Commission on Family Services — Skokie, IL
Date: 2022-05-04

Skokie Commission on Family Services
 Meeting Minutes
 Wednesday, May 4, 2022
 7:00pm

 MINUTES

Present: Commissioners Harold Primack (Chair), Bonnie Eckstein, Marjorie Goran, Jo
Hammerman, Daniel Mann, Heather O’Donnell, Nancy Schwartz, Phillip Shefren, Michael
Stiehl, Melissa Versch.

Absent: Commissioners Yolanda Bender, Jaime Garcia, Laila Iqbal, Shajan Jose, Wendy
Katznelson, Joshua Orlan, Arlnie Oskin, Nichole Perry, Valerie Riley, Annie Shear, San
Stalilonis, Edie Sue Sutker

 I. Call to order at 7:05pm

 II. Approval of Agenda: Approved by consent

 III. Approval of Minutes: April 6, 2022 minutes were approved by consent.

 IV. Chair’s Report: Harold Primack, Chair
 Thank you to Jo Hammerman for taking minutes for Commission meetings. Melissa
 Versch will take over responsibility for taking minutes. Thank you to Shajan Jose for
 selecting the restaurant for last month’s meeting and thank you to the Village for
 covering the cost of the dinner.

 Emails were sent to the Commission about the Annual Fun Run which raises money
 for the food pantry and is looking for volunteers. An email was sent from the Illinois
 ACES Response Collaborative about trauma events for anyone who is interested. If
 anyone gets emails from organizations that would be of interest, please forward to the
 Chair to forward to the Commission.

 V. Health and Human Services Report: Melissa Versch, Staff Liaison
 In April, Health and Human Services partnered with Niles Township and North Shore
 Senior Center at Skokie Library to help 24 families apply for utility and
 transportation assistance. HHS continues to provider COVID vaccines and 2nd
 boosters to those who are eligible. Appointments can be made through the Village
 website. One program provided through HHS is called Emergency Financial
 Assistance, which provides assistance to residents who are past-due on rent or utilities
 due to a hardship. We work with them be self-sufficient moving forward by
 connecting with resources or recovering, for example from health issues. Mr. Primack
 asked if funds come from COVID relief. Ms. Versch responded that funds have been
 provided through donations. Mike Stiehl asked how much Skokie received from
 COVID relief funds and what was done with it. Ms. Versch will report back with an
 answer.
VI. Old Business
 A. Produce Initiative
 B. Farmer’s Market Food and Clothing Drive - Heather O’Donnell set up volunteer
 signup through Signup Genius for the produce initiative and clothing drive.
 Discussion was held about others to distribute the link to, such as St. Paul’s
 church, District 219 and Human Relations Commission. Ms. O’Donnell will send
 out the link after the June Commission meeting.
 C. Festival of Cultures – The Commission will share a space with the Village for the
 Festival of Cultures. Three people have volunteered to participate. Volunteers will
 cover 11am – 3pm on Sunday, May 22 in 2-hour shifts.
 D. Subcommittee Discussion - The Commission broke into two subcommittees for
 discussion: Children and Families At Risk and Seniors. Subcommittees met
 separately for discussion for about 15 minutes and then reported back to the
 Commission.

 Children and Families At Risk Subcommittee: Nancy reported that Wendy had
 some contact with the school district. The group talked about kids re-entering
 post-Covid and difficulties and violence. Would like to figure out how to do a
 needs-assessment to figure out what the kids and families need, from day care
 centers to high schools. 8% of daycare centers in Illinois are open past 5 or
 6:00pm, which is a struggle for families who work 2nd or 3rd shift. Will get a list
 of social workers, go to Chamber of Commerce to start. May develop information
 for families on a website.

 Seniors Subcommittee: Melissa reported on discussion about Boomers and
 Beyond. The last event was in 2019. The one-day event would have a speaker,
 resource fair, health screenings. Invitations would go to organizations that serve
 seniors, tech resources, vendors like emergency home response providers, maybe
 city services like the police department. Would provide refreshments. Discussion
 about whether event should be in-person, virtual or hybrid, and if transportation
 would need to be offered. Would need volunteers to work the fair. Secondly,
 discussion was held about census data showing that older adult population and
 people living alone is growing. Dan noticed that police beat meetings are largely
 attended by older adults, so what needs are there’s for older adults and their
 safety. For example, scams and concerns called into the police. Dan noted that
 there is information online about the previous Boomers and Beyond event.

VII. New Business
 A. Commission Brochure – A tri-fold Commission brochure was distributed. Harold
 and Melissa worked on the brochure and it was reviewed by Ann Tennes. The
 brochure was distributed to Trustees at the budget meeting. Brochures will be
 distributed at the Festival of Cultures, Fourth of July parade and at the Farmers
 Market. For the Fourth of July parade, candy could be attached to brochures and
 handed out. Brochures will need to be printed. The brochure was also published in
 the latest Skokie News.
 B. Village budget hearing – The Village Board had a budget meeting last week.
 Chairs of commissions do a presentation. For Family Services, funds are used for
 publicity and supplies needed for farmers market initiatives. Board members did not
 ask questions but did complement the success of food donations from the farmers
 market.
 C. Environmental Sustainability Plan Team – Ms. Versch reported on a request for
 representatives of each commission to take part in an Environmental Sustainability
 Plan Team. Four Commissioners expressed interest, though whether meetings are in-
 person or virtual may impact ability to participate. Ms. Versch will check if there is a
 virtual option and re-send to those who are interested.

VIII. Citizen Comments: None

IX. Adjournment at 8:00pm



 Next meeting: June 1, 2022
 7:00pm