20200820 - Ridgewood Access Committee Meeting Minutes

Ridgewood's Community ACCESS Committee 
Meeting Minutes August 20, 2020 

The Zoom meeting was opened at 2:30 p.m. 
Present: Ines Bunza, Robin Ritter, Jan Philips, Joanne Van Sant, Joanne Stolfo, Deanna Schlabik, Lisa Gardner, Kerri Wallace, Caroline Meier, Jesse Schwartzman, Erica Dunckley 
Item 1: Welcome 
Ines welcomed everyone to the meeting. Minutes from the July meeting were approved. Motion by Lisa, seconded by Joanne Stolfo. 
Item 2: Housing 
Mayor Susan Knudsen wasn't able to attend the meeting but sent an email to Ines earlier in the day saying she would not be attending our meeting. Jack Dean had spoken to Tom Toronto from United Way and was told the Jan. move-in date is still correct for the Sealfon's building. 
Item 3: Finances 
Lisa asked if she needed to solicit the banks for their donations for ACCESS Weekend this year. Robin felt that it isn't necessary as we have enough funds in the account to support this year. Lisa will contact them just to keep us top-of-mind. 
Item 4: ACCESS Weekend 
Robin said ACCESS is happening with the help of the Library staff. Kerri Wallace, our outreach librarian from the library, has been meeting online to discuss the weekend's activities. 
On both Tues. Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. and Wed. Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. there will be a viewing party of the film Grip Camp. Viewers will be able to stream the film through the library's Netflix account. There will be a button on the library's homepage to access it. 
On Fri. Oct. 9 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Deanna has planned an in-person event for our seniors at Habernickel Park. They will be in groups of 5 with 3-4 activities planned: a nature walk, Tai Chi, a healthy eating discussion and possibly a drumming class. In addition, lunch will be served from 11 :30-12. Deanna has ideas for providing the meal, but Erica can help out with that if necessary. 
Deanna mentioned that she still has access to the ROID Grant and would like to possibly use it for our young adults for various game nights. The money would be used to purchase games like air hockey, ping pong and indoor bocce. They could bring in refreshments (no alcohol, of course). We would need to have adult moderators. Deanna will see if the grant would cover it. 
Also on Fri. @ 7pm there will be a podcast of Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, and Maysoon Zayid, a comedian with cerebral palsy discussing the joys and challenges of the modern disability culture. 

Caroline spoke with Rachel Wilkins who will be coordinating the virtual fashion show online. It will be recorded ahead of time and possibly premier at noon. Caroline has also reached out to the models and is in touch with Karen for entertainment. 
Lauren Schechter is doing the captioning for Fri. night. There is a $90-$120/hour charge for ASL. She will secure the interpreter. A stipend of $250 was offered to Alice Wong through the library but she donated it back to the Library. 
Sun. night is Joanne Van Sant's virtual community service. Ines brought up the topic of how people will know HOW to access the activities online. Robin mentioned that there will be a link on the landing page of the library's website. 
To get the word out about the weekend, Lisa can post on the FB page of Ridgewood Moms and Dads. Ines is reaching out to Jim Thebery's replacement at Bergen County. Kerri will also email the other BCCLS libraries. She also offered to set up an lnstagram account. 
Community Fair will have a virtual table for groups to provide their information. 
2020 is the 30th anniversary of the ADA. The theme for this year's ACCESS for All Weekend could be ADVOCACY. 
Joanne S. also mentioned another good film called Peanut Butter Falcon, appropriate for teens and adults. It's the story of a man with Down Syndrome who wants to pursue his dream of becoming a pro wrestler. 
5. New Business
There was a discussion of the difficulties some of our young adults may have in filling out the voting ballot. Joanne S. made a suggestion to have the League of Women Voters create a video to show how it's done. Ines will reach out to Anne Burton Walsh to accomplish this task. 
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m. 

The next Zoom meeting is probably Sept. 17, maybe the 24th and back to the night schedule - at 7:30 p.m.