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HomeMy WebLinkAbout201305_DDAB Minutes Developmental Disability Advisory Board - Minutes 05/18/2013 Page 1 of 4 JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH 615 Sheridan Street  Port Townsend  Washington  98368 www.jeffersoncountypublichealth.org Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board (DDAB) M I N U T E S May 28, 2013 Board Attendees: Carl Hanson (Co-Chair), Lesly Sheinbaum (Co-chair), John Austin, Catharine Robinson, Claudia Edmondson, Kim Rafferty, Leesa Monroe Board Absentees: none Guests: Janie Nelson-Achodor, Tobias Clawson, Patty Crutcher, Lisa Falcone, Leslie Bunton, Katie Shaffer, Marjorie Mougel, Michael Bradel, Craig Rogers, Amber Kent, Susan Prince Staff: Anna McEnery, Donna Marvin (recorder) Call to Order Co-Chair Lesly Sheinbaum called the meeting to order at 3:19 pm. Approval of Agenda Revisions to the agenda:  Item V-3 - Community Forum update will be only 15 minutes because Kathy Goldenberger was unable to attend  Date was added to the Work With Me event. Member Robinson moved to approve, Member Hanson second, motion passed. Approval of Minutes from March 26, 2013 One change noted: under the Work With Me employer breakfast, the last sentence should be changed to read “Committee members are taking turns talking with different banks, businesses and agencies”. Member Hanson moved to approve, Member Robinson second, motion passed. Public Comments No comments at this time. New Business and Presentations Transition Academy Update Susan Prince of Concerned Citizens gave an overview on the Transition Academy and talked about coming changes in the next year. Services include vocational training, life skills training, community access training, and social skills training. The full day program now includes some students with behavioral and emotional problems in addition to students with developmental disabilities. Developmental Disability Advisory Board - Minutes 05/28/2013 Page 2 of 4 All students generally work 2 – 4 hours/day in unpaid work doing a variety of things. Efforts are made to identify each student’s skills and preferences and then are match them up to a community employer. There are about 30 different employers that they work with and around 1000 volunteer hours are expected by the end of the year. This year all seven students who are leaving the program and who want a job have been placed. Susan talked about various students and the areas of work that they are involved with. Students also participate with Project Mentor and receive a small stipend. She explained the relationship between Transition Academy and Project Mentor that provides mentoring and job coaching. New in the coming year - academic support will be provided with a full time teacher. This will allow everyone to come every day instead of dividing and balancing time between Transition Academy and the school to fulfill academic requirements. They will be contracting with Olympic ESD for all services in the coming year, serving up to 22 students who will come from Port Townsend, Chimacum, and Quilcene School Districts, along with opening the Academy up to other students in the Region. People First Update Several members of People First gave a brief presentation about Chapter goals, meetings, activities, events, fund raising and participation in the community. They also spoke about what the group means to them personally. Presenters included Craig Rogers, Marjorie Mougel, Katie Shaffer, Amber Kent, Michael Bradel and the Chapter Advisor, Leslie Bunton. “The mission and purpose of People First of Washington is to assist people of disability to realize and appreciate that we are PEOPLE FIRST and our disabilities are secondary and that we are equal citizens in our communities.” They thanked the Board for their support over the years and they presented roses to Anna McEnery, DD Coordinator, in appreciation “for her passion and belief in People First”. Community Forum Update Anna distributed an action sheet and reviewed the top 7 topics which were identified in the survey and the 12 ideas that came out of the brainstorming session. There was discussion about the objectives of the priority goal, “to raise awareness of people with Development Disabilities in the community”. John Austin proposed checking into the KPTZ weekly program “Tossed Salad”. Carl mentioned another local group looking at housing issues in Jefferson County. He will try to find more information. Anna asked Board members to consider which area in which they would like to participate. This will be discussed further at the July Board meeting. Legislative Update Lesly Sheinbaum talked about her involvement with the Community Residential Service Association which is “heavy into lobbying” and contacting legislators in the interest of residential services. They employ a lobbyist who provides them with information about what’s going on and the status of Bills. Developmental Disability Advisory Board - Minutes 05/28/2013 Page 3 of 4 She talked about a Bill of interest that would possibly establish a fee for certification for