P&z Board - Regular Meeting

Okay, we're off mute. Okay.

I'm calling to the meeting to order at 5.35 p.m. Special Needs Advisory Board, May and July 1st, 2026. I will certainly will. I'm here.

I'm here. I'm here. I'm here.

All right. Order of physics.

Any referrals, additions, evictions? Yes.

Um, we're not seeing if we are going to do a back to school then. At least a talking point for back to school.

They want to make a motion. I make a motion to add, uh, seven C back to school. I second. All those in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Anything else?

Hold on, sorry. Special Olympics to talk about them and bringing them to the town. For you. For additions. Okay. Make a motion. I make a motion to, do I have to do the numbers? I make a motion to

7B.

OK. After Special Olympics coming to town.

Second. All those in favor? Aye.

And we also want to motion to add 9GEMS. They want to come for the next funding. Oh my gosh, they're pretty cute. To propose a class for a special need. 7B. The 17th.

The promotion.

My gym.

We'll make motion. I make a motion to add my gym. The 17th. A special need program.

All those in favor. Okay. Anything else? I'm sensing. Does anyone know the deputies? I'm not going to defer this item. I'm not going to be joining my cousin's wedding. All right. Oh, we're moving on to public comments. We have any public comments online here? No. OK. Approval of the minutes for June 26. Approval of the minutes.

I don't have the comments, I'm just gonna put it down.

I'm going. I'm going six. to you um

It's going to take as long as an example. I.

only happens to be in the statement.

Item 7a? 7c. Special items for 7b.

Special items for 7b. 7a.

Item 7b. Item 7a. I caught that one.

Make a motion to approve the minutes from June 3rd, 2026. All right.

Friendly Cafe. I wanted to do a little recap and get some feedback from everybody. I myself thought it was amazing. I loved it. I learned so much. I felt moved, inspired, and cried at a magic show. So anybody else want to?

I feel the same. And I thought it was like I got a lot out of it this year. but it was different than last year. Like I got new information. So it's not, it's not, I didn't feel like, okay, I don't have to go again. You know what I mean? Like I wanted to go again this year because last year was so great and it empowered me. So I, I, I'm like a hundred percent and that's going again. It was, it was great. And I couldn't wait to get myself back.

Follow up with people. I also loved it. It's going to be something I go to every year, like a family thing. I'm glad I went alone the first time and with each other and our different perspectives and our different walks of life kind of in the same place, seeing how that affects everybody. I liked being able to see people face to face, like the Special Olympics people, Easterseals, the Department of Education. So being able to see booths like that to me were really important because it's so hard to get ahold of people. So that was a great takeaway for me and the sessions were great.

The first time that I thought it was very informative and actually I don't, it made me give me hope for the future for special needs individuals because Shows that the conversation is now shifting and actually becoming less stigmatized. So that does give me a lot of positive optimism for the future. And that we are not alone in the change in the work that we're trying to do.

My first time, but it was a lot of, oh, the only thing I would recommend is somehow try to get there earlier in the day. uh see the the sessions that were offered earlier yeah because what time did we actually actually walk in was like a one or no it wasn't that no no no we got there like at 10 10 15 by the time we checked out checked in we had time for the first session which is at 10 30. yeah exactly

But it was a lot of stacked sessions. So like a lot of the ones that I wanted to see were like all at the same time. So that made it difficult. But I think maybe in the years coming, like dividing and conquering, or like if I'm with my family, like my husband goes to these and I go to these.

Yeah. Um, I, I, I want to say, and sorry, my voice is still not here yet, but, um, um, I mean, I'm so fulfilled, like really, like just when I saw all of you guys get there and the fact that a tremendous bonus for people from my previous job were also there. One of them being a friend of mine for 13 years, then it was the first time that she went. So it was it was just that for me was such a highlight that, of course, I enjoyed the whole family cafe. But that for me was huge. And like Kimberly said, I so agree. Like every year you learn something new and not just one thing like so much. um and like for me like one of the things that we do yes we divide and also like we look at okay what are the things we want to find out and then we try to go visit those tables you know depending on what it is but I try to go to the sessions that I feel like I need to talk to these people for example APD waiver this year they didn't have a table but they did have sessions so I made sure to go to the session so I can talk to the people so you know sometimes it's it's that and The more you go, the more you learn how to work it. And it's always a little bit overwhelming because there's so much happening. But at the same time, it's so good that there's so much happening because there's so much to learn, you know? So it's, you know, but I'm just, I'm very happy.

I was going to say, maybe we can look into arriving on Friday. Yeah. Don't wait. We're fresh and we can attend the 30-year sessions on Saturday. Are there any sessions on Friday? Yep.

It starts at 9. On Friday. Friday is actually a longer day than Saturday because Saturday they have the dance at 7, so it ends at 5.30. Friday, it's 8 to just about, because they have the governor's summit this year. They call it something different, Summit of Disabilities. I believe that one's at 7. So that one, you know, from the time it starts, and that's where the people, like the main people, If there's APD, ARCA, whoever's there from the big agencies, they will have a speaking part. Whatever politicians are there, they'll speak about policies, different bills you're trying to pass. So for me, Friday is amazing too. It's one of those. So if it's possible, that would be the best.

Okay.

And would that be possible, like, so do you feel like the conference is really good for, like, also families? Yeah. So would that be possible?

There are many families. In fact, I think 80% with all families.

It's all families going individually. And there's a lot of things for, like, kids. Usually it's more for, like, the younger kids to have. Because they even have, like, they can take care of the kids, like, a certain time. But I think it's just early step. So, like, from one to three years old or something like that. Or five. I don't remember. And they also have, like, a sensory room. They have art. They have, you know, different things that you can also break out into those things, too. Like, for the younger kids.

