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Prevention Works! Minutes |
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Minutes
of Clallam County Prevention Works! Community Coalition The
mission of Clallam County Prevention Works! Community Coalition is to
reduce child abuse and neglect, violence, and substance abuse by assisting
families with children from conception through four years of age by:
The
meeting was called to order by Jane Shefler.
Those attending were Jane Shefler, Shaine Schramling, Don Zanon,
Joe LeDuke, Martha Hall, Debra Sharp, Jennifer Charles, John Beitzel, Jim
Borte, Nita Quan, Susan Suprenant, Don Zanon, Florence Bucierka, Tanyha,
Jan Laine, Janet Williams, Nancy Martin, Mary Jacoby, Jody Jacobsen, Patra
Boots, Judith Morris, Rachel Anderson, Fiona Thom Hert, Deb Stokke, Mike
Doherty, Elna Kawal, and Cynthia Martin. Minutes
from last meeting were clarified. The
executive committee is the group who will elect the board officers.
This was a correction of the minutes.
Chris Borchers was absent because of her son’s injury.
Therefore there was no treasurer’s report.
Jane
explained the staggered terms for the executive board.
Jane and Jan are the two members returning.
People interested in serving on the executive board were to
nominate themselves for the position in a paper that went around the room.
The
primary focus of today’s meeting was to catch up on all the agencies are
doing. The goal was to talk
about what each agency is doing in relationship to the the three parts of
our mission: home visiting, parent education, family friendly business,
and child care.
Nita Quan discussed the programs at First Step.
They now have several home visiting programs, maternity case
management, maternity support services for low income families with a
nurse, dietician, and social worker until child is 2, the successful
parenting project that is working with 9 families who are developmentally
delayed or cognitively limited working with them 2 hours per week to
expand the safety net available to them, and the aunties program which is
a volunteer mentoring program where more experienced moms help with
inexperienced moms. First Step is seeing around 200 parents a month.
In terms of parent education they have a class for infants in
Sequim and one at the continuation school.
Many of these programs have come about through funding generated
out of Prevention Works!
Jamestown S’Klallam was
described by Susan Suprenant. They
have a home visiting program similar to First Step but it involves birth
to five and are from a very diverse group of families.
They are all Native American or Native American children are in the
home. This was started this
year. They now have 8
families, 9 children, and 2 expecting and they are self-referred.
Age range is from teenagers to moms in their 30’s.
This program is funded through CC Network dollars.
Diana Assumpcao described Healthy Families.
One of their programs is the care project where there children come
with serious and chronic neglect. This
serves 5 families. They also
provide Family Preservation Services where children are working on
reunification out of foster home placements.
The case load for this program fluctuates.
These are both families who are beyond prevention.
Parent Educatoin efforts include the Nurturing Program that Diana
is offering at First Step. On
March 4 with money from drug free communities, they will start doing the
Incredible Years at Hamilton Head Start.
It will be from 5:30-7:00 for 8 or 10 weeks.
They also do Children in the Middle for families involved in
divorce. Jan Laine at Healthy Families’ Family
Development Center for children 2-6 at high-risk of abuse and neglect.
In most cases they are in the process of being removed from
families. They are primarily
financed through Medicaid funding. It
is a day treatment 4 hours a day with assessments for the children and for
parent child relationships because this is the relationship that has been
damaged. The goal is either
to move toward reuinification or termination.
They were seeing 10 slots and now have been improved for 15
families. They need a new van
for the transporation of the children.
Then they could add the 5 new children.
Home Visiting is now a part of their services.
Parent Education is not one of their primary missions unless it is
part of the children’s treatment plan.
They are a quality child care licensed agency.
Martha Hall at Healthy Families is to assist
Diana Assumpcoa and Jan Laine doing their job.
They also are starting a violence prevention program which could be
an asset to the families. Don Zanon from Peninsula Mental Health
commented on the 40-50 percent increase in the crisis line calls they have
experienced in this last year. These
individuals are referred back into the community. Please give him feedback about when people are calling for
help. The crisis number is
452-4500. They are also
involved in the respite care two weekends a month for families who need
time away from their children. Care
provided is up to 6 hours a day. They have expanded the co-occurring
disorders portion of their program to help adults who are involved in
multiple issues. They have
three people on the staff in this area and it is to help reduce the risk
of ending up in hospitalization. Sequim is doing a cognitive behavioral group for people who
are depressed. Jane Erickson
is running this group in Sequim. This
is a time limited group for anyone who might be interested. Don wasn’t sure on the cost but felt it probably had some
fee or Medicaid eligible but call Jane Erickson to find out for sure.
Mary Jacoby from West End Outreach talked
about Second Step home visiting through funding from Carolyn Foundation.
A private family has also donated funds to help for five years.
Susanne Gibson just left the agency so Ida Carroll will be taking
over. A significant part of
their group is Latino. They
have very high-risk families involved in many of their programs.
They work with families up to five years of age from their private
funding. They also provide a
variety of DCSF programs. Deb Stokke represents the Health Department
with the exception of WIC and immunization.
She is the staff. She
sees clients through the whole continuum which has some distinct
advantages. She sees families
through Maternity Support Services and runs any of the programs of the
Health Department. She has
just been there since October. The
agency is serving people with 45% Latinos but work with a very wide and
divergent group. She uses an
interpreter. She makes
referrals as necessary. Fiona Thom Hert representing Peninsula College and
programs from the Port Angeles School district discussed the Incredible
Years as part of the school district.
