MANSFIELD DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

MINUTES

 

Thursday, May 5, 2005

 3:30 PM

 

PRESENT:J. Heald (Chair), M. Hauslaib, J. Krisch

REGRETS: J. Peters, E. Passmore

 

I.                    MINUTES: The minutes of April 7, 2005 meeting were approved as written.

 

II.                  NEW BUSINESS:

A.     Proposed School Readiness Grant: K. Grunwald reported on the status of the State Dept. of Education school readiness grant.  Mansfield is eligible once again because E.O. Smith is considered a “severe needs” school.  Initially only the Mansfield Discovery Depot was interested in participating in the grant, but now all four accredited centers want to be part of this.  Staff are in the process of negotiating agreements; the grant application is due May 20.

B.    Technical Assistance grant from National League of Cities: as a result of participating in the recent leadership academy, the Town is eligible to apply for a technical assistance grant.  The focus would be on connecting parents with resources and developing “family friendly” workplace policies.  The grant application was submitted last week.

C.    Action Plan: anti-poverty resources: members of the advisory committee endorsed the action plan as presented.  There was some discussion regarding the use of municipal buildings to disseminate information on social service programs.

D.    Other: none

 

III.                OLD BUSINESS:

A.      Status of agency funding requests: the proposed Town budget includes recommended funding for non-profit agencies.  The Town Meeting to vote on the proposed budget is May 10.  J. Heald is still pursuing involvement with the United Way of Greater Windham. 

B.      Advisory Committee Goals (review): no action.

C.      Membership recruitment status: K. Grunwald will invite interested individuals to attend the June meeting. 

D.      Other: there was some discussion about the issue of bullying at the Middle School.  J. Heald will pursue this with the Middle School Parent’s Association to see if they would be willing to sponsor a forum or venue for parent discussion.

 

 

 

     IV.            COMMUNICATIONS/REPORTS: 

A.     Review of Department activity and other items in packet and discussion with SSD Director:

B.           Program updates

·        Early Care and Education

·        Adult Services

·        Senior Services

·        Youth Services

C.    Other:  none.

 

V.            PLANS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

·        June 2: Senior Center Update

 

VI.            ADJOURNMENT: the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 PM

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Kevin Grunwald