April 15, 2016
Present: [in person] Ed Barrett, Kevin Bois, F. Celeste Branham, Ross Cunningham, Mandela Gardner, Elizabeth Hite, Ron Holmes, Laura Hudson, Rob Liscord, Nicole Pellenz, Lori Parham, John Portela, Barbara Wentworth, David Wihry, Joseph Young.
Public Comment Period (Holmes)
AmeriCorps program directors gave updates on their individual activities. Speakers were Jason Aylmer, Jo Orlando, Joely Ross, Ethan Schechter.
Meeting
The meeting was called to order by Chair Ron Holmes at 10:17 am. Commission introductions were made. One adjustment was made to the agenda. A briefing by LearningWorks AIMS HIGH will replace the Excellence and Expertise Task Force briefing.
Three announcements were shared. The MCCS Annual Report is out and Commissioners should take extra copies to have through the year. A new National Service Program Directory has also been printed. Lastly, the program from the April 12 Governor’s Awards for Service and Volunteerism were circulated. Profiles of the winners and honorees are in the program. Of the three events, only one remains. On April 19, the Maine Volunteer Roll of Honor members will be recognized at the Portland Sea Dogs game. These are the adults who served 500 or more hours in 2015. The youth Roll of Honor members were recognized on April 10 at an afternoon Portland Pirates game. All the Commissioners who’ve helped make the events go off smoothly were thanked.
Focus on Mission/Responsibilities
A. AmeriCorps Program Briefing: LearningWorks AIMS HIGH
Ethan Schecter presented an overview of the program’s operation. He reviewed its purpose, sites, successes, and challenges. The program is funded under a special category of AmeriCorps that is restricted to low performing schools with improvement plans. The criteria for which schools could benefit from AmeriCorps was restricted to schools with School Improvement Grants. In its application for funding submitted January 2016, there is some additional latitude because of changes in Maine’s criteria. Still the sponsor has opted to propose to work closer to its natural home base and not try to cover the state.
The slide presentation will be forwarded to Commissioners after the meeting today. A brief question/answer period closed the briefing.
B. Designate of Maine Volunteer Foundation as MCCS private support organization
Maryalice explained that the legislation states "executive director of the commission, with the consent of the voting members of the commission, shall designate a nonprofit corporation as the private support organization for the commission." So far, all the focus has been on setting up the Foundation and getting a work plan together. This act of designating the foundation as the official organization is another step.
Moved by Portela to direct the Executive Director of MCCS to designate the Maine Volunteer foundation as the Commission’s private support organization. Second by Branham. Vote on motion: unanimous in favor.
Planning and Future Initiatives
A. Review of AmeriCorps Member survey results for 2015 (Crofton)
A report of the 2015 compiled exit data results was shared. There is a lot to absorb so just the highlights were noted. Maine AmeriCorps members’ ages are younger than in the past. People still come to Maine to serve (37% were not Maine residents when they enrolled) and 28% of the new people opt to stay in Maine after completing service. It may be time to resurrect a former tactic of heavy out-of-state recruitment and make a contribution to importing youthful talent. Most AmeriCorps members from out of state are college educated, engaged in their communities before coming, and get involved after they arrive. Among all respondents, the education award is going to be used for loan payments and mostly graduate education.
It was noted that the report format was revised five years ago. Because there have not been changes since, there is a solid set of data for a trend report. Maryalice is searching for someone who can look closely at the implications of the results and develop a report on who serves and the impact of service. If anyone has a lead on someone please contact her.
Business Reports (Holmes)
A. Minutes
February meeting minutes were presented. Moved by Portela to accept the minutes as posted. Second by Branham. Vote on motion: unanimous in favor.
B. Executive Committee (Holmes/Portela)
The meeting notes were posted. Portela asked if members had any questions. There were none. Moved by Portela to accept the report as posted. Second by Liscord. Vote on motion: unanimous in favor.
C. Grant Selection and Performance(Wihry)
1. Revision to confidentiality policy. Wihry distributed a proposed revised confidentiality policy. In a follow up to February discussion, the Attorney General’s Office was consulted about non-disclosure clauses/agreements. It is understood that open government laws impact what is public but some activities undertaken by the Commission and its volunteers entail true confidential info. The advice given was to add a clause to the confidentiality policy rather than establish an entirely separate policy and form. Thus, the following is a revised paragraph 3 of the confidentiality clause with a phrase added to cover the time after service:
It is the policy of the Maine Commission for Community Service (MCCS) that volunteers, Commissioners, and employees of MCCS will not disclose, now or in the future, confidential information belonging to, or obtained through their affiliation with the Commission to any person, including their relatives, friends, and business and professional associates, unless MCCS has authorized disclosure.
