I. Call to Order – 9:42 am in Santa Nella. Executive Director welcomed everyone present and introduced herself; Reno Coletti asked for introductions. Board and visitors introduced themselves.

Board Members Present: Reno Coletti, President (RC); Christy West, Vice-President (CW); Helen Porter, Secretary (HP); Dorsey Chany, Treasurer (DC); Patty Parker (PP)

Board Members Absent: none

Staff Members Present: Rosemary Diaz, Executive Director (ED); Susan Coulter (SC); Denise Lanier (DL)

Visitors: Jim Wade, Sergio Nava, Becky Wade, Edward Gilbert, Greg Mendoza, Henry Bergstrasser, Dina Engle, Sharon Cotter, Terri Welch, Chelsea Saenz, Martha Coletti, Carolyn Stem

Interpreters: Pam Warkentin, Kathy Yoshida

II. Approval of Agenda Items –add ratification of email motion about staff holidays to unfinished business; approved as corrected.

III. Approval of December 9, 2002 Board and Open Forum Meeting Minutes – list of minutes changes shown to Board; minutes approved with changes.

IV. President’s Report – Happy New Year and welcome to everyone.

V. Vice-President’s Report – Regarding DND week, want to know if staff was able to catch up on work; ED answered will explain later in her report. Regarding Blockbuster fundraiser, will hear back from them after holiday rush has finished.

VI. Secretary’s Report – regarding bylaws, have reviewed bylaws sections on electing board members and holding elections since the issue was brought up at last open forum; would like to make changes to clarify and strengthen that section of bylaws and will bring draft for discussion to next regular meeting.

VII. Treasurer’s Report – financial report distributed

A. Review of Finance Report – explained that Learning Enrichment and Assistance Program (LEAP) budget was used and depleted (Salinas Office); asked ED if grant will be requested again; ED - There are no plans to apply again because lack of clients/small attendance meant that goals for grant were not met; will have employment training through other avenues, focus on DOR

VIII. Executive Director’s Report –

A. Grant from Monterey County – Community Action Agency awarded $7,000 to serve low-income families.

B. Garabedian Foundation – Received increase of $1000 (over last year) to serve people in the Fresno area

C. United Way grant – Applied for it; goal is to benefit the Merced office in independent living skills (ILS) services; want to hire ILS staff member.

D. Visalia Office – Kathy Carlsen has become full time as of last week; now have one full time and one part time position in that office; money from CA Endowment has allowed Visalia office to keep going; DAC there has been very involved.

E. DND week – All agency centers had DND week; staff made a goal list before it began; DSS and Board authorized us to have this kind of week. Suspended regular services and had emergency services only. Yesterday had a wrap up meeting. Everyone felt refreshed and ready to move ahead.

F. Goals for 2003-2004 – Staff have set excellent professional goals for themselves for coming years.

G. Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (DVSA) training– have opportunity to send 5 women for that training.

H. Staff Evaluations – Finished and will have a report for personnel committee to read at end of January.

I. Deaf Bee – Submit articles for current Bee by 1/16. Jason Jackson is the new editor for Deaf Bee.

J. Cal-Ed – Next conference March 7-9; ED is currently secretary for that Board. Cal-Ed mentioning DHHSC in their publication is nice outreach for DHHSC.

K. Valley Deaf Festival – 5/3/2003 at FSU. Need to have a larger facility but will stay there this year. Teachers and school districts are excited about being involved.

L. Grant writing – 3 staff members will attend a workshop on grant writing; hope that will help with agency’s budget since state budget has decreased this year.

M. Will present to 2 different conferences in Fresno and Salinas on health - deaf women’s perspective on health.

N. Training for agencies – Will have deaf awareness training for Fresno County. County requested trainings from alcohol and drug prevention, e.g. for drug court. Will also train at Children’s Hospital Central California and prison system.

O. Farmer’s Insurance – Wants to improve Deaf access with TTY and outreach activities.

P. Flyers (on display) and announcements – Have sign language classes at DHHSC headquarters for hard of hearing, volunteer teacher; 10 week program.

