Committee on Family, Health and Human Services Minutes
October 17, 2006
Committee Members in attendance: Judy Myers, Chair, Martin Rogowsky, William Burton, Clinton Young, and William Ryan.
In Attendance: BOL: Susan Kirkpatrick, Louise Gantress and Melanie Montalto. CEO: Bill Randolph. Guests:Barbara Strauss of CBAC, I. Villar of El Centro Hispano, Lisa Buck of The Bridge Fund, Mary Grace Ferone of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, CarLa Horton of the North Westchester Shelter, Jane Auyama-Martin of the Pace Women’s Justice Center, G. Heymann of the Westchester Hispanic Coalition, Kim Jacobs of Community Capital Resources, Kathy Halas of the Child Care Council, Reina Shiffren of Planned Parenthood, Karen Cheeks-Lomax of My Sisters Place, Lisa Wigon of Planned Parenthood, Joanne Mercer of Westchester Arts Council, and Amy Gelles of The Guidance Center.
Items Discussed: The Westchester Women’s Agenda presented their 2007 budget requests.
Minutes
Chairwoman Myers called the meeting to order at 12:09 p.m.
A copy of the Westchester Women’s Agenda’s 2007 budget request is on file and available for review.
Ms. Villar of El Centro Hispano explained the need for $465,000 in new funding for immigrants in the County. She explained that unpaid work for undocumented immigrants is a large issue and a bilingual bicultural worker is needed in mental health services.
El Centro Hispano had 13,000 clients in 2004. In 2005 that number jumped to 16,273 clients. The staff did not change even though the client base has grown so quickly.
The Women’s Agenda discussed the need for $2,500,000 in new funding for children, including expanding Invest In Kids to provide programming for early childhood development, additional centers and training for mental health, expanding the County’s Fit Kids program to schools to prevent childhood obesity.
Kim Jacobson of Community Capital Resources told the Committee that they need $280,000 in new funding for housing to cover eviction prevention and a community land trust initiative. She explained that they have seen a large increase in evictions, to the point that they had to close their intake list for emergency funds. They believe this is due to an increase in utility rates. She said that eviction prevention funding does work, and it only costs $1,000 to keep people in their home, but it costs $40,000 to place them in a shelter.
Carla Horton discussed the need for $320,000 in new funding for domestic violence to cover children services, teen prevention services, legal services, bi-lingual advocacy services, and transitional housing for victims of domestic violence. She explained that she currently only has one counselor for children and she has a 24 hour shelter.
Reina Shiffren from Planned Parenthood told the Committee that they need $250,000 in new funding for health care services for adolescents due to a new Medicaid regulation that requires everyone receiving Medicaid to provide proof of citizenship when they appear for medical services. Many adolescents do not have possession of their birth certificates or passports and will not want to explain to their parents why they need the documents from them in order to go to Planned Parenthood. She told the Committee that STD rates are up, and teen pregnancy has gone down, but the numbers are still high.
The Women’s Agenda discussed the need for $85,000 for economic development in order to provide financial counseling services and entrepreneurial training for childcare providers. They also explained the need for $50,000 for the arts partnership program.
Legislator Rogowsky asked the Women’s Agenda if the municipalities provide any funding to the agencies. The Women’s Agenda explained that the municipalities do not provide that much funding, but they do have other funding sources and their money is pulled from every possible direction. Kathy Halas of the Childcare Council explained that the County money fills the pockets between their funding sources and connects the dots after state mandates.
Moved by Legislator Burton and seconded by Legislator Rogowsky the Committee on Families, Health and Human Services adjourned at 1:50 p.m.
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