A listing of providers and events in the area of the Rainier Vista housing development.

Apr 19, 2011

4/19/11 Meeting Minutes

Rainier Vista Service Provider Meeting Minutes
4/19/11

In attendance: Kate Farmer, Neighborhood House; Abbie Zaher, ICHS; Morris Wright, B&GC; Angela Smith, Seattle Parks and Rec; Mary Lechner, Wellspring Family Services; Denise Lewis, B&GC; Thuy Nguyen, Providence Gamelin House; Colin Sexton, Neighborhood House.

Low attendance – We really encourage all providers to come to this meeting, we have had low attendance at this meeting this year, not sure why. Having more providers attend is beneficial and helps us share program information and resources, outreach, planning, etc. If this meeting is not working for you or the time is not good, etc. please let Kate Farmer know, it would be helpful to have that feedback.

International Community Health Services – Health Fair will be held in June. Health screenings, education, etc. will be provided. If you know of clients who are losing insurance or need access to health care, contact ICHS. ICHS offers diabetes support, women’s health, community advocates, etc.

Providence Gamelin House – Low income housing for seniors. They have ESL classes, cooking. They would like to connect more with community to get seniors out and active and participating. It would be great to connect with youth groups and have youth and seniors come together for Bingo, etc.

Seattle Parks and Rec- Lots of senior programming going on for people ages 50 plus. Exercise programs, intergenerational activities, and more.

Wellspring Family Services – Housing program including Homelessness Prevention, call 211 and tell them you are at risk of losing your housing. Also have Homelessness Intervention where they can help homeless families and individuals find housing and maintain long term stability. Clients must be referred by a service provider.

RV Boys and Girls Club – Morris Wright is new to the team at the club and will be working on recruiting within RV community and strengthening and bridging the gap to get more youth involved in programs. The club has an Egg Hunt this Friday and Saturday for youth. Also have a new Choir group on Tuesdays and Drumming for teens and fashion design. Also, they have a Zumba class for adults during the week which is $5 and open to all adults.

Neighborhood House – Litter season is once again upon us. It would be helpful if the youth providers, could talk to their youth about littering. This is a good time to remind kids about not throwing their trash on the ground and making sure they use a garbage can, especially when they are in the park. Litter was a big issue in the community last summer. Also, trespassing was a big issue last summer and residents complained about kids jumping fences and running through yards, kids may not know that it’s not ok to climb over a neighbors fence and cut through their yard. Youth providers can educate kids about these issues to help combat the problem.

Outreach – Providers talked about outreach and how to better work together to support programming. Some ideas were improving the current provider blog page, getting notification of large events so that you can attend and do outreach, bulletin boards at agencies to promote community programs, connecting with community leads to get the word out. Word of mouth seems to be most successful tool in this community. Also, working more closely with other providers can help with promotion. Group discussed first steps. Hosting an outreach table in the park across from Neighborhood House once a month in the warm weather. Lots of youth and families utilize the park late in the day and it’s a good way to be out and meeting people. Providers agreed that this would be a good first step. Kate will send out a meeting request to schedule a date for this for the month of May.

Summer resource fair – Providers talked about doing this again in June, it was successful last year. Held at the Boys and Girls Club. Kate will send out meeting request to schedule a planning meeting to talk further about the fair.