Homeless Issues Committee - meeting_joint_regular

I guess I'll start because that'll be easy for you all to think about it. So your name, pronouns, and what drew you to the council, and anything else you think is important to say. Okay. So I'm Claire Perkins. I'm the Area Agency on Aging. Aging specialists, lots of As there. We try not to use acronyms because they divide people and it's very confusing. So I always say the Area Agency on Aging. I've been working here almost four years. And I am a social worker by trade. And this job that I do right now is more about contracts and about the I'm involved in this kind of thing, government of the Area Agency on Aging. I haven't experienced a lot of experience in mental health, and with older adults. And we've been talking about this for a while. I'm just really excited that we're doing this. And we have some really fine people around the table. And we're here, we chose you because we want you on the council for all of your gifts, for who you are, what you believe, all of the things that brought you here. So we're really happy to have you here and trying to let you know that. So I'm going to go this way, if that's okay.

My name is Evie Ashby-Mills. And you can hear me, sometimes I speak low, but you can hear me very well. Just let me know. I am... I'm a cheater. I came to Philly thinking I could do something for people that need help. I already work with the outreach in Madison, and also I took on myself to help elderly transgender people who came out later for their transition, and I've helped a lot of people with that. I help the youth. Anybody who needs help, I try to give them my time of day. I'm from Belleville, but I just moved to Middleton. And I'm living there. Good fit. Good fit. Good people there. Middleton crossing. I spent 10 years in the military. I got injured. The weather doesn't help me, so I struck the lightning. And then you just yelled at me right away. But I don't know about your heart power, but I believe that's up to me every day. A big thank you that I'm here. appreciate everyone I meet because there's no reason not to unless they do something in a hurtful way. I love life. I am enlightened like my daughter does. My daughter is an author. She writes long poems. I wrote poetry. I write prayers. My church uses them for her sermon. And I just enjoy life because it's meant to be enjoyed no matter what the I'm a psychotherapist.

I work with older adults and hope to continue my expertise in working with older adults. I volunteer and run a number of groups through senior centers, art groups, grief groups. So, you know, just an interest of mine and help to the community, but the previous, you know, 30-something years I spent in business developing drugs.

Where do you live?

Oh, I'm sorry.

I live on the Near East Side of Madison, and I was interested in this group because basically all the jobs I've had over the last, I don't know, 30 us here have touched on programs, aging programs. I worked at the Elder Law Center years back with the elderly benefit specialist program. And then when a disability benefit specialist program started, I was the first attorney they hired for that. So then I was with disability rights for a long time. And Um, now for the last 10 years, I've been, uh, I work with, uh, TMG, which is one of the Irish consulting agency. And I do, um, uh, policy for them. I'm not here. I am just a volunteer, but, um, anyway, I just, you know, working with these programs that are all statewide just over the years, you know, being from Dane County, I just, you know, I'm just very sensitive to the idea that, you know, we have to kind of conform. There are requirements, statewide requirements, but how do we meet those requirements but still maintain the Dane County-ness and all the great things that happen here? That's me.

I'm Elisa Rosas. I guess I have been following the Dane County Advisory for maybe five years. Even the supervisor said, why don't you apply? And since you work with a lot of seniors, Actually, today I just came from uptown from Park Street, I forget, it's called a place, and we had at least 40 Hispanic women and men. It all had to do with the health, you know, mental health to everything else. So I had the opportunity to go there and listen. And so I always say in my bulletin, I work right now with New Bridge, and what we call the New Bridge, and so I feel like we built you know, like Hispanic community and us and trying to work locally, you know, kind of travel around. So I've learned a lot. I still have a lot to learn, but it's given me the connections where I need to go. And so when I go to work every morning, we have a bulletin that everybody has something to say. And I would say in Spanish, , which means a lot of Spanish is health is life. So to me, that's so important because people will see that. And so I guess it's kind of an entry level for me in here to kind of connect with all the folks that are here for the same purpose. So I just want to say I'm thankful for the opportunity to learn more, to reach out to each person. You always need some kind of advice, I guess. as we give advice to. So I guess that's about I have to say other than I work with the senior program and I keep going and I think like I pick more up every single day and especially if you smile at someone they'll make their day it makes my day I guess it's like I always say. Where do you live?

Thank you.

Where do you live? I live in the East Side. Okay. So it's not too far. I know that way.

Thank you. Thanks, Jasmine Jenkins. And I live in Sunbury. I work as a claims adjuster, a liability and property insurance, wood insurance company. But I've also been working part-time, a second job for the last two years as a caregiver. And what made me interested, I guess, in this program is kind of being on the front line as a caregiver. Started working with a lot of great people. And my interest and just my desire to help them kind of expanded my outreach to kind of visit shelters and other places that the vulnerable population's at. And I started identifying needs that there was their opportunities and needs. And instead of just kind of just saying, oh, well, I'll pray for them or I hope it gets better, I needed to do something, which led me to open up an adult family home and sign new IRAs. So I'm in the process now, the end process of getting licensed with the state of Wisconsin. And I also have a degree as a social worker with human services. So I... one thing i can always say that the worst thing about insurance is that it does pay decent because if i wasn't in insurance i'll be doing this type of work but this is really my destiny and this is really what makes me happy this is out it's the outreach and um just don't make a difference so thank you let me catch up with my friends are she her first um i live on the far east side but not

the newer part at the far right side. So if you're familiar, Cottage Grove Road and the little pizza hut right there, that's my favorite. And my interest, one, as a member, an aging member of the LGBTQ community, Medicare and getting Social Security, but also a former caregiver for my mom, and I work at Justine, and we work with people coming are being released in their 60s, 70s, and 80s after starting 40 and 50 years in prison. And there's very little for them by way of housing. Housing is shrinking anyway, but even fewer options for them. So really in terms of policy, I just want to make sure that voices are heard. Thank you.