Moved by Barrett to approve the revised language. Second by Branham. Vote on motion: unanimous in favor.
2. Performance measures for Commission support grants. Wihry provided context for the discussion. CNCS has dictated use of AmeriCorps program performance measures for Commissions. Because Commissions are grant-makers and do not operate programs, the measures do not work and do not reflect Commission performance. In response, the American State Commission association has spent two years working on appropriate measures to propose to CNCS. The first set has been circulated and there will be a feedback session at the May regional meeting in Springfield. John Portela will represent Commissioners at that meeting. Grants task force had a productive discussion with feedback for John. Others are encouraged to share their views so he can convey them all to ASC.
3. Recommended use of additional AmeriCorps allotment. Wihry gave a summary of the task force discussion on best use of a $60,000 increase in the AmeriCorps formula allotment. There are three options for using the funds: allow expansion of programs that are strong; fund planning grants; or hold competition for Rural AmeriCorps model. The task force recommends using the funds this year for limited program expansion and planning grants. Moved by Wihry to direct the funds to program expansion and planning grants. Second by Branham. Vote on motion: unanimous in favor.
D. Board Development (Branham)
The task force did not meet in March. Branham update on events the task force will handle included notice that Gordon Liu’s official resignation letter was received. She read an excerpt from his letter. The task force is also tackling the annual Commission retreat.
E. Excellence and Expertise(TBA)
The task force did not have an April meeting. The March meeting was orientation to Service Enterprise. The new co-chairs are Lori Parham and Barbara Wentworth. They begin serving today so May will be their first task force meeting.
F. Public Information and Education/ Public Policy(Portela)
The task force minutes were distributed. It meets 72 hours before the business meeting so minutes are not available for posting. Major work this month was revision of the MCCS Key Message that is used to answer the question “what does MCCS do?” While the key message isn’t the mission or vision statement, it is the most used. Portela reviewed the changes which update the message and sub-messages to reflect current activities. There were no requests for clarifications or edits. To handle the rest of the outreach plan development, Portela and Hudson will meet as a subcommittee to draft a plan for the rest of the task force to work from. Parham volunteered to join them.
G. CNCS Regional Office update (Hite)
Hite reported the Eli Segal Fellowship is accepting applications. This position serves in the Washington, DC, headquarters. At the regional level, CNCS outreach to tribes has resulted in interest among the Aroostook band of Micmacs where a former VISTA lives. Mayors Day yielded two events – one in Portland and one in Brunswick. Hite thanked Portela for arranging the Brunswick recognition.
H. MCCS Staff(Crofton/Ashmore)
1. Staff changes. The selection process for the restored Training and Program Development Officer is complete. Michael Ashmore will move into that position as soon as the grant funds are awarded. Hiring the new Grants Officer to take his place is underway. Again, the candidate selected will not start in the position until Mike moves out of it. CNCS is now projecting mid-July as the award date.
2. State Audit results. The State of Maine audit of AmeriCorps funds granted by the Commission concluded. There was one finding relating to Maine Conservation Corps and documentation of two AmeriCorps members’ eligibility to serve. The required sex offender registry check was not compliant because it did not cover all 50 states. Commission monitoring had identified the same issue in July 2015 but the condition was not corrected. CNCS has been notified. A corrective action plan is in place with Maine Conservation Corps. CNCS will not likely address the finding until summer because they are fully engaged in the grant review process right now. A financial consequence is anticipated.
3. CNCS monitoring site visit. The visit has been pushed into July by the site visit team from Washington. The new dates are July 11-14 and they have notified MCCS staff that interviews of board members will be part of the visit. Branham asked if the topics for the interviews were known or which days the interviews would take place. MCCS staff is working on figuring that out.
4. Assistance requests. Two intern positions to complete MCCS critical projects have been posted with Maine universities but are not getting responses. If Commissioners know anyone who likes research and writing assignments, needs a summer project, and has the skills, please contact Maryalice. Both projects are pre-work for the Commission annual retreat in September.
Business Wrap Up (Holmes)
The next business meeting is May 20, 2016 at the Klahr Center, Univ. of Maine, Augusta.
Motion to adjourn by Pellenz. Second by Portela. The meeting adjourned at 11:50 am.