STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
September 18, 2019
11:30am – 2:30 pm
Granite State Independent Living
21 Chenell Drive, Concord, NH 
Members and Ex-Officos Attending:  Jeff Dickinson, Gary Whitmarsh, Andrew Harmon, Shellie Lemelin, Susan Wolf-Downes, Ellie Kimball, Erin Hall, Carrie Dudley, Joan Marcoux, Peggy Teravainen, Marcia Golembeski, Dorine Pelletier, Rose Prescott (Older Blind Representative), Daniel Frye (Designated State Entity), Lorrie Ripley (Client Assistance Program) 
Staff: Jennifer Beaulieu (SILC Assistant) 
Communications Assistance: Laurie Meyer and Rebekah Mallory-Patten (interpreters) 
The SILC meeting was called to order at 1:06PM by Chair Jeff Dickinson. Attendance was taken via introductions. 
*Quorum was reached.

Review of April 27 and June 19 Minutes
Jeff asked if anyone had any changes or edits for the minutes. No one had any changes or edits. 

*Motion to approve April 27 and June 19 Minutes
Motion to Approve: 			Andrew Harmon
Second:				Gary Whitmarsh
All in Favor: Yes.  		Motion Carried. 
Peggy and Erin abstained from both. Joan abstained from April’s. 

Working Together Conference
Susan reported that Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc. will be having their conference on October 4th from 8:00am-3:15pm at the Walker Building in room 100. The morning speaker is a Deaf woman from Gallaudet University who will be particularly addressing parents of Deaf-Blind children. In the afternoon, there will be a professional panel that will give parents an opportunity to ask questions. Susan also noted that the SILC will reimburse registration fees for members. There will be interpreters and they are still looking for sponsorship to cover the CART.

Introduction of Daniel Frye
Dan introduced himself as the new Administrator for the Services of the Blind and Visually-Impaired (SBVI) and the Designated State Entity for the SILC in NH. He has a JD from the University of Washington and a BA in History and Government from Erskine College. He held high-ranking positions in various organizations such as Aira Tech Corp., the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and the Rehabilitation Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Education.

He mentioned that Lisa Hatz asked that he manage for VR, the relationship with the SILC and be the liaison for all things independent living with the council to manage our part B contracts. He noted that his primary background is in Blindness and low vision but he is willing to learn and gain knowledge about disabilities across the board.  

Recognition of new members
Jeff announced and welcomed new members Ellie Kimball and Christopher Emerson.  He noted that they have been approved by the Governor and should have received their appointment letter. 

Conference Presentation Opportunity
Jen reported to the SILC that she got an email from Karin at the YEAH (Youth for Education, Advocacy, and Healthcare) Council asking if the SILC was interested in presenting in a session hosted by the YEAH Council on the youth track of the Partnering for Strength Conference on Oct. 26th. The session would have 6 agencies; each agency will have 7 minutes to do an “elevator speech”. Once all agencies have spoken, there will be about 20 minutes for people to go and visit a few they would like to hear more from. It will be at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord. It’s a day-long event, but presenters don’t have to stay for the whole conference. 

Jeff noted that if anyone is interested in attending they can contact him or Jen.  

Jen mentioned that she will send out an email to the SILC about the conference.

Andrew announced that he was interested in presenting. 

SPIL Overview
Jeff reported that at the last Executive Committee meeting, they discussed where things stand with developing the new SPIL when the current extended SPIL expires, and it is still unclear what the ACL will be looking for. He noted that historically the next SPIL will be expected by spring 2020 and that likely ACL will be expecting similar levels of public input from previous SPILs. At that meeting, they discussed the idea that we should operate on the assumption that they will be expecting a new SPIL in the spring of 2020.  Between now and then public input sessions need to occur.

Jeff has talked with Tobey before about using technology to be more inclusive and reach more people.

There are proposed guidelines for the new SPIL that the ACL published. Comments on it are due by October. Jeff will share that with everyone so they can send ideas of what they would like to comment on. 

Jeff reported that there has been discussion of what our consulting needs are going forward with Tobey. The thought is that Tobey’s best contribution would be on the planning process of the next SPIL. 

Dan, Jeff, and Lisa will be having a meeting in a few weeks to discuss the needs of the SILC. 

