[Editor's Note: This is part 1 of a multi-article series on the Comission work session on April 11, as well as on the regular meeting on April 13, 2923. This begins with the first work session presentation.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The first presentation of the day featured Phoebe Schoeder, representing the New Mexico Department of Health and reporting on the Grant County Community Health Council efforts addressing community needs.

"This will be a brief report on what the Housing Insecurity Taskforce and the Health Council are working together on," Shroeder said. "I've been working with SPIN (Supporting People in Need) and the Gospel Mission to determine the needs of the community. We are seeing that needs are typically monetary. When I contacted the NMDOH, I learned we will be introducing the harm reduction mobile unit. The first time it will be in use will be on April 22, in conjunction with the Toss No Mas Earth Day clean-up that day. We will be going out to SPIN and the Gospel Mission introducing the services. We will also be working with individuals to get them the services to help them get off substances and connecting them with the mental health services if warranted. Additionally, the Homelessness Taskforce has been working with SPIN and the Gospel Mission to work with the San Vicente Consortium to meet concerns head on. As well as that, we are working on the Community Health Action Plan, that NMDOH is doing in conjunction with health councils across the state. Grant County had chosen to focus on mental health and substance abuse and focusing on those experiencing housing insecurity as well."

She asked for questions.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne noted they had not received anything in their packets. "Is that something that can be sent to us?"

She confirmed she could and apologized.

Browne also asked for more details on the action plan.

She said the NMDOH does this every three to five years. "It is the Community Health Improvement Plan on the county level. And we are also working on the SHIP (State Health Improvement Plan). As it's shaking out, we are seeing mental health and housing insecurity all across the state."

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings asked: "As far as housing insecurity, is there a way or have you already measured a starting point for housing insecurity, and have you set goals to see if it is progressively getting worse or if the measures you are taking are making it better?"

"Excellent question," Schroeder said. "In January, we just conducted the PIT (point-in-time) as a count of individuals experiencing housing insecurity on a specific night. So what we did is, we worked with SPIN and Gospel Mission, to get a baseline measure of how many individuals in the community are experiencing housing insecurity. We just got the preliminary data back, but I can absolutely forward that. Only about 40 surveys were collected. I think one thing that might be worth looking into in Grant County is the root cause of what is causing the issue. So, going forward, I would potentially like to create a task force and with other community liaisons to conduct an interview with those experiencing housing insecurity or had in the past and try to figure out: was it mental health; is it the lack of affordable house; is it wages; what is causing this? I think that would be helpful in the future."

"Good answer," Billings said. "Thank you."

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce said: "Several of us were once involved in homelessness issues. We used to be kept up to date. We haven't heard anything lately, but we would like to be more involved and get more information on this, and we would like to have some input into this."

Shroeder apologized for the lack of communication and replied that with the changeover of the Health Council to CHI (Center for Health Innovations), "we have had to move forward in spite of the change in direction. Honestly at this point, it is Jeff Fell and I, working with Christine Wolford (SPIN) and Randy Salars (Gospel Mission), and we've kept it intentionally rather small due to a lack of capacity in the Health Council. We will have a meeting on April 13, and in the future, we definitely hope to involve you to be part of a larger taskforce that would truly be representative of a community taskforce."

Ponce said he would like a chance to talk to her "because you might not be aware of other issues that came up in past meetings. I would like to pass that along."

"I would love that," she exclaimed. "I hope you still have my contact information. I want to have a more rounded view of what the community is saying. All voices need to be heard."

The next presentation will get into a lengthy presentation from Rosalinda Natividad, the founder and chief executive officer of Incite Network LLC on the Grant County Comprehensive Grants Plan.