Meeting Minutes for December 13, 2007

Meeting Location: Four Points Sheraton, Minneapolis

Present: Larry Lura, Roberta Cich, Ann Zick, Hulet Sherry, Judy Sanders, Vicki Dalle-Molle, Julia Washenberger, Barbara Chromy, David Sherwood-Gabrielson (ex-officio), Brad Westerlund (staff), and Gail Lundeen (staff).

Absent: Mark Eggen, Connie Lee Berg (Excused), and Linda Lingen.

Guests: Ann Roscoe, Ann Paulson.

Approval of November Minutes and December Agenda

Roberta asked if there were any revisions to the November 2007 minutes. Judy asked for a clarification on page two of the November minutes, under Council updates. It was written that Judy Sanders attended a transportation public forum. It was actually Ann Roscoe who attended this forum. There were no other comments. Judy moved, and Larry seconded to approve the November minutes as revised. The motion carried.

Roberta asked if there were any additions or changes to the December 2007 agenda. There were no additions. Judy Sanders moved, and Ann Zick seconded to approve the December agenda as written. The motion carried.

DEED-RS Update

Sherwood-Gabrielson updated SILC members on the progress of the Rehabilitation Services - Independent Living collaboration.

To date, three RS-IL collaborative grants have been awarded:

  1. $134,542 to the Southern Minnesota Independent Living Enterprises and Services (SMILES – Mankato) for a collaboration developed in consultation with Jeanne Witty RAM for the Mankato area. The grant will make IL services available to VR consumers throughout the SMILES service area. Priority services include: case management, employment soft skills training, school to work transition, and assistive technology.
  2. $166,139 to the Center for Independent Living of Northeast Minnesota (CILNM – Hibbing) for a collaboration developed in consultation with northern area RAMs (Roland Root, Jodi Lindsay, and Steve Jacobs). The grant will make IL services available to VR consumers throughout the CILNM service area.
  3. $95,000 to the Southwestern Center for Independent Living (SWCIL – Marshall) for a collaboration developed in consultation with area RS staff (Kris Tone, Mark Mertens, Doreen Hoffman, and Rich Mauer). The grant will provide a wide range of IL services to VR consumers, including expanding IL services for school to work transition in three counties that a currently unserved.

RS is currently reviewing RS-IL proposals from ILICIL (St. Cloud), SEMCIL (Rochester), and MCIL (Metro area). These reviews will be completed in December with grants to be awarded effective January 2008.

RS expects to review RS-IL proposals from FREEDOM (Fargo-Moorhead) and OPTIONS (East Grand Forks) in January 2008 with anticipated grant awards being made effective February 2008.

Finally, Sherwood-Gabrielson reported on strategic planning to implement the federal RS state plan.

In the summer of 2007, Rehabilitation Services completed and submitted a three year federal State Plan to the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). This federally mandated plan is similar in many respects to the State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL) that the SILC completes.

The new RS State Plan covers federal fiscal years 2008 through 2010. One of five goals for the RS State Plan focuses on a dynamic, effective relationship with the State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) and the SILC. DEED/RS wants these vital councils to be ‘healthy and robust’. SRC members provided input on factors and measurements that would reflect a healthy council. Sherwood-Gabrielson will provide a copy of the SRC framework relative to this goal to the Chair of the SILC. This is a topic that the SILC may want to consider for a future meeting.

Transportation Presentation

Tom Godfried, MN Department of Transportation

Godfried stated that there is public transportation in most of Greater Minnesota. There are seven counties that have no public transportation. Bus service typically only runs from six am to six pm during working days. Some of the public transport will deviate up to three quarters of a mile from their typical route for special requests. County boards supplement the transportation budget and are not open to transporting across county borders. An expansion of busing services would be very expensive.

The elderly and disabled program (section 5310) awards private nonprofits a transportation capitol purchase grant. This grant charges public transit to coordinate services. If the grant applicant demonstrates capacity to collaborate with other entities to maximize transportation capacity, they will more quickly receive the transit grant.

Advocacy is important to keep the transportation issue visible.

A transportation report is available at http://www.dot.state.mn.us/transit/transitreports/07/index.html

Minnesota RideNet - Dale Victor

Victor provided a power point (available upon request) describing the RideNet program. RideNet wants to be the information and referral center for transportation. He made the following points:

For more information, call 1-800-450-6100 or visit www.CTRideNet.com

SILC Recruitment

The advocacy and outreach subcommittee brought the following recruitment plan to the full council.

  1. Lundeen to send web screen shot and draft recruitment fact sheet to Washenberger.
  2. Before the next meeting, Washenberger to draft recruitment letter and send to Cich. Draft letter should be completed by January SILC meeting.
  3. Lundeen to work with Rehabilitation Services communications director to draft recruitment advertisement for ACCESS Press.
  4. Lundeen to send broadcast email list to subcommittee for comment and expansion.
  5. Julia and Roberta to draft paragraph for broadcast recruitment.
  6. Request that Secretary of State broadcast SILC openings
  7. Request that Rehabilitation Services communication manger draft add for ACCESS press. Submit add to Julia and subcommittee for comment.

Motion: Julia moved that the Education and Advocacy be given the approval to draft and submit the final recruitment sheet, to be submitted in Access Press, and to spend up to $200.00 for the ad. Hulet seconded, and the motion carried.

SRC, SRCB, and Other Council Updates

Judy Sanders reported on the SRCB. The SRCB has established a survey to be administered to those who attend adjustment to blindness programs. The results will be posted on SSB''s website allowing those considering attending such programs to evaluate each one. It will be like having a Consumer Reports for blindness programs. Ann Zick and Roberta Cich attended the two-day DEED all staff meeting in November. Roberta attended a breakfast on the first day, and met with David Esquith- RSA, Carl Sueter-RSA, Kim Peck and others. Ann Zick attended an SRC orientation on December 5th at the Dakota WFC. Ann expressed an interest in working with the SRC on a joint public forum with the SILC in 2008.

704 Report

Brad discussed the 704 report and the sections that the SILC needs to report on. Brad explained that the 704 Part I report needs to be submitted on or before January 31st, which does not give the SILC much time to work on the report. Roberta asked members if it would be necessary to hold a January meeting, in order for the SILC to discuss and draft language for the plan.

Motion: Judy moved that the SILC hold a meeting on January 10th, to discuss and approve the annual 704 report, Vicki seconded.

Discussion: Vicki asked if there were any volunteers that would be willing to work on the report prior to the January meeting. Vicki, Ann, Roberta and Julia will work with Brad to draft language for the 704 report. A draft report will be given to the full Council in January for discussion and approval.

Motion: The motion carried with all in favor.

MACIL Taskforce

Vicki talked about the CIL network, and mentioned that MACIL has been meeting and working on revising the current network plan.

Vicki stated that MACIL is ready to come together with the SILC, and begin to work on revising the current network plan. The MACIL representatives for the taskforce will be Steve Thovson, and David Hancox. Vicki asked Roberta if she would like to appoint SILC members to the taskforce.

Roberta asked members to let her know if they would like to be on the taskforce. Roberta will then appoint members at the January meeting.

SPIL Committee Updates

Please see the attached notes.

Visitors' Comments

There were no visitor comments.

Next Meeting, Adjournment

The next meeting of the SILC will be January 10, 2007 from nine a.m. to three p.m. at the Four Points Sheraton Minneapolis. Judy moved to adjourn, Ann seconded. The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.