I'm Cindy Macioli, and I am the the agency on eugene clerical staff the only one um so you'll be getting a lot of emails for meetings and stuff like that from me i do like the pronouns with she and her i've been in the department for six years but i've been with dane county for 20 years so yeah i'm glad that we finally have this council going and glad that all of you are here and hope that we can make some changes and continue to serve our older adult community.

Hi, my name is Lynn Riley, her pronouns, and I am the manager of the Area Agency on Aging. I've been in this position just over a year, so I still feel very new to it. I'm going to do an introduction and orientation for all of you on Area Agency on Aging. And I will be reading because I still don't have this whole script down yet. But I am so glad you are all here. This is one of my first goals was, well, it was in our aging plan. So it was one of the first things I said, let's make this goal happen. I'm happy to have all of you be involved and be here. I came to this role from the area or the ADRC next door here with us. I was I started the ADRC in 2012. So I came from there, but I have been in areas of Dane County Human Services for over 20 years.

I'm a social worker, too.

I'm Casey . I live in Oregon, Wisconsin. And I currently work for the city's peer team, which not using acronyms, which is Community Alternative Response Emergency Services. We're dispatched through Dane County Communications, which is 911 for anything, mental health, substance abuse, even homelessness sometimes. So it's a mix of everything. Police and fire traditionally have always responded to 911 calls, but when it's something that they're like, I don't know what's going on here, they send us. which is my employer is journey mental health for 10 years, which is the county's crisis. I've always liked this kind of work. I've never been in a position exactly like this, but it's super cool to work with people like you.

I'm Maureen Quinlan. about six months. I live in Manoa. I had worked in an older adult service system for 11 years. And prior to that, I worked in homeless shelter services and working with adults with developmental disabilities. And I am an older adult as well. I think what drew me to this opportunity was that I entire career I've been doing direct service, which is wonderful. I mean, I love it. But I just wanted to have an opportunity to be involved in the bigger picture. And I'm working from a different perspective.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I am Barbara Bostad. And I, she, her, hers. And I live on the west side of Madison, the coma area, which apparently seems to have been hit with some really severe storms. My husband called me and said, I'm in the basement. Where are you? That was like half an hour ago. So I'm thinking they're just passing over. But I'm very happy to be here. I was on the access committee because I really wanted to know more about services. I'm a licensed clinical social worker. I worked at Journey for 14 years and adult youth crisis and then adult crisis. So Sarah Henningsen is a good friend. And my foray really was becoming an older person myself and wanting to look at and find ways to support people who were aging, primarily because of my mom. And so as a licensed clinical social worker working in various programs, I found the opportunity you know, access committee. And I thought this would be great to learn about the resources because I was also starting a business paying bills for older adults. And I named it after my mom, Mary's daughter. So it's retired from that. But I got to meet a lot of folks in the community. And then I got interested in Alzheimer's research. So I've been a part of that for 14 years as a participant, but also with Black Leaders for Brain Health. And so In some of the ways that I got to know my clients, I learned more about the services, learned more about what was needed and what could be provided. And then that was very wonderful because after the access committee kind of dissolved with that previous, I was going to just let it all go. I just retired into the sunset. But they encouraged me to continue on. I'm active in my church, Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church. um i'm on the board trustee board there and so there's enough things keeping me busy but this is really important and i appreciate just having you all here and being a part of this thank you thank you my name is

