Roberta Black Thea Sheveloff, Bea Phear The members decided to hold their regular meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of each month The next meeting will be October 4 in room G-1 (Recreation) Steve read out a laundry list of ideas for the committee to consider in making its fall plans He mentioned that during the summer Susan Adler, Assistant to the Town Manager, had contacted him about FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) funding for emergency shelter funnelled thorugh Bristol Lodge Dr Weiss, of Mystic Valley is following this and we should find out what Dr Weiss is aware of regarding emergency shelter needs and needs of the homeless This also raises the larger question of how many emergencies are handled. It isapossible area Of exploration for charitable trust money The Mystic Valley contract that was negotiated over the summer has met with Dr Weiss's approval The Town has signed it and is now awaiting Mystic Valley's signature Linkages Steve felt the issue of linkages among agencies and with the committee should be considered These include 1) School Committee - what planning is going )n for the time when Jack Monderer retires and what happens to the developmentally disabled when they graduate and are no longer eligible for 766 funding 2) Recreation - The Enablement Committee in involved with the Recreation Committee regarding access to recreation programs 3) Providers Council - what would be appropriate theme for providers meetings? Should we emphsize joint planning on a specific issue or problem, such as developing a resource guide working on cable tv programs? Who will organize the providers and what will be the role of the committee? Finances 1) Talk with the Trustees of Public Trusts possibly using trust money as seed money for various projects or programs Being aware of these programs raises new questions regarding renewal funding and possible competition with the traditionally funded agencies 2) Locate additional sources of funding through foundations and grants These could be tied to one theme, such as prevention There is the question of whether the committee is limited to deliberating only town funding 3) Should the committee evaluate programs currently funded or should they tie in funding to a theme 4) Consider the use of non-financial resources such as volunteers This relates to the Selectmen s appointment of Steve Politi and Bob Sacco to seek an expansion of volunteers under the rubric of community service Agency Orientation There is the question of evaluating currently funded agencies or expanding the subcommittees to look at areas of need and groups of people rather than just specific agencies Cable Television Steve has organized a program on curb crossings done a partial taping of divorce mediation, and had brainstorming sessions on adolescent issues There is the beginning of a team to work on a family problem solving series Bea has offered to help with the logistics, or it could be a student intern planning project Several of the people interviewed for the Human Services Committee had expressed interest in Cable TV (Sheila Martin and Eva Gill) Evaluation We have a promisefrom the United Way to come and talk with us about their evaluation methods using the UWASIS framework Planning The Selectmen have a goal of planning for Lexington 2000 We might become involved. Computer Application Alan November a teacher at the High School has expressed interest in organizing the data from the accessibility study Steve also talked to him about a resource directory, using the agencies that had filled out forms at the Providers Council last year Bea pointed out that the CAIRN project of United Way is now in the data gathering phase, and they will probably do a more sophisticated and comprehensive job Steve felt that we could also incorporate needs information Committee Administration Jim Crain has resigned from the Board of Selectmen, which means we will need a new liaison person Steve Politi discussed having new members appointed for three year terms, and repeating members stagger their continuation, so as to end up with a revolving committee Bea distributed a possible work agenda for the committee to consider She said that she felt the first responsibility was to advise the Selectmen on funding for next fiscal year, and she distributed the letter that had been used last year to the agencies requesting money There was discussion about whether evaluation could be a staff function, with reports going to the committee which would then set priorities It was felt that all the committees processes in the past two years had been a form of ongoing needs assessment, but there was concern that we hadn' t sat down and written our evaluative criteria Stan pointed out that one function of the subcommittees, in addition to evaluation was to maintain agency relations One of our criteria could be directed at encouraging agencies to collaborate Bea said there is already a fair amount of collaboration and she will outline it for the committee Judy suggested clustering issues eg mental health, elderly, handicapped and see if we want to plan around them Also she suggested requesting $5,000 in the budget for distribution by the committee Howard was concerned that we would always be faced with the problem of anticipated repeated funding from agencies that had been funded in the past, and we had an obligation to continue to look at their provision of services Stan said it is a political reality that the same agencies come back for the same money but we could write into the RFP that collaborative efforts are encouraged, or we could target a specific need in addition to open-ended RFPs One specific need had been information and referral, which could be an initial target for specialized RFPs Additionally, the committee could set up a third category of one-time small grants for creative projects 1 At the next meeting, the committee will determine its subcommittee structure and how it communicates with agencies Steve will check with the Selectmen to find out how much leeway there is, and Bea will report back from her meeting with the Trustees of public trusts Respectfully Submitted, mi "'- l V"" Beatrice Phear Future Meeting Schedule Tuesday, October 4, room G-1 (Conservation/Recreation) Tuesday October 18, room G-1 Tuesday, November 1, room G-15 Tuesday, November 15, room 111 (Lexpress) Tuesday December 6 room G-15