HIV Health Services Planning Council
Community Outreach & Advocacy Committee MINUTES
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
25 Van Ness, Room 330 A
5:30-7:30 p.m.

Committee Members Present: Wilfredo Ortiz (co-chair); Darnell Durio, Raymond Banks; Kim Pickens; Brian DiCrocco; Elyse Graham
Committee Members Absent: Lara Sallee, Robert Oropeza, Clarence Smelcer
Other Council Members Present: Billie-Jean Kanios, Randy Allgaier
Council Support Present: Wilhelmina Parker, Hyla Breidenbaugh, Richard Bargetto
Others Present: Erika Takada

1. Welcome & Introductions
CM Ortiz began the meeting at 5:36pm with introductions and the mission statement.

2. Review/Approve Agenda
The agenda was reviewed and approved by consensus.

3. Review/Approve Minutes
The Minutes from June 8, 2005 were reviewed and approved by consensus.

4. Announcements
CS Parker formally welcomed new member Kim Pickens and announced that Robert Oropeza and Clarence Smelcer had also joined the committee.
CM Ortiz announced that he is resigning as co-chair to the HOPWA committee.
CM Kanios mentioned that a room at Walden House is reserved and ready to go for August 10th.

5. Public Comment
None

6. Committee Co-chair Elections- VOTE
The Committee will accept nominations for co-chair following the resignation of co-chair Raymond Banks, and vote for a new co-chair.
CM Banks nominated Kim Pickens and she accepted.
CM Ortiz nominated Brian DiCrocco and he accepted.
It was decided to vote by ballot.
4 votes for Kim and 3 for Brian
Kim Pickens was voted in as the new co-chair.

7. SRO Report
An in-depth discussion of the SRO Report will be deferred to the September COA Committee meeting. CM Siron not present to provide SRO Report.

8. Prevention with Positives Report
The Committee discussed and accepted Billie-Jean Kanios’ offer to take the vacant seat on the Prevention with Positives Committee following CM McMurray’s departure from the Council.


9. HOPWA Loan Committee

The Committee discussed the process for appointing a HOPWA Loan Committee representative. Interested parties include Brian DiCrocco, Randy Allgaier, and Laura Thomas.
The group discussed why the Council is sending a representative to HOPWA committee. The group then talked about a consumer filling one of the seats. Of the three council members who are interested in being a representative one is a provider and two are consumers.
The rules for voting were discussed.
It was decided that an official vote could not take place because it was not on the agenda. It will be voted on next month.
Action: Randy would like to be removed from the nominations.

10. Advocacy Project Report
Richard explained to the Committee about the monthly report from the Consumer Rights Advocacy Project that they received and gave an update on what is going on. Richard mentioned why some of the people had been evicted and then discussed how eviction affects the other tenants. Richard goes to people if they are too sick to get to him.

11. Harder + Co. Presentation on Needs Assessment Process
The Committee discussed the Needs Assessment presentation from Harder + Co. scheduled for the July 25, 2005 Full Council Meeting.
Erika Takada (H&C) asked the committee if they had a vision for how the data from focus groups can be used and how it can be incorporated into the larger needs assessment survey.
The group discussed the Council’s background and asked for more input from Harder + Co. on how much weight to give the data that was gathered. Not all the service categories were listed at the focus groups, just the most important ones. Harder + Co. can’t find any statistically significance because there has only been two community forums.

CM Banks wants to know if he can attend as an observer to a focus group, but the flyer he had was not a community forum.

Erika Takada mentioned that there could be a community bias at the last Community Forum, because there was no way for them to know if they were actually HIV positive. Also, the community forums the council had may not reflect the actual population. Other bias causes were also talked about, such as a Built in Bias. When providers do the outreach, they tend to advocate only around their area.

The difference between the survey data and the community forum data was discussed. Erika mentioned that the survey could actually have a pull out for the community event.
CM Parker suggested she move the data from the forums around so that it is more useful. Erika asked for the Service Categories to be how the data is sorted. The service categories were not listed at the forum, but all of them are listed on the survey. CS Parker has seen the data from the forums, but it has not been put into a report yet.

