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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 061702D. DAVID THOMPSON, CO- CHAIR, AT-LARGE ROSETTA WASH, CO-CHAIR, INTERFAITH COUNCIL ROBIN BARNHILL, OCIM MARVIN BLOCK, ADVISORYBOARD ON AGING LOUISE ECHOLS, AT -LARGE MARY BOWS, SOCIAL SERVICES BOARD MELVIN HURSTON, BOARD OF HEALTH BARRYJACOBS, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BETTY B. MATTHEWS, COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE SUE RUSSELL, PARTNERSHIP FOR YOUNG CHILDREN LOTS KINZIE, ALTERNATE FOR SUE RUSSELL PAT VANDmERE, OPC AREA PROGRAMS REBECCA A. YOUNG, AT-LARGE SHARRON HINTON, MANAGEMENT ANALYST, COUNTY MANAGERS OFFICE MINUTES : Approved on: Orange County Human Services Advisory Commission P.O. Box 8181 200 South Cameron Street Hillsborough, N.C. 27278 Minutes June 17, 2002 Sv` °unl OWN I �h A regular meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission was held on June 17, 2002, at the Southern Human Services Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m. by Co -Chair Thompson after establishment of a quorum. MEMBERS PRESENT: Robin Barnhill; Marvin Block; Mary Bowe; Melvin Hurston; Lois Kinzie; David Thompson; Rosetta Wash; Rebecca Young. MEMBERS ABSENT: Barry Jacobs (excused); Louise Echols (excused); Betty B. Matthews; (excused); Pat Vandiviere (excused); Sue Russell (excused). STAFF PRESENT:. Corinthia Barber; Nancy Paciga. STAFF ABSENT: Sharron Hinton ADDITIONS OR CHANGES TO THE AGENDA - No changes were made. WELCOME AND MEMBER COMMENTS - Ms. Kinzie said the Partnership for Young Children are just waiting to see how much money the Smart Start program will receive this time because of the economic situation in the state. Mr. Hurston said that the Board of Health has been dealing with a presentation to Board of County Commissioners about the budget. PRESENTATION OF VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION GIFTS - Gift bags containing candy and pretzels, and made in North Carolina, were presented by Mr. Thompson as appreciation from the Board of County Commissioners to the members. All volunteers on County Advisory Boards and Commissions received these gifts. This is an annual event. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION / DECISION Discussion of 2002 Forum: "Community Solutions to Abuse in Orange County: Join Us in a Discussion of Ways to Address Abuse of Children, Teens, Elders and Partners" Discussion of Speakers — The Manager's office needs these names by mid -July so that letters can be sent out. Ms. Bowe said she will email a suggestion from the DSS board for speakers. Ms. Young asked how many speakers do we need? Mr. Block said that Ms. Hudson from the Advisory Board on Aging would like to participate in the Forum. Mr. Thompson reminded the members that Ms. Hudson Fuller is a former member of the HSAC and said he would be in favor of her being a speaker. Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125 : Fax (919) 64.4 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga @co.orange.nc.us Human Services Advisory Commission - - - - - Minutes - - - - - - - June 17, 2002 - - - - Page 2 of 6 Ms. Kinzie remembered that we had discussed trying to find a keynote speaker who could give an overview of all abuse. Ms. Wash suggested Ms. Paula Wolfe, who is a lobbyist and with the Children's Advocacy Council. Ms. Young said she has spoken at her program. She said she would be good. Also Ms. Wash suggested Ms. Leslie Starcomick from the NC Council for Women. Ms. Young suggested Des Runyan, who is a pediatrician and Mark Everson PhD (Clinical Associate Professor and Director), who works in the Program on Treatment Center for Childhood Trauma and Maltreatment, which is part of the Division of Child Psychiatry at UNC's Department of Psychiatry. Folks there may have some recommendations for speakers if we still need ideas, she added. Mr. Block said someone should speak about how abuse effects all of society. Mary Bowe reminded the group that we should try to come up with solutions at this Forum rather than just identify the problems. Ms. Wash asked if anyone had attended the statewide conference on child abuse. She said that she had attended. She said, however, that no one impressed her as being a good keynote speaker for our Forum. She added that their keynote speaker was very good, but was from Hawaii and she didn't think we could get her to come back over here. She suggested asking Ms. Dale McAndrews of the Hillsborough Exchange Club to be a speaker on child abuse. Ms. Barnhill asked if there was an advocacy group in Raleigh that we could contact in regards to finding speakers. Mr. Thompson said that he thinks that it will be tough to find someone who has that kind of expertise in the field of all kinds of abuse, but that we might be able to find a policy -maker who could speak in general terms. Mr. Block said regarding HSAC members serving as facilitators of the small groups that, in his opinion, none of us has the expertise and we would need guidance from the panelists. Ms. Bowe said that the Board of Social Services had had packets of useful information regarding abuse that was handed out at the Apple Chill Festival and she will see if there are more of these that could be used for our Forum. Ms. Bowe also suggested that it would be good for the facilitators /panelists to have an outline of questions to help so that the breakout groups would have guidance as to what they are trying to accomplish in finding solutions. Mr. Block also expressed the same concern. Ms. Wash asked Ms. Bowe to talk to Nancy Coston, Director of Orange County Department of Social Services to find out who is the head of State DSS and to see if that person would make a good Keynote Speaker. Ms. Bowe said she will call Corinthia Barber with this information. Ms. Young commented that it is more important to get a dynamic speaker rather than one who has a title. Ms. Bowe asked how the members felt about Ms. Coston herself speaking if she didn't have a recommendation and did they hear her speak at last year's Forum? Mr. Thompson commented that he had heard her speak and that she was a good speaker in his opinion. Forum Process — Dispute Settlement Center to Assist HSAC - There was discussion of this matter and Ms. Barber said that the DSC had been contacted and this was being planned for the near future. Letter of Invitation to the Panelists and Speakers - Ms. Wash suggested that it be brought out in the letter to the panelists that the Forum has a different goal this year, i.e. to come up with solutions rather than just a discussion of the problems. 