Committee Members Present: Darnell Durio (co-chair); Joe McMurray (co-chair);
Brian DiCrocco; Wilfredo Ortiz
Committee Members Absent: Lara Sallee (excused), Elyse Graham (excused)
Other Council Members Present: Raymond Banks
Others Present: Dean Goodwin (HHS)
Council Support Present: Leah Crask, Wilhelmina Parker, Joe Lynn, Nicole Matos
1. Introductions
2. Review/Approve Agenda
Committee reviewed and approved the agenda by consensus.
3. Review/Approve Minutes
Minutes from March 9, 2005 and notes from the Community Meeting on April 13,
2005
Group reviewed and approved minutes from the March 9, 2005 Committee meeting,
and the April 13, 2005 community meeting. The minutes were approved by consensus.
4. Announcements
CM McMurray announced the final co-chair meeting at the end of the month and his resignation from the Council as he is going to be a pastor in Gainsville Florida.
CM Durio indicated that nominations and elections of new co-chair will take place at the next meeting
CM McMurray nominated CM Ortiz and CM DiCrocco seconded the nomination. Committee agreed that a vote will take place on the next Committee meeting on June 8.
CM Ortiz announced that he will not be at the next meeting due to being on the AIDS Ride.
Council Support, Wilhelmina Parker announced a training tomorrow, and she spoke of the mentor program and asked all to consider becoming a mentor. She indicated that evaluations have been completed and she will email them out to all council members.
5. Public Comment
There were no public comments.
6. Advocacy Report
Including a report on the Client Satisfaction Survey.
Joe Lynn provided a report on the Advocacy Project and indicated that from
March 2004 to February 2005 the response rate was low, with a 36% response
rate. All clients who receive services will have surveys mailed out to them
within 30 days. All results fell between excellent and good. Comments stated
wanting a quicker response time but it was taken into context regarding the
low response. Most clients were male and lived in the 94102 zip code.
CM Durio requested that the survey be sent out to all council members. Council Support, Wilhelmina Parker, agreed to do that.
7. SRO Report
CM Siron not in attendance, so this agenda item not addressed.
8. Prevention for Positives Report
CM McMurray mentioned that he has represented the Prevention for Positives
group and pending his resignation believes that a replacement should be considered.
CM Durio will take this issue to Steering. CM McMurray also represents HOPWA,
and CM Ortiz has been appointed to that council.
9. Community Forum in Castro
The Committee will discuss the next Community Forum scheduled for May 19, 2005.
CM Durio: Discussed that the same program being done as last time, with box
lunches, meals and introductions, announcements, Jack’s presentation,
then break out into small groups. The first exercise with discussion then the
second exercise followed by wrap-up and participants completing surveys. There
will be no incentives this time and space will be limited. Committee discussed
whether there will be a need for a translator.
CM DiCrocco stated that Mission Neighborhood Health Center knows of the event
but doesn’t think that a translator will be needed.
CM McMurray doesn’t think it will be needed since the last two times
translators were hired and not used.
CM Ortiz stated that since the event will take place in the Castro there will
not likely be a need for a translator.
CM Durio suggested a head count of Committee members who will attend. CM DiCrocco
indicated that he would attend, as well as Wilhelmina. How many council members
will attend is still up in the air since the email went out yesterday.
10. Community Events Discussion
The Committee will discuss the structure of future community events and review
their events calendar.
CM Durio wants a discussion about how community meetings will be done in the
future. He discussed why it was decided to limit the number of those who can
attend and remove incentives.
Box meals… no incentives… having more community forums per year,
4-5 with a closer focus on a particular group of people, and smaller groups
50-60 as opposed to 250.
Committee discussed the difference between Community Meeting and Community Forum.
CM Banks stated that black people will not attend activities unless there are incentives, and asked why there is a switch in this policy of incentives, and expressed concern that the Committee was afraid clients will go out and get dope. He suggested this is the only way that you will get real responses. The vouchers that do go out need to be unlimited.
CM McMurray indicated that it is not necessarily an issue of what the vouchers
are ultimately used for but instead the decision was based on the last function.
