Association of Community Information Centres in Ontario

Association of Community Information Centres in Ontario

o/a InformOntario

2013

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Friday, June 20, 2014 at 9:45 am

Location: Laurier University, Waterloo, ON

AGENDA

Chair: Sylvia Mueller, President

1.Welcome / Announcements from the attendees

2.Business Meeting Called to Order – Sylvia Mueller

REMINDER: Only IO members can initiate, second and vote on motions.

Approval of the Agenda- Sylvia Mueller

Approval of the AGM Minutesof June 12, 2013- Sylvia Mueller

2013 Annual Report- Sylvia Mueller

2013Treasurer’s Report - Rosemary Park, Treasurer
2012 Financial Review
Appointment of Vendor for 2014 Financial Review

Election of Directors –Trudy Beaulne
Slate of Nominees
Call for Nominations
Approval of Slate of Directors
Recognition of Outgoing Board Member – Trudy Beaulne

Ratification of all past motions - Sylvia Mueller

New Business- Sylvia Mueller

Adjourn Business Meeting- Sylvia Mueller

SLATE OF DIRECTORS

TO BE ELECTED FOR A TWO YEAR TERM ENDING JUNE 2016

-Rosemary Park

-Lesley Russell

CONTINUING TERMS

-Sylvia Mueller

-Lisa Misurak

-Michele Watson

-Philip Wolfart

Association of Community Information Centres in Ontario

o/a InformOntario

Meeting Title / Annual General Meeting - 2013 / Time / 10:05 am--3:35 pm
Date / June 20, 2013 / Place / Via webinar
Attendance
Board Members: Trudy Beaulne (chair), Laura McDonald,Sylvia Mueller, Rosemary Park, Suzanne Robinson, Michele Watson, Philip Wolfart
Present: See attendance list
AGENDA ITEMS / Action / Discussion / Motion | Action Item
1. / Announcements
-Sylvia Mueller / Annual meeting via webinar to meet requirements of meeting with 6 months of organization’s year end. While AGM is usually held during annual symposium, this year’s event re-scheduled to September.
Thanks to CIOC for use of their webinar service.
2. / Business Meeting / Information / Business meeting called to order by President Sylvia Mueller
a) Approval of Agenda / Motion / . / Motion: To approve agenda as presented.
Melissa Dunbar / Michele Watson
Voting Poll #1.- Carried
b) Approval of AGM minutes of June 12, 2012 / Motion / Pauline Kajiurastated that she was not in attendance;asked that her name to be removed from motion to approve slate of directors. Michele Watson, who made motion, agreed to change. Laura McDonald agreed to place her name as the seconder.
Same issue with closing the nominations. Michele Watson, who made motion, agreed to change. Laura McDonald agreed to place her name as the seconder. / Motion: That the minutes of the Annual General Meeting of June 12, 2012 be accepted as amended.Laura McDonald | Michele Watson
Voting Poll #2 - Carried
c) Annual Report: / Information / Report distributed via email. Several corrections were noted. / Motion: Approval of Annual Report as amended.
Melissa Dunbar / Philip Wolfart
Voting Poll #3 - Carried
d) Treasurer’s Report
- Rosemary Park
i) 2012 Financial Report
ii)Appointment of Vendor for 2013 Financial Review / Motion / The financial review was not presented due to confusion between past OACCAC funding and the new Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration funding. The Board will review the new document, then request an electronic vote by the membership.
Rosemary recommended that the firm of Steinbach and Chappelle be appointed for the 2013 financial review. / Motion: That the 2012 engagement review will be conducted via an electronic vote of the membership.
Rosemary Park / Michele Watson
Voting Poll #4 - Carried
Note: Electronic vote held throughout Dec 2013 and Jan 2014; quorum of votes approved engagement review.
Motion: That the firm of Steinbach and Chappelle be appointed for the 2013engagement review.
Rosemary Park / Philip Wolfart
Voting Poll #5 - Carried
e) Election of Officers
- Trudy Beaulne / Motion / To be elected for two-year term endingJune 2015:
-Sylvia Mueller, Information Barrie
-Philip Wolfart. Volunteer Manitoba
-Michele Watson, Information Durham
There were no nominations from the floor.
Continuing Terms:
-Lesley Russell, Individual Member
-Rosemary Park, York Region Community Information & Volunteer Centre
-Trudy Beaulne, Social Planning Council of Kitchener-Waterloo
On behalf of the Board, outgoing Director Suzanne Robinson was thanked for her many contributions to the organization. / Motion: That nominations be closed, and that the slate of directors for 2013-2014 be approved as presented/
Trudy Beaulne / Melissa Dunbar
Voting Poll #6 - Carried
f) Ratification of Acts / Motion presented to approve all works of the board since the last annual general meeting. / Motion: That all acts, by-laws, proceedings, appointments, elections and payments enacted, made, done and taken by the Directors and Officers of the Corporation since the last Annual Meeting of the Members, held on June 12, 2012 and referred to in the Minutes of the Meetings of the Board of Directors, be and the same are hereby approved, ratified and confirmed.
Lesley Russell / Rosemary Park
Voting Poll #7 - Carried
g) New Business / Information / No new business
Adjournment / Motion / Meeting adjourned / Motion: To adjourn annual general meeting of June 12, 2013.
Melissa Dunbar | Carried
Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Partnership grant / Information / Trudy introduced Sanja Petrovic Granovic, the organization’s coordinator for the Partnership grant. A PowerPoint presentation outlined the goals and plans for this 3 year project. / Webinar ended at 10:59 am.

