Commission for Persons with Disabilities Medford Human Rights Commission March 27, 2013

Present: Chief Leo Sacco, Lois Bronnenkant, Charlotte Swartz, Henry Milorin, Marie Cassidy, Diane McLeod and guests; Georgiana Chevery, MFN Outreach Worker and Hemaluck Suwatanapongched, MD Excused: David Harris and Steve Honeycutt Introductions January Minutes Lois moved to accept the January minutes, Marie seconded, all in favor. February minutes pending New Business Disability Awards Diane asked if everyone agreed to continue the disability awards again this year and all agreed. Diane will follow up. Old Business MFN Outreach Marie introduced her Outreach Worker Georgiana Chevry whose focus is to make Haitian and Brazilian families more aware of the MFN and hopefully produce a reciprocal relationship. Georgiana is working 5 hours a week and is focusing on Haitian families from January to March. She has contacted a Haitian radio program to conduct announcements about a focus group she is conducting on Wednesday, April 10th from 6:30 8:00PM. She is trying to determine the needs of these families. She will work to outreach Brazilian families beginning in April. Georgiana noted that so far the issue she hears most is about lacking public transportation available. Some routes and stops were eliminated which makes it more difficult for families to get their children to daycare, then themselves to work and back. It also limits their access to helpful programming. She has been working with people and families at the Housing Authority, door knocking, and going to churches. May 18th is Haitian Flag Day from 1:00PM 4:00PM at the McGlynn School.

The Chief asked if there were any issues around Law Enforcement. He is aware of issues in other communities as Brazilians are targeting other Brazilians, as they know they wont contact the Police. He is trying to work toward a better and more open relationship. Commission Discussion Diane had copies of the ordinances for everyone. We discussed being able to look at our commissions and member contributions critically and honestly to make positive change. Diane mentioned getting a copy of Newtons recently updated ordinance so we can expand ours. She also mentioned that we should focus on tightening up membership and attendance. We discussed the best way to move forward. We decided to each take a piece of the ordinance(s) and try to combine or take the best of both sections. Everyone will revise their section and send it to Diane as soon as it is completed, but no later that 2 weeks from now, and she will combine them into one document we all review at our next meeting. Diane will do the Policy section. Marie and Henry will look at functions, powers and duties, as well as looking at whether they should be together or separated out. Chief Sacco will look at Appointment and Membership Lois and Charlotte will work together to do an overall ordinance review Boston Medical Fellow Diane received a call from a Fellow (Hemaluck Suwatanapongched, M.D.) in Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics at Boston Medical. It is affiliated with the Lund program in Waltham. Hemaluck or Lynn is available to do research and consulting through April or May. We discussed possible projects. We talked about outreach and awareness, as well as community need. Diane mentioned a couple of heart breaking stories from people in the community who have reached for others. We cannot provide services, but can do referrals. We talked about whether an awareness and/or needs assessment can be done. Lynne said she would give this some thought and get back in touch with Diane. Correspondence & Announcements Diane mentioned that the Arab, Sikh, and Muslim cultural awareness conference she worked on with Chief Sacco and the Justice Department was fabulous. The conference was packed with a diverse group of statewide law enforcement entities. The evaluations were very positive. Meeting adjourned at 7:00PM. Next meeting on Wednesday, April 24, 2013