You can pay your daughter. So, I know, like, early step has, like, I know that they sponsor for families. But they only sponsor, like, little ones. for like parents. So what I was asking is that it be possible maybe in the future we can sponsor like couple families, like adults. So like the family, like the parents can go and learn and attend. And we can do like a, you know, like a sponsor, like maybe one or two families per year. Maybe they can attend to the conference. I mean, they have nothing like for adults. They, I know that they, other foundations and other like early steps they do for the baby one. And the families, they have babies, but nothing for the adults. And there is so much information and so much like good information that you can actually help a family to understand the system. I think this is something that we should sponsor, like maybe one or two families per year.

but i mean the conference is free right yeah the conference is free so it's just like the travel the travel is getting in yeah because you could go like the first time i went i didn't say i i went up and back the same day was exhausting but i did it um i'm i mean i have i'm no i have nothing against that but i will save the big picture at least for me the big picture was for us to be able to bring these resources back and make these connections. So when we have a resource fair a year or two years down the road, Hey, we met this person from DC. We met these, these, these, these. Invite anybody. Hey, we were having a resource fair. Can you attend? Can you come and talk about X, Y, and Z? For adults, you know, families with adults, for smaller kids, for how to navigate the school system, all that stuff. And then having those connections already made where they're coming to Miami Lakes instead of where I have nothing against that. It's such a great experience. I think everyone should go. And if we can't sponsor, why not? Um, but I would just say like globally, the, I, the reason why I even motioned made a motion for us to even go try to go was because I'm like, I want to break those relationships here.

Yeah. Do we have anyone that interesting to come and, and our, for our resource there?

Well, I haven't made, so I was on vacation. So no, no, it's okay. The bag that Jesse just gave me is all my business cards and everybody that I met. So now I'm going to touch base with those people. I'm sure everyone has a million business cards and touch bases. But I can tell you that anybody that I spoke with and I said, hey, would you be interested? Absolutely. We do this all the time. We're always traveling. We're always at schools, at conferences. they travel everywhere. So I can tell you, at least anyone I spoke to, I didn't have one person that said, oh, maybe. Everyone was very positive about wanting to share knowledge and wanting to collaborate with the town. So, okay.

I think in Manchester, one of the ladies, sometimes Miami Dade, she knows people.

The people that do the animation class, I mean, this weekend over at the, over at the, uh, certainly uh graduation they've done uh something with a guy who's both a magician oh that is so true come and and do so i think it'd be awesome if you may partner with them and yes yeah have his comments that's super cool to talk to them yeah

Yeah, that show was so cool because it made it seem like he made a mistake. He got everybody.

So, you know. Yes. Before we move on to the next one, can I actually make a motion to reopen our business? Hey, I messaged you.

I'll email someone hacked your account.

Oh, yes, yes. It's already been dealt with. It was reported and they deleted it last time. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

I second, I think. I make a motion to add 7F to new business, disability-awareness.

No, no, I'll see you up to seven. Yeah. Go to disability awareness month.

I will say anything else. Okay. Oh, this is me.

We have been working closely. Okay.

All right. The animation graduation was beautiful. I loved it. The kids loved it. What's her name? Sophie did such a great job. She spoke beautifully. I think all the students were touched by what she said. And the parents, especially. So that was a great idea. Decorations, you know, nice. We should be having another.

It looks good.

Yeah. The next semester should be in the fall. Moving on. Okay, pickleball clinic. I want to discuss something about the program. I want to make a motion to change the clinic to either later in the year or earlier next year. I honestly feel like it's way too hot right now. Even if we have it early. I mean, I leave my house like at 8 in the morning and it's already 90 degrees. Yeah. And just... People still on vacation.

People still on vacation. So...

I mean, we don't have like a... We don't have a date

We have a flyer that says the date. Right.

But this hasn't gone out. Look at the flyer, which I love the flyer. We just have to change the date. Do you guys want to discuss it? Do you agree? I agree. I agree. I was not here. So can you guys tell me a little bit?

So

We had, um, no, no, we had a young man, Andy and Andrew presented a, uh, a pickleball clinic tears, like where they do these clinics for different sports. Oh, he's done the one for. So it would basically be one day where they would teach, you know, there will be like a 25 people can sign up. He said that ages from eight up, something, so all the way up to adults. And it's not 25 volunteers. It works like a buddy system. So each participant would have a volunteer with them, and they would go through different drills and different, like, pickable skills, and, you know, it would be like a couple of hours.

Okay.

And then we would get t-shirts in a different color for the volunteers and for the participants. We would have, you know, we gave these up snacks, waters, okay, Gatorade. I was going to say Gatorade. Yeah. So, you know, we wanted to do it during the summer, but honestly, I think it's just, the heat is so high. Terrible. Terrible. And it will be done in the upcoming spring. Yeah.

Okay. This is a program that they do for special needs. Yes.

And they do it in part time. So we wanted to try and see if it was successful. Maybe we could try other sports. We could do a soccer one one day or a basketball one.

And if any of those are successful, then we can actually start a program. Right. That's how we do it.

We may have our sports. Yeah. So the same program as with all the sports. But it will be only one day, like a clinic. Not something. Yeah. But if we see that there's a demand and people like it, then maybe it would turn into like a something.

Big ball classes.

So, okay, I'm going to make a motion to... move the date to be determined. Yeah, postpone the pickleball for later in the year, for her year next year, where the weather is more pleasant for participants to be at their beds. All those in favor? Aye. Okay.

And I was gonna say it's also a good idea, I think, because August 1 is also the Children's Trust event. So like a lot of people go there so they can get like backpacks and you know, a lot of different things. So I think just to reiterate.

So snack first. Who's going to speak on that? Yes, the updated testing here. The sizes. and the logo, so I think you all approved 300 at the last meeting, so it's a day over, so you need to be in the image.

We don't have it. Oh, you do. That's right. Yeah, I just got it.

This is the shirt sort of picking up. Well, we're really close, though.

300.

So just make sure all the sizes are right. So do I make a motion for like a whole new different amount or just like the attached amount?

Yeah. No, a new motion. You get it all good? OK. You want me good? Sure. I make a motion to approve the new proposal from Permatex for our shirts. or no more than $320 as I said. All those in favor?

Aye. Motion passes. Moving on. Special needs safety. I do not have any new .

But, just a comment. I've been working the FIFA games at the stadium. So, yeah, thank you. Thank you. I want the thing to be overrated. I have to say, it's been good in the sense that the security has been huge. You know, the way the format, the way they've done it, the buses and all that. People aren't happy at the end because it takes time, but it is safe. So, you know, it's been good. But I was right. My unit is a mobile motorcycle, bicycle unit, tactical. So we respond if something's going on. So I'm everywhere in the stadium. Well, I see a trailer and it says sensory room. What the heck is this? They have a sensory trailer.

