Contra Costa Children and FamiliesCommission

Minutes

February 4, 2002

Item 1.0 Call to Order.

Themeeting was called to order at 6:14 p.m.

Item 2.0 Roll Call.

Commissionersin Attendance:

MariaTheresa Viramontes-Campbell, Dr. Michael Zwerdling, Cindy Wheeler, VioletSmith, Dr. Paula Moten-Tolson, Mark De Saulnier for John Gioia, Dr. WilliamWalker, Tony Coln, John Cullen

Alternatesin Attendance:

BarbaraLangsdale, Mary Foran, Pat Stroh

Item3.0 Consent Items.

Item 3.1 Approve minutes for January 7, 2002meeting.

A motion was made andseconded to approve the minutes for theJanuary 7, 2002 meeting.

CommissionerViramontes-Campbell abstained from voting because she was not present at theJanuary meeting.

The Commission voted to approve the minutes for theJanuary 7, 2002 meeting.

Item 3.2 - Review, Discuss andAcknowledge Financial Reports for December 2001.

Chairman Cullenreviewed the Financial Reports with the Commission.

Item 3.3 Executive CommitteeReport.

Chairman Cullen informed theCommission that the following items were discussed:

a)    Received an update regarding the Home Visiting #2 studysession. Staff will develop a completeservices and allocation plan utilizing the MRMA process which will be broughtforth to the Commission for approval in April.

b)    Received an update on the implementation of thesubstance abuse strategy. A follow-upprogress report will be presented to the Commission in May or June.

c)    Received an update on the composition of the evaluationteam. Staff will make a contract changethat will change the role of Children and Families Futures to a more specifiedevaluation piece and bring on Harder-Company as the primary evaluator on theproject.

d)    Bylaws changes were discussed. Staff will develop a draft of the knownchanges for the February Commission meeting for review and for final vote inMarch.

e)    Reviewed and discussed the draft of the PersonnelPolicies. Changes were recommended andcounty counsel will review prior to adoption by the Commission.

f)      Discussed the evaluation of the Executive Director,which will be presented to the full Commission in March. This evaluation time period is forsix-months ending January 2002. Thepurpose of having the evaluation at this time is that it will allow the Committeeto begin an annual evaluation cycle at the beginning of each calendar year.

g)    Received a brief update on statewide activitiesincluding the status of Prop 10 funds and the Governors budget; theAssociations Panel presentation before the State Commission; status of theExecutive Director position for the Association; and the newly elected ViceChair of the Association, Brenda Blasingame.

h)    Developed the agenda for the February 4, 2002Commission meeting.

Amotion was made and seconded to approve Item 3.0 Consent Items.

TheCommission voted to approve the Consent Items.

Item4.0 Executive Directors Report.

Brenda Blasingame reported the following:

       Fran Biderman has been hired as a contract employee tobegin the foundation work and infrastructure building for the CCKids LearningCenter. This is the one strategy theCommission voted to keep in house to examine training and cross training.

       Rita Alfred has been hired as the Home VisitingCommunity Program Specialist.

       The Statewide Conference will be held in San DiegoMarch 20-22, 2002. For Commissionerswho are not able to attend all three days, it is recommended that they attendthe March 20 presentation by Phil Eisenberg on the budget, and the presentationon the Policy Platform for the California Children and Families Association.

       The Commission/Staff dinner has been schedule forFebruary 21, 2002. This is the annualsocial event for the Commission and Staff.Dinner will begin at 6:00 p.m.

       The updated Workplan is included in the packet.

       Update on East Bay Community Foundationpresentation. Several months ago MikeHowe of the East Bay Community Foundation gave a presentation to the Commissionregarding the funding the Foundation had received from the Endowment and theirinterest in working with the Contra Costa and Alameda Commissions on developinga social marketing campaign. Thisprocess is still being defined and the Commission will be updated when theproject is further along.

       Statewide Activities Update:

• Development of a policy platform for the Children and Families Association. The Association is considering items to take leadership on. The Association presented a policy panel for the State Commission which addresses four issues: continued funding of small counties; requesting the state to invest in the building of a family support infrastructure throughout the state; to invest in the development and infrastructure of 211 with a zero to five capacity; and a pilot project working with migrant families which can be used as a model by other county commissions.

• The Association held elections in January 2002. Brenda Blasingame was the previous chair of the urban caucus and has been elected as the
  Vice President of the Association.

       There are no updates on the state budget at thispoint. The May revise will most likelybe the next time activity occurs.

Item 5.0 Committee and Program Updates.

Item5.1 Program and Evaluation Committee.

a)    General Committee Update

Commission Member Viramontes-Campbell informed theCommission that a special meeting was held on the home visiting strategy.

b)    Home Visiting Strategy

Brenda Blasingamereported the following:

A home visitingstudy session was held and the group was asked to look at various components ofthe Commissions home visiting strategy such as service area and definingallocations. The group considered depth[services focused in certain areas] vs. breadth [disbursement of Commissiondollars] of services.

The Commissionsnext vote on the Home Visiting Strategy will be to determine the allocation offunding.

The group agreedupon the following:

1)    Home visiting would be from the prenatal stage to agethree. This is a change from theStrategic Plan.

2)    To meet families at their level of need it was determined thatthe following is required:

a.     Non-duplication of services

b.     A common intake form to create the referrals in the system

3)    The following areas need to be considered:

a.     Service levels

b.     Capacity building

c.     Maximizing dollars

d.     Building off what exists

e.     Requirement of baseline data

A Meet to ReachMutual Agreement (MRMA) process will bring stakeholders to the table to developa plan to implement the Commissions Home Visiting Strategy. The group will look at the gaps in thesystem and make a mutual decision. Thegroup will submit their report to the Program and Evaluation Committee forreview. The report will then be broughtforth to the Commission.

