Ingham Great Start Collaborative, Birth to Five Vision Statement:
Every Ingham County child ready to succeed in school and life"

AGENDA - Wednesday, February 14, 2007

1:30        Introductions - All

1:35       ECIC updates, Meeting with Executive Bd

1:45        Community Needs Assessment – small group discussion follow-up

Continue reviewing the work of the small groups from November’s GSC meeting, and share the questions the groups raised (Areas: Early Care & Education, and Basic Needs/Economic Security/Child Safety).  Discuss next steps.

          2:05       Power of We - Updates 

A brief report from Jan 19^th Power of We meeting (Capacity Building Grants), and POW Data Committee meeting on Feb 12^th.

2:15       Outreach Initiatives - Parents, Business, & Faith-Based

2:30       Advisory Sub-Groups – Updates
                  Great Parents Great Start, Early On, Jump Start

2:45       Workgroups - Updates             

                Literacy Coalition                                                  Beany Tomber

                  Public Awareness                                                   Jill Lawler

                  Safe Sleep/Infant Mortality                                     Maureen Dillon/Lisa Chambers

                  Quality Initiatives                                                   Michelle Nicholson

                  Kindergarten Transition                                         Bev Phillips/Lucy McClintic

                  Parent Education                                                    Ken Sperber                                              

                 Operations Committee                                             Michelle Nicholson
                                              

3:00        Agency Spotlight: Capital Area District Library (CADL) – Nancy Bujold

3:15        Updates – All

3:30        GSC Meeting officially ends

3:30-3:45  Parent Debriefing

Ingham Great Start Collaborative, Birth to Five

MINUTES - Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Present: Lori Brasic - OYC, Nancy Bujold - CADL, Lisa Chambers - Jump Start, Maureen Dillon - Sparrow Hospital, Wendy Duke-Littlejohn - Parent, Shera Emmons - Parent, Rona Harris - Parent, Barry Kaufman - CEI/CMH, Pat Lamison - MSU Extension, Lucy McClintic - CACS Head Start, Michelle Nicholson - IISD, Stephanie Peters - IISD, Bev Phillips - Lansing School District, Yvonne Phillips - Lansing Mayor’s Office of Community and Faith-Based Initiatives, Sharlina Pye-Mack - Parent, Peggy Roberts - Power of We, Holly Roderick - Ingham DHS, Marcia Rysztak - LCC, Ken Sperber - Community Rep, and Beany Tomber - MSU/WKAR,

Michelle Nicholson chaired the meeting.  Due to technical difficulties with the computer and data projector the order of the Agenda was switched around.

ECIC updates, Meeting with Executive Bd

            The ECIC Quarterly Report for Oct, Nov and Dec 2006 was completed and turned into the ECIC.  Michelle offered to have the Quarterly Reports posted on the website since the narrative summarizes the main activities during the Quarter.
           The week of February 19^th the ECIC is offering 3 days of technical assistance for the local GSC Coordinators and Parent Coordinators (Michelle and Wendy N plan on attending).

Community Needs Assessment – small group discussion follow-up

            Lori led the group in reviewing the work of the small groups from November’s GSC meeting, and share the questions the groups raised for two areas: Early Care & Education; and Basic Needs/Economic Security/Child Safety.  The large group shared feedback and suggestions.              It was discussed that the next steps would be to send the required data back to ECIC and then review GSC priorities for each area and talk about gaps and strategies for addressing these issues.

Power of We - Updates 

            Michelle and Peggy shared a brief report about the Power of We meeting on 1/19/07.  The Community Compassion Capacity Building Grants were discussed and all non-profits were encouraged to apply.  Lori said that OYC had sent information about the grant workshops and applications to all the licensed non-profit child care centers in Ingham County.

            At the POW Data Committee meeting on 2/12/07, Ken and Michelle discussed the difficulty in collecting accurate data to analyze Kindergarten repeats as a measure of the community’s “School Readiness”.  It was decided to instead only include in the Power of We Report a narrative for the Early Education and Care section, and to label the data number part as “under construction”.  Ken and Michelle are looking into compiling a “School Readiness Index” - a number which could be the compilation of several indicators looking including health, social-emotional, income, literacy and other indicators of well-being and school readiness. Michelle passed around the January 2007 copy of “Education Week” entitled “From Cradle to Career” which includes a “Chance for Success Index” and State by State policy comparison charts.  The issue can be viewed on-line at http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2007/01/04/index.html .

Outreach Initiatives - Parents, Business, & Faith-Based

Parent Liaisons

            There will be a three-part Parent Leadership Training series on 2/22, 3/8, and 3/22 from 1-4pm with child care available at the Family Growth Center.  The training series is for parent members of the Ingham GSC and the sessions will be held at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Lansing.

Business Initiatives

            Lynne Martinez summarized the Bill Millet special presentation “Linking Early Childhood and Economic Development” held on 2/6/07.  There were 30 people in attendance and 10 filled out the forms to request follow-up contacts. There were several key leaders at the seminar including members of the Lansing Economic Development Corporation, LCC Board of Trustees and Capital Area United Way.   In addition, Lynne will be following up with meetings with Bob Trezise and David Hollister.  An encore performance in the future with Bill Millett is also a possibility.  (Follow this link to review the handout Bill Millett shared at the seminar: “Quality Early Education: A Competitive Necessity In A Global Economy”.   In addition, here is a link that Bill Millett shared regarding global issues:

www.scottmcleod.org/didyouknow.wmv

            Ken and Michelle have begun preliminary conversations with funders about focusing on early childhood.  They have been involved in discussions with Capital Area United Way exploring fund development options.

