Minutes - April 16, 2008

Location: Literacy Volunteers of Illinois
30 East Adams, Suite 1130
Chicago, IL 60603
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
April 16, 2008

Commissioners Present: Dave Lawrence, Peter Kamps (Sheryl McGill), Frank Bass (Todd Stroger), Fred Rodriguez, Jocelyn D. Cheng, John Hosteny, Nancy Jameson, Rosemary Keefe, Steven Wolfe, Tim Capparelli (Dana Starks), Don Baden, Ted Gibbs, Mythili Rundblad, Dan Bassill, Arlene Mulder

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, Scott McFarland, GPSI

Guests Present: Dorothy Miaso, Esther Lindstrom

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Chairman, Dave Lawrence. Introductions of person present and on teleconference were made.

Commissioner Designee Capparelli moved to approve the February 27, 2008 minutes. Commissioner Bassill seconded. The minutes were approved.

Chairman Lawrence provided comments on the Program Director Mid-Year Training, LeaderCorps Planning Retreat, and Dome Day events that occurred April 8-9 in Springfield. Lawrence gave special thanks to Jessica Herman of City Year Chicago for her effort in making Dome Day a successful event. Commissioner Gibbs provided comments on the Learn and Serve participation. Commissioners Baden and Rodriguez both stated that the event was a good experience. Commissioner Jameson said that she would like to see more SeniorCorps involvement next year. Scott Kimmel informed the Commissioners that the Capitol Rotunda had been reserved for April 22, 2009 for next year's Dome Day event. He said he hoped that programs could bring displays to put up and pass out informational materials. He also asked commissioners who were in attendance to follow-up with the legislators they met with to again invite them to attend an AmeriCorps Week service day activity.

Kimmel and Deb McCarrel provided an update on the planned trip to Madison, Wisconsin to meet with Serve Wisconsin commissioners and staff. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 1st. Kimmel and McCarrel requested that any other Commissioners who wish to participate contact the staff as soon as possible.

No report.

Commissioner Keefe gave the report. Keefe reported that the committee was still considering whether to try and validate or supplement the volunteer statistics issued by the Corporation in the Volunteering in America Report. She stated that the committee is considering whether to do some investigative work to validate the benchmark data in the "Volunteering in America" report issued by the CNCS.

Commissioner Baden gave the report. Baden described the committee survey of the state's AmeriCorps programs to determine the degree of corporate support being received. The committee had received 17 responses to-date with six programs reporting no outside support being received. Baden discussed the committee's continued plan to get corporate support for each of the Serve Illinois Commission AmeriCorps*State programs.

Kimmel added that he had been contacted by the Taproot organization as a result of the Pro Bono Summit held in New York. Keefe stated that she has had extensive involvement with the Taproot group and that she would like to assist. Kimmel will email Keefe the details about the teleconference being scheduled.

Kimmel reported that the Serve Illinois Commission's letter of interest in hosting the 2010 National Conference was under review within DHS. He said that the Commission may wish to wait until after the 2008 Conference in Atlanta to make a final decision. John Hosteny suggested that the Serve Illinois Commission and his office extend an invitation to all the Illinois programs that will be in Atlanta and schedule a meeting for programs and representatives to meet one another.

Deb McCarrel provided the update. McCarrel reported that a technical assistance provider had prepared a draft RFP for the Commission staff to review and, once completed, the draft will be forwarded to Commissioners. She said the Commission will still need to finalize what they want the Illinois AmeriCorps portfolio to look like. Commissioner Bassill stated that the RFP needs to reflect the overall goals of the Commission as outlined in the Service Plan.

Chairman Lawrence, Kimmel, and McCarrel gave an update on the Mid-Year Program Directors Training. Each described the training and very beneficial and well received. Commission staff reported on the coordinated activities that took place between program directors and LeaderCorps members.

Kimmel and McCarrel reported on the progress made to-date with DHS Management Information System (MIS) staff on the development of a replacement system for the WBRS system (Web Based Reporting System) that is being retired by the Corporation for National and Community Service in September 2008. McCarrel reported that several end-users (programs) have been selected to assist the Commission and DHS staff with the development.

McCarrel reported on the Commission staffs' progress in completing AmeriCorps Member meetings. No issues of particular note were necessary to report to Commissioners.