I grew up far, far away in North India, so came to the U.S. to go to graduate school for my Ph.D. That was when I moved to California. Then I was a professor, worked for the private industry, did a lot of great things, making things happen. got patents, publications, book chapters, all of those stuff. So once I retired, I liked helping people. So I was just involved with a lot of groups, wherever it's needed. Kuan Yin started many groups as well. So for example, started a leadership group at Newton High School, over 300 members, the largest in Wisconsin, middle school, elementary school. So it's just helping people is what I do. So then since people saw that, you know, I was just helping and they were not happy with their city council person, the elder, they came and we want you to run for a city council. I said, I'm very happy. Well, they kept coming. So finally I decided to talk to my wife, talk to my kids and both my kids, uh, I'm bragging, they're both professors. One is a professor at UC Berkeley in molecular cell biology, which is my field, genetics. And the other is a professor of physics here at UW Medicine. So they're good kids. So it gives me time to do things. So I don't have to worry about them. So they came and asked because finally I agreed and we didn't come with 7426. The other person was also a professor, by the way. So I told them I will do one term, you know, two years and somebody else will come. They kept coming to me. So in any case, I served nine years for the city council. And then they came to me, we want you to run for a mayor because, you know, I mean, for me, my interest was to help people and that is not always the case. So anyway, I ran for a mayor and I told them upfront, you know, okay, I will do two terms. So not that you will be elected again. So in any case, was elected and get two terms. And I said, well, that's it. That's what I promised. And so even now they still keep coming, wanting me to run. And just because, you know, I like people, not just, I don't have anything, you know, for myself or, you know, I always treat everyone fairly. So I appointed people to various committees, including commission on ratings. So I was at the senior center just the other day. want to see what the military senior center. So I grew up in military, but anyway, so, so that's where I live. Since 1982, I did live one year in Madison, so, so, so in any case, you know, so I was there asking what the needs are and how could I help? So, so, so I just, you know, I'm with Kwanzaa, so getting involved with the Habitat for Humanity and medicine reading project. So, so I do a lot of things, but it's again to help others. So, So, so I don't know how I got a call or whoever recommended. So, so, you know, whether Lynn got it, somebody else. So I got a call. They want to talk to me. I said, okay, that's where we are.

Hello. I'm Vivian Hazel. I'm the senior person in the room. I am going to claim that I had was moved here from Oshkosh. A year ago. You like Oshkosh? Oh, really? Where'd you live in Oshkosh?

I lived on the west side.

Oh, okay. I had the opportunity to live a lot of places, but ended up on the east side. You know, that's the coveted side. Oh, I'm glad you told us. Oh, on the lake. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But anyway, it was a long journey. And I live in Sun Prairie there in the draw with a grandson. And he is now turning 11. And my daughter's a single parent. So you know the times that you can help someone out that's a single parent because I was a single parent at one time. So I find that great joyful. And I was drawn to this committee because I have an expertise I never signed up for, which is I was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's. So I'm very early onset Alzheimer's. But part of my career was running residential care for people with all kinds of diagnosis, developmental disabilities. But in my final years, it was for senior citizens. And so I was able to write all the rules. And so they got to bring their beds from home. They got to bring their furniture. We had meals when they were hungry. We had the kinds of one lady said, Oh, it'd be lovely if we only had some rhubarb. So I went to call because you know what, what they treasure at those moments from their life. And, um, So I really enjoyed offering opportunities for people to have a valued home to live in. And I did that for a number of years. I also worked with kids with autism and was on the governor's council for autism for about, as a charter member for about 15 years. So brains that are different draw me in and they don't scare me away because there's always a, of a person that remains that you can find a way to have impish moments. I like that. Yeah, I like that too. And so I just thought that I could bring some of that here. I'm a writer of sorts, so I could write up stuff for this group. My husband's a folk singer, so if you need somebody to sing this on... He's doing that, but anyway we're delighted to be here in the area and we've been here just about two years now, and I thought it was time to get back to this. Thank you.

yeah.

I realized that I did not do things in the right order.

Um, so I was supposed to call me to what I did do that. And that's okay.

Okay.

Okay. So we didn't have any minutes for that. So the next, uh, we did a presentation, long presentation.

So now we're going to action items on the agenda, which is C and that is election of the AAA advisory council chair and vice chair.

Yeah.

Yes.

We were just having a sidebar over here and wondering if they wanted to do the bylaw.

Okay.

Okay, good. You can do that. I like that. Okay. That's me then. Okay. All right. So, and they put them up here and you have them on your paper. And I think it was said we were sent to your book. Yeah, they were. So, I'm not going to read them verbatim. But basically, the bylaws were voted on and approved by the Area Aging and Aging Board a couple of months ago, I think. And so that's where these have come from. They came from the board and they've been approved. And so we are similar in that there are other Area Aging and Aging that have advisory councils and many of them have very similar articles of bylaws, sorry. And so these five laws just say about our name, the purpose, which you'll hear more about from Lynn, but really it's to advise us to assist the area into an aging on matters about development, implementation, and evaluation of the area plan on aging, which is a plan that we make maybe three years that's to really show what our goals are and how we're spending the money that the government has given us and how we're making sure that we're meeting the needs of as many older adults from as many different backgrounds and life experiences as we can. Development of the plan, coordination of community-based services for older adults and their caregivers. Caregivers are very much highlighted in this specific, in the area, in the advisory council actually and in the bylaws. So we really take that seriously. Identifying unmet needs, which, definitely very interested in finding more about and working as a link between the area into aging, older adults, service providers in the community. And so the membership was really an important thing that we thought about and tried to make sure we were faithful to is that we should have between 9 and 15 members and at least 50% of members shall be aged 60 or older, which we have been able to do. So members are older adults, representatives of providers, the general public, caregivers or advocates. And you need to live in Dane County, which we're clear about with everybody. And the AAA director or designee shall serve as staff liaison, that's me, without voting rights.

There is the designee.

And the designee. So you, as members, The council will be appointed, are being appointed for three-year staggered terms. I'm not quite sure how we'll achieve the staggered part of it. You can only serve two terms in a row, and we will be filling vacancies if there are unexpired terms. The offices are chair, vice chair, and secretary.