He discussed that too many people showed up and had to be turned away and many
were not even HIV+; they were just there for free food and a voucher. He added
that the incentive needs to only bring in people that are actually the ones
that need to be heard from. Community meetings may be the better option for
the incentives because they will naturally be smaller and more focused and
have them every other month in order to get data that can truly be used
CM Banks apologized for jumping the gun and agreed with CM McMurray’s
statements.
CM Ortiz stated that he is completely against incentives or vouchers because
it attracts the wrong people, and from the recent example suggested that it
skewed everything and was not productive.
CM Durio stated that he has always been against the use of vouchers and does
not want to have them because if people are truly interested in what you are
talking about and how it helps them then that’s on them. He would rather
have a handful of fully completed surveys with info that is useful as opposed
to receiving unfinished surveys.
CM DiCrocco stated that it was unfortunate that he saw people in line that
should’ve been allowed in but couldn’t because there were so many
people there and people had to be turned away. He felt that his group was productive
and stated that there are a lot of homeless people that are HIV+ and that is
the group that pretty much showed up. He asked how the word got out in the
first place about the forum.
Leah Crask, Council Support indicated that the notices were sent to providers.
CM Banks stated that he did a lot of outreach on the streets by handing out
flyers.
CM Durio wants to have a general discussion about all of this and continue
the discussion in future meetings and then have a vote of how things should
be run in the future.
CM Banks suggested doing outreach to Hunters Point and Visitation Valley agencies
to see if there is interest and then if there is possibly offer incentives
after that interest is solidified.
CM McMurray stated that a relatively large group did come to the event with
a service provider and did not get in, therefore if the group can communicate
with service providers to work together to focus better on specific clients
who really have something to say and would want to be included.
CM McMurray added that this is why the smaller groups are more focused on the
specific populations.
CM Ortiz commented that at the Asian Pacific Islander meeting there was ownership
by the providers and it was very productive but not at the Mission meeting.
He thinks that it is really effective to go out into the community for these
meetings.
CM DiCrocco has tried to do some recruiting in the Mission to service providers
and it seems as though there are providers that would be interested in participating;
it’s just a matter of finding them.
CM Durio suggested partnering with providers as opposed to just inviting them
makes a huge difference, pointing out very different dynamics of whoever gets
the Center of Excellence in Bayview would be the obvious group to approach
CM DiCrocco would rather push the meeting back until partnerships are established.
CM Banks stated that Asian, Latino, Gay White Men are targeted, but black people
don’t seem to be on the list. He indicated that he will take the initiative
to make contact with the Bayview to make this meeting happen faster.
CM Durio added that it will be a lot of work to make the Bayview meeting work
as opposed to putting something together in the Castro.
CM Banks suggested going outside of blacks in San Francisco for input, and
considered East Palo Alto or somewhere else?
CM Durio added that $1.7 million is going into the Bayview not into East Palo
Alto.
CM Ortiz pointed out that there is outreach and attendance from African Americans.
CM Banks believes that the Council needs to go out to the communities and not
always expect them to come to the Castro. He would like to see something in
Marin County or the Fillmore area.
CM Durio replied that those aren’t the populations that are being focused
on so it can’t be something.
CM Durio asked if everyone was okay with boxed lunches.
The Committee generally agreed. CM Ortiz insists that box meals be given out
as opposed to serving food because that is too labor intensive
CM McMurray emphasized the need to ensure that voices are heard beyond provider’s
clients.
CM DiCrocco stated that if a service that has to be eliminated then inviting
those providers won’t necessarily be productive.
CM Banks inquired into the need for a letter of diagnosis.
No one agreed with having people bring those.
CM Durio discussed the difference between community meetings and forums.
CM Ortiz stated they are different because the forum is for recruiting.
CM McMurray feels that they can serve the same focus so why have both, and
use the smaller group model that seemed to work and just replicate that instead
of working on two different kinds of meetings.
CM Durio did not see it as a recruiting tool, and suggested more outreach to
the communities to give out info and if people want to join that would be up
to them.
CM McMurray stated the importance of returning and suggested that they want
us back, so it is possible to do both.
CM Durio doesn’t feel that you can do both that the first meeting is
more of an introduction, building blocks and then at some point when you go
back you build on that and it’s a lot easier to recruit then.
