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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-12-27-HSC-min.pdf Minutes Human Services Committee 12/27/00 Present: Barbara Ciampa and Helen Gravis, Co-Chairs; Robert Dentler Roz Gittleman; Steve Kelly' Steve Baran, Human Services Coordinator(recorder) Absent: Macy DeLong; Khalil Khatri; Christine Yedica; Cathy Abbott, Selectmen Liaison Minutes of 11/29:Approved with one exception: Helen Gravis had not reported that the Domestic Violence Response Team was planning to revise its brochure. Absences: Bob Dentler proposed that any member of the committee who did not attend three successive sessions should be asked to resign without prejudice to the merits of the absent member The committee voted in favor with one proviso: that this should not violate any Selectmen rules; it is the Selectmen who appoints members.Steve Baran will clarify this with Cathy Abbott,Selectmen Liaison. Janice Rudy, Eastern Mass. Literacy Council representative:Janice Rudy reported on the Council's activity in 19 other towns in Eastern Massachusetts. The Council is currently leading two groups of elderly Chinese Americans at the Senior Center a program which Steve Baran had initiated. All groups have facilitators and are usually eight in number to permit easy conversation. It was important for participants to hear native speakers. One to one tutoring is also undertaken. Helen Gravis noted that 30—40% of the Food Pantry clients are unable to read. Proposed Joint Meeting with the Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee at 745 p.m. on January 24: Barbara Ciampa had approached Tom Montanari,joint chair of the Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee. She had suggested to him that the missions of the Human Services Committee and the Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee be reviewed for common purposes and coordination. Linda Vine, Assistant Town Manager had telephoned Barbara Ciampa as to why the Human Services Committee was not represented when the present Director of the Social Services Department was being chosen. Linda Vine indicated that it was her oversight in not including a representative of the Human Services Committee and added that the responsibilities of the Social Services Director were still being defined. Linda referred Barbara to Donna Hooper who had been asked to consider what committees impacted the Social Services Department. These were: Youth Commission, Enablement Committee, Council on Aging, Human Services Committee and the Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee. The question arose whether the two committees would be more effective as one. Therefore, the meeting of the two committees was proposed. Steve Baran was asked to clarify what was the role of the Fair Housing Committee. He replied that their current priorities were affordable housing ('fair housing") and civility ("human relations'). Bob Dentler suggested that it was sufficient for the committees to meet with one another at this time. He, for one, was not prepared to consider a whole reorganization package.A getting acquainted session would suffice. The Human Services Committee will be concerned with meeting increasing need if a recession arrived in which case mental illness would be a more important social problem for the committee to address than affordable housing. 2 Committee agenda for the new year Bob Dentler noted that the recent presentation about mental illness at a Human Services Committee meeting was moving. In a recession, mental health issues tended to fall between the cracks and therefore should be in the forefront of the committee's concerns. Further there was a connection between mental illness issues and the No Place for Hate campaign. Hate is a form of mental illness. Committee members were interested in the possibility of a consortium of mental health agencies in the community confronting this social problem. Bob volunteered to formulate a plan of attack. It was moved and unanimously adopted that the committee would undertake a singular effort to describe, map and identify major unmet mental illness needs in Lexington.