Public Meeting #2

Despite a complete budget cut for their group, the Commission on the Status of Women has soldiered on in raising awareness about women in Hillsborough County. During their recent Sept. 22 meeting, the group decided what the future would hold for their involvement in the county. “It’s going to be a struggle today to determine how to continue the group in a creative way financially,” said group secretary Felicia Crosby-Rucker. The end of the week would mark the end of the budget period at which point any funds left in their department would be absorbed into a pool by the county. The commission struggled on how to spend their remaining budget effectively by producing brochures and reports of recent research conducted on women in Hillsborough County.
Group member Susan Leisner urged members of the commission to create a work plan for the coming year. Leisner pointed out that the creation of a work planner would aid the commission in receiving money from the county’s biannual budget and keep the commission on task. Ideas for the upcoming year’s work planner included suggestions listed in their research documents on how to better the female population in Hillsborough County. “We have these suggestions from our research as to how to better the community, but what good are they if we don’t use them,” questioned group leader Cindy Kane. The commission delved into their research and decided to address the issues of women’s healthcare and children’s healthcare in the coming year.
For the first quarter of the calendar year, the commission hopes to address women’s healthcare issues by offering workshops that would highlight issues such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular care. Since the commission cannot give money directly to non-profit organizations, they aim to team up with existing organizations to offer services to the community through workshops. Commission members plan to teach workshops and offer guidance to local women in hopes of increasing preventative care of health-related issues. In the second quarter, the commission plans to address issues involving children’s healthcare. The commission hopes to highlight growing issues amongst children and families regarding immunizations. Growing fears over families deciding not to immunize their children due to side effects prompted the commission to believe that entire classrooms could become infected with contagious diseases. The commission hopes to intervene with preventative care measures that address the benefits of childhood immunizations through workshops.
The commission will hold their next meeting on Oct. 27. On the agenda is a presentation from the Housing Commission detailing incoming foreclosure funds.