6/18/2015 HUMAN SERVICES Minutes

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(NEW BUSINESS, cont'd) more organizations we would like to support financially, but the Human Services Department does not have the funds available. Ruth Elias stated one of her goals would be to expand Gail Wilson's time spent in counseling. Lynne Waterman stated her feeling that the committee would have goals, and that they would be separate and apart from the goals that Gail Wilson would be establishing as Director of Human Services. Ms. Waterman thought that a committee goal would be to identify areas of concern and try to implement a plan to address these concerns. Lynne Waterman added that the Human Services Mission Statement could be be modified to include issues regarding Affordable Housing, and generally about the Food Pantry. John Cahalane stated his feeling that advocacy for the Human Services Department should be a number one goal of the committee. He said the committee needs to get the word out as to what the Human Services Dept. is trying to accomplish, with serious budget constraints. Mr. Cahalane suggested that the committee should contact the Town's committee liaison representatives to inform them of the Human Services Department goals and the need for increased funding. John Cahalane pointed out that Gail Wilson is a town employee, reporting to the Town Manager who is retiring on July 17, 2015. There will be a new Town Manger who is an unknown quantity at this point in time who will need to be brought up to speed on the importance of the work of the Human Services Department and the need to support an increased budget. David DelPonte suggested that the Human Services Director get on the agenda for a Finance Committee meeting and a Board of Selectmen's meeting to inform them of what the Department's goals are, and the importance of increasing financial resources that will enable them to better serve the needs of the community. Gail Wilson stated that her main overall goal is to respond to the Human Services needs of the residents of Mashpee across the life span: teens, young adults, adults, seniors. This will include advocating for residents within a complex system; to provide clinical consultation across the life span and appropriate referral; to continue to identify unmet needs and ways to respond to those needs, to continue working collaboratively with Town departments; to continue to educate the Committee about the unmet needs and work together to meet those needs; to advocate for an increase in the contract amounts; and continue to work with the regional boards as a collaborative partner. Gail Wilson stated that she had observed the Falmouth Human Services website and would like to incorporate some of their ideas for updating the Mashpee website, such as adding pictures, updating groups going on, and resources to make the webpage more user friendly. Kathy Mohler-Faria asked Ms. Wilson whether she has the ability to take on more responsibility for expanding her services of the program without getting any staff support to assist her. Janice Walford reminded the committee of some of the recommendations that came out of the 2013 survey. Short -Term recommendations included increase the visibility of the Human Services Department; augment administrative support for the Human Services Director; create a formalized reporting system; increase collaboration with Human Services related agencies to streamline efforts. Long term goals included: increase access points to mental health and substance abuse services; expand food service accessibility; augment resources for affordable housing and financial assistance services; boost support for domestic violence -related services; improve job placement and volunteer opportunities; strengthen transportation to services in and around Mashpee. These recommendations were based on surveys conducted in the community and this was based on what 0)