City of Aurora Advisory Commission on Disabilities met April 11.
Here are the minutes provided by the commission:
CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Janine McDonough called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm
ROLL CALL: Janine McDonough, Sean Williams, Elana Newkirk and Sandra Harrison via Zoom
Others Present: Behati Hart, Alexandra Engelhardt, Arlisia Dockery, David Givens, Amy Zabel, Deborah Dillary and Edward Walker
OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: To have a physical quorum a vote was taken to approve that Sandra Harrison attend the meeting via Zoom.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Sean Williams made a motion to approve the minutes. Elana Newkirk seconded. Minutes were approved.
PUBLIC COMMENT: NONE
GOALS: The board discussed having four individual subcommittees for the specific areas the commission will be focusing on. Elana Newkirk made a motion to establish the four subcommittees. Sean Williams seconded. Motion carried.
RESOURCE FAIR: Sean Williams reports that Katrina Boatright is checking to see if the Vaughn Center will be available as a possible location to once again host the fair. Preferably the field house due to it being ideal for the amount of space and room needed. Sean Williams expressed looking at the month of October to host the fair, especially with October being Disability Awareness Month.
RECRUITING of BOARD COMMISSIONERS: Chairperson Janine McDonough reported that ten applicants were invited to attend either the April or May meeting. Janine will also be reaching out to the applicants to seek their interest in potentially serving on one or more of the four subcommittees. Once we have enough members will submit a request for those who may be interested in serving as the chairperson for a particular subcommittee.
LISTENING TOUR: Sandra Harrison advises the dates have been scheduled. Still trying to get the partnership list confirmed. Trying to be very strategic in getting the word out as well. A couple of the schools within the districts know about the tour. A.I.D has been added to the May 17th date.
CITY REPORT: Behari Hart spoke more about the Listening Tour. She also spoke about the City of Lights Financial Empowerment Center located at 712 South River Street, Aurora. They provide free one-on-one high quality professional financial counseling to low and moderate income residents of Aurora.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Sandra Harrison will be participating in Dancing with Our Stars - Simply Destinee for Suicide Prevention on May 12th at Gaslight Manor. She will be dancing with an 11 year old. Anyone interested in purchasing tickets for the event, which are $35 each, should reach out to Sandra directly.
Janine McDonough advised that Lexi Masterson from Fox Valley Special Recreation will be participating in the Listening Tour. Janine spoke to Dave Breen from Special Olympics eSports, which currently is all virtual, and presented to him the possibility of holding in person events here in Aurora. This could hopefully get our name out there as well.
Janine McDonough spoke to Jennifer Wisnewski from Fox Valley Special Recreation about a Sensory Tent for events and the Soothing Initiative.
ADJOURNMENT: A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Sean Williams. Elana Newkirk seconded. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned at 6:16 pm.
https://www.aurora-il.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_04112022-2870
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