Ultra city.

They have a whole tent set up. They have knickknacks outside. They have a trailer that anybody can go into. I was so impressed.

But who is it? Culture City.

Culture City. and they've been there every game and they're set up from the beginning you know so they're not out of the way in the sense that like it's all the way far away like at farland state yeah like it's like another level you don't know exists it's there it's it's out of the way in the sense that it's good where it's at because it's far away enough but as you're coming in you look over and you see it yeah so like that's cool if somebody needs it it's it's there you know that's the whole thing Yeah, it's not hidden in a corner somewhere, you know, away from the view. I thought that was cool too.

Do they have phones like that? Yeah, they have everything.

I think they took a playbook out of that. They have all the stuff there. Yeah, they have stuff to give away and obviously a refrigerated air-conditioned trailer for people to go in and sit down and stuff like that. So it was pretty cool.

It was put on with Culture City with a K. Yeah.

All right. OK, 4th of July. So Tammy, you're still going?

I'll be there. What time do I need to be there? 6? 6.30. I don't know. Volunteers, I ask them to be there at 6. So I would say stick on it.

You might want to try it a little bit early. That's what I was thinking.

Yeah, parking's going to be a little tricky.

Okay, yeah. Just a little bit.

A little bit. I know.

Yeah, if the event starts at 6.30, people are going to, oh, yeah. They're going to be here.

And Mary Collins, there's reserved parking for, like, council and dignitaries and handicapped, so I'll leave that in mind.

Oh, yeah. So that's going to be filled. Yeah. Great. Where else are we allowed?

We can still park there, though, in front of...

There's a spot. I'm just saying it's filled up because it's called Oxford Town Hall. Yeah, yeah. So, dignitaries and then handicapped space. Okay, yeah.

So, in other words, if you can find a spot, you can park. Yeah.

Usually, the best is, like, where, like, the... What's the name of the restaurant?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Like, around there. That's more than likely the best. I technically work at Oregano, so I can park behind Oregano and just walk around there.

You work at Oregano?

Oh my gosh, my co-workers go there like every week. Yeah, I prep quick there.

So other than Tampy, is anybody else going to be at Tampy? Yeah.

You'll be there during the night thing? I'm going to be at the sensor. Okay. So everyone had volunteered to set up a breakdown and I said, okay, then... I'll be there during the day.

Yeah, I'll be there during the hours of operations. Yeah, that's what I said. I'll be there too.

So tell them what time to what time and we will be there.

Yeah. My husband will be there too in case we need extra hands indeed.

So that's beautiful. All right. There's four confirmed volunteers. And just to double check, last year you requested five tables and 20 chairs. Is that the same request? That's a good one. Yeah. I think that's good. That's what I said. That's what we got last year.

That's what we need this year.

I just want to make sure there's no additional, you know, I want to make sure there's enough chairs and tables. Yes. Thank you.

And last year, the bean bags were out there, too. So I don't know if you... Did you leave them? Well, I had put them back in storage. Okay. They're probably not out.

No, that's what we do is set up. We bring them up. We do need somebody to open the room and bring them up.

The janitorial will be there. Yeah, yeah. We'll be there during the day.

I'm open, so whatever is better for you, whoever else.

Who's going to go set up? I need help.

I'm willing to do it, but I can't do it by myself. I'm being relived by myself, so.

Yeah. I can come. So what time is the room open for people? I think it's 6. For visitors or? The sensory room, what time is it open?

It will be from 6.30 to I would say 9.15 because the fireworks are at 9, right? Yeah.

But you can pick up before then, obviously. Yeah, unless there's a lot of people. But usually there is. Even last year, it was just the three of us. It was Gabriel, Kimberly.

Personally, I would start picking up at 8.30. There's not a lot of people there, even though it's 250. Apparently, everybody in every city is having something the same day. Some have food trucks, some have... Bounty hazard, there's a lot going all around.

Yeah, there's a lot going to be going on this whole weekend. Hopefully the weather cooperates.

Those water bottles, there are 77 that are ready. 23 came damaged, so now they have to redo those. But is there someone available to pick them up?

Are they ready now?

Those snap bottles, the 77. I was supposed to pick them up today.

I was supposed to bring them up and I was, I was supposed to pick them up and I was going to bring them and drop them. Yeah. I was going to drop them off and I forgot.

Do you think you could go before Saturday or? Okay.

I have a check here ready if you want to.

Okay.

I'll send an email that you can. What do I, I just bring them on Saturday then or what do I do? No, we need them earlier. You need to pack them on.

Or Saturday you say you were going to pack them or are you packing them before?

No, I'm packing them before. Oh, okay. Um, We're trying to. On part of setup. Okay. We're still only doing 25 because that's how much, right? Yeah. Here's the thing. Officer Amador, since you were the holder of the water bottles last time... Oh, wait.

You want me to hold the bottle system?

Yeah.

I mean, I can... No, no.

You don't have to pick them up. We'll do... I'll do... But would you be able to store them again afterwards?

Because I have the same storage thing that's getting empty.

Yeah, because I'm out of room.

And tomorrow I'm out and about. I can always go through it. You know, that one. Yeah. At any time, any specific time. I mean, and then I can take them to and then take them to here for a little bit.

Or where do you guys go? I know that they're not early birds.

Do you have enough people up here? Yeah, I can.

Or I can take them to your house. I do know where you live.

Yeah, he does.

Yeah, you can bring them to me. I'll have a bin ready, so I don't need all 73.

Tomorrow, we'll talk and then let me know how many you want to bring and then I'll divide them up.

Is tomorrow good for you?

Yeah, tomorrow's perfect. I'm going to be here all day, and there's nothing specific. A couple meetings, but there's nothing crazy. We're just getting ready for it. This will be busy.

Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

All right.

So, setup committee, what time do you think we'll...

I guess it'll be you, or who else?

I can come too, if you need extra hands.

What time is good for you, and what time is good for you.

The earlier the better. Yeah. Because it's going to get crazy.

Yeah. 10 a.m.? Yeah. That sounds good. 10 a.m.? Mm-hmm. 10 a.m.? Sorry. I was to be on call. I know. 10 a.m. We're going to be there to set up.

Set up.

Okay.

So the room has to be ready by 10 a.m. And, of course, no one has to be there to bring the stuff down because our stuff is on the top shelf.

