HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES
May 13, 2003
7:30 – 9:45 PM
32 Courthouse Square

Re: Call Meeting to Order/Introductions

Bill Goodwin called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm. He introduced Eric Wang who is interested in becoming a member of the Human Services Advisory Commission. Mr. Wang said that he is married with one daughter. He works as a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service. He emigrated to this country in 1981 and, at that time, could not speak English. In 1989 he received an MA degree in Real Estate. His priority is education. He wants to make a contribution to the entire community and believes strongly in community outreach. He has his Real Estate Brokers license now and is experienced in reaching out to many different kinds of people. Bill thanked him for coming and introduced the other members of the Commission.

Re: Sign-up for Upcoming Caregiver Agency Site Visits

Mary Lou passed around a list of agency site visits for Commission members to consider. She said that the time of each visit is negotiable and depends on those who attend. Most visits take place during the day; some in the early evening. She encouraged members to sign up if interested. Two or three participants per site visit are adequate. Site visits usually last about two hours and will follow the new protocol reviewed with the Commission five months ago.

Re: Finalize and Assign Tasks Emerging from Work Session

• Hometown Holidays booth
  

Bill Goodwin said that following the worksession with the Mayor and Council, he, Agnes Saenz and Allison Bunge had formed a subcommittee to discuss Councilmember Susan Hoffman’s challenge to the Commission to support a booth at the upcoming Hometown Holidays. This festival will be held Memorial Day Weekend in Town Center and approximately fifty percent of daytime attendees are Rockville residents. The subcommittee thought a booth staffed by members of the Human Services Advisory Commission fit their fundraising goal; it also fit with volunteerism and potentially with collaboration with other commissions. The subcommittee discussed whether people would stop by the booth. They also considered other options, for example staffing a booth at the Spirit of Rockville in the fall. They decided that it was too good an opportunity to miss and wanted to recommend to the Commission as a whole that members support a booth for Hometown Holidays. It would need to be staffed between 1 and 6 PM on Saturday, May 24th, and Sunday, May 25th. Bill said that Agnes had also agreed to create a flyer on REAP that could be passed out at the booth. Mary Lou had obtained a sign identifying the table from Recreation and Parks and had purchased pens to give away to visitors.

Charlotte Zuckman said that she would be out of town Memorial Day weekend but thought the table was a good idea. She said a bowl of candy helps to attract people. She asked what the goal for the project would be--to publicize REAP or to publicize the Commission? Bill said the goal would be to publicize REAP and reminded members of Susan Hoffman’s challenge to the Commission when she suggested they support a booth with the slogan “REAP the Benefits of Community Service”. These words would be on the sign identifying the booth. In addition to publicizing REAP, Bill said Commission members could try and generate revenue for REAP and could encourage volunteerism by handing out the City of Rockville’s volunteer guide. Allison Bunge suggested that Commission members could also take contributions and asked if REAP has an envelope. David L’Heureux suggested they have a pledge sheet. Bill said he could check to see if Commission members could handle financial contributions. Charlotte asked if it would be possible to make a blow-up of a water bill to demonstrate how Rockville residents can make donations to REAP. She also thought it would be helpful to include in the flyer a listing of how the money is used. Tom Lawrey thought it would be important to say who REAP funds benefit. Charlotte pointed out that the word “REAP” is not well known. Tom then made a motion that the Human Services Advisory Commission staff a booth for Hometown Holidays. David seconded the motion. All members were in favor. Bill asked Tom and David to check their schedules for that weekend to see if they would be able to help out with staffing. He also asked Agnes to check with Darrell Butler.

• Task Analysis and Prioritization
  

Bill introduced the matrix he developed to outline tasks for the Human Services Advisory Commission that resulted from the worksession with the Mayor and Council. He asked Commission members to consider an additional “missing” column. This column might be called “Impact” and refer to the difference one task would make to residents of Rockville. There was discussion on each task as follows.

Task #1: Ease integration and access to services for recent immigrants. David asked if the Commission was defining this task too narrowly. He said there are immigrants who have been in Rockville for a long time who need better access to services, as well as immigrants who have no legal status. Charlotte said that the information Commission members have received points to there being a lack of ESOL classes. She suggested that the Commission might work on determining the need for ESOL classes in Rockville. The deliverable in this category under part (a) would then be a report to the Mayor and Council as to the need for and gaps in ESOL services. Resources required would be high with a timeframe of six months and feasibility/impact would be moderate to low.

