Executive Advisory Committee Meeting AB86
Minutes and Actions of the Committee
Eureka Main Campus, Room AT 104
August 28, 2014
11 AM
F2F Attendees: Julia Peterson, Ed Wilkinson, Bill Damiano, Rick Jordan
TEL Attendees: David Lonn, Jon Ray, Coleen Parker
I.
Brief Introduction and Review of Minutes
A. AB86 Fall Summit to be held in Sacramento October 6 and 7.
We need to decide who to send, and may need to rearrange our travel budget to
accommodate an extra night.
B. Offering coffee cards for participation in Google Docs surveys is a good way to
get teachers to provide input into this process. We will offer $10.00 coffee cards to
up to 300 faculty survey respondents ($3000.00 budget item). Julia will consult with
CR Internal Research to design a survey, and will deliver it to regional principals,
who will send it out to their faculty. The survey will target high school teachers,
especially CTE, and adult school teachers, and will solicit input relevant to all 7
AB86 Objectives, in all 5 AB86 Program Areas.
C. How do we get input from the business community on soft skills needs and other
training certifications? Local Chambers of Commerce are a likely place to start, as
well as the Workforce Investment Boards. Private employment agencies are another
potential source of information. We need specific information from employers
regarding their labor needs, including skill requirements, credentials, and other
preferences.
II.
July 31st Complete-to-Date Report
The draft report was turned in on time, and a great deal of narrative component
came out of our Workgroup discussion minutes. We were able to successfully collect
and report most of our regional data, and answer the fundamental questions
contained in Objectives 1, 2, and 4. The October 31st report will cover all 7 Regional
Comprehensive Plan objectives.
III.
Review of Workgroups and Discussion
So far, the Workgroups have met twice in Del Norte, once in Eureka, and once in
Hoopa. Attendance has been a difficulty, possibly due to summer schedules.
Overall, the Workgroups have been able to identify their current programs, assets,
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and needs, but have had a harder time looking forward to generate ideas and plans
to bridge the gaps (Objective 4). Constituents can picture the next step toward what
they need now, but are not asking for the resources to provide long-range,
comprehensive solutions.
Julia Peterson was asked to meet with Yurok Tribal Court Chief Justice Abby
Abinanti one-on-one. The Yurok Tribe is currently doing grant-funded strategic
planning for criminal justice and social service systems.
There is a perceived need to reach out to all 7 regional Native American Tribes, and
to meet with them separately, in order to respect traditional boundaries and find out
how each Tribe would like to engage in the AB86 planning process. Two Feathers
Native American Family Services has been suggested as a possible resource to
discover ways in which the Tribes may be comfortable working together on the
planning grant. One barrier to long-range educational planning within the Tribes is
that Tribal Councils change regularly, and programs may be abandoned or replaced
by the new leadership. Additionally, the Workgroups have identified the need to
serve Nontribal adult learners who live in Willow Creek and Hoopa, and do not
qualify for Tribal programs and educational benefits.
The Committee would also like to meet one-on-one, and in small groups, with
business stakeholders, union labor representatives, and members of their
organizations. The WIB Youth Council, CCCs, the Builders’ Exchange, and area
Chambers of Commerce are all potential resources. Additionally, Julia Peterson will
contact and interview Dale Maples of Mapleservice, Inc., and Ken Musante, who is
the current chair of the Chamber’s Business & Education Committee.
The German model of apprenticeship is very attractive, but there are currently too
many barriers and conflicts with current high school graduation requirements and
regulations, to apply it successfully in this region at the high school level.
The Committee will continue to reach out to Mendocino until we establish their level
of participation in the planning grant.
IV.
Data Collection
Data collection is progressing.
V.
Next Steps
Future meeting dates: the Committee will meet:
September 25
October 23
November 13
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December 18
Addendum: Follow-up with Dave Lonn and Julia Peterson
Student Services 102H, Thursday, September 4, 2014
Discussion: Workgroup progress, Review of Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Question: How far do we go with outreach to entities who do not respond to
Workgroup invitations, or who do not show up to meetings they have accepted?
Chasing down constituents has been time-consuming and counterproductive. Julia
will meet with constituents individually, with the idea that one visit per entity should
be sufficient to establish levels of participation, and the understanding that no group
will be excluded from the benefit of the grant, but that not everyone needs to
participate in the planning.
Julia will reach out to Yurok Tribal Court Chief Justice Abby Abinanti.
According to the original AB86 grant proposal, the Consortium’s Executive Advisory