Mm-hmm. Okay. So let me get that 10 a.m. on the side again. You know what time the other volunteers and everybody else is getting? According to our students, 6 to 9.

But if you need them earlier, I can always email them to see their availability. Will you be dropping off the list for us to sign for them? Yep, I'll also be there in and out like last year.

What do we wear? Our shirts?

Yes.

You can accessorize with, like, red, white, and blue. We'll do.

You can put a pin or, like, something patriotic.

I'll be very patriotic. Put it into her face.

I'm sure. All right. So, done with the Fourth of July. We all have our questions.

Our duties, okay. For new business, cooking class, Ethan.

Yes, good evening everybody. I had an idea after the game night went so well, I actually was inspired to do another event. This time relating to more independent living skills and the idea would be to work to collaborate with a cooking class, our non-profit that teaches cooking to special needs individuals to come here to help to a designated area to help teach like simple cooking items as a part, as a goal that I want to help expand independent living skills, perhaps for a lot of the special needs citizens. So I was thinking that organization would be the WOW Center, who I've actually met during one of my socials that I go to. Wow? The WOW Center. Yes. I go to an event, to a social every Tuesday, and they were one of the speakers talking. So then I exchanged contacts with them and asked them if they wanted to. And I haven't spoken to them about this particular idea, but I have attempted to invite them to a meeting. And when I did, they couldn't make it. So I just would like to follow up with them and then bring up this idea to their attention. But I'm also open to some other nonprofit ideas.

yeah you want to do it like uh like a nine for like uh having a uh teaching class or or having like couple vendors that they can can be part of the cooking yes i think similar to what you have done in the genius playbooks okay something like that however i want to make sure that everybody's safe so i want to make i don't want to do anything over time Exactly. So maybe like some snacks and small meals.

Exactly. Because I would like, I mean, obviously there are other things that they can learn, but I think it's also essential that they learn how to safely cook for their own food, given the preferences a lot of special needs citizens have and what they want to include in their food and also the high cost of food prices. So that it kind of, so you can't, your economy is not accommodating the fact that we have to always pay extra for food, even something as easy as McDonald's that would have been like cheaper back then.

What's the age group you're looking?

I think 18 to 30, like kind of like the one college age level.

Okay.

But again, that could be something to change if you think it should be, Younger, I think I can just talk about it.

Do you want to stay well? Or do you want, you can contact the chef. She's in town, Miami. She used to do GGs. Maybe she can help too.

Yes, I think when we have a moment, I think I'd like to have her contact information, preferably her email.

Now let me ask you, does the Well Center, have they done something like that already before? They have like that. based on my research they have yes but like like going to a place that like you have to go to them i was going to offer that they come here but yeah yeah no that's what i'm asking like have they done that before like they go to a place and they do it okay i'm saying because if they've done it before like i think sounds great bring us a proposal what they can do what they can't do and yes i think we can it's better that we talk about this in detail when like i

after like next month when we all get back from our summer breaks.

Okay.

So since I think right now I just have the idea.

So great idea. Thank you.

All right. I do. Yeah. Yes.

So, yes. So, and I, A couple of meetings ago, we had Mr. Martinez from Summer of Success come in. And he also serves in the Disability Affairs Board in the Gables. And he emailed me just after our meeting in June as a thank you for his invite. And then he proposed. He let me know about this upcoming event with the FIU Embrace called Disability Conference, which will take place on September 21st and 22nd. And it deals with disability awareness inclusion and employment opportunities, which is my other kind of like goal that I want to accomplish. I want to make sure that help make disability employment grow instead of shrinking.

And this is where?

It's going to be at FIU and taking place in two days and he proposed to it as well. We'll see if we can, we can be a sponsor and we can attend.

When's the date?

September 21st and 22nd. Yes. I'm actually trying to pull up the link right now.

What would that be? What would it entail if we sponsor something?

I can ask how much it would cost and to see if they have a sponsorship package.

Usually when they do stuff like that, they have like a sponsorship package. So we can choose.

Well, he didn't specifically say sponsor, but he did say like he brought it to me. Like it was more like an invitation, but I haven't said that we're going to sponsor because I expressed interest in it. But I wanted to talk to you guys about it first because like I myself will be there, but I wanted to actually talk about it with you guys first to see if we could just attend and we don't really have to sponsor.

Well, sorry. So let me just, I think I'm confused. It's September 21st.

And 22nd.

So what's in two days?

I heard.

It's two days. It's two days.

It is two days. Okay.

Yeah. I've actually got it right here with FIU. It's FIU Embrace. For those that attended FIU, FIU Embrace is a program that helps develop independent learning skills for individuals with special needs.

So it's September 21, 22?

Yes.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. That's a Monday and a Tuesday. And the other times.

it's.

Well, in the afternoon their flyer. He didn't send me a flyer.

I would ask them for more information, as well as like if they have a sponsorship. package or just more information in general because i'm looking on the website and. I don't it doesn't even maybe because it's too soon. It's not even offering, like, would you like a sponsor?

Or is it just vendors, like, you know, a conference type thing?

Yes.

Remember, Ethan said that he didn't mention Tom Joseph. He just invited us.

I know, but if he invited us, maybe we could just get more information.

I think it's more like a resource fair based on description. I think if we all want to have... do more advocacy work for employment.

Okay. Okay, simple.

All right, we'll do.

Thank you, Ethan. All right, next up is the back to school event.

Okay, so I spoke as of last meeting, I said I was gonna speak with the library as well as with Ivan. I've been and the library are available. August 29 which is a Saturday. I don't know if that is Too short notice. I mean, I know that we can do it, but, um, Number one, I would feel more comfortable if we, even though we have another meeting before August 29 I would feel better when you schedule like a subcommittee to. plan more and discuss more um also now i have my information from the family cafe so now i could email the people that i had met um but really this is you know i wanted to get your um your insight if you thought august 29th was still doable it's obviously after school starts which is fine this isn't a back to school event come get a free backpack and cheap stuff this is You're coming specifically to, you know, speak for, you know, to help with the IEP process, with anything school-related, and empower the parents. So Ivan was 100% on board. He's like, yeah, I think this is great. And he's like, I actually did something similar with the library. And I was like, oh, I emailed the library as well, and I'm waiting for a response.

