Last Month’s Meeting Notes / August 10, 2017
Present: Jim Steele/SSC Chamber, Rita DeJong/BOOST-FF, Britney Book/ Siouxland Cares, Sandy Nation/Central Navigator for CR, Tonya Bauman/Building Blocks, Abbie Engel/ESU#1, Stacy Schenk/ NDHHSEA,Prevention, Lance Hedquist/City Administrator, Matt Ohman/SHIP, Sara Arguello/Haven House, Brooke Watson/LSI, Kristine Bornholtz/Women Aware, Kim Jenkins/SHIP, Lisbeth Ramirez/Haven House, Julie Elbert/Catholic Charties, Debbie Ferguson/Haven House, Amy Munderloh/Haven House, JoAnn Gieselman/SHIP &DCC, Bernice Beaulieu/NNJHA (Simpco), Kim Bovee/Dakota County Victims Assistance Program, Josh Martin/DHHD, Nicole Cusick/WellCare of NE, Stephannie Perry/Amerigroup, Sally Reinert/Community Member, Jeff Hackett/Community member, Ansley Griffin/Lutheran Services of Iowa, Steve Elbert/Catholic Charities, Robyn Watchorn Newbrey/ Therapist, Ben Esqjijal/Heartland Counseling, Sarah Deck/Juvenile Diversion, Debbie Goettsch/Haven House, Becky Eckhardt/SSC Schools, Brook McBride/STARS, Angela Loder/Immigration/Juvenile Attorney, Jeannette Blackstone/WellCare of NE, Kim Neesen/Nebr. Dept of labor, Dylan Wren/Nebr. Dept of Labor, Becky Maggart/Nebr. Dept. of Labor, Jami Canham/ Nebr. Dept. of Labor, Scott Asmus/Nebr. of Labor, Meghan Buresh/ Nebr. Dept. of Labor, Jenna Andrews/Beyond the Bell, Brooke Watson/LSI, Jessica Harris/ DHHS, Linda Phillips/Siouxland Cares, Eldon Benson/Boys & Girls Club, Michelle Halladay/Heartland Counseling Services, Jen Ankerstjerne/Dakota county Health Dept., Bob Fitch/LaunchPad Museum, Alyssa Max/Beyond the Bell, Tom Eakin/Brotherhood Trust and Love, Janie Snieder/A Better Way Therapy, Christine Wolf/SSC Chamber, Kim Hailey/SSC Public Library, Kim Stanley/Big Brothers Big Sisters, Pastor Doug Dill/1st Lutheran Church, Scott Lambrecht/Parent to Parent, Cheri Matthews/ESU#1,Shannon Gretrna/WDCR, Erica Deleon/YMCA,
Dakota County Connections (DCC)-Common Agenda (Mission Statement): Improving the quality of life and social-emotional well-being of children birth to 21 and their families in our community.
Purpose for our meeting: (Mutually Reinforcing Activities) Working together to collectively address our community’s needs and strengthen each other. Together we have a common agenda (mission) in mind!
Dakota County Connections (DCC) Community Goal: To reduce the rate of juvenile arrests 0-18 years of age in Dakota County in the next 5 years by 10%. (Start date Nov. 2015)#1 Welcome: From JoAnn Gieselman coordinator for DCC through SHIP- (Siouxland Human Investment Partnership) (the backbone agency).
Congratulations: We welcomed 4 new DCC Board members: Dave Faldmo is the Medical Director at the Siouxland Community Health South Sioux City Clinic, Jennifer Jackson is the Executive Director at Heartland Counseling, Jose Miranda is the Pastor at St. Pauls United Methodist Church, Stephanie Pickinpaugh is the Coordinated Entry Project Manager for the Institute for Community Alliances
Our current members are: Cheri Matthews (Chair) -ESU#1, Sarah Deck (Treasure)- Dakota County Juvenile Diversion Coordinator, Angela Abts (Secretary)- Nebraska Extension, Kevin Rohde-Dakota County Sheriff dept., Lisa Topf-Director at Cubby Care Campus Preschool and Child Care Inc., Marian Burnett- Director Crittenton Center, Maria Gonzales-College Center, Todd Strom-Superintendent South Sioux City Community Schools
Input” sheets on tables: Our 1st suggestion is: Be sure to invite the public and/or families to our DCC meetings!
Collective Impact is about a committed group of different individuals and agencies working together as a well-oiled machine, one solid group. It has five important functions 1)-A Common Agenda, 2)-Continuous Communications, 3)-Mutually Reinforcing Activities, 4)- A backbone agency, 5)-Shared Measurement Systems
#2 We focused on Shared Measurement Systems:
Developing a shared measurement system is essential to collective impact. As we work together on our common agenda we need ways to measure and report our successes. So, the question is, are we really bettering the lives of the children and families we serve? And two, is there a way of collecting data and measuring results consistently at our community level and across all of our participating organizations? If we collect data together, it could help us keep our efforts aligned, it could also enable us to learn from each other’s successes and challenges.
