FREE TRAINING

JULY 14
11:00 AM- 1:00 PM
SAN SABA CIVIC CENTER

TCLEOSE & CEUs

PROTECTIVE ORDERS, EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE ORDERS, SEXUAL ASSAULT PROTECTIVE ORDERS
&
THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF TRAUMA

INSTRUCTORS:
WENDE HILSENROD (TAASA)
&
HEATHER BUSBY (TAP)

Sponsored by the San Saba Domestic Violence Task Force (SSDVTF) and City of San Saba Dove Project

June Meeting

Please join us:

June 9
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
City Hall Council Chambers
303 South Clear Street
San Saba, Texas

May Minutes

Minutes

San Saba Domestic Violence Task Force

May 12, 2009

The TaskForce met at noon at the Dove Project. In attendance were Brenna Troncoso, Charles Carter, Danna Smith, Lexie Wiley, Sabrina Maultsby, Georgia Harris, Melissa Switzer, and Adella.

Minutes of the April meeting were read by Adella. Brenna made a motion to approve and Charles seconded.

Old Business – A brief discussion of the Community Plan and the involvement of the Task Force in future Planning meetings.

Georgia stated that she will be working on a short term housing grant to serve victims of domestic violence through the Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs. She also stated the Dove Project was in a financial crisis right now. Sabrina’s position has not been funded for 6 months and Georgia’s funding ends on Jun 30. However, the Attorney General’s office through whom we receive VOCA funding has asked all DV Projects to extend their funding for 2 months and in exchange they would only pay for 40% of our expenses. Georgia and Sabrina will be meeting with Stan Weik, City Manager on Friday to determine whether the Dove Project will remain open until new funding is received. Regardless, Georgia stated that the Dove Project would try to maintain a volunteer base and some core services.

Discussion was had of the evolution of the Task Force toward a more inclusive, broader-based community approach to providing services to families. The idea of having a tri-county, quarterly interagency meeting was also discussed, either under the auspices of the SSDVTF or in some other form. It was generally agreed that this might be a good idea. Georgia noted that the Dove Project has been providing services predominately to domestic violence victims but that it is also mandated by the Governor’s Office Criminal Justice Division to provide a wholistic approach to restoring the victim to a full mental, emotional, and physical state, which implies services broader than those having to do directly with domestic violence.

Danna had contacted the school about a presentation about Teen Dating Violence. Georgia met with Ms. Pannell at the High School and a program will be presented on Monday morning at 8 a.m. in the new gymnasium.

A back to school Children’s Health and Safety Fair is planned for July 31 at the Civic Center. Georgia handed out a draft of a request for sponsors and booths. After discussion and input from Melissa and others, it was determined that we should look for and find a primary/main sponsor for the fair rather than set a specific amount for a number of smaller sponsors. Georgia will meet with the Chamber of Commerce first to get a list of potential supporters. Adella and Danna will work with Georgia in the planning of the fair. It was suggested that we also get out a notice to all service providers about having a booth and to students by May 28.

Future Meetings:

June:

Nancy Watson, Regional Director, Congressman K. Michael Conaway

July (11:00 AM - 1 PM, San Saba Civic Center):

Free Sexual Assault PO, EPO, PO, & Neurobiology of Trauma Training - TCLEOSE and CEU's available

August:

Legal Advocates Network training on legislative updates, etc.

The May meeting ran late and adjourned about 1:45 PM.

Save the Date - San Saba Health & Safety Fair

Save the Date! San Saba Health & Safety Fair to be held July 31st, 10 AM - 2 PM. Details to follow.

April Minutes, May to Follow

Minutes – April 14, 2009

San Saba Domestic Violence Task Force

San Saba Senior Center

The meeting began at noon. In attendance were Penny Starks Williams, Danna Smith, Georgia Harris, Linda Mixon, and Melissa Switzer.

Old Business:

Georgia explained that she withdrew the federal grant she was working on for transitional housing. There were several reasons but the most motivating was that the Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs were getting ready to post a state grant that would be even more beneficial in that it would not only help families in the shelter get their rent and utilities paid for 3 months but it would allow clients whose abuser was in jail stay in their own homes by paying their rent and utilities.

