Wycoff to host town hall meeting

Published Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Councilwoman Lottie Wyckoff will hold a town hall meeting for Alexander City residents Wednesday.

Wyckoff is the third council member to have such a meeting since the new council took office last year. Councilmen Bill Young and Mark Fuller held meetings in their respective districts earlier this year.

While their meetings focused on public safety and utility services, Wyckoff said her meeting will take a different direction. She will bring in a lineup of community members to discuss the “social needs” of her constituents.

“I figure we have heard three or four districts talk about the same thing and that we need to see different areas addressed because there are other areas of our lives that need to be looked at,” Wyckoff said. “When we improve our community members, we improve our community also.”

She will bring in a social intervention coach, two education specialists from the Alexander City School System and a home-repair specialist to speak at the meeting. Wyckoff said by having them at the meeting she would be able to help people face issues ranging from drug and alcohol abuse to education and finical difficulties.

“I’m giving information out about what could help improve the needs of the people,” Wyckoff said.

In addition to addressing substance abuse, the social intervention coach will also discuss give tips on how people can recover economically after enduring periods of unemployment.

“(Some) just don’t even know how to start over,” Wyckoff said.

The education specialists, a graduation coach and a parent liaison, will be on-hand to help parents know how to help their students. Wyckoff said their presence is needed at the meeting because there is a major disconnect between children who need help with school work and parents who don’t know how or where to turn for that help.

“That is a big problem,” Wyckoff said. “The point is to create better communication between the parents, the school and the students.”

She said these educators’ positions are designed to provide such assistance and by introducing them to the community Wyckoff hopes she will be able to make parents aware of that their assistance is available.

In addition to those topics, Wyckoff will also discuss the importance of participating in the upcoming census and methods by which senior adults can guard against Social Security fraud.

The meeting will be held today at 6 p.m. at Great Bethel Baptist Church. It is specifically tailored to meet the needs of her District 2 constituents but is open to the entire community.

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