Community Relations Commission

1 DRAFT 2 Minutes of a Joint Meeting of the 3 Community Relations Commission and 4 Community Relations Commission Northbrook Cares Subcommittee 5 Northbrook, IL 6 Friday, May 13, 2016 7 8 Community Relations Commission 9 Present: Chairman Bruce Doughty, Commissioners Elliot Bruckman, Mary Hansen, 10 Sharon Latek, Jason Han and Dr. Rochelle Singer 11 Representatives: Alice Lonoff 12 Absent: Commissioner Christine Beeftink 13 Northbrook Cares Subcommittee 14 Present: Subcommittee Chair Bruce Doughty, Members Elliot Bruckman, Safa 15 Hamed, Sharon Latek and Alice Lonoff 16 Others Present: Silvia Acosta, PEER Services; Maggie Bruce, St. Norbert’s Parish; 17 Maureen Collins, Rosecrance; Deputy Chief Scott Dunham, Northbrook 18 Police Department; Kelly Durov, Northbrook Public Library; Suzan 19 Eckstein, Josselyn Center; Cheryl Fayne, Village of Northbrook; Heather 20 Freed, Erika’s Lighthouse; Sandy Frum, Village President; Alison Frye, 21 Youth Services of Glenview/Northbrook; Rabbi Sid Helbraun, Temple 22 Beth-El; Erik Jensen, Commission Liaison; Dr. David Kroeze, Northbrook 23 District 27; Homer Ma, Northbrook Seventh Day Adventist Church; Carla 24 Martens, Youth Commission Chair; Erica Morand, Willow House; Rich 25 Nahrstadt, Village Manager; John Panozzo, Shabonee School 26 Principal/District 27; Penni Ralphaelson, Glenview Northbrook Coalition 27 for Youth; Kelly Schuler, Josselyn Center; Howard Schultz, North 28 Suburban YMCA; Amy Skalinder, Angles; Sheila Streets, Hickory Point 29 Elementary Principal/District 27; Ellen Switalski, Haven Youth & Family 30 Services; Chief Jose Torres, Northbrook Fire Department; Nancy 31 Vaccaro, Northbrook Police Department; Mindy Waxman, Willow House; 32 Dr. Brian Wegley, Northbrook/Glenview District 30; Jenna Duffy, District 33 28 34 Welcome 35 Chairman Doughty called the meeting to order at 11:55 am in the Board Room of Village Hall. 36 He welcomed everyone and introduced Village President Sandy Frum. 37 President Frum gave a brief introduction, discussed the background of today and welcomed the 38 group. 39 40 Chairman Doughty described the background of Northbrook Cares with the group. He 41 welcomed the group and suggested that this time be used for discussing mutual issues faced by 42 all groups. He discussed the website and the need to use the Village as a facilitator between 43 agencies and others. He then asked each person to introduce themselves. 44 Each attendee introduced themselves to the group. 45 Chairman Doughty stated that a few questions had been prepared for the meeting and asked 46 that the group discuss what it perceives to be gaps in the current social service coverage in the 47 area. 48 Mr. Schultz asked for the definition of gaps in coverage. 49 Chairman Doughty clarified. 50 Ms. Collins stated that a major need that she often receives calls from parents asking “what if” 51 questions and trying to determine if their child needs assistance. She then said that education is 52 a major need, especially among parents. 53 Chairman Doughty asked how this education should be addressed. 54 Ms. Collins stated that, for example, heroin is a major issue and that the social service agencies 55 need to have opportunities to provide continuous education. 56 Chief Torres asked how many agencies are currently working with the schools. 57 A few representatives raised their hands. 58 Chairman Doughty asked how schools could better engage with social service agencies. 59 Ms. Shields stated that a centralized website would be helpful and that schools are often looking 60 for a connection for continuously updated social service agency information for student and 61 parent referrals. 62 Ms. Duffy stated she agreed with Ms. Shields’ statement and that it is often difficult to remain 63 current on different agencies. She further stated that a website could be particularly valuable for 64 teachers. 65 Dr. Wegley stated that one of the core challenges for teachers and school administrators is to 66 “enter the fog” and deal with the issues there. He suggested that clarity is extremely helpful 67 when parents are seeking answers and that to get it, schools try to provide a clear path for the 68 family to ask questions and refer as necessary. He stated he would support building those 69 relationships and any method of increasing information sharing between the schools and 70 agencies. 71 Ms. Skalinder asked how agencies can reach those who need assistance but are not actively 72 engaging with the agencies or other supportive services. She echoed Ms. Collins earlier  73 comment about education and that the schools could be an invaluable asset in helping the 74 agencies reach those in need. She further suggested that the agencies would be open to 75 attending parents’ nights if they could set up informational tables. 76 77 Dr. Wegley stated that would be beneficial and very possible. 78 Ms. Skalinder again echoed Ms. Collins’ previous comment and stated that continuous 79 exposure was a necessity. 80 Ms. Fayne informed the group of the Village’s communications capabilities. 