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Present:

Christine Laurel, CCC / Charley Martin-Berry, CCC
Ann Brown, Passages of Wayfinder Schools / Tammy Branca, Maine Families
Julie Redding, CCC / Jocelyn Storey, DCP
Cheyenne Robinson-Bauman, Next Step / Marcie Dean, Next Step
Jen Peters, SCEC / Ashlei Guptill, DCP
Lisa Suarez, DCP / Theresa Fisk, Maine Roads to Quality
Marianne Ellinwood, DCP
Next meeting:January 3, 2018, 1-3:30 pm
SCEC Large Conference Room

Introductions and Announcements

New Members & Guests:

  • Cheyenne Robinson-Bauman, Victim Advocatewith Next Step DV project, providesfree presentations for schools and workplace trainings on drafting a policy around DV, defining abuse, and what to look for in the workplace
  • Lisa Suarez, Elder Services Navigator with DCP
  • Anne Brown, Passages Teacher in WC
  • Theresa Fisk, Early Childhood & Youth Coordinator with Maine Roads to Quality

Sunrise County Economic Council: Sunrise scholarship program open for new applications. These are cash awards tied to employment opportunities or career advancement, like a CNA class, or for re-certification - up to $500 (not for mileage or books, but actual fees).

Downeast Community Partners (DCP): Volunteer transportation recruitment is going well - 5 new drivers start this month and 2 more applications are under review.

Passages: Ann is finding that the holidays are highly stressful for her students this year – lots of needs for basics like food, on top of gifts for kids.

Discussion on different Christmas giving efforts that might also provide gifts for parents. In other parts of Maine, the Passages board provides gifts for parents, but not in WC. Lisa Suarez suggested a more empowering structure for the Christmas giving programs is the food pantry model where parents can select the gifts themselves.

Discussion on challenges for one of Anne’s clients and suggestions for services.

CCC: participated in the Machias Christmas fair, held at the Pellon Center, as part of the town’s family celebration that includes a parade, visit to Santa, and family craft activities by local non-profits and other family-serving organizations. Charley and Raven made jingle bell necklaces with 175 children, handed out Beanie Babies, and provided information on CCC programming.

Let’s All Have a Merrier Christmas, organized by the Jonesport Pentecostal Church, is fundraising to cover a gap left by the departure of one of their major funders. Stepping up to the plate are the Jonesport/Beals JMG students who are holding a polar dip on December 9th to raise funds. For more information, contact former CCC staffer Nicole Sevey at .

Rainbow Ball Weekend:Most people are familiar with this special UMM event for LGBTQ youth that takes place every April, but may not realize that it is a unique annual occurrence in Maine, and therefore, transportation for youth from other parts of the state has been a real challenge. It has also grown bigger, attracting more people and activities each year, to the point where capacity is an issue for UMM. The decision has been made to relocate the ball every 2 years to another community, beginning in 2018 with Mt Dessert High School. Donations to sponsor the Rainbow Ball are being accepted via Faithify, a crowd funding platform.

CAN Council: Dixie Beaudoinfrom Sunrise Opportunities is directing the new WC Child Abuse & Neglect Council. Dixie or Mandie Pepperman, the project’s community coordinator, will be attending the WG/PB meeting in January to talk about this program.

Point in Time Count: This is the night in Maine when volunteers work to identify, count and interview homeless people who are sheltered (literally in a homeless shelter) and unsheltered (which does not include couch surfing). 3 agencies are involved: Catholic Charities, CHCS’s Path Program, and DCP. Last year only 2 people were out driving around and counting, so volunteers are needed for the night of the count as well as to pre-identify homeless individuals. There is training for volunteers before the event so people need to sign up in advance – contact Bobbi Harris at DCP.

Discussion on challenges of getting an accurate count with the restrictions of this initiative, including the time of year (people are more likely to open their doors to homeless during winter, plus it’s dark and extra hard on volunteers), exclusion of couch surfing, -- suggestion of asking hotels about agencies paying for guests on that night – that would count as sheltered.

