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Present: Jheri McAfee, CORY Place,
Chairperson; Stephanie Blaylock, Successful Futures; Deb Kipfmiller,
NEMCSA; Janine Kravetz, BASIS; Nola Leinaar, Saginaw Valley 4Cs; Marge
Marchlewicz, Bay County Family Court; Jill Worden, Riverhaven
Coordinating Agency
Staff: Trisha Charbonneau-Ivey, HSCC/SFSC
Coordinator
I. Call to Order and Introductions –
Chairperson Jheri McAfee called the meeting to order at 1:40 PM.
Approval of Meeting Minutes from December 2007
– Jill Worden made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 13,
2007 meeting. Janine supported the motion. The motion passed.
Approval of Meeting Minutes from January 2008
– Nola Leinaar made a motion to approve the minutes from the January 17,
2008 meeting. Roger Pickering supported the motion. The motion passed.
II.
Update on 2007/08 Contracts
Trisha provided an update on the contracts as
provided by Kim Bejcek.
Adoption Promotion and Support - This
contract is getting close to approval, Kim is awaiting a response from
OCRS and then it should be ready for signatures.
Girls’ GREAT Program - Kim received Marge’s
final pro-rated budget and this needs one final approval before
signatures. ($11,375.00)
Day Treatment Program - This pro-rated
amount is the same as Girls Program. ($11,375.00)
Successful Futures - We received the CM-100
back, and have to make changes. These changes will likely need to be in
the form of a modified template from OCRS under the title of “Healthy
Start.”
Home Based Parent Education - The Bay Arenac
ISD is unable to hire the person slated to operate the program as an ISD
employee therefore this program cannot move forward.
Proposed Teen Parent Program - Trisha
recapped that at the meeting in February the group decided that if we
were unable to pursue the Home Based Parent Education Contract that we
would pursue a Teen Parent Program. Roger graciously provided Kim with a
copy of the program that LCFS is offering in Clare County. Kim also has
another program template that she will be reviewing on her return from
vacation to evaluate the unit rates of each and to provide us some
feedback as to how to proceed.
Trisha will contact Kim about the process for
establishing Letters of Agreement. The group suggested that this
may be one way to utilize the uncommitted SFSC funds.
The group also discussed doing a Regional Correlate
Chart to determine if this is particularly a regional problem.
The group further discussed the impact of not
expending all SFSC dollars from a State perspective. The question
remains as to whether this will jeopardize Michigan’s federal allocation
of SFSC dollars. Trisha will contact Jacob Bennett from Congressman
Kildee’s office to try to get some clarification on the ramifications of
not expending all SFSC dollars. It was suggested that Senator Barcia’s
office also be contacted as he sits on the Appropriations Committee.
The group expressed concern that legislators are aware of the reasons
that funding is not being expended to insure that they are aware of the
ongoing need for these funds and roadblocks to their expenditure.
III. Reports
Coordinator’s Report -Coordinator
attended the Statewide Technical Assistance meeting. Jocelyn Vanda and
Jim Nye were present and talked about the additional staff that DHS has
been authorized to hire. They were very excited about the opportunity
and wanted the openings to be shared with people in our network. They
are concerned that there will be a problem finding this sizable number
of staff in such a short period of time.
Although Helen Webber was scheduled to attend she
was unable be there due to an illness. Jim agreed to take questions
back to her, and then forward Helen’s responses through Mary Ludtke. The
entire group expressed their concerns about the contract process. One
member mentioned that his Collaborative has a seat at the regional
rating committee table for DHS. I expressed that this isn’t the case in
our community but we would appreciate the opportunity. Trisha asked Jim
Nye if he would be willing to express our desire to OCRS.
Michigan’s Children published in their newsletter
of February 11th that Governor Granholm’s recommendation is
to keep the current funding level for SF/SC. The funding level has
decreased by 12% since 2001. Trisha distributed this overview to the
group.
Trisha has not received any communication on a due
date for our year end report for SF/SC. This was mentioned to Jim Nye
at the TA meeting. Trisha has been working with Kim to verify all of
the expended amounts and the accuracy of the report. Trisha thanked the
group for the wonderful reporting as this has been integral to the
completion of the report. Coordinator will share a copy of the report
once the data and report format has been verified.
IV. Review of Legislative Luncheon Strong
Families Safe Children Presentation - Trisha reviewed the
Legislative Luncheon Evaluation responses which were included in the
meeting packet. A suggestion from the group was to follow-up with
Legislators at the next meeting to discuss their progress on the issues
presented at the February Meeting.
V.
Discussion about Letter of Request to DHS - Trisha presented
a draft letter in follow-up to a meeting held with Bernell, Ellen, and
Jheri. Bernell asked that we put our requests in writing regarding the
group’s request to have a representative allowed to help with the rating
of formal bids for Bay County SFSC contracts. The group decided
unanimously that this communication could be sent.
VI.
Adjournment – With no further business to come before the
group the meeting adjourned at 2:45 PM (Next Meeting – April 10, 2008).
Respectfully Submitted,
Trisha Charbonneau-Ivey
HSCC/SFSC Coordinator
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