Councils Presentation for AHRC Board of Directors

On June 26, 2023 Geraldine shared AHRC Nassau Councils accomplishments and goals for the year.

Establishing an important link between the Councils and AHRC Board of Directors.

Compass Management Plan: On an annual basis, representatives from the councils make presentations to the Board of Directors to enable them to learn of their endeavors and share in their goals. Once a year the councils invite a board member to a council meeting as a mechanism to strengthen the connection between the councils and Board of Directors.

Executive Council Met Monthly (Except Summer Break and November)

January

Chris Williams came to the council meeting and gave a staffing update and took questions from the council.

A group helped at the MLK day of service in Glen Cove where our own Matt Hofele spoke on service to others.

Wini Schiff, Executive Director of IAC came to the council and spoke about the governor’s budget, advocacy and staffing.

AHRC Social media day advocates have been asked to submit quotes about investing in services for people with disabilities. Michelle, Coleen, Noah, and Matt were asked to submit quotes on what is important.

February

Stanfort Perry joined the council and spoke about staffing and when the site can go back out on jobs that they used to be doing.

Maura Boden, Family Support Services came and spoke to the council about what her role is with Citizens and things that she has planned.

Kate Zimmerman joined the council spoke about the upcoming show us your POM event.

Sue Gill came and spoke about Life plan observation and what is supposed to happen at a life plan meetings and how you can make sure that the things you want goes into your plan.

March

Barry Donowitz came to the council and spoke about what his job with the agency is and what he does, Barry also took questions from the council about staffing and community jobs.

Michelle Flood and Marisol from Sanys who spoke about a group that they have on Fridays at 1. Michelle spoke about voting and the right to vote and the importance of a voting plan. Michelle R mentioned to check the little cards that you get into the mail because there was a lot of redistricting last year.

Joseph Damiano came to the council and spoke about what he does as a peer specialist.

April HCBS training was completed.

Voice for choice-POM department- Susan Gill spoke about how she is going to have a council table at the Pom Rally. Anyone who would like to attend the Voice for choice can attend it after the council meeting that week.

We started thinking and planning a fundraiser to raise money to help an advocate attend the Sanys statewide conference.

May

Nikki Katz came and did meditation and yoga with the council.

Anthony Gionfriddo from the beautiful lives project came and spoke about what the project is and what his role is and that they are looking for more members.

June

This past Friday groups from AHRC Nassau was at LIU post for the beautiful lives’ projects field of dreams. John and Elise were featured in a story on the news Coleen is making and selling pride buttons for PrideAbility.

We are hosting a bingo fundraiser on June 30th to help raise money for an advocate to attend the Sanys conference.

The DEI council underwent a transition this past quarter from an agency led committee to an Ambassador led committee. Elections were held for a committee chair and co-chair. Coleen Mackin and Noah Probert were appointed Chair and Co-Chair respectively. Both are responsible for sitting on the organizational DEI Committee and sharing in the strategic goals. Additionally they are responsible for filtering this information back to the DEI Ambassador’s in an effort to align with the agency’s mission in this regard, The council meet monthly via a virtual platform. In June, the council raised funds selling Pride buttons and contributed to PrideAbility. The mission of PrideAbility is. “PrideAbility is a movement that promotes ongoing education, understanding, and respect through a network of connections and advocacy that provides support and friendship for citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities who identify as LGBTQIA.”

Day Hab Council

New Year’s resolutions were discussed and exercising more, and volunteering were the most popular.

Money received from a bake sale was used to purchase socks for homeless veterans. In February, representatives from SANYS talked with the council about getting more involved with the events they have to offer.

The council sponsored a singing telegram event for Valentine’s Day. Proceeds were donated to the American Heart Association.

Black history month was observed by each hub site highlighting a famous person in history and sharing the information they found out with all of day hab.

In March, council members worked on getting donations for the victims of the earthquake that hurt Syria and Turkey. The items were brought to a local church that was able to deliver the items.

Women’s history month was celebrated by hub sites researching information about famous women in history and shared the information with the other hub sites.

April was autism acceptance month and people had the opportunity to discuss what makes a person unique.

Chief administrator officer Barry Donowitz spoke with the council about Wheatley Farms and Arts Center. He shared information about the upcoming plans for the farm.

Council member wrote a letter to the president of the LI Railroad voicing their concerns over safety issues that were published in the newspaper. Broken elevators, overcrowding, and gaps between the platform and the train present serious concerns for people with ambulatory challenges.

May was mental health month and people were encouraged to let someone know if they are experiencing anxiety, insecurity, or any other mental health issues.

Day Hab had their annual picnic at Eisenhower Park. The weather was perfect, and all the hub sites enjoyed a day of games, music, and good food.

People supported the postal food drive by leaving a non-perishable food item by their mailbox the day before Mother’s Day.

In June, the council had a talent show where people were able to display their many talents to others.

Pride month was celebrated by people wearing pride attire on all the Fridays in June. Additionally, there was a virtual pride event that gave people the opportunity to hear how pride month evolved and how people all over the country celebrate it.

DEI Council SANYS Presentation

The DEI council has been busy presenting it’s DEI manual developed in 2021 over the past three months with two presentations to SANYS at their statewide meeting and locally at the Long Island meeting. A presentation was also completed for staff members at PHP Cares. Committee members hosted a vendor table at the SANYS Long Island Regional conference and shared free physical copies of the manual which is also available to digital format.

Executive Council Bingo Fundraiser

On Thursday June 30th the Executive Council hosted a bingo night as a fundraiser to raise money to help send a self-advocate or two to attend the SANYS statewide conference in Albany. We charged $10 a person which included a bingo card and marker and a snack. It was a bigger turnout than expected. We had about 50-60 people come, and we raised between 500-600 dollars. Here is some of the feedback we got from those that attended the bingo night: Bingo night was all the ladies from Evers St could talk about on their way home. The ladies of Livingston St. loved it so much they requested for us to do bingo every week. YIKES!!

Pam Boyle who helped at the fundraiser loved it and loved the turnout and can’t wait to do another one. Michelle Rudoff, who worked at the fundraiser said seeing everyone with smiles on their faces and having fun