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 - - - - - - - June 17, 2002 - - - - Page 3 of 6 Mr. Block said that for agencies who do not understand what is abuse is about he is thinks it is important to point out the causes and what could be done to prevent abuse. He is favor of presenting solutions and what kinds of things will give us closure to this issue. Mr. Block is concerned about the panelists: That they will only tell us about all the forms of abuse. He thinks that the panelists can say that there can be some solutions. He continued by saying that since the Forum draws all kinds of people, it could guide individuals to resources. Mr. Thompson commented that what we are talking about is, not only what abuse is but what are the appropriate referral steps. For example, what phone number should a person call if one sees abuse; is it confidential ?; do you call Social Services or do you call the police? what do you say when you make the call? what are the ramifications of making such a call? etc. Ms. Young added some other points such as, what are some of the causative factors; what are the resources; what do you individually do if you see abuse; what are the national models. She commented that there are some new models out there regarding abuse. Ms. Kinzie suggests that we let the panelists find the keynote speaker. Ms. Barnhill said if we are having such a difficult time to come up with a keynote speaker, then do we need one? She suggested we use our time more wisely this evening. Ms. Barnhill asked if the Board of Commissioners would let us not have a keynote speaker at the Forum? Mr. Hurston asked how much time the keynote speaker needed? It was mentioned that it was about a half hour. He said the reason he is asking is that if we are unable to find a keynote speaker, he would agree that we should use that time more wisely. Ms. Kinzie added that we had brainstormed a lot of good ideas at the May meeting. He said the spectrum of the subject of abuse is so wide — all the way from children, to foster children, to elder abuse, that it will take the panelists some time in an organized manner to spell all this out. He said he thinks that in order to have a successful forum you need good information. Ms. Kinzie thinks they will need 30 minutes apiece. Mr. Block added that is the reason that the panel discussion must have substance. If you don't have substance then the time runs out and then you don't accomplish very much. Ms. Young agreed. Mr. Block continued that you don't get the information across and that it is important to specify this in the information going to the panelists that we have a concern about the time and that it will be necessary to be sure we have good content. Ms. Young made the following suggestion for the format of the Speaker /Panel section of the Forum: 1. Keynote Speaker — eliminate 2. Panel - 3. Style: Interview: A moderator who will be interviewing each panelist as opposed to each panelist doing her /his own thing a. Tell the panelists in advance, we will be asking you these kind of questions b. It is a more interactive type interview 4. She asked that we be creative with the format of the Speaker /Panel section and not just do the same thing we have done in the past. Mr. Hurston added to this discussion that what he heard them saying was that we want to somehow, whether it be via a keynote speaker or a moderator that we start by putting the subject into a context and then 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 - - - - - - - June 17, 2002 - - - - Page 4 of 6 Ms. Barnhill and Ms. Wash agreed, and Ms. Barnhill commented that we would have more control this way. Discussion ensued about the comments that are submitted to the Manager's office regarding there not being enough time in the break out groups. Ms. Young said she thinks that means they want to hear about solutions and not just problems. She added that she thinks that people say there is not enough time when what they really mean is that they are not satisfied. She said that this is probably because of the way that we have organized the break out sessions. They leave people feeling dissatisfied because things are left kind of loose and not summed up. So people feel that they did not have enough time in the break out groups because nothing substantial was said. She said she thinks this problem that has been brought up in the comments back from the participants is not a function of time but a function of the method used with the break out group. Ms. Young said that we don't need more time but just a different method. Ms. Wash went back to what the group said earlier about having a moderator at the panel. Ms. Wash said that this as a good suggestion because in this way we can really drive the discussion in the way we want it to go and direct what we want to come out of it. She added that this is a new approach, and this method would really enable us to pull out the answers that we need. Ms. Young suggested maybe we can have people (the audience) fill out a card that asks something like, "Are there any burning questions that you have regarding how to end the problem of abuse ?" In this way, she explained, we would get at least a little bit of audience participation. Ms. Wash agreed and said she really liked that idea. She said it was energizing. Mr. Thompson said he thinks people are dissatisfied because when they leave the Forum they don't know any more than they did when they walked in the door. We need to provide some useful information for folks from the forum not just identify the