12. August Community Meeting and Planning Future Activities
The Committee discussed the August community meeting targeting the transgender community, and discussed details such as location, advertising, and other matters as needed.
The place, Walden House, times and food was talked about. Pizza was mentioned because it is cheap and easy. It was mentioned that people on meds need to eat.
CM Ortiz and CS Newby will work on the advertising that may be needed.
The group discussed getting ideas from Harder + Co. on collecting data. It would be best for Harder + Co. to play an advisory role. So far the community forums have been a true community process. Harder + Co. can only tell the council what the data will look like.
The group talked about how the community meetings are different than the forums balancing the three things of input, information and advocacy.
The Committee agreed that they would like for the community to feel more invited to speak and that more engagement is needed. The group discussed how the council members need to encourage more listening and not just trying to fix what the person is talking about and be more open. Where people sit was discussed.
CM Allgaier mentioned the API community meeting and suggested the council follow their lead and not bring council culture to a community meeting because it can be destructive. Sometimes there are more council members than there are public, which can cause an us versus them environment.
CM Pearce asked CS Parker if the council could keep a cumulative file from the council members that went to the previous forum and what the council can do going forward at the next meeting.
CM Banks mentioned about how the council needs to be friendly. He suggested holding a beauty pageant contest instead of vouchers. Maybe social functions will get other groups to join. The Council needs to radiate some kind of warmth at the meetings.
Erika mentioned that Harder + Co. does provide training to organizations on how to get information from people.
The committee discussed that there is a difference between the community meeting and the community focus groups.
The committee talked about outreach and other transgender groups besides the ones that Billie-Jean is getting.
Having a more open meeting and that the meeting should be more about conversation then data collection was talked about. It was suggested to just walk in, say hi that we are here and then turn the meeting over to the community.
Clear intent on the advertising for the meeting was discussed. Concern about people going to the meetings, because the council spent a lot of money for the last meeting and no one showed up.
There wasn’t enough time for advertising or time for the flyer. It is a learning experience and this time the council needs to get it together. Billie-Jean is going to bring in people, but the council still needs to do outreach.
It was discussed that committee members should know where the flyers are going.
Individuals should make commitment on their own to let the population of the community that need to go know about the meeting.
CM Banks mentioned handing the flyers out not just leaving them for people to pick up. The council needs to apply the same kind of principles so that the community members understand that it is not just them and us. The council needs to come off as one of them. Including personal input works best at the community meetings.
CM Pearce mentioned the Prevention Council and how the Planning Council can learn from their mistakes. One of the things mentioned was to ask the Bayview community where they would like for the meeting to be held.
CM DiCrocco mentioned that we should have cancelled the last meeting. It is the council’s responsibility to bring people in to the community meetings. It can possibly be conceived as conflict of interest.
Who or what agencies is the council going to partner with out in Bayview, space and paying for a place was discussed.
CM Ortiz would like to lay the groundwork for the November meeting.
The group discussed whose job is it to bring people to the community meetings, council members or council support. It was agreed that both were responsible.
Horrible attendance at the last meeting was discussed. CM Banks mentioned that the population the council is dealing with is a hard population to get to come to meetings. Just getting some people out is worth it and the council shouldn’t let it get them down.
Action: CM Pickens will pass out flyers
CS Parker to coordinate advocating efforts
CM Banks mentioned different angles for getting people to the meetings, like what other services people need and contacting those places to see if they want to come to the community meetings.
CS Parker asked about the structure of the August meeting. CM Ortiz and CM Pickens will start the meeting and then go into the open part. CM Allgaier mentioned that it is important to let the public know how and why the council members are involved.
CM Graham suggested that the council use its members’ own strength. It was decided that CM Pickens would lead the August meeting.

13. Council Policy & Procedure Table of Contents
Council Support Parker reviewed with the Committee draft documents for inclusion in the Council Policy & Procedure Table of Contents.
• Statement of Values
• Consumer Input and Development of Community Fora
• Provider Input
• Community Outreach
• Consumer Rights and Responsibilities
Flexibility was mentioned, as well as what the other committees are doing.
Street outreach was brought up and what are council members allowed to do.

14. Next Meeting Date and Agenda Items
• August 10th Walden House
• Kim is the new co-chair
• Someone from Ryan White
• Street Outreach
• Voting on HOPWA at the end or beginning of the community meeting.

15. Adjourned
CM Ortiz adjourned the meeting at 7:30 PM

 

Meeting minutes are considered to be in DRAFT form until reviewed and approved by Council attendees.

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