RV Service Provider Meeting Minutes 12.14.10

Rainier Vista Service Provider Meeting
At RV Boys and Girls Club
Holiday Potluck
Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Attendance: Kate Farmer, Beverly Johnson, Larry Hill, Emily Johnson, Scott Behmer, Jason Rolfe, Denise Lewis, Heidi Viets, Naomi Chang, Colin Sexton, Mike Graham-Squire.

Kate met with Heidi Henderson-Lewis in November. Heidi runs the SE Service Provider group which has been meeting for a couple of years. The group meet every month (3rd Tuesday) at the Boys and Girls Club. They are a group of local youth providers who share program/agency information and referrals. A community police officer attends their meetings. Heidi reports that the group is interested in strengthening networking abilities and is also interested in training opportunities. Heidi would the RV Service Providers to learn more about SE Service Provider group and she is interested in getting their help with networking and possibly working together on future events, trainings, etc. Kate will invite Heidi to attend the next SP meeting in February.

Seattle University – Nursing students will be in RV community from January – March 2. They are looking to connect with service providers on health projects. They are available to do health education, health assessments, etc. They will be at Neighborhood House weekly. Please contact Beverly Johnson for more information. She can be reached at: JohnsoB@seattleu.edu.

Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club – Washington Oral (dental) at the Club is taking new clients. The Club has several holiday activities including a holiday dinner and also a field trip to Toys r’ Us with the youth who will each be given $40 gift cards to spend. Club will be open during the holiday break. A holiday celebration will be held next week and players from the Seahawks are expected to attend.

Rainier Vista Health Fair – Mike Graham-Squire from Neighborhood House is coordinating a Spring Health fair for the community. The fair will be held at the B&GC on March 2nd from 6-8pm. Mike has contacted a number of agencies about participating and if any of the providers would like to help coordinate and plan or be a part of the fair, you can contact Mike at mikegs@nhwa.org. A similar health fair was held at High Point last summer with over 300 in attendance.

Catholic Community Services Youth Tutoring Program – They are located at the Boys and Girls Club and have drop in tutoring for teens Monday – Thursday. Students can also receive help in filling out job applications, applying for college, financial aid, etc. Jason is working on a flyer and hopes to increase outreach and recruiting in January. Please refer any teens. Jason can be reached at rainier@ccsww.org.

Urban Farm – Scott reports that construction is done, there was some damage from the heavy rains. Work party is being planned for February and March, and hope to have a grand opening in April, no set date yet.

Neighborhood House Project Handle – Mike talked about youth drug and alcohol program. They are distributed “I Draw The Line” bracelets for teens and adults who want to send the message against drug/alcohol abuse. Mike is working on Spring Health fair.

Neighborcare Health – Emily Johnson is assisting Mike with the Health fair plans. Rainier Beach Medical Clinic/Neighborcare Health will also be planning a grand opening for the spring and they may also host a health fair late Spring. Rainier Beach Medical will offer Dental and Medical services for adults and children. SE Dental is also taking new clients.

Seattle Housing Authority – Naomi Chang reports that Tamarack has residents moving in and 83 units are filled. Residents are adults and children and of various backgrounds including Vietnamese, Somali, etc. There will be 75 or more youth living in the building. This will be a non-smoking building. Resident meetings will be held but have not been scheduled at this time. The SHA property management office will be housed at Tamarack and a new senior property manager will be hired. SHA has hired Thai Nguyen as Communication Specialist to explore non-smoking policies for low income housing.

Neighborhood House – Colin talked about college readiness programs if any in area. SHA offers a scholarship for youth in Seattle Housing Authority units.