MN HIV Services Planning Council
Meeting
Council Members Present:
|
|
Mike Behl
|
Rosetta Hunt
|
Gary Novotny
|
Gilbert Achay
|
|
Hazel
Erickson |
Ama
|
Chris Bernard
|
Ephraim Olani
|
Randall Guilford
|
Susanne Pfeil
|
Francis Mark
|
Jennifer Houston
|
Keith Henry
|
Rob Pioli
|
Rob Kacheroski
|
Rae Eden Frank
|
Karin Sabey
|
Alvine Siaka
|
G. Allen Foster
|
Gerry Tyrrell
|
Paul Eknes-Tucker
(Co-Chair)
|
|
Council Members Absent:
|
|
Andi
Coleman
|
Elliot Ramos
|
Jim Lawser (Co-Chair)
|
|
Consultants:
|
|
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Becky Kroll - CLEAR |
|
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Guests: |
|
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Elizabeth Namara |
Tommy |
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Aaron Keith Stewart |
|
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G-HAT: |
|
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Jonathan Hanft - |
Redwan Hamza – DHS |
|
Terry Davis - |
Julie Hanson Pérez
– MDH |
|
Sheila Murphy - |
Summer Martins – MDH |
|
Mary Jo Meuleners
- Hennepin County |
|
Planning Council Staff:
|
|
Wendi Kistner (minutes)
|
Tim Sullivan
|
|
|
|
Quorum Present? Yes
I.
Welcome
and Introductions; Lighting of the Candle
Paul Eknes-Tucker
called the meeting to order at
II.
Review
the March 13th Meeting Minutes and Proposed Agenda
The minutes were approved by majority
with one abstention. The proposed agenda
was approved by unanimous consent. Ama asked why there is no open forum. This is because it is an allocation meeting
and outside comments were limited in the process in July.
III.
Co-Chairs
Update
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is currently being written between the Planning Council and the Part B grantees. More information on this process will be made available later.
IV.
Staff
Report
Tim reminded Council members that Council
staff are here to answer questions and are available
to help members do the work of the Council.
If Council members need something for a meeting they should contact
Council staff at least the day before a meeting as staff are
usually not available just prior to a meeting.
This will ensure that all requested information is available.
V.
Part
A Update, Jonathan Hanft,
· MAI Application – Part A staff have received MAI application guidance. When the act was reauthorized MAI was separated out and is now on a different fiscal year. The application for MAI funds is due May 29th. Jonathan will be requesting funds to cover what the Council has already allocated which is about $220,000. This is a three-year application.
· SIDA Sin Miedo - A health education program called SIDA Sin Miedo (AIDS Without Fear) was funded with carryover money. It will be airing on May 27th TPT-17. There is a pre-release celebration on May 11th from 2-4. Contact Terry Davis to RSVP for this event.
· New Staff – Jonathan introduced Mary Jo Meuleners who is the new program contract manager.
VI.
Part
B and ADAP Update, Redwan Hamza, DHS
Part B staff are also in the process of applying for MAI funds. In the past Part B has received $25,000 per year to provide outreach services. This year they will be requesting $150,000 to target African American and Latino communities.
VII.
2006
Epidemiology Update, Summer Martins, MDH
Summer attended the meeting to give an update on the 2006 Epidemiology data. She gave a presentation entitled HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Update. Questions/Comments:
· Ama asked about anonymous testing and how their demographic information is captured. Summer said anonymous positive tests are reported but MDH can’t determine who the test belongs to until the person enters care and their information is reported to MDH. Her office tries to match anonymous tests with new diagnosis. There are fewer than 20 anonymous tests each year that can’t be matched to a person in care. Usually tests are done confidentially.
· Hazel asked if someone comes from another state and tested positive in that state how this information is recorded by MDH. Summer said when providers get a new patient MDH will work with that provider to see if that client is in their reporting system. Her office will also work with other states in the country to ensure that people are not double counted.
· Keith talked about the positive impact of MN being a name-based reporting system.
·
Keith noted that D.C.’s infection rate is about
100 per 100,000 and is higher than
·
Ephraim asked if the 5,566 includes the refugee
numbers. Summer said yes.