81 Mr. Schultz stated that there are missed opportunities for resource information to be shared and 82 he would participate in information sharing as well. 83 Ms. Durov stated that curating information on a single website would be helpful and could 84 potentially tie into the Library’s mission. She further stated that the Library could be a good 85 conduit for maintaining the website and facilitating information sharing. 86 Ms. Vaccaro stated that she wanted to speak on behalf of the population aged 18-21. She 87 stated they can also be extremely vulnerable and she did not want them to be forgotten in this 88 program. 89 Rabbi Helbraun stated that there is a significant social stigma with mental illness in the 90 community. He reaffirmed the importance of information sharing but also stated that combating 91 this stigma was important. He suggested that a partnership between the Clergy Association and 92 schools to discuss mental illness could be an important component of this. 93 Ms. Waxman stated that the internet can be both a benefit and hindrance. She suggested that 94 the Commission go forward with the website and potentially establish a point person. 95 Commissioner Han stated that part of the stigma is the fear of criminalization. He further stated 96 that an important part of the website should be to reassure those seeking assistance that they 97 will not be punished for doing so. 98 Ms. Collins discussed the need to emphasize treatment for mental illness and the importance of 99 making the website a “one-stop shop” for support and safety. 100 Ms. Eckstein stated that she agreed with Ms. Collins but also that high achievers often miss the 101 assistance they need and that while the website is important, it should be part of a larger 102 campaign. 103 Ms. Duffy stated that special needs groups need more support than they currently have. She 104 stated that autism is a heavily discussed and represented mental health issue right now, and 105 that it often parents of children with other needs who aren’t nearly as supported. 106 Chairman Doughty asked how the schools could support awareness of mental health issues 107 and combat the stigma of it. 108 Ms. Freed stated that she agreed that the stigma was an issue and discussed how it led to the 109 creation of Erika’s Lighthouse. She reviewed Erika’s Lighthouse’s approach to educating young 110 people about how to talk about mental health and normalize discussion and treatment of it. She 111 discussed the peer-to-peer counseling they currently do both at their facility and in the schools. 112 Dr. Wegley added that Erika’s Lighthouse is not about getting depressed children together but 113 really do help support kids through everyday events. He stated he felt that it was very positive 114 and beneficial. 115 Ms. Martens stated that one of the unintended consequences of living in a high-performing 116 community is that expectations are always high. She emphasized that this reinforces the social 117 stigma and that education needs to be done in the parenting community as well. 118 A representative from District 27 stated that educators often fear they are not meeting 119 Northbrook’s expectations. 120 A brief conversation occurred about how “success” is measured by different gages and how to 121 distribute this message to the youth and parenting communities. 122 Ms. Waxman reiterated the importance of peer counseling. 123 Mr. Schultz briefly discussed his interest in meeting what youth are asking for and that physical 124 space is often one of those needs. 125 Commissioner Han stated that physical space has decreased importance because of the 126 proliferation of online forums. He stated that since youth are heavily involved online, the creation 127 of an online presence should take priority for the time being. 128 Mr. Ma detailed his experience with the pressures placed on youth in the community. 129 President Frum returned to Ms. Marten’s comments and stated that there are two-sides to this 130 issue. She stated that people want to live in Northbrook at least partially due to the outstanding 131 schools it has. She stated what can happen is that high-performing schools produce excellent 132 students who compete for status. She asked how we can emphasize the various types of 133 success and that this was really the beginning of a conversation and not the end. 134 Ms. Martens stated that this is not an “either-or” situation. She stated that the community can 135 maintain excellence while combating hopelessness. 136 Ms. Freed stated that working on broadening the definition of success would be a major benefit. 137 Rabbi Helbraun stated that placing the emphasis on being a “healthy” community (vs. a 138 “successful” one) should be a focus of Northbrook Cares. 139 Commissioner Singer stated that today’s conversation has been very “Northbrook-centric” and 140 that there are other challenges and pressures youth face that should be address as well. 141 Subcommittee Member Hamed stated that these issues do carry over from high school to 142 college and that she has noted that Northbrook students can be hesitant to engage with others 143 once they reach the college level. 144 Chairman Doughty stated the meeting would close but that follow-ups would be done and that 145 this group may meet on a regular schedule in the future. He thanked everyone for their time. 146 The meeting closed at 1:03 pm. 147 Respectfully submitted, 148 149 150 Erik Jensen 151 Staff Liaison