Minutes - February 27, 2008

Serve Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service
Hewitt and Associates
311 South Wacker Drive
15th Floor, Client Conference Room 2
Chicago, Illinois
11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
February 27, 2008

Commissioners Present: Nancy Caudillo (Arlan McClain), Bob McCammon, Dave Lawrence, Debra Janiszewski, Frank Bass (Todd Stroger), Fred Rodriguez, Howard Lathan, Jocelyn D. Cheng, John Hosteny, Julian Brown, Nancy Jameson, Rosemary Keefe, Steven Wolfe, Tim Capparelli (Dana Starks), Don Baden, Theresa Browley (Terry Mason), Jeffrey Piper

Commission Staff Present: Scott Kimmel, Executive Director; Deborah McCarrel, AmeriCorps Program Manager; Lisa Hooker, AmeriCorps Program Officer; Ebone Lott, AmeriCorps Program Officer; Scott Niermann, Volunteer Program Manager

Guests Present: Kim Fornero, Department of Human Services

The meeting was called to order at 11:00 a.m. by Chairman, Dave Lawrence. Introductions of person present and on teleconference were made.

Several corrections to commission name spelling were made. Commissioner Jameson moved to approve the January 16, 2008 minutes. Commissioner McCammon seconded. The minutes were approved.

Chairman Lawrence provided brief comments in follow-up to the January 16th meeting and led the Commission into the meeting agenda items.

Committees met and reported back to the full commission between 1:00 and 2:00 pm.

Did not meet.

Commission Keefe reported that the committee will work to validate the some of the benchmark data by which the Serve Illinois Commission has set the goal to be among the top 15 states in the nation as reported in the "Volunteering in America" report issued by the CNCS. Keefe also outlined the committee's desire to take a "four segment" target approach to the goal of increasing the number of Illinois volunteers by 500,000 by 2009. Those segments are: corporate community, community-based organizations, academics, and faith-based organizations.

Commissioner McCammon reported that the committee would like additional members and made a request for commissioners or public members to join the committee. McCammon stated a committee goal would be for each AmeriCorps program in Illinois to have a corporate sponsor. McCammon asked to be placed on the April 8, 2008 Mid-Year Program Director Training agenda to discuss accessing corporate sponsorship. Kimmel reported that he and Scott Niermann are working on a white paper that provides information on the best practices used by other state service commissions to accept corporate sponsorships.

Chairman Lawrence and Kimmel provided the commissioners an update from the February 21st meeting of the ad hoc committee. Lawrence reported that the meeting included Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) staff Gretchen Van der Veer and Pennsylvania service commission Executive Director Karen Kaskey. Van der Veer informed the committee members that hosting state service commission, and their partners with the Hands On Network/Points of Light Foundation, were responsible for organizing a host committee, but that the national representatives of the CNCS and the Points of Light/Hands On Network were primarily responsible for planning the details associated with the conference. Van der Veer also reported that the annual fund raising goal of the host committee is between $1.5 and $2 million dollars. Kimmel reported that the next step is for the Commission to decide whether they was to request Chicago as a host site for the 2010 conference and, if so, then the Commission is to send a letter requesting consideration to CNCS and the Hands On Network/Points of Light Foundation.

A motion was made by Commissioner Jameson that the Serve Illinois Commission draft a letter to the CNCS and the Points of Light/Hands On Network requesting Chicago be selected as the host site for the 2010 conference. Commissioner Baden seconded. The Motion passed. Staff will draft the letter for the Commission's review.

Kimmel reported that he has budgeted for three commission staff to attend the national conference in Atlanta this May 31st through June 4th. Chairman Lawrence recommended that commissioners who wish to go to the conferences and have expenses paid for by the commission, send their request to Kimmel. Kimmel will forward the list to the Executive Committee and a decision will be made on attendance. Kimmel also noted that several commissioners have indicted they may attend and have expenses covered by their parent organizations.

Vice Chair Howard Lathan reported that this ad hoc committee will provide guidance and assistance to the Serve Illinois Commission staff on the development and implementation of the Request for Proposal (RFP) scheduled to be issued by the Commission for the 2009-12 AmeriCorps*State grant cycle. The first meeting of this ad hoc committee has been scheduled for:

March 13, 2008
9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Chicago Area Project Offices
55 East Jackson Street, Ste. 900
Chicago, Illinois

Kimmel reported that there are currently three commissioner vacancies: two public seats and one seat that the commission's enabling legislation states must be filled by "a youth between 16 and 25 years old who is a participant or supervisor in a community service program." Commissioners expressed an interests in reaching out to additional corporate and media partners. Keefe offered to contact an associate at the local CBS station for a nomination recommendation. Chairman Lawrence asked that commissioners send any nominations to Kimmel prior to the April 16th meeting.