So refresh my memory a little bit. Like, what would the event look like? Like, what's

It would, where would it be? So it wouldn't, so it wouldn't be like at the playground and this is an event to come and get, you know, back to school supplies or anything like that. This would be after school starts and it's specifically geared towards the parents. Of course, families can go, but it's specifically geared towards listening to one or two speakers and have them give you information on how to navigate the IEP process on, you know, if you're, if you notice that your child needs more help, you know, in school, but there's a charter school versus public school because public, private, and charter all run very different. Or like a workshop. It would be educational.

Okay. All right. And do you already have two students?

Ivan? Ivan, yes. And he said he could also help find another speaker, but I really want to touch base with a few people that I had met at the family cafe. I would love to have someone from the education. The Department of Education.

We can try and ask Bryce. Bryce is the guy with glasses that was there at the table. I think I got his email. somewhere but also there's also Danielle from parent to parent so I was kind of mentioning yeah we were right emailed you and she responded and you're on the email so you can try and shoot her that date and see if she's available for that because she would be one of the best people like along with Ivan to help break down an IEP yeah and like be able to sidebar because if they're speaking it's general they're going to be people that want to wait and then have specific questions yeah So it'll be more helpful. So I think we kind of split up with Danielle if Danielle's able. She's super knowledgeable.

Yeah. The good thing with parent-to-parent too, if that were to be one of the choices, even if they can even just have a table, that would be great. Yeah. Even if she's not like one of the speakers.

Yeah.

Because they have a lot of information. They have a lot of workshops, you know, that parents can get whatever information maybe they weren't able to get there because, you know, IEP the IDEA like there's a lot you know so they can also then sign up for workshops they have a lot of virtual workshops so they don't even have to go in person they even have weekend yeah they have Saturday ones so you know it's it's a very good resource for for other parents too and it's good too also because I didn't know what parent-to-parent was until a couple of years ago and now having them in my corner like even just having them in an IEP meeting just having their face

that already sets the tone of the meeting already because there's someone very knowledgeable with all the laws there. So it gives you opportunity for the parent to sign up with them and have an advocate assigned to them, like for the rest of their time.

Yeah. Well, I have, for the part I have an advocate and I don't do many IEP meetings without them. Yeah. So Ivan's email said he has specific approved presentations regarding justice. um you know preparing for ips he also said he can invite some non-profit agencies um so they could have resource tables um and he just said give me time to review the presentations and to coordinate with anyone else that would like to speak um but i'll definitely email danielle and something really good too with parent to parent

let's say if it's a child with CP, they'll try to partner you with someone that has a child with CP, whether young or older, but you know, they, they try to do like, it doesn't always happen necessarily that way, but they, they do kind of try to do that. So they understand more the diagnosis and the same challenges. So that's something amazing. Right. That's how you guys met.

Yeah. So I actually, the chambers so that we can have a space.

Yeah.

Would August 29th be available for the chamber?

Would the chamber be available August 29th?

Right now it doesn't. And we do a hold? What day of the week is that? It's Saturday.

What time do we do it? We do all of our events in the morning. I can never do Saturday morning events because I'm out in the store, but I'll find someone to cover me. 11 to 1. 11 to 1. 2 hours is good.

Yeah. 11 to 1.

August 29th. August 29th. 11 to 1. 11 to 1. August 29th.

11 to 1. Would you like to be on a, would you like to do a subcommittee with her? Yes, of course. Yes, Mike, where's your foot?

Do we need to, does anybody, do we need to do a vote on that? Does anybody want to join? All those 20 subcommittees? Well, is there ever a motion to do this event? No, because as you're not, yeah. I don't see it.

I brought it. I don't think we have it. Yeah, no, no. The last meeting. Oh, right. No, 7C was her. 7C. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, so yeah, 7C.

Okay, so I make a motion to have a back-to-school workshop, for lack of a better word, on August, on Saturday, August 29th. From 11 to 1 at Town Chambers. Collaboration with CARD, hopefully with Parent to Parent, as well as the public library. Excellent. I do I just make up 11 to 1 yeah from 11 to 1 do I also need to add an amount and get that approved now in the same motion or I don't make many motions the amount will be for what for the food yeah to provide coffee yeah we always provide snacks like tablecloth yeah I make a motion. And I will make a motion for...

Wait, we have to finish one motion before we go through.

That's what I was asking. I don't know how to say it all in one motion.

So the original motion was for the event itself, right?

Yes.

Jesse, you seconded? Yes. All those in favor? Aye. Okay, motion passes. We're having feedback. I mean, I don't know if we want to wait until we, so we can. That's why I said, like, I don't want to like.

We have one more meeting and if we could do a subcommittee meeting that way we could at least talk one more time before. August. Yeah, so we can have all the information and present it properly.

Yeah, the same way you guys did for the game night.

Do we need to make a motion for us to open a subcommittee? We do need to choose a date to meet.

Yeah. And then you can do the motion.

Okay. Next week or next week?

Do you think next week is enough time?

So I can look at my calendar one more.

But as personally, you have to have the information back from card and to see what you're going to need.

Yeah, I mean, I could just follow up with, I was like, hey, we're not going to. And with that, I need to email Daniela. That's why I'm saying by next week, do you want to have like a meeting end of the week or should we wait till the following week?

I think that's great till the following, just in case they take a little bit. July 15th? Monday to Friday. Monday to Friday. Monday to Friday. Monday to Friday. And you said at 530 if that's what.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, I make a motion to start a subcommittee to have a subcommittee meeting which day on Monday July 13 at 530 p.m. Back to school for the back to school event events better new income.

I second.

All those in favor? Aye. We're all set.

Next item is . OK.

Oh, I was waiting for that. So at the family cafe, one of the tables I got to really speak with was the Special Olympics of Florida. So they were really, really sweet. And basically, I'm in contact with one of their program managers, the director, actually. And she's getting me in contact with the person for South Florida programming. And he's on the email now. He just needs to respond to me. So basically what it is is that they have a couple of programs for different ages that they take care of, that they have all the volunteers for, they have everyone, everything's organized. All we need to do is provide space. So we would need to work with Parks and Rec on that. So I loved this idea because there have been so many situations where my son is not accepted in sports. because they are not trained to handle him for his behaviors or whatnot. So I feel like this is a really great opportunity to have our special needs families have a sport that they can have their kid go into and play. And there's a multitude of them. So there's tons of different programming and sports. So as of right now, I'm in communication with Terrence, who's a program person for South Florida. And once I get in contact with him, I would like to patch him with Parks and Rec and see who at Parks and Rec he needs to talk to, to then talk about space availability.

