Meeting MINUTES – Wednesday, October 10, 2007

            Stephanie called the meeting to order at 1:40pm.  Stephanie explained that the Operations Committee members would be continuing a rotation to chair the Ingham GSC meetings.  Stephanie will be chairing this Ingham Great Start Collaborative meeting, and Fran will be assisting in the meeting facilitation by acting as a timekeeper.  Members proceeded with introductions and new participants Pastor Iris Cotton and Jamie Yoeman were welcomed.

            The minutes from the previous Ingham GSC meeting were approved without correction.  The meeting minutes will be posted to the Ingham GSC website.

ECIC updates

            Cherie invited members of the Great Start Collaborative to attend the ECIC Great Start Collaborative Mini Conference on Friday, October 26, 2007 from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm.  This technical assistance session will be held at the University of Michigan-Flint, Harding Mott University Center, 303 E. Kearsley Street Flint, MI 48502.  The mini-conferences will offer an opportunity to learn from national leaders in the field of early childhood system building.  Michelle, Ken, Lucy, Lori and Sharlina have indicated that they are interested in attending the 10/26 TA session.

GSC Coordinator Report

            Michelle distributed written copies the Coordinator’s Report, and discussed each topic listed.  The items included in this Ingham GSC Coordinator Updates 10-10-07 were:

• Budget and Workplan - ECIC requested additional details on the budget detail regarding names of contractors, and the number of parents supported with funds.  ECIC also requested revision to Workplan dates to show completion of some activities by 1-15-08.

The Operations Committee approved these minor changes at their 10/4/07 meeting, and the revised Workplan and Budget were re-submitted to the ECIC for their final approval.
 

• Contracts - New contract will be issued for the next 12 months (10/01/07-9/30/08) for Ken Sperber (Communications & Staff Support), Yvonne Phillips (Faith Liaison) & Sharlina Pye-Mack (Parent Coordinator). After consideration and review, the Operations Committee is recommending: merging Ken’s two current contracts into one contract at the same rate for a total of $45,000; increasing Yvonne’s Faith Liaison contract to $20,000; and increasing Sharlina’s Parent Coordinator contract to $7,500.

The Ingham GSC voted to approve all three contracts as recommended by the Operations Committee.
 

• Upcoming ECIC Sponsored Events -

- 10/11 Cosmic Collaboration in Bloomfield Hills, 5-9pm,
Michelle, Sharlina, Ken, Val, Lucy, Mary Farrand, Stephanie Peters, & Yvonne Phillips will attend

- 10/26 Mini-Conference in Flint, 9:30-12:30
We still have space for others to attend besides Michelle, Ken, Lucy, Lori and Sharlina

-  11/13 Early Childhood Challenge at Kellogg Center
Details still to come from ECIC

-  11/27-11/29 Technical Assistance meetings in Holland, MI
Michelle, Ken, & Lucy will attend

• Fight Crime Invest in Kids Showcase - 65 people attended on 9/24 at Kellogg Center, panel included State Representatives Rick Jones, Paul Opsommer, Joan Bauer & staff from Patti Birkholz, Mark Meadows & Debbie Stabenow; Clinton Sheriff Wayne Kangas, Ingham Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth. Both NBC & CBS covered the event. The main point shared is that “it will cost more to incarcerate than it does to invest in children through the proven programs that help them and their families to be successful, contributing citizens. Policymakers had an opportunity to hear from many programs about their services and their challenges.

• CAUW/CRCF Presentation - Michelle was invited to make a presentation on behalf of the GSC to Capital Area United Way, Capital Region Community Foundation 7 several other private funders on 10/2 at the U Club.  Four other community groups were also invited to present and respond to “If you had $500,000 of annual funding for regional youth programs, where would you choose to invest for the highest possible return on investment in terms of both individual and societal return?”  Some decisions regarding funding should be made by November.

Strategic Planning Process – Infrastructure Review

• Organizing Statements - Stephanie reviewed the revisions in the Organizing Statements document discussed and recommended by the Operations Committee (see copy attached at end of Minutes).

• Examples of inter-agency agreements - Stephanie shared the examples from Early On of formal Letters of Understanding and inter-agency Agreements.  The group suggested other examples of inter-agency projects and agreements for combined provision of early childhood services in Ingham County. 
  

• GSC Workgroups and Coalitions – Ken reviewed the handout summarizing the Ingham GSC workgroups, and the coalitions and committees working with Ingham GSC on a regular basis.  Members offered suggestions of additional groups and revisions for some of those listed.  

Ken will revise this list and email the updated version to the Ingham GSC for additions and corrections.  The revised chart will be posted on the Ingham GSC website (See document “Community Links for Ingham GSC.doc”).

o       Assessment on governance continuum – Michelle reviewed the chart titled “Building Comprehensive Early Childhood Systems: A Continuum Of Systemic Change” This chart is the “Governance” section of a larger tool developed through joint efforts between the Build Initiative and the Education Commission of the States, with significant input and assistance from a variety of early childhood system leaders.  The tool is intended to help coalitions assess their progress on a collaboration continuum.  In the group there was discussion whether this “governance” assessment was intended to refer to the broad system for all of Ingham County, or the more specific collaboration examples among GSC members and at our Birth to Five meetings.  GSC members offered several examples from both perspectives.  The consensus was that the Ingham GSC was mainly in the “Awareness” and the “Exploration” stages on the continuum.  A few examples were offered of the first stage “Maintenance of Old System” reflecting that the broad system still has categorical funding issues. Some more specific collaboration examples were shared illustrative of how the Ingham GSC also has some characteristics of the middle stage “Transition”. 

