TANF Welfare Employment Committee Meeting

TANF Welfare Employment Committee Meeting

March 20, 2014

DEDO

Committee Members Present: Others Present:

Donna Masley Elaine Archangelo

Neva Anton Tom Hall

Jeffrey T. Benson Jr. Chris Cressler

Scott Welch Dominique Green

Greg Gyarmati Andrew Duncan

Katie Suter Sonia Aguilar

Marcella Brainard

Andrew Duncan

Professor Benjamin Fleury-Steiner

Scott Welch called the meeting to order at 3:04pm.

Minutes of January and February meeting were presented for approval by Donna Masley, second by Neva Anton and unanimously approved.

Guest Presentation: Professor Benjamin Fleury-Steiner provided the group with additional information regarding his research project. The two main objectives of the project include the creation of a video chronicling the success of the APEX program that can be used at orientations, and a deeper understanding of the demographics of pardon seekers and related policy implications. His research would include a full file review of all pardon client files (files would be redacted by APEX staff) to gain broad demographic data and phone interviews with 25 pardon seekers to gain more detailed data. Dr. Fleury-Steiner stressed his commitment to maintain the confidentiality of those in the program. He provided business cards so that members of the committee could contact him if additional questions came up in the future.

APEX Update:

Andrew reported that the grant opportunity discussed last month cannot be pursued due to the requirement that the applicant is a non-profit or in partnership with a non-profit which is not currently the case. The question was raised regarding the possible benefit of APEX becoming a non-profit. This will be discussed in further detail at the next quarterly APEX committee meeting on 4-9-14. Eighteen people were scheduled for the last pardon board hearing. The board was running 3 hrs. behind so one individual left prior to his application being reviewed. Of the remaining 17, 16 were approved. The individual denied plans to re-apply. Five expungement requests have been submitted since last month. Staff anticipate the second person will fully complete the pardon and expungement process next month.

New Castle County has been very busy. Dominique continues to hold sessions weekly at the library and is planning to present at the DE Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Andrew noted that the volume of applications has been the highest since March of last year and noted a possible correlation to tax season; since it is possible applicants may be using tax refund money to fund the application process.

Membership

The membership roster will be reviewed at next month’s meeting and the committee will review upcoming term expirations. A suggestion was made to begin recruitment efforts now, even though there are more openings since the process was quite lengthy last time there were vacancies. The group felt it would be good to encourage potential members to begin participation as guests now in hopes they would become engaged with the group and smooth transitions to membership could occur.

Annual Awards Breakfast

Scott will serve as emcee for the event. Neva will send Scott a bio for Christopher Kuselias and Matt Denn to use for introductions. Neva will also put together talking points for Lt. Governor Denn’s use at the event. Blurbs will be pulled from the nomination forms for Scott to use when announcing the winners.

Committee members submitted their ranking sheets prior to the meeting and Chris tabulated the results. There were two ties out of the eight possible winner categories. The committee decided that the tiebreaker criteria should be the company/individual who got the most “first place” rankings. Winners will not be announced prior to the event.

The RSVP list was reviewed. Chris will follow up with nominees, vendors, and collateral group contacts who have not responded. Committee members will make follow-up calls to company representatives who have not yet responded as follows:

Eastern Shore Poultry - Scott

Royal Farms - Scott

Advanced Student - Katie

Christiana Care - Neva

Lowe’s - Neva

Family Dollar - Katie

Staffmark - Scott

Securitas - Neva

Genesis Healthcare - Neva

When making follow up calls regarding attendance, company representatives will also be reminded to send in company logos and photos of TANF employees on the job.

Donna will make nametags for all the committee members and the nominees. Chris will send Donna a list of the winners and forward any logos or photos received from nominees.

Greg confirmed there will be no charge for equipment rental by Dover Downs for the event. Dover Downs will also provide a photographer and helium for the balloons.

Group members gave Donna items to include in the backpacks for Employee of the Year Winners. Scott will contact Chris about providing 4 signed copies of his book to be included in the backpacks. Scott also suggested providing a “thank you” gift to Christopher Kuselias for speaking at the event. Sonia provided a coffee table book for this purpose. Additional backpack items should be given to Donna no later than the next meeting. Chris will prepare the award certificates. Employee award certificates will go in a 5 x 7 slot with a photo of the employee receiving the award from the Lt. Governor on the opposing side. Company winners will receive an 8.5 x 11 framed certificate.

To date, only one payment has been received by DSS. Chris will check on the status interdepartmental transfers.

Breakfast planning check-in call will be held on 4/3/14 at 3:00pm.

The next meeting will be held on 4/17/2014 at DEDO.

Adjournment

5:07pm