Ridgewood Access Committee Meeting Minutes 20180721

Ridgewood’s Access Committee

Meeting Minutes June 21, 2018

The meeting opened at 7:40 pm.

Present: Robin Ritter, Ines Bunza, Deanna Schablik, Meina Zhu-Chhimi, Jack Dean, Lori Kisbeck, Susan Knudsen, Erica Dunckley, Joanne Stolfo

Item 1: Welcome
Ines welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The minutes from the April meeting were approved.

Ines then introduced Meina Zhu-Chhimi, a physical therapist who works with seniors. She will be teaching a weekly class in Sept. through our Parks Dept. for seniors to help them improve their balance. We discussed the possibility of her also doing something during ACCESS weekend.

Item 2: Housing
Mayor Knudsen updated us on the progress of the housing projects being developed in town. The Ken Smith building is going forward. As for the Enclave, it is on schedule. We are just waiting for the developers. She will be contacting Tom Taranto from the United Way to meet with him in July. They will submit the plans to the courts. The presiding judge will be retiring at the end of July and he wants to wrap it up.

There will be 2 group homes and 2-bedroom apts. available for a total of 17 residents. Joe Burgess is the architect.

We then had a discussion of supportive housing, 24-hour care and independent housing and the possibility of creating a flowchart with Patrick Chieffe of the UW, which would incorporate many details of the how-to’s of housing for our special young adults, i.e. the various entities involved such as the Housing Authority of Bergen County, as well as the application process, lotteries, etc.

A discussion of Medicaid ensued, including the topic of dental care for special needs young adults.

Item 3: Employment
Joanne was not able to attend this meeting, so we will discuss the World Cafe in July. In the meantime, Susan relayed that Ramon Hache did speak with several businesses in town and discussed the tax incentives in hiring special needs individuals. Susan will be speaking with him and raise it in the next Business Forum. Ines will contact the Friendship House again as she did not hear back from them when she last called. They run a 4-week vocational training program. Their website is “njfriendship.org.”

Item 4: New Business
We discussed the possibility of planning some “hanging out” events for our young adults. These would not be sports-based, but relaxed evenings for listening to music, watching a movie or whatever they would enjoy doing. We could possibly hold them in the Community Room or at Ridge Crest. Possibly an evening at Graydon when a band is playing. Jack Dean said he will speak to his friend about it.

5. Old Business
ACCESS Weekend! Oct. 12, 13, 14. We discussed whether Matthew’s party would be held this year. He has been very generously organizing it since he was a freshman in high school! But he will be a college senior in the fall with many responsibilities. He has not said he can’t do it, but not only that, several towns in the area, like Mahwah, Ramsey and Fair Lawn are having parties around that same time in Oct. We will discuss the weekend more at the July meeting.

The next meeting is July 19, 2018, 7:30.

Respectfully submitted, Erica Dunckley