Brenna has the proposed letter for a $10,000 grant to assist the Task Force ready but is waiting on 3 letters of support from San Saba to attach to it.

New Business:

The Central Texas Council of Governments has given the go ahead for each county in their COG to receive $67,000 for equipment for law enforcement. However, the Community Plan has to be amended to spell out specifically the need. Georgia stated that since the plan was going to be amended she also wanted to make sure that short term transitional housing money was included.

Georgia reported that plans are underway for a health fair to be held on a Friday, July 31, for a back-to-school health and safety fair. She will be sending out information and an invitation for other organizations to participate. The goal is to raise community awareness of programs available to children and their families and to provide school supplies at each booth that has an activity.

Next meeting is scheduled for May 12 from 11:30 – 1:00pm. We will meet at the Dove Project, 2005 West Wallace Suite 5.

FYI

San Saba featured in Texas Hill Country Magazine, Winter 2008. Read article, here.

March Minutes

March 10, 2009

SSDVTF

San Saba, Texas

Those present were Georgia Harris, Jennifer Fleming (CVC Coordinator), Danna Smith, Patricia Trichel, Melissa Pressley, Sabrina Maultsby, Melissa Switzer, Linda Mixon (guest speaker), Brenna Troncoso, and various Survivors.

Linda Mixon, Center Director for Hill Country Community Action Senior Center, spoke about programs and services (such as weatherization services) that could be offered and made available to victims and survivors of family violence, as well as to others who qualify. The motto is "Helping people, Changing Lives". Ms. Mixon said, for example, in addition to weatherization, they are able to assist clients with energy assistance (i.e., utility bills). She also invited the Task Force to have its meetings occasionally at the Senior Center, where lunch is served. Georgia Harris said she would poll members to see if we might want to have our next meeting there.

Jennifer Fleming, CVC Coordinator with the County Attorney's Office, also spoke briefly about her role and duties. Ideas were discussed for projects for National Crime Victims Week, April 26 - May 2. Nothing was decided. Patricia, however, volunteered to assist as needed.

Brenna has prepared the letter of interest for the Hope Grant that would give the Task Force up to $10,000. This is on hold until 3 letters of support can be obtained from member agencies. Information about the grant and letters of support can be found, here.

BT also reported on the Trafficking Training held on March 6 and recommended that the Dove Project and other interested agencies look into the Trafficking Coalition being formed in Waco. Sexual violence, particularly with links to organized crime, is becoming more prevalent in rural areas.

Georgia stated that she had talked to the school and reports that none of the gyms are available for the health fair on July 25th -- she will look into other options, such as the civic center.

Meeting adjourned.

February Meeting & Minutes

We had one of our best and most productive meetings yet in February. Thank you to all.

Minutes

San Saba Domestic Violence Task Force

February 10, 2009

The monthly meeting of the task force was held at the Dove Project. Persons signing in were, as follows: Georgia Harris, Dove Project; Tonnie Robbins and Charles Carter, Legal Aid of Northwest Texas; Patricia Trichel; Survivors and Volunteers; Lindy Schulz, legal advocate/volunteer; Cathie Lehman, Universal Child Abuse Specialist, New Horizons; Danna Smith, DHHS- Children with special health-care needs; Brenna Troncoso, American Gateways; Tim Inman, San Saba County Attorney; and Dwayne Shaw, San Saba Police Department.

Introductions were followed by a reading of the minutes of the January 13, 2009 meeting by Brenna Troncoso. A motion to approve the minutes as read was made by Lindy and seconded by Danna.

Agency Updates:

Dove Project - The City Council did approve non-profit status and the task force helped with the food bank, which comes to town on the 4th Wednesday of every month.

Legal Aid - Has had a slow down in the amount of services they've been able to provide due to the holidays and an audit. They are also without a CEO. They are still coming to San Saba once a month, however, to provide free legal clinics. They have identified a need to improve pro bono representation in San Saba.