We are doing some good things as far as collecting data as you heard from Becky Skoglund with Nebraska Children and Families. Sarah Deck, has also been an outstanding support in helping us to track our community goal, as well as other data like our collaboration survey which we will look at next month. Linda Phillips, with Siouxland Cares and Comprehensive Strategy has worked with her wonderful team to give us great information on Youth Development and the many of the factors that play into that both in Woodbury and Dakota County.
At a past meeting when we were doing data review, Heather Henning’s with the United Way made a great observation. She shared there are so many good things happening for our children and families that are not showing up in the data for this collaboration yet. The question was raised how can we capture that data?
My challenge to you is this, is there some simple data we could all share? Perhaps the number of children and families we serve together? I’ll bet it would be outstanding!
It may seem impossible to evaluate hundreds of different organizations on the same set of measures right now. There have been advances in Web-based technologies that have enabled common systems for reporting performance and measuring outcomes. Perhaps that will be a direction for us someday.
#3 Always On your table-are more opportunities to share and connect!
*Common Agenda Statement: this is a combination of our Mission Statement and Purpose for our meetings. This does not commit you to anything, rather it shows a united understanding of our vision and our joint approach to solving challenges as they arise.
*Input and ideas sheet: DCC coordinator always welcomes conversations, emails, or phone calls if you have ideas for our group, if you think of something at our meetings and just want to write it down and put it in the yellow envelope on the table that is great too, ideas and input are always welcome.
*Event Sharing Forms: Please write down any information you share at our group connecting time and put it in the yellow envelope on the table.
Please see JoAnn to get our New and updated Community Resource Guide for 2017 !!- You can get your hard copy with your signed Common Agenda Statement, for any additional copies you may need I would be happy to email you an electronic version.
#4 Connecting: Brief Updates: Group sharing-(Communication)
Dakota County Connections updates for August 2017
· Girls Inc. of Sioux City -Fall Festival and Helicopter Golf Ball Drop
*Free admission and attractions on Saturday, Oct. 7th from 11-3 at Cook Park Sioux City
*Purchasegolf balls, one ball $25 or 5 for $100
*Watch our helicopter drop your lucky golf balls.
*The closest to the marker wins.
*WIN $5,000
Need not be present to win. Invite your friends and family!
· Boys & Girls Club – Steak Dinner
* September 9th
*Sue Ann Farms 4800 Buckwalter Dr. Sioux City
The Boys & Girls Club Steak Dinner help raise money to support programs for over 1,300 Siouxland youth. Your $100 ticket covers the cost of dinner, entertainment, drinks, and MORE!
· Siouxland Missouri River Clean-up- The morning of September 9th, starting at Scenic Park, So. Sioux City.
*It will be 9 am-noon with fun contests!
*Contact Dawn Kimmel -712-333-4911
*You can make donations to help with clean up to: KEEPNORTHEASTNEBRASKABEAUTIFUL and GOFUNDME
· South Sioux City Library- Free classes coming up for families
*Adulting 101- Moving Past Ramen a class for young people who will be living on their own.
*Solar Eclipse Viewing-August 21st, 12:45 (all ages)
*Canning class (fruit)-August 22nd 6:30 pm
· Brotherhood Trust and Love:
*Veterans Engaging Program: Open to all Service members, veterans, and family members no fee. This program has four 2 hour sessions and complete participation will have the most impact. The dates are 10/12, 10/19, 10/26, 11/02, at the University of South Dakota Student Resource Center you can register by calling 605-670-0192.
*Brotherhood Trust and Love is exploring the opportunity to build a retreat center and ropes course in Siouxland. The intent of this project would include but will not be necessarily be limited to that, but provide many supports. They are looking for a location to build this center and guidance on fundraising and grant writing. If you have ideas or ways you can support this wonderful effort please call Tom Eakin at 605 670 0192
· Siouxland Cares- “Life lessons Reading” wonderful stories you can access on line to supplement any lesson to reduce bullying and promote positive behavior. www.StorylineOnline.net Please check them out!
· Siouxland Community Health- Free Community Rummage Sale!
