LACCC Agenda for May

 Los Angeles County Client Coalition, Inc. (LACCC)

GENERAL MEETING AGENDA

Friday May 19, 2023, 1 - 3 pm
Zoom 1pm to 3:00pm 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81176383916?pwd=bG5JZE05cjVZT0VWOXc1VHJFamorQT09
Meeting ID: 898 7148 2662 , Passcode: 107940

WELCOME & Housekeeping - Pamela (3 min)
Minutes by Attending Secretary - Sandra C. (1 min)
ATTENDANCE (2 min)  

INTRODUCTIONS (5 min) 

Last Meeting’s Minutes (5 min)

TREASURER’S REPORT - (30 min) 

•  Current Balance 

•  Free Drawing!!  Winner receives a free digital Greeting Card!!

•  Fundraising Campaign EventBRITE RSVP Free Card! 

•  Seller’s Permits & Taxes

•  Membership Fees Discussion - Do We Want to Consider Assessing Fees to Members?  

How Much Do We Want to Charge?  Every Year or One-Time Fee?  

• Set up the next Fundraising Committee Meeting date near Bank
  
  

• DISCUSSION OF IMMEDIATE ACTION ITEMS - (17 min)

•  Next date for the General (June 16th), Quarterly (~June 30th?), & Executive Board Meeting         (May 12) - (5 min)

•  Request for new Volunteers to support to fulfill Non-Profit status Requirements (7 min) 

Keeping records of our minutes, and putting them in one place toggl.com

Helping Treasurer with Forms & Deadlines for those Submissions

Support with Bylaws Team

Calendar deadlines & keeping Fundraiser on track

New Members being oriented at “May is Mental Health Month” Resource Tables in May & June (5 min)

ONGOING BUSINESS - (18 min)

• ByLaws

The ByLaws Committee is working on regaining Nonprofit status.  We will be meeting on May 30th to discuss ByLaws and Nonprofit issues.

• LACCC, Inc. History - 

Confidentiality Agreements with Rose’s Zoom sessions. Please contact Rose online at ment8598@gmail.com for those who have not met with her yet about our history at LACCC. 

• ACCESS Ambassador Report for LA County - Pam I

• SB 43 - This is the Bill that has been amended in the Senate & now goes to Assembly.  

This bill would expand the definition of grave disability, subjecting many more people to involuntary hospitalization and conservatorship.  SB 43 makes substance use disorder a basis for a conservatorship for the first time in California.  I would like to write a letter with the LACCC logo on it.  Below are the talking points I will put in the letter Opposing SB 43 (see bottom of Agenda) telling the impacts of SB 43 and how it would harm consumers.    

   

• Project Return- Moses Ramirez, Regional Coordinator Service Area 5 (West LA) Project Return Peer Support Network (15 mins)

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

• The LACCC is now part of the CLT (Community Leadership Team!  YAY!!  We are finally in the mix!

       We join the DMH Underserved Cultural Committees (UsCCs) and the Service Area

       LeadershipTeams (SALTs) as a Consumer Leadership Organization as recognized by DMH.  

• Prop 63 Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Plan for FY 2024-25 Planning Process 

DMH is starting meetings for the FY2024-25 MHSA Community Planning Process (MHSA CPP) next June.  Pam will email the materials as soon as she gets them.  The Next Meetings should be on Tues 6/6 and/or Fri 6/23

● The LEAD (Lived Experience Diversity Advocacy) Project Summit – 

The 2-Day Sacramento LEAD Project Summit will be held on at the California Endowment Center, 1000 N. Alameda Street, Downtown LA.  Take the opportunity to MAKE CHANGE with LEAD in partnership with The Painted Brain and CalMHSA.  Go to:  https://camhpro.org/lead-peer-support-organization.html?id=192#Top for more information.  

● Gas Assistance Fund – 

One time grants up to $100 - Call 323-587-4221  The Southgate Salvation Army will take calls on Mondays at 11-12 and you will get a scheduled time in the week to call on the phone. Info you will need: Your ID, Income, Gas bill. Call M-F, 9-4, to find other Salvation Army Phone Numbers to call sooner than Mondays. 

● Recovery Standards of Care Focus Group – 

Cal Voices is holding a Recovery Standards of Care Focus Group on Friday, May 26, 12-2:00 pm, and Friday, June 8 12-1:30 pm for two 90-minute focus groups to inform defined standards of care for BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+ communities with the goal of raising health equity in recovery services in California. Give your peer perspective how equity should look.  Email sramos@calvoices.org to register. 

• LA COUNTY’s COVID-19 EMERGENCY TENANT PROTECTIONS HAVE EXPIRED – 

            To find out what to do now, contact Housing Rights Center at:  www.housingrightscenter.org

                Walk-In Clinics

• Alhambra Walk-in Clinic - Friday from 2:00 pm - 5 pm - Alhambra Civic Center Library

• El Monte Walk-in Clinic - Wednesday from 2:30 pm - 5 pm - El Monte City Hall West

                Workshops

• Open to ALL via Zoom: Update on Tenant Protections: Thursday @11:00 am (Spanish)

• Open to ALL via Zoom: Update on Tenant Protections: Thursday @2:00 pm (English)

Upcoming Events in Late May - June 2023 –
(May is Mental Health Awareness Month - Pam will send emails on as many of these events as she gets to the LACCC membership.)

