CITY OF DANBURY
Public Relations, Marketing and Education Committee
Danbury Housing Partnership
155 Deer Hill Avenue
Danbury, Connecticut 06810
Minutes of the February 26, 2009 Meeting
Present: Deschenes, Schierloh, Shepperd
Absent: Lima
Also Present: Nolan, Filgate
A meeting of the Public Relations, Marketing and Education Committee of the Danbury Housing Partnership was conducted in Danbury City Hall on February 26, 2009. The meeting was called to order by Vice-Chair Wayne Shepperd at 9:40 am.
A motion to approve the minutes of the December 18, 2008 meeting was made by Paul Schierloh, seconded by David Deschenes and passed unanimously.
Mr. Shepperd welcomed Doreen Filgate as our guest and hoped that she would be interested in joining our efforts on a long-term basis. Ms. Filgate noted that she had experience in marketing, publicity and creating brand awareness. Mr. Nolan noted that this background would be ideal for helping the Partnership create community awareness and implement our re-messaging homelessness initiative.
Mr. Shepperd initiated discussion on progress in developing and marketing the Partnership website. Mr. Schierloh noted that Mr. Shepperd’s new duties would prevent him from helping with writing features and updates for the site. Mr. Deschenes and Ms. Filgate offered their assistance with story ideas and writing. The committee discussed a productive meeting with Melissa Adams from the IT Department about developing mass email capability for the Partnership. A link will be added to the website to allow people to sign up to receive email alerts from the Partnership. A sign up check box to receive Partnership information will also be added to the City’s main site. An email database for the Partnership will be developed whereby notices can be sent to anyone who signs up as well as to lists of people and organizations that the Partnership wishes to communicate with. Mr. Schierloh will compile the outreach list of emails in excel format to be forwarded to IT. The Partnership will concurrently develop a database to be used for regular mailings/invitations.
Mr. Nolan explained the national initiative on re-messaging homelessness. Discussion ensued on helping Mark write an Op-Ed piece on homelessness for the News-Times. Mr. Deschenes and Ms. Filgate will assist with the final draft. Discussion ensued on marketing the Partnership website and publicizing upcoming events. Mr. Shepperd reported that the City would be sponsoring a Job Fair at the end of March in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Workforce Development Board. The Partnership will also be sponsoring a Fair Housing Forum for Fair Housing Month in April.
Mr. Shepperd invited discussion on preparation of the Annual Report and proposed revisions to the Ten-Year Plan. Following discussion, it was decided that there would be two separate submissions, the first being the Annual Progress Report on efforts to implement the Ten-Year Plan. It was agreed that Mr. Schierloh would again work with Carolyn Sistrunk on completing the report utilizing the format she developed next year. A cover letter from Mr. Nolan will accompany the submission to the Common Council for the April 7, 2009 meeting. The document should have a cover title page with the title being “Annual Progress Report on Implementation of the City of Danbury’s Ten-Year Plan To End Homelessness.” The cover should have the City seal on it, list the Danbury Housing Partnership as the responsible agency, include the Partnership’s website address and have a tag line identifying this effort as a community-wide partnership to produce affordable housing and services needed to strengthen neighborhoods and end chronic homelessness.
A separate cover letter will accompany the recommended revisions to the Ten-Year Plan for consideration by the Council. Staff will combine the recommended changes of each committee into one integrated document. The revisions will include the addition of new initiatives (like Project Homeless Connect) developed subsequent to the adoption of the original plan in 2006. Also included will be deletions or changes involving certain tasks included in the original plan or the implementation timeline for certain tasks due to changing State programs and the economic downturn.
A motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Schierloh, seconded by Mr. Deschenes and passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:55 am.