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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010 HRCS Meeting Minutes CITY OF LANSING HUMAN RELATIONS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT HUMAN RELATIONS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY BOARD April 27, 2010 Minutes CALL TO ORDER The April meeting of the Human Relations and Community Services Advisory Board was called to order by Chad Johnson at 5:35 pm in the Foster Center Conference Room #211, Lansing. Present: Lamar Wilson, Chad Johnson, Jonathon Solis, Edwina Marshall and Gail Fournier Absent: Staff: Joan Jackson Johnson, Director HRCS LPD Liaison: Absent APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion: Board member Jonathon Solis moved to approve agenda from November 24, 2009, supported by board member Gail Fournier. Motion carried. PUBLIC COMMENT No Report COMMUNICATIONS No Report APPROVAL OF MINUTES Board member Edwina Marshall motioned to approve minutes from the November 24, 2009, supported by board member Lamar Wilson. Motion carried. COMMITTEE REPORTS Director Johnson suggests combining the committee's for Budget and Program, until the vacant board positions are filled. Board Member Gail Fournier expressed she would like to work on Budget and Program committee. She has been assigned to the Budget/Program committee. Policy committee will remain with existing members. Board members discussed committee's meeting after board meeting on May 25, 2010. Director Johnson remarked she would like the board to address needs assessments and site visits at HRCS funded agencies. PETITIONS/COMPLAINT S Director Johnson reports no petitions, but in past year we have had a couple human rights complaints filed thru HRCS. Two complaints were referred over to the Department of Civil Rights, to avoid potential conflict, as they involved City Council and City Attorney. Director Johnson stated that each complaint is evaluated and a determination made to refer the complaint, if necessary, or handle it in our department. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT No Report DIRECTOR' S REPORT Board members were given a copy of the Profile for Homelessness in Greater Lansing. There was an increase in homeless children and families this year, actually 500. The adults in families, single youth, single adults and chronically homeless has decreased. We are getting better data from agencies thru our HMIS employees. The City Rescue Mission allowed us last year to get into their database. When you look at the percentage of children in comparison with the adults it is a challenge to have that increase. We had over 1,000 children identified as homeless in 2009 that is significant. Board member Edwina Marshall expressed concern over the number of homeless children. Director Johnson reports there are three homes awaiting closing with MSHDA for family placement that are in transitional housing. Those numbers should be going down as we move families out of temporary housing. Director Johnson stated there will be case managers; One Church One Family will provide family mentors. We do have a manual that teaches families how to formulate resources and will encourage them to use resources in the community. The mentors overseeing the families will be trained. Board member Edwina Marshall asked if we have commitments from churches. Director Johnson expressed we do have commitments but due to the lapse in time,we need to get families in the homes. Our profile on our homeless clients covers individuals, households, race, and employment status, percentage of incidents by disabilities and measuring outcome, which is very important. The core outcome does not look good because some of the agencies are not mandated to say what happens to clients when the leave. We are looking at getting agencies to cooperate, Board Member Chad Johnson asked if Matt Stevenson did the report. Director Johnson replied that Matt is the Project Manager; he did have help with data put into the system by other HMIS employees. Board Member Jonathon Solis stated the homeless numbers are disturbing. Director Johnson states we are continuing to look at solutions. We just received the renewal grant from HUD for homelessness, $1, 628,029, and we are awaiting City Council approval. Director Johnson reports the Mobile Food Pantry will be going to Lansing Housing Commission sites, as many at these sites have transportation issues. We are rotating to different sites around the City. In May we are having a small pantry at Shabazz Academy, in addition to our regular pantry. We provided lunches again for Spring Break at several locations in the City. The Boys & Girls club prepared hot meals and allowed the kids to help prepare the food. We would like to do more of this next year and add some different locations such as Georgetown. Currently HRCS is worlcing on a Sub Acute Detox program to address some of the problems of men and women in the City who are frequenting the emergency rooms. Some of the hospitals are getting involved and we are currently looking at a site next to the VOA. Several employees of HRCS attended the Affordable Housing Conference held at the Lansing Center recently. LPD LIAISON'S REPORT None OLD BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS None NEXT MEETING The next meeting is scheduled for May 25th, at 5:30 pm. Meeting at Foster Community Center, 2"d floor, Room 211 located on Foster Street, Lansing, Michigan. ADJOURNMENT With no further business, the meeting was adjourned. CITY OF LANSING HUMAN RELATIONS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT HUMAN RELATIONS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY BOARD July 27, 2010 Minutes CALL TO ORDER The July meeting of the Human Relations and Community Services Advisory Board was called to order by Chad Johnson at 5:47 pm in the Foster Center Conference Room #211, Lansing. Present: Lamar Wilson, Chad Johnson, Jonathon Solis, Edwina Marshall and Gail Fournier Absent: Staff: Joan Jackson Johnson,Director HRCS LPD Liaison: Absent APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion: Board member Chad Johnson moved to approve agenda from April 27, 2010. Motion carried. PUBLIC COMMENT No Report COMMUNICATIONS No Report APPROVAL OF MINUTES Board member Chad Johnson motioned to approve minutes from the April 27, 2010, supported by Board member Gail Fournier. Motion carried. COMMITTEE REPORTS None PETITIONS/COMPLAINTS None CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT Board Member Chad Johnson is Chairperson for the Greater Lansing Alliance Against Hate Crimes. Guillermo Lopez, from Human Relations and Community Services, is spear heading and Chad is chair for the meetings. The next meeting is July 28 at 1 PM at the Foster Center, Room 211. Chad remarks he can e-mail the agenda for the meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to come up with community response, developing mission and vision statements. Also, developing a plan of action in the event someone is beaten or injured, and how to best deal with it. Board member Johnson remarks they want to reach out in regard to bullying and problems of that nature, in the Lansing School District. Director Johnson asked how many people are attending the GLAAHC meetings. Board member Johnson responded approximately seven, with representation from the NAACP, Michigan State University, Sparrow Hospital, and Prosecuting Attorneys office, and others. Board Member Chad Johnson extended an invitation for Board Members to attend the meetings. DIRECTOR' S REPORT Director Johnson shared about the Project Homeless Connect coming up in September. There are lots of opportunities to serve if the Advisory Board is interested. We will have a lot of different services available to the community. This year we were not able to get the Dental Cleaning services. However, Lansing Ophthalmology will be there, and they follow up with normally 30 to 40 people, helping them to obtain glasses. We will offer manicures, pedicures, massage therapy, and haircuts, just a few of the services that will be available. There are some generous people in the community; Barry Saltman thru Care-Free has donated a lot, Community Mental health made a donation, PHP made a substantial donation. In the past we have spent quite a bit so we have asked the continuum of care to work a little bit harder to obtain donations. It is a day for brothers, sisters and the less fortunate to be pampered. This is a national event. Director Johnson relates the Sub Acute Detox Center will be opening. We initially talked about a location next to the Volunteers of America, however that did not work out, the owners went up on the rent. The new location will be 510 West Saginaw; the building was formerly an insurance office. Council woman Jessica Yorko, who covers that ward, is on board with the program. It is a good location and requires a lot less renovation. We will start with eleven beds. Mid-South provided about $275.000, towards the budget, Sparrow Hospital put in $50,000 Ingham Medical $50,000, the Ingham Health Plan put in either $15,000 or $25,000, Lansing Police, Fire and our Department donated $50,000, Community Mental Health donated $50,000 toward the project. Board member Solis asked Director Johnson if the Sub Acute Detox program will service the youth. Director Johnson states they cannot, they are minors and cannot be mixed in with the general population. Director Johnson stated this will be a great savings to the community by keeping the repeat offenders out of the local hospitals and providing more services to help them with their problems. We continue to get calls regarding utility bills and homes being red tagged because of utility shut offs. Citizens have to go thru DHS and unfortunately there are so many people applying for services there is a waiting period. However, we continue to try to help as many citizens as possible. Director Johnson stated we continue to work with many of the homeless population who have mental health issues. Board member Marshall asked what ever happened to the mental health hospitals. Director Johnson stated most of those were closed during the Engler administration. Board member Solis asked if they can collect social security. Director Johnson replied there are many who do collect social security and many have family members who manage their checks, pay their rent and get their medications. Many of them need adult foster care. Director Johnson shared the Mobile Food Pantry was a success and continues to grow. We have added the Lansing Housing Commission sites to our monthly schedule. This month the Greater Lansing Food Bank gave us $3,000 in gift cards that could be used at a couple different grocery stores. They got $10 from the gift card for produce and we gave out a $5 and $10 Meijer gift cards for milk or cheese. We give out larger gift cards to the large families with 10 to 15 family members. Director Johnson stated that she is researching other alternatives, other than the gift cards to allow citizens to receive healthy food choices from Meijer's or Walmart. With gift cards they could make purchases like pop or candy. Lastly is the One Church One Family, we are still waiting for the closings. MSHDA has been hit with calls since they announced they were going to help 17,000 households that could benefit from foreclosure prevention. Director Johnson stated she is hopeful that we will be closing on the Grand River property soon. LPD LIAISON'S REPORT None OLD BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS None NEXT MEETING The next meeting is scheduled for August 24th, at 5:30 pm. Meeting at Foster Community Center, 2"d floor, Room 211 located on Foster Street, Lansing, Michigan. ADJOURNMENT With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.