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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 031802D. DAVID THOMPSON, CO- CHAIR, AT -LARGE ROSETTA WASH, CO-CHAIR, INTERFAITH COUNCIL ROBIN BARNHILL, OCIM MAR VIN BLOCK, ADVISORY BOARD ON AGING LOUISE ECHOLS, AT-LARGE MARY BOWS, SOCIAL SERVICES BOARD MEL VIN HURSTON, BOARD OF HEALTH BARRY JACOBS, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BETTY B. MATTHEWS, COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE SUE RUSSELL, PARTNERSHIP FOR YOUNG CHILDREN LOTS KINZIE, ALTERNATE FOR SUE RUSSELL PAT VANDIVIERE, OPC AREA PROGRAMS REBECCA A. YOUNG, AT-LARGE SHARRON HINTON, MANAGEMENTANALYST, COUNTY MANAGERS OFFICE DRAFT MINUTES : Approved on: April 8, 2002 Orange County Human Services Advisory Commission P.O. Box 8181 200 South Cameron Street Hillsborough, N.C. 27278 Minutes March 18, 2002 �ountp ot A 17 52 4 A regular meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission was held on March 18, 2002, at the Government Services Center, 200 S. Cameron Street, Hillsborough, North Carolina. The meeting was called to order by Co -Chair Wash at 5:40 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Robin Barnhill; Marvin Block; Mary Bowe; Louise Echols; Melvin Hurston; Betty B. Matthews; Sue Russell; Pat Vandiviere; Rosetta Wash; Rebecca Young. MEMBERS ABSENT: Barry Jacobs; Lois Kinzie, Alternate for Sue Russell; David Thompson. STAFF PRESENT: Sharron Hinton; Nancy Paciga. STAFF ABSENT: Corinthia Barber. 1. Establishment of Quorum - Co -Chair Wash announced that a quorum was present and the meeting could proceed. 2. Additions or Changes to the Agenda nda - No additions or changes were proposed. 3. Member Comments and Updates - Co -Chair Wash asked for the members to introduce themselves and comment on their organization's activities for the past month or, if an At -Large member, to comment on current human services issues. It was noted that Ms. Barber, Staff Support from the Manager's office, sends her regrets that she could not be here this evening but that she is absent due to illness and is expected back in the middle of April. The members by consensus decided that a card be sent to Ms. Barber. 4. Items for Discussion /Decision - a. Minutes of 2/18/02 - were approved with correction to page 3, Item No. 2, deletion of first sentence, upon motion of Ms. Vandiviere, second of Ms. Bowe. VOTE: UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. b. 2001 Forum Report - Sharron Hinton Changes recommended by HSAC at 2/18/02 meeting were incorporated, and submitted to Board of County Commissioners for review at its 3/19/02 meeting. Co -Chair Wash will present the Report, scheduled for the Board of County Commissioners March 19, 2002 meeting, early on the agenda, at the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, N.C. The HASC members are invited to come. Ms. Wash added that this is an opportunity to add or delete anything or to give her suggestions for the presentation. She asked if there was anything the members wanted her to be sure not to overlook during her presentation. She added that the HSAC doesn't want the recommendations in the Poverty Forum Final Report to be shelved and we want this to be done in a speedier fashion. Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125: Fax (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga @co.orange.nc.us Human Services Advisory Commission - - - - - Minutes - - - - - - - March 18, 2002 - - - - Page 2 of 4 c. Distribution of Outside Agency Funding Applications — Ms. Sharron Hinton Co -Chair Wash asked Ms. Hinton what is the task tonight regarding the Funding Applications. Ms. Hinton replied that she would hand them out to the members this evening, which she did. The applications were divided into three groups according to the non - profits that the HSAC members were affiliated with. Because of possible conflict of interest, HSAC members may not review the funding applications from non - profits that they are affiliated with. Ms. Hinton then went over the review procedure with the members. Ms. Hinton further explained that each of the three application review groups needs to convene separately to discuss the applications assigned. She said that the members should review the applications individually, fill out the review forms, and have them ready when they later convene in their groups. Ms. Hinton said that the HSAC meeting on April 8th is reserved for the members time to work on the funding applications. However, since the review process is time - consuming, it would probably be better if the members meet in their small groups one time before the April 8th meeting, she added. Ms. Vandiviere asked what the criteria is for being allowed to review and Ms. Hinton said as long as the member is not currently affiliated it is OK; past affiliation does not preclude a member from reviewing the application of a non - profit. d. Confirm Theme for 2002 Forum DSS Board has proposed the Theme of Child Abuse. The Theme of Elder Abuse has also been discussed. Commissioner Barry Jacobs phoned staff today to send his regrets that he could not attend, and had added his idea for the 2002 Forum theme. He said that he would like to see included abuse of the elderly as well as abuse of children. He said that, relatively speaking, both are problems but one (abuse of children) is given more attention than the other. In fact , there was a recent 18 -month study done by a Congressional Commission that reported that 30 % of all seniors are abused in Nursing Homes, either physically or sexually. Mr. Jacobs would, therefore, propose that the topic for the 2002 HSAC Forum be "Abuse of the Vulnerable." Discussion ensued. Ms. Bowe commented that she agreed with Commissioner Jacobs. Ms. Vandiviere said that abuse of the vulnerable would not be clear as to the meaning. Mr. Hurston said that we could take out vulnerable and specifically say "child abuse" and "elder abuse." Co -Chair Wash asked how broad do we want to make this? Mr. Block commented that the subject of "spousal abuse" also be included. Co -Chair Wash asked if we are saying that we wish to expand the topic to include "spousal abuse ?" Ms. Vandiviere reminded the group that the original DSS request was for the topic to be "Child Abuse." Ms. Matthews commented that spousal abuse is related to child abuse. Ms. Barnhill said that if we are going to do this, we might as well do it right. She said that we could include all the above topics and have four breakout groups to discuss them. She added that we should also include that this is a part of the Hispanic community. She said that these women are really in a bind because they don't have their green cards and so feel that they can't go to the authorities when there is abuse. Ms. Bowe said that we should focus on solutions at this year's Forum. She suggested that we set the Forum up so that we end up with solutions. Ms. Echols said we can have the problems listed and ask if there are any to be added and then work on solutions. Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125: Fax (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga@co.orange.nc.us co.orange.nc.us Human Services Advisory Commission - - - - - Minutes - - - - - - - March 18, 2002 - - - - Page 3 of 4 Ms. Barnhill said we could narrow the panel to only the four areas being solved or worked on. Co -Chair Wash asked the members to think of a title for the Forum that would be comprehensive enough to cover all the themes we have discussed so far. There was consensus that we would be more broad in the topic to include all these areas discussed so far. Discussion ensued on a title for the 2002 Forum. Ms. Matthews said if we call it abuse, whether Abuse of the Vulnerable or other abuse, what that suggests is we are looking at the problem, so it might be better to have a word in there that suggests solutions. Ms. Russell suggested: " Addressing the Problem of Abuse in Orange County: Join Us in a Discussion of Abuse that Occurs Among our Most Vulnerable Populations: Children, Elderly, and Partners." Co -Chair Wash said that it sounded good. Ms. Young suggested: "Community Solutions to Abuse in Orange County." Ms. Russell added, ":Join Us in a Discussion of Ways to Address Abuse of Children, Teens, Elders and Partners." Ms. Matthews asked about the word, "teens." Ms. Russell said we could leave out partners. Ms. Russell said could we call it adolescents instead of teens. Ms. Barnhill said she likes the word teens. It was the consensus to leave the word "teens" in the title. Co -Chair Wash said that "adolescents" can be older kids, such as college students. Co -Chair Wash said that the advantage of using the word "teens" will be that this may alert parents that their young teens could be in abusive relationships. Mr. Block moved that we accept this title, seconded by Ms. Bowe. The proposed title for the 2002 Forum is: "Community Solutions to Abuse in Orange County: Join Us in a Discussion of Ways to Address Abuse of Children, Teens, Elders and Partners." VOTE: UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. Speakers for 2002 Forum Ms. Hinton asked for ideas for speakers for the forum. Ms. Young said that we could be very clear with the speakers that we need to work on solutions. We don't want to constrain them, but we want to be very clear that when we get into our small groups we will work on solutions to the problems, not identifying the problems. Ms. Russell said that there are two things: we want to learn about the problem and how it exists in Orange County, but she said that she didn't think that Orange County has all the solutions. She said that she thinks that is a limited view. She suggested that this be included in our Forum Packets. Maybe we can find information on creative things being done elsewhere to solve the abuse problem. We should not limit our vision, she added, because we have lots to learn about lots of things. She said that she was not in favor of the panelists telling what the answers are. Ms. Vandiviere said that there are statewide groups that monitor and study this type of thing, and that have the information available about what is being done elsewhere. She agreed with Ms. Russell that we need to go beyond Orange County for solutions. Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125: Fax (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga@co.orange.nc.us co.orange.nc.us Human Services Advisory Commission - - - - - Minutes - - - - - - - March 18, 2002 - - - - Page 4 of 4 The question was raised whether we would have money to bring in a nationally known speaker. Ms. Hinton said that maybe we could partner with another department and work on this together and come up with the funding for a national speaker that way. Ms. Hinton added that the earlier that we plan this, the better. Ms. Young reminded the group that we had discussed restructuring the breakout groups to bring in the Dispute Settlement Center. Co -Chair Wash added that this would be to "maximize the success" of the breakout groups. Ms. Vandiviere suggested Tony Dalton as being excellent at networking and putting together a Forum. He is at the Developmental Disability Training Institute. Ms. Young said we need one more meeting to clarify what we want. Ms. Vandiviere said that we have to balance this against the time remaining to prepare for the Forum. Mr. Block requested that educational materials be available at the Forum to show people where they can go for help. Co -Chair Wash said that in the past Staff has asked the panelists to send handouts to Ms. Hinton's office in advance. She added that DSS should have materials to go along with this. Ms. Barnhill that in May we can come up with suggestions for speakers. Ms. Echols encouraged the members to bring names for speakers in April, instead, because Staff needs as much time as possible to invite them. Ms. Young reminded Staff to include businesses in the mailing list. Ms. Hinton said the Chambers of Commerce are included in the mailing list. Co -Chair Wash requested that the faith communities also be included. Ms. Young also mentioned the School Systems and UNC. At UNC this information could be distributed through the medical schools and the clinics. She suggested that staff call the Administrative Offices of UNC to inquire as to the best method to get this publicized. It was suggested that the Student Government be contacted in this regard also. e. Date of April Meeting Staff reminded the members that they had decided to move the April meeting from the regular third Monday back to the second Monday, April 8t ", in order to give the Manager's office more time to process the results of the evaluation of the Non - Profit Funding Applications. 5. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. The next meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be on Monday, April 8, 2002, at 5:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. Respectfully submitted, Nancy Paciga Recording Secretary Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125 : Fax (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga @ co. orange.nc.us