I would like to mention something that's a little bit of a, with Special Olympics. Yes, it's special needs, but also intellectual disability. Okay. The reason I say because I had tried, like when Jacob was younger, I was like, oh, this is cool, Special Olympics. And they were like, oh, but does he have an intellectual disability? And I was like, no, but it's Special Olympics. No, like if Jacob were to be part of the Olympics, it would be Paralympics, not Special Olympics. Just an FYI, because I thought it was just special needs. But no, there also has to be an intellectual disability. Unless something has changed, you can always verify with them.

Yeah, I'll verify with them because that didn't come up in the conversation at all.

Yeah.

maybe things changed you know yeah policies you know things changed but i tried to put jacob and i wasn't able to would this be a program like every saturday they come out or is it a one day thing no this would be a reoccurring program so i that would be part of the conversation of like the longevity of it so i have a couple of flyers here like a couple of their programming and some of them is are like a specific amount of weeks look sports seasons last nine weeks yeah

It's like little semesters.

Yeah.

Because currently, my school, they come out for a one-day event, and then they just rotate, but they didn't mention anything about intellectual.

Yeah, they didn't mention anything about intellectual either, so I'll definitely check in with that, but I mean, there's such a, I mean, our community has such a wide range of the need. Like, to me, regardless, if that's one of their requirements, okay, you know, like, but I doubt, I don't know. I'm not sure. I'll double check though. Yeah.

But I used to be like that when he was younger. That's what I'm saying. Just, you know, verify. Yeah. Just in case, because if we are going to, you know, do it, which I think sounds great, you know, we need to know like how to, how do I,

like how to put it out there you know so parents know like okay this is requirements or you know how to get in there so it says with students with both it puts both students with and without intellectual disability okay so it did change so I got nervous and I didn't read the whole thing But yes, so I have these two sheets here. So one is for sixth to 12th grade and then the other one is for smaller children. But they have, I think, programs in between, too.

So that that's amazing because it changed.

Yeah, because that would have been really difficult. But yeah, so that's basically my my idea and wanting to work with them and just have something here that that stays, you know, something that the and everyone knows the name. So that's something that's reassuring too. So once I get with Terrence and I can get him in our next meeting to just kind of have him show face, I'll go ahead and do that. We can talk about it. And if you can tell me who at Parks and Rec I need to talk to. I don't know, like wherever we would have availability. Yeah, outside. It also, I guess, depends on like what sport we're focusing on.

though yeah like and then soccer would be right maybe jeremy okay jeremy director of the department yeah kind of knew like exactly what part that kind of there's more staff focus so i think yeah i guess talking to jeremy would be the

That's the first person. And then like telling him what the idea is and then he can maybe gain from there because then he also knows the rotations of the sports, like who's playing during what times. Yes.

So I would say Jeremy and for this and for the back to school event, these are all new things at the board. So again, report to council.

Which is July. Which is this month.

Yeah, this month. Oh, brilliant. So then they already approved it. They already approved yours. Yeah, the school, they already. Oh, they did. Okay. Well, this one, I don't know.

Not this, but camp we did. Pickleball we did, but we haven't this. Yes, we did. We added hers last week. The council? Yeah.

The only way we got the pickleball was because you have to do the budget meeting. That's what I mean.

Yeah, she threw the workshop in there. Which I wasn't there for that. I don't know, so I'm not sure. I don't remember. It should be on the report. I could have heard when you called me last minute. The workshop.

Oh, well, by the way, yes. That's a workshop.

Because it counts. It counts. We had said that it would follow the workshop. There we are. Yeah. I think I also wanted to say, Tammy, if this is something that we're able to do, this would be huge for the town. Because a lot of families, that's one of the things they ask for support us. And not from now. Since we started the board, I can tell you. And they already know what they're doing. So it's not something that we have to. We don't even have to think about it. Reinvent the wheel. They're really coming. They have their people. So this is huge. I don't know.

This is something like the dance class. Yes. Parks and Rec needs to run it. We're not running this program.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

For like animation. The three programs that we have right now, they run on their own.

Yeah. you know, we, we, you know, for it.

But if, you know, Yeah, no, this is this.

And this is that's something they also made really clear that that all they need is the space. They take care of everything else. They take care of everything else. We don't have to worry about anything else. As long as they work with Parks and Rec and they know who to talk to, then everything else is out of our hands. They just let it ride. So that's that was one of the also main kickers. You know, we don't have to, like you said, reinvent the wheel, develop something. They have it all taken care of. And they're also just very on top of things. Like she reached out to me before I could reach out to her. Like following up our conversation. Because her name is also Tammy. So we're both Tammy. Oh, how fun. Yeah. And she got me. She cc'd everybody that needed to be there. She wrote everything down. So she was very thorough. This is a big deal. And this is what I'm presenting to have us do. We don't have to ask them.

1,000 plus is not more, especially if we want to keep saying after each of our luncheon passes. It's May or July.

Isabella, to add that to the council report, can we do that right now?

Yeah, yeah, that has to be approved. Right. You just have to do a motion to add it. OK. All right.

So I'm going to make a motion to add the special Olympics to the council report.

Okay. That's July 21st, no?

No. When do we have to report? You are reporting on the 21st. 21st.

And it's the one on the 7th, right? Yeah. Perfect. Two weeks. Thank you.

Okay, my gym. So that being my gym, so they're doing it right now.

We have a class for like the babies. So they have different ages, like they have babies and they have toddlers and the oldest They can go all the way to 12. To 11. So we, as parents, we feel like also the moms that have young kids, they need to have a safe place and they need to be already in a location that they know about our kids and they understand and they have all the sensors and they can also be Like any other kid, like play and it's also exercise. So they do a lot of like movement and they also, it's very, it's good for like, also for like to focus and to like follow instructions. There's music. So if you're like at the town, there's a lot of like that also for the younger kids. And so we spoke to Amanda, Amanda is the owner of my gym. She's willing to like, she has a program. She's willing to give the location, which is the Miami Lakes. She wants to come and present like what will be the program intent to do it maybe once a month, like to start in the beginning once a month. And then if we want to do it like twice a month, we can extend it. But she's saying she's more happy to like welcome to like have a class in my gym. a for the families and then she also said that she can work in a summer yeah summer camp also and so so she's very open to like and to have something permanent in the town my legs yeah especially she i've been going because glad you invited us um so like every third saturday

And Dean absolutely loves it. It's indoor, obviously. They do exercises with them. Sometimes they do obstacle courses with them. It just depends on the day. They do integrate sometimes. So sometimes there'll be a regular class going on and our class. So that's a great thing, too. So they learn how to play together. And what I love the most about it is you get to know other moms in the community because you're all sitting there together. So I feel like that's something that we do definitely need, like more of seeing each other's faces all the time. You know, like every, if we see each other, I've learned more about, you know, Gladys community and, and her friends. I've gotten to know them over time. And now I feel like it would be so fun to be able to sit there together and we see each other every month and establish relationships like that. You know, we have great events and, We have great ideas, but like having that community where we're constantly seeing each other and supporting each other, like, like Hope for Autism, being able to go to those events is super awesome and seeing the same faces. This is a fun outlet too, and they're well trained and versed in it. So my gym currently has this in place.

Yeah. And she's also open to have my, the, the cart. It's hard to come and even extend the goal like the one, like for staff to be... Well, I have two questions.

They already do this.

Yes. They do it right now. They do it for the Gigi's families. Because they were used to do it for Gigi's. They will come to Gigi's and they're going to do it at Gigi's. or we will go to my in right okay so so then they open it for like one day she continued opening for one day and i opened it for like everyone i wanted to come so so so so it used to be like a more private thing once a month but now she's that's why i was confused but okay so still two questions though

What would be the cost for families? Because I know Amanda and I cannot afford to go there. I have two kids and it's like $45. It's probably gone up.

Yeah.

Three years ago, it was $45 per kid. I cannot, like, who does that? Like, that's a lot of money.

So that's why we talked to her, like, about that. You know, this will be, like, so this is what she's going to come with, like, a package that is going to be very special in community.

So it's not going to be some package that parents will still pay for it? No, it would be something we would sponsor and it would be free to the family.

I told her that we would need

like to see like a proposal of like dollars of how much this would cost us to see if it would be something that's feasible for us to do on a regular basis.

Invite her to our August meeting.

Yes.

Second question, because obviously I have not been to the events with you. I've been to the regular classes and it's been a couple years, but I the ones the the the employees that were there when my kids were there weren't with the last couple years they were they're definitely not trained so I would love to know for sure for sure if we this is something that we do and there's two cents as a package I want to make sure it's not like some 17 year old that's yelling at my kid because he didn't want to take a turn because he doesn't understand that he has to wait and yeah because we got yelled at

not by her but by some sooty 17 year old because that's who they hire younger girls which is fine but it's not fine when it's their special needs yeah I've only gone during our special needs time so they have specific girls there that are very patient that know the kids that come so me having had the same experiences in other places I was very like I don't know because I went for a birthday party even before that, but I went for a birthday party, and Amanda was the one that was in charge of the birthday party, and she was wonderful, like, and so I really liked it, but yes, during that time, if it was for us, it would be the same thing, okay, those people are much more, like, she places the right people, aces in places, right, and then, like, like Gladys said, she's open to what she would like Ivan to come, so they come and specially train them. That's amazing. So these are just, you know, that was just, you know. She also works with Avni.

and so so again oh yeah and what's what's the age group with you guys too for ggs so they have like all the so they start for like 18 months all the way to 11 okay so it's always to 11 okay no i yeah i just wasn't sure it was like something like a special event if that would change and i feel like we don't do anything for the baby i mean i feel like we maybe this is an opportunity to you know like i know to simply You don't know until you do, but what about if that mom has an 18-month baby and she feels like she needs to be with someone that can open her eyes or say something or needs to talk about it. And I think this is an opportunity for just to open that conversation.

I would love it. And I'll even take it one step further. It could be like, maybe once a quarter if we could sponsor like a nighttime one and it could be like she does that does that but it's not special no it's not it's not yeah she does do things like that so but she did also say she's open to it yeah that's why i'm saying if we could take it a step further i know she does that already yeah but she doesn't do it for special needs right now i'm saying if we were to sponsor this i would love to also see if we could

budget it to do like once a quarter a date night a date night version yeah because man where do we go and i think something that if this were something that we end up doing if it were possible even having a speaker not necessarily like a full-on workshop but maybe just like a 30 minute or something like that. Like, Oh, look, these are some new resources, some events happening in the, in the community, like just like a little, you know, because something that they said, and I think is also very important. I thankfully had that when Jacob was first diagnosed, I had a lot of support. I had, you know, the school that Jacob was going, we would drop off our kids and right outside the school, we would drink coffee. And it was, it was awesome. So I had that and it's important. It's necessary. And that's how we learn of resources. That's how we learn a family cafe. So I think that's, I like the idea. I think it sounds like a great opportunity, whether it's once a month, once a quarter, I think it would be nice, you know, to be able to, to do that. I think it sounds really good. Are there babies in your group now?

So the babies are in the class before mine. So the babies are separated. So they'll be like, what is it? We get there at 1.45 to like 2.45 is our class for the bigger kids. The babies are right before. Yeah.

And then get on jumper before that.

Yeah. And then they also have like their moms there with them. It's not like the babies just go with the people that work there. It's like a mommy and me thing. So that's also really nice. Like I would have loved to have something like that when Dean was small. Yeah. But again, that's me personally. But what would we be offering?

Because we can't offer from baby to 11. That's three, four classes.

No, it's two. So it's two court. Like the one we do two is two. Yeah, it's two. So it's like 18 months to what? Three years old. And then four, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't get super packed. It's not like everyone goes every single weekend or every single third Saturday of the month. Some classes are more packed than others. I'm not sure what her capacity is, but that's one of the logistics that I asked her to think about. What would be the capacity of each class and how often we do it? What does that look like dollars wise? Is that feasible for us? Because I also know how expensive it is. i've looked into it for us like personally and then we also talked to her about like she does have some special needs kids in her camp now but it's just like one or two that'll have their rbt there so we talked to her about promoting that more if you allow an rbt there we us parents need to know about that because you know you struggled with that i still struggle with that in the current camp that i'm in so if she promotes that more and like allows herself to take on more special needs that alleviates a lot of pressure within the community of like parents trying to find help or if she accepts step up or something like that. But again, those are a lot of factors.

