Ridgewood Access Committee Meeting Minutes 20170420

Ridgewood ACCESS Committee

Meeting Minutes of April 20, 2017

The meeting opened at 7:40 PM

Present: Gail Tamirian-Mandeli, Joanne Van Sant, Deborah Glennon, Erica Dunckley, Tricia Mueller, Ines Bunza, Jack Dean, Susan Donnelly, Robin Ritter, Deanna Schablik, Karen Sheehy, Lisa Gardner

Item 1: Welcome
Ines welcomed everyone to the meeting. The first item of business was to have a volunteer to take minutes for the meetings. Joanne Van Sant volunteered for this task.

Item 2: Housing              
It was reported that the Chestnut St housing plan was passed with approval for special needs availability.

General discussion was held as to the need for affordable housing for people with developmental disabilities. We also discussed the variety of needs, supports and readiness individuals will need to live independently.

No Action Items at this time.

Item 3: Employment                                                                                                                                                   
In depth discussion was held as to what measures could be taken to find meaningful work experiences for people with developmental disabilities. Ideas included forums with community employers; schools as well as agencies that provide job search assistance.

Action Item: Ines and Erica will follow up with panel members when they attend the “Access for All” Community Forum in Mahwah on May 6^th 2017. They will report back at the next meeting.

Item 4: New Business                                                                                                                                                   The proposed By-Laws were submitted. It was suggested to make some additions regarding responsibilities of the Committee. The By-Laws will be reviewed with the proposed changes at the next meeting.

It was proposed and approved to host the Community Access Ridgewood weekend October13 to 15 2017. Discussion was held regarding which weekend the dance will be held.

Action Item 1: Gail will investigate which weekend will work best for the dance.                                                       Action Item 2: Robin will work toward the reservation of rooms and facilities.

Robin proposed that the committee consider another forum on the nuts and bolts of transitioning. She suggested the attorney we had for a previous workshop be asked to host the event. The committee agreed with this proposal.

Action Item 1: Robin will follow up with the arrangements for the forum topic and speaker.

Item 5: Old Business There was no old business at this time.

Meeting adjourned at 9:15PM

Respectively submitted, Joanne Van Sant