Agenda - June 2, 2016

Illinois Department of Natural Resources
1 Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL

Illinois Department of Public Health
122 S. Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL

Dial: 888-494-4032; Access Code: 4037150212#

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Frederick Nettles, Chair; Don Baden, Vice-Chair; Jeff Turnbull; Cynthia Sims; Dora Welker (for Superintendent Smith); John Hosteny; Anne Schuman; Jane Angelis; Jenné Myers; Matt McCabe; Debra Marton; Laura Davis; Nisan Chavkin; Jennifer Phillips; Steve Silberman; Chris Herrera; Giraldo Rosales; Julian Brown; Mandy Guinn; Barb Tubekis

Sara Stapleton, Corporation for National and Community Service

Scott McFarland, Executive Director; Mattias Ghelaidos; Mike Stehlin; Jacob Nudelman; Kelia Beck; William Coussens

Nettles called the meeting to order 1:05pm

• Myers made a motion to approve the minutes for the commission meeting on April 13th, 2016
• Baden seconded, the motion was agreed to by voice vote

• Staffing
  • Two AmeriCorps Program Officer positions are in the process of being filled
    • Once the first is filled, the second will open up
    • A third position is contingent on the state budget process
• Budget
• Current federal pass-through runs until 6/30/16
  • Present proposals for a new bill would include Serve Illinois
• New federal budget information is still unknown, more info in coming months
• ‘Training and Technical Assistance’ (TTA) funds have been reinstated by CNCS,
  • These funds will involve cross-stream work with other National Service groups
  • Serve Illinois will be receiving information on its application in coming weeks
• Audit
• Final notification of findings to be released by 7/31/16
  • Serve Illinois will have 30 days to respond to any findings
  • McFarland voiced concern over the audit process and a lack of an onsite visit for LSSI
  • Questioned costs are expected from all sub-grantees, but once staff has negotiated corrective action with CNCS, the actual costs are expected to be minimal
• Commission Appointments
• Governor’s office has not made any appointments
• Individual backgrounds and gaps in knowledge on Commission taken into account with nominees
• Anyone with interest should contact Scott McFarland

• Transition to New Administration – January 2017
  • CEO Wendy Spencer will step down, to be replaced by presidential appointment
    • General Services Administration and Partnership for Public Service will assist in transition
    • Within CNCS approximately 20 positions will be impacted
• Adherence to Agency Policy
  • All grantees and subgrantees are aware of the specific terms and conditions of their grants, including prohibited activities
    • McFarland noted that all Illinois subgrantees have received instruction to review and reinforce conditions of their AmeriCorps grants and expectations of members
• Upcoming CNCS Board Meeting
  • Tentative date of 6/23 or 6/24
• Older American’s Month Report
  • Major events held May 16-20, 2016
  • $300 million federal investment has impact of $77 billion
• Asian American-Pacific Islander Month Report
  • Chicago VISTA project “Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago” highlighted by national office
• North Central National Service Training
  • Held June 8-10, 2016 in Indianapolis
  • Serve Illinois, CNCS Chicago, and a number of Illinois program staff will be attending
• Employers of National Service Fair
• AmeriCorps and Peace Corps Alums welcome
• June 21st at 3:30pm, DePaul University
• VISTA Report
  • Request for Proposal
    • Delayed until fall of 2016 (new grants management system to be launched)
  • Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs
    • 30 VISTA Summer Associates in western IL
    • Focusing on summer learning loss and food security programs
  • The Immigration Project – VISTA member Maya Flores
    • Raised $23,500 in seven months
    • Created annual fundraising plan and combined donor bases for program
    • Developed client testimonial videos and 2015 annual report
  • Senior Corps Report
    • RSVP of Peoria and Tazewell Counties
      • Supporting research work of MSW intern
    • RSVP Tax Preparation Volunteers
    • 2015 tax year preliminary totals included 142 RSVP volunteers completing 8,337 returns, bringing $5,150,000.00 back to their communities

