Title
Minutes of the regular meeting of January 25, 2018
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DRAFT MEETING MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
SOCIAL SERVICES HUMANG RELATIONS BOARD
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018
1. CALL TO ORDER: 7:08 p.m.
ROLL CALL: Present: Chilcott (Vice Chair), Sorensen, Hastings, and
Jenks.
Absent: Hyman (Chair), Youngblood, and Medina
2. MINUTES:
Vice Chair member Chilcott highlighted in the minutes that SSHRB sent a letter to the January 16, 2018 Alameda City Council meeting. It outlined the community needs and requested approval of the Needs Statement for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Annual Plan for fiscal year 2018/19. The Community Needs Letter was unanimously approved. Vice Chair Chilcott thanked Social Services Human Relations Board (SSHRB) member Hastings and Chair member Hyman for attending and presenting to the City Council.
The Board unanimously approved November 30, 2017 minutes as is.
3. AGENDA ITEMS
3-A 2017 CITY OF ALAMEDA COMMUNITY NEEDS SURVEY, PRELIMINARY SUMMARY-Jennifer Hastings and Kale Jenks, Community Needs Survey Committee.
Board member Hastings said that she and Chair member Hyman presented the Needs Letter and the Preliminary Summary to the January 16, 2018 City Council meeting. She noted that the Preliminary Summary is at a very high level. There were over 1,700 results. Board member Hastings mentioned that the biggest themes they found throughout the survey was the housing pain felt by the lack of affordable housing as well as the effects of traffic. Their analysis will examine how demographics and where people live on the island affect the results.
Board member Jenks added that the City Council was pleased to see the summary and looks forward to the full assessment in April.
3-B WORK GROUP PROGRESS REPORTS
• Human Relations Workgroup (Chilcott, Sorensen, and Medina).
o Vice Chair Chilcott said that the workgroup will meet soon to determine the best use of the $3,179 raised by local resident Alex Clemens to support Alameda’s Sanctuary City policies and programs.
o Vice Chair Chilcott also reported that the In the Mix Workshop is scheduled for April 28, 2018.
• Assessment and Awareness Workgroup (Hastings and Jenks).
o The SSHRB recognized that the workgroup’s recent activities were covered in Item 3-A.
• Homeless Action Plan Workgroup (Youngblood and Hyman)
o Eric Fonstein, Development Manager with Community Development Department, said that the workgroup had met the previous Friday, January 19. 2018 to review the draft homelessness policy. The workgroup may be ready to present the draft policy at the next SSHRB meeting on February 22, 2018.
o Mr. Fonstein also mentioned that there was an inter-faith group meeting on January 16, 2018 to begin discussions of an Alameda “Warming Center,” using a center in San Leandro as a model. Over 40 people attended the planning meeting, including representatives from County Supervisor Wilma Chan’s office (which is offering start-up funds for the center), the Alameda Housing Authority, and the Alameda Police Department.
4. BOARD/STAFF COMMUNICATIONS, NON-AGENDA (Note, this item was moved ahead of item 3.)
Mr. Fonstein gave a status report for the hiring of a new Community Development Analyst, which will serve as the secretary to the SSHRB. The position was vacated with the retirement of Jim Franz. Mr. Fonstein said that the city received 69 applications. The first round of interviews were completed on January 24, 2018. The four-person interview panel included SSHRB members Chilcott and Sorensen, Claudia Young (who oversaw the city’s CDBG program for the Housing Authority; she now works for the City of Livermore), and Amanda Gehrke (Management Analyst with the Community Development Department, who works on the Sister Cities program). Second round of interviews are anticipated for the week of February 5, 2018, with the intention to fill the positon by the end of the month.
Vice Chair Chilcott and Board member Sorensen added that there were many well qualified candidates.
During Staff Communications, Vice Chair asked Mr. Fonstein to create a matrix of SSHRB’s annual events which can be shared with the Board and with the newly hired Community Development Analyst. Mr. Fonstein will present the matrix at the next SSHRB meeting. Board member Sorensen suggested after SSHRB’s review that the matrix be posted on the SSHRB’s website.
5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS: None.
6. ADJOURNMENT: 7:23 p.m.