Nancy Bluestein Johnson is working from the college with several
groups in the county. Cynthia Martin from Parenting Matters Foundation
discussed the First Teacher newsletter (for parents from birth to age 5)
and Parenting Matters (for parents of elementary age children).
She explained the developmental cards that are sent out four times
per year the first year of a child’s life and twice a year after than
until the child enters kindergarten. They also have the program in Spanish as well as English.
They also do parent education for Spanish speaking parents in
Sequim, Forks, and La Push and in English in Neah Bay, La Push, and
Sequim. They have family
nights out with a strong educational component for Sequim and Neah Bay.
Florence Bucierka from the Department of Health
and Human Services said through the county, they are involved in
trying to help keep the sparks flying for all of the people involved in
Prevention Works! Janet Williams from the Department of Health and
Human Services discussed their home visiting, WIC, and programs for
children with special health care needs.
Her department also helps providers when they are having
difficulties because of children’s limitations.
They also have help for new parents with babies.
They work with children 1 to 22 years for families with children
with special needs. They work
with injury prevention and work with Safekids.
They have smoking prevention programs.
They are very involved in partnering with other agencies. They are also provide the assistance of a nurse for providers
to help them provide healthy stimulating environment for the children. Jo LeDuke discussed the programs of the YMCA.
The Y is doing four childcare sites and providing help to staff and
parents who might need some education on their role.
They are doing a kids activity program on April 13. Family Planning and Parent Line will go next meeting. Jan suggested we look at our mission (above) and to
recognize what a wonderful job
we are doing on meeting our goals. She
suggested we pat ourselves on the back for all of our services.
We are really matching our mission. Legislative
Report
Mike Doherty said thanks to Jodi for all her work on
the grant. The state budget
holes are larger than ever before. For
CC there is over 850,000 for next year.
On April 18 there will be a day in Olympia for children’s issues.
You can call 1 800 562-6000 to get a direct line to the legislature
and mention the 24th district.
The state of Washington wants to look at the prevention program and
measure the results to prove they work.
He also told the group that the Commissioners are open to having
others on their agenda. This
helps the commissioners but it also makes some of this information
available through the media who pick up some of this material from the
meetings. Annual
Meeting Our annual meeting and election of board members will be at 4:00 p.m. on
Monday, March 11 at St. Andrew Episcopal Church with Don Corson being the
facilitator. We will look at
our goals and vision for Prevention Works! and how to reach them.
Jane will take care of dinner that night with some caterer.
Big
Event Committee. Diana announced that the exhibits would be limited for this event.
Each committee will have one display for home visiting, family
friendly business, childcare, and parent education.
Set up will be at 3:00 p.m. on that Friday, March 1.
Jim talked about the flyer for the big event and credited Debra
Sharp and Jennifer Charles for their work in getting the flyers out. He
went through the series of publicity moves that are being planned to
advertise the event. Most of
the plan is with the Peninsula Daily News.
They are not willing to sponsor the event but will be involved in
publicizing the event. There
is a radio show for one entire hour.
Display ads for the Gazette and Forum are being considered.
He is getting out news releases to churches, senior centers, and on
the website. Jim has done a
great job. See Jennifer if
you need to get tickets. We
all need to plug this with any group we are going to visit.
One teacher in Sequim is going to buy tickets for each parent in
her class. The next meeting
will be Friday, February 11 and will be posted on the website. Home Visiting
Summit
Nita talked about the summit which focused on working
with Native American Families. Lorraine
Brave was
the keynote speaker and they also had four elders who came for the
afternoon. 100% said it was a valuable training. 93% said their practices would change as a result of
attending that meeting. The
Hospital hired Loraine and the elders to train the hospital staff.
They also had people come from Olympia who want to see how this
might be done state wide. It
was a nice exercise in blended funding from Prevention Works!, County
Assistance, the Hospital, Rural Health Grant Funds, Learning Foundation
Money and local businesses donated prizes--a very exciting collaboration.
Many said it was the best home visiting summit ever and people
thanking Prevention Works for doing the summit. Parent
Education Report
Fiona talked about the positive response from the
people who attended. Already
looking at next year’s summit. We
are looking at getting a list of speakers.
Anyone with suggestions can send them to Cynthia Martin (cynthia@firstteacher.org)
or Shaine Schramling (shaines@nwinet.com)
Family
Friendly Business Nancy Martin discussed the most recent meeting for
this group. Things should be
out by the first of the month. Service
Clubs will be contacted by March. KEYS They will be meting at 4:00 on Thursday (1st
Thursday) of the month. Kathleen
Dionne and Elsa Johnson were working on getting information out to the
community. The emphasis is
still on literacy. Rock
and Roll Did not get their Robert Wood Johnson grant.
The minutes of the last meeting were on the website.
At the next meeting Famiy Planning will be there.
Mentoring is going but the next training is coming up.
We really need men especially.
Strategic
Planning is continuing to meet. Announcements Diana Assumpcao announce the Kids Fest is April 13th. April is 3rd Friday at 9 a.m. for Child
Abuse Prevention Month Meeting at Bonnie Bakery. Florence said we need to begin the grant review
process for the Carolyn Foundation. They
are looking for new members. It
is a brief process and doesn’t mean for a long time.
Jane encouraged people to give some time to this process and
explained that she learned a lot. Send names of possible volunteers to Jane Shefler. Patty Hannah brought a flyer to distribute to Home
Visitors. The meeting was adjourned Respectfully
submitted, Cynthia Martin
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