Mon 5/22 - 2-4pm - Asian/Pacific Islander (API) Underserved Cultural Committee (UsCC) by DMH.  Virtual in English on Microsoft Teams at:  https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup or Call: (323) 776-6996 Conference ID# 760 609 714#

Tues 5/23 - 3-5pm - Service Area Leadership Team (SALT) 5 (Westside)

Meeting via Microsoft Teams.  Go to:  https://dmh.lacounty.gov/events

Mindspring Mental Health Alliance (Iowa) - Self-Care & Wellbeing:

Check out our upcoming webinars & register here: https://www.mindspringhealth.org/get-involved/webinars-and-events

Wed 5/24 1:30-3pm - Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) Equity Alliance Meeting

AAPI Equity is also organizing with Organize Unite Reform (OUR) LA, a BIPOC community-led coalition. To date, OUR LA has hosted five convenings for community members and resident leaders to discuss and engage on the issues, challenges, and solutions to building a just representation on the LA City Council.  To find out more, go to:  AAPIEquityAlliance.org

Thurs 5/18, 5/25 - Webinar Series: "Think Twice Before Calling the Police”

The American Friends Service Committee is presenting a four-part webinar series about “concrete skills and strategies to avoid calling law enforcement unless it is absolutely necessary,” AFSC writes. The dates of the 90-minute webinars are May 18, and 25, 2023; two sessions will begin at 8 p.m. ET. To register, go to: afscinfo@afsc.org (Recordings will be available on the AFSC website).

ADJOURN

A MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD QUACKER, Elizabeth: 

The time has come for change without and within the Department of Mental Health. We no longer have the statuesque standing in our community, and that was THREE years ago, WE have not completely recovered from that yet. We need to get more of our people started adapting to those changes. NOW, I don’t see how we will make it with the future changes. We have a small group of faithful people that have given a majority of their time to keep us going.

A NOTE FROM THE RESILIENCY CHAIR, Pam:
OMG!  It’s already Springtime!!  Many May is Mental Health Month Events are happening over LA County.  We need to attend as many Events as possible to recruit new members.  Let your networks know that the LACCC needs fresh voices to empower the organization and re-establish our standing in the Mental Health Community, as well as uplift yourself in your recovery.

Fondly, 

Your LACCC, Inc. Nonprofit & Coalition Executive Board of Directors, 

President/CEO, Newsletter Coordinator, Elizabeth S. Dandino 

ACCESS Ambassador, Chair Emeritus, Resiliency Chair, Pamela Inaba 

Vice President, Treasurer/CFO, Outreach Chair, Brent Popham 

Secretary, Housing Advocate, Legal Specialist, Zerita Jones 

Website Designer,  , Sandra Cheng 

Advocacy Chair, Kathy Diradoorian 

Historian Chair, Rose Hugh 

Open positions: Membership Chair, Program Chair, Timekeeper Chair

Next General Meeting: FRIDAY June 16th, 2023

Hybrid Meeting In-Person at CALIF downtown Potluck Lunch & Meeting

    12:30 - 1:00 Lunch, 1:00 - 3:00 Meeting  

Online 1 pm to 3pm (Zoom)
One tap mobile+1-669-444-9171,,81176383916#,,,,*960765# US
Meeting ID: 811 7638 3916 Passcode: 960765 

Info:  purpledragondancer@gmail.com

Potential Impact of SB 43

• Harms people
• Enables and endorses prejudices of all kinds
• Disparate impacts: poverty, race, LGBTQ, access to healthcare, etc.
• Expands incarceration approaches and invests resources in incarceration approaches
• Increases segregation
• Force is ineffective as “treatment”
• Possible major bed availability impacts and much more
• Expands the definition of “gravely disabled” to make it easier to involuntarily detain people undermines the very purpose of the LPS Act and fails to address the real needs of Californians living with mental health disabilities, especially those who are unhoused
• Perpetuates health disparities, disproportionately burdening the unhoused and Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) and immigrant racial minorities
• SB 43 is not supported by any data showing that expanding the definition of “gravely disabled” will lead to positive long-term outcomes
• Exacerbates bottlenecks in the already-strained mental health system, rather than investing in the infrastructure, workforce, and funding needed to meaningfully expand community-based services
• SB 43 is unconstitutional on its face and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related law, relying on vague criteria that requires decision-makers to speculate about future conditions. The bill will also cause the unnecessary institutionalization of people with disabilities in violation of the ADA. In addition, the use of hearsay  evidence by expert witnesses will infringe upon fundamental rights to due process.

SB 43 Also Attacks Fairness in Hearings
• What an LPS involuntary hold hearing is like now
• The importance of hearsay and cross-examination
• SB 43 allows providers only to have their hearsay be used as evidence

Things the Law Could Mean…And Who Decides
Example:
• Clare can be placed on a hold because she has mental health disorder that places her at “substantial risk of serious harm” to her “physical health.”
• Clare can be placed on a hold because she has bipolar disorder and is presently suffering
“adverse effects to her mental health” (insomnia – this shows “risk”) and if someone speculates
this will result in a full manic episode with psychosis, she’ll stop eating, and suffer “debilitation.”