Tim Inman - The new County Attorney for San Saba, was welcomed and stated that either he or the Crime Victim Coordinator would be attending the task force meetings. He stated that his goal is to have a zero tolerance for domestic violence in San Saba County. If, for example, a 911 call is made and law enforcement responds and someone is arrested, that person is going through the court system. People need to know the consequences of their actions and also need to know that a second conviction is a felony. The notion of "call and cancel" is no longer viable. The objective is to go forward on all cases. Georgia asked that he consider the model that other communities have adopted in that persons wishing to drop charges or wanting to move forward with an affidavit of non-prosecution would have to go through a class or some counseling on domestic violence and then it would be up to the County Attorney as to whether he will dismiss the case. Lindy felt this would be something she as a legal advocate could certainly assist with. Mr. Inman said that we really need an updated resource list to which city and county offices could refer.

Danna suggested a community resource guide.

Mr. Inman also offered that we need to focus on the victims, including secondary victims and not just on the abuser. The task force then had a good discussion on this topic and the community resource guide, suggesting amongst other things that parents need to be informed and aware (and not in denial) of how family violence affects their children. The notion was explored, with regard to juveniles, of making the parent(s) more accountable as well. For all of these ideas, we all need a better idea of the resources available in and to the county.

Discussion was also had on the state of law enforcement's handing out of family violence materials at the scene of a family violence incident, as discussed at the San Saba Community Planning meeting. There needs to be follow-up and follow-through with law enforcement on this, both City and County.

Legal Aid asked about the procedure for protective orders in San Saba and whether an arrest was needed. Answer: yes.

Mr. Inman stated that with regard to family violence the city and county were working well together.

Grants:

Georgia reported that the Rural Domestic Violence Grant to the Office of Violence against Women was submitted on February 4 and that if it was successful it would provide San Saba, Mills, McCulloch and Llano county law enforcement with the ability to put victims in hotels until a DV case worker or victim assistant could develop a safety plan for them. It would also provide persons in rural areas with telephone counseling with a licensed counselor when transportation was not available. It would also provide officers with laptops for their vehicles to access information more quickly regarding protective orders, etc.

Brenna has been working on a grant that would provide up to $10,000 for the work of the task force. The grant would be used for developing a Victim Assistance Team, training, and outreach. She stated that she would include development of a resource guide into the request for monies.

Georgia said that she has a grant proposal on her desk for a supervised visitation grant through the OVW that is due February 19. Mr. Inman felt this grant would be helpful especially given the new focus on zero tolerance for DV, which might generate a greater need for supervised visitation. Georgia said that the Dove Project is providing services to four families right now, and there is need for assistance with the supervised visits.

Danna asked the County Attorney whether visitation could be conditioned upon payment of child support. Answer: No. One cannot condition visitation on child support.

Tonnie said she would get information to Georgia regarding the "Meet in the Middle" program in San Angelo.

Statistics:

The Sheriff's Office was unable to provide statistics.

The Dove Project passed out their recent 6 month report showing that 153 victims, both primary and secondary had been served. The goal for the year was 175, and Georgia feels that number will soon be surpassed.

2009 Calendar of Events:

Dates for future events were discussed. It was determined that we would try to do something for Crime Victims week. Mr. Inman said his office would provide resources to work on that. He would like Jennifer Flemming, the Crime Victims Coordinator in his office, to work on this per her grant.

Georgia stated that school starts on the last Monday in August and that she would like to see a Health and Safety fair held that would encourage public and private agencies to have a booth with information about resources available and that perhaps we could incorporate a free school supply at each booth after the family had received information. Several present felt July 25 would be a good date.

Brenna said the date for a conference/training could be sometime in October, if that's what the task force wanted to do. She also stated the task force needed to decide 1) if it wanted to move forward on this or wait until grant funds came in and 2) whether it wanted the training to be a traditional training or whether San Saba wanted to establish an annual conference and policy-making event for the region.

Other topics:

Georgia stated that on Feb. 20 the Dove Project was going to be hosting their annual survivor's seminar/training. The theme for this year is "Taking Control of Your Future".

Meeting adjourned, 1:30 PM.

Reminder - Next Meeting

Save the date. We have a lot of work to do and issues to address. The next meeting of the SSDVTF will be held:

Tuesday
February 10, 2009
12:00-1:00 PM
Bring your Lunch, 11:30 - noon
The Dove Project

Dove Project's Non-profit Status

The bylaws and articles of incorporation for the Dove Project's 501(c)(3) status were approved by the City Council. Read the the article in the San Saba News & Star, here.

