← Appropriations & Oversight Committee · 2026-03-02 · Appropriations & Oversight Committee
Acceptance of the BSAS MassCALL3B Grant by the Health & Human Services Department
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
B. (ID # 2026-477): Acceptance of the BSAS MassCALL3B Grant by the Health & Human Services Department Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Williams Seconded by Councilor Karamcheti All were in favor and motion passed. RESULTS: PASSED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, John Obremski, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None Comments on Discussion: -Councilor Finocchiaro commented on the youth program at the high school. The Youth Action Team program focuses on grade 8 through high school to develop leadership skills and to prevent substance abuse. She asked if this money could be used for speakers. They have been discussing what is most impactful to the students. -Councilor Karamcheti asked if they have measured the impact of these types of programs and initiatives. They conduct a youth behavior survey every 2 years which focuses on substance abuse and mental health. Results from this show that Melrose is trending in the right direction. The police department is a good partner with their compliance checks of no sales to minors. 3 V. ADJOURNMENT Motion to Adjourn made by Councilor Karamcheti at 7:43 PM Seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro All were in favor and meeting was adjourned RESULT: PASSED [UNANIMOUS] AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, John Obremski, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None 4 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS Administration–Engineering–Water–Sewer–Facilities Parks–Forestry–Highway–Sanitation–Cemetery–Fleet CITY OF MELROSE Jay Coy, P.E., PMP City Hall, 562 Main Street Acting City Engineer Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 MEMORANDUM Telephone – (781) 979-4172 E-mail: jcoy@cityofmelrose.org To: Mayor Jennifer Grigoraitis M
Transcript
▶ 27:00 Devin Romanul: Motion passes and will, uh, be brought to the next full council meeting with a recommendation for passage. Thank you so much, Mr. Coy. Appreciate your time.
▶ 27:07 Speaker 10: Thank you, Counsel.
▶ 27:09 Devin Romanul: Last but not least on our agenda tonight is ID number twenty twenty-six four seventy-seven, acceptance of the BSAS Mass Call Three B grant by Health and Human Services Department. Uh, thank you, uh, Mr. Anthony Chu from the administration for joining us this evening.
▶ 27:24 Speaker 13: Thank you for having me. Um, this is an exciting opportunity. So we've been working with the City of Medford for the last four to five fiscal years on prevention efforts. It's part of a larger Mystic Valley Public Health Coalition. Um, that's seven communities, so it's Malden, Medford, um, Winchester, Melrose, Wakefield, Stoneham, and Reading. Um, we have worked on a multitude of, um, substance use related and mental health grants in the past, so this partnership continues to bring, um, funding to the city. Um, the City of Melrose is being awarded seven thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars for this upcoming fiscal year, um, to focus on direct prevention strategies. Um, this money is not new, but this will be the first year that Melrose is, uh, being subcontracted. Um, so we'll be able to spend this money. Uh, it will, um, be less of a burden on the City of Medford as well for us to submit smaller reimbursements, uh, which we've done in the past. Um, in the grant that it was written, we had seventy percent of the funds, uh, going towards direct prevention strategies. That includes things like alcohol, uh, alcoholic beverages control, uh, compliance checks, uh, done in con-- done in, um, partnership with the ABCC at the state level. Uh, we work with the Melrose Police Department, who have been great partners in this as well. Um, we've been working on restorative practices with the school and partners in the community, and we've been working on youth substance use prevention efforts as well. And then thirty percent of these funds are going to going-- are going to be going towards local prevention infrastructure. Um, examples of that in the past have been mental health first aid trainings, which were made available to community members as well as school staff. Um, youth leadership in the form of our youth action team, which I'm happy to say is up and off the ground. Uh, it took a couple of years to build that coalition back up, um, from when I first started, and it's been, uh, very positive. And also helping the schools with development of health education materials for, uh, youth and adults. Um, so we'll continue working with, um, this coalition on bringing in more funding, and hopefully we will continue to get funding in the future.
▶ 29:20 Devin Romanul: Great. Thanks so much. Any, uh, members of the committee have any inquiries? Counselor Furnokiero?
▶ 29:26 Cal Finocchiaro: Yes. Um, thank you so much for being here. Can you just talk about a little bit the, um, the youth program, the high-- is it at the high school?
