FAIRBANKS NORTH STAR BOROUGH HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES COMMISSION MINUTES February 13, 2019 A regular meeting of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Health & Social Services Commission was held at the Borough Assembly Chambers, 907 Terminal Street. The meeting was called to order at 12:35 p.m. by Retchenda George-Bettisworth, Vice-Chair. A. ROLL CALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Retchenda George-Bettisworth, Pamela Wagaman, Joe Blackburn, Peter Pinney, Enlow Walker, Jodi Rhoades, Shelissa Thomas (via telephone) MEMBERS ABSENT: Juanita Web OTHERS PRESENT: Eric Holland, Michelle Gutierrez B. MESSAGES 1. Citizen s Comments Anne Weaver, CEO, Community of Fairbanks Food Bank. 725 26 th Ave, Fairbanks, AK 99701. Ms. Weaver stated she had previously submitted their grant proposal for the current year. She wanted to make sure she didn t need to make any changes. She commented the changes that were made last year were nice. She appreciated having more flexibility to talk about the culture and diversity amongst the staff and volunteers. She thanked the commission for the changes, and noted the commission does a really good job listening to their comments and thoughts, and that it is appreciated and noticed. 2. Disclosure & Statement of Conflict of Interest - None C. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion to approve the agenda and the consent agenda made by Commissioner Blackburn and seconded by Commissioner Rhoades. Carried without objection. D. REPORTS 1. Commissioner Wagaman reported: She visited No Limits on 12/19/19, she spoke with director Kelvin Lee. The goal of the program is to give support to those who are re-entering the Fairbanks community from the
criminal justice system. Some of the individuals have substance abuse issues and other issues that are covered by the program. The program is designed by a similar program in Anchorage and has been in the Fairbanks area since 2015. There are several different programs that will help individuals who are re-entering the community. The primary one is to be able to get secure housing. There are support groups and one on one mentoring to help them deal with various issues. There are a variety of ways to help them get job experience. The program has a coffee shop, a moving business, landscaping, handy-man work, on the job training, and ways to learn how to manage their money. The program helps give individuals experience to build a resume. The program also helps with permanent housing. Success is measured through discussions, individual and in group settings, as well as tracking employment and financial goals, improving decision making skills and social behaviors around substance abuse, and staying out of custody. The director, Mr. Lee expressed the importance of the agency funding to the program and the concern about competing against other agencies. Commissioner Wagaman encouraged him to reach out to the Commission if he has any additional questions, and to be sure to ask for support. Commissioner Wagaman visited Big Brothers, Big Sisters, on 1/10/19, and met with new local program director, Karen Taber. They moved their location to 9 th Ave. There is a specific room for young people to meet and play with their Bigs. Littles are kids who are recommend by families, schools or the system and they are paired with Bigs. Bigs are mentors, who are provided training and opportunities to meet one on one with the Littles at the center and throughout the community doing various types of activities. One of the issues the program has been dealing with is not having a program director for some time. Much of the time has been spent on getting up-to-date and on training. The majority of the training for staff and mentors is online, and were expected to be caught up with training by mid-january. They are almost caught up with the back log of pairing Littles with new Bigs. The program is moving forward. 2. Commissioner Walker reported: He visited the Literacy Council of Alaska, he met with Mike Kolasa. The project they receive funding for is the adult literacy program. The Literacy Council was founded in 1974, with the goal of changing lives through literacy. They provide English as a second language classes. They also provide citizenship classes for those looking to become US citizens, and they also provide assistance in classes for those who want to earn a GED. They had 65 graduates for the GED program in the last FY. They run the bookstore, selling donated books, they receive about 1/8 of their income from the store. Overall, in the last FY, they had about 13,000 hours of adult attendance at the programs they offer. The services they are specifically providing through the AHCMG grant from our commission are classes for adults who read below a 4 th grade level and English as second language classes. 10% of the population doesn t have English as their primary language so there are quite a number of people who can benefit from their programs. They
cooperate with the Community Technical College, the food bank, and Head Start. They donate books to all these different agencies. Books on diabetes to the food bank. They donate books to youth facilities, and correctional facilities, at no cost, unless shipping cost occur, the receiving party has to pay the shipping. Some challenges they face are with their English as a second language classes, student tend to be transient, so it makes attendance difficult. As far as who would miss the program if they were no longer there, the whole English as a second language population, adults who are learning to read, people who are working on GED s, and Citizenship, being that they are the only organization that does this kind of work. The comments from the Literacy Council are; they appreciate the work of the commission and assistance with getting the grants they need. Commissioner Walker visited Fairbanks Resource Agency on 1/14/19, he met with Emily Enis. They were founded in 1967 to support mental health services due to lack of local mental health services and treatment. They get to 2 MAG grants; one for senior services at the adult day center. The other is for family caregiver support programs, for families who are taking care of elderly or disabled family members at home who need assistance and time to re-group. They get state grants for both of the programs, and what the commission is giving them is the required 10% match. They feel they are providing a very essential service for these people. There aren t any other sources for the type of care they are giving, and the type of program they are running. They re problems and concerns are the state grants haven t increased in 15 years and in some cases have even gone down. They are very grateful for the MAG grants and are essential to keep the state grants due to the 10% grant requirement. E. