In attendance:

Housing: Katie Gibbs, Community Foundation and community volunteer, Scott Maidrand, Northern Circle Indian Housing Authority, Megan Allende, Mendocino Community Foundation, Chloe Guazzone, Anderson Valley Health Clinic, Jessica Johnson, Redwood Community Services

Poverty: Waldi Helma, Mendocino County HHSA, Julie Beardsley, Mendocino County Public Health, Julie Fetherston, Healthy Mendocino, Heather Gurewitz, Economic Development and Financing Corporation

Childhood Obesity and Family Wellness: Megan Cavalli, First 5 Mendocino, Neil Davis, Walk and Bike Mendocino, Cici Winiger, AH Howard Memorial, Tiffany Gibson, AH Ukiah Valley, Giselle Delotch, Redwood Valley Rancheria

Childhood Trauma: Lily Caravello, Mendocino County HHSA, Natasha Carter, Mendocino County School District, Samantha Bond, First 5 Mendocino, Roseanne Ibarra, First 5 Mendocino, Megan Van Sant, Mendocino County HHSA

Mental Health: Natasha Carter, MCOE, Michelle Rich, Community Foundation, Melinda Driggers, Mendocino County BHRS, Lynn Scuri, Partnership Health Plan, Joanna Olson, Mendocino County Youth Project, Marvin Trotter, AH Ukiah Valley, Bonnie Boek, First 5 Mendocino

Others: Barbara Bloom, MCOE SELPA, Miranda Villalebes, ARC FRC, and Maria Avalos, ARC FRC, Patrice Mascolo, Healthy Mendocino, Julie Fetherston, Healthy Mendocino

On Wednesday, November 7^th, 25 representatives from the five Inland Action teams gathered together for their Fall summit. The purpose of the day was threefold: 1) to continue to build relationships within and across teams, 2) to learn about Health in All Policies and 3) to consider how a similar model may help break down the artificial silos of the teams to create systems change that help each team reach their goals.

“Health in All Policies is a collaborative approach to improving the health of all people by incorporating health considerations into decision-making across sectors and policy areas.” – Health in All Policies Report, PHI

Patrice introduced the day, welcoming all participants and thanking them for their time and commitment to improving health and wellness in Mendocino County. She then introduced the new Inland Action Team Coordinator Julie Fetherston. Julie led the group in a brief mindfulness exercise. Patrice then introduced Julia Caplan from Public Health Institute who gave a presentation on Health in All Policies.

In other words, big complex social issues cannot be tackled by one agency or one program. The Health in All Policies approach is a framework for communities to tackle large complex social issues, such as family wellness, and use a common vision to change the way we do business.  Originally, HIAP were designed specifically for the public sector, getting large public agencies to break down silos and use a more integrated approach, it was quickly adopted by the non-profit organizations that work in conjunction with government to address the social determinants of health. For example, when a city transportation department is planning new street construction, they think about it not just as a corridor for auto transport but for human transport, movement, and safety. Thinking about having wide sidewalks for walking, a biking lane and a well lite street will allow community members to make healthy choices for movement.

In Mendocino County, we sometimes can feel overwhelmed with the scale of issues we are trying to tackle and the limited resources we have available to address them. The Health in All Policies lens is just one way to help us think creatively about small collaborative solutions that may help catalyze change beyond the scope of our individual programs or organizations.

To brainstorm how HIAP might augment the work we are currently doing, we did two rounds of breakout sessions: the first session had representatives from each team sit together at a table. Each person had just a few minutes to tell the group what their team was doing, either projects they had completed or projects that needed more support to get off the ground. The mix subject teams then had 20 minutes to brainstorm how the Health in All Policies approach might strengthen a project from one of the teams.

The second breakout session had teams convening in their own groups. The goal was to take a project and use the Health in All Policies framework to brainstorm new ways that the project could be improved, strengthened or made more sustainable using the following three questions as prompts for the exploration;

1. How can this program/project/goal be strengthened for deeper or wider impact?
2. What organization, individuals or agencies need to be at the table to achieve this goal?
3. What can you/your organization do to move this forward?
   

At the end of the meeting, we had each group share one idea and one action item that came out of their sessions.

