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City of Houston Commission on Disabilities met Sept. 14.
Here are the minutes provided by the commission:
Chair Meridith Silcox called the meeting to order at 4:06 PM with a quorum present and welcomed attendees to the meeting.
Chair Meridith Silcox asked Kayla Melcho to proceed with the roll call.
Roll Call of the Commissioners:
Position 1: Michael Cottingham Absent
Position 2: Ricky Don Harris Present
Position 3: Ann M. Bacon Absent
Position 4: Daquan Minor Absent
Position 5: Sashikala Nisankarao Present
Position 6: Monique Mason Present
Position 7: AJ Morton Absent
Position 8: Vacant Unfilled
Position 9: Mary Sias Present
Position 10: Meridith Silcox – Chair Present
Position 11: Lydia Nunez Landry Present
Position 12: Michaela Cueto Present
Position 13: Osvaldo Capmany Present
Position 14: Alexis Smith Present
Ex-Officio: Angel Ponce Present
Ex-Officio: Marshall Watson Absent
Legal: Rebekah Wendt Absent
MOPD Staff:
Angel Ponce, Kayla Melcho, Sissel Carlsen, Rey Herrera, John Serrano, Stephanie Haechten, Amandqa Boyd
West Gray Multiservice Center Staff:
Nolan Griffin
Review and Approval of July Meeting Minutes
- Motion: Chair Silcox
- Second: Vice Chair Harris
Public Comments
- Russel Klein
o Will there be an opportunity to interact with HCOD?
o When do in-person meetings resume?
- Wendy Franklin: Houston White Cane Safety Day
o 17th Annual White Cane Safety Day, October 10th at University of Houston, food provided by Jersey Mike’s
Expert Speaker
- Sean Jackson, J.D., Executive Director, Disability Rights Texas
o Overview of Special Education topics
o Recent developments of HISD and dramatic effects on persons with disabilities
o Restructuring of special education programs
o VC Harris asked: What happened with Supreme Court supporting a Deaf student in MI? Response: Unsure.
o VC Harris: What has the federal government said about the take over? This will most likely be addressed by a complaint lawsuit.
o Commission Landy Nunez: Are any of these implementations researched-based? We will have to wait to see how things are implemented for the federal government to find violations and pursue action.
o Chair Silcox: Are there specific grades being targeted? All grades. MOPD Report to the HCOD
- Angel Ponce (Director, Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities)
o Information and Referral Services – 95 cases last month
o Pedestrian Accessibility Review – 30 applications and 6 projects since last month
o Disability Emergency Preparedness Manager hired and starting next Monday.
o Program Assistant will be starting next month.
o Collaboration with JFS for the upcoming MMSC Garden Project
MMSC Report to the HCOD
- Nolan Griffin (Houston Parks and Recreation Department)
o Break on September programs for reorganization and inventory, programs will resume October 1.
o Shooting Tournament in Pasadena – Houston team won!
o Rugby and Volleyball begin next month.
Committee Updates
- Chair Silcox will be merging the committees to manage the workload more effectively. Updates will be reflected on the HCOD website.
- Community Access, Transit, and Housing
o Commission Mason shared Community Access in Housing Townhall at Lighthouse of Houston on Sept 20th from 4-5pm
o Commission Mason spoke to the director of Houston Houstin Collaborative Team – will provide MOPD with more information
- Emergency Preparedness, Response, and First Responder Training
o VC Harris – Urban Security Initiative; working with OEM and Homeland Security for the Get It Right Workshop the second week of October. CERT class available that is open to the public for training emergency response teams
- Employment and Transition to Employment
- Education
o Director Ponce asked the employment committee about how MOPD can support with advocacy through the TEA takeover
- Immigration and Refugee Services
o Will be paused moving forward
- Planning, Membership, and Community Engagement
ADA Update (Marshall Watson, Administrative Coordinator – ADA, City of Houston, Human Resources Department, Civil Service & EEO Division)
- 15 in-take to city departments (email/phone call)
- 19 internal city accommodation requests (7 closed, 12 pending)
Upcoming Event Reminders
a. MMSC Garden Project – Tuesday, Sept 19th 9AM
b. MMSC Listening Session – Wednesday, Sept 20th 6:30PM
c. Disability Celebration – Saturday, Sept 30th at 9:30AM (MMSC)
d. White Cane Safety Day – Tuesday, Oct 10th 9AM (UH Downtown)
e. Houston White Cane Safety Day – Saturday, October 14th (MMSC)
Meeting Schedule
f. Location TranStar (6922 Katy Road, Houston, TX 77024)
i. October 12th (hybrid)
ii. November 9th (fully in-person with livestream on facebook)
iii. December 14th (fully in-person)
Commissioners Comments
Chair Silcox motions to adjourn meeting. Vice Chair Harris seconds it. Meeting closes at 5:44 PM.
https://www.houstontx.gov/disabilities/agendas-minutes/September%2014,%202023%20Minutes%20in%20English.pdf