Leadership Council Meeting Minutes 4.8.13

Attendees: Blanca Melendrez, Cheryl Moder, Chris Edwards, Christine Lafontant, Chris Wood, Dana Richardson, Deirdre Kleske, Howard Taras, Joanne Drinkwater, Katie Judd, Kristin Garrett, Kristine Smith, Leslie Linton, Lindsey Masukawa, Marie Lawrence, Melanie Briones, Melanie Cohn, Pat Cantrell, Shreya Sasaki, Wilma Wooten

I.  Welcome and Introductions

  1. Dr. Wood welcomed the group.

II.  Review of Minutes

  1. The group reviewed and approved the minutes.

III.  Discussion: COI Private Sector Co-Chair Cheryl Moder

  1. Cheryl received applications for the private sector co-chair position through the middle of March. She received two self-nominations and passed them on to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to review.
  2. After reviewing the applications, the ELT unanimously and enthusiastically voted to recommend Dr. Shaila Serpas.
  3. Dr. Serpas is the director of the Scripps Family Medicine Residency Program and has worked closely with the COI on several projects, including the Healthy Weight Collaborative in Chula Vista and on the COI healthcare domain. Deirdre Kleske, Jojo Drinkwater, and Dr. Wood all further endorsed Dr. Serpas’ work.
  4. Dr. Taras motioned to approve Dr. Serpas as co-chair. Jojo Drinkwater seconded the motion. The group unanimously approved Dr. Serpas as private sector co-chair.
  5. The co-chair position is a one-year commitment starting immediately.

IV.  Presentation: Hispanic Early Childhood Obesity Leadership Summit Kristine Smith

  1. The Early Childhood Obesity Leadership Summit was a one-day conference in Sacramento, CA, sponsored by the National Hispanic Health Foundation and the National Hispanic Medical Association.
  2. The goal of the summit was to generate recommendations to prevent childhood obesity among Hispanic children.
  3. More than 100 people attended, including dentists, doctors, other health professionals, school officials, early childhood professionals, and Head Start representatives.
  4. The group heard presentations from the California Department of Education on federal child nutrition programs and from the Network for a Healthy California on targeting messages to Hispanic children and families.
  5. The group then broke out into small groups to generate recommendations for (1) increasing communication and access to programs for Hispanic children and (2) developing policies to decrease obesity in Hispanic children.
  6. The ideas will be presented at a national conference this spring.
  7. The Leadership Council expressed interest in seeing a list of the recommendations, as outreach to Hispanic families is important in San Diego County and a special passion of Dr. Serpas. Kris will share the list when it becomes available.

h.  Kris sat next to a dentist from La Jolla and a woman on the board of MANA during the summit. Kris will invite the dentist to participate in the healthcare domain.

V.  Update & Discussion: Conference Travel and Expense Reimbursement Cheryl Moder

  1. The intention of the conference travel funds is to enable the COI’s core partners to share the COI’s work and to glean best practices from other organizations and bring them back. To that end, the COI staff will disseminate an announcement about the conference travel and expense reimbursement to the Leadership Council and COI domain partners.
  2. The Leadership Council reviewed a funding request for Rachel Millstein, one of the COI’s eYEAH! evaluators. Melanie Cohn has been working on a panel for the 2013 Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference in Long Beach and has asked Rachel to help moderate the panel and speak to preliminary results of eYEAH!
  3. The request as written would cover mileage, registration, and one meal. It’s not clear whether Rachel will need to stay in Long Beach overnight, so there may be a modification to the request pending the finalization of her plans.
  4. Dr. Cantrell motioned to approve the request. Dr. Taras seconded the motion. The application was approved.

VI.  COI Updates Cheryl Moder

  1. The COI is honored to welcome two new domain champions: Ashley Cassat (County of San Diego HHSA) in the Schools & After-School Domain and Stephanie Gioia (Office of San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts) in the Government Domain.
  2. Naomi Butler, though no longer a domain champion, will still attend Leadership Council meetings as an invited guest.
  3. The COI Domain Council will meet in late April or early May. Domain Council meetings are twice-yearly gatherings for domain champions to review best practices, discuss domain workplans, and explore opportunities to collaborate. Per a recent Doodle poll, the best dates seem to be April 29th or May 10th. Domain Council members should complete the Doodle poll as soon as possible.
  4. The Strategic Planning Retreat Report is complete and stored online in the password protected members’ page on www.ourcommunityourkids.org. Access the report by logging onto the website and visiting the Leadership Council’s subpage under “About Us.” E-mail Marie Lawrence () regarding log-in information.