It was interesting to see the range of how the groups approached this exercise. Some groups found the concept of Health in All Policies to be difficult to apply to their current projects, others felt that they were figuring out their next projects and were not ready to consider cross sector policy ideas. We hope that this introduction to Health in all Policies was helpful and that the teams continue to consider both small intra-agency changes (eg. breastfeeding friendly workplace policy as part of a campaign to reduce childhood obesity and improve wellness) and larger inter-agency policies (eg. creating a healthy food procurement toolkit and policy for all county food purchasing). Health happens where we live, work and play, and collaboration across all sectors will help us work together to create healthy communities.

In attendance:

Housing: Elizabeth Swenson, Gordon Barbosa, Lesli Langslet, Dan Gjerde, Dorine Real

Childhood Trauma: Ali Corzano, Jade Aldrich, Alex O’Malley, Wade Gray

Mental Health: Frank Menhams

South Coast: No one could attend the summit.

Others: Thaïs Mazur, Healthy Mendocino, Patrice Mascolo, Healthy Mendocino, Julie Fetherston, Healthy Mendocino, Anna Shaw, MCHC, Donna Schuler, County Health and Human Services

The Coast Action Team Summit took place in Fort Bragg Town Hall on November 15, 2018. This was the first time participants from all of the Coast Action Teams have had a chance to meet each other and participate in a discussion about their goals, objectives, and projects.

 The Agenda covered the following: 

• Welcome and Introduction
• “Health in All Policies: Nuts and Bolts”:
  Julia Caplan, Public Health Institute, California Health in All Policies Task Force
• Report Out from Action Teams:
  Sharing team strategies, looking for opportunities for policy collaboration

• Action Team breakout session:
  Sharing new ideas and next step

The evening began with an introduction from Thaïs Mazur, followed by Patrice Mascolo thanking the Action Team members on the coast for their time and commitment to improving health and wellness in Mendocino County.  She then presented a talk by Julia Caplan from Public Health Institute on Health In All Policies. It was a recorded session and unfortunately technological difficulties did not allow the attendees to watch Caplan’s entire talk.

Inland Action Team Coordinator Julie Fetherston summed up Caplan’s presentation:

Big complex social issues cannot be tackled by one agency or one program. The Health in All Policies approach is a framework for communities to tackle large complex social issues, such as family wellness, and use a common vision to change the way we do business. Originally, HIAP was designed specifically for the public sector, getting large public agencies to break down silos and use a more integrated approach, it was quickly adopted by the non-profit organizations that work in conjunction with government to address the social determinants of health.

ACTION TEAMS REPORT OUT

The report out from Action Teams provided updates on current projects and community outreach strategies that have happened and are planned for the future.

Housing Action Team

Elizabeth Swenson from Housing Action Team reported on the team’s Second Unit Workshop held October 25, 2018. Over 178 residents attended the workshop with standing room only at the Fort Bragg Town Hall. The workshop was designed to support the goals of the Housing Action Team working to create safe, decent and affordable housing on the Mendocino Coast and encourage City and County policy makers to meet the demand for housing. HAT’s foremost goal is to inform the community about housing needs, challenges and opportunities and influence policy.

Also called granny units, alley houses, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) exist on a lot with another house and can be either attached or detached. ADUs can also be built on any size residential lot. The benefits of ADUs and how they can offer a solution to the housing crisis is by allowing people to age in-place, generate extra income for property owners, and create affordable housing for community members.

Two panels of 9 presenters shared information on the building second units on the coast.

The panel presented information on:

• ADU Basics: what’s an ADU and why would you want to build one
• ADU Specifics: kinds of ADUs; City and County regulations; planning process; construction options; building and site requirements; constraints and opportunities
• ADU Economics and Responsibilities: financing; tax ramifications; income potential; landlord responsibilities; impact on property value; and ADU owner experiences

The action team will be planning and implementing more community events and workshops on housing and attendance of city council and community development meetings to support policies for safe, affordable and secure housing.

Childhood Trauma Action Team

Alex O’Malley from Childhood Trauma Action Team reported on the 2019 Coast Resilience Leadership Summit scheduled for the end of April. The purpose of the summit is to bring professionals across disciplines together to learn about trauma informed practices, community resiliency, share information about their professional service, and meet other service providers in the community.

