NORC Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Conference call held on April 4, 2008
In attendance:
| Attendees | Representing | Anita Altman | Gov't and External Affairs, UJA Federation of NY, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Anschell Weiss, PhD | Consultant/ Resident of the JFS NENY Neighborhood NORC |
| Ellen O'Connor | Fairport Baptist- observed and provided comment, but not a member |
| Fredda Vladeck | Aging in Place Initiative, United Hospital Fund |
| John Krout, PhD | Gerontology Inst. and Prof. of Gerontology, Ithaca College |
| Joseph Pofit | Long Term Care Campuses and Senior Housing, Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany |
| Ken Harris | NYAHSA Ctr for Senior Living and Community Services |
| Mary Kanerva | Aging & Adult Service, Catholic Family Center |
| Natalie Gordon | Member of AARP National Policy Council and AARP Board of Directors |
| Rick Iannello | Albany Guardian Society |
| Richard Leavitt | Resident of Fairport Baptist NNORC |
| Ronald Soloway | Gov't and External Relations, UJA- Federation of NY, Inc. |
| T. Franklin Williams, MD | Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry |
| Michael J. Burgess | NYSOFA |
| Tim Kovarik | NYSOFA |
| Cyndy Marshall | NYSOFA |
| Donna DiCarlo | NYSOFA |
| Eileen Griffin | NYSOFA |
| Gail Myers | NYSOFA |
| Larry Shapiro | NYSOFA |
| Marcus Harazin | NYSOFA |
| Absent from the call: | |
| Marianne Fahs | Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging and Longevity |
| Stephanie Pinder | Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center, Inc. |
| Eileen Mullarkey | Long Term Care, Dept. for the Aging, NYC |
| Joseph Cybulski | Rensselaer Unified Family Services Dept. of Aging |
1) Minutes from the prior Advisory meeting on March 7th were accepted.
2) Larry Shapiro informed all committee members that the United Hospital Fund 's Health Indicators Project report has been submitted to NYSOFA and anyone wanting a copy should e-mail Eileen Griffin.
3) Cyndy Marshall explained that NYSOFA has decided to collect data on the currently funded NORC-SSP and NNORC programs in order to make any further decisions about possible changes in legislation. A few members of the committee had e-mailed comments and after further review the conclusion was to collect data about percentage of households, numbers of actual residents age 60 and similar information about existing NORCs/NNORCs. NYSOFA is developing a process for gathering this data and it will be used to move this dialogue forward to proposed requirements that are satisfactory to most, and serve the needs of senior adults aging in place in communities. Fredda Vladeck provided comment that some of the information could be found in data collected of the 20 state funded programs in the Health Indicators project. Anschel Weiss suggested that it may be helpful if the research was also done on what NNORC communities include senior centers. Cyndy explained that NYSOFA also plans to find out from NYC -DFTA about how they concluded changing the percentage to 45 percent. Fredda suggested contacting Karen Taylor at DFTA for that information.
4) Waiver of Match-
- Anita Altman provided background about why match requirements were developed for programs. Encouraging the partnership between the program and the housing entity is important for the 'buy in' of the program. The housing entity also has accountability to the program. Fredda added this changed the dynamics from a referral relationship between the program and the housing entity, to an invested partner.
- In the NNORC model the investment with the community is critical since it takes more than a grant to run a strong program. Ron Solloway provided input about how the NNORC legislation was developed with no percentage in the first year of funding, and staggering amounts as the years follow was a best estimate of what the programs should do. He related that perhaps it should be reviewed to determine if the percentages are set at appropriate levels.
- Eileen Griffin explained the documents and charts that were provided for the call regarding match. Review of the match criteria and percentage needed for each NORC-SSP and NNORC were reviewed. NORC-SSP is required to raise 100% match, with 25% from the housing entity. NNORC has no match requirement in the first year of funding, 15% in the second, 25% in the third, 40% in the fourth, and 50% in the fifth year; and with a further commitment that in each year, 25% of such required matching funds be raised within the community served. Also reviewed that the Director of NYSOFA can grant waivers if the programs can prove hardship or low income communities. Those definitions were discussed and will need further review, i.e. why can a low income community be excused from not raising match when they may be able to get community partners to provide? In looking at the NNORC chart there were eight of seventeen programs asking for a waiver of match. Four of those programs have difficulty raising some of all of the 25% from within the community served. Discussion took place about what is "within the community served"; can it include an area from outside the catchment area? The NORC-SSP chart support that less programs have issues, with 4 of the 7 program asking for only a waiver of source since the housing entities are low income municipal housing that cannot provide match.
- Several members of the committee asked questions about what NYSOFA considers as match, and what is not. An example was that JFS of NENY (Albany NNORC) held a community wide event and provided a" service" and NYSOFA did not allow those funds as match. NYSOFA currently has as a policy that match must be a cash outlay, and not in-kind. Many concerns were raised about consistency between what has been accepted as match and what has not. NYSOFA staff responded that this policy will be reviewed and changes will be considered.
- Cyndy discussed that plans for review of match requirements for NYSOFA will include
- the match policy, and what is allowable as match or not ( in-kind)
- determination of "community served"
- requirements as per statue
- percentages of match to be appropriate according to the development of the program
5) Budget-
Mike Burgess explained that due to Legislative proposed budget cuts NYSOFA needs to submit a budget with a 2% cut across most programs. There would be a $44,000 cut from both NORC-SSP and NNORC programs. Mike expressed regret that the cuts are proposed and mentioned that the Targeted EISEP program which was a new imitative to keep nursing home vulnerable seniors in their homes, was cut from the budget at this time.
Ron asked if recommendations made from the committee could include a budget recommendation to demonstrate what a successful model program needs. This would increase the awareness of what it takes to run a program and what it would take to expand programs. Ken Harris also agreed with this proposed task. Gail Myers mentioned that the committee would need to recommend in a way that it is clear that members of the committee's agencies and interests are not profiting, but it is done as a function of how the Advisory Committee can make recommendations so the NORC-SSP and NNORC programs will be enhanced.
The next meeting of the NORC Advisory Committee was not scheduled at this time. Cyndy explained that since data needs to be collected the committee will reconvene after this task has been completed so the members have all the information needed to go forward with discussion and consideration.