Mark VanWassenhove+
Debbie Asberry
Steve Albrecht
Joe Hauptman
Tom Higbie
Natalie Weir
| Tim: | a number of families are under stress and the school is unable to address their needs, there is a great need for mentors and role models for children; Stephanie agreed with this. |
| Ellen: | there are mental health needs unmet - Medicaid has not been paying mental health providers so the agencies are beginning to not take patients; access issues for quality mental health care are creating or aggravating the stress levels. Specific concerns are depression and anxiety. |
| Julie: | collaborative efforts are very possible, especially as relates to education for services of rehabilitation to help the elderly remain in their homes, explaining how the process of rehabilitation works, what the options are when an elder has a fall or other crisis and needs assistance for recovery; both she and Gina stressed the education roles they can play without a "selling" approach to help families cope with these crises. |
| Pastor Schwarz: | need some way to share information regarding organizations and what they do - to help the church identify resources available. His church has tried to organize an Alzheimers' respite care for caregivers so they can attend weekly services. |
| Jeff: | the trustee's office has been convening a roundtable for social service providers - they met monthly in 2007 and are meeting quarterly in 2008, but share information via a monthly e-newsletter. The roundtable tries to help the agencies and organizations recognize we are all part of the safety net. |
| Julie: | Miller could help organize a seniors' health fair that, while funded by their marketing budgets, would be informational rather than a sales pitch. |
| Becky: | 1200-1400 arrests are made monthly in our district, 300-400 more arrests than other districts. As a point of reference, our district is 33 sq. miles, while the SE district is 96 sq. miles and we still have a higher incidence of crime. Crimes range from theft, such as metal theft, to murder. Crimes also encompass youth and car theft at the local car dealerships. She reinforced the positive impact that could result from working with youth, especially helping them recognize or develop a sense of connectedness with the east side community. |
| Jeff: | the unmet need is economic opportunity and hope. |
| Rick: | the issue is no commitment from parents; need to help parents have a sense of opportunity and hope as well. |
| Ellen: | there is an unmet need as relates to safe, economical transportation for the working poor. |
| Craig: | the annual community needs assessment TMC does for the Hispanic community reinforces the transportation needs. He also recognized the isolation the hispanic families feel as a result of working long hours and the impact it has on the ability to access healthcare as well as ESL or GED classes. Food pantry access is also an issue in some instances where families do not meet local residency requirements. TMC does publish a resource directory which is updated regularly, and holds cluster meetings to provide opportunities for collaboration. |
| Tim: | reinforced the issues associated with parents working long hours, and that kids need a safe place to go while they are working. He sees the need for a community center with access to games and activities, with minimal supervision. The school could provide the space, but who could meet the staffing needs? |
| Ellen: | Irvington pastors are supporting her and the work of the Hope Counselling Center but if she were asked to do more, it wouldn't be possible, there isn't energy or time for another task. The exception is the value percieved in semi-annual meetings one-on-one with the pastors. |
| John: | with all of our busy-ness, how do we identify/tap into a wider volunteer base? Kids are very interested in being a boy scout, but when it comes time for sign up they can't get there - literally. How do we recruit and coordinate and organize volunteers? |
| Ellen: | hold a Volunteers' Fair at Ellenberger park? |
| Rick: | the key is a point person to organize and coordinate, to focus volunteer efforts. |
| Tim: | volunteer opportunities must be a discrete commitment for the volunteers to encourage participation. |
| Steve: | discrete commitments build interest and the success of such a commitment encourages future participation. |
| Ellen: | similar to the Habitat model. |
| Tim: | there could be a family education component; the school provided access to volunteers with the skill sets to help students and their families understand financial aid options for college and many students will have the opportunity to be first time college students in their families. Without the volunteers most would not have been able to assess the situation and identify their potential to successfully attend college from a financial perspective. |
| Jeff: | many of the families who desparately need the services we can provide have no one to tell them that we exist. |
| Tim: | is this part of the "east side" perception? |
| Jeff: | post WWII manufacturing jobs helped build the community. The jobs are gone now - this means both the income sources and the project funding resources for programs such as performing arts, etc. are gone. The Eastgate Mall renovation project is a significant opportunity for revitalization for the community. |
| Craig: | there are significant strengths associated with the east side; we need to do some "asset mapping" of them. |
Steve explained this meeting was one of the steps in our journey to develop a strategic plan. He explained the ICC initial matching grant as well as the plans to make recommendations to the Vestry this fall based upon all our conversations, including the World Cafe's and this community meeting, as to our call to match our passions and desires with the community's needs, using the opportunity of the second grant to implement the recommendation.
Participants requested we share contact information for eachother, notes from the meeting, the list of participants, and were open to another conversation and/or one on one conversations as part of our discernment. Both Rick and Tim encouraged us to share what we recommend, and to move into the implementation stage.