residential services to cover some of the costs. The Association is thinking of starting a “Supported Living Day” in Olympia to inform legislators about the value of their services and the need for more funding. Anna noted that she spoke with Sue Elliott, Director of the State ARC, who said that DD made out well in both the House and Senate budgets and that we got our Transition Grad funding. But we still have 15,000 people with developmental disabilities on the wait list without services. Nationwide, Washington State ranks 38 in the amount spent on people with developmental disabilities (in part because we are one of the few states that don’t have an income tax). She also noted that there are 3,000 people sitting in Supported Living without an employment program. New Grant Opportunity from the Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues & Employment Anna talked about a grant opportunity that she learned about through John Austin. She called the Program Coordinator of the Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues & Employment and it sounds like this Federal money could be “pretty open-ended”. Anna told her about some of the projects that our community is already doing. Applicants must first create an Accessible Communities Advisory Committee. Anna told the Program Coordinator about DASH – Disability Awareness Starts Here, and the Community Connectors group that is working on the Work With Me event, Transition Network, and the DD Advisory Board. The Program Coordinator said that she thought Jefferson County was very progressive. She also said that some of the projects we are already doing here would fit nicely into something that they could fund ($5,000 to $10,000, depending on the project that we would want to do). Anna would like to work on developing ideas with a couple of Board members, whether it is an expansion of one that already exists or to create a new one. She pointed out that John has said that we could join the Accessible Voting Committee and he thinks it’s a good idea to expand an on-going Board. The Community Connectors would fit nicely and it would mean expanding the committee to include people with disabilities. We will need to look for other people who are interested in serving. Funding would begin September 1, 2013, so we would need to pull this committee together and send in the paperwork by mid-to-late July. Old Business & Informational Items – Anna McEnery Anna gave updates on the following:  Grant from Washington State Arc – Anna explained that part of what we have been focusing on in Jefferson County is creating curriculums for smaller counties to use for educating parents about disability issues. To that end, Power Point presentations were created about the difference between Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) and County DD. Anna wrote one called “An Eye for the Future” focused on helping parents to think about self-determination and independence for your child when they are very young. A $15,000 grant was received from the ARC and they are thrilled with the Power Points, so they will be put on discs and made available for smaller communities. There is another $15,000 grant coming up for the next fiscal year. Developmental Disability Advisory Board - Minutes 05/28/2013 Page 4 of 4  Work With Me Employer Breakfast – Anna distributed cards with details about the employer breakfast planned for October 24, 2013. Kitsap Credit Union is the lead $500 sponsor and other sponsors are being sought. After the success of last year’s first annual employer breakfast, we look forward to the 2nd annual event. The workgroup also includes people from Skookum and Concerned Citizens, Carl Hanson & Claudia Edmondson. The decision about who will cater is of main concern at this point. Upcoming Workshops/Meetings:  “Community Summit” Conference & Pre-Conference in Ellensburg, June 19-21, 2013. Those planning on attending the pre-conference include 3 people from Concerned Citizens, 1 person from Skookum, Lesly Sheinbaum, and Anna McEnery. Kim Rafferty will be going to the actual conference. There are still stipends available and some really interesting speakers will be presenting, so if you are interested there is still time to sign up.  Emergency Prep Meeting for Agencies: Sherry Badger, Social Worker in Human Services for many years and then with the Emergency Operations Center in Pierce County as their Public Information Officer, does incredible workshops for agencies who serve vulnerable people. Anna is working with her to bring her here to talk to agencies about emergency preparedness. Anna distributed copies of information about what she has done. Julia Danskin has suggested that we start with a 2 hour session and then determine if this should be on-going. Anna is hopeful that this will be in late June (or early July). The specific date is yet to be determined. Public Comment No comments. Agenda Planning Review of DD budget 2012-2013 and Performance Measures/Outcomes for 2012. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 4:28 pm. Next Meeting: Tuesday, July 23, 2013, 3:15 – 5:00 pm