June 26 Meeting Minutes

PRESENT: Kelly Day, Diane Lebson, Chelsey Fortin-Trimble, Janet May, William Guidon Jr., Necole Janzcura, Jennifer Burke (remote), Mary Krebs, Scott Adams (remote), Pamela Proulx-Curry, Kelsey Preecs, Luke Shorty, Ruben Torres, Ninette Irabaruta (remote)

STAFF AND GUESTS: Lucy Martin, Maureen Kendzierski, Brittany Gleixner-Hayat, Elizabeth Theriault, Esayas Gebre, Steve Niles (online), Ari Tichner, Sarah Bassett, Samantha Hunt, Holly Werner, Gabe Palmer, Jonathan Forbes, Samantha Horn

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Steve Niles wanted to thank the Commission for the continued funding of the Goodhealth Works AmeriCorps program and Kelly Day for attending their AmeriCorps recognition

Goodwill Healthy Communities AmeriCorps focused on behavioral health and mentoring programs with youth received national direct funding

CALL TO ORDER

Pamela Proulx-Curry (chair) called the meeting to order at 10:02 AM. After the introductions of Commissioners, staff, and guests. The protocols for a hybrid business meeting were covered after Public Comment opened. The chair did remind members that conflicts of interest should be declared as agenda items come up.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

No Commissioners answered the Commissioner’s quiz prior to the business agenda

Pamela Proulx-Curry asked the Commissioners and Staff to introduce themselves since the Maine Service Fellows are in attendance.                                      

Elizabeth Theriault was introduced as the new Public Information Officer

Maureen Kendzierski announced that the Maine Service Fellows would be having their retreat in September in Van Buren

APPRECIATIONS:

Pamela Proulx-Curry appreciates Ed Barrett’s participation on the Grants Task Force

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat appreciates the Grants Task Force for their assistance

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat appreciates Diane Lebson and Celeste Branham for their assistance with the Maine Volunteer Foundation

CONSENT AGENDA:

Scott Adams would like to add Ambassador Reports to the consent agenda.

MOVED by Michael Williams to approve the consent agenda. SECONDED by Luke Shorty

Vote on the motion (roll call): in favor – Adams, Burke, Day, Fortin-Trimble, Guidon Jr., Janczura, Krebs, Lebson, May, Preecs, Shorty, Torres, Williams Opposed – none. Motion passed.

PLANNING AND FUTURE INITIATIVES    

AmeriCorps Update

Stay tuned for updates for funding from ASN, VGF, MLK Day of Service, Native Nations

RSVP Competition

NCCC deadline is coming up

OMB is seeking comment Regulations for Federal Financial Assistance open for public comment through July 13th – October 1st the rules will take effect and there will be direct impacts to state commissions

FY27 if you know of any organizations that would be interested in VISTA assistance send contact information to Riana

Ruben Torres asked whether there were templates for the public comment

William Guidon Jr. mentioned that there are some responses available online to help inform how to structure the public comments.

Ambassador Reports

Kelly Day reported on her experience at Goodwill Northern New England’s Member Recognition and encouraged other Commission members

Executive Director in Maine Development Foundation, Leadership Main Program 2026-2027

FOCUS ON MISSION RESPONSIBILITIES

Next Year’s Schedule

Need to update the dates to reflect Fridays and not Thursdays

Discussion was had around the dates of the retreat and how to best have a two-day retreat as opposed to a one day – recommended having one of the days be a weekend

Commissioner Recruitment

Recruiting new Commissioners and all current Commissioners are interested in continuing their terms

Climate Corps Update

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat highlighted how expanding the Climate Corps Program is a growth strategy for the Commission and the launch of the ConSERVE grant opportunity for organizations in Western Maine

Lucy Martin gave a brief update on the Maine Climate Council, what it is, why it is important for the Climate Corps Programming, the Community Resilience Working Group, and the potential for agencies and non-profit organizations to incorporate into funding requests a request for a Maine Climate Corps member

Maine Service Fellows – Impact and Lessons Learned

Maureen Kendzierski, the Volunteer Services Coordinator, presented on the first cohort of Maine Service Fellows: how the first year went including things that could be improved upon and how they will continue to move forward

Diane Lebson recommended Rotaries for funding and asked if Maine Service Fellows could assist communities in listening to polarizing opinions and perspectives as a project for next year

Luke Shorty asked if Maureen Kendzierski wanted to present to freshman at Thomas College

Chelsey Fortin-Trimble asked about the proper procedure for inviting Maine Service Fellows to different events to help with can build networks of community leaders, municipal leaders etc best way for service fellows to make an impact

Service fellows are in charge of deciding whether an invitation from a Commissioner is something they want to attend

Develop an ROI for the Maine Service Fellows to present to legislators

BUSINESS REPORTS

Public Policy & Communications Task Force.

Ruben Torres did not have any updates

Grant Selection and Performance Task Force.

Motion to approve continuation request of:

  • Goodwill Northern New England and increase to up to $492,850 (revised from GTG recommendation of $523,400 due to reallocation of formula funds based on updated funding information);
  • Alpha Legal and increase to 5 MSY and $126,000 (revised from GTF recommendation of 4 MSY and $100,800 due to reallocation of formula funds)
  • White Pine Programs and decrease to 2.1 MSY and $52,920 (revised from GTF recommendation of 2.0 MSY and $50,400 to ensure compliance with Maine Rural AmeriCorps Policy)
  • Continuation request for Main Street Skowhegan and increase to 8.12 MSY and $204,624 (revised from GTF recommendation of 8.0 MSY and $201,600 to accommodate change in slot types and number of volunteers).
  • Continuation request of Hospice Volunteers of Somerset County at current levels of 2.2 MSY and $55,440 (no change).

MOVED by Chelsey Fortin Trimble SECONDED by Michael Williams

Discussion was had about the grants

Chelsey Fortin-Trimble asked about recruitment challenges for two of the programs and how the Commission could help with their recruitment

Bill Guidon Jr. mentioned that that was a challenge that they had discussed and that there probably were some effects from Volunteer Maine staffing changes

Kelly Day responded that there were

Diane Lebson discussed how the MSY numbers are more realistic and responded that the ambassador program would be a good tool to reach out to programs to offer assistance

Luke Shorty would prefer not to make a motion as a slate given the challenges that some of the programs have faced with recruitment and asked if the total amount of funds being allocated is the total amount that is available.

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat responded that the numbers are correct because they are calculated based on what they asked for and the total amount that is available for this year

Bill mentioned that they didn’t have peer reviewers because of the tight turnaround time but did reference staff reviewers  and that individual amendments can be made even if it is done as a slate.

Diane Lebson noted that Goodwill Northern New England is making a concerted effort to expand and recruit into Aroostook and Washington Counties which is something that is important to the Commission.

VOTE Roll Call In Favor: Adams, Burke, Day, Fortin-Trimble, Guidon Jr., Irabaruta, Janczura, Krebs, Lebson, May, Preecs, Shorty, Williams Opposed: none. Motion passed

Executive Committee Task Force.

No further updates outside of the report.

Service Programs Task Force.

Kelsey Preecs updated on the Maine Volunteer Leadership Conference keynotes will be Kaira Esgate from Points of Light and Mary Herman as the afternoon keynote

Call for proposals is still open until June 28th

Institutional Effectiveness and Accountability.

No update outside of the report.

Financial Task Force.

Jennifer Burke discussed the productive meeting they had a couple of weeks ago regarding the funding sources that are incorporated into the budget and they will go over the budget more in depth at the next task force meeting.

Maine Volunteer Foundation.

Trying to plan an in person MOU negotiation meeting.

State Service Strategy Task Force.

Maria Millard presented updates on the State Service Strategy Task Force listening sessions

Commission staff reports.

BUSINESS WRAP UP

Pamela Proulx-Curry checked in on the hybrid meeting experience and all members that were online reported it went well.

Next scheduled business meeting is October 23, 2026

Motion was made to adjourn the meeting

Necole Janczura MOVED and SECONDED by Luke Shorty and accepted unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 12:44 pm.