Commission on Family Services

Commission on Family Services Meeting Minutes – Skokie Village Hall June 7, 2023 7:00 pm Present: Commissioners Harold Primack (Chair), Michelle Friedman, Jo Hammerman, Shajan Jose, Linda Lara, Daniel Mann, Peggy Molina, Arnie Oskin, Melissa Ponce, Nancy Schwartz, Annie Shear, Phillip Shefren, Daniel Stalilonis, London Summerville, Melissa Versch (Staff Liaison) Absent: Commissioners Marjorie Goran, Laila Iqbal, Valerie Riley, Naadirah Shapley-Wells, Trustee Edie Sue Sutker I. Call to Order: Approval of Agenda Approved by consent. II. Approval of May 3, 2023 Minutes Approved by consent. III. Chair’s Report: Harold Primack This is the last commission meeting until September 6. Members of the Commission have been busy with several activities, which will be discussed under Old Business. Boomers and Beyond is ramping up. Farmers Market is also moving into high gear. The end of the month will be the start of the produce initiative and the donation drive. Thank you to London for setting up the Sign Up Genius. I will send out the link again, please sign up. The link can be sent to people outside of our commission. Melissa will be sending to the church and the teen volunteer program at the library. The mission is to promote the well-being of Skokie’s most vulnerable residents through outreach, advocacy and education. The farmers market collection is an extension of that. IV. Health and Human Service Report: Staff Liaison, Melissa Versch Health and Human Services has a new partnership with Advocate Healthcare System’s food pantry. They have provided shelf-stable bags of food that would last a single person about a week. If Human Services is meeting with people in the community who are food insecure, we can ask them to do a short questionnaire. If they do identify as food insecure we can hand them a bag right away. In two weeks, we gave out seven or eight bags. We have another new partnership with Impact Behavioral Health related to their employment services program. The program is expanded under a grant-funded project to individuals eligible for TANF or SNAP benefits. As we are meeting with people who are looking for work, we are able to refer to this program. Last thing, the Human Relations Commission is hosting a block party forum on Monday, June 12 at the library from 6:30 to 7:30pm. They do this every year as  part of their initiative to issue block party of the year awards. To kick off the block party season, the forum will talk about best practices, how to apply for a permit and ideas for the party. A flier is being passed around. V. Old Business: A. Boomers and Beyond 2023 The planning committee met on May 17 and there is progress being made. The event is on November 3rd at the Oakton Community Center. Daniel and Jo have been on the Presentations and Program subcommittee. Jo reported that the subcommittee has been meeting about once per month. They have been connecting with Elvis from Advocate Community Outreach, who has been very helpful. Advocate is looking into offering two mobile health screening clinics for dental and screening services. We have speakers lined up and will be meeting with Logistics to look at the space at Oakton next week. We have two clinical social workers from CJE talking about winter blues, depression and mindfulness. We’ll have Police and Fire. The library will provide drop-in services for tech help. We are using an attorney from CJE who will talk about advance directives or legal matters. We’re talking with Dr. Gittleman from Advocate to be a keynote speaker. We have two clinical specialists from Advocate who will be at tables, one from the Older Adult program and one from memory care. The subcommittee will talk with Skokie Health Department to make sure there is no overlap. Harold noted that Advocate should fill out a registration form and will not need to pay a registration fee. Melissa reported for the Vendors and Logistics subcommittee. An email was sent out to a list of potential exhibitors, provided by the Chamber of Commerce. There were over 100 organizations invited to become exhibitors. A variety of organizations were invited, including legislators, health care, legal, and financial services in the community. We do have the website set up for Boomers and Beyond with the basic information. Harold added that the Park District has the registration set up to accept payment. Harold is following up with the Chamber regarding a flier for the event. The flier can be posted to help get the word out. If anyone from the commission would like to join a Boomers and Beyond planning meeting they are welcome to join. The next meeting will be July 12 at 9:15am at the library. B. Farmers Market Produce Collection and Donation Drive Harold reiterated that the volunteer sign up is available for farmers market produce collection and donation drive. It is also a good way to publicize our work. C. Skokie Festival of Cultures Arnie reported that the brochure was completed and handed out at the Festival of Culture. There were at least 900 people during his shift on Sunday, a lot of seniors and children. There was interest in Boomers and Beyond. The brochure has a QR code for people to scan and get more information. Melissa reported that the Director of Communications gives his thanks to the commission for helping to staff the Village table at the event. D. Skokie July 4th Parade Arnie reported that there are at least 65 units registered in the parade. The Commission on Family Services and Human Services Commission are expected, as well as legislators and members of the Board of Trustees. Michelle asked about security for the parade. Arnie reported there will be a heightened level of security. Harold added that the parade is another great way to publicize the commission and pass out brochures. For those who want to join, meet at Oakton Community College between 10:30 and 11am. E. Subcommittee reports Seniors Subcommittee: Nothing further to report. People with Disabilities Subcommittee: Michelle reported that the subcommittee is planning a town hall meeting. Michelle had reached out to the mayor’s office in Chicago who reported that town hall meetings are more effective than a survey to hear from the community to get an idea of who are the people of the disabled community, what are their disabilities, how they feel we are doing as a community for people with disabilities, what they need, and what they want or think we can do better. We want to get input and involvement from organizations in the community, including Keshet and JCFS. We would like to get together with members of these organizations to help plan a town hall meeting. The event would probably be in the spring. Melissa asked what the subcommittee hopes to do with the information that is provided. The subcommittee replied that depending on the information, it may result in recommendations for services. We may find that parking is not sufficient or that materials need to be more accessible. We need to find out what we could be doing better. It’s good information for the agencies to know what is needed. At Risk Youth Subcommittee: Harold sent an email about an Early Childhood Alliance event in May that was very successful. As a subcommittee, maybe this is something to collaborate on. F. Commission publicity materials Melissa and Arnie worked together to update the commission brochure.  G. Future Commission Meeting Dates: Jun 7, Sept 6, Oct 4, Nov 1, Dec 6, Jan 3 (?), Feb 7, March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5 Harold asked that everyone look at the future meeting dates to see if there are any conflicts. In the past, there was no January meeting. We can decide closer to the date about the January meeting. H. Rules and Regulations Harold had proposed at the last meeting that if we have guests attend the meeting, the comment period should be limited to 3 minutes. To clarify, that does not include guests invited to present. I. Welcome Packet At the last meeting, a welcome packet was mentioned. Melissa volunteered to put together information for new commissioners. Michelle suggested that it might be helpful to have an orientation session and binder with people’s contact information, Robert’s Rules of Order and more. VI. New Business: A. Subcommittee breakout session & Report Item postponed due to time. B. Advisory Housing Commission In response to a request from the Mayor’s office, Harold sent an email to the commission asking for a representative for the Advisory Housing Commission. Melissa Ponce was recommended. VII. Citizen Comments: None. VIII. Adjournment at 8:11pm. Next Meeting: Sept. 6, 2023, 7:00 p.m. at Skokie Village Hall