Commission on Family Services

Commission on Family Services Meeting Minutes – Skokie Village Hall Nov. 1, 2023 7:00 pm Present: Commissioners Harold Primack (Chair), Michelle Friedman, Marjorie Goran, Jo Hammerman, Linda Lara, Daniel Mann, Peggy Molina, Arnie Oskin, Melissa Ponce, Valerie Riley, Nancy Schwartz, Annie Shear, Daniel Stalilonis, London Summerville, Melissa Versch (Staff Liaison) Absent: Commissioners Hilary Hunter, Laila Iqbal, Shajan Jose, Naadirah Shapley-Wells, Phillip Shefren, Trustee Edie Sue Sutker I. Call to Order: Approval of Agenda Approved by consent. II. Approval of Oct. 4, 2023 Minutes Approved with corrections. III. Chair’s Report: Harold Primack Our Commission reports directly to the Board of Trustees. Our Trustee Liaison is Edie Sue Sutker. We’re an advisory commission and can provide recommendations to the board. Generally, commissioners should not go to the mayor’s office or trustees without going through the commission. Melissa Versch is our liaison to the Health and Human Services Division, and we can work with Melissa on initiatives that require assistance from the village. We shouldn’t go through Village staff for assistance unless we have Melissa’s approval, or goes through Melissa. We created the subcommittees so our commission could take a more focused look at the needs of vulnerable populations. The intent is that each subcommittee works as an innovation center to come up with ideas for initiatives, which should be brought to the commission for approval. By bringing it into the commission, you can work more collaboratively with the larger group. Also, in many cases, you want to work collaboratively with outside groups. I think we’re doing that, but the reminder is worth it. The more collaborative, the more successful. Boomers and Beyond is a good example. Members of the planning committee are on the commission. You’ve heard reports from us and we’ve solicited commissioners to volunteer at the event or pass out flyers. We’ve collaborated with the Village, Library, Park District, CJE, North Shore Senior Center and other groups. Regarding obligations of commissioners, it’s understood that sometimes commissioners have to miss meetings due to health or family obligations. Please let me or Melissa know if you have to miss a meeting. If you find that you can no longer attend, then talk to me or Melissa. If you miss several meetings, you may get a letter from the mayor’s office. IV. Health and Human Service Report: Staff Liaison, Melissa Versch Health and Human Services held flu shot clinics on October 4 and October 12. A total of 1328 flu doses were administered. The Human Relations Commission has been working on an initiative for a new village seal. The commission did a focus group to consult with Native people and the recommendation was to cease using the current seal. It is no longer being used for new items. It is costly to replace items. They are accepting proposals from design firms to create a new village seal. They have extended the deadline to November 17 and hope to receive more submissions from Native artists. The Human Services Department is now accepting applications for the Assist-A-Family Holiday program. The program provides gift cards for local businesses to families in need during the holiday season. The funding is largely donations from community members and local businesses. We prioritize families that  we’ve worked with over the last year, but will accept applications from families who live in Skokie and meet the income criteria, which is 150% federal poverty level. V. Old Business: A. Seniors Subcommittee - Boomers and Beyond 2023 The event is Friday, November 3. Forty exhibitors have signed up. We have five speakers. Credit to Jo and Daniel, as well as Melody from the library and Sharron from CJE. We have snacks, Annie will be there. All we need are guests. We’ve gotten a lot of publicity out. A signup sheet will be passed around to volunteer for the event. The flyer was also shared. B. Farmers Market Produce Collection and donation drive Melissa V shared that there will be a collection this Sunday the 5th because farmers indicated they would like to donate. Parishioners have volunteered, and commissioners are invited to join between noon and 1pm. Over the summer, we collected 6300 pounds of produce, over 760 pounds of non-perishable food and toiletries, and 150 bags of clothing. All produce and food has gone to the food pantry and the clothing has gone to the clothing closet. We do need to purchase bags for next season. Thank you to the parishioners at St. Paul and to the commissioners who helped with the initiative. C. At-Risk Youth and Families Subcommittee - Diaper Drive London shared that the diaper drive is next week. A link to an Amazon wish list already went out to purchase diapers. We’ve already gotten around 20 donations of packages. London and Marjory will be at the library from 10am - 2pm. The food pantry is not open on Saturdays, so we’ll have to drop off on Monday. Send an email if you want to help with drop off. We are not collecting at all fire stations due to a staffing issue. Collection will be at the fire station on Niles Center Road. Arnie is dropping off boxes for Toys for Tots, which can be used with the Diaper Drive posters. Commissioners are encouraged to help publicize the event. Harold asked if the subcommittee envisions repeating the diaper drive. The subcommittee