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Human Services Advisory Commission
Meeting Minutes
May 11, 2010
7:30 - 9:10 p.m
Rockville City Hall
| Members Present: | ||
| Rachel Carr Stephen Huang | Bob Dorsey David L’Heureux | Cindy Griffiths Eric Wang |
| Members Absent: | ||
| Tina Cheatwood Scott Robins | Kim Dawkins | Agnes Saenz |
| Staff Present: | ||
| Mary Lou Jacobs | Sarah Gicale |
Re: Call Meeting to Order/ Introductions
Cindy Griffiths called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
Re: Approve April 13 Meeting Minutes
Rachel Carr asked that the last sentence in the third paragraph be amended to, “Rachel Carr added that any agency’s request for contingency funds should be carefully evaluated.” David L’Heureux moved that the minutes for April 13 be approved as amended; Bob Dorsey seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Re: Guest: Steven Galen, Chair, Montgomery County Community Action Board
Steve Galen said he wears two hats—one as chair of the Montgomery County Community Action Board and another as Executive Director of Primary Care Coalition. He explained that the Community Action Board is made up of representatives from the community, from nonprofits and from government. It is Montgomery County’s anti-poverty advisory group providing a voice for low-income people and advocating policies and programs to meet their needs. An example of this is the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program, which recently completed another year of service. One of the VITA locations was the City of Rockville Community Services Office at 30 Courthouse Square where Steve said his notes show that 73 people were served with income tax assistance. [After the meeting the Community Services Secretary checked the total number served and found it was 262.]
In its role as an anti-poverty advisory group, the Community Action Board also publishes the Montgomery County Self-sufficiency Standard where they examine what it costs a family of 3 or 4 to live in Montgomery County, an amount frequently driven by housing and day care costs. Steve handed out copies of this document.
In addition, Steve said, the Community Action Board is the federally designated governing body for Head Start and manages several contracts for the County, e.g., CASA of Maryland. Head Start currently serves about 680 children with eligibility based on 100% of poverty. In all their activities, the Community Action Board always tries to focus on the number of residents living in poverty with a goal of moving everyone out of poverty. The Board is federally funded and is relatively insulated from the current County budget problems.
Stephen Hoang asked about other activities of the Community Action Board. Steve Galen responded that they also have classes and workshops. Currently a statewide group is advocating to make financial literacy a high school course. Mary Lou Jacobs said that, regarding financial literacy, Community Services is working with others to introduce a program to Rockville schools next year. She said that assistance was needed in offering financial literacy in Spanish. Steve Galen responded that there are a lot of resources in the County. He feels that if people are going to be moved out of poverty, it is important to give them all the services they need. For example, he sees offering financial literacy assistance while people are waiting for health care. Another example is offering English for Speakers of Other Languages training to the 14,000 people who go to Montgomery Works each year. However, he is sensing a pushback from the business community on many of these initiatives because of the increasing tax bill in the County.
Mary Lou said that the Commission was interested in seeing what advocacy issues other County groups are involved with. She asked if the Community Action Board advises the County Council on any issues. Steve said that the Board has statutory authority to advocate. For the last couple of years their advocacy has been primarily defensive, that is holding on to what we have. He suggested looking at the University of Maryland Prevention Center. In addition, currently Health and Human Services (HHS) are working on integration of services and open access to the system. Cindy asked if he knew of a listserv or some other information source to which the Commission could subscribe. Steve said he didn’t know if that sort of resource was available. He suggested inviting Uma Ahluwalia, Director of HHS, to a meeting.
Re: Update on State/County Funding for FY 2011
Mary Lou said she wanted to update Commission members as to funding for the Community Services Division. With respect to the Linkages to Learning Program at Maryvale Elementary School, the City has been required to identify cuts of 7%. This translates to $12,500 out of a $179,000 total budget. This means that program operating costs have been cut in half. With respect to the Regional Youth Services budget, 7% or $4,500 has been identified for potential cuts. However, most of the State funding for the Youth Services Bureau was restored. The Maryland Association of Youth Services Bureaus (MAYSB) has been active in the legislative process for many years. The cut they sustained this year amounted to little more than 1%. She also wants Commission members to know that the City does not automatically make up the difference when these budget cuts occur.
On a countywide basis, Montgomery County was looking at a 7% reduction in all vendor grants; even more in certain areas. For example the County Executive proposed reducing the amount to Community Vision at Progress Place. The provider said they would not be able to continue the program. Most cuts, however, are 7%. The Safety Net Coalition (a coalition of provider agencies) has been actively lobbying the County. Last week they were successful in getting the budget subcommittee to recommend a 5% cut to the entire Council instead. The County budget should be approved by the end of May.
Re: Upcoming Town Hall Meeting
Cindy explained that she wanted this item on the agenda because she had learned that the Mayor and Council are planning some type of broader meeting to be held in the fall. No one is sure yet as to what form the meeting will take or how it will function; but she thinks this could be an opportunity for the Commission if members feel there is a specific issue they want to bring forward. She suggested that everyone consider the idea.
Re: Report from Caregiver Reports Review Committee (Scott Robins)
Scott Robins was absent so this item will be moved to the June agenda.
Re: Old Business
April 26 Mayor/Council Budget Hearing
Cindy said she did speak on behalf of the Commission. Tina Cheatwood also testified as the Commission’s representative on the Grant Review Panel. She suggested that every Caregiver agency have an outside evaluation every several years and offered various methods of accomplishing this on a pro bono basis. Rachel added that, perhaps, someone could sit down with the Caregivers a couple of months before their grant applications are due and explain what the City will be looking for in the grant process, i.e., to use as much empirical data as possible when requesting funds such as the specific amount in a program’s utility bills have increased, etc. Bob Dorsey agreed that this could be helpful.
Cindy said she thinks the budget is set. Mary Lou said that the Mayor and Council met the preceding evening and directed staff to make some changes. In terms of funding outside agencies, staff was not directed to make any budget increases. Therefore the proposed budget for Caregivers will be placed before them for adoption.
Community Services Division Monthly Report
There were no questions or comments except to acknowledge with appreciation the 98 hours donated by volunteers through the Mentoring Program.
Re: Plan Agenda for June 8 Meeting
Re: Adjourn
David moved that the meeting be adjourned; Stephen seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
The next meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be held Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in the Black Eyed Susan conference room at Rockville City Hall, 111 Maryland Avenue. It will be preceded by a potluck supper in honor of Mary Lou Jacobs’ retirement, starting at 6:45 p.m., also in the Black Eyes Susan conference room.