IX. Committee Reports

A. Personnel Committee (CW) – Will meet with ED to look at staff evaluations at end of this month.

X. Unfinished Business

A. Building Fund – fundraising ideas

1. Building Fund Letter for 2003 – ED and HP will have flyer and letter for Board at next month’s regular meeting; have delayed last 2 months because of December events and getting fundraising tile flyer ready for mailing.

2. Blockbuster Rentals for the Deaf Day – (CW) Blockbuster will decide what they can do for fundraising and will get back to me this month; (CW and ED explained idea discussed previously to general visitors)

B. Holiday paid vacation days – ratification of request by email in December; approved via email by consent; ratified today by consent.

XI. New Business

A. Approval to apply for a grant that will allow DHHSC to implement a child abuse prevention program with CAPIT funding from Fresno County – Grant will allow DHHSC employee to go to homes to educate deaf parents and parents of deaf children in order to help reduce stress. Also will go into schools to educate children. Will be responsibility of one staff person. Question about advocacy; ED replied that focus will be on children. M/S/P*

B. Approval to apply for a grant that will allow DHHSC to implement a Health Advocacy Program (similar to past program) from funding through Fresno County; want to apply again. Focus will be mental and physical health access. Jessica Cruz would be responsible. Now Jessica does general advocacy by funding from DSS. New grant would allow her to do more health advocacy. M/S/P*

C. Approval to apply for a grant for Alcohol and Drug Prevention Services for Madera County to supplement the program DHHSC currently has for Fresno County. Madera clients currently are not served by Fresno staff with services regarding alcohol and drug prevention (overseen by Merced), but Madera people come to Fresno for services. Grant would allow funding for Fresno to help Madera clients specifically in alcohol and drug prevention. Will have to follow specifics of grant, but the goal is to help people in Madera. M/S/P*

XII. Announcements

A. Events are posted on www.dhhsc.org

B. March 1, 2003 is "Martha’s Vineyard in the Valley" – Fresno fundraiser. March 22, 2003 is "Deaf Women’s Health" event in Fresno. May 3, 2003 is Valley Deaf Festival at Fresno State University. Please mark your calendars

C. Salinas and Merced events on flyers on display.

D. Merced – CPR and First aid classes held in January. Lynn Toschi will present also.

E. Monterey – Events posted on flyers.

F. Superbowl party at Mountain Mike’s Pizza

[Break]

XIII. Open Forum

A. ED – DHHSC has evaluations annually in January and ask community people to give feedback (Distributed forms to attendees.)

