Orleans Northern Essex Community Partnership

Regional Advisory Group

January 8, 2008

Meeting minutes

 

Welcome

  1. Welcome –

The meeting was called to order at 11:07am.  The members present: Rever Kennedy, Tin Barton-Caplin, John Watson, Carol Boucher, Bill Crenshaw, Ghislaine (Josh) Girouard, Sharon Henault, Eileen Illuzzi, Alison Moore, Julie Mulroy-Evans, Harold Nadeau, Tom Pristow, Jack Rogers, and Michelle Tarryk.  Julie Lague was present to take the minutes.

 

  1. ONECP Budget report: Michelle Tarryk, NEKLS – The budgets are on target and Michelle has no concerns.  Michelle will email Tom the financials before the interviews.  There was an unexpected expense to place the job opening in the newspaper.  John said the refreshment line has not been completely expended and money from that line item would be able to be moved to cover the cost.  The phone line and email will be transferred to NEKLS on Friday.  John offered to give NEKLS the answering machine that he uses.  Tom asked about the frequency of phone calls, John said it depends on the time of year.  John has already set the agendas for February and March.  There was a brief discussion regarding the line items in budget (office communications, tech support) and what is included in each as well as office space for the new Coordinator.  Tom asked about the Coordinator being full time and if this is a goal for the future.  Rever said the possibility of United Way may be discussed further in 2009 or 2010, but currently there is not funding to support a full time position.  Rever said this Partnership is doing well, but we should wait until we are stronger to put in a full time position or to think about United Way.  Tin asked about the youth grants.  John has received one youth grant to date.

      

 

Minutes

 

  1. Josh moved to accept the December 2007 minutes as written.  Tin seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Reports from the Partnership

 

  1. BBF – Julie reported that at the last Council meeting it was decided to have a structure that would be consistent throughout the state.  Elections will be held for a steering committee as well as a full council.  Next month there will be elections for the full Council which will be self nominated.  The steering committee elections will be held at a later date.  Tin asked about the voting structure.  Julie said there can be up to three voting members per agency.  This may be a problem for NEKCA, and she is looking into an exemption.  Julie reported the meetings will be lead by the Chair and Co-Chair, the steering committee will set the agenda and this will the same across the state.

 

  1. Incarcerated Women Initiative – Rever reported on the two successful women from this program.  Carl Davis is working with them for a plan of action.  Volunteers act as a social network and community support to aid in the transition.

 

  1. Community High School – Rever said we are waiting on a letter of support from Bob Lucentia to Rob Hoffman.  The CHS is asking for funds from the State team.  Carl Davis has been in touch with the City Council.

 

  1. ONE WOF – Tin reported the SPF Grant for alcohol awareness was received.  The Coordinator position was posted internally, but it will also be advertised.  This is a 35 week grant.

 

  1. Youth Council – John said the last event was a movie and subs at the Gateway which was enjoyed.  There is another event scheduled in February, hopefully at the IROC.  John used the NEKLS distance learning equipment for the Youth Council meeting.  Bill hopes that other State agencies will use the equipment as well.  We received funding from the Nellie Mae foundation for a Bridge.  John said he would like to see a directory guide complete with IP numbers and contact numbers in case something does go wrong.  Tin would like to have a list of all the centers that are up and running.  Bill said these units are also portable, as long as high speed internet is available. 

 

  1. Health Communities Coalition – Alison reported that at the next meeting there will be voting on the budget, resource inventory, ByLaws, decision making, and the steering committee.  Alison read the Coalition’s mission statement.  Currently, they are working on capacity building and will work towards implementation for the next round of awards in May.  Tin said an assessment will be done for the next award, but not a full assessment as that will take too much time.  The consultant hired for CHAMPS will also be able to work with the ONE WOF.

 

  1. Homelessness Coalition – Tin reported on the awareness event that was held on December 20th.  The spaghetti dinner was held at St. Mark’s church.  The work crew helped cook the dinner and the event was covered by the newspapers.  The Point in Time survey will take place on January 30th.  Please let Tin know the number of surveys needed for each department.  The long term goal is affordable housing.  On February 29th, room 250, from 8:30-noon there will be a planning session on what causes homelessness. 

 

  1. BBF – Julie said she is working on getting poverty training together such as Bridges out of Poverty.  This training would be expensive.  Tom, Tin and Bill offered to help (Bill would like to help if it is not a conflict of interest). 

 

  1. Partnership – John said there will be a game created like Monopoly and Kingdomopoloy with real life situations and unexpected events.  If anyone wants to add input, please attend the next partnership meeting.  There was a brief discussion on the State job cuts and what that will do to the Kingdom.  Tom said he would like to see Newport and St. Johnsbury working together more instead of against each other.  Bill said it’s not a one size fits all situation and we need to show how we are being efficient.  Tin stated that if we apply as one region, we are afforded less funding.  Bill said we need to show we are working together but can’t afford a cut in funding.  Rever said this is worth a separate discussion to explore all avenues.  Sharon suggested Bill go to the Advisory Council.  She also suggested having a business/community person speak to the needs of the Kingdom.  Bill said we are working with NVDA for a shared position.  Rever said this is an important agenda item for another day.

 

  1. Family Services – Tom wanted to make everyone aware that the DCF assessment tool is being sent out and some department staff will be receiving them to fill out and return.

 

Coordinator Report

 

  1. The meetings John attended in December were listed on the back of the Agenda that he gave to everyone.  There was a Report Card brief at yesterday’s meeting.  There are two indicators for Health and one for Education.  There are statistics on how Newport compares to the State (smoking, youth obesity are higher than state).  On February 4th, there will be the Partnership meeting, February 12th is the Strategic Planning working day.  Future meeting dates will be determined during this meeting.  The March Agenda has been set.  John has given Tin the paper files and the laptops are going to NEKLS.  John plans to attend a few meetings with the new Coordinator.  John’s exit evaluation will be completed by Rever and Tin. 

 

  1. There was a brief discussion regard the time set for the meetings.  Carol would like to see the meeting go back to 9-11 instead of 9-11:30.  Finding the time for these meetings is difficult.  Eileen suggested having from 9-9:30 be the introductions and have the meeting start at 9:30.  Tom suggested having the meetings start on time.  Bill suggested sticking to the agenda.  It is important to set an agenda and manage it efficiently.

 

  1. John was thanked for all of his service as the Coordinator.

 

Adjourn – The meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.