problems. He says he doesn't think we will solve the problems of abuse at the Forum, because this has not been solved yet. The great minds have failed to answer this question so he doesn't think we are going to answer it in half a day but we can provide people some information about what is know and what kind of resources are available. Ms. Young said she does agree in some respects with Mr. Thompson in that we cannot expect this group to think of an entire new approach or some whole new paradigm. However, she thinks that we can expect them to say: 1. Our community is lacking in this /these (fill in some of the problems /issues) 2. Here are some neat things that are happening elsewhere to solve this problem 3. And yes we can do this here 4. We can think of solutions that Orange County needs She added that the Forum could be an opportunity for professionals in the area to "up the ante" on what we know about abuse and to coalesce on solutions. Ms. Young added that she feels that we are not of a like mind on what these forums should do or be. In the past they have been more informational but she feels that what the HSAC wants now is to have this to be a more proactive coalescing, problem - solving meeting. Mr. Hurston then gave his thoughts on this. He feels in the past the Forums have been to: • Gather information from the community regarding issues of concern that would then • Be told to our County Commissioners to provide input • And, also, to express a desire to do something to address the issues of concern 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 - - - - - - - June 17, 2002 - - - - Page 5 of 6 And now, Mr. Hurston continued, the HSAC would like add something to that, as in: • Let's not only identify abuse in its various forms as a concern for the citizens of Orange County but also • Provide ideas to the County Commissioners of ways in which we ought to address this • And, while we are doing that, provide information to the citizens • About ways in which to identify, help address it, and access the system as it currently exists Mr. Thompson said here's what he hears us saying, in summary: Here are the available services regarding abuse Based on this, what do the forum participants think are the burning unsolved issues And how do we address this? Ms. Young said that this would be actually taking this one step further than we have ever done before because in the past we stop after we identify the "burning issues." Ms. Kinzie pointed out that it will be important that the public be told that the forum will be different this year because she does think that people have gotten tired of the other format. The group, by consensus, wanted Mr. Hurston to be the moderator for the panel, but he requested that we reserve our vote on that until the next meeting. The group highly commended his moderator skills, but he said he would prefer we make that decision at a later date. Ms. Bowe said she would like to see someone from our Commission on the stage so that the discussion will go in the direction we want it to. The group does not think the panelists will want to be facilitators because in the past they have not wanted to give that much of their day to staying at the Forum. Mr. Thompson added that another problem with having panelists be facilitators is that then you have to give them training in facilitation and that could be difficult to coordinate. Facilitator Training By consensus the Commission decided this will not be needed this year because of the different format. Ms. Young said nominal group process doesn't work in these large breakout groups anyway. Ms. Young said she would like our final report of the Forum to the Board of County Commissioners to be more specific in its recommendation. Mr. Thompson said this is a timely topic because of the economic conditions in the state and the country we will see less social services and that will exacerbate the problem of abuse even more. Ms. Young made the suggestion that we could say very directly to the forum participants, "What do you want to recommend to the Board of County Commissioners ?" Discussion ensued on this idea. Ms. Young asked if it has been decided what the breakout groups will be. These were identified as: • children • partners • teens • elderly Mr. Thomspon reiterated the plan for the break out sessions will be to allow them each to develop one, two or three possible problems or major problems and to fill in the pieces in the puzzle. He said we might even frame it that way, e.g., "Think about what is missing. Let's not talk about what we know but let's talk about what we need to know." 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 - - - - - - - June 17, 2002 - - - - Page 6 of 6 Ms. Young suggested a group for abuse against Hispanics. Mr. Thompson suggests ethnicity abuse as a topic. Mr. Hurston said maybe at some future date we can have this as a forum in and of itself because the Hispanics are such a growing segment of our society. Mr. Hurston said it is much more prevalent than we would think it is. Mr. Thompson brought up the subject of abuse by psychoanalysts in a case in California in the 1970's. Report of Nomination Committee - Mr. Hurston reviewed the applications that have been received by the Clerk's office. He summarized the applicants and the experience that they have. 1. Cynthia Perlson 2. Patty Marnard Hill 3. Cheryl Atwater, 4. Marla Fearrington Mr. Hurston said we want people who have a focus in human service, so that is the major criteria the nominating committee used. Ms. Young said we need to think about is in the future some sort of outreach to reach out to minorities to join the HSAC. The nominations were accepted as presented. Motion was made by Ms. Bowe, seconded by Ms. Barnhill, to adjourn. VOTE: UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. Adjournment was at 7:09 p.m. The next regular meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be on July 15, 2002 at the Government Services Center (GSC) in Hillsborough, N.C. Respectfully submitted, Nancy C. 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