SECOND INTERIM REPORT OF THE SPECIAL PLANNING COMMITTEE
The Second Interim Report of the Special Planning Committee was approved by the Commission at its meeting September 15, 2011. The Committee issued its First Interim Report in May and took comments over the summer. The Second Interim Report is the revised version and can be downloaded here.
The Report recommends:
That a Commission goal be that ongoing, careful and comprehensive planning become a regular feature of the delivery system.
That the intake, screening and hotline functions in each region be examined, that best practices be developed and that resources be shifted to extended advocacy. The providers' intake system task force is asked to undertake this examination and to report its plans within six months.
That there be a concerted statewide effort among the providers to assess steps that can be taken to increase systemic advocacy. Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and the providers' Advocacy Coordination Committee are asked to undertake this effort and to report on their plans within six months.
That each region determine its allocation of regional resources among a range of extents of service, the spectrum of substantive areas and the variety of population groups, and then question whether that allocation maximizes impact on basic human needs, on escaping from poverty or on the quality of individual lives.
That providers utilize volunteer resources and allied professionals more effectively.
That technological innovations be more effectively employed.
That evaluation of program practices and initiatives be improved and that the results of evaluations be shared.
That the providers and the Commission continue to pursue new resources through the Commission's Revenue Enhancement Committee.
That the Planning Committee follow up on developments in the regions and in the delivery system as a whole.
The comments to the First Interim Report are also available. The first eleven are here.
1. Ann Leavenworth 2
2. Leonard Spinner 4
3. Richard McMahon and Susan Nagl 5
4. Bob Sable 7
5. Samantha Morton 11
6. Toni Wolfman 15
7. Will Ogburn 17
8. Sheila Casey, Ken McIver and Jay McManus 19
9. Kathy Boundy 30
10. Gordon Shaw 35
11. Jeff Leukens 38
Two comments were submitted in .pdf format and are linked separately.
12. Jon Mannina
13. Georgia Katsoulomitis
Reports of the Original Commission
The original Commission issued reports from time to time. It issued four annual reports on its activities and a major report, based on four hearings, dated June 2007.
The Commission held four hearings at which it asked witnesses to identify barriers to access to justice in Massachusetts. The hearings were held in Springfield, New Bedford, Lawrence and Boston. The report on what the witnesses had to say during these hearings is entitled Barriers to Access to Justice in Massachusetts: A Report, with Recommendations, to the Supreme Judicial Court.
Report on Barriers to Access to Justice in Massachusetts
The Special Planning Committee's Second Interim Report, adopted by the Commission September 15, 2011.