Regarding part (b), Bill said that it sounded as though the Mayor and Council want us to “be there” with them in meeting with diverse communities. David said that the deliverable could be an outreach program. Mary Lou suggested that the Commission might consider identifying natural leaders of different groups in Rockville for the Mayor and Council so they would know whom to meet with as representatives. David asked Eric Wang to identify the best avenue for reaching out to the Asian population in Rockville. Eric responded that the churches would be best. He added that many Chinese Americans attend Sunday schools weekly and these would provide another avenue for the Commission. In discussing the impact and feasibility of this task, Mary Lou said she thought it provided a real window of opportunity to the Commission. The Mayor and Council appear willing to build bridges to these diverse communities if the Commission were able to identify key leaders. And those leaders would be quickly consulted on various issues within the city. Allison said that she thought the feasibility and impact of completing the task on outreach and relationship building would be greater than completing a report to the Mayor and Council. It was decided that feasibility/impact for task 1b would be high to moderate with a timeframe of six months. Resources required would also be high.

Task #2: Ease integration and access to services for persons with disabilities. Mary Lou said that this issue resulted from her urging. She sees it as twofold. First, there was an effort on the part of Montgomery County to actively involve disabled residents in the mainstream of life. Secondly, one of the group homes just outside Rockville was able to use the swim center for some of their residents. Their grant for this purpose ran out and they asked the City if they could still continue. She would like the Commission to consider a way to encourage service providers to become more involved with the City or Caregivers Coalition. After discussion, the Commission decided that the deliverable on task 2 would be a report to the Mayor and Council and, perhaps, information made available to service providers. Resources required for this task would be moderate with a timeframe of six months and feasibility/impact moderate to low.

Task #3: Brief City lobbyist on 211. Mary Lou said that the deliverable would take the form of ongoing progress reports, as for example, this fall after the 211 pilot project is completed. Commission members considered that the resources required for this task would be low (consisting of mainly one person); the timeframe would be ongoing and the feasibility/impact would be high.

Task #4: Advocate for Affordable Housing. This task consists of two parts: part (a) which is to advise the Mayor and Council on how the City can influence the County on development of MPDUs for seniors on county-owned parcels in the City; and part (b) which is to be the “eyes and ears” for the Mayor and Council on County policies and what’s replicable. David asked if housing was part of the Commission’s mandate. Mary Lou responded that within the City only the Planning Department has a role in this area. Bill said that perhaps the first deliverable would be to determine the Commission’s role. Charlotte said that senior organizations in the city must have some information in this area. It was decided that the deliverable for both parts (a) and (b) would be research; the resources needed would be high. Part (a) would have a timeframe of six months to a year while the timeframe for part (b) would be ongoing. The feasibility/impact for both parts would be low.

Task #5: Study ways to leverage funds and foster contributions for human services. Bill said that staffing the booth for Hometown Holidays could be considered an example of a deliverable in this area. Other suggestions for deliverables were the increased dollars that would be available for Rockville Caregiver agencies and the good ideas generated. Resources needed for this task would be moderate; timeframe would be individual events and ongoing; feasibility/impact would be moderate.

Task #6: Make it easier for individuals and businesses to volunteer in Rockville: (a) define the City’s role; (b) leverage County’s efforts. Allison asked if one deliverable might be a brochure describing volunteer opportunities for businesses similar to the booklet that identifies volunteer opportunities for individuals. David said he would like to see a volunteer take the position of volunteer coordinator for the city. In that capacity he/she could develop plans for recruiting volunteers, much like the County’s volunteer coordinator. Deliverables for both (a) and (b) were recommendations to the City on coordinating with the County and a draft brochure for businesses. Commission members decided that part (a) would require moderate resources with a timeframe of three months and high feasibility/impact; part (b) would require high resources with a timeframe of nine months and, again, had high feasibility/impact.

Task #7: Reach out to Senior Commission on needs of seniors. Bill said that the deliverable for this task would be simply a joint meeting or contacts with the Senior Commission. Resources needed would be low. The timeframe required to complete this task would be three to six months and the task would have high feasibility/impact.

Task #8: Create “business plan” for a health clinic in Rockville for uninsured patients. David suggested that the word “uninsured” be changed to “underserved” to reflect the diverse populations in Rockville needing health care. He added that he didn’t think this task would necessitate many people being involved. Charlotte inquired as to whether Commission members had the expertise to complete a business plan. Bill asked if the Commission would need contract support. Allison asked if the discussion was to complete a “real” business plan. If so, the resources needed would be high. David said that he thinks the Commission can use the resources of Shady Grove Adventist Hospital to complete the plan. The clinic would need a sponsor and, he feels, the Commission already has one in Shady Grove. The timing needs to be right for them to undertake this clinic. Bill asked to what extent the Primary Care Coalition might be available. Mary Lou said she didn’t think Steve Galen would have a lot of time to devote to another project. Based on this discussion Commission members decided that the deliverable for this task would be an actual business plan that included both dollar amounts and identification of a sponsor. Resources needed to accomplish this task would be moderate to high. Members thought it would take a year to accomplish and the feasibility/impact would be moderate to high.