B. RC – Introduced open forum; asked that people respectfully raise hands and take turns speaking.

C. Carolyn Stem – (Issue, services for deaf people from various agencies) I am a teacher at CSUMB; I want to share concerns about lack of services that Deaf Community truly needs. Grants approved are good. We need to look at victims of violence. Last year when we tried to refer deaf people to appropriate agencies for help those agencies would refer them back to a deaf agency. Deaf victims are frustrated and not often helped by the system. I’m asking that DHHSC approach DSS to ask for more access to services through other agencies. Court systems are also frustrating for deaf people. Coalition of Deaf Agencies needs to work on access to services for deaf people. CW (asked) Are you talking about DHHSC or other deaf agencies? Carolyn - All agencies. Deaf people get the run-around because deaf agencies don’t always have services for them but deaf don’t get served by other agencies that have the resources. ED (reply) – I’m a DVSA certified counselor. It’s great that Carolyn has identified that there is a huge need. DHHSC is limited in what they can do in their scope of service and geographically. Need to think creatively on how to serve deaf people in areas not served by DHHSC. RC – Wonder if Coalition with sister agencies can work together. Carolyn – If a deaf person is victim of other deaf person then the Coalition is hands-off because of its deaf vs. deaf policy. Jim Wade: I’ve seen that problem w/ deaf vs. deaf. But that’s not the real problem; the real problem is access to agencies in general. Then there is a liability issue if anyone not qualified tries to help a deaf person. It needs to be the government’s responsibility to provide interpreters for access to services at agencies qualified to help. It’s an ADA issue. It’s not all the responsibility of deaf agencies Carolyn: That’s true, but what can be done now? Victims aren’t thinking about the ADA. The hands-off policy hurts deaf victims. Jim: True. But deaf victims need to get their services in their own geographic area. What deaf agencies should do is sue agencies who don’t provide services. ED (reply): DHHSC can’t sue agencies ourselves. We can support deaf clients in suing agencies. We can educate and provide support. DHHSC is willing to help, but sister agencies are not willing to follow through in the process. Carolyn: This issue is not just focusing on DHHSC. It is a statewide need. There are 8 sister agencies in the state and they are not consistent in their services. We need the legal system to help w/ action. Perhaps DHHSC could bring issue up at the Coalition. We have to help victims. Need services and information to be consistent statewide. DC (clarify): Various agencies don’t have the same policy? RC (reply): All agencies have state funding but vary in policies. Jim Wade: ED says that DHHSC can’t sue, that it has to be victim. Well one victim can sue and [for example] this agency is helping me sue [another agency]. Just filing charges could be enough to shake things up to emphasize the need for ADA and compliance. RC (reply): Many organizations are nonprofit and ADA has many loopholes that people find to escape the compliance issue. Carolyn: Looking at case histories you can see consistencies. More numbers would add strength to complaints. RC (reply): We will always try to help victims. Carolyn: That’s why I’m bringing it up here, to add it to your list of priorities. RC: So noted.

D. Jim Wade: (Issue, Board member requirements and attendance) It was brought up at the last Board meeting the rule that a person has to come to 3 Board meetings in a row to be qualified to become a Board member. That’s difficult for people from far distances, e.g. if they try to come to Board meetings but have to miss one for a family emergency. Perhaps 3 meetings in a 6-month period would be more reasonable. It’s not right to have such a stringent requirement for people who want to become Board members. RC (reply): That rule has been in place for 8-9 years. We are flexible with personal emergencies. That rule allows people to see how the Board works. Jim Wade: That was said at the last meeting that 3 board meetings in a row are required. I’m surprised that you would respond since when Nancy Mitchell-Carroll was fired 3 members [including you] joined who had not been there 3 times in a row. RC (reply): Those members had previously been members and so had experience in the Board procedure. Jim Wade: But at that meeting you showed up with the 3 new members and a lawyer and fired Nancy Mitchell-Carroll. Private Board business had been discussed with those 3 people before they joined.

E. Jim Wade: (New issue, past employment terminations) Yet you accused my wife, Rebecca Wade, of breaching confidentiality. And (something about Keri Ornellas). Carolyn Stem (to Jim): You seem to feel very strongly about these issues. Perhaps you could join the bylaws committee to help clarify things. ED (reply referenced back to member requirements): I want to clarify what is in the bylaws. The bylaws say that a new member who has never come to meetings before must come to 3 meetings in a row. A previous member can join on their second meeting attended. You are addressing things that are in the past that many people don’t know about. All of those issues have been addressed and resolved. The legal issues [mentioned by Jim] are in the past. We need to move forward. CW (reply): As new Board members (except RC) none of us know about what has happened in the past. We weren’t there so we can’t address things that happened then. Jim Wade: Nancy Mitchell-Carroll won her lawsuit against DHHSC. That night that they fired her the issues had been discussed the night before with people who weren’t Board members. And my wife was used as an example of breach of confidentiality later at a public meeting.