AGM Attendees:

Association of Community Information Centres in Ontario

o/a InformOntario

Jennifer Tanner, City of Windsor / 211 South West

Michelle Fisher, Community Connection

Pauline Kajiura, Community Information Hamilton

Laura McDonald, individual member

Lesley Russell, individual member

SylviaMueller, Information Barrie

Cathy Gowland, Information Durham

Michele Watson, Information Durham

Shannon O'Donnell, Information Orillia

Barbara McLachlan, InformOntario

Aleksandra Petrovic, InformOntario

Mark Winfield, individual member

Trudy, Beaulne, Social Planning Council Kitchener-Waterloo

Melissa Dunbar, Social Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries

Angela Mark, VCCS Employment Services

Philip Wolfart, Volunteer Manitoba

Jennifer Leveridge, York Info

Rosemary Park, York Region Community Information & Volunteer Centre

Association of Community Information Centres in Ontario

o/a InformOntario

2013 Activities and Events

President's Remarks

President:Sylvia Mueller

2013 has continued to be a year of opportunity and challenge as the community information sector continues to evolve in Ontario. We have worked towards strengthening partnerships as well as assisting members with sector advocacy.

Our Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Partnership Project grant provides the organization with an opportunity to create and promote training modules to help all InformOntario members cultivate working relationships in support of newcomers more effectively with the core services we provide in information and referral. An outline of our 2013 deliverables can be found later in this report.

September featured another successful annual members’ conference, located inYork Region.

The Board also began planning for reviving a members’ e-newsletter and a revamped and user friendly website. Both will be launched in 2014.

Part of that strategy included hiring MJ Leitner (contract) who has used her talents and organizational skills on the communications features above, and providing the administrative support for the 2014 Symposium. And Barbara McLachlan continues in her role as IO Coordinator.

Thank you to all the Board and Committee members who have contributed to this year’s activities.

Respectfully submitted,

Sylvia Mueller

President

ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM & Recognition Awards

Co-Chairs:Rosemary Park and Jennifer Leveridge

Members:Cathy Gowland, Laura McDonald, Barbara McLachlan, Pamela Hillier, Kelly Towsley, Kate Kiernan

The annual Symposium was held September 17-18, 2013 at theCourtyard by Marriott, Markham. The 2-day event brought together more than 40 attendees for a series of both plenary and stream-based workshops. It was also a successful collaboration of 2 members, York Info Community Information & Volunteer Database and York Region Community Information & Volunteer Centre.

No awards ceremony was held in 2013.

Standards and accreditation

The committee has been in hiatus.

membership DEVELOPMENT

Membership in 2013included 31 organizations and 7 individuals for a total of 38.

Membership composition includes:

Multi-service groups
Community care access centres
Libraries
Volunteer centres
Government entities
211 centres
Social planning councils
Mental health organizations
Non-Ontario-based organizations

Membership with InformOntario includes:

Professional development for both agency and individual practitioners
Member-reduced fees at Annual Symposium, training that reflects daily work and trends within the human services sector
Access to community forums, discussion board, website, e-news
Promotion of sector training opportunities
Ongoing development of Ontario-specific standards in information management
Online toolkit of resources including a Style Guide for data entry
Collaborative planning with Community Information Online Consortium (CIOC)
Involvement on a regular basis with experts in the field
Sector advocacy, development, and strategy
Projects, partnerships and initiatives with/between members
Communication, information sharing, consultation and education among members
Networking and knowledge transfer through volunteering with IO
Eligibility to participate in and vote at the Annual General Meeting

FINANCE

Chair:Rosemary Park

The financial review for 2013 is in a separate section within this annual report.The bookkeeping was contracted through Niagara Penn Accounting Services.

Ministry of Citizenship and immigration grant

Supervision Team:Sylvia Mueller, Trudy Beaulne, Rosemary Park, Project Coordinator - Alekandra (Sanja) Petrovic Graonic, IO Support - Barbara McLachlan

The 2 pilot communities are Social Planning Council of Kitchener-Waterloo and York Info Community Information & Volunteer Database, while the testing pilot site is Findhelp Information Services.