*Encourage your families to come and you can have booth if you would like to reach out to families as well! Just contact Jessica Krieg if you are interested in reserving a space. 712 224 1803 or
· Choose Kind- 2 mile walk Sept. 9th @ 8:30 a.m. at Freedom park in SSC Ne. All proceeds will go to the freedom park project. Registration is $25 cash or check and a T-shirt is included if you register by 8/25/17. Teams of 5 or more will receive a discount of 5 dollars a member. Registrations will be taken the day of the walk. Make checks payable to the “Cardinal Education Foundation” and send to the Admin Building at 210 W. 39th St. SSC 68776. If you would like to help with this project contact Erica Bowman at
· Dakota County Health Department – Please ask you Dakota County Families to fill out the DCHDC Community Health Assessment it helps our county and gives them the chance to win a $100 Hy-Vee Gift card. Go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ Now until the end of Oct.
The Dakota County Community Health Assessment provides a comprehensive picture of health in the County. The report updates residents about health issues that impact the quality of life and cause illness, injury, and death. The community health assessment summarizes the top health concerns reported by residents, and examines trends and issues that impact community health.
The community health assessment is a key component that the Healthy Dakota Initiative will use to establish health priorities and identify strategies to improve health in the county.
· Making Proud Choices-For youth ages 13-19 yrs.-Date: August 14th and August 15th Mon. & Tues. Time: 10:am-2:00pm. Location-2039 S. Aubin St. Sioux City, IA 51106 phone # 712-255-2505 Please RSVP
· Building Blocks for Community Enrichment/ Foster Care- There is a strong need for Foster Care Families if you have ever considered becoming a foster Care family please contact Tonya Bauman to find out more information.
*Foster Parent Appreciation month will be Sept. Please remember to thank those foster parents you know for their generosity and commitment to youth and families!
*Building Blocks will be offering a Love and Logic Parent class in South Sioux City from 6-8 pm for 6 weeks starting in Oct/Nov for more details contact Tonya Bauman at
· Dakota County Junior Optimists International Meetings- Youth 9th-12th grade meet at the SSC Library the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month from7-8 pm. This group is open to all students and welcomes them.
· Beyond the Bell- has multiple positions open part-time and full time available. Competitive pay, benefits, and FUN! Apply at 2500 Glenn Ave Suite # 78 Sioux City (Next to Sun TanCity)
· Siouxland CARES-Wiffle Ball Tournament! This is for Siouxland CARES 30th Anniversary celebration. It is Sunday Sept. 10th Noon -3:00 pm, at Miracle Field, Riverside Park, Sioux City. If you would like more information please go to www.siouxlandcares.org
· North East Community College-
*Northeast will be having a student activity/services 'fair' on Wednesday September 13, from 11-2. We invite any service organization interested in distributing information to students to participate. There is no charge to participate, but would like an RSVP so we have adequate tables setup.
Please contact Dawn Smith at 6402 or to RSVP.
*ESL and GED Registration-This fall NECC will be moving their classes for ESL and Adult Basic Education (GED) to the College Center location from the library. ESL and GED Registration any time after 8/7/17 will be at the College Center These are free English Basic Skills and GED classes!!
*Med Aid, Nurse Aid & Truck Driver Training - Through Northeast Community College at 1001 College Way-Grant Assistance for tuition, supplies, etc. may be available for qualified students
· Wellcare of Nebraska- will have microgrants available to apply for starting September 2017. Information will be coming. They also have other grants available if you want more information please contact Jennette at 402.689.7395
· STARS – Par for The Horse Golf Classic! September 8th at 1 pm, Whispering Creek Sioux City Golf Course! Contact:
STARS- New Volunteer Orientation-August 29th 6pm at STARS 33148 K 22 SC IA 51108
STARS Fest- A great fall evening of activities for the whole family-Oct.7th 5 pm at STARS 33148 K 22 Sioux City IA 51108 SCSTARS.org
· LaunchPad Children’s Museum-LaunchPAD is Siouxland’s champion of educational play and discovery! Through interactive exhibits and hands-on activities and play, children and their caregivers learn about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
LaunchPAD Children’s Museum wants every child in the Siouxland region to be able to enjoy this interactive learning experience regardless of income, ability or background.
#1. Kids’ Access Family Membership Program:
Siouxland area families with children under age 10 can receive a LaunchPAD Kids’ Access membership at half-price by completing an application
#2. LaunchPAD provides a free program for nonprofit and government agencies which serve low income families/children or other families with persons who may be complex learners or have other special needs. A qualifying adult can check out the card from the agency office.
Check out the Membership page at launchpadmuseum.com or email
· First Lutheran Church-3601 Dakota Ave SSC-Will hold their annual Flea Market, Fri-Sun (8/11-8/13), Fri-Sat hours are 9am-5pm and Sunday 12pm-4pm. www.FLCSSC.org
· United Way is currently accepting registrations for the Imagination Library Program. This literacy program provides a monthly book to Siouxland Children age 0-5. While there is no income limit, we are trying to target marketing to families who cannot afford to purchase books for their preschool age children.
Learn more or sign up here: http://www.unitedwaysiouxland.com/imagination-library