Agency Needs & Offers

Next Step – housing needs: There is not enough rental housing in the area for their guests with housing vouchers – have particular need for a 3-bedroom, 1 need of 2-bedroom (Ellsworth/Milbridge area) and a couple of 1-bedrooms. Please contact Marcie Dean if you have any leads on rentals.

DCP – holiday need:Lisa has clients in need ofsome Christmas cheer in the form of a wreath/tree/decorationsstand. Both members of this family are of advanced age and currently in the hospital. Offers were made for trees and ornaments, and suggestions included:

  • the JMG group () who are doing lots of community service right now and
  • – student council leader – who is connected to a fund raising effort with balsam products.

Passages – mattress need: Ann Brown has a student who needs a mattress – any size will do. Suggestions included:

  • Refind furnishings near True Value in Machias which sometimes has items for free out front – contacting them might yield something
  • Calais ecumenical food pantry has a thrift store (their food pantry serves 800 clients)
  • Mighty Women social capital Listserv (Christine will give instructions on how to participate in this active/generous network).

Dollar Tree/Family Dollar Staff – need for shirts: employees must wear a red shirt at one and green at the other. If you have red or green shirts you’d like to donate, Charley would accept them for the neighbor group to distribute – some of them work at these stores and know who needs what.

Neighbor group – offers: This group is still going strong and looking for opportunities give back to the community. One neighbor group member delivers senior commodity boxes to food pantry clients who lack transportation. Another group member is helping deliver items from We Care to parents who can’t get there. Please send your suggestions of other ways they can help to Charley.

Thriving in Place Elder Navigator (Lisa Suarez)

Background: This is the end of the first year of implementing the TiP plan, the purpose of which is to help people stay in their own home as they age by helping with resources needed to make this possible. Lisa noted that on retiring, most people’s incomes are cut in half. Most of her clients are living solely on social security, which means they bring home less than $2,000/month and many have less. On top of this, medical needs are higher as people age, and their homes are also aging and require more upkeep. People are often unable to maintain their own homes due to health issues and become more dependent on others and need to hire people more than they might have before

What Lisa does: Lisa finds that many clients were very independent and are unaware of what services they now qualify for. Her job is to be the detective to find out what people need and connect them to services around the county. Identifying the elderly who need help is also an issue. Lisa visits post offices, banks, etc. who deal with people over the years and can tell when they may need Lisa’s help. She gets many referrals from these sources. She also helps people fill out forms, helps people “find money” – like tax credits that low-income people who don’t file tax returns are missing out on. Lisa will be talking to Will Tuell about some of these publicity issues. Charley suggested checking with EAAA about adding information on tax credits to commodity boxes. Good Shepherd bags up the food for the boxes, so Lisa will check with them.

Other challenges: Finding healthcare providers that understand the special needs of the elderly is a challenge in WC. Only gerontologist is associated with a nursing home. Also, Lisa has discovered that the majority of homecare agencies in WC require MaineCare eligibility to receive services. Lisa can be reached at 460-8129 and .

Cheyenne Robinson-Bauman

Cheyenne described the 3-part series she offers schools:

  • Dating & domestic violence 101 & how to talk with a friend you think may be dealing with DV; helping students understand why it might be difficult for someone to leave a DV situation.
  • Healthy Relationships
  • Community Response: Getting students involved in a group project to help their school or community. She provides a list and will meet with students 4 times until their project is finished.

These trainings are available for any age group, but Cheyenne is more comfortable with 7th through 12th grade. There are other Next Step staffers who are comfortable working with younger children. Also, Cheyenne’s counterpart at the Ellsworth office is Mallory Brown.

Power Wheel: Helpful diagram that shows all the different tactics an abuser uses to gain power and control over their victim. The Equality Wheel is also important to show what equal power looks like. Lisa suggested Cheyenne connect with Senior College about DV trainings.