Nancy Caudillo reported that she was working on having two services days, one in Dixon in April and one in Springfield in October that would be targeted to specifically including persons with disabilities. She said the new disability-focused Serve Illinois / AmeriCorps display was being set up at the National Learning Disabilities conference today through February 29th at the Chicago Hilton. She provided an update on the video that is being produced to reach out to persons with disabilities. She added that she will be participating in an AmeriCorps job fair in Evanston, the Independent Living Expo in Springfield at the end of April, and be a presenter at the Illinois Conference on Volunteer Administration (ICOVA) and the Southern Illinois Volunteer Conference (SIVC) in May and October, respectively. Jameson invited her to participate in the Central Illinois Volunteer Conference in Macomb on October 15th.

Kimmel reported that the commission has the option to offer planning grants to prospective programs for the purpose of assisting them to successfully compete to be an AmeriCorps program or, to current programs for the purpose of program expansion and improvement. He said funds for planning grants come from unexpended AmeriCorp*State Formula grants, but in the past the Commission has distributed those funds to current programs. Kimmel reported that several organization have approached the Commission about receiving a planning grant. He said that staff will contact those organizations interested in receiving a planning grant and ask them to submit concept papers for the Commission to review and vote on at the April 16th meeting. Deb McCarrel informed the Commission that planning grant applications are treated like AmeriCorps*State Formula grants and that the applications for planning grants must be submitted to the CNCS in July.

Deb McCarrel and Lisa Hooker reported on the status of AmeriCorps Member visits. McCarrel and Hooker asked the commissioners to review the list of scheduled Member visits contained in their meeting folders and invited them to attend the visits with them.

Kimmel passed out copies of HB5116 that amends the 20 ILCS 710/4, Ch. 127, par. 3804. HB5116 creates the Illinois Service Education Award Grant which allows the Serve Illinois Commission to give a matching education award for persons completing a full-time year of national service. The bill has been introduced by Representative William Davis.

Kimmel referred the commissioners to the VMN Concept Paper in their meeting folder. Scott Niermann updated the Commission on the staff's effort to implement the VMN to-date. He stated that the first VMN meeting was held on January 30, 2008 in Mt. Vernon and about 20 people attended. He said that the concept was well received and that several participants asked to be involved in the Southern Illinois Volunteerism Conference planning committee. Niermann added that the next VMN meeting is scheduled for the East Central Region in Champaign on March 18th and the West Central Region meeting will be held in the Macomb area in early April.

• Southern Illinois Volunteerism Conference – October 2, 2008 at the Holiday Inn in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.
• Illinois Conference on Volunteer Administration – May 8-9, 2008 at the Marriott Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Kimmel pointed the Commissioners to the Serve Illinois Commission's State Service Plan in their meeting folders. He said that the Plan was required by the CNCS and the last time the Commission revised the plan was 2006. He said that he would ask the Commission to seat an ad hoc committee to update the Service Plan at a later date.

Kimmel informed the Commission that the new Serve Illinois web site was on hold awaiting approval for the Commission, and the Department of Human Services (DHS), the Commission's parent agency, to receive approval to enter into a contract with the Network for Good.

Kimmel referenced the LeaderCorps Link newsletter included in the meeting folder. Niermann informed the Commission that the next Serve Illinois Commission newsletter would be coming out in late April.

Commissioners were invited to attend the following events:

• Program Director Mid-Year Training – April 8th at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Hotel in Springfield.
• LeaderCorps Spring Planning Retreat – April 8th at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Hotel in Springfield.
• Dome Day – April 9th beginning with Opening Ceremonies at the State Museum Auditorium in Springfield, followed by educational outreach meetings at the state capitol with legislators and legislative staff. Also to include service day activities in Springfield. Legislators will be asked to participate in events scheduled for AmeriCorps Week.
• AmeriCorps Week – May 11-18, 2008. LeaderCorps Members are coordinating program-based service day events around the state for AmeriCorps week.

McCarrel informed Commissioners that laminated business cards were being prepared that they could use to receive state rates on transportation and hotels when doing Commission business.

None

April 16, 2008
10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Hewitt and Associates
311 South Wacker Drive, 15th Floor
Client Conference Room 2
Chicago, Illinois

The meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.