Acceptance of a Massachusetts Gaming Commission Community Mitigation Fund Grant in the amount of $51,300.

Transcript (~6 min @ 42:42)

▶ 42:48 Good evening. My name is Daniel Thompson. I'm the senior environmental health specialist for Melrose Health and Human Services. I don't want to speak too long, so I'll get to the chase. I'm excited to share that we have been accepted by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, to receive a grant for $51,300, and this is given to us through the Community Mitigation Fund program. These funds will be used to mitigate the community impacts associated with Encore Casino in Boston Harbor, while strengthening economic opportunity, public safety, public health, and quality of life for Melrose residents. So with this grant, we will see great progress with multiple departments within our city. I can speak on the full aspect of it, connecting police department, mayor's office,

▶ 43:40 but I'd really like to just focus on the health department's usage of this grant. So Health and Human Services, as well as Recreation, will be able to expand the gambling harm prevention efforts through enhanced youth screening, messaging campaigns for youth and parents, and regional public health collaboration. We work with Melrose Public Schools and other community partners. The project will strengthen early intervention, increase awareness of gambling-related risks, and improve access to behavioral health and financial support resources for vulnerable populations within our community. So together, this grant will help the city address these local impacts of expanded gaming by supporting small businesses, improving emergency preparedness,

▶ 44:31 preventing gambling-related harm, and enhancing recreational opportunities for older adults. And if there's any questions, I can touch on some of the other departments and what they plan on using those funds for. But if there's any questions, I'm happy to answer. All right. Thank you so much for coming down. Up first, I have Councilor Finocchiaro. Thank you. Thank you for being here tonight. Yeah. I just wanted to focus a little bit on the messaging to the schools. Yes. I have high school children. I know that gambling is, I think, becoming, especially online gambling, very popular and very addictive. So I would love to see some assemblies or something in the high school. Obviously, you could get into the middle school, too.

▶ 45:17 Yeah. I'm not sure you're going to need to do this in the elementary school. But that I feel like, only just because I- Not with my children, but I feel like I see it firsthand with a lot of high school kids- Yeah ... we talk about it a lot, and I just think that it would be really great to, like I said, some assemblies or some kind of campaign, like you said, messaging campaign in the high school specifically. Mm-hmm. I think with this grant, it would be great to, I know you have money allotted there, but- Mm-hmm ... shift some more money in there and kind of focus on that. I know it's all important, but I know that that is, I'm sure you know, an issue right now. Yeah, absolutely. And it's something that our youth action team will be involved in

▶ 46:00 with the schools. And yeah, I can definitely take down that recommendation to support more or lean more on some assemblies for that specific purpose. Thank you. Yeah. Other councilors? Vice Chair Vandiver. Thank you. Thank you for being here. If you could briefly touch on the other departments as well, that'd be helpful. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So, some of the other departments that will be allocated the grant funding is the mayor's office. So, they would be able to bring back the Downtown Pop-Up Holiday Market, which would take place at the Melrose Family YMCA courtyard. Our police department would be able to provide incident command system training for patrol supervisors and command staff.

▶ 46:54 And our elder services, also one of the populations that's most affected by gambling are our seniors, and the Council on Aging and the Milano Center would be expanding their arts, cultural, and entertainment programming for older adults to try to take away the interest in casino trips because they are exposed to gambling. Thank you. Of course. Other councilors have questions? Councilor Chen. Thanks for being here. Do you have a history of how often we've gotten this grant, and do we apply for it every year, and is it usually about 50K that we can keep counting on? Correct. Yes. I would have to double-check for you, but I believe this is the second or third year in a row that we've received the grant.

▶ 47:46 So, we do have a framework in place. We are familiar with the grant and using the grant properly. So, I can double-check with our Director Anthony, and I can get back to you on that for the exact amount of times. Councilor Finocchiaro. Thank you. Through the Chair, I think I know that this has come across our desk at least twice. So yeah. I just want to make a motion to recommend. Second. Motion to recommend made by Councilor Finocchiaro, second by Vice Chair Vandiver on discussion. Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Yes. Vice Chair Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Chen? Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro? Yes. Councilor Kowal? Yes. Councilor Park? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Freeman?