STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
March 17, 2021
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
FULL SILC Meeting
ZOOM

Members and Ex-Officios Attending:  Carrie Dudley, Deborah Ritcey, Jeff Dickinson, Ellie Kimball, Shellie Lemelin,  Marcia Golembeski, Joan Marcoux, Gary Whitmarsh, Daniel B. Frye
Staff: Jennifer Beaulieu (SILC Assistant) 	
Guests: Lorrie Ripley (Client Assistance Program, Governor’s Commission on Disability), Michelle McConaghy (SILC Nominee), Peter Marshall (SILC Nominee), and Matthew Greenwood (SILC Nominee).
Communication Access: Rebekah Mallory-Patten (ASL Interpreter), Laurie Meyer (ASL Interpreter), and Denise Gracia (CART Reporter)
The SILC meeting was called to order at 1:02 PM by Chair Carrie Dudley. Attendance was taken via roll call. 
*Quorum was reached.
Approval of Minutes
* Second Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey made a motion to approve the January 20th 2021 minutes as written.
Second: 			Member Gary Whitmarsh				
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.
Committee Updates
A.	Membership
Gary reported out for the membership committee. He mentioned that some members of the membership committee had a meeting with other councils throughout the state. The main discussions from the meeting were about uniformity in membership across the councils, how we recruit members, and how we go through the process of recommending them for appointment to the Governor. One question that was raised was how to handle someone who is interested in joining multiple councils. He lastly reported that they will have regular monthly meetings with the other councils. 

B.	Governance
Deborah gave the report for the committee. She mentioned that they had a good first meeting. At the first meeting they discussed setting up the ground rules, the duties of the committee, how often to meet, when to hold the meetings, and what will happen at each meeting. She also reminded everyone at the meeting what the governance committee does which is ensuring the SILC follows the bylaws and the SPIL. They also talked about reporting out on any decisions they made and anything that needs either Executive Committee approval or Full SILC approval. Meeting minutes will be kept and voted on at each governance committee meeting. They lastly discussed creating a dashboard that will list out things they want to accomplish this year, where the goals are and when they’ll accomplish them. They want to make it standardized so each committee can use it. She is still working on the dashboard to make it more visually appealing. The governance committee will create a charter with the goals of the governance committee, and it will contain the dashboard. She would like the charter to mirror the SPIL. [Recorder Note: Deborah asked for the minutes to be edited to amend the part regarding the charter and dashboard because the committee decided to not create the dashboard and the charter] Once she has the goals and objectives timeline done she will present it to the full council. Their meetings will be on the second Tuesday of the month at 11am. Peter Marshall will be joining the committee.

C.	Advocacy
Ellie gave the report out for the advocacy committee. They haven’t been able to have a meeting yet due to technical difficulties. She recently talked with Marcia about some ideas. She also talked to someone who she thought could come in and talk about advocacy in the future. The person has some good ideas for individuals who use wheelchairs.

Carrie will work with Ellie to schedule a committee meeting via phone.

Carrie mentioned that she recently met a young man who is the head of the Fellowship House which is a nonprofit that provides housing for individuals with mental illness. He is interested in attending and speaking at a future meeting. She mentioned once we meet him, a couple of us can maybe be guests on the nonprofits that he is involved with. 

Gary mentioned that he has contacted Sophie Kellam from the Disability Rights Center of NH to see if they would like to be a member of the SILC. 

Age of Champions
Gary mentioned that he invited Bridget Drake, Senior Program Support Assistant for Age of Champions to speak at a SILC meeting and she has agreed to do that. He reported that the deadline to let them know of our interest in being a vendor is this Friday and that they will give us some ideas on what we could present at the Age of Champions virtual fair in April. 

The organizers for the fair have also asked him to join their organization as a representative of the SILC and do a presentation to their group.

Potential Nominations
Matthew Greenwood spoke about his interest in joining the NH SILC and answered questions from the council. He mentioned he has been living with different types of disabilities his whole life and one of them is a visual impairment. He would like to be on the council because he has a general knowledge about what it’s like to be someone that has a disability. He wants to make sure that everyone with a disability gets the help they need and they have a voice. He is interested in all the committees and what the SILC does. He was involved with the seacoast independent living group through GSIL and was a part of the special Olympic leadership program. 
 
There was further discussion about advocacy and nominations. Marcia will contact Rose Prescott because of her history as a great advocate for people who are blind or visually impaired. 

Carrie thanked Matthew for coming to the meeting. 

Deborah explained the responsibilities of the SILC and how we are a working board. We expect members to join a council and attend meetings. 

Carrie asked for a motion to send Peter Marshall’s and Michelle McConaghy’s appointments to the Governor. 

*Secretary Gary Whitmarsh moved to accept Peter Marshall as a member of the SILC and recommend him to the Governor’s office for appointment.  
Second: 			Member Ellie Kimball				
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.
*Shellie Lemelin made a motion to approve Michelle McConaghy.
Second: 			Member Marcia Golembeski			
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.

New Business 
Shellie reported that she was invited by the NH Democratic Committee to talk with four representatives at a virtual meeting with other citizens. They talked about a lot of things such as the state budget and house and senate bills. She has been appointed to be on the recreational advisory board for Dover. At the last meeting they talked about parks, recreation, sports, and summer programs. She is also a part of COAST and the consumer advisory committee for the GSIL. 

Carrie mentioned how it’s interesting that we all have our individual accomplishments and individual connections to organizations. Maybe there is some way to make a list of these accomplishments. 

Gary mentioned that with the Age of Champions, he was asked to attend and present at one of the meetings on behalf of the SILC to tell them about what we do. He thinks we need to continue reaching out to other organizations to get the word out about the NH SILC.  

Carrie asked if she had any updates for the GCD. Lorrie Ripley, who is the Client Assistance Program Ombudsman, reported that the GCD has been campaigning hard for STABLE NH accounts. She mentioned that STABLE NH accounts came about as a result of the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act. These are savings accounts for individuals with disabilities where they can save for disability-related expenses and not lose their benefits such as SSI, Medicaid, etc. The Executive Director, Chuck Saia and the state Treasurer are the co-administrators of the NH program. Launched in December 2017 with a few accounts and as of March 14th there are now 467 accounts. Individuals have used their accounts to save up for dental expanses, eyeglasses, special sensory clothing, assistive technology, etc. She mentioned that there has been no general funds dollars associated with the NH program. They have been spreading the word around the state. There are some limits to how much can be saved per year and overall. She answered some questions from the members about benefit counselors and statistical data. She lastly mentioned that if anyone had any questions about the program they can contact her. They also have rack cards with CAP (Client Assistance Program) and STABLE NH information that she can arrange to have anyone pick up or could send them. 

Daniel mentioned that he hasn’t heard from the ACL as to when it is going to have its instrument for receiving the PPR up and operational. He is working hard to make sure that when it happens we will be ready. He also recently attended a meeting with the Independent Living Technical Assistance center. It is a meeting that occurs every month and gives DSEs information on protocols to follow and the like. He has been attending these meetings to make sure that he’s as conversed as possible and able to be responsive to the needs of the NH SILC. He mentioned that once we get to the point when we can submit the PPR, he would like to run that report by the council before we submit it. He lastly mentioned that if anyone has any questions to contact him. 

Approval for Adjournment of Meeting
*Chair Deborah Ritcey made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Second: 			Member Gary Whitmarsh				
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.

The meeting adjourned at 2:25 p.m.
Minutes Recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu