Call to order. Topics anticipated to be discussed:

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1 NOTICE OF MEETING Residents of Franklin and Hampshire County Towns and Cities You are hereby notified that there will be a meeting of Public Body: Hampshire-Franklin Commission on the Status of Women and Girls Date: Monday, October 23 rd, 2017 Time: 5:30-8:30 p.m. Location: Meridians Conference Room 18 Henshaw St. B2 Smith College Info: fwisnewski.hfcswg@gmail.com Call to order. Topics anticipated to be discussed: Approve minutes from September of 2017 Treasurer: Fiscal Sponsor for HFCSWG (Expected vote) Bylaws **Please note that the list of topics was comprehensive at the time of posting, however the public body may consider and take action in unforeseen matters not specifically named on this notice.

2 FRANKLIN- HAMPSHIRE COMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN Monday October 27th, :30-8:30pm Commissioners Meridians Conference Room 18 Henshaw St. B2 Smith College. Denise Brown-Northampton (Vice-Chair), Ginetta Candelario- Northampton, Chelsea Kline-Northampton, Bonnie MacCracken-Amherst(Treasurer), Linda-Jeanne Mack- Easthampton (Clerk), Keleigh Pereira-Turner Falls, Marcia Plant Jackson- Leverett, Anais Surkin -Greenfield, and Francia Wisnewski- Montague (Chair). Agenda I. Welcome. II. Approve minutes from September of 2017 III. Treasurer: Fiscal Sponsor for HFCSWG (Expected vote) IV. Bylaws V. New Business. VI. Next meeting place and time. VII. Adjournment HD#1867 Act Established in January 11 th, 2017 a Hampshire-Franklin Commission on the Status of Women. This legislation has created a permanent Hampshire-Franklin Commission on the Status of Women, consisting of nine individuals to be appointed by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. Per its enabling legislation, the Hampshire-Franklin Commission is charged with conducting an ongoing study of matters concerning women within Hampshire and Franklin counties. The Commission is mandated to report its findings to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women annually and to recommend solutions to the challenges facing the women and girls of the Hampshire- Franklin area.

3 Hampshire Franklin Commission on the Status of Women and Girls 09/25/2017 Treehouse Community Room Easthampton, MA Members present: Bonnie MacCracken, Francia Wisnewski, Chelsea Kline, Ginetta Candelario, Keleigh Pereira, Linda-Jeanne Mack Members present via telephone: Denise Brown Members absent: Anais Surkin, Marcia Plant-Jackson Minutes: Francia has added all of the town clerks to the google drive. The group voted on minutes: Bonnie made a motion to approve the July 24 th minutes and Francia seconded. All present members voted to approve, except for Keleigh who abstained as she was not at the July 24 th meeting. Legislative updates from Francia: The female genital mutilation bill is scheduled to be in front of the Judiciary Committee on 10/17/17at 1pm. A bill to add three more county Commissions on the Status of Women and Girls is scheduled to be heard soon and once those are added every county in MA will be represented. It is hopeful that this bill be fast tracked to add these commissions. A new liaison has been hired for the MCSWG and Sophia will no longer be interim. Liz Friedman, from Hampshire County, has been appointed to the statewide MCSWG. There is a hearing on 10/24 at Westfield State University for the paid Family Medical Leave Act. There will be a regional meeting on 11/14 with the place and time to be determined.

4 Treasurer s Report: The website has not been started yet due to the fact that the host would only be free for the first year and then would cost $90 per year. Fiscal sponsorship: The Peace Development Fund, in Amherst, has fiscal sponsorship opportunities. The sign-up fee is $250 (non-refundable) and the annual fee is $95. Website hosting is also offered at $35 a year. Bonnie found them through the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors. Documents from the Peace Development Fund were provided to the group by Bonnie. The group discussed the possibilities for raising the required funds to get the fiscal sponsorship started. Fundraising ideas included a tag sale, the Hope & Olive restaurant, commissioners putting personal money into a kitty and having a women in writing event with local authors. If and when a fundraiser were to happen the finances would go towards opening the account and then the rest would go to commission needs in the future. Linda-Jeanne mentioned working with another agency that used the Peace Development Fund and having a negative experience. It was decided this was likely related to the agency versus the fiscal sponsor. Ginetta suggested doing a PayPal button for fundraising in addition to credit cards. A discussion was had regarding the 7.5% off the top of funds that the Peace Development Fund would charge. It was concluded that this was a typical rate.

5 It was decided that contributing financially as a group to get the fiscal sponsorship started would be the best route to go as commissioners would not be able to get a fundraiser together in a timely manner. Action items: Chelsea will ask a colleague regarding their experience, Bonnie will run information by Jill at the MCSW, Ginetta will follow-up with a colleague who works there, Francia will send out an request for a pledge and Bonnie will collect the finances. A vote will occur at the next meeting to officially use the Peace Development Fund as a fiscal sponsor. Updates: Franklin County Resource Network Legislative Breakfast: Keleigh was one of the organizers and Margot from the state commission is the keynote speaker. The event is 10/6 8:30-11AM. Francia will do an update on our commission after Margot. There will be an approximately ten person panel speaking about women s issues. Laura Sylvester will be speaking about legislative updates. Action step: commissioners should let Francia know if there is anything that people want to add to her statement at the breakfast and commission should let Keleigh know if they are attending as commissioners will be introduced. Opportunities attended by other commissioners: Chelsea will be attending the March for Racial Justice Sunday 10/1 12:30 2:30.

6 LJ has reached out to the Hampshire/Franklin anti commercial sexual exploitation of children board to join once it has started. Bonnie is testifying at the state house on 9/26/17 on legislation that she helped write regarding starting a special court and making banks more accountable in recording documents for foreclosure as women are disproportionately represented. Francia and LJ will be attending the Strengthening Families for Success conference in Boston on 9/26/17. Francia provided a letter from Tapestry s CEO Cheryl Zoll regarding the opioid crisis and a discussion was had about the Greenfield town council being very conservative regarding the needle exchange. Keleigh shared experience of being concerned about this in Franklin County despite the overwhelming evidence of how successful harm reduction programs are. A discussion was had regarding what ways the commission could support this. Potential action items included collaborating with Tapestry, reaching out to town officials and collaborating with other community agencies working towards harm reduction and prevention. Retreat: Scheduling the retreat was discussed and it was concluded that 10/21 is the only date that more than five people would be able to attend. Denise is no longer able to attend this date so it was decided that the retreat would occur during the next meeting on 10/23/17. The meeting will be extended to 5:30-8:30 instead of 6:00-8:00pm. It was suggested that a policy be created going forward on how many members and officers would need to be present for a meeting to be held. Ginetta offered Meridian s Conference Room 18 Henshaw St. B2 Smith College 10/23 5:30-8:30PM.

7 Keleigh made a motion to vote on this and every present commissioner was in agreement. Denise s phone disconnected from the meeting prior to the vote. Outreach: LJ is still waiting for graphic designer Kristin to send an initial draft of the logo. It was also decided that transgender women should be included in the logo. LJ also sent a resource guide to the group that would be a good jumping off point for creating a women and girls resource guide for the area. Bonnie noted to ensure that commissioners send bios as they are needed for the website and outreach. Keleigh mentioned the need of business cards. Bonnie reminded the group of Anais telling the group the need to use a union print shop. Action step: should there be a section in the bylaws about how the commission chooses businesses/vendors, i.e. do we pick women s businesses first or check prices, etc.? Motion to adjourn: Francia motioned to adjourn Ginetta seconded the motion.

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