So invite her, invite her to our August meeting.

Yeah.

So,

I don't know if you guys remember, but a couple months back now, we had discussed for Disability Awareness Month, which is in October, possibly doing flags or banners of some kind. That was right after we learned that definitely Town Hall is not going to fly any flags. That's fine. But we had discussed Main Street because it is privately owned by the Grams. And I said I was going to reach out to Andrea And initially what we had all discussed was if Andrea Riccici could approve it, we would pay for the banners, the printing and the installation itself. I had a very lovely discussion with Andrea and she decided not only is she approving it, but she is paying for them, installing them. It will not cost us a penny. So we now will just need, oh, okay, so then it gets better. So number one, we do need to, I can put some design mock-ups together, but the idea is not to have that sign of, you know, Happy Disability Awareness Month on all the banners because she would like to open it to our special needs residents to submit artwork and we would then select um she's she said she's going to let me know once they finalize how many banners it is because she said there's going to be some remodeling so it's somewhere between 17 total banners or 26 banners wow so a lot So she said, once she knows for sure, she'll let me know. That way we could say, okay, well, we could have 15 artists. Well, we can have as many artists submit as they want. And then we choose 15. So then we could, she had also said, we could decide if we want to keep it to a theme, like maybe, maybe the theme itself is disability awareness month. And then they, you know, what does disability mean to me? Or maybe it's their superpower or like, what does it mean to them? And maybe they could draw something about that or maybe we could say oh it's maybe like steam cow theme and everyone can submit like a drawing or could they be any medium they would but I mean obviously a walk you know it will be harder to see like a watercolor but it's like but it gives awareness you need to you need to let people know that doesn't know about disability what is a disability

So there's an awareness, and now you're going to be placing some stuff. Right. So I would say, you know, like, either, like, like they do for proms, like, pictures of them. Yeah. But something, like, really, like, a beautiful, like, pictures, you know, like, maybe the same colors on the back, something like that. Or, like, if there are, what, like, their picture. But it's, like, us are young.

Yes. Yes. I don't. I agree with you. I don't. For kids, I don't know about kids' pictures. But, like, that's why, like, let's say she says it's 17 banners. Let's just say 17 is the magic number. I would say, at least how I think is, we should select 15, and that way the first banner in the beginning of Main Street and then the last banner at the end of Main Street... we'll say express like disability awareness month you know we celebrate disability we celebrate all disabilities and then you see all the in-betweens are all they know what it's about because it's like telling a story yeah so yeah because you want to make people understand right would be like be putting like

Their names, I guess.

I guess I would, at the very least, as long and we could have a forum. So when they have a minute, they all will be exactly with our children, they would have to submit like their name, first and last, or, you know, the townhouse or whatever.

They have that contest and then the winners.

of that contest get displayed yeah now you said 17 to 26 is that just mainstream or she's talking like we do the graduation and the veteran because remember it's double banners oh it's too exciting yeah oh okay that's a lot yeah because it's like two four six yeah yeah so it'd be on the main street that's cool she said and the last time i spoke to her she even said i still don't have the final count but luckily it's about time but um I did want to make everyone aware of that and we wouldn't have to bring that to town council because that's part of the business. Yeah. And what's nice about if everyone gets, you know, you know, the art, whoever's artists submitted, like they could go with their families, walk down Main Street, take pictures under their banner. Yeah.

Yeah. That would be, yeah. Have an unveiling of the winners and invite them to come with their families. Yes. That would be really fun.

Today we're like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh. Some taste fine.

I also think since it's brought up October, I think you can also do, and I had an idea too just now for a trunk or treat event.

Where exactly?

For Halloween, yes. I know those are quite popular, never popular. We've never done a trunk or treat. We should.

Those are really nice.

Yeah. I know that my former school would do one. Has been doing one for like two years already. Yeah, her school.

Yeah, that's his former school.

I've never noticed it. I was there since 8th grade. And the...

They've been trying to do it for years and they're running some legal issues.

Yeah, I was going to say there's a lot of legal issues when it comes to that. So the candy, the environment, how, who, we don't know who these people are. Like when you have to get school.

Uh-huh.

It's the parents and the kids, so you know who it is. Oh, I see. When you open up to everything, you don't know what they're going to give out.

Because you're giving out things. Oh, my gosh. I don't like that. Who's going to be doing it? No, no, but it's true, though. Who's going to show up? What are they going to give out? You don't know. Yeah.

It's very dangerous. Have you seen the cost of candy in the shops?

Yeah.

All right. Announcements. uh mayor's gala friday officially it's friday october 23rd i did not get that email do i need to talk to me well she forwarded no i i made the mayor's got an order there's been like a save the date but that was internal i think it hasn't been okay i think it was just like the save the date was posted yeah yeah

I don't think there was like an email. I didn't send anything.

Josh sent an email. Yeah, I think that's why the newsletter.

Apparently on two or three different email blasts or whatever.

I'll just make a reminder. Madeline gave me hers today, but the expense reports for Family Cafe with the receipts. I just think it's a reminder to get readers. Okay.

That's if you want to get me in birth.

I mean, I got to. I'm glad you're eating it. All right. Anything else? Anybody? Anyone else? This is my last official SNAP meeting. Except for the subcommittee meeting, I'll be there for that. But regularly. Hello. I thought this would be your meeting, but I'm going. I got accepted on the program. Congratulations. Congratulations. After where? Where? Tennessee. Oh, nice.

So she's leaving. She's leaving.

See ya. Going to be a country girl. Yeah. I love Tennessee.

Congratulations. Congratulations. So, honestly, no, I don't know if I'm staking over. I've been asked. I'm not sure. But you'll be in good hands.

Oh, dude, you did. Mama, you're not going to be there. Absolutely.

all right so i want you to uh we should do a last day together with like something with her that's a good idea she's like yeah

I waited this long. That makes really good.

I'm going to make a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7.04.