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2001 Annual Meeting
The Greater Lowell Family Resource Collaborative Annual Meeting and
Advisory Board Election will be held on Monday, September 17th,
2001, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30, at the Mercier Community Center, 21 Salem St.,
Lowell
The keynote speaker will be the Reverend Zina Jacque, of Trinity Church,
Boston. The GLFRC will also present its first annual awards: to a Community
Member, a Funder and a Policy Maker. Stay tuned for the names of recipients - or
better yet, join us at the meeting, all are welcome!
Some other great reasons to attend the meeting:
- First Annual GLFRC Community Awards
- Introducing the Merrimack Valley Hub resource Web site
- Showcase your own programs and learn about others through
resource tables and networking
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Upcoming Events
The new Merrimack Valley Hub Web site, MVHub.com, will open in
September with a searchable database of agencies and programs in the Greater
Lowell area. Member agencies that have contributed significantly to the
development of this site are New Beginnings and the Lowell Police
Department’s Weed and Seed program – but we also owe our thanks to all
of you who filled out a “wicked complicated” survey form!
The MVHub is designed to eliminate the problem of out-of-date entries that
occurs so quickly in printed resource guide, by allowing for rapid updating of
entries on a periodic basis. It also lists resources across fields of interest,
so that the searcher (provider or consumer) can check for job training programs,
child care providers, public transportation routes, and agencies that will cover
basic needs such as food, shelter and utilities. The site will also include
recreational, educational, and health care programs for the area, and will
inform searchers as to eligibility requirements, fees, languages spoken, and
typical wait list.
This is a difficult time for many local families, because of the worsening
economy, escalating housing costs, and uncertainty about government assistance.
The GLFRC and its members hope that the Merrimack Valley Hub site will make it a
little easier to link families in need with the resources available to them.
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Notes from the "TOGETHER
FOR FAMILIES" Networking Breakfast
(November 20, 2000)
This first community event was held at the
MIL Conference Center at Wannalancit Mill, under the sponsorship of
UMass Lowell. There were over 50 attendees at the Networking Event, and
over 20 agencies represented.
Resource materials covered 6 tables, and offered those attending a
chance to see what types of programs other
member agencies have available.
The program was as follows:
- Linda Sutter, GLFRC Chair, welcomed all attendees, and spoke about
the history of the
Greater Lowell Family Resource Center. She asked that Advisory Board
members who
were in attendance introduce themselves, and also introduced the new
name of the coalition:
Greater Lowell Family Resource Collaboration. Linda introduced State
Senator Steven
Panagiotakos.
- Senator Panagiotakos pointed out that legislators don't usually
come up with program ideas
on their own, but look for input from their constituents. The
Senator spoke of the meetings
he had with representatives of the early GLFRC, and of how he
listened to their ideas and
agreed it was a needed service. Their enthusiasm and clarity made it
easy for him to support
the idea as a practical and critical need in the Lowell community,
and gave him the arguments
he needed to obtain funding.
The Senator spoke about constituents going to legislators with
practical ideas and good
arguments of the need in the community, and about the importance of
people collaborating
on their planning. He talked of the importance of networking with each
other to share resources
with those in need, and how that maximizes the contribution
legislators can make. He also
complimented the agencies present on doing a great job of helping the
people in the city.
- DSS Commissioner Jeffrey Locke talked about his many years as a
trial lawyer before
becoming commissioner of DSS, and how he watched the city of Lowell
transform to a
thriving city. He has compared Lowell to the other mill cities
around that have not rebounded
as Lowell has. He pointed out that while credit is due Paul Tsongas
for his enormous impact
on the changing city, Senator Tsongas is no longer with us; and that
while credit is also due
to Wang Industries for their great impact on Lowell, that company is
also no longer with the city.
The core of Lowell is its people, how they accept new immigrants to
the city and how committed
they are to the city being theirs. Overall, it is the residents of
Lowell who have changed the city
and made Lowell what it is today, and he honored the agencies
represented for heir work serving
those residents in many ways.
Commissioner Locke assured the audience that it is not the salary
that keeps people at DSS,
but their personal commitment to helping children and families and
making a difference. The goal
of the department is to be recognized nationally as the best child
protective service agency in the
country. In order for this goal to become a reality, agencies must
collaborate with each other to
better serve people in need. Two goals of DSS are for it to become
more community involved,
and to identify families before problems occur. When DSS has tried to
work their own, it has
been difficult to work effectively. Services can be provided better
and more efficiently when DSS
develops and participates in collaborations with other agencies. He
was thrilled with the turnout
in the room, and the presence of agencies who have personal
involvement with families.
- Gail Medeiros, Lowell Area Director of DSS, talked about a
conference she attended a few years
ago at which the idea of a family-friendly visitation center was
discussed. She knew immediately
that she wanted one for Lowell, because it is very difficult to
provide positive experiences with
visitation at the DSS office. She talked about the idea with others
and they were able to pull together
a great collaboration. Now the idea of a visitation center in Lowell
has become a reality through
funding by the GLFRC. The ultimate goal of a collaborative like
this, of course, is to provide
families with appropriate services and resources so they won't end
up needing the services of DSS.
- Bob Gass, CEO of Concord Family and Youth Services, pointed out
that the easy part of getting
together in a collaboration is over - we have gotten together, now
the work begins! The money
for funding collaborations has to come from somewhere else and the
question becomes who is
going to provide this money.
Bob also talked about the struggles that child welfare has had over
the years to help families take
care of themselves and not have the state take care of them. If you
can empower parents to be
successful then you have done your job. The main thing we want from
helping kids is for families
to be reflective enough to know when they are in trouble and when and
where to get help. A good
relationship with an adult is the greatest help to kids coping with
problems.
Following the speakers, there was time to network with other agencies
and roundtables were set up for
discussion on various problems. All of the network tables were busy and
active; notes and follow up meetings
are:
- Building an Internet-based information and
referral system - Maryellen McEleney and Jim Ryan
facilitated. Maryellen requested help from attendees in
testing a survey form that has been developed
by the I and R Web-site committee, and reviewed the categories that
will be used on the site.
- Developing parents as community leaders -
Donna Meade facilitated. There is a lot of interest
in building parent leadership programs in the Cambodian community,
and reaching parents with
parenting education and resource information.
- Parenting education and family support resources
- Judy Nordstrom and Fran Gilmore facilitated.
There is interest in looking at the types of parenting education
that are being carried out in Lowell at
present, and assessing what works and what doesn't.
- Collaboration on services for high-risk
adolescents - Erica McNamara of the Teen Coalition
graciously stepped into facilitate when Jenn Thomson of the Eliot
Center was called away on an
emergency. This group discussed current activities that target
adolescents in Lowell; in addition,
Erica introduced the concept paper for a grant RFK Children's Action
Corps is submitting in
collaboration with the GLFRC.
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