Planning Committee

Hismen Hinnu
October 15, 2004 12:00-2:00 p.m.
Meeting Notes

NEXT MEETING – Joint Committee Meeting – Nov. 3, 12-2 PM (tentative)

DECISIONS/NEXT STEPS:

General

• Carl will let Lynnette know about LSAC’s willingness to endorse EBALDC’s application for the Rudy Bruner award.
• Please let USC know if you need a copy of the cross-site survey instrument.

Joint Committee Meeting

• The joint committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 3 rd however, we need the input of the new work groups representatives to know their availability.
• Fred, Jennie and Carl will put together an agenda for the meeting.
• Work groups should designate a main representative and an alternate for the meeting. It can be an interim representative. There should only be one attendee for each work group. Send Mara the names and contact information of the work group representative and alternate as soon as possible.
• Don, Karen, Elena and Pat agreed to help create a fact sheet handout that explains MCO. A draft will be ready for the joint committee meeting. The target date for the fact sheet is November 13 th in time for the 23 rd Ave Town Hall.
• Fred and Elena will get together and put out their ideas about the resident network proposal at the Joint Meeting.

Work Plans

• Work plan drafts should be completed by December 17 th. See Fred’s email for templates.
• All work group meetings should be open to the public, but work groups should establish their own protocol for closing certain meetings if necessary.  

Facilitation Training

• Mara announced that the facilitation training will be conducted by ICA and she will send the curriculum overview for the training. The tentative dates are December 6-7th.

Small Grants

• Sandra asked that members of the LSAC should identify and nominate community members for the committee. Send names and contact info to Sandra by November 1 st. Sandra will send a flyer that has more information, including role description and time commitment.

• Fred added that he senses more momentum around the work and he hopes everyone feels good about the progress.

Attendees:

Jeff Abramson, Unaffiliated
Fred Blackwell, Making Connections Oakland
Sandra Chapin, Making Connections Oakland
Porthira Chhim, Cambodian Community Development Inc.
Pat Constantine, San Antonio Community Development Corporation
Don Davenport, San Antonio Community Development Corporation
Kerry Forbord, Oakland Ready to Learn
Mara Guccione, Urban Strategies Council
Francell Haskins, Alameda County Department of Health
Brendan Leung, FES Coach
Jennie Mollica, Lao Family Community Development
Carl Pascual, EBALDC
Lisa Prigozen, Real Estate Coordinator, EBALDC
Elena Serrano, East Side Arts Alliance
Karen Stevenson, Core Communications
Bill Wong, Diarist  

I. Announcements

• Mara announced the Rudy Bruner award for urban communities. Jennie mentioned that Lynette Lynn from EBALDC had contacted her and told her that they had applied for Oak Park. She offered that the LSAC could endorse it. Carl will let Lynette know about that offer.
• Junious announced that the analysis has begun of the cross-site survey data with a focus on result 1 & 2. USC is working on a summary overview document and will have a draft available in the next week or two. Let USC know if you need another copy of the survey instrument.
• Bill handed out flyers for the series on the Sixties that he is moderating at the Oakland Library as well as his new book,
• Carl announced EBALDC’s annual dinner and handed out invitations.
• 23rd Avenue Town Hall will be held on Saturday November 13 th, 9:30am to 12:00pm at Garfield Elementary School. They are partnering with Active Living By Design.
• Don shared his experience participating in Indigenous People’s Day celebration at Vista Community College in Berkeley.
• Karen announced that the Outcomes Newsletter is coming out this week.
  

II. Site Team

• Fred reported that it is budget season at Casey and they are in the 3 rd year of a flat budget, meaning that there will be no increases although Making Connections may see a growth in funding. Frank is proposing seed funding and strategic grant-making for FES and ECE work. By the next meeting we’ll know the allocations.
  