• Executive Committee – Fred Nettles
  • No Report
• Strategic Planning Committee – Jeff Turnbull
  • Draft of the new strategic plan was sent to commissioners
    • Goal of the updated plan is to make each point measureable
    • Clarifications, edits, suggestions, or corrections should be sent to Scott McFarland
  • Suggestion was made to send the draft plan to the public for input
    • Online comment period would follow
    • Bidders conferences would be used to spread the word
  • Goal was set to have the updated plan completed by October 1, 2016
    • Voting on the plan would take place at October 2016 commission meeting
    • Final draft completed by September 1, 2016
• Foundation Report – Debra Marton
  • Paperwork for nonprofit status to be filed on June 15, 2016
  • Next meeting of the Serve Illinois Foundation board on June 14, 2016
  • First donation coming from Brandon at the Aspen Group
  • Website: www.ServeIllinoisFoundation.org
    • Suggestion made to include link on Serve Illinois website
    • Waiting on clarification whether direct link between the two is allowable
  • Working on developing a 1-pager for sponsorship
    • Send ideas and feedback to Deb Marton
• Volunteer Recognition Committee – Barb Tubekis
  • No Report
• Outreach Committee – Chris Errera
  • No Report
• Resource Development Committee – Cynthia Sims
  • No Report
• Regional Commissioners – Anne Schuman
  • No Report

Chavkin moved to change the agenda and bring new business to the floor

• Davis seconded, the motion was agreed to by voice vote

• AmeriCorps Formula Funding for 2016-17 Program Year
  • McFarland presented an overview of the process
    • Request for applications sent out in August 2015
      • Bidder’s conferences followed, with applications due the following December
      • 36 applications were received
    • 18 applications were sent directly to CNCS for competitive funding
      • 8 of these applications were recompeting programs that currently receive competitive funding
      • No new applicants were sent up for competitive funding
      • Programs to be sent for competitive funding approved at Executive Committee meeting in January
      • All 8 recompeting programs received competitive funds; not included in formula consideration
    • Operation AmeriCorps program (in E. St. Louis) was funded by CNCS for Year 2
      • No plans for funding any Operation AmeriCorps programming for Year 3
  • McFarland presented three funding options based on the formula allotment given to Illinois (see handout)
    • Discussion by commissioners focused on ‘Option 3’
      • ‘Option 3’ funds 25 programs with formula allotment, including 5 new programs
  • Chavkin made a motion to accept ‘Option 3’, reducing the new programs to a maximum of 12 MSY, reducing BHicks Childcare to 8 MSY, and spreading the remaining funding to all currently funded programs by need, starting at the highest peer-review score ranking and descending. Final decision to be confirmed by the Executive Committee of the Commission and submitted to CNCS by June 24, 2016.
    • Rosales seconded, the motion was agreed to by a voice vote. Chair Nettles abstained.
  • Questions/concerns about the scoring rubric should be sent to Cynthia Sims
  • Inclusion of applicant total agency budget and number of program partner agencies requested for 2017-18 funding reports
  • Investigation requested as to why so many programs attending bidder’s conferences did not submit applications for funding

• AmeriCorps
  • 2016-19 Review
    • 2017-18 program year RFA to be completed soon
    • Monitoring of programs has been put on hold until the new AmeriCorps program officer is hired
  • Illinois Disaster Corps
    • Aim is to recruit 2-year members
    • Trainings are being revamped
    • Work is underway to have Disaster Corps codified in IEMA emergency plan Annex
  • Program Director training for the 2016-17 program year will be July 19-20, 2016
• Volunteerism
  • Volunteerism Conferences
    • ICOVA (IL Conference on Volunteer Administration) August 10, 2016
    • NWIVC (Northwest Illinois Volunteerism Conference) October 14, 2016
  • Veterans Day of Service
    • Online database in the works for recording projects and signing up to volunteer
    • Required day of service for Serve Illinois programs
    • In the process of reaching out to statewide partners
• Communications
• Website/Social Media
  • McFarland presented report
  • Send any bio or social media updates to Scott McFarland
• Newsletter
  • Next newsletter will be out soon
  • Send updates, content, and updated contact information to Jake Nudelman

• No Old Business

• Chair Nettles moved to adjourn the meeting
  • Sims seconded, the motion was agreed to by voice vote
• The meeting was adjourned at 3:55pm by Chair Nettles