CM McMurray asked how realistic that is, and how many meetings would that reasonably
be.
Wilhelmina suggested not going in with a hard approach but to do an introduction
and say who we are.
CM Durio commented that a soft sell seems to work better.
CM DiCrocco pointed to the API meeting as an example.
CM Banks pointed out that the meeting with Bayview in November means that they
aren’t going to be part of giving input for prioritization, and their
input would not be until 2007.
CM Durio stated that people from Bayview were at the last meeting and filled
out surveys.
CM DiCrocco added that this is the first time that a COE is even going to the
Bayview, and the first time that money is going into the Bayview.
CM McMurray commented that the forums did not work… and the main agenda
is to get good solid information and hear the voices of the people that need
to be heard.
CM DiCrocco expressed the need to find a better way to pass the information
on, and pointed out the need to generate more excitement about the information
so that the Council takes it into more consideration. Going out to the communities
is another way to get better data and possibly more council members.
CM Durio indicated that there are too many other factors to believe that the
surveys and Reggie data are the whole answer, and added that it is going out
into the community and talking to people that is most effective. He stated
that each Council Member weighs their decisions differently and with different
data and information. He suggested that it will be difficult to ever get a
tool that will compare with EPI or anything else because it costs too much.
CM Banks asked if technology be used, such as completing surveys on laptops
right in the community.
CM Durio commented that would be a mini-needs assessment, and the people you’ve
talked about wanting to focus on would basically be ruled out because they
are not familiar with computers. A problem is that people want different information,
and asked what the Council wants to get out of these meetings. There is only
so much money and we’re already doing it the cheapest way. He asked what
are we going to get out of the process and telling Council this is what you’re
going to get; small groups will give the council a snapshot of a particular
group of people talking about a particular issue.
CM DiCrocco added that there if there is a maximum that can be spent on this
sort of thing.
CM Durio indicated there was not, but whatever is used will have to come from
somewhere; so what types of information is wanted. He suggested that Committee
members think about it and return ready to discuss at the next meeting.
CM DiCrocco felt that the meetings are more about getting those communities
involved instead of gathering data… so that they will be interested in
coming to the State Building for the once a month meeting.
Leah stated that it is important that some kind of data is pulled out of the
meetings, but also agrees with CM DiCrocco’s point about going out to
get people involved; the needs assessment data would not be possible at a community
event.
Wilhelmina: an all inclusive approach is possible and to talk to people about
what they need and how we can serve them… empowerment is key… but
also gathering the data is still very important for the council.
CM McMurray suggested that Community Outreach Committee can empower, and indicated
another function of ensuring that the Council is doing its job well. The more
you open a government and make it transparent the more criticism comes forth
but also gives the group and the people the opportunity to step up.
CM Ortiz commented that outreach is still key, and finding a balanced approach
is important.
CM Banks added that with funding issues being on his mind… he isn’t
sure how to proceed given not wanting anything cut from clients.
Wilhelmina: having the council present in events already seems to be bringing
about the human approach, and with more resources and money it seems obvious
that it could be better but what we’re doing is a whole lot.
CM Banks suggested trying to persuade the Mayor to make a presence in the Bayview
and put forth his views on HIV.
11. Council Policy & Procedures Table of Contents
The Committee will review a draft of the Council Policy & Procedures
Table of Contents and discuss adding or changing any pertinent documents to
this
committee. The committee will review their appropriate documents, if time permits.
CM Durio reported to Committee that Infrastructure and Policy is putting this
together and requested input.
CM Banks asked about who is being advocated for and who is giving that advocacy?
Wilhelmenia added that all Council Members who go out and bring back information
on behalf of a client are advocating.
CM Banks suggested that the Advocacy Program isn’t supportive to poor
clients.
CM DiCrocco agreed that agencies need to be held more accountable.
CM Banks sees things getting worse for clients, not better; he suggested there
is a need for the Council to address this as far as advocacy is concerned.
CM DiCrocco pointed out the “consumer rights and responsibilities” section
for this committee and maybe that is were this discussion should focus.
CM Durio suggested that grievance procedures are always posted and the AIDS
Office will always point you in the correct direction for your grievance.
12. Next Meeting Date and Agenda Items
13. Adjourned: 7:30pm
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