April 4, 2018
Regular Meeting
Commissioners Present: Elizabeth Hite, Lisa Laflin, Melik Khoury, Joe Young
Absent: Janice Daku, Nichole Ernest, Coleman Lapointe, Nicole Pellenz
Staff: Michael Ashmore
Guests:
Minutes
Blaine House & PIE Liaison updates (taken out of order)
Blaine House update: MCCS E.D. Crofton indicated that the first BHCSV planning meeting would be held on April 11th and that the committee had a good number for the early going and a mix of experienced and new participants. Conference will again be in Orono. Also noted was that some planners were indicating conflicts in September so the Committee is searching for individuals who can participate at that crucial time. LL noted that Nichole Ernst was continuing on the committee and would be able to provide updates to E & E. MA noted that other E & E members were welcome to participate.
PIE update: EH described the very successful National Service Recognition event host at the State House on April 3rd. All branches of service were recognized in a Resolution from the floor of the House of Representatives and Senator (and Alum) Shenna Bellows assisted in getting a last-minute recognition in the Maine Senate. More than 40 representatives of Senior Corps and AmeriCorps participated. EH noted that Fox/ABC from Bangor was present at the event.
AmeriCorps Member Conference results
MA shared the immediate feedback from the AmeriCorps Member Conference, held at Thomas College on March 28th. Over 100 AmeriCorps members and 25 AC staff from around the state participated. As has been the case in the past, a committee of members has convened to design and host the conference, selecting among session proposals submitted by staff, providing feedback on the design of the day, organizing networking strategies and seeking donated support for the conference. Specific session feedback and overall conference feedback is being aggregated and will be shared at the next meeting as the BHCSV data was shared earlier this year.
Other training Updates
MEMA Partners in Preparedness Conference, April 24th & 25th – MA will be presenting two sessions; one on developing applications for AmeriCorps NCCC support and the other titled “Getting the Right People Involved”, a session on general volunteerism strategies.
New England National Service Regional Training, May 22nd & 23rd in Concord New Hampshire – MA noted that Commission staff members in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, with support from other new England states have been working throughout the winter planning a regional conference.
Service Enterprise training: MA noted that VGF related Service Enterprise training is in the works. The 5 funded entities lend themselves to a Bangor Cohort and Portland work group. United Way of Eastern Maine is a certified organization, so they do need training, but will fill the obligation in the grant by training others, including Eastern Maine Agency on Aging. In Southern Maine, both Midcoast Hunger and Southern Maine agency on aging have completed the classroom portion of the training, so they will partner to support one another in reaching certification. The outlier is Window Dressers in Camden. MA noted that he is working with the Maine Volunteer Foundation E.D., Joel Russ to forma midcoast cohort of natural resource agencies in the Lincoln/Know county area that would be perfect for Window Dressers to join
Service Enterprise Trainer Position description & MOU
Tabled
Other notes
Strategic Planning: MA reminded all members of the strategic planning event at Colby College on April 6th; noting that E 7 E should be prepared to especially consider the need for data collection around strategic goals and the need for statewide baseline data, as discussed at earlier meetings.
Formula and Maine Rural State RFP: RFP’s are scheduled to open on Monday, April 9th.