Building Bright Futures State Advisory Council (BBF SAC)
Meeting Minutes
May 22, 201712:00-3:00
600 Blair Park
Williston, VT 05495
Present:Eddie Gale, Reeva Murphy, Charlie Biss, Aly Richards, Kim Coe, Julie Cadwallader Staub, David Young, Stacy Weinberger, Kate Rogers, Kim Keiser, Martha Maksym, Nicole Grenier
Absent: Maleka Clarke,Kevin Mullin, Kenneth Jones, Breena Holmes, Chloe Learey
By Phone: Aly Richards, Ben Allen, Betsy Rathbun-Gunn, Ellen Taetzsch, Robin Stromgren, Martha Braithwaite, Ethan Latour, Steve Ames, Dawn Powers
Community Partners/Guests: Matt Levin,Laura Bernard, Becky Gonyea, Ann Dillenbeck
Staff present: Sarah Squirrell, Carolyn Wesley, Jay Austin, Katie Mobbs, Emily MacKenzie, Dana Anderson
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Welcome, Introductions & Other Business
Sarah Squirrell called the meeting to order at 12:13pm and welcomed all in attendance.
Consent Agenda
The Board passed the minutes from March 27, 2017;Julie Cadwallader Staub made a motion to accept with a second by David Young, all members voted in favor.
Committee and Task Force Report Out
Finance Committee
The focus of this committee to date has been the fiscal year 2018 budget; members are looking forward to expanding further once the budget has been approved.
Substance Abuse and Opiate Epidemic Task Force
Looking at service deliveries, gaps, needs and how we want to move forward. Task force has begun work on drafting a white paper. At the last meeting content was developed and the group is looking at what will be the most effective. An outline will be available soon to share with Council members via email.
Legislative Update & Wrap Up
Matt and Robyn gave an updated look into the 2017 legislature. You can find that information here:
Early Childhood Action Plan | NEW Implementation Cycle
Becky Gonyea reviewed the newly developed Implementation Cycle of the Early Childhood Action Plan and asked for council member approval. The proposal is an annual cycle to celebrate accomplishments, prioritize Action Plan strategies, and identify implementation teams to move the priorities forward.
This new cycle develops the procedures and processes to update the action plan and monitor the progress of Action Plan strategis using a Results Based Accountability (RBA) dashboard.
Using an online scorecard, BBF will have the ability to track performance measures and even switch directions for maximum efficiency and effectiveness as time goes on. This platform will allow any member of BBF, a committee, an implementation team, or a legislative authority to see what’s being worked on, who’s working on it, how they’re measuring their progress, and how they’re performing at any given time.
The board passed the Early Childhood Action Plan Implementation Cycle; Julie Cadwallader Staub made a motion to accept with a second by Kim Keiser, all members voted in favor of the new implementation cycle with a kick off priority-setting summit on July 24, 2017.
Committee and Task Force Report Out cont’d
Nominating Committee
Emily Merrill was nominated as an At-Large member by partners at HeadStart, she will fill the vacancy due to the recent resignation of Kristin Mason.
The board passed the nomination; Kim Coe made a motion to accept with a second by Kim Keiser, all members in favor. Welcome Emily!
Building Bright Futures Strategic Plan FY18 | Sarah Squirrell
Sarah presented the fiscal year 2018 Strategic Plan seeking the Council’s approval. Key leadership strategies for 2017 were reviewed, as well as, major initiatives and strategic priorities focusing on building our statewide network and communication loops for FY18. The plan in its entirety can be found here:
SAC Discussion-
Julie Cadwallader Staub asked for reassurance that BBF have adequate staff to accomplish all of the items proposed.
- Sarah responded that the categories feel very doable to her
Betsy Rathbun-Gunn complemented Sarah on the presentation of the plan, by adding the feedback loop that will really allow BBF to be the backbone organization.
Betsy asked specifically about item 6. (b) Produce an annual report highlighting the impact and work of BBF statewide. How do you see this as different from “How Are Vermont’s Young Children and Families” report?
- Sarah responded “the idea behind this report would be to highlight the success of the regions; this could be as simple or as complex as we want it to be”
Betsy also inquired about item 6. (c) Develop and facilitate a statewide process to receive feedback around BBF’s work at the state and regional level.
- Sarah responded “this would be putting on paper feedback collected from our partners, an evaluation or survey to report back on”
The board passed the FY18 Strategic Plan; Charlie Biss made a motion to accept with a second by David Young, all members voted in favor.
Building Bright FuturesFY18 Budget Presentation | Sarah Squirrell
This is the second viewing of the FY18 budget, it was presented at the SAC meeting in March as a draft. This gave members time to review and reflect. Sarah wanted to thank both the Finance and Executive Committee members in providing their oversight in the budget process.
Highlights:
In FY17 BBF slowed the rate of spending Race To The Top funds significantly
BBF has been approved to receive $218,313 from Race To The Top, these funds will be finalized in August 2017
BBF has taken critical steps to support organizational sustainability including:
- The FY18 budget represents an 18.5% decrease in RTT funds
- The Regional Coordinator budget has decreased by 32% since 2017
- 8% reduction in overall personnel from 2017
- Overhead has been reduced 46% since 2016
- Travel has been reduced significantly
SAC discussion-
Martha Maksym brought up the question of fundraising, based on the strategic plan there will be a large roll for that, who will that fall to?
- Sarah responded “we will have to look at resources to do that since BBF does not have a development team, a fundraising plan has not been developed yet but some tasks could fall to Executive Director or Deputy Director”
Perhaps the SAC could help set-up a fundraising committee to support Sarah in this.
The board passed the FY18 Budget; Julie Cadwallader Staub made a motion to accept with a second by Charlie Biss, all members voted in favor.
Build Our Future | Appreciative Inquiry by Pru Sullivan, David Cooperrider Appreciative Inquiry Institute
Appreciative Inquiry is an approach to complex systems change that emphasizes working from strengths to find new directions for growth, rather than focusing on weaknesses or problems to be solved. Build Our Future will be led by Building Bright Futures in collaboration with the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at Champlain College.
Next Meeting- MondayJuly 24th | 11-4:00pm SAC & Early Learning Challenge Grant meeting WITH ECAP Launch
Vermont State House
115 State Street
Room 11
Montpelier, VT 05602