January Meeting

San Saba Domestic Violence Task Force
January 13, 2009

Persons in attendance were Sabrina Maultsby, Cathie Lehman, Missy King, Danna Smith, Brenna Troncoso, Georgia Harris, and Sheriff Allen Brown.

No minutes were available (at the time) for the November meeting. No meeting was held in December.

There was discussion of priorities for 2009 -- One of which was to ensure better data reporting for San Saba County, particularly with regard to stats on domestic violence cases as they happen. Sheriff Brown stated that he would provide monthly statistics and the Dove Project said they too would provide statistics to the task force. The Sheriff's Office also stated that it would keep abreast of making sure the actual paperwork and inputting of data takes place.

Another priority discussed was trainings, with discussion of the types of training and time frames for future training opportunities, particularly for law enforcement. Sheriff Brown said that he would like to be involved in determining those trainings and would work on scheduling. Missy King stressed the need to focus on and follow-through with goals and objectives and maintaining task force minutes. Brenna Troncoso seconded that and remarked on the need to continue with structure and organization on a broader, task force level if we are to be successful and long-lived: agendas, minutes, and proposals for all major projects. Brenna will work on a proposal for a conference later in the year.

Another priority discussed was funding (see below re non-profit status and OVW grant).

Next month we will discuss the calendar year and decide on potential dates for various events.

Georgia Harris stated that the Dove Project would like to be a part of a children's safety/health fair as part of a back to school activity before school starts. She felt that incorporating supplies into the fair would increase attendance and give many organizations an opportunity to do outreach to kids and their parents. The date for that will also be set at next month's meeting.

Another goal for the Dove Project was to do something regarding assisting the school with regard to teen dating violence. Missy King with the Central Texas Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse asked where we were with that. We had a fledgling group of teens last year but due to some problems with leadership nothing more had been done. Danna Smith agreed to contact the high school superintendent about the possibility of meeting with the consumer sciences teacher and with the school counselor. Georgia and Cathie expressed an interest in being a part of that meeting.

Georgia gave an up-date on the status of the Dove Project seeking 501(c)(3) non-profit status. The resolution and the bylaws and articles of incorporation are ready to present to the City Council on January 19, authorizing the establishment of the Dove Project as a non-profit organization of the City of San Saba. The current board members will be Chief of Police Ray Riggs, Sheriff Allen Brown, victim advocate Lindy Schulz, Brenna Troncoso of American Gateways (formerly the Political Asylum Project of Austin), and Stan Weik, City Manager. Having non-profit status will broaden the Dove Project's ability to access money from private foundations.

Georgia stated that we need to revisit getting the grant for our task force from OVW. Brenna said she would work on that. Also, Georgia and Sabrina are working on a grant through OVW for Rural Domestic Violence Programs that is due Feb. 4.

The next meeting is scheduled for February 10, 2009. Meeting adjourned.

Minutes November 2008

San Saba Domestic Violence Taskforce

November 10, 2009

The Taskforce met at the Dove Project. In attendance were Allen Brown, Danna Smith, Missy King, Georgia Harris, Brenna Troncoso, Lindy Shulz, Sabrina Maultsby, Tonnie Robbins, Charles Carter and Deborah Keith.

Agency updates were given by Deborah for the Children’s Advocacy Project and Brenna for PAPA. Brenna shared that Political Asylum Project has a new name “American Gateways.”

Allen Brown, the new sheriff-elect gave an overview of what his plans and goals were for the Sheriff’s department.

Georgia reported that the Dove Project failed to receive one of the two grants they get from the Governor’s office, Criminal Justice Division. She said that attorney Tommy Adams had offered to help with the paperwork of getting non-profit status for the Dove Project filed. She hopes to be able to get the city to agree to allow the Dove Project to be a non-profit agency within city government and that we would have our own board of directors. This would enable us to seek funding from private foundations that require 501c3 non-profit status.

Brenna and Lindy gave an update on the domestic violence conference in Dallas. They had received a full scholarship for the conference fee and hotel to attend.

The San Saba Community Plan is scheduled for Nov. 20, 2008 and items that we wanted to include were discussed.

The meeting was adjourned about 1pm. Next meeting will be scheduled for the 2nd Tuesday in December. However, with the holidays upon us the meeting may be changed.