CAMConnect

Board Meeting Minutes

January 22, 2004

10:00am- 12:00pm

Camden Empowerment Zone Corporation Offices

Board attendingStaff: Derek Ziegler

Greg Allen

Jeff Brenner

Hilary Colbert

Cathy Daniels

Carol Dann

Josue Figueroa

Jenny Greenberg

Eloisa Hernandez Ramos

Kevin Hickey

Tom Jones

Jean Mouch

Ahada Stanford

Darrell Staton

Bill Whitlow

  1. Call to Order- At 10:15 am,Jean Mouch welcomed the Board. Everyone introduced themselves and the Board welcomed Cathy Daniels who has replaced Barbara Capuano.
  1. Secretary’s Report- The Board reviewed the minutes from the October 30, 2003 meeting. Ahada Stanford said she had been an attendee at that meeting and was not listed.Motion #1To accept the minutes from the October 30th meeting, adding Ahada Stanford to the attendee list.Darrell Staton motioned, Ahada Stanford seconded. Approved unanimously.

III. Outgoing Chairman’s Report-The Board reviewed Jerry Harris’

outgoing Chair’s report. Motion #2 to accept the Chair’s report as the annual

report for 2003. Jenny Greenberg motioned, Jeff Brenner seconded. Approved

unanimously.

  1. Installation of Officers- Jeff Brenner said that the past year has been one

of growth and increased organizational strength for CAMConnect. He gave credit to the outgoing officers, board and to Derek Ziegler for their work and said that there is a solid work plan in place for the new year. The new officers are Jean Mouch, Chair; Hilary Colbert, Vice Chair; Darrell Staton, Treasurer; and Jenny Greenberg, Secretary.

V. Debrief from Annual Stakeholders Meeting- Jean Mouch provided an

overview of the annual Stakeholders meeting which took place in November.

There were about 20 attendees including some new people. Derek presented his

work on Voter Participation in Camden and Jean presented her work on the

Camden County Cancer Needs Assessment. Lots of good discussion followed

the presentations

.

  1. Program Manager Update-Derek Ziegler provided a memo and presented updates on the following:.

FUNDING

  • Annie E. Casey Foundation has provided preliminary approval for a $50,000 grant.
  • Camden Empowerment Zone Corp. has provided preliminary approval for a $5,000 grant to collaborate with the Association for Children of New Jersey for a Camden Kids Count 2004.
  • Carol Dann is working on defining a scope of work for CAMConnect’s involvement on the Weed & Seed Evaluation.
  • Jerry Harris is having preliminary discussions with the Education Law Center’s Abbott Indicators Project to assess Camden’s progress in implementing the Abbott decision.

DATA IN: Derek has been able to access data and obtain permission for its use from the following sources:

  • Prisoner Re-entry Data from the N.J. Institute for Social Justice
  • Journey to Work Data from 2000 Census
  • Updated Cooper Injury Data for 2002 (Working on Lady of Lourdes also)

DATA OUT:

  • Derek has completed mapping for the Camden County Cancer Needs Assessment being led by Jean Mouch and will be providing mapping services for Burlington County as well. CAMConnect will earn $10-$20,000 for this contract.
  • CAMConnect’s web site will be operational by January 31st and will serve as an online data library for the City of Camden.
  1. CAMConnect Work Plan (12/1/03-11/30/04)- Derek Ziegler and Jeff Brenner presented a work plan that was developed for CamConnect’s proposal to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The plan calls for a minimum of one report per quarter on the following topics: Health, Tax Data, Employment Data, Citizen Opinion Surveys.

Jeff indicated that Hopeworks will be playing a key role in collecting citizen opinion surveys and answering a feedback hotline on quality of life indicators and interactions with various organizations in Camden, related to the State Municipal Rehabilitation and Recovery Act. Camconnect will provide Hopeworks with $15,000 to build the capacity for survey collection and needs other organization to contribute as well.

Carol Dann expressed reservations about this component of the work plan and wanted more information on how it would be structured. Jeff Brenner said that it was only an idea at this point and that they would reach out to Carol as a resource as the concept is developed further.

The plan also includes building CAMConnect’s collection of public documents and revitalization plans to post on the website where appropriate, and to provide opportunities for the exchange of information about Camden City including a data fair.

Concerns were discussed about the posting of public documents on CAMConnect’s web site. Tom Jones was concerned there could be a perceived political agenda to what is posted. Bill Whitlow suggested that when a document is posted, it is accompanied by a statement explaining why it was selected. Greg Allen suggested that a process and protocol be developed on how documents are selected. Jeff Brenner said that putting up documents on the web site contributes to the democratization of data by allowing citizens to get past the rhetoric in the press to a deeper understanding of the core issues. Tom Jones suggested the section of the web sites with links to public documents be segregated out with a disclaimer.

  1. 2004 Proposed Budget

Motion #3 to accept the 2004 Budget as amended. Motioned by Greg Allen, Seconded by Kevin Hickey. Approved with one abstention by Darrell Staton, Board Treasurer.

The Board also agreed that they did want CAMConnect to purchase Directors and Officers insurance.

  1. Report of Environmental Scan - Jean Mouch turned the Board’s attention to an update of activities based on the CAMConnect environmental scan developed at the retreat that identified four organizational directions: Revenue Generation, Organizational Leadership, Staff and Products. The report describes progress made in each of these areas. CAMConnect is doing well in all areas except revenue generation. Fund Development needs someone to lead the “Committee of One”.

Greg Allen said that another way to generate funds is to partner with other organizations and to submit joint proposals. It was decided to add a Part C. under Revenue Generation for “Collaborative Grantwriting”.

Bill Whitlow volunteered to serve as the Fund Development lead.

There was discussion of the need for a marketing plan to develop materials for different audiences such as the editorial boards of local newspapers. By 2005, CAMConnect may be ready to hire a marketing consultant to assist with this process.

Motion #4to appoint Bill Whitlow to the Fund Development Committee of One. Motioned by Jeff Brenner, seconded by Ahada Stanford. Unanimously Approved.

Motion #5to accept updated activity report based on the environmental scan for the next 12 months. Motioned by Jeff Brenner, Seconded by Kevin Hickey. Unanimously approved.

  1. Open Floor

Mangaliso Davis, who sat in on the meeting ,suggested that CAMConnect look at the Sentencing Project, as a good source of data on the criminal justice system.

  1. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 11:55am.