Barbara McCullough,The Perinatal Council, in public comment asked how the family resource centersand home visiting strategy link.

Brenda Blasingamestated that it is the intention of the Commission to have family resourcecenters, home visiting, and early childhood mental health connected. The stakeholders will be asked to make arecommendation to the Commission as to how they will be linked.

Mary Kay Miller,Employment and Human Service Dept. Staff, in public comment asked about thecommon intake form.

Brenda Blasingamestated that the Commission would request the use of a common intake form.

c)     Update on Family Friendly CommunityGrants

Sean Caseyreported the following:

The Commissionrecently approved Family Friendly Community Grants and staff received threerequests for playground equipment.After site visits were made to all three it was determined that twosites did not meet the criteria established by the Commission that they befully accessible to people at all times and therefore, will not be funded. The first of the two not funded is aproposed site located on the Antioch fairgrounds and is locked except from 8:00am to 5:00 pm and open only on Saturdays if there is an event at thefairgrounds. The second is a sitelocated on church property in the rear of the church and accessible only tothose who would be at the church and a public park with playground equipment islocated within two blocks of the church.The third proposed site that was granted is located at a school inRichmond, which has an open yard, that is accessible at all times, except forwhen school is in session.

Included in thepacket is a new release schedule for the Family Friendly Community Grants. In order to assist applicants with theprocess and to be clear and educate people about the Commissions criteria,there will be mandatory applicants information conferences held. There will also be an opportunity forapplicants to meet with a grant writer to assist with completing theapplication. The application has beenmodified to include specific categories such as playgrounds, safety, communityevents, etc. and will include a list of criteria for each category in order toassist applicants in determining their eligibility.

Public Comment

MarleneMirabella, of Miss Marlenes Daycare, stated that she is a recipient of theFamily Friendly Community Grant and the idea for a checklist on the applicationis a great idea and will be very helpful for applicants.

d)    Update on Grantee activities

The Commission received updates from Ready, Set, Readgrantees Dee Dee Jenson and Marlene Mirabella.

Following the presentation there was an opportunity forCommission members to ask questions of the grantees.

The Commission requested that staff make re-application asimpler process for those projects that reapply for funding.

BrendaBlasingame stated that staff could make it easier for re-application for thosegrantees that would like to replicate their projects.

e)    Sustainability Plan Draft

Chairman Culleninformed the Commission that staff would be presenting the sustainability planconcept. The Commission will be askedto vote on a sustainability plan at the March retreat.

CommissionerViramontes Campbell stated that the sustainability plan draft includes strategyroll out over ten years. If theCommission continues to fund these great programs, at the level in theStrategic Plan, the Commission will find itself needing to spend more that itreceives in revenue. She thanked theCommissioners for their wisdom in maintaining a sustainability fund.

TreasurerZwerdling stated that after discussing this issue the Finance and InvestmentCommittee is very anxious to be able to sustain the Commissions funding. The Commission will need to reevaluate theplan periodically. The dollars in thesustainability fund and the interest accrued will allow the Commission at leastten years of funding.

BrendaBlasingame stated the fact that the Commission has moved slower in rolling outthe Strategic Plan, and the fact that the Commission has taken 18 months toroll out initial funding puts the Commission in a good position to be able tomake this decision.

Chairman Cullenstated that the reason the Commission is discussing this issue is becauseprograms funded will have rising costs and tax dollars will decline overtime. The Commission must set up a planthat allows funding to continue at a sustainable level. He then reviewed the sustainability plandraft with the Commission.

Sean Casey thenreviewed the estimated sample budget with the Commission.

The Commissionthen held a discussion with staff. Atthe next Program and Evaluation Committee meeting, recommendations for programfunding for sustainability will be reviewed and discussed and forwarded to theCommission for consideration at the March retreat.

Item 5.3 Finance InvestmentCommittee.

CommissionerZwerdling reviewed the monthly financial reports with the Commission.

Item 6.0 Outline and discussthe March 8-9, 2002 Retreat Agenda.

Brenda Blasingame stated that theCommission set the retreat for one and one-half days, Friday, March 8, 2002from 1-5 pm, and Saturday, March 9, 2002 from 9 am 5 pm at the ConcordHilton.

A portion of the retreat will befacilitated by Family Support California.The Commission will discuss the sustainability plan, which will includerevisiting the strategic plan, and make a final decision regarding familyresource centers.

The Commission needs to decide if ameeting will be held on March 4, 2002 and if the retreat should be only onefull day.

Commissioners requested that staffgive an updated presentation on the original strategies.

Brenda Blasingame stated that if theCommission moves to not hold a March meeting, other than the retreat, theminutes, bylaws, and financials will need to be discussed at the retreat.

Vice Chair Moten-Tolson suggestedthat the Commission suspend the March meeting, and hold a one-day retreat onSaturday, March 9, 2002.

The Commission members agreed tohold a one-day retreat, Saturday, March 9, 2002 and to cancel the March 4, 2002Commission meeting.

The Commission requested DavidBarkan facilitate a portion of the retreat.

Item 7.0 Bylaws Change.

Chairman Cullen stated that suggested Bylaws changes areenclosed. The Commission will vote onchanges at the March retreat.

BrendaBlasingame stated that one of the Bylaws changes being suggested is to add aPublic Affairs Committee. Anotherchange to the Bylaws would allow for Alternate Commissioners to chaircommittees. In the Civic Engagementsection of the Bylaws, a paragraph needs to be added that would allow thecommittee to have a vice chair position, and for that position to be electedfrom the community members of the committee.

TheCommission requested the Bylaws be paginated.

Item 8.0 Communications.

TheCommission acknowledged receipt of communications.

Item 9.0 Adjourn.

The meetingadjourned at 8:10 p.m.