We are going to strike secretary. We just did that on the governing board as well. We do not have a secretary. We have Cindy.

Yes. Okay, great. So you are elected annually. So we'll be electing chair and vice chair today, and that will happen annually. You can serve one year term and maybe reelected. So like it says, and we've talked about chairperson presides at meetings, prepares agendas with staff. That's me. and the chair will prepare the agenda and represents the council and the vice chair can act in the chair's absence. The county clerk records and maintains meeting minutes of attendance. Cindy takes the minutes and writes and does all that lovely stuff and make sure it gets into legislature and make sure we're following all the rules of meetings. We're going to meet quarterly, or we may meet more often. You'll definitely know about it more than five days in advance. We need to know if you're going to be here for quorum. And we're going to have hybrid meetings from now on, which means we'll always have a presence here. Is there a procedure we have to have a certain member or one member here to have We need at least one member of you all in person every time. We encourage it. I know that some people are in person a lot, including me. So we'll always be here. But if you can't be here, you can be on Zoom. And you'll get the invite for that. And then we could have ad hoc work groups that could happen, depending on what we're working on. And then we are in relation to the governing board, which is the board of the Area Agency on Aging We serve as an advisory capacity. We make recommendations and we forward them to the board for consideration. We can amend the bylaws, and that's possible. We'll probably be doing that at some point. And then they're effective upon approval. They've been approved in November. So those are the bylaws. Any questions? So we can move on to, we can move on to the next item. Oh, just hold, we just get it. Suspense is too much.

Well, actually, I think it's a good idea to do the AAA.

Yeah, and then we can really think about more about what we're doing and think in your mind, though, about being the chair or the vice chair. I mean, how amazing it's going to be. And it'll be fun to work with whoever gets picked. But thank you. OK, over to Lynn.

All right. So Angela Velazquez is our division administrator. She's the administrator for the Division of Aging and Disability Services. That's our division name. I didn't put it on here, but John Schluter is our director of the income and human services. myself, Claire, and Cindy are all listed on there as well. I'm sorry. Because we're going to go through this pretty fast. We do have a hard stop at about 425 today. So I'm going to go through this pretty fast, but I'm handing out the slides and there's room on there to take notes if you want to jot anything down.

And lots of information on our website as well. So yes.

We'd like you to memorize those. I'll email the PowerPoint to everybody as well. Thank you. Oh, I don't need it. Do you have, has everyone got one?

Oh, yeah. So you just pop it down. All right, thank you.

All right, so again, thank you again for joining our advisory council. This brief orientation I'm going to go through is meant to introduce the Area Agency on Aging of Dane County, explain how it fits both within Dane County Human Services and the broader aging service system, and clarify the role that the advisory council will play. And we'll briefly cover what the AAA does, how it's funded and governed, and how advisory council can help strengthen community voice and identify the emergency. So the Area Agency on Aging, or AAA, not the car service, but AAA has, we were established under the Older Americans Act. It is Dane County's local hub for aging services. The AAA is not just one program. It helps plan, fund, coordinate, and advocate for a range of supports that help older adults remain as independent, healthy, and connected as possible. The AAA also works closely with caregivers service providers, and community partners across the county. In addition to being part of the broader aging network, AAA is also part of the county government and the county's human services structure. That means AAA works at the intersection of public administration, community planning, and direct service coordination. It helps connect county leadership, community partners, and aging service providers It also implements a mix of federal, state, and local priorities through planning, contracts, and community-based service delivery. So for you, Advisory Council members, this is important because your input helps inform a system that is both community-based and embedded in the county government. So this slide shows where AAA fits in the larger public aging network. Aging policy and funding begins at the federal level with the administration for community living. It moves through the state's unit on aging and then reaches our local area agency on aging. There are three of them in the state of Wisconsin. Milwaukee has one and the other one has both who are and they run the other 70 counties plus other tribal units. From there, services are delivered through our senior center. We call them focal points and other community partners. So AAA sits both within county government and within the broader aging network. The AAA supports a broad range of essential services for older adults and caregivers. That includes senior nutrition, transportation, caregiver support, health and wellness programming, benefit counseling, and case management. Some of these services are funded through the Older Americans Act, though some are through state or county dollars, and many are delivered through contracts and partnerships. The main point, again, is that the AAA helps support a coordinated network of services rather than a single program. And the AAA uses a braided funding model federal and state formula funds are important, but county funding is also essential, especially where local match is required and where Dane County has chosen to support services beyond what federal funding can cover. Other funding sources include nutrition-related reimbursements, voluntary contributions, and other community support. For your advisory council members, the key takeaway is that AAA services depend on multiple funding streams to work together. AAA staff operate within a governance structure designed to support accountability, planning, and community input. That structure includes the governing board, the advisory council, and other standing committees. The governing board has formal oversight responsibilities. Committees provide more focused review and support in specific areas. Advisory council adds community voice and perspective to help inform AAA's planning and priorities. So the role of the advisory council is to strengthen community voice at AAA's work. Members provide input and recommendations advise on the area plan on aging, help identify unmet needs, and connect the AAA with community's perspective and lived experience. The council is advisory rather than the final decision-making body, but that advisory role is very important. It helps ensure that planning and priorities are informed by what older adults, caregivers, and community stakeholders are actually experiencing and communicating in the community. So one example of what our support looks like for a Dane County resident, here's an example. An older adult living alone begins to struggle with transportation, meal preparation, and managing a fixed income. Through our network, the resident is connected to home delivered meals, transportation assistance, elder benefit counseling, and case management. With those supports in place, that resident is able to remain safely at home, attend appointments, improve their financial stability, and stay connected to the community. And what we hope to gain from all of you is not that you become experts in every AAA program, but we hope that you bring your perspective, your community connection, and your awareness of what older adults and caregivers are experiencing. Your role is to help identify unmet needs, service gaps, emerging issues, and opportunities for stronger outreach and coordination. In that way, the Advisory Council helps AAA stay connected, responsive, and informed by the community it serves. Again, thank you for your willingness to serve in this role. We truly appreciate your time and perspective. And if we haven't said it before, we truly look forward to working with all of you and having you involved with AAA.