Task #9: Study the adequacy of employment services available to Rockville residents. It was generally agreed that this issue had not been explored in a number of years. Bill said that the deliverable for this task would be research. Necessary resources would involve guest speakers primarily and would be considered moderate. Time required would be six to nine months and feasibility/impact would be low to moderate.

Task #10: Update last Annual Report indicating changes and progress. There was agreement that the deliverable would be a new report, building on the previous report. Commission members felt that, in general, a report needs to be completed annually. Resources needed for completing this task are low; timeframe is three months; feasibility/impact of completing this task is extremely high.

Vote: After the discussion, members placed their names on those four tasks they felt should be Commission priorities for the coming year. The vote was as follows:

• Task 1 – Integration and access for immigrants: part (a) Agnes, David and Charlotte
  part (b) Allison and Bill G.
  
• Task 2 – Integration and access for disabled persons: Tom, David and Agnes
  
• Task 3 – Brief City on 211: Charlotte and Tom
  
• Task 4 – Advocate for affordable housing: no votes
  
• Task 5 – Study ways to leverage funds and foster contributions: no votes
  
• Task 6 – Volunteerism in Rockville: Bill G., Charlotte, David, Tom and Allison
  
• Task 7 – Reach out to Senior Commission: Bill G.
  
• Task 8 – Business plan for Health Clinic: Allison, Agnes, David and Tom
  
• Task 9 – Study employment services: Agnes and Bill G.
  
• Task 10 – Annual Report: Allison and Charlotte
  

Bill said that he would email the completed tasks matrix to absent Commission members so that they could register their votes as well. The completed matrix would then be available for further discussion at the next Commission meeting.

Re: Approve March 11 and April 7 Meeting Summaries

David moved to approve the March 11 and April 7 Meeting Summaries as written. Tom seconded the motion. All present were in favor. Subsequent to the meeting, Bill submitted a technical correction to page 2 of the March meeting minutes, as follows: "One option is for the Commission to send a letter to the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless. Another is for the Commission to communicate privately with the Mayor and Council."

Re: Report on Mayor’s State of the City Address

Bill said that he and a few other Commission members had attended this event the previous Sunday. After the Mayor’s address, they introduced themselves to the Mayor and Councilmembers. Bill thanked members for attending and said he thought it was important for the Commission to be visible.

There was a brief discussion of the Caregivers’ testimony the night before at the public hearing. Agnes said the testimony from clients was very moving. Bill agreed, saying he had watched the testimony at home with his family. Regarding the hearing, Bill said that it was reported that one of the existing grantees missed the City’s deadline for applying for refunding. Bill asked Mary Lou if, in her opinion, this lapse represented a failure in the application process. Mary Lou said that the agency in question was the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center (CCACC). She said that in previous years there had been one other agency that missed the deadline. Last year several agencies requested funding at the public hearing that had not submitted grant applications. The current process, Mary Lou said, is that the City distributes funding applications in early December; the deadline for submitting applications is late January. In the instance of CCACC, the agency is staffed by volunteers who were, apparently, not tracking grants. Mary Lou said she ran into CCACC representatives at a meeting and asked them if they were interested in repeat funding. They were, and Mary Lou made a recommendation through staff channels that a portion of the money from this year’s unallocated contingency fund be made available for CCACC next year. The City Manager wanted CCACC to attend the public hearing. They did and made an excellent presentation. One of their ESOL teachers and students also testified. In terms of the City’s process, it is certainly more accessible than the County or the State. Information concerning the application process was advertised in Rockville Reports, at the Commission’s recommendation. Mary Lou knows that it was seen based on several inquiries she received. She considers this an open, competitive process and thinks that the City should not show favoritism.

Agnes remarked that most agencies attend meetings of the Caregiver Coalition, which helps them become more familiar with the application process.

Re: Adjourn

David moved to adjourn the meeting. Tom seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 9:40 PM.

The next regular meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be held Tuesday, June 10, 2003, from 7:30 - 9:30 PM, at 32 Courthouse Square.
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