VII.  Funding Cheryl Moder

  1. USDA Farm to School Grant

i.  The purpose of the USDA Farm to School Grant Program is to assist eligible entities in implementing farm to school programs that improve access to local foods in eligible schools. On an annual basis, USDA will award up to $5 million in competitive grants for training, supporting operations, planning, purchasing equipment, developing school gardens, developing partnerships, and implementing farm to school programs.

ii.  The COI would apply for one of the three USDA F2S funding areas: the Support Service grant. This grant is intended for state and local agencies, Indian tribal organizations, agricultural producers or groups of agricultural producers, and non-profit entities working with school districts or schools to further develop existing farm to school initiatives and to provide broad reaching support services to farm to school initiatives.

iii.  The COI will apply for $100,000 over one year (grant requires a 25% cash or in-kind match) to support its work related to the operation and management of the SD County Farm to School Taskforce and the advancement of its strategic plan (bi-monthly meetings; new co-chairs; revise strategic plan; work with targeted distributors, growers, and food services to facilitate farm to school activities; conduct a training; promote Farm to School campaign materials).

iv.  Our existing support for Farm to School from Kaiser Permanente and The California Endowment satisfies the matching funds requirement.

v.  The grant application is due April 24th.

vi.  The grant application is still being developed, but the activities would likely be concentrated in three school districts that are ready to expand their Farm to School activities and have a high proportion of low-income residents.

vii.  Deirdre Kleske moved that CHIP apply for the grant. Shreya Sasaki seconded the motion. The motion passed.

  1. RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize

i.  RWJF hosts a Roadmaps to Health Prize to honor up to six communities working toward better health. The 2013-2014 call for applications is open.

ii.  Winning communities each receive a $25,000 no-strings-attached prize, and their success stories will be celebrated at live local and national celebratory events, meetings, and conferences; on web and online platforms; and in video, social, broadcast, and print media.

iii.  There are six criteria for selection:

  1. Harnessing the collective power of leaders, partners, and community members
  2. Implementing a strategic approach to improving health that focuses on the multiple factors that influence health
  3. Addressing problems that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations
  4. Developing sustainable, long-term solutions to shared community problems
  5. Securing and making the most of available resources
  6. Measuring and sharing results

iv.  Phase one applications are due May 23rd. Phase two applications are due August 1st. Site visits are scheduled October through December. Winners will be identified in the first quarter of 2014.

v.  Kristin Garrett moved that CHIP apply for the prize. Shreya Sasaki seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved.

vi.  This prize is part of the RWJF County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. COI staff will send out more information about this program.

VIII.  Update: HEAL Zone Melanie Briones

  1. In February, the City of Lemon Grove put out a request for qualifications for a firm to develop and implement a health element. The application window closed on March 4th, and City Place Planning has been awarded the contract.
  2. Parents in Action, a parent engagement training series led by Deirdre Kleske, graduated eight parents this month. Dr. Randolph Ward, Ernie Anastos, Blanca Brown, and Robin McNulty attended the graduation and listened to parent presentations.
  3. Two of the graduated parents will travel with Melanie to a Kaiser Permanent Learning Community and two will serve on the district health and wellness council.
  4. The Lemon Grove RLA is in its seventh session of a 10-session, 14-week curriculum. At the next session, participants will hear a brief presentation on YEAH!
  5. Shreya Sasaki, Bina Adigopula, and Melanie met with La Maestra Community Health Center last month. The medical director expressed enthusiasm for participating in community events, distributing 5210 materials, and furthering the HEAL Zone’s healthcare strategies.
  6. The HEAL Zone’s overarching media strategy is moving forward. The HEAL Zone has adopted a new logo and tagline and created a new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LemonGroveHEALZone.
  7. The Steering Committee is participating in a month-long “5210 Challenge” and reflecting on successes and barriers to participation on the Facebook page.
  8. The Leadership Council agreed that Melanie should continue to provide monthly HEAL Zone updates and also give a more comprehensive presentation on the project’s progress on an annual basis.
  9. The Leadership Council agreed to participate in its own 5210 Challenge during the month of May. Marie will send out 5210 Challenge materials. Leadership Council members who participate will report back at the June meeting.

IX.  Update: Healthy Works/CTG Lindsey McDermid

  1. The County is working on its two-year progress report. Though the County was awarded CTG for five years, it must reapply every year.
  2. The CTG Statewide Institute will take place on April 23rd, and a local institute will follow on June 12th.
  3. The worksite wellness and lactation RFP is closing April 15th, and the selected contractor will begin work in July. This RFP includes improving and enhancing worksite wellness policies in large businesses and conducting cholesterol screenings. The lactation component, funded by First 5, is for improvements in lactation policies in hospitals, schools, and other institutions.
  4. The healthy food systems RFP is still under review with the CDC.
  5. The County is planning a food systems workshop targeted to SANDAG staff; HHSA staff members have talked with COI staff about this training. Training for city staff will follow in the fall.
  6. Dan Bennett has become the national communications co-leader for all the CTG co-leads working to reach Hispanic and African American residents. Dan is also serving as a peer group leader for the western region.

X.  Legislation Melanie Cohn

a.  AB 276 –The Hunger Advocacy Network sponsored this bill, which expands access to CalFresh for members of the military and veterans. Assemblymember Hueso is now state Senator Hueso. The bill will be reintroduced in the Senate this week.

b.  AB 290 –This bill amends childcare licensing laws to include one hour of nutrition education in the certification process. The CHIP Public Policy Committee wrote a letter of support to the author of this bill. The bill has passed out of committee and been re-referred to appropriations. Note that May 31st is last day for bills to pass out of their house of origin.

c.  SB 283 – This bill removes the lifetime ban on CalFresh and CalWorks eligibility for people with nonviolent drug felony convictions. To address past controversy, the authors added language to require that people be in compliance with probation and parole to become eligible for the two programs. The CHIP Public Policy Committee wrote a letter of support for this bill.

d.  SB 464 – This bill would establish comprehensive standards for physical activity and food served in early childhood settings; the bill includes some language on parent education.

e.  SB 392 – This is a federal bill reintroduced by Senator Udall that would make health and physical education core academic subjects.

f.  Congress is slated to begin discussing the Farm Bill again on April 22nd. Additional updates will be available in May.

g.  Lindsey McDermid suggested that Melanie add AB 1194, a state bill to help fund safe routes to school work, to the list of bills.

XI.  Discussion: Strategic Planning Evaluation

  1. Safe Routes to Healthy Places Workshop

i.  The COI has adopted two overarching strategies – safe routes to healthy places and reduction of access to and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.

ii.  The COI is working with the Network for a Healthy California on a Safe Routes to Healthy Places workshop for COI partners and other public health organizations across San Diego County.

  1. The goals would be to coordinate these organizations’ efforts and to develop an implementation plan around policy, environmental, and systems change.
  2. ChangeLab Solutions has agreed to facilitate the workshop, but the workshop cannot happen until June given their current funding. To align with the COI work plan update timeline, this training must happen in May.
  3. ChangeLab solutions is a recipient of CTG funding; Blanca suggested that the County request ChangeLab’s help under this grant in May since this workshop would have the co-benefit of advancing CTG goals.
  4. Dr. Wooten said this request was a possibility. Blanca will forward the proposed workshop outline and other information to Lindsey McDermid and Naomi Butler.
  5. Overarching Strategies Logic Models

i.  Dr. Wooten presented a draft logic model for each overarching strategy.

ii.  The purpose of the models is to serve as high-level guiding documents. After the Domain Council meeting and further domain planning, the logic model will include activities for each domain.

iii.  The logic models should include indicators the COI would like to measure and indicators it can realistically measure using its current resources.

iv.  Christine Lafontant said that the Department of Parks and Recreation was funded under CPPW to develop an evaluation model to assess their parks. The tool may be a helpful evaluation tool for the COI’s work on safe routes to healthy places.

v.  Dr. Wood suggested that one component of the plan should be to define “healthy places.”

vi.  Leadership Council members should write down or email comments on the logic models to Marie Lawrence (), who will get them to Dr. Wooten. Dr. Wooten and Deirdre Browner will edit the logic models accordingly.