Thank you. The question is, how much is the budget?

How much is the budget?

Yes.

Our AAA budget is over $7 million. And that's a mix of all those funding sources.

Can you give some examples of standing committees?

Yes, we have our Nutrition and Wellness Committee, and they advise our nutrition staff of all the senior nutrition programs in Dane County. We have advisory council, we have legislative advocacy meeting or committee that just met this morning and they keep track of all the public policies and procedures and legislative things that are going on. We just had a new district legislator day last week where we met and presented in front of our legislators on the four main identified categories of needed services and needed funding for. Those were identified by the Wisconsin Area Aging Resource Network across the state, and those four that they're focusing on for this legislative session is fall prevention, funding for the ADRCs, funding for specialized transportation, and home-delivered meals. So we just spoke with them about that and really connecting with the public and try to get in touch with their decision makers, legislative level.

So those are our . Yes?

So is 7 million good enough to meet the needs or does the needs ask for more?

We need to ask for more funding. We need to really keep track of the Older Americans Act at the federal level. It has stayed pretty standard and level funded for years and hasn't been brought back up. They keep doing a continued resolution on it, which is increasing funding, but some advocates are a little nervous about making too much noise about it because if they really look at it, they could cut it or decrease funding. And so we're kind of right now just kind of keeping advocacy. I mean, we're still advocating to make sure they don't cut, but we're okay with if they go through another.

That's a federal level.

Do you have examples of the kinds of issues?

Yes. So we will send you our current aging plan if we haven't yet. And that identifies six goals that we wanna work in as a three-year plan. And I'm not gonna rattle off all six of those goals, but between the staff here, we probably could. But really it's going out because that plan is from 25 to 27, almost three years. Number two, but it is three years. So the next plan will be 28 to 30, and you all will be imperative in, getting out into the community to find and educate us and learn to what the next aging plan should look like, what goals should be in there. So for an example, in the current aging plan was to increase the stepping on classes and to provide some of them in Spanish as well. And that's the falls prevention. There was one of the goals is to increase caregiver support. So we were able to increase funding on that. But we definitely paid attention. Oh, it was to get caregiver support grants out to all new caregiver people that hadn't been awarded grants before. All the applicants this year, the goal was that they were all new.

Like the specialized transportation, a lot of it was about reaching older adults that hadn't been reached before. So underserved communities, communities of color. So for example, I know the transportation one, a lot of it was about like having translation and interpretation. And like the thing about it is, is we've experienced this because we will go out into community, went to do a resource there, and we got there like, oh, we don't have anything in Spanish at all. So we are definitely trying to be more, you know, get out there and reach out. And we want people to get those services in their communities rather than going, oh, we'll do that. Because we know they're the experts, but it's like, What do we have to offer? Sometimes we don't have that much to offer. We're trying, we need to learn, we need to know what the needs are and also to advocate for those needs. And if you feel like you're representing a specific constituency, like you were talking about quite a lot of different things, actually, but like you spoke about early onset dementia, for example, or being a caregiver, like we want your expertise. We would like you to... we'll teach you how to go out and like do focus groups. And I know we have an expert in focus groups here. And so there's a lot of different things and I haven't completely formulated them, but it's like looking at our current aging plan, what did we do? We had two big goals about homelessness and justice involved older adults. And a lot of that was about, we didn't know as well with the justice involved, we're still working on that. But our intern Kat, I think she met with one of, I think she could speak with you. And I know she asked one of your staff and we've done a lot of inroads to do with homelessness and even things like, for example, when we became concerned when we were doing the last aging plan. There was so many older adults in the shelters and going back and forth to the date and night and not having. adequate anything really. We did a lot of talking and like talking to people in the housing department here. And because one, not exactly because of that, but we did have an influence to make them, when they have a new shelter, they're going to have, they're going to make sure they house older adults, men, there's an adult men's shelter, specifically have places for people who have disabilities, physical disabilities, have trauma-informed, didn't make that up but like we really pushed the idea that all the adults are in the shelter system and some of them are not even they're on the streets and like that is a really big crisis and we've done some advocacy around that i think it's had some influence and there's going to be more because this population is growing and growing with homelessness so there's all different kinds of things and i guess we'll have to i have to come up with a way of making sure that we're using all your expertise and hearing from you and what you want to do and what you're passionate about. But we want to be able to say, we asked a lot of people, we have a lot of information, and this is what we're advocating for. And these are our goals for next time. It's a lot. It's kind of overwhelming. And I think the area of aging has a big job. And we can never do everything we want to do. but we're trying to be really focused about it and really make sure that we're meeting the greatest need because that's what we talk about in the Older Americans Act. It's about the greatest need. And how do you figure that out? And what do you do to make sure that's happening?