Jeff asked everyone to think about the new SPIL and what goals should be in it. He thinks that the next SPIL should be more achievable, more specific, more measurable, and more practical for the SILC to achieve than the current SPIL. 

Some of the council went over the SPIL statuses and timeframes during the time where task forces would normally meet; See the updated SPIL for more details on status and timeframes. 

The following questions, suggestions, and clarifications were discussed:
•	Having a list of speakers from different organizations to present at a SILC meeting that includes the date, name, and what they will be presenting about. 
•	Having someone from the SCC (State Coordinating Council for Community Transportation) present at a SILC meeting.
•	Getting transportation data for the MCOs (Managed Care Organizations) on the DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) website to examine how well MCOs are meeting the transportation needs of their customers
•	The need for a PIC (Parent Information Center) staff, member, or volunteer to join the SILC to meet the activity of having PIC join the SILC.
•	Contacting an agency or person they know that might be able to get a PCA to join the SILC.

Jeff noted that Dan is interested in the Transition Task Force and the Independent Living Task Force. 

For Goal 3, Objective 1, Activity C on the SPIL, there were some questions on the purpose of the activity regarding having a SILC ombudsman. Jeff mentioned that he will talk to Jen about the timeframe for completion should be for getting a PCA to join the SILC. 

Andrew mentioned that he wants to see the collaboration we had from this SPIL continue to the next SPIL.

Membership Update
Jeff asked if anyone had any ideas on membership outreach. Gary mentioned that one of the goals he had when having the business cards and brochures was to have the SILC have a broader impact and higher visibility in the state. 

Discussion occurred about how to get higher visibility around the state. Some ideas discussed were:  
•	Use of social media
•	Use of our website
•	Going to presentations
•	Having exhibits
•	Having members who are more diverse, from nursing homes, from schools, who are involved in transportation or transition, and are consumers
•	Using technology to reach more people
•	Having a more action-driven and easier to explain SPIL
•	Relate an individual’s needs to the purpose of the SILC and SPIL
•	Having members serve as ambassadors for the SILC
•	Knowing the audience and fitting the presentation and discussion to the audience
•	Making it easier to explain what the SILC is and does 

Susan mentioned that she could have someone on her staff send out information on exhibits and events. 

Andrew mentioned that problems with getting people to serve on the SILC are the time commitment and transportation. 

Carrie noted that as a part of the Lions Club, she can go to the Business Chamber of Commerce and through them she can have multiple SILC members go to Chamber of Commerce meetings. 

It was agreed by the group that everyone would name an organization or person that would be good to have present or have as a new member. Everyone will also create an elevator pitch on what the SILC is and what we do. It will be due by the next meeting. Jen will send out reminder emails. There were some concerns over making sure the membership recruitment follows the bylaws.

Other Business
Jeff reported that he will work with Jen to gather the history of why we are and what the focus has been in the past to get the historic perspective, and line them up with the ideas that people have about the SILC and SPIL now.

Marcia mentioned that she and Shellie have been going to a lot of transportation meetings on the Seacoast, and she thinks that they are making a dent. She has been hearing more about transportation options such as acquiring new vehicles, starting new driving schedules, and having some transportation for free which assists individuals with disabilities to live in their communities. She thinks that getting us out there could be happening with other organizations. 

Lorrie Ripley, GCD Ombudsman for the Client Assistance Program reported that the GAA (Governor’s Accessibility Awards) is tomorrow at 12 noon. They will have 3 regular awards and 6 lifetime achievement awards. The Governor will be there handing out the awards. There will be ASL interpreters and CART.  If anyone has any questions they can contact Lorrie. 

Erin noted that the annual Caregiver’s Conference will be coming up, and the BIA NH will have a table and she could put some of the SILC information on the table too. 

Discussion occurred about the next meeting’s date. It was agreed that it should be changed to November 20th. 

Adjournment
*Motion to adjourn
Motion to Approve:			Andrew Harmon				
Second:				Susan Wolf-Downes
All in Favor: Yes		            Motion Carries

Meeting was adjourned at 2:38pm. 

NEXT SILC MEETING:  November 20, 2019 at Granite State Independent Living on 21 Chenell Drive. 

Recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu