Excellence and Expertise Task Force

PRESENT: Susan Hawthorne, Pam Proulx-Curry, Veronica Kupferman

Staff: M. Ashmore 

The meeting opened at 1:34 pm by teleconference

Minutes

1. Welcome & Introduction

  1. Adjustments to the agenda – Agenda items were reordered
  2. Anyone new in attendance? - None

2. November Volunteer Managers group meeting - process and feedback

  1. VK, participated in the meeting and shared her observations: initial meeting was a small group but the discussion indicated that the opportunity is good start.  KP, meeting host, sent out minutes with a line-up of next couple of meetings. 
  2. Group discussed Workshop/training plan for meetings.  GSFB, UWay reps were present.  Primary discussion was results of survey on COVID Impact on volunteer programs.
  3. MA asked if group felt that meetings should be recorded.  General feedback was that it might be a good idea. PPC suggested making recordings accessible by link for people in the group, and including the link in minutes, rather than posting publicly.  VK noted that group needs to be sensitive to privacy and HR issues; the goal is to create an open forum.  MA noted impact of sunshine laws on state agency sponsored meetings. PPC  described effect of different Zoom settings and check on zoom settings ahead of next meeting
  4. Group proposed excerpting “training portion” of meetings be posted as resources, similar to a Video blog.
  5. MA is presenting on Risk management at December session

3. DEIA training plan for AmeriCorps Program Directors with Racial Equity & Justice (see attached)

  1. MA reviewed provided materials related to proposal from Racial Equity & Justice contractors to provide training to Program staff on DEIA over the next few months.  He also described the vetting process and the involvement of program staff from MDF in the selection process.
  2. First introductory session will be at the December AmeriCorps TA meeting with additional sessions to follow.  Commissioners interested in reviewing the accepted proposal may request it from PPC or MA

4. Training Requirements & Staff responsibilities related to State Emergency Management Plan

  1. MA reviewed Volunteer Maine responsibilities for Disaster response, including Volunteer Maine role in State Emergency Management plan, individual staff roles. Role of AmeriCorps members and training requirements
  2. Meeting handouts included excerpt of AmeriCorps funding Contract requirements for programs
    1. Completion of NIMS 700 FEMA introductory course
    2. Participation of members in Volunteer Reception Center exercise
  3. Discussion of how COVID affected training, past deployments by programs and impediments to deployment
  4. Suggestion was made to incorporate more language in Site Agreement templates for programs emphasizing disaster response responsibilities of AC members

5. Additional updates

                MA reiterated calendar and meeting invite changes to ensure ease of meeting access

Meeting adjourned at 2:30pm