December 4, 2018
PRESENT: Celeste Branham, Jamie Logan, Nicole Pellenz, Libby Hite, Ed Barrett, Dave Burns
Discussion Notes
> Task force updates.
Grant Selection and Performance is recruiting other commissioners to assist with the grant continuation and competition processes. Work is in waiting-mode since applications are in peer review or due in later this week.
Public Information and Education. Jamie reported the next meeting is December 11. Minutes from November are posted.
Maine Service Fellows. Libby summarized the first meeting. Members have assignments as part of data gathering. The group will meet the third Wednesday of the month at 1pm going forward.
25th Anniversary planners will meet for the first time on December 17.
Financial Oversight Task Force will have its first meeting on December 6.
>Identity Infographic.
Members asked for additional time to review. They will provide their comments via email so revisions can be done before the end of the month. This infographic will be one side of a single-page brochure. The strategic plan infographic will be the second side. It will accompany the welcome letter to legislators.
>Foundation outreach for civic health report.
Maryalice gave a summary of the Foundation outreach to potential funders for Maine’s first civic health report. Nicole and others asked for a copy of the project summary the foundation is using.
>2018 data report of Maine volunteering.
The Volunteering in America report is back after 2 years hiatus. Maine ranked 9th in nation for rate of volunteering. Maryalice asked for assistance with getting press release drafted for distribution to state media. Celeste offered and asked that the source info be sent to her.
>Call to Service on January 5
Governor-elect Mills’ team asked MCCS to organize a day of service for January 5. It will be one of the official inauguration events. Staff need help to pull this off and, through connections, found Adrienne Carmack. She is helping identify the projects. Transition team has said they will recruit the volunteers. Maryalice is looking for a project Commission members could do together.
>Corporation for National and Community Service reorganization
CNCS announced it will implement its reorg plan starting right away. Over 40 field offices are being closed and consolidated into 8 regional offices. New region for Maine will be all of New England plus New York and the office will be in Manchester NH. Staffing roles are being restructured and redefined. Nearly all the federal staff have been notified their positions are eliminated and they will need to reapply for new jobs created. The state commissions have been convened by ASC and are acutely aware of the disruption, loss of institutional knowledge, and high risk built into the timeline. The new structure and staffing is to be completed within 12 months. At the same time, there could be opportunities and those are under discussion.
>Senator Collins being honored nationally
Voices for National Service is a lobbying organization that works on behalf of AmeriCorps programs in Washington. For their annual recognition program in February, they selected Senator Collins because of her constant support of national service. The award program will be during the annual convening of states and Maryalice will attend. This year none of the Commissioners are available to attend the Commissioner leadership portion. To convey Maine’s appreciation, Celeste will draft a congratulatory letter for all Commissioners to sign at the January meeting.
There being no other items to discuss, the meeting closed at 3:54 pm.