F. Jim Wade: (New issue, at will policy) That’s why I have a problem with the at will policy for termination. There needs to be a grievance procedure too. Carolyn Stem (to Jim): I don’t know if we can resolve the past. Perhaps if you could be involved in the bylaws committee you could implement some changes from your experiences. ED (reply): Regarding the at will policy, I am not interested in changing it, nor is the Board. We will keep it in place because of the past lawsuit. We can’t change things about the past. The bylaws were changed and policies were changed. Now things are settling down. DHHSC is serving the community. The at will policy means that I have authority over the staff, and the Board has authority over me. We have a process that we go through for any termination. There is a step-by-step procedure that is followed. That procedure is in the employee handbook. Jim Wade: If it is true that there is a procedure for discipline and termination then why is there is a need for an at will policy? [Because DHHSC serves] as advocates for the Deaf, they should be treated fairly in your agency, even more fairly than they are in the community. We should be an example [to the community] by getting rid of the at will policy and training deaf people and not just throwing them away if they can’t do their job. ED (reply): Are you talking about people who work at DHHSC now or in the past? Jim Wade: It’s all the same. ED (reply): Nothing is the same. Things have changed. You have not come into the agency or Board and talked with people. Jim Wade: I’m talking about the at will policy. ED (reply): Fair is fair. I am fair in treatment of the employees. RC: I have been here through all the past events [discussed here tonight], and I am not allowed to talk to you about the past things [details] that have happened. Jim: What can’t you share? RC (reply): The legal things from the past are confidential. SC (reply): When something happens [involving a wrong action by an employee] in the agency there is a procedure that starts with a verbal warning. A judgment needs to be made for those types of things. However, there may be some things that people do that are so bad that they must be fired. Jim Wade: The past can’t just be swept under the rug. The Board doesn’t have the right to fire a person. Rosemary does and the Board has power over her. CW (reply): As you have heard the policies have changed. The personnel committee will be meeting with ED to look over the staff evaluations so that the Board will be aware of any possible problems. The exception would be if there were something catastrophic that was done [that needed immediate action]. Jim Wade: That’s why we don’t need an at will policy. If someone did something so terrible that they needed to be fired there’s a reason that they are fired. Dina Engle: There is something in the policies that says why people can be fired, correct? ED (reply): Yes. Dina Engle: From my own experience, an at will firing for no reason could be difficult. If there is a policy written that shows why people can be fired [then that’s good.] Carolyn Stem (to Jim): I think that it would be good for you to join the bylaws committee to make changes. Perhaps lists of things that would cause people to be fired could be added to the policies or bylaws. Becky Wade: My experience with Fresno County is that there is not an at will policy because there are specific reasons listed why people would be fired. At will policies can be used to discriminate [against people]. The only agencies who need an at will policy are agencies who are afraid of something. ED (reply): I appreciate your clarification. I can look at the policy and evaluate it with our lawyer to see if things could be changed. You two [Becky and Jim and issues] are part of the past. There is a system in place now for evaluations and for disciplinary actions. RC (reply): Sometimes when we get legal advice the advice doesn’t fit the current needs. We learn from our experiences and try not to let bad things happen again.

G. Martha Coletti (to Jim): What can be seen now is so much more positive than what was in the past. Come to deaf events and see what is happening now. I, too, cannot talk about the past because of confidentiality.

H. Jim Wade: There is a conflict of interest then with husband and wife on board. ED (reply): That’s been resolved. (Offered Jim copy of current bylaws. He accepted).

I. Jim Wade: There haven’t been any Board elections in 3 years. The only new Board members elected have been elected by other members. You haven’t had any provision to allow community members to elect Board members. CW (reply): As you heard in the meeting the plan (by the secretary) is to clarify in the bylaws how elections are handled. HP (reply): There are no open elections provisions in the current bylaws policy. We want people elected to know how the Board and the agency run. There are not enough people who come to meetings to be eligible for election. Jim Wade: Board members should be elected by the community. That’s how non-profit agencies should be run. CW (reply): We don’t have a lot of problems getting hearing members [who are interested in joining]. We don’t often see deaf people who want to join, e.g. especially young deaf people. Dorsey is the only current member who fits that category.

J. Martha Coletti: Hard to find young deaf leaders. You (to Jim) need to see that the current Board is strong. DC (reply): Those of us [young, deaf] who went to residential schools have good leadership abilities. The Fresno community does not have strong active [young] deaf leaders because few are from residential schools.

