Ridgewood Access Committee Meeting Minutes 20170720

Ridgewood’s Access Committee

Meeting Minutes July 20, 2017

The meeting was opened at 7:40pm.                                                                                                                         

Present: Ines Bunza, Anne Burton Walsh, Deanna Schablik, Susan Knudsen, Robin Ritter, Jesse Schwartzman, Joanne Van Sant, Erica Dunckley, Brooke Schwartzman, Leslie Schwarts, Susan Murphy, Janet Fricke, Jack Dean, Amy Stoller

Item 1: Welcome                                                                                                                                                          Ines welcomed everyone to the meeting.                                                                                                      

Action Item: Approval of the June 2017 Meeting Minutes with the addition that Paul Aronsohn was in attendance as well as the added addendum for Housing.

ACCESS Weekend (October 13-15 2017)

1. Treasury report with current TD Bank donation: $3247.82
2. Joanne Stolfo will manage the FB page
3. The Saturday teen dance will be held on October 7^th 2017

Item 2: Housing                                                                                                                                                           

Mayor Knudson reported that an application for 12 affordable housing units has been approved for Enclave development. Working with Tom Toronto of the United Way it is hoped to identify some of the units for people with ID/DD.

The ACCESS Committee was pleased to hear of the progress made toward local housing units.

July Action Items:

Item 3: Employment

Joanne Van Sant will follow up on the possibility of a meeting either in person, or online with the committee and Dr Carter. Dr. Erik Carter has designed and implemented a successful community development “world café” as well as some strategies for the Faith Community to advocate and provide opportunities for meaningful employment. An online meeting is scheduled for Thursday November 16^th, 7:30pm and will be hosted at the Ridgewood Library.                                                                                                                                                       

Action Items from June 2017

Robin Ritter and Paul Aronsohn will research the information that provides tax benefits to businesses that provide employment to people with developmental disabilities.

Item 4: New Business

Ann Burton Walsh reported on behalf of the League of Women Voters that the week of July 17^th was the National Voter Week for people with disabilities. Ann reviewed the rights of people with disabilities to allow accessibility to vote. She identified a resource for this advocacy work as: REV UP: http://www.aapd.com/rev-national-disability-voter-registration-week-2017/

Item 5: Old Business

Minutes respectively submitted by Joanne Van Sant

The Next Meeting is August 17th, 2017 in first floor Senior’s Lounge Village Hall 7:30pm