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The Health and Human Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, September 14, 2009 @ 6:30p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Jeffery L. Metzger, Sr., called the meeting to order.  Members present were Eileen Dubin, John Emerson, Pat LaVigne and Paul Stoddard.  Mr. Tyson was absent.  Ms. Donna Moulton and Mr. Gil Morrison were also present.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from August 2009.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Moved by Mr. Emerson, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda.

COMMUNITY SERVICES UPDATE – MS. DONNA MOULTON
           Ms. Moulton, DeKalb County Community Services Director, said that as she has been gathering information for the 2010 Community Action Plan she has run across some information that may be interesting to the committee.
         
          She said that she was looking at the Factfinder Survey that that they are estimating that the population in DeKalb County is 101,275.  She was also looking at our poverty numbers for 2005 to 2007 and was comparing them to what the population is now.  It says that 24.3% of our population was at 200% of poverty which is what our eligibility standards are.  Except for that she was to use the population from 2005 to get the number, which then puts our County at 28% of the population at 200% of poverty.  She then said that the increase in our population was at 13% but the increase in poverty was at 30%, which is a really jarring number.

Mr. Derek Tyson arrived at 6:40p.m.

          She explained that 200% for a family of 4 this year is $44,100. So 100% for a family of 4 is $22,050 at the poverty level.

          Chairman Metzger, Sr. asked Ms. Moulton what percentage of  that number is homeless?

          Ms. Moulton said that she did not have that number.

          Ms. LaVigne said that she did have the number and that she would be glad to get back to Chairman Metzger, Sr., with that information.

          Ms. Moulton said that they are seeing more 2 parent families so far since she has been hired.  She also said that the unemployment rate that she is using in her report for our County is 10.4%. 

          She said that they are starting to receive some of their ARRA monies.  They are looking for programs that they can use some of the money for.  One of those programs is the foreclosure avoidance program.  They are trying to modify the work program a little bit to help out with the emergency intervention program.  She is going to go to the banks and ask them to send out her information with their mailings to notify their clients about her department’s services and the foreclosure avoidance program.  The money for this program needs to be spent by the end of September 2010.

          The committee asked Ms. Moulton to also notify the press about this program with a press release so that she can get this information out to the entire county population.

REGIONAL SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS ANNUAL REPORT – MR. GIL MORRISON
          Mr. Gil Morrison, Regional Superintendent of Schools, presented his 2008-2009 Annual Report. 

          Chairman Metzger, Sr., congratulated Mr. Morrison on his appointment as the new President of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools. 

          Mr. Morrison said that there are various county cooperative programs that they work with.  One of those programs is the Northwestern Illinois Association which is located off of Exchange Street in Sycamore, IL.  It is an association of public school districts in the ten northwestern counties of Illinois, which provides services to children with severe sight or hearing problems and youngsters with multiple handicaps. 

          Another program that they worked with was the DeKalb County Special Education Association.  They serve the mentally and physically handicapped children in a variety of ways.  It is composed of seven public school districts in the county.  The DeKalb County Special Education Association dissolved on June 30, 2009.  All districts are now responsible for delivery of all special education services. 

          Mr. Morrison said that there is a program called the Race To The Top or RT3, which is like the No Child Left Behind Program.  He feels that it will completely replace the No Child Left Behind Program.

          Mr. Morrison mentioned that during the 2008-2009 school years, DeKalb County Truant’s Intervention Program (DCTIP) supplied services to 89 truants, 156 chronic truants and 178 potential dropouts in DeKalb County.

          The committee thanked Mr. Morrison for a very informative report.

Before adjourning, Mr. Stoddard asked Chairman Metzger, Sr., if the committee could discuss an item regarding the gathering of all county service organizations to see how they can work together?  He was wondering if this committee wanted to facilitate it. 

          Chairman Metzger, Sr., asked Mr. Stoddard to gather more information on this request and to bring it back to the committee to discuss next month.

ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Mr. Emerson, seconded by Mr. Stoddard, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

         
                                                Respectively submitted,

                                                _________________________________  

                                                Chairman Jeffery L. Metzger, Sr.

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