McCarrel reported that program mid-year site visits were being scheduled and Commissioners were invited to attend.

Esther Lindstrom provided the report. Lindstrom informed the Commission of the planned service activities being coordinated by the LeaderCorps Members for AmeriCorps Week (May 11-18). She said that most programs were planning on participating in a statewide food and clothing drive that will culminate on May 17th. A list of service projects was included in the Commissioners' meeting materials. Lindstrom also reported that the LeaderCorps Members plan to use a Facebook and MySpace page to communicate among members. Lindstrom made note of the LeaderCorps newsletter, "LeaderCorps Link," that was also included in the Commissioners' meeting materials. The next LeaderCorps retreat is planned for June 18-19 at Starved Rock and Commissioners were invited to attend.

Commissioners Gibbs provided the report. Gibbs reported that the bill to allow the Serve Illinois Commission the authority to award matching Education Awards to Illinois AmeriCorps Members who complete a year of service was going into third reading in the House of Representatives. He said the bill should be called for a vote sometime in the coming week. Gibbs stated that the bill may have some difficulty in the Senate and he asked Commissioners to contact their state senators to support the bill.

Scott Niermann and Scott McFarland reported that the certificate for the Points of Light Volunteer Management Training series had been revised and is ready for use. Kimmel asked the Commissioners to discuss the role of the Commission in providing these certificates and the implications in doing so. A discussion ensued with Commissioner Bassill stating that if the Serve Illinois Commission's logo was to be on the certificate, then the Commission should draw up criteria for providing such support for a training program. Commissioner Wolfe asked if the Commission needed a statewide certification or formalized training module. Commissioner Jameson noted that there were volunteer leadership curriculums at colleges and universities that could be reviewed for comparison to the Points of Light training series. By a show of hands, Commissioner Lawrence determined that the Serve Illinois Commission's logo and his signature would not be included on the certificate for the VMT training series.

Kimmel pointed Commissioners to the paper in their meeting materials entitled, "Social Marketing of Volunteerism" and suggested that the concept of social marketing should be considered by the Community Outreach and/or Public Relations and Marketing Committees.

Niermann provided the report. The Conference is May 8th and 9th at the Oakbrook Marriott. Commissioners Wolfe and Rodriguez sit on the ICOVA planning committee and Rodriguez reported that the current registration is about 75.

Kimmel and Niermann provided the report. Commissioners were told that an East Central Illinois VMN meeting was held on March 18th in Champaign and a West Central Illinois VMN meeting was held in Macomb on April 1st. Kimmel reported that the VMN concept was still being well received and that the participants seemed to like the idea of developing regional committees to determine volunteer recognition and perhaps to develop regional conference like the Southern Illinois Volunteerism Conference. Niermann added that the next VMN meetings are the Northwest Illinois VMN meeting scheduled for the April 23rd in Dixon and the Northeast Illinois VMN meeting scheduled for May 22nd in Naperville. Kimmel added that he and Niermann were also making a presentation at the Illinois Conference on Volunteer Administration (ICOVA) on the VMN concept on May 9th.

Kimmel provided the report. Kimmel informed the Commission that the new Serve Illinois web site will be launched when it is ready and that the volunteer opportunities portal to the Network for Good volunteer database will be added after the approval had been received and the contract executed. Kimmel stated that the sole source contract requirement with the Network for Good was making its way through Central Management Services (CMS) and that an anticipated June launch date was being planned. He asked Commissioners to go to wwwbeta.serve.illinois.gov/serve to review the Commission's new web site.

Commissioners were invited to attend the following events:

• Illinois Conference on Volunteer Administration – May 8th and 9th at the Oakbrook Marriott hotel.
• Tutor / Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference – May 29th and 30th at Northwestern University School of Law, 365 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago.

Commissioner Baden asked about the development of a Serve Illinois Commission certificate that could be give to members completing their year of service in AmeriCorps. Scott McFarland agreed to do a mock-up of a Commission certificate.

Commissioner Lawrence asked if their were any recommendations for a commissioner to represent youth interests. He asked that any such recommendations be forwarded to Kimmel.

The next meeting of the full Serve Illinois Commission will be held on Wednesday, July 16th from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm. The meeting location is to be determined.

The meeting adjourned at 1:50 p.m.