Year 2 of the 3-year initiative occurred from March 2013 to February 2014.

The project had a slow start in Year 1 due to a variety of staffing delays. As things began to gel together at the end of Year 1, the project team knew that Year 2 would bring many challenges and many rewards.

It was no small task for the whole team to implement the Year 1 project activities, reflect on the process in two communities and create materials and tools in order to share the learning with the testing groups during the first three months of Year 2. The team then quickly transitioned into the Year 2 work.

As a result, four local resources were created (Yr 1 and Yr2). They are:

Module 1 - self-directed training tool "Knowing Your Community" was launched in September 2013 at the InformOntario Education and Networking Symposium.
Module 2 – self-directed training tool "Creating Meaningful and Sustainable Local Information Resources" was launched in February 2014.
Pilot Community Site (Waterloo Region) local resources
Year 1 – an online Waterloo Region Settlement Services Directory - includes agencies, programs and services that support newcomers to Canada who are settling in Waterloo Region. The services and programs include those that, by common definition, address the settlement process directly or basic human needs that are at any stage of a newcomer’s settlement process.
Year 2 - Dynamic Links to Resource Lists - These dynamic links is compiled as a part of the Waterloo Region Settlement Services Directory project. Staff met extensively with advisory group members in order to create category definitions that captured the identified needs of immigrant populations supported by each area of service. This resource allows service providers an easy-to-use and access reference tool for creating their own resources while assured that their lists will have the most current information available each time they access a dynamic link (refreshed weekly).
Pilot Community Site (Southern York Region) local resources
Year 1 - an online South York Region Settlement Services and Programs Directory to reside as a Special View on the York Region Community Information and Volunteer Centre website ( The Special View provides easy-to-find, reliable information about local settlement, immigrant, ethno-cultural, and integration services, programs and activities, available to the more than 50% (over 410,000) of south York Region residents who are foreign-born, visible minorities, and speak neither English or French in their home as a first language; Human Service providers supporting them; and York Region Immigration Settlement Strategy projects.
Year 2 - an online South York Region Newcomer Collaboration Forum website using project management software, which allows for collaborative information sharing and planning among Settlement and Community Information service providers. The purpose of the resource is to build on the Settlement Directory’s listing of local services, programs and activities, to enhance the information management and sharing capabilities of both Sectors’ service providers by creating online postings of information needs and reliable information resources, and building collaborative working relationships that produce a responsive, integrated Information & Referral service delivery system.
Participant engagement and review of modules through the Testing Community Site

The modules include an integrated course completion criteria and recognition. Learning materials and surveys are saved and accessible for review and completion at convenience of participants.

These products and tools will provide a solid base for Year 3 deliverables.

All InformOntario members are invited to participate in this online training and to involve their staff by visiting

administration

Contracted administrative support by Barbara McLachlan has included:

-ensure ongoing Board and committee minutes

-ongoing maintenance of the website

-administrative support for the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration grant project

COMMUNICATIONS

Contracted administrative support by MJ Leitner (contract) has included:

-administrative lead for 2014 Symposium Committee

-support to Communications Committee

-other tasks as required

An information/promotional newsletter was designed, with a quarterly distribution schedule to members, former member, stakeholders and others with an interest in the Information and Referral field.

Planning is underway to re-develop, re-design and update the organization’s website, which hasn’t seen a significant re-vamping and facelift for about 10 years. It is hoped that this re-launch of the website will be ready by the end of 2014.

2013-2014 BOARD MEMBERS

President: Sylvia Mueller, Information Barrie
Past President Trudy Beaulne, Social Planning Council K-W/Community Information Centre of Waterloo Region
Treasurer: Rosemary Park, York Region Community Information and Volunteer Centre
Secretary Philip Wolfart, Volunteer Manitoba

Directors:

Lisa Misurak, the healthline Information Network
Lesley Russell, individual member
Michele Watson, United Way of Durham Region

Informontario members

As of June 15, 2014

Barrie Public Library
Child Development Resource Connection Peel
City of Windsor / 211 South West Ontario
Community Connection
Community Information Centre of Ottawa
Community Information Hamilton
Contact Brant
Dundas Community Services
Findhelp Information Services
Flamborough Information & Community Services
United Way of Durham Region
Information Orillia
Jonquil Eyre
McDonald, Laura
McLachlan, Barbara
Oakville Public Library
Russell, Lesley
Social Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries
Social Planning Council of Kitchener-Waterloo
South Simcoe Community Information Centre
thehealthline.ca
Volunteer Centre of Guelph/Wellington
Volunteer and Information Quinte
Volunteer Manitoba
Waterloo Wellington Community Care Access Centre
York Info Community Information & Volunteer Database
York Region Community Information & Volunteer Centre