HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-03-19-HSC-min.pdf Human Services Committee Minutes , 3 19/90
l Present Renee Cochin and Bob Cushman, Co-Chairmen; Dick
Dougherty, Leonora Feeney, Ann Irving, Seymour Mandel ,
Sheila Martin, Dennis Murakami , Human Services
Committee ; Steve Baran, Human Services Coordinator ;
Stephen Coan, Reuben Rotman, Karen Steudel , Heller
School Team
Minutes of 3/5/90
The Minutes of 3/5/90 were approved
Heller School consultants/needs assessment
The consultants introduced themselves Stephen Coan graduated
from Brandeis in 1984, has served as director of youth ministry
for the Archdiocese and with the Brandeis admissions office His
field of specialization is youth and family policy Reuben
Rotman is participating in the Brandeis Hornstein program for
Jewish communal studies, works at Temple Isaiah and plans to
pursue a career in the field of Jewish community relations
Karen Steudel graduated from the Boston College School of Social
Work in 1987, has done child therapy in a mental health center
setting and specializes in policy and planning for children and
youth
( 1 The draft Work Plan earlier presented as an attachment to the
most recent set of Minutes was based on two meetings with Steve
Baran and Renee Cochin The consultants considered it focused
and feasible It included the gathering of demographics and
performance of a needs assessment ( systematic appraisal of human
needs ) and setting up a strategic framework
Options for pursuing the assessment included client survey,
population survey and interviewing of key informants The
Brandeis team was planning to meet with key informants , e g ,
town officials, proprietary and non-proprietary providers and the
clergy, and examine human services budgets and utilization in
similar towns Following interviews with a variety of providers,
they planned to evaluate services by three main providers and
conduct an examination of Lexington' s service delivery response
to special needs
The strategic framework included analyzing both present and
desired states of human services, assessing need , and the gap
between present and desired states This would be followed by
considering why the gap should be closed ( Is it worth the time
and money? ) and how it should be closed The final product would
be a framework, a map showing where the Town wants to be and how
it will get there This would mark the beginning of an ongoing
process
�) The consultants asked the Committee to suggest various
Human Services Committee Minutes, 3/ 19/90 Page
n
definitions of human services assistance to the poor, helping
people whu have difficulty dealing with society, services to
assist humans, and activities which enrich the human experience
The Committee was then asked to portray what the poor looked like
Examples given were Cambodians (higher than average number of
children, lower than average income, not speaking the language
well , living in rental housing, etc ) and the elderly ( invisible,
isolated, some lacking in transportation, others frail )
Renee commented that the Town was having considerable difficulty
in defining its role in providing human services and would be for
the foreseeable future This led to the Committee members being
invited to discuss their views of desirable end states These
ranged from incremental change (Dick) to dissolution of the
Committee as private groups took over (Bob) , to an expectation
that the Town would always have a limited role, although the
determination of what was meant by limited remained an open
question (Renee) It was felt that the needs assessment process
might raise the consciousness of the Town
In summarizing, the consultants noted that if the Committee could
articulate a vision, it would be able to advocate effectively for
services At the same time, the Committee' s perspective was one
among many The consultants would be ascertaining what were the
C1 perspectives of other groups
The Committee saw the need to further focus the consultants'
scope of work and decided that the evaluation of service
provision, including services to special needs populations,
should be deleted from the work plan The list of respondents
under "private/proprietary" should be enlarged to include health
providers and health care professionals A timetable for the
students to meet with the Committee was decided as well
AIDS Policy and Planning
RePlace had approached the Board of Health about sponsoring an
AIDS task force to respond to the needs of adolescents The
Board had declined since they lacked staff and time Bill Blout
had expressed concern that the Town was not interested in
responding to a social problem The incidence for the adolescent
population is not known, since the disease would not declare
itself until after a six to ten year incubation period No
decision was reached by the Committee on the RePlace request, but
Steve asked why RePlace could not develop a plan and take
leadership while the Committee supported the undertaking
Renee reported that she had joined a school task force to develop
a policy on AIDS It would discuss such issues as the protection
of the rights of the individual and who should serve as
gatekeeper for coordinating medical care for a child People
f"
Human Services Committee Minutes, 3/ 19/90 Page 3
(Th
with AIDS are now a protected category under the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973 (amended )
Town Meeting Members' Association Meeting
Renee reported on the meetings of the TMMA The Selectmen and
the School Committee seemed to be moving toward supporting an
override package which would cost I 1 million dollars The "B"
(balanced) budget would be adopted if the override did not pass
Senior Health Monitor report
Renee felt that the Senior Health Monitor program reporting
format needed to be improved COA representatives will be
meeting shortly with the Human Services Committee
Planning for Town Meeting
There was some discussion as to what the role of the Human
Services Committee might be during Town Meeting, particularly if
the Committee found itself disagreeing with the Selectmen
Should the Committee adopt an advocacy, as opposed to an
advisory, role? Steve felt the Committee had not fully
communicated with the Selectmen, and, therefore, it would be
C 1 inappropriate to oppose them on the floor of Town Meeting Bob
Cushman, felt the Committee' s role was clearly advisory, and it
would be inappropriate to take on an advocacy function at the
Town Meeting It was recognized that individual members could
ask fur a reconsideration of the human services budget which
includes the RePlace account This would permit a further
assessment of the situation at a later point in Town Meeting
Respectfully submitted,
Stephen Baran,
Human Services Coordinator
U