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Home My WebLink About2011-08-02-CCTF-min Meeting Minutes Community Center Task Force Meeting August 2,2011 Meeting Time/ 7:30 pm/ Date: Location Ellen Stone Room,Cary Hall Members in Laura Hussong, Liaisons in Jane Trudeau,FCOA Attendance: Sophia Ho,Jim Goell, Attendance: Nancy Adler,LWV Florence Koplow, Guests: Marilyn Campbell,Dan Fenn, Betty Borghesani, George Burnell Lisah Rhodes. Absent: Tim Dugan Elizabeth Barnett has officially resigned from the committee. We now have 7 members. The meeting continuecwith discussions of site visits. Deleted: began Wellesley August 16 11am Wellesley Center Jane Trudeau will visit this center Sophia Ho on Arlington, Burlington,Sidman-Leventhal Jewish Community Center in Newton Arlington director told her she'd love to have a center that included seniors and little children Deleted: Sophia Ho visited Burlington director wanted to have a center that separates the ages,because it is so much trouble to have them together Then we(also Nancy Adler and Laura Hussong)went to the Jewish Community Center,they serve primarily young families and people who exercise No teens to speak of Didn't say Deleted: ,we can guess why why She feels having a CC will have big coordinating issues Harwich and Chatham. Florence visited these two sites Harwich was extraordinary in every way Built in 2000, has a senior area with lots of different types of rooms,area for toddlers and young mothers There are two floors,5 meeting rooms,4 very large so they can be made smaller There are one or two small ones,too,for private consultation Logistics 8000 people come in every(month?) They have many multi-purpose rooms,they allow 15 minutes between classes for custodians to move chairs etc for the next group Sometimes they don't even have that much time! Local TV is there,too,so can do programming from the CC Mixing of ages? Biggest problem was,when they were going to move toddlers away,seniors wanted the babies around!! Just come to one Halloween party or event and you see a true community Meeting Minutes Community Center Task Force Ages can be separate,they don't have to be together Teens have a youth person who does outreach, or they have special events Teens come! On the wall they listed 10-12 trips all over,very interesting Also on front sign,having a neighborhood garage sale This is a hub,everyone knows this is where they come together There are three custodians Very active Summer programs,winter programs $1 million budget Line item in budget Cost to build in 2000$5 5 million Exec Director open thinker, would he happy to come talk to us No budget problems Chatham is very different Started in 2007 or 2008,started with a brick building that had served many functions and stood vacant for a while Decided to make it community center and add on Renovation was very expensive,that made the cost very high The addition was nice,a smaller facility because they serve a smaller population The CC runs under budget of parks and recreation All sports activities for all ages,summer programs, mothers'groups Chatham has its own senior center, not part of this CC and don't want to be This is a place kids go after school, hang out,play things like basketball Kids come from about 4th grade until about junior year in high school This is really just Parks and Recreation Weston Jim on Weston Funding similar to ours Outdoor swimming pool,three floors Ground floor COA entrance, really seem to share the facilities Great room about 2500 sq ft No gym,but have equipment they can roll out,but no standing equipment No teen programs at all Doesn't seem to be much intermingling Leadership is KEY to be flexible,work things out People have to be dedicated,but pressure to generate revenue brings another level of possible conflict in allocating the rooms Marilyn one of the things seniors loved to do was to sit on the patio and watch the kids playing in the fields There were knitting classes! Weston is very small,perhaps it is just small and that is causing the conflicts now that it is so popular Discussion What are the success points of the centers that work? What makes it successful? Might need another visit if we refine our questions There are so many different perspectives,so how many are successful and why? How many are not successful and why? What was your target need and why? In Cambridge the target need was very specific to meet a need on Saturday,it was closed all day Saturday for that group,and the rest of the time it all worked more fluidly Each town has needs its centers satisfy,may not be our needs Harwich seems to have it all,under one roof For example when her daughter was at LHS she didn't know what was available and Florence made a booklet A CC can be seen the same way,has everything under one(roof,web site etc)a place to find out what you need,to find out what's going on in your Meeting Minutes Community Center Task Force town We may find out that a CC is not one place but multiple places EG yoga is at place x y z Chatham might do that Community is a feeling, but you also want to know about the culture of an activity One place when you go for one thing,you see other things going on It gives a connection That's what 'a place'does for you What do we mean by community center? How does it meet the needs? A good leader knows how to make the day happen All kinds of models work What characteristics do we think will work for us? What would make a good center for us? Sudbury had a CC built years ago with successful program for teens Should check in with them TM of Sudbury is Carl Valente's wife Lisah's CC when she was a kid Was wonderful,all ages,all there Kitchen,could learn anything at any point Hastings-On-Hudson, 23,000 people Didn't have a Hayden kind of facility,had an outdoor town pool part of the CC,skiing Betty is going to Hingham next Monday CC there is a private non-profit Senior center is a little like a CC because it is a branch off of town hall,and rec dept is also in town hall They have access to gym etc of rec dept,and auditorium Has a small cafeteria for employees that seniors can also use In rec area there is a room with pinball machines that kids use Douglas Home people end up in Center in wheelchairs Douglas home is just a residence,there are no programs Point is there is a visible population in Lexington who might benefit from opportunities in town We have a disabilities commission we can talk to Virginia Buckley is the person SurveyMonkey survey to find out what people want,give people a voice We should do this We all went to centers that had some kinds of multigenerational programming,but what seemed to gel is that there is a place From The Place what services are at The Place that made a difference At JCC in Newton they said they would not build a building they would lease space in lots of different spaces They are a non-profit and much bigger,but there experience was that the building became an albatross and could not adjust their programming as easily as they wanted to because they had a space that could not adjust Going forward Meeting Minutes Community Center Task Force Have Library person come in,they are a defacto CC Ruth Lynn? Children's programming Action Items: Focus group prep work Can we all come up with focus group questions so we are trying to get ready for fall groups? Put them someplace we can all access? Like a wiki Lisah create prototype wiki,email instructions to all on how to use All: start thinking about focus group questions • What are the groups we want to have to a focus group • What questions do we want to ask Jane: going to visit Wellesley center August 16, 11am Anyone else want to go? Contact Jane if so Laura • See if we can go to Sharon • Talk to LABBB and Hayden • Call Ruth Lynn from Library,ask her to come in • Call Virginia Buckley from Disabilities Commission • Try to make arrangements to see youth centers in North Andover and Woburn and let committee know when,see who else wants to go Marilyn will check out Sudbury Betty going to Hingham next Monday 8/8 Florence will call Bev Kelley and Nancy Barter,who was youth commission person The committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the July 19,2011 meeting. Meeting Minutes Community Center Task Force The meeting adjourned at 9:25 PM. The next meeting of the CCTF is scheduled for August 25, Deleted: the Ellen Stone Room 2011 at 7:30 pm in Room G-15 of Town Mall. of Cary Respectfully submitted by Laura Hussong