Meeting Minutes – February 18, 2015
I. CALL TO ORDER
Sister Joan Hanna, Commission Chair, called the meeting to order at First 5 Marin at 5:38 p.m.
Commissioners Present
Sister Joan Hanna – chair
David Bonfilio
Bryan Clement
Lisa Leavitt MD – vice chair
Heather Ravani
Supervisor Katie Rice
Juan Rodriguez
Sparkie Spaeth
Commissioner/s Excused
Amy Eisenmann
Staff Present
Marjorie Delgadillo
Michelle Fadelli
Amy Reisch
Representatives from the Community
Carlos Cam, Marin County Dental Clinic
Jara Dean-Coffey, jdcPartnerships
Ericka Erickson, Marin Child Care Commission
Jenny Stevens - Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health/Marin HHS
Jennifer Zuniga - Children’s Oral Health Project/Marin HHS
II. MEETING MINUTES
Sister Joan asked if there were changes, additions or corrections to the commission minutes for the last meeting on January 21, 2015. No changes were noted.
Motion/Second: Bonfilio/Spaeth
The minutes of January 21, 2015 were approved.
III. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
David Bonfilio reported on First 5’s Legislative Advocacy Day at the State Capitol in Sacramento. (Attending were commissioners David Bonfilio and Dr. Lisa Leavitt, executive director Amy Reisch and Michelle Fadelli, manager of communications and public policy.) First 5 Marin visited our new State Senator, Mike McGuire, and discussed First 5 programs and the First 5 Association’s policy agenda. Included in the discussion of First 5 programs were the Marin Community Clinics screening services (seeded by First 5 Marin), dental care, vaccination rates, and the First 5 Association’s discussions with the Board of Equalization (regarding excessive administrative fees).
David also served on a panel discussion at the First 5 Summit for commissioners and executive directors, speaking about First 5 Marin’s strategy in light of declining revenues. He shared a copy of the Marin Independent Journal for that day with the MarinKids story on the front cover as a segue into a discussion about Marin Strong Start. He stated that First 5 Marin is-- and has been for a long time-- on a different trajectory, with a focus on outreach and advocacy.
Dr. Lisa Leavitt also reported on legislative advocacy, and shared that Senator McGuire was very receptive. It was good to hear what other counties are doing, and what their challenges are.
· Amy added that, for the first time, all the counties brought an informational sheet with a common policy agenda; this was coordinated by the First 5 Association. She also added that a delegation that included LA, Orange and Alameda Counties met with the Speaker of the Assembly on behalf of the First 5 Association.
IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS
Guests of the commission introduced themselves (see above).
V. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Amy Reisch added the following items to her written report:
· We are pleased to announce the speaker for our policy breakfast on April 24th will be Kris Perry, the executive director of the First Five Years Fund in Washington, DC (and former executive director of First 5 California and First 5 San Mateo).
· The Evaluation Working Group continues to meet, and met earlier this day.
-Lisa shared that the group is looking at how to update evaluation questions to get more effective reporting.
-Bryan added that the group is looking for strategic and systematic questions to get the information and results we want as positive indicators of change.
- Lisa added that the group is also looking at surveying the Marin Communications Forum attendees to better determine the impact of these monthly workshops; and the group also wants to learn more about the attendees for our annual policy breakfast and what, if any, impact it has had on their work.
VI. COMMISSION DISCUSSION
1. Dental Outreach Expansion – Amy reported that First 5 Marin is working with the County of Marin and the Marin Community Foundation on a “mini Strong Start” to provide some funding for key projects prior to potential countywide action in the future; projects will include subsidies for child care, preschool and dental care. As background, she reminded the commission that First 5 Marin funded the Children’s Oral Health Project; as a result, pediatric dental chairs were added to the county dental clinic and the Marin Community Clinics also added pediatric chairs in each of their new facilities.
Jennifer Zuniga, from the Children’s Oral Health Project at the County, then made a presentation to the commission. She is providing dental screening and care for children and they are seeing dental decay in children as young as age one, and significant decay disparities in children (and among schools) in kindergarten and beyond. With the renewed funding (through the mini Strong Start), they have been able to expand screenings from one day per week to four days.
In the next 18 months, they plan to: provide education/screening, fluoride and case management to 800 children; place sealants on the molars of 160 children; provide parent education to 160 parents; offer provider training to 15 professionals; promote “mid-day brushing” at 10-12 child care centers; and participate in community events like “Give Kids a Smile.”
Jennifer reported that the Children’s Oral Health Project is seeing improvements: in 2005-06, 55% of children screened had visible decay; by 2013-14, that percentage had dropped to 21%.
Outreach locations include: WIC, playgroups, FLAGship, elementary schools, preschools and child care centers, community events, summer bridge and kinder academy programs.
2. Presentation of First 5 Marin’s Annual Report– Michelle Fadelli presented the annual report for fiscal year 2013-14. This document includes statistics about family poverty, homelessness and hunger issues in Marin County; it also include data about the high cost of preschool and child care, and statistics about healthcare benchmarks for critical health needs.
The report also includes a summary of First 5 Marin’s investments in school readiness projects, healthcare programs, and community projects. There is also a summary of our major outreach and advocacy work. The report also includes our audited financial information for FY 2013-14, including revenues, expenditures and our balance sheet.
The annual report will be distributed to federal, state and local elected officials, government agencies, community partners and policy makers. It will be posted on our website at www.first5marin.org, and announced on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/first5marin.
3. Legislative Update – Michelle Fadelli presented the first legislative chart for 2015, and summarized the first bills included on our list:
· AB 15 (Holden) – Living Wage
· AB 47 (McCarty) – Preschool for All
· AB 53 (Garcia) – Rear-Facing Car Seats
· SB 3 (Leno) – Minimum Wages
· SB 23 (Mitchell) – CalWORKs Eligibility
· SB 123 (Liu) – School-Based MediCal Administrative Activities
· SB 140 (Leno) – Restrictions on E-Cigarettes
· SB 203 (Monning) – Warning Labels on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
The following legislative proposals have not yet been assigned bill numbers:
· Medi-Cal Coverage for Developmental Screening
· Child Care Quality and Accessibility (Senator DeLeon)
· Vaccines: Eliminating Personal Belief Exemptions (Senator Pan)
VII. Final Comments
Marjorie Delgadillo reported on the availability of First 5’s Kit for New Parents. We have offered the kits via email and social media. She is coordinating distribution to our community partners. (Kits are available in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Korean.) To place an order, please email .
VIII. ADJOURNMENT – Sister Joan adjourned the meeting at 6:45 p.m.
IX. NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING:
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
5:30 p.m.
First 5 Marin conference room
1050 Northgate, Suite 130, San Rafael, CA