Yeah. Can I ask you about transportation? Which transportation programs do you guys support? Is it air transit? We don't. We do.

What was it like, what did you say? The AP?

Oh, RSVP.

We provided grant funding to RSVP to do, Lenny knows more about this than me, but rides for seniors going to medical appointments specifically, which is like a huge, you know, need. And then we provide money for First Transit, who, is that my right? Yeah, they do like specialized transportation like so they can get people to another way of getting to medical appointments. You can call them and ask them if you're using a wheelchair or specific equipment to get you there to the appointment and back. And there's a lot of juggling that goes on about between RSVP and we have actually a transportation call center here, believe it or not, that has two people who run it. And that's where the funding we have from the specialized transportation.

Part of our funding goes towards that, which is housed under the ADRC. And our older Americans Act funding goes to RSVP for training and recruiting all the volunteers that do all the driving, whether it's delivering meals or, I mean, they have a group that knits the hats that go up to the hospitals for the freebies. But so our funding is to, part of our funding is to recruit and train the volunteers for whatever they're going to do at RSVP, whether it's driving people or delivering meals. Or they also have a program, a multi-generational program, that the elders are going to the high schools and working, or even middle schools and working with the students.

Just a question about, in terms of presentations that I know for this first meeting, But will there be presentations from some of those groups like it was with the Access Committee, you know, where you can find nutrition, what they're doing, what their challenges are, or transportation? Because I learned so much from that. And then I was able to follow up with, for instance, going to, you know, we talked to Hy-Vee when they were doing those dinner or breakfast. And actually, you know, you asked the question, being a part of that, going in as just an older adult and sitting down, what was my experience? Because then I can bring that back. know and when they were doing great it was fine but when they started you know pulling back some of the services not being as sensitive to the i could come back and say this is what i'm finding you know and so that's the kind of thing i think you know yeah yes but being able to just sort of experience what folks are experiencing and then you know the good things but also things that where there's some needs and deficits and i found that to be very helpful.

And I think what is really great for all of you is this is your council and you guys can drive that. You want presentations to talk to your chair about getting something here on that topic. And it's going to be whatever you all need it to be and want it to be to serve the purpose.

There's an issue that can't be settled here. And to me, that's the financial deprivation of families that they have to impoverish themselves before they get services. And the people who are caregiving during that time are often trying to work full-time, parenting, exhausted, which then hampers their ability to give us reasonable care, And so I look at that, one, it's a political thing to me because we're one of the few wealthy nations that doesn't provide housing from the get go of need for older adults. And we put that on families that destroys families and provides poor care. And not that people don't wanna do care, good care. I know that, but I have seen so, I'm on a few caregiver groups on Facebook. They don't have training, so they'll be saying, like, she doesn't want to take a bath.

How can I force her to take a bath?

And they should have training on bed baths or how to just hand somebody a washcloth. And, you know, there are ways to help them do caregiving, but the anger they have at being so inadequate at it.

is one of my passions to try and help caregivers I mean we could like that's something you know a lot about and you're passionate about and other people are too like we could say oh these are the things we're going to focus on and I would really like to focus on me myself would like to focus on justice involved and homeless folks um but um well that's for my current goals but just because I such a I don't know, I have a passion for it. So I think everyone's, we want to kind of use all of your passions, and I don't think we can do it all at once, unless you want to meet every week, and that would be great. But I think we have a lot of, and I want to hear from all of you, like, if you've got ideas that we know, we definitely, it's a two-way street. But we're going to run out of time, unfortunately. Let's do the elections, and then maybe we'll have to wait for ethics for another time. Yes, sure. Okay.

Do you have.

Well, basically. I would ask anybody who wanted to even nominate themselves or the Chair or if anybody had any nomination they would like to make you could either nominate yourself. or you can nominate somebody in the room. Everybody is eligible apart from Lynn and Cindy and I. So does anybody, first of all, so we'll do chair first and then we'll do vice chair. Does anybody have any, would anyone like to nominate themselves?

I'd be more than happy to, sorry.

So you're nominating yourself?

Yes.

Thank you. I second that. Does anybody else have any questions? If you have more than one, we have to have a vote. But if we don't have more than one, then we don't have to vote. Anybody else?

Can we nominate someone? Yes.

So I'll go over that thing. But I wanted to nominate, I was thinking about Molly. And the only reason why is because just the short time you were talking, it seemed like you had a grasp of how this framework legally and regulated regulations every day, so I was just.