K. Dina Engle: Disagree that mainstream deaf students can’t lead because some of my mainstreamed students are developing into good leaders. I have a question about Board terms. How long do Board members serve? HP (reply): A member can serve two 3-year terms and then must take a one-year break before being elected in again. The Board must have 4 members minimum and can have up to 12 members maximum.

L. Dina Engle: Also curious why all current Board members are from Fresno. RC (reply): Difficult to geographically have members from Monterey [and other outreach areas]. There are Deaf Advisory Councils in outreach areas.

M. Carolyn Stem: First, I realize that there are a lot of hurt feelings from the past. I’m glad that we are discussing them. We need to look toward the future. I want to encourage you to be involved and help with the future changes. Secondly, the Monterey community is very small. Only a few deaf people know what to do, and we’ve been working for many years. We need to find ways to encourage deaf students to be more motivated to continue on into professional careers and to be involved. Thirdly, I’ve known Rosemary for long time. She does a wonderful job of encouraging people and helping people. I don’t want people throwing negativity onto her, but perhaps just ask her to shift her focus.

N. CW: Addressing the issue of all Board members being from Fresno – Geographically Fresno is easiest to get to, and it is the headquarters. Also there was discussion at the last open forum about future video conferencing and having members who attend via video. Jim Wade: Saturday meetings would help, too.

O. RC: Addressing the conflict of interest about my wife being on the Board - That happened a long time ago when the Board was very small and we needed someone who was motivated and involved in the Deaf Community. Have heard of other agencies making an exception in that way and having husband/wife on a Board. I doubt that will be needed again.

P. ED: Re meeting times, they are scheduled at a time that is mutually convenient for members. If people from outlying areas needed to come at a specific time we could accommodate that, but we have not had a word from anyone interested from outlying areas. Carolyn Stem: How much is the room here? (ED: $75.00) Perhaps the Board could meet regularly at a central location like this and also use universities with video conferencing facilities.

Q. Edward Gilbert: DHHSC has many social events but they need more focus on jobs in Fresno area. ED (reply): We are very aware of the large need for employment services. Susan Coulter is also working on that issue. We are trying to set up contacts. If you are not satisfied with services offered please do tell Susan or me. If we know about what’s needed [from a consumer] we can work to improve it. Fresno has 26% unemployment and it is worse for deaf people. Edward Gilbert: Comparing LA to Fresno, Fresno has grown into a large community. Don’t understand why things are still so limited here for deaf people. ED (reply): True. People need to stand up and ask for help for deaf. RC (reply): 27% unemployment is very high. State budget is in crisis and affects employment, too.

R. Carolyn Stem: I just want to throw out an idea here – What about temp services like hearing people have to help deaf people get a job temporarily and see how to do it? DC (reply): The temp services are good but temp services are often unwilling to work with deaf. Carolyn Stem: Perhaps DHHSC could work with the temp service agencies to help them work with deaf people. DC (reply): It hasn’t been successful in my experience. Carolyn: I’m talking about setting up a deaf temp services agency.

S. Edward Gilbert: Why was Matthew Mackenzie hired? He’s a novice. ED (reply): Matthew Mackenzie was just hired as DOR specialist. People misunderstand his position. DOR worker Sheila Dubaji works with clients first then refers them to Matthew. Matthew helps clients find jobs and learn to dress and acquire skills to get a job. Sheila refers clients to him; he doesn’t recruit clients himself. It’s hard to find people with experience to take his job.

T. SC (to Carolyn Stem): Addressing deaf temp services issue. Do you know of a deaf temp agency? Carolyn: No, I just remembered my own experience of not getting through the system in a temp agency because of my deafness. Edward Gilbert: In the south my experience was different because I was able to get a job. DC: Some agencies say they have training but there is none. Martha Coletti: I moved here from the Bay area and had culture shock. The school district wanted me to teach using SEE! The district is getting better now because they have hired 4 deaf people.

