Human Services Advisory Council

Page 1 of 2 MINUTES Human Services Advisory Council City of Falls Church PURPOSE OF MEETING: To advise City Council on human services delivery to Falls Church citizens. DATE OF MEETING: January 8, 2015 PLACE OF MEETING: Oak Room, 3rd floor East, City Hall MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY: Kristin Simonsen, Chair at 6:35 pm THOSE PRESENT: HSAC Members: Guest: Vicki Barnes Karen Glasser, Victoria Rocha, Best Buddies Craig Cheney Howard Stegack, Diane Mong, The Arc of Kristin Simonsen, Chair Northern Virginia Claudia Weizbiki, Jeanette Walters-Marquez, Student Representatives: Falls Church Education Foundation Maraena Allen-Lewis, Hayley Loftur-Thun Adwoa Spencer, Jose Lindopp, CASA de Maryland Staff: Nancy Vincent, Sue Richter, Dana Lewis Housing and Human Services NEW BUSINESS: Community Services Fund Presentations were made by four applicants: • Best Buddies- Gave an overview of past activities. They currently have seventy registered for the program and all are matched. Students at George Mason High School with IDD are paired in one-to-one mutual mentoring friendships with their typical peers and are maintained for at least one academic year. At the end of the year the student participant, school advisors, and parents are surveyed regarding the overall satisfaction of the program. • The Arc of Northern Virginia – New application for FY2016 grant process. The organization serves individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. They provide case management, information and referral, family education workshops, financial planning, and management. They work with the elderly with disabilities to help maximize the quality of their life thru a program, Transition Point. This program helps prepare the caregiver and individuals with ID/DD for their later years. Funding from this grant will assist the Transition Point program to develop and launch a web-based resources program. The funds will also be used for in-person workshops with families and caregivers. • CASA de Maryland- The organization is a Latino and immigrant organization in the area that supports immigrant families, ensuring they have the core support services necessary for full participation in society. Their goal is to ensure Falls Church residents, in  Page 2 of 2 particular limited English proficient Latino and immigrant residents, have access to decent housing in safe and stable communities and access to legal services and financial supports. Funding from this grant will assist with door-to-door outreach to disseminate information about housing rights and responsibilities and build participation in a Falls Church Residents Council as well as provide legal services, financial literacy assistance, citizenship assistance, and community engagement programming. They currently serve City of Falls Church residents and have groups here. • Falls Church Education Foundation – Funding will be used for assisting ESOL students in attending summer camp. Last summer seven students were able to attend summer camp provided by the City of Falls Church Recreation and Parks Department. The Recreation and Parks Department has provided a discounted rate for this program and will continue to do in the future. The goal for FY2016 is to send twenty three ESOL students to summer camp. Participating in the summer camp program provides the ESOL students with an outside of the classroom English experience. They learn the English language in a fun environment which leads to an easier acceptance of the language. They currently are working with students from Mr. Daniel School since they have found learning of English is more effective in the younger students and in the future will expand to the other schools in the City. They are not able to track all the data on the success of this program since much of the data is confidential. At the HSAC meeting on January 15th recommendations will be made for the Community Services Fund for FY2016 and will be forward to the City Manager and City Council for the Budget process. A back up meeting date for January 20th was agreed upon in case weather does not permit the committee to meet on January 15th. New Staff Liaison: Nancy Vincent, current staff liaison to the HSAC introduced the new staff liaison, Dana Lewis, Housing Program Analyst. STAFF REPORT: Staff Vincent report that the City is beginning its budget process and final guidelines will be given to staff after the City Council meeting on January 12th. Currently staff have been instructed to keep budgets flat with no increases and that there may possibly be decreases in the budget for FY2016. The Community Services fund budget recommendation will remain at $75,000. MEETING ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 7:55 pm. The next meeting will be Thursday, January 15, 2015. SIGNATURE OF RECORDER: Sue Richter The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This document will be made available in an alternate format upon request. Call 703-248- 5005 (TTY 711).