NECC

MINUTES

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February 23, 2016
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Noble County Community Foundation
/ Ligonier IN
MEETING CALLED BY /
Rich Burden
TYPE OF MEETING / Council Meeting
FACILITATOR / Kirk Stoltzfus
NOTE TAKER / Betsy Burks
ATTENDEES / Tammy McMullen—AWS, Nancy Moore—PNE, Lydia Otatio—CTI, Donna Driscoll—Hand in Hand, Stephanie Furnas—Hand in Hand, Rich Burden—INSOURCE, Pam Deetz—LPCC, Clare Mann—1st Kids, Amy Ellis—Homefront, Melanie Sizemore—Elkhart Health Dept, Brigette Fairchild-Leazenby—SPOE, Jaimie Burks—SPOE, Betsy Burks—LPCC, Melinda Schwartz—Healthy Families, Nan Malloy—ECA, Jill Taylor- SPOE, Jasmyn Castro- SPOE, Jamonia Adams- SPOE, Rachelle Bontreger- SPOE, Kirk Stolzfus- ARC, Marie Verslype- Logan
INTRODUCTIONS/Minutes/Announcements
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Rich Burden
DISCUSSION / The meeting was called to order at 12:10 pm. The minutes of the previous meeting were sent via email. Nancy moved to accept the minutes, Donna seconded and the minutes were approved.
Attendees completed introductions; there were several new SPOE employees who attended today’s meeting as part of their required training.

AGENDA TOPICS

budget/RFF
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Clare mann
DISCUSSION / ·  The financial report was emailed to the council. There were no new or unusual expenses.
LPCC updates
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betsy Burks
DISCUSSION / ·  New parent who would like to be on the council, Jennifer Welker. She was unable to make it to today’s meeting. Several new parents are showing an interest.
·  Child Count: referrals continue to rise and January had about 50 more referrals than last January, 2015. Continuing to serve more children, but not hitting the target of 3.83% at this time.
·  The two interns are helping with screenings in lower child count counties. Lagrange, Noble and Whitley counties are main targets at this time. Betsy also went over past outreach efforts and child find activities to come.
·  Discussed the LEA/SC Retreat on 3/4/16 at Goshen College and the opportunity for all agencies and community programs to participate in the 5/20/16 Poverty Simulation, sending one representative, to the Jewish Federation, South Bend, IN.
·  Updated council on the upcoming provider meeting with Victoria Vierling on 5/6/16. Reminded agencies to encourage providers to attend. Formal electronic invite will be sent out in the near future. Reminded council of this Elkhart Continuing Education committee meeting on 2/29/16. Reviewed the results of the survey that was sent out to inquire on desires for trainings. Results: most important to audience is topic, cost and location.
spoe updates
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Jaimie Burks
DISCUSSION / · New staff members hired and still working on determining their coverage areas, with some. Jill Taylor has a full caseload, Jasmyn is beginning to have a caseload, Jamonia and Rachelle are in training.
·  Caseloads are around 68-70 most of the time.
·  Almost all agencies are struggling to meet the need at this time. Provider availability is an issue in almost all counties Cluster B serves.
·  Update from team meeting was already reviewed at the agency meeting, prior to this council meeting.
·  Director position update- Clare. Job has been posted internally and will be filled after two phases. Next steps are written responses, followed by interviews. Clare informed council that a director will be names but the next council meeting.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
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PAM DEETZ/Betsy Burks
DISCUSSION / ·  No new issues on CC log- Pam.
·  Random audit calls were conducted in Lagrange County, Betsy is now doing these calls since Pam has more children on her caseload. Betsy reviewed that there were no alarming comments from families and all families contacted were pleased. Reviewed a few of their comments. Will send out to council, de-identified if desired.
TRANSITION /
betsy burks
·  Discussed the late referrals and the lists are still being sent out monthly to LEA’s. Reminded attendees of the retreat on 3/4/16 and explained this would be a networking opportunity.
AGENCY MEETING / TAMMY MCMULLEN
DISCUSSION / ·  Discussion focused on provider availability. Agencies are struggling to meet the needs and reported losing some providers. Some agencies are actively hiring new people as well.
DATA COMMITTEE / NANCY MOORE
DISCUSSION / ·  Discussed the results the interns found when pulling files that were parent referrals and closed due to no longer concerned. There appeared to be no trend amongst specific coordinators.
·  Birth rate was also collected from Cluster B’s 10 Health Departments for the last few years and it is showing a decline in the birth population.
·  Referrals are still rising, child count continues to increase.
ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS / ·  Tammy McMullen, Benchmark announced she will be leaving her position at Benchmark sometime in May, moving to California.
·  Will combine the council and data meetings in the future. Council was in agreement with this. This information appears to be appropriate for both meetings and will be combined into one in the future.
Meeting adjourned 12:45.
Next MEETING: same location, Noble County Community Foundation
Agency meeting to begin 10:30 followed by Council/data meeting at 11:30 on 5/24/16