Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods Action Team
Meeting Minutes – June 10, 2015
Present – Barbara, Rachel, Amy, Michelle, Leigh, Rebecca Estes, Jason, Lawrence
Absent – Becky, Kelley, Bill
Begin: 1:04pm
Agenda Item #1 - Updates: Jason discussed County Health Funding grant that PHHS is
applying. He also discussed the Behavioral Health Action Team’s mass media campaign
portion of the grant, while Michelle discussed the Healthy Lifestyles/Disparities component.
Barbara suggested that the action team hold Community Commons training so that the action
team will be more familiar with using the site.
Lawrence – PedNet is writing a grant for Net Zero policy. The funder is Missouri Foundation for
Health. Net Zero explores the way that major accidents using any mode of travel can be
prevented (e.g. speed limits). New York and San Francisco have passed Net Zero policies.
MFH has contacted PedNet to submit a full proposal.
Rachel – HIA for Hominy Branch Trail Phase 2 is beginning soon. Researching health,
transportation, and quality of life indicators. Phase 1 of the trail is already to complete: Phase 2
will bypass I-70. Rachel helped with Columbia Transit application for bus shelters. In July,
Historic Preservation will be done on either Blind Boone Home or North Central. Community
Development scored the bus shelters highly. Michelle asked about the status of the bus shelter
for North Central Neighborhood Assoc. via the HEAL Grant. Rachel mentioned that Transit will
look to do move old shelters to the COMO Connect routes and break ground on new shelters all
at the same time.
Amy – 2 CPD officers are now Community Outreach Officers that only go on beat where the
City has scored low on citizen feedback. They are attending meetings with Amy so they are
able to find out where in Columbia they need to be located. CPD is looking to update their
database on previously trained Neighborhood Watch members.
Michelle – submitted a new proposal for HEAL grant. Still doing the Stock Healthy Shop
Healthy program. Harrisburg was the 2015 site for SHSH. Columbia will potentially be the site
for SHSH in 2016. Renewed a tobacco grant, which will assess opportunities to go tobacco-free
discovered in the community health assessment.
Rebecca E – Medical Reserve Corps meeting. Focus was surge staff during public health
emergencies. Because the group has been dormant, the group is developing a leadership team
to determine a vision. Survey is prepared to send to neighborhoods assessing their emergency
preparedness. It has been piloted on MU students and PHHS has received feedback and
responses. Goals are to raise awareness among public, and potentially have MRC team
present to neighborhoods or groups. Rebecca is planning to have “Ready in 3” material ready
at National Night Out.
Agenda Item #2 - National Night Out (see handout) – 1st Tuesday in August (August 4th2015).
Established in 1984. Was not created by law enforcement, but creator’s goal was for volunteers
and law enforcement to collaborate. It is celebrated in all 50 states among 16,124 communities.
Columbia had 26 individual events in 2014. Promotional materials such as flyers, can be
provided to each area which is having a party. Leigh brought up the question of getting groups
who want to host an event organized, especially the groups the action team has already
identified. What programming can we provide for them? Can we create our own event? Amy is
struggling to get CPD officers to events due to officer’s shifts/schedules. Leigh suggested
asking Jill Schlude (Deputy Police Chief) to prioritize NNO. Rachel mentioned that Community
Development added important City information to the existing NNO flyers.
Amy is going to be the primary contact person with the media. She is planning to create a
Google doc to track events/volunteers. Melvin had a Google form in the past allowing
Neighborhood Watch to self-register. The three neighborhoods the team targeted were
Dubradis, Zaring, and White Gate. White Gate doesn’t have the best infrastructure, but Dan
Hannigan with In2Action bought a vacant lot, and could be approached to participate. The team
brainstormed potential services/handouts that can be provided at each event. Action Team
members will email Amy with potential handouts/information that can be provided at NNO
events. Leigh will ask Bill to partner with Amy for contacts in the 3 neighborhoods.
Agenda Item #3 - City Strategic Plan – Police, infrastructure, social equity are all topics in the
new City Strategic Plan. Social equity has a strong neighborhood component (housing,
neighborhood associations, etc). Many city departments are already reaching out to
neighborhoods, but a strong city presence will help lift the entire city. If city departments are
already going to these neighborhoods, why not partner and find out what resources that the
neighborhoods need? Activities are being added to the budget to help with these
activities/needs. Each neighborhood will most likely have different needs and focus (police
presence vs infrastructure). The City performed Operation Clean Sweep, and that is a potential
opportunity for the action team going forward. Clean Sweep was a pilot project where City staff
could volunteer to clean a section of street between Worley and West Boulevard. Getting
citizens and neighborhoods involved should be a priority going forward.
Adjourn: 2:26pm