The summit will convene community leaders, institutional policy makers, parents, first responders, health providers, educators, law enforcement officers and others to discuss and understand the issues and conditions associated with trauma. There will be opportunities to explore skills and resources needed for responding and providing for ourselves and community members in a way that builds resiliency.  Along with local professionals, a highly regarded trainer in the field of community resiliency will be presenting. 

The summit is designed to build upon a common language and understanding of trauma shared across the disciplines. This is an important component in supporting the impact and success of agencies in working with the people they serve. The 2019 summit is the first of a series of events on the coast focused on building community resilience through practices and applications in our personal and professional lives with the ultimate goal being to foster a platform for learning and sharing information to create a community of and kindness, safety, and support and reduce events and actions that cause trauma.

Mental Health Action Team

Thaïs Mazur reported on the Mental Health Action Team. The team continues to look at strategies for suicide prevention and education on the coast. Coordinating efforts of local service agencies, law enforcement, educators and others in the community to understand the etiology of suicide and key strategies for prevention are a foremost goal of the team.

In order to reach this goal, the team is working on hosting a series of workshops and lectures that will focus on six general areas:  1) Health/Age/Disability; 2) Disaster; 3) Mental Health/Suicide/Homelessness/Substance Use; 4) Youth and Culture; 5) Ethnicity/Sexuality; 6) Bullying. These focus areas are all related to education and prevention of suicide and suicide awareness. Outreach will be administered to service organizations as well as community groups on the coast including:  First Responders, Senior Center, Law Enforcement, educators, medical/support staff/chaplaincy, religious/spiritual leaders, therapist/human services groups, Hospitality House, PTA, Service Groups (Lions, Soroptimist, Rotary, Knights of Columbus), Chamber of Commerce, Student Service Groups, Cultural Group (e.g. Portuguese Society), and NAMI.

The team will be joining the Childhood Trauma Action team in building resiliency language and cross discipline interest in the 2019 Coast Resilience Leadership Summit scheduled for the end of April.  

Family Wellness

The facilitator for the Family Wellness Action Team is currently on leave and so Thaïs Mazur gave a report on the team. Several team members moved away and so efforts are being made to rebuild the group. LocalMotion, a family oriented meeting space, gymnastics, and circus skills center has recently opened in downtown Fort Bragg. The team will be strategizing on family wellness events and gatherings at the center. Efforts continue to be made to look at family care, child care, and family participation in physical exercise events as well as healthy eating options. Contact has been made with local food groups and chefs to offer low cost healthy meal cooking classes to local families and children. The team will also be participating in promoting the 2019 Coast Resilience Leadership Summit scheduled for the end of April, recognizing that understanding and getting support for trauma and building resiliency is a major component of family wellness.  

South Coast

Members from the South Coast could not attend so Thaïs gave a brief overview of their strategies and current projects. Members from the schools, faith leaders, policy leaders, Native American leaders, and human service providers have convened to address issues of poverty, childhood trauma and mental health. Action Network in Gualala is the lead agency for this project entitled Across Ages and Cultures Prevention Coalition. The team is addressing opioid addiction of teenagers, young adults and adults through services, education and prevention. This includes children and high school students that have been prenatally exposed to Methamphetamines, which can produce learning and physical disabilities. This issue cuts across race and socio-economic differences.

Due to Gualala and Point Arena’s rural community isolation, law enforcement is in short supply.  The strategy is to create a grassroots approach with representation from all sectors of the community. Diversity will help create a well-rounded approach to the issues and priorities. A Strategic Prevention Framework is being used for ongoing strategic planning as well as clear communication between stakeholders and participants who are working toward sustainability of the coalition’s efforts.

The Action Plan focuses on Restorative Justice as a foundation for the prevention program. This practice is based on Indigenous cultures’ talking circles.  The project is 12 months and is being supported in part by a SAMHSA grant.

SHARED IDEAS

After Action Teams reported out, the group gathered together to discuss intersections between goals and objectives, projects, and future education and efforts to change policies on the coast and in the county to support affordable housing, prevention and education of childhood trauma and suicide, and building community resiliency. The intersections across the disciplines was noted and also the importance of collaboration between Action Teams. Moving forward team members agreed to create a communication process to keep each other informed about upcoming workshops, events, and campaigns. Addressing complex issues such as housing, childhood trauma, and mental health includes people coming together to not only seek solutions but bring ideas and best practices to the table that will benefit the coast community long into the future.