· Chris asked if there is any reporting of undocumented citizens. Summer said her office does not track citizenship status.
· Francis asked how the age groups are determined. CDC sets the guidelines and anyone under 13 is considered a child. Most of the infections in the 13-25 age group are in the older portion of the range.
· Randall asked in what instances assumptions are made. Summer said cases are separated by gender and race. They look at cases where they know information and apply that info to the unknown cases.
· Alvine asked how many of the African born numbers were AIDS at first diagnosis. Summer doesn’t have this information right now but will report back at the next meeting.
·
·
Chris asked if there is any tracking of
adoptions of HIV+ children. Summer said
she is not aware of any data. Ama said it is against the law for someone who is HIV+ to
move to the
· Tim asked if there are records of negative tests. Summer said besides her office’s testing sites they are not receiving negative test results. This information could be looked at but isn’t.
· The Council discussed AIDS at first diagnosis/AIDS within one year of HIV diagnosis and how getting people access to care earlier can make an impact on these diagnoses.
·
VIII.
Committee
Reports
A document entitled Committee Report Summaries was
distributed.
·
Community Voice – no additional update
·
Executive –
o
Allocations Proposal – Paul reminded
Council members that everyone needs to be aware of their conflict of interest and only Council
members should be participating in the discussion of allocating money. The guidelines used for the August 2006
allocation process will be used for this discussion. Paul reviewed these guidelines with Council
members. Jonathan presented the grantee
proposal on how to spend extra grant funds.
The Part A supplemental award has not been received so actual dollar
amounts will not be final until this is received. Jonathan walked Council members through
documents entitled: Allocation
Justifications; Year 12 (FY 2007)
Post – Award Allocations; Allocations
by Grantee. Even though Part A
received the waiver of the 75/25 core medical services requirement the Council
still needs to make sure that a good portion of the grant award is spent on
core medical services since the waiver will be harder to get in future
years. Questions/Comments:
§
Randall asked why no money was allocated to
Capacity Development. This is because no
money was allocated to these services in August and instead, historically, carryover
funds have been used to fund Capacity Development. Randall thinks this is a huge area of
transmission among high risk populations and shouldn’t be overlooked. Keith said
§
G. Allen asked why such a small amount of money
was allocated to Culturally Appropriate (CA) Health Education/Risk Reduction
when there is a disproportionate infection rate of Latinos. Jonathan said CA funds are allocated to ensure
money is being spent on CA clients. In
addition to these funds regular service funds are spent on services that go to
minority populations in a culturally appropriate way. Gerry asked if MDH prevention money goes to
this as well. Julie said prevention
money is spent on Latino men and women with two pools of money
respectively.
§
Rae stated concern that the $33,000 allocation
to Case Management isn’t enough.
Jonathan said the $33,000 is in addition to the proportional increase
Case Management will receive. The total
will be about $65,000-$75,000.
§
Gerry asked why such a large increase is being
given to Benefits Counseling. Redwan and
Jonathan said the increase will be used to fund a program to give information
to clients wanting to re-enter the workforce without fear of losing
benefits.
§
MOTION:
·
Ephraim cited Summer’s
presentation that Africans have special needs when services are provided to
them. Most of the allocation proposal is
not specific to the African-born population.
In August there was a recommendation made that if funds were available
they should be allocated to African-born populations. By allocating money to African-born populations
it will help remove barriers to care and services. Ephraim stated his conflict of interest as an
African specific service provider. AMENDMENT: Ephraim offered an amendment
that $65,000 be allocated to fund 1.0 FTE case manager and $90,000 be allocated
to transportation and should be allocated to a program that will target
African-born populations. Ama made a second.
Ephraim is for this amendment because his agency is not receiving funds
from the state to provide Case Management (CM) services to their clients. Transportation money was allocated to
non-African specific agencies where African’s don’t go. Rae does not support this amendment because
it is not the role of the Council to fund target populations or programs. It is up to the grantee to decide what
populations and agencies should be funded.
Jonathan said right now there is not time to RFP the extra CM and
currently funded agencies will use the allocated money. There will be an RFP in 2008 and 2009. Ama has concern
that Transportation money is being given to agencies where African populations
are not utilizing services. She would
like to see a sole-source funding. Tim
said the Council cannot tell the grantee where to spend the money. Keith said the CM allocation has gone up
substantially and thinks the money already allocated is sufficient. Randall thinks there may be services like
this that already exist. FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: Randall offered a
friendly amendment that a recommendation be made to
the grantees that some existing CM and Transportation money be earmarked for
African-born populations and there should be collaboration with other agencies
already offering these services. Ephraim
accepted this friendly amendment. Karin
told the Council that DHS is offering an $80,000 CM RFP for special
populations. Julie provided data that in
2006 of the 349 African-born clients in the state, 111 accessed Transportation
and 102 were in CM. The amendment
passed.
·
Susanne asked for clarification on MAI
funding. Jonathan said that the proposal
on the table covers all previously allocated MAI services. MAI services will not be discontinued at this
point.
·
Francis wanted to know if all clients applying
for Emergency Financial Assistance (EFA) funds received their full amount of
$320 last grant year. At this point
Jonathan is not aware of any client who did not receive their full amount of
$320 because of funding shortages. AMENDMENT: Rob made a recommendation
that the $30,000 increase be removed.
Francis made a second. Rob is for
the amendment because the data cited for the increase at the May 7th
meeting was for a high usage month and did not accurately reflect overall usage. All clients who apply for EFA funds receive
these services during the grant year.
Susanne is against the amendment because she personally has applied for
EFA funds and has been turned down.
Gerry is for the amendment because there are a lot of people who need
the money but there are also those who see it as “free” money. He does not see it as money well spent. The motion failed with a vote of 12-6.
·
AMENDMENT:
Gerry made an amendment that $70,000 be added to Substance Abuse to fund a rule 25 assessor
that will be accessible to all case managers.
Ama made a second. Gerry is for the amendment because the
NA&E committee is looking at four systems and this will help to remove
barriers set in place by the current system.
Karin is against the amendment because the timing is bad but thinks it
is a good idea and should be looked at in 2008.
The motion failed with a vote of 8-9 with two abstentions.
·
AMENDMENT:
Randall made an amendment to add $2000 to Capacity Development. Mike made a second. Randall is for the amendment because there
are barriers in the jail system.
·
With no further amendments offered, Paul called
the question. The motion as amended passed
with 16 in favor.
·
MOTION: Ama made a motion that any increase in the Part A Supplemental award be applied proportionately to all funded
activities. Karin seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
o
Bylaws Addenda Revisions – The bylaws
addenda were presented at the April meeting but were sent back to the
Operations committee for further consideration.
There were no changes made to the addenda since April. MOTION:
Francis made a motion to approve the bylaws addenda as presented. Alvine seconded the
motion. The motion passed
unanimously.
·
Membership & Training – no additional
update
·
Needs Assessment & Evaluation – no additional
update
·
Operations – no additional update
·
Planning & Priorities – no
additional update
IX.
Unfinished
Business
None
X.
Announcements
and Evaluation
None
Meeting Adjourned at
Meeting Summary:
·
Part A and B Grantee staff are
currently working on the MAI application that is due May 29th. This is a three-year application.
·
Summer gave a presentation on the 2006
epidemiological data that was released last month by MDH.
·
APPROVED:
The allocation proposal was approved as presented with a friendly amendment
that some of the Case Management and Transportation funds will be earmarked for
use with the African-born community and there will be collaboration with
already funded providers to make sure these services are delivered
appropriately. All other amendments failed.
·
APPROVED:
If there is an increase in the Part A supplemental award it will be divided
up proportionately among the currently funded service areas.
·
APPROVED:
The bylaws addenda were approved.
Documents
Distributed Before the Meeting:
·
Agenda
·
Minutes from April 10 meeting
Documents
Distributed At the Meeting:
· HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Update
· Committee Report Summaries
·
Allocation Justifications
·
Year 12 (FY 2007) Post – Award Allocations
·
Allocations by Grantee
WK/tds