U. RC: Additional comments? DC: Need to figure out how DHHSC can improve their relationship with DOR.

V. Greg Mendoza: How many hearing and how many deaf on staff at DHHSC? ED (reply): There are 4 hearing and 8 deaf excluding interpreters. (5 interpreters). Jim Wade: (Asked a clarifying question about interpreters) ED (reply): There are 3 full time interpreters and 1 part time [at headquarters]. Greg Mendoza: I had wanted to know numbers because I thought there were more hearing than deaf. ED (reply): (Listed deaf employees.) Most deaf employees work with deaf clients. Hearing work in departments but not always directly with clients. RC: Often, when you walk into DHHSC, it is hard to see deaf employees because they are out in the field.

W. RC: Additional comments? Sergio Nava: I’m concerned about sign language classes. I’m hard of hearing and don’t know sign language yet. My hearing suddenly was lost. I called DHHSC and they said there were no more sign language classes. I was born in Mexico and want to know what to tell other people from there. I’m very interested in sign language because my hearing is gone. SC (reply): Right now we have classes Fridays 1-2:30. A volunteer teaches it. We don’t have a staff person who works directly with deafened clients any more. All staff have specific programs and designated contracts to follow. To take one staff person to teach sign language, if it is not in their contract, is too difficult. We have an intern from Fresno State who is interested in working with mental health issues. We had to instruct her about deafened issues. She isn’t teaching sign but she is working on finding out what is the biggest need for late-deafened, hard of hearing adults. We are distributing a survey in the community to find out needs and will use those results to write a grant and create a position for someone to work with that population. Denise Lanier will be working on the grant. Also will be working with SHHH to have additional Saturday meetings (in addition to Thursdays) on a trial basis. Also plan to set up once a month training for people of this [deafened] population who are requesting services. Dina Engle (to Sergio): Also you can check into adult school or community college ASL classes that are pretty reasonable. Sergio: Yes, I am trying to check into what’s available to learn sign language as soon as possible. SC (reply): Our goal in setting up sign classes at DHHSC is to help people who know English. Sergio is also learning English. Sergio: In adult schools I heard that they don’t have people who are prepared to teach. I’m looking for a good teacher. I’m looking for help for what is the correct place to go. English is my second language (Spanish is my first) and it’s hard to learn one more language. Carolyn Stem (to Sergio): Martha can help you. [Martha agreed.] (Response to Susan) – It’s good to use the resources in the community that are already there. For example in Santa Cruz the community colleges are motivated to offer classes off site. The college pays the teacher and the teacher prepares the class. Then the teacher can modify the class to meet what the student population needs. Don’t know about other specific community colleges but that’s available in some communities. Dina Engle: Salinas and Fresno probably have large Spanish populations. A class to address Spanish-speaking deaf needs would be good. ED (reply): We are working with local adult schools to provide those things. We need a teacher who is certified in working with ESL. SC (reply): That reminds me that in San Jose a client mentioned that there were speech-reading classes at an adult school, so we are looking into similar possibilities here. DC (reply): There are computer programs that have sign language that may help you improve your skills. There are some animated programs that help you learn. Sergio: I have software that I look at every day, but I need someone to correct me. I go to Deaf Church and that helps. My concern is for other deaf immigrants. I want to be able to tell them where to go. Many of them are poor and can’t afford too much. ED (reply): We have another class every Friday, called a Foreign Born Class. We teach the students English and Sign Language to build up their skills. Some of them only know gestures. And we build up their general [independent living] skills.

X. RC: Any other comments? We want to thank everyone for coming and also thank the interpreters and the secretary. ED: If you want to join us for lunch at Pea Soup Anderson’s we are going over there now.

XIV. Adjournment – 12:59 pm

* M/S/P stands for Motion/Seconded/Passed, indicating action carried out by Board.

Date of Next Board Meeting: February 11, 2003 at 7 pm at DHHSC Headquarters.