January 22, 2003 Work Group Meeting Minutes
The William S. Cohen Community Center, Hallowell, Maine

Present:  Christine Bartlett (Chair), Stirling Kendall (Muskie facilitator), Stephanie Crystal, John Baillargeon, Deb Parker Wolfenden , Shirley Bastien, Drew Bolduc, Kathryn Kazenski,, Linda Jariz, Steve Hoad, Chris Zukas-Lessard, Nat Hussey, Eileen Griffin (Muskie staff) and Danny Westcott (Muskie staff). 

Not Present:  Helen Bailey, Tom Bancroft, Ron Welch, Cynthia Sudheimer, Jane Gallivan, Alice Conway, Tonya Labbe, Debbie Rogers, Kate Brogan, Jonathan Connick, Peter Driscoll, Cary Gifford, Tonia Boterf.

The afternoon session began at noon with lunch. Christine Bartlett was chair.  Stirling Kendall facilitated the meeting.

1. Check-in and Roll Call
Meeting participants introduced themselves.

2. Mission Statement and Vision Statement
Christine read the Work Group’s revised vision statement: “All of us together, in community with equality in rights and dignity, in pursuit of happiness and fulfillment.”

3. Meeting Minutes
The Work Group approved the minutes of the September 25, 2002 meeting with minor revisions.

4.  Recent SILC Decision
Stephanie Crystal asked the chair for an opportunity to talk about SILC’s recent decision to no longer send a representative to the Work Group and what that means for her continued participation.  For strategic and budgetary reasons, SILC has decided to end official representation on the Work Group now that planning and input for the Roadmap are complete and to redirect its limited resources elsewhere.  Stephanie said that this decision is firm despite efforts by others to have SILC reconsider.  Stephanie said that she would like to continue to participate if the Work Group is willing for her to do so, independent of SILC. The Work Group members said they would like Stephanie to stay on because her participation is valued and because she may be able to provide an informal link to SILC through her continued membership on the SILC Board.

5.  Review of the Agenda
Christine reviewed the agenda, taking note of the estimated time for each report and discussion.

6. Public Communications Update
The public comment period officially began when the Work Group approved the last of the draft Roadmap documents in September.  Danny described the outreach activities that have taken place since then, reported the number of responses to this outreach, and read several representative comments.  Danny then asked the Work Group for guidance on whether to extend the public comment period beyond the January 31st deadline. Finally, the video, Creating a Vision for Community-Based Living in Maine, was shown to the Work Group.

Selected Outreach Activities.

• Work Group members presented Roadmap recommendations and other public communication documents (Olmstead Fact Sheet, news release, etc.) to numerous groups;
• 3000 brochures and 1200 posters were distributed by Work Group members and Muskie staff;
• 193 Public Service Announcements were sent to radio and TV stations statewide;
• News releases were sent to 82 community newspapers;
• Alpha One’s One in Five and the Senior Plus newsletter in Lewiston published articles about the Roadmap.

Response to outreach activities.  Thus far, there has been only minimal response to these outreach activities: 36 responses with about 50 recommendations and comments overall; most are mailed responses using the brochure insert.  The Work Group took considerable time discussing the possible causes for such a low response rate, what strategies might have been overlooked and what, if anything to do about it.  With the basic outreach strategy implemented, and the video ready for distribution, both to public access television stations and to members of the Work Group, the Work Group decided to extend the public comment deadline to June 30^th.  During the extended time, Work Group members committed to having more face-to-face contact with stakeholder groups (using the video as a meeting opener) and finding ways to reach people who wouldn’t attend meetings.

7. Toward a Single Coherent Vision
In reporting on Toward a Single Coherent Vision, Eileen started by describing the Steering Committee’s early discussions about the challenges of keeping people out of institutions and supported in the community and how the term “single coherent vision” came to represent the Committee’s vision of serving people with disabilities across the departments.  A main point in the document is that collaboration is a real cost; policy leaders should invest in collaboration rather than just expecting it to happen. Work Group members commented favorably on the document and discussed ways to promote the ideas and recommendations embodied in it.

8. Work Group Role Going Forward and Quality Choices Project Activities
The Work Group discussed briefly its future role in oversight of the Quality Choices project and what else it can do to augment and to help sustain Quality Choices activities.  To provide a context for future activities, the Work Group decided to invite project directors to the April Work Group meeting to describe current activities within Quality Choices, including project goals, initial findings, and next steps.  Work Group members also discussed whether they would support hosting a conference in the fall and whether such a conference would be a useful vehicle for sustaining Quality Choices project activities beyond the grant period.

9. Announcements
Steve Hoad announced that a February meeting of Ability Maine would be held to discuss the website’s direction and continued growth.  Linda Jariz announced that PBS would be airing “Picture This” on Saturday, January 25^th. 

10. Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23, 2003 from noon to 4:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided.  Chris Zukas-Lessard will be the chair.