            OYC is developing a revised proposal to present to the Operations Committee to extend the Business Initiative by providing outreach and follow-up with the Business Toolkits.  The proposal includes mail, phone, email and personal contacts to encourage business participation in the GSC process and support implementation of family friendly practices and toolkit ideas in the workplace.

Faith Based Initiatives

            The Lansing Mayor’s Office is planning a press conference later this week (on Friday 2/16) to announce the partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Community and Faith-Based Initiatives and the Birth to Five Ingham GSC.  Yvonne Phillips will be working under a Performance Contract with the Ingham GSC and also through an arrangement with the Mayor’s Office on Community and Faith-Based Initiatives.  The goal is to develop a coordinated strategy and messages around Safe Sleep and other early childhood issues for the Ingham GSC, the City and County initiatives.

Advisory Sub-Groups – Updates

Jump Start
A recent change in State policy means that families classified as Protective Services level 1 or 2 can no longer be served by Jump Start with Prevention funds.  Alternate funding will have to be identified to continue serving those families.

Great Parents Great Start (GPGS)
The GPGS grant application submitted in September 2006 was finally approved.  The GPGS parent child activities continue to have a good turnout.

Workgroups - Updates

Copies of the written Workgroup Summary Report for January 2007 were distributed (see below) and the following additional information was shared:

Literacy Coalition - Beany Tomber announced that the Feb 20 meeting will be cancelled, and the next meeting will be Tuesday March 20th.  The next Family Literacy workshop will be on 2/21 at East Lansing Public Library at 6:30pm.  For a complete list of Family Literacy workshops check out the WKAR website at http://wkar.org/parents/ .

Public Awareness  - Monthly parenting topical articles now available in 5 other languages contact Michelle to receive copies.  Members suggested ideas to help with the distribution of the translated articles as well as the original English versions.  Nancy offered to work with the libraries to try and set up monthly theme related displays featuring books related to the articles.

Infant Mortality - Lisa reported that based on changing requirements by the MDCH the initiative’s plans have now shifted to focusing on parents who have experienced a loss, & interconception.

Safe Sleep - Maureen reported the coalition has completed a training presentation for Hannah’s House and Pregnancy Services. 

Kindergarten Transition - Bev shared flyers describing the Lansing School District Kindergarten Orientations scheduled for 3/7/07 from 3:30-6:30pm and 3/8/07 from 12:30-3:30pm at the same times at all the Lansing elementary schools.  The flyers were also mailed out to area child care centers, and GSC members were asked to help spread the word. This is a prime time to help parents and children meet the teachers and school personnel, and to enroll children at the school.  If parents are unsure of which school to enroll their kindergartners in, parents are encouraged to just go and enroll at any one, since they can change later by completing the schools of choice forms available at each of the school buildings. Parents should bring two documents:  the child’s Birth Certificate and their Immunization Record.  Shera added that the Williamston Kindergarten Roundups will be at the end of March.

Agency Spotlight: Capital Area District Library (CADL) – Nancy Bujold

            Nancy described her goals in her new position as the Literacy Facilitator for the Capital Area District Libraries.  These include:

-         Support education services and improve relationships with school, child care providers, and home school families.

-         Coordinate activities with related community organizations and agencies

-         Administer the RIF BABES program, which provides books to newborn babies and their parents

-         Support library events including parent programming, diversity, and intergenerational programs

-         Interact with literacy programs such as the Capital Area Literacy Coalition, alternative ed, etc

-         Select and promote ABE, ESL and GED materials

-         Develop web resources for library staff to assist in reader’s advisory and storytimes 

There was discussion about these activities with the Ingham GSC.  Nancy mentioned the Bookmobile has a set schedule which is posted on website: http://www.cadl.org/ .  It was suggested for Nancy to contact Mary Ann Harkema at Christian Services to coordinate with their reading program, which uses a VISTA volunteer thru 280 churches. 

Updates – All

Michelle - A new list of State and National training opportunities from the Unified System of Learning group will be soon posted on the Birth to Five website in the training section http://www.cacvoices.org/birthtofive .

New Secondary Prevention Report available at the Michigan’s Children website outlining the budget impact on children’s programs: http://www.michiganschildren.org/ .  If the Governor’s revenue package is not approved then early childhood programs and lots of other programs will have to be cut to make up the budget shortfall.

Barry - Passed out a flyer listing a new Early Childhood Provider and Parent Workshop Series offered by KEEP.  Each of the four workshops will be at the United Way Building in Charlotte from 6:30-9:30.  The workshop titles are: “The Emotional Development of Young Children”, “Working with Challenging Behavior of Young Children”, “Understanding and Working Conflict with Young Children”, and “Caring for the Care Giver”.  To pre-register or more info contact KEEP at 887-5251.

Sharlina –shared flyers and discussed the Creative Recovery workshop series to be held on Thursdays 2/15-3/8 at Charlotte Community Center from 10am-noon.  For more info call Anita Dewolf or Paul Miller at 346-8231.

Lori announced that beginning April 1^st the MIChild premium will be increasing from $5 to $10.

Marcia shared that she has been invited to be on ECIC Early Ed and Care strategic planning committee.

Lucy announced that CACS HS has received a SPARC grant – only one of two awarded in Michigan.  The grant focuses on family literacy, more information available at website: http://www.sonoma.edu/cihs/familyliteracy/sparc.html .

Next Meeting

On 3/14/07 Suzanne Eman-Jaehnig from Capital Area United Way be talking about the new mid-Michigan 211 call center.  In April Natasha Davidson from ICHD will be sharing information about Health Department programs for young children and families.   

The next meeting will be March 14, 2007, 1:30-3:30 at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 549 E. Mt. Hope in Lansing (1 block East of Cedar).  Child Care will be available by Reservation Only - Call 371-1347.

Ingham Great Start Collaborative, Birth to Five

Workgroups Summary Reports - January 2007

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