responded that they will need to assess. There may be other times of year when there are fewer solicitations for donations. The use of technology was beneficial, including the ease of ordering from Amazon and posting information on social media. Recommendations may be made by the subcommittee to the commission for future donation drives. D. Disabilities Subcommittee - Town Hall Meeting Michelle reported that we are moving forward with the Town Hall meeting on May 19 at 1:00, waiting until spring when the weather is a little better. We need to find a new venue for the meeting because the library is going through renovations and the room is not available. We need a room that is accessible and big enough. The planning committee includes members of the subcommittee, Skokie Public Library, District 219, Keshet, JCFS, Douglas Center, Orchard Village and Shore. We initially thought there would be a panel for people to stand up and share what’s good in the village, what challenges are, what they would like to see different. We’ve decided to do more small focus groups led by participants of the planning committee. Each group would be asked the same questions. The only cost we perceive is the cost of the flyers and a sign language interpreter. We will probably start to look at the flyers and publicity after the first of the year. The flyer can be sent out by email or through  the Skokie Review, as well as through partner agencies. Melissa reported that there is approximately $400 in the commission budget, which will restart in May. The goal is to put together the responses and make a recommendation to the Village. There has to be commitment from the village to make changes to make people with disabilities feel more welcome and make things more accessible. There will be budgetary considerations, but it doesn’t all have to be done in one fiscal year. We will put together recommendations to the commission first. Our next planning meeting is November 13. Melissa stated that by working together with organizations that serve people with disabilities, this is a communal effort and so the information and recommendations are valuable to everyone involved in the planning committee. Harold suggested that members of the subcommittee could meet with the mayor to discuss the initiative. Michelle asked if the Village Manager should be included. Harold responded that the Manager and Director of Health and Human Services should be informed and involved. A suggestion was made to provide training on the structure of village government. Melissa shared an example regarding the Environmental Sustainability Committee creating a plan based on a lot of research, which was presented to the Board of Trustees for approval. All departments in the village play a part in meeting the goals that were established by the committee. There are very specific items, though some are left open. For example, making sure residents have access to local food - our produce collection helps meet that goal. The green compost bins and garbage collection being cut to once per week are parts of the Environmental Sustainability plan. Some items do not require money but involve getting more creative or changing how we think about things. Harold will follow up with the mayor regarding a meeting. VI. New Business: A. Jan. 3, 2024 commission meeting It was proposed that the January meeting is canceled. There were no objections. B. Melissa Ponce shared for the Affordable Housing subcommittee of the Housing Committee. The group includes representatives from commissions and districts within Skokie. We have been tasked with reviewing Skokie’s comprehensive plan, specifically the housing section and land use section. We had our first meeting last week, which was introductory and information based. A more working one will be next week to go over demographics. The last time the comprehensive plan was updated was early the 2000’s and demographics have changed quite a bit. That will inform the approach to housing and land use components. Once we get more into it, I will reach out to everyone to make sure all our committee groups are well represented. We’ll be making our recommendations to the Housing Committee to accept or move to the next steps. We can recommend something but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to pass. A question was asked to clarify “land use.” Land can be multi-use. Some areas can be only housing or only business. During a meeting, an environmental commissioner suggested that land can be multi-use such as having a business with housing on top. The term on the subcommittee is six months, so recommendations should be made by the end of March. C. Jo reported on the File of Life program. Some municipalities have a program in which a ziplock bag is placed on the fridge or in the freezer to be located by first responders. The bags contain a form with  medical information, advance directives, contact information and medication. The information can then be used by first responders and taken to the emergency room. After a conversation with Tim Taylor with the fire department, the issue was revisited. He will be working on rolling out a program for Skokie. D. Harold passed out commission brochures to be included in the welcome folder passed out at the last meeting. VII. Citizen Comments: None. VIII. Adjournment at 7:59pm. Next Meeting: Dec. 6, 2023, 7:00 p.m. at Skokie Village Hall