Well, and I very much appreciate that. I didn't feel like I have a, you know, understanding of because I've touched on a lot of new programs that have come up. I just personally in the next six months, I'm going to have like a lot of I'm helping elderly. My father's passed away out of state and and some things like that going on. So, I mean, it would be something I would consider down the road, but right now, it's probably not the best time.

I actually wanted to nominate Linda Peson as the chair, because I've known Linda for years, and I'm hearing that, but I guess I really respect your very many involvements, your passion, your commitment, and I've known you for a long time.

So that's who I would nominate.

HAB-Juliette Boone, That. HAB-Juliette Boone, I would have concerns just sometimes my availability, but I will be happy to amend that to. HAB-Juliette Boone, serve as vice chair or. getting close to you.

Oh, I'm here to help. That's all there is to it. So, you know, so I gave my 100% for one year and then, you know, so yeah, that's how it is.

So you, so we have one, we have one person who is volunteering to nominate themselves and then we need a second, right? We got a second. Okay.

And so we have Linda nominated for a rights share.

I second that one, so.

Any other, I think it's okay to do both at the same time. Any other nominations?

Any other nominations? Any other nominations? I'm gonna ask one more time, any more nominations? Okay, so... The motion carries.

We have one nomination for chair and one for vice chair. And because there's one of each, we do not need to vote.

Congratulations.

Well, I will do my very best. You bring a lot of good experience. Well, I've called the meeting to order, right? We can have a motion to approve that. We need a motion to approve both appointments. Okay.

I'd like to have, can someone give us a motion to approve the second? Second. It was Evie and Irene. And then a motion. Okay. A motion to approve the vice chair nomination. That was it. Oh, we did?

I'm sorry. Sorry. All those in favor?

Aye. All those against? Any abstinence? Okay. So... Thank you. Thank you, Cindy.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

So you can now, if you feel comfortable, you can run the meeting for the rest of the morning. Absolutely.

I'd be happy to. Well, thank you, everyone. So I call the meeting to order. And the item here is the presentation. So I don't know if we, well, we already went through the introductions. And we already did the bylaws. And so that will be the ethics training. So we can do.

Before the meeting, because we didn't do it at our advocacy, which they didn't do this morning either, we are asking the board office at the county for permission to send everyone the ethics training and take it to video. And so we have asked permission to send it to everyone to watch on their own. in the interest of time because we really wanted to focus on everything else we did today instead of watching the video.

But it is required of our board members and committee members to watch the video.

It's brand new this year.

So we will be in touch about that.

Thank you, Lynn. So the overview, you already get that part? Yes. Okay. So now before I guess we don't have none. Okay, the Twitter meeting. I'll do that. I mean, I'll do that one. Okay.

We wanted to ask you all like, what would be we want to be three more times this year. And we wanted to make it a time that everyone can come which is a big big seat of calendar ninjury. So I wanted to send a poll out. Sometimes polls, doodle polls can be irritating, difficult, but I wanted to send it to you via email, and then you can look at your calendars. Some people have wall collars, some people have their phones, and then you can really look because we wanted to make it a time. I know some of you are still working. Some of you are doing this in a work capacity, which means you're able to come at this time. We would like to do it around this time. But I'm gonna send about maybe two or three times and we'll see what everyone can do. There was only one person who could come today. That was really good attendance.

I think she had something else.

Yes.

I'm assuming, so you'll do a poll the best time. five days to notice.

No, no, no, we're not going to do that. You'll have like the whole year planned out. Yeah, that's just like the minimum. No, you'll know about it.

No, we will set the dates up and demonstrate it. So, okay, so the public comments, items not completed and any other things which wasn't there.

So, well,

such other businesses, I would say that since you guys have so many, number one, we are just starting and number two, that there are so many issues. So how could we collect all of those, you know, you can probably suggest that probably send it to her rather than to me and then you compile them. I mean, you know, we need to know what you're passionate about, what you're passionate about, you know, so then we can I know three meetings is a really long time. So what if we want to really get things done, we probably have to find some other ways to make it happen.

So we were going to these are, we're allowed to have like, work groups doing different things. I would like to put together a questionnaire or kind of pull something to see what the main issue that people who know about or are concerned about and just have a little more thinking because we had a lot of planning going through this meeting. I'm like, well, what now? We have so many great ideas and so much enthusiasm. But I would like to kind of gather and see what people are interested in. I can do that. as well as sending out, once I've sent out the, like, we'll do the date first, and then we'll kind of, I'll send you an email about, like, trying to gather, like, people's interests, you know, passion, like, what is something you could give to this, and what you'd like to do, and we can fashion a plan from there, I think.

it might take us a little while because we still have to learn a lot about this um the aging plan with that yes that would be really cool yeah it's very long i just want to say that um but um turn it into an opera so how about could we from the minutes at least there are some various issues raised so make a list of those things so that at least we know and then we can get some good ideas See, we have only short time. So I'd like to see that at the end of the year, we show that we actually did something. So to bring about a change, you know, that's pretty important. If we just had meetings, three meetings, and we have nothing to show, well, I don't think any of us will be good. Yes, sir.