Sharing Local Resources Brown Bag – Notes & Feedback

The November WG/PB meeting was dedicated to sharing local resources. We had a great turnout at the Kay Parker conference space and brainstormed about available resources on a variety of topics the group regarded as significant to their families/clients. Many people brought handouts about their organizations’ programs which Christine scanned into 3 different pdfs (this was necessary for uploading to keep the file sizes manageable.):

  • Legal Services for the Elderly Handouts
  • Maine Seacoast Mission Handouts
  • Mixed Agency Handouts

CCC staff are working on a collection of notes from the brainstorming sessions, some of which involved the whole group and some from breakout sessions around specific topics.

Feedback: group members suggested this only need be done once or twice a year to keep people updated.

Part 2: This event was part 1 of a 2-part commitment to share updates on resources. The 2nd part is the January 9thtraining on Changes to Maine’s Safety Net training: understanding & accessing TANF, SNAP and MaineCare that will be held in the Assembly Room at WCCC from 9-Noon. Registration is requested for this training.

Holiday Needs/Offers

Holiday programs we know about:

  • DCP Christmas program: accepts requests right up to the day before Christmas – call the Ellsworth Receptionist (207-664-2424).Jocelyn is coordinating at her end of WC for families so they don’t have to travel to Machias
  • Christmas Giving Tree – operates out of Center Street Congregational Church
  • Let’s All Have a Merrier Christmas (see above under announcements)

Jocelyn has a huge bag of brand new cosmetics and toothpaste she could provide as gifts for moms. Also, men’s deodorant. Anne will pick up for her students.

Holiday Meals:

  • Downeast Feast – December 28th at Center Street Congregational Church
  • Maine Seacoast Mission’s Table of Plenty
  • Community Cafés?
  • Jonesboro warming center has a meal every day – maybe at the Grange. One of Jocelyn’s volunteer drivers is coordinating this.

Upcoming CCC Trainings

  • Safety Net Training: Changes to Maine’s Safety Net – Understanding & Accessing SNAP, TANF and MaineCare – January 9th, 9 am to 12 Noon in the Assembly room at WCCC. This is a training by statewide partners to get up-to-date info in your hands about eligibility criteria and whom to ask questions on the bigger publicly-funded safety net programs, like TANF, SNAP and MaineCare. This is a collaborative training with MEJP, ME DHHS office of Family Independence, Fedcap, and CCC consultant Liz Neptune who will share updates on changes to tribal services. Liz Ray, Maine’s TANF director, will be there to share new and exciting funding for transportation and other programs. There is good news for families this year. We are hoping to have copies of the newly revised & printed MEJP resource guide to hand out.
  • Trainings for Parents/Resource Events for 2018: CCC wants to provide training opportunities for parents andare looking for feedback from you on what kind of mini-training your families would like. We are envisioning a kid-friendly event with family activities and child care that will focus on resources for families (child/family-serving organizations are invited to participate) including 30-minute presentations. The first of these may be in April during a school break. What topics would families like info on? Couponing might be on there – Jocelyncan teach this. Group members asked Christine to create a short, printable survey to bring to parents on home visits. Please email/scan completed surveys to r drop off at the CCC office.
  • Thriving in Place events: the training agenda is a big part of our commitment to this initiative. Trainings are not just for elders and caregivers, but for people approaching this part of their lives – 50+. Visit the CCC’s Thriving in Place Training Calendar for TiP educational events.
  • Training and Technical Assistance needs (wishes for guest speakers): Are there topics you would like us to address in a training, either here as a brown bag training, a larger training, or for your agency?
  • Lisa has been hearing requests for resiliency training – maybe different layers, multiple types of audiences
  • Cooking (food for thought no longer offering this)? Sara McConnell, Health Acadia’s Nutrition Ed Coordinator offers SNAP education that includes cooking classes, and HA also runs cooking matters classes for specific diseases, like cooking for cancer patients. Does Cooperative extension offer cooking classes? Lisa suggested contacting the providers of AETC’s cooking classesand/or those mentioned in SCEC’s Local Happenings (sign up to receive this newsletter here).

Planning Vision Day 2018

We ran out of time, but will definitely have this on the agenda next month!

Meeting ended at 3:40 pm

Respectfully submitted by Christine Laurel