III. Transition Planning

Joint Committee Meeting

• Fred asked for volunteers to help him put together an agenda for the first joint committee meeting on November 3 rd. Jennie and Carl volunteered.
• It was brought up that we lack a handout to explain to people what we are doing and to provide an orientation.
• Fred suggested that we form a committee to work on this.
• Elena offered that this was originally within the conversation of the resident network strategy.
• Junious suggested that we use the SA Unity as the vehicle for distributing the handout.
• Jennie remembered that there was an agreement that ESAA would lead the development as part of the resident network piece but Karen clarified that the agreement hadn’t moved forward because ESAA’s proposal did not include database or resident organizing work. Elena added that after the San Diego trip they were going to look at the outreach job description. Fred added that there was conceptual agreement but when we added detail there was less agreement.
• There was general agreement that we need the handout now in a fact sheet format. Jennie added that we need to commit to who will take long-term responsibility for this area.
• Karen and Junious asked where are we directing people to come and go? Monthly dinners were one suggestion. Who will take responsibility in the work groups of orientation, etc.?
• Don, Karen, Elena and Pat agreed to help create the fact sheet handout. A draft will be ready for the joint committee meeting. The target date for the fact sheet is November 13 th.
• The point was made that we need to call it something other than “orientation.”
• Sandra volunteered to be the first line of contact with people interested in MCO.
• Jennie reminded everyone that resident organizing is already taking place within the projects of the work groups. We need to ask ourselves what we’ll do once people have started coming together.
• Junious asked if we need to revisit the proposal and what the needed core functions are. Fred suggested that we should but it shouldn’t hold up the process. Fred added that we need to be careful about how we centralize information. We still want people to connect through work groups. Fred and Elena decided that they will get together and put out their ideas about the resident network proposal at the Joint Meeting.

2005 Work Plans and Joint Committee Representatives

• The idea behind the work plans is that they will guide the foundation funding and help us figure out other funders to pursue. Fred reviewed the documents that he had sent earlier this month. He would like the work plans to be completed by the end of the year. Work plan drafts should be completed by December 17 th.
• Jennie added that it is important for work groups to talk with each other because of the overlap in work.
• Fred noted that they should add a question about where the work of each work group intersects with other work groups.
• Work groups should designate a main representative and an alternate for the meeting. It can be an interim representative. There should only be one attendee for each work group. Send Mara the names and contact information of the work group representative and alternate as soon as possible.
• All work group meetings should be open to the public, but work groups should establish their own protocol for closing certain meetings if necessary.
• Fred added that it is important for the work plan process to look ahead as well as look back – both reflective and evaluate what has transpired.
• Carl added that we’ll take resident feedback from the Nov. 13 th meeting to inform the work plan. Otherwise, how do you know if it is what the community wants to do?
• Francell asked if there was a process for evaluation and Fred answered that we have been developing a self-evaluation process and it will probably start next year.
  

IV. Facilitation Training

• Mara announced that the facilitation training will be conducted by ICA and she will send the curriculum overview for the training. There was a request to have the training in time for it to help with the development of work plans.
• We set a few tentative dates – December 6-7 and 9-10 for the training. Mara will send the confirmed dates for the training as soon as possible.
• Fred noted that other MC sites have a leadership academy and we can think about doing this here. Elena added that we can do this through the Cultural Center.
  

V. Work Group Updates

A. Early Childhood Education

• Jennie introduced Kerry Forbord from Oakland Ready to Learn who is heading up this work group. ORL is ten years old and works on strategies to work with parents at the grass roots level with activities that they can do at home regardless of their level of education. They have found that a neighborhood focus is the most effective and has been funded through Casey and Haas Jr as well as OFCY recently to conduct family literacy activities.

• Sandra introduced the two lead agencies, ORL and Cambodian Community Development, who are leading up the recruitment of community members to serve on the committee for the small grants. She introduced Porthira Chhim from CCD.Sandra asked that members of the LSAC should identify and nominate community members for the committee. Send names and contact info to Sandra by November 1 st. Sandra will send a flyer that has more information, including role description and time commitment.

C. 23rd Avenue

• The townhall meeting to unveil the final version of the 23 rd Ave Action Plan is Sat 11/13 from 9:30-11:30am at Garfield Elementary School.
• The group is working with local merchants and C. De la Fuentes office to concerns regarding the proposed design of the Laundromat at the empty corner lot at 23 rd Ave and Foothill.
• The recommendations to fund 23 rd Ave streetscape improvements at $650,000 over 4 years is being considered by the City Council in late November.
• On behalf of the workgroup, EBALDC submitted a $75,000 proposal to the CDBG RFP to plant street trees along 23 rd Ave.

D. FES

• Carl reported on their ongoing campaign to work on Community Benefits agreements and other topics.

E. Housing and Economic Development

• Jennie announced Lisa’s hire for the housing work group and real estate council.

F. Health

• Francell reported that they are looking at language group issues with the Promotoras project.

G. Newspaper

• The next issue will be a collage of work group projects and successes, how we are bringing activity and livelihood to the neighborhood. They are also thinking about marketing strategies, including paid advertisements.

H. Arts and Culture

• Elena reported that ESAA is in a purchase agreement for the cultural center building on 23 rd and International. They are also waiting to hear about a proposal they submitted for Prop 40 funding.

I. MCMOI

• Sonya was not present to report out.

Fred added that he senses more momentum around the work and he hopes everyone feels good about the progress.