Like an annual review at the end of the year. Yeah. Probably two months before the end of the year. And what we have accomplished.

I mean, I like that. My concern is, having been a part of a previous group where, I mean, we have a lot of interests, a lot of different attempts to address things, and we only have four meetings a year. You know, and part of it is I like the idea of looking at the agent, the plan that's already been developed and redoing that and pulling out of that. What are the things that really, you know, kind of trigger, you know, because if we had 20 things or 10 things, I found that we just dilute the time we have because you're right. But then if we're working with the agent, the plan that's already there and then we pull out one of the things we want to focus on this year. that might be a way to get to start that.

We definitely need to focus on what the goal, what our goal is as a dietary council, which is really in the slides. We've got these basic goals. And then regarding the aging plan and what we're going to do to make sure that's effective, really. The biggest focus is on the aging plan. So that we have we already have an aging plan that we're working on. And then we're going to be working towards the next one. But yeah, I mean, I don't want to have four meetings a year and just like not do anything.

Like I really, I know meetings are very sometimes difficult to have, but that's why we're going to have some working groups.

And also it'd be helpful to know, like, do you want to spend a lot of time doing this? Can you only just attend meetings? So I'll send that questionnaire because some people have got a lot of time, a lot of less time. and we can just kind of try and fit this together. Yeah.

But the review of the aging plan itself and the ethics between now and the next time we meet would be really important. Yeah. Because you've done a lot in putting this together. I mean, the work you put in, just the interview and all of that. So I really appreciate that. Thank you. But then it's like, you know, you can't get too scattered. Because I think then it's like all the work you put in. And then, as you say, what's shown at the end of the year, I mean, the fact that you've gotten this committee, you know, that this council together, um, that we have met each other, that we have officers, you know, great officers, and then that we are reviewing the aging plan and doing efforts. If we get that accomplished this year, I'd be very happy. And then over and above that, I think would be great, but that's what I'm saying. I think it's really unreasonable to try to get us to do so much, um, Because I think once we pull out what we really are good at and then get those, what do you call them, work groups, we can really go places. Yeah.

I mean, this year is the last year that we're working on the current aging plan, right? Or is that one more?

27 is tough. We're wrapping up the current aging plan and planning the next one.

Yeah. So I think in evaluating what we're doing so far and wrapping that up, And where I go next, a lot of the work will be in that. And that's how we have to decide what our focus is going to be. Just like we do for the aging plan. We don't have 15 goals. We have six or something. And some of those goals could be achieved by the staff. And they won't even come here. But there are a lot of things that we can't all do. There's only a few of us. We want your length and breadth of your experience to be part of.

It's exciting. Go ahead. I'm working in collaboration with the Sun Prairie Library developing caring for the caregiver videos.

Oh, really?

And that could be something I share with this group. So it would be like we hope to do really easy to understand strategies. Or when your mom thinks that you're mean or whatever, ways to help people join that moment. So if I could volunteer to work with the library, but also share with you guys what we do. Yeah.

All right, because we're all in office.

Vivian. No, no, no. I know your name, but I'm neither person. We'll talk later. I love that idea. Oh, I know what to say.

Do you all want contact information? I can ask you on a question. you'll probably be emailing each other. We'll be working closely, and I won't be the only person sending emails. But also, you're right, because you're part of your own, where you live is very important to this whole thing. We're all throughout Dane County. I think I've got a couple of areas we haven't covered, but we're pretty, yeah.

So, Claire, you want to send the aging plan? No, I'm not going to do it. No, I will. I'm going to do it on my list.

I'm going to do it before I go on vacation on Friday. I'm going to do it before you do it. North Woods where it's maybe 90 degrees and raining. But we'll track you down.

I was just there a little while ago.

So good. So are we, go ahead.

Yeah, but then we want to prioritize it, you know. I guess I'd like to make sure that everyone's time is valued and we want to make best use of every single minute. And at the end of the time, we show that we did something. So we elected officers and we went through some of these things, basic things. But at the next meeting, we want to see where other groups see that we are making a difference. Yes, yes.

Ethics training.

So anything else?

Any other comments?

What did we decide about how we're going to figure out what people are interested in? We're going to send you a question.

That's a great question. Along with the plan. Any other questions?

Is there some sort of a program evaluation that you guys do a how the previous plan has been working, what's been working, what hasn't been working, what can we learn from besides the plan? No, we don't.

Yeah, that is a wonderful question. When we do a survey in regards to the plan, we do our annual reports, and then we do a caregiver, no, we do a nutrition survey.

When we do, when we've done from one year to the, from one triple, three years to the next, I was here for the last time when we reviewed the first one, the one previously, and we're starting the new one. And the answer is no, we don't have a tool, but we do meet, which would be lovely. We have some ideas, but they're not developed. There's been a lot of change over in staff as well. So, but basically we go through this with the state aging, the Bureau of Aging and Disability Resources. We go through with them because they're kind of our bosses in a way. And we do talk about what we've done, what we haven't done, but it's not a formal thing. Before we do go, I'd like to take a picture. We're going to run out of time.

Any other questions? I want to say thank you to everyone for letting me share.

Okay.