The chart used for the Governance evaluation tool and the examples offered by GSC members will be posted on the Ingham GSC website (see document "Governance Continuum").

Planning GSC 11/14/07 GSC Retreat

    Ken and Michelle are working with MSU to distill this community input into themes for each GSC approved Goal in preparation for the GSC Retreat.  The plan for the Retreat is to review Strategies and Objectives for each of the Goals based on the community feedback themes and the expertise of the GSC members.  Additionally, the GSC members will be asked to help identify Resources Needed, Roles & Responsibilities, Target Dates and Progress Measures.  Taken together this will be used to form our 3-5 year strategic plan or the Early Childhood Action Agenda for our community.

            Due to unforeseen circumstances, Lori was unable to attend the GSC meeting to offer a report on the business outreach initiative.  Yvonne reported on her efforts on the faith-based initiative including presentations at Peoples Church, Central United Methodist Church, and Cornerstone.  Yvonne also announced the visit by Jesse Jackson next week (Oct 15,16,17) sponsored by the Housing Coalition to focus on the problems of home foreclosures in Michigan.

            Michelle reported that the Great Parents, Great Start is operating with a continuation budget awaiting the State approval of budget dollars.  Lisa reported that Jump Start has received a continuation Children’s Trust Fund grant.  Stephanie reported that Ingham Early On received a decrease in funding (from $431k to $422k) due to a decrease in the population used in the allocation formula. 

Workgroups - Updates         

      A Summary of the Workgroup Reports for the month of September 2007 was distributed and discussed.  A copy is also posted on the Ingham GSC website, cacvoices.org/birthtofive.

Updates – All

 - Nicole reminded the group that the Early Childhood Literacy Coalition with the GSC, CADL, and WKAR is sponsoring Literacy Events at the Lansing Mall on 10/20 and the Meridian Mall on 10/27, plus two weeks of events from October 13 to October 27^th.   Details are available on the web at the CADL.org website and at the Ingham GSC website:  http://www.cacvoices.org/organizations/birthtofive/workgroupsfolder/EarlyLit

 - Barry shared the dates for the next round of Head Start/CMH “Proud Fathers” and the ”Proud Parents” series, contact Jeff Keener at 482-1504 for details.  Adoptive Families Support Group will be meeting on the 2^nd Tuesday of each month from 6:30-8:30pm. KEEP will be offering a 4 workshop series (to be repeated in January 2008) - call Barry at 887-5259 for more information.

 - CEI/CMH Partnership Council will be sponsoring a talk on “African Americans and Mental Health Diagnosis” on 10/25 with Joan Jackson Johnson as the speaker, contact Barry at 887-5259 for details.

- Lucy announced that CACS will be having a virtual (via email) GARAGE SALE of early childhood classroom equipment (tables, chairs, costs) next week.  Call 482-1504 for more information.

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• Continuum for Systematic Change

• Systems Integration

• Community Links for Ingham GSC

Ingham Great Start Collaborative, Birth to Five

 Ingham Great Start Collaborative, Birth to Five

Meeting AGENDA - Wednesday, October 10, 2007

1:30       Introductions - All (Stephanie and Fran)

1:35      Approval of 9/12/07 Minutes (Stephanie)

1:40      ECIC updates (Cherie)

1:45      GSC Coordinator Report (Michelle)

1:50      Strategic Planning Process – Infrastructure Review

a.       Organizing Statements (Stephanie)

b.      Examples of inter-agency agreements (Op Comm)

c.       GSC Workgroups and Coalitions (Ken)

d.      Assessment on governance continuum (Michelle)

2:35       Planning GSC Retreat  - 11/14/07, 9:30am - 3:30pm (Michelle)
                    

2:45     Outreach Initiatives - Business, & Faith-Based (Lori, Yvonne)

                                           
2:50     Advisory Sub-Groups – Updates (Michelle, Stephanie, Lisa)

                  Great Parents Great Start, Early On, Jump Start
                                

3:05     Workgroups - Updates    

                  Literacy Coalition                                                  Beany Tomber

                  Public Awareness                                                   Jill Lawler

                  Safe Sleep/Infant Mortality                                    Maureen Dillon/Lisa Chambers

                  Quality Initiatives                                                  Marcia Rysztak

                  Kindergarten Transition                                        Tom Mumby/Lucy McClintic

                  Parent Coalition                                                    Sharlina Pye-Mack                                              

                 Operations Committee                                            Michelle Nicholson
                                              

3:15       Updates – All

3:30       GSC Meeting officially ends

The next Ingham GSC Meeting will be a Strategic Planning Retreat on November 14, 2007 from 9:30am until 3:30pm at the Grace United Methodist Church, 1900 Boston Blvd, Lansing 48911.   Lunch will be served.  Please RSVP to Tina Rathbun at 244-1242, or email trathbun@inghamisd.org by 11/9/07.