▶ 29:32 Speaker 13: Yes. So, um- What is that? Yeah. So the youth action team is a concept that we've actually seen implemented in neighboring towns as well. Um, it looks to bring, um, students from either eighth grade onwards, so including the high school, um, to dev- to develop youth leadership, um, kind of qualities, uh, to bring them to conferences. There's a visit to the State House once a year to, to see how bills are, you know, lobbied for and different processes. Um, really it's to, just to get them interested in substance use prevention, um, and to kind of expose them to public health, uh, early on. So, um, that, that club is up and running, and we're looking to our partners in Wakefield and Stoneham, who've had kind of longer running youth action teams to kind of mentor them and bring this program, um, up to that standard.
▶ 30:14 Cal Finocchiaro: Great. Would you ever consider using some of this, uh, money to bring in, like, speakers into the high school or, you know, presen-- like, people to present and discuss-
▶ 30:24 Speaker 13: Yeah, absolutely. Um-
▶ 30:25 Speaker 5: ... substance abuse and mental health stuff?
▶ 30:28 Speaker 13: Yeah. Actually, we've been talking with the youth action team leaders and the, the teacher as well. So we have, um, we have an adult advisor at the school as well. And so, uh, we've been talking about what would be most impactful for them. Um, we've, you know, we've heard anecdotal things about, like, one-time speakers and, you know, sometimes it resonates with some people and sometimes it doesn't. Um, but we've been trying to find, um, effective ways to bring in speakers, you know, um, to talk maybe at the classroom level even, you know, to, um, the students about, uh, topics that are, um, important to them.
▶ 30:57 Speaker 5: Yeah. I think that would be great if you could do that. Thank you.
▶ 31:00 Devin Romanul: Thank you. Thanks Hope so much. Next up, Councilor Karamcheti.
▶ 31:03 Manjula Karamcheti: Ah, thank you so much. It's great to see you. Uh, just want to note my daughter was a part of the Youth Action Committee and had a wonderful- That's great ... experience, and it helped her develop her interest in public health. Awesome. Um, but that's not what I was gonna ask you. Um, just wanted to note that the programming is excellent. Um, I'm just curious, have you been able to measure the impact of any of these kinds of programs and initiatives and outreach in terms of, like, the youth of Melrose substance use? Um, and if you could just speak to that a little bit.
▶ 31:35 Speaker 13: Yeah. So there's two kind of main measures. So the Youth Risk Behavior Survey is something that we do every two years. Um, that is kind of an indirect measure, so we'll see the data. Um, we're actually coming up on it this coming s- uh, school year we'll be doing this, so it happens every two years. Um, so that measure is a multitude of things. That includes substance use, uh, that includes mental health, um, concerns among other topic areas. Um, so it's kind of an indirect measure, so when programs are put into place you're hoping to see some of those, um, so some, some of those trends in substance use decrease over time. Um, Melrose is trending in the right direction, um, but we also, you know, we also know that, you know, the surveys do a, a decent job, but there's also, um, things that are not captured in the survey. So we hear a lot about, like, youth drinking, um, and alcohol use at different events. So we do want to keep that in mind as we pro- build in programming. Uh, another measurable that we can bring is that the police and the ABCC have been great partners, um, in doing compliance checks. Melrose has been 100%, uh, all of our alcohol-serving, um, establishments have not had a, uh, sale to a minor, uh, which is, which is a great thing, meaning that our program and our education works. Um, so that's, um, that's part of it as well.
▶ 32:42 Manjula Karamcheti: Wonderful. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you, you taking the time to answer.
▶ 32:45 Devin Romanul: Of course. Councilor Williams.
▶ 32:47 Speaker 1: I would like to make a motion to recommend to the full council.
▶ 32:51 Devin Romanul: I will second. Councilor Williams made a motion to recommend. Second. Uh, seconded by Councilor Karamcheti. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?
▶ 33:00 Speaker 5: Yes, I will. Vice Chair Vander Leest? Yes. Councilor Chen? Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor Karamcheti? Yes. Councilor Kowal? Yes. Councilor Bremsky? Yes. Councilor Park? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Ex Officio Freeman? Yes. And Co- and Chair Romanul? Yes. That motion passes.
▶ 33:22 Devin Romanul: All right, that motion passes, and will be brought before the next full council meeting with a recommendation for passage. Thank you so much, Mr. Chew. Thank you so much. Thank you. Um, with that being the end of our agenda, I will now entertain a motion to, uh, adjourn.