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1. None. F. NEW BUSINESS 1. Remembering Banarsi Lal The Commission took a moment of silence in recognition of Banarsi Lal, a former Commissioner who passed away on December 28 th, 2018. 2. HSCMG Scoring Training/Refresher There is one new Commissioner that will be ready to score, Commissioner Walker. Mr. Holland has provided a score sheet and a previous application form the interior aids association. The hardest thing for scoring is answering the first question; which is, does the proposal meet the definition of essential human services?, those services whose unavailability would subject persons needing the services to serious mental or physical hardship. Commissioner George-Bettisworth explained,
the first question is usually addressed at the beginning of the narratives. The first step in the scoring, is to answer the first question, if everyone agrees that is meets the essential human services, they will move forward with continued scoring. It was questioned whether or not the Commission has the authority to write or re-write the first question. It was answered that this question, is believed to be state language, from the grant that comes from the state to Borough and the Borough adds to it, and the Commission cannot change the language, because it is dictated by the State. Commissioner George-Bettisworth stated she thinks it s up to the agencies to express in their application the answer to the first question. The next sections for scoring were discussed; project narrative piece, section B, the target population and the number of people served. The commission did a mock scoring of the example application, and explained how they came to the conclusions of the scores they gave for each section. For the last section, current year performance, the commission doesn t tend to score that until they receive the information from Mr. Holland on documentation deficiencies, at the time of the scoring meeting. 3. HSCMG Screening Committee The commission needs to form the screening committee. The proposals for the HSCMG should be turned in by Tuesday, February 19 th, at 4PM. There needs to be 2-3 commissioners willing to do the screening of those proposals to determine whether or not they meet need of the definition of essential human services, and to make sure all sections are in place. The review should take about 2 hours to complete. The review should be completed Wednesday-Friday of the week of February 18 th. If there are deficiencies noted the agencies are given 3 business days to clarify them and submit any materials, copies will be given to the commissioners. Commissioners Wagaman, Blackburn and George-Bettisworth stated they will look at their calendars to check for availability to complete the screenings. 4. Meeting Schedule Overview March 16 th (Saturday Agency Meeting (10am-4:00pm) March 18 th (Monday evening meeting from 5:30-9:00pm) April 10 (Round 3 MAG Scoring) May 8 th Need to set either June or July Date for RFA/RFP work session August 14 th September 11 th October 9 th December 11 th G. EXCUSE FUTURE ABSENCES 1. March 16 th, 2019 HSCMG Agency Presentations 2. March 18 th, 2019 HSCMG Scoring
H. COMMISSIONER S COMMENTS/COMMUNICATIONS Chairperson s Comments None Commissioner s Comments: 1. Commissioner Pinney reported: he, and Mr. Holland met with Mayor Ward and discussed the history, background, roll and impact of the Commission. They discussed options on how to advocate for social services in general and also in particular the community matching grant funding. In the past the communities that received the funding, the mayors have gotten together, in a coordinated effort, said how important the funding was to prevent higher costs for the State if the money for these services was not provided in the manner that it comes to us. Mayor Ward offered a suggestion to bring forth a resolution to the assembly asking for support for the Commissions efforts as a tool for advocacy. There will be a short turnaround time to have the advocacy start to build or get transmitted to the legislature. Commissioner Pinney recommends putting a subcommittee together to come up with a list of important facts on the economic impact on agencies that the Commission and funding has had. We are looking for a new commissioner, looking for diversity, which can reflect the community. 2. Commissioner Blackburn reported: he had a site visit with Thrive Alaska, Alisha Burk, it was a very good visit. The proposal to him, it doesn t do full justice as going onsite and seeing the day to day operation. Their board is made up of their clients that they serve. The kids they serve are broad, they don t charge anything for Head Start. They are a 4 year program. They deal with kids whose families are homeless, families that are incarcerated, dealing with substance abuse. The program is for children from birth to 3 years old. They also have a daycare. It is a wonderful program. His other visit, Interior Alaska Center for Non-violent Living, Brenda Standfill. They talked, but he wasn t able to do a site visit, she was out of town. 3. Commissioner Walker stated if the commission gets in a bind for reviewing the proposals next week he could help. 4. Commissioner George-Bettisworth asked, what do we do if we communicate with persons interested in serving on the commission. Mr. Holland answered that he or the Mayor s office has the application, which is a fillable PDF. The applicant would need to complete the application and provide a resume. It can be turned into to Mr. Holland or Krista Major in the Mayor s office, or Sharon Wittenkeller, Clerk for the Commission. Commissioner George-Bettisworth, asked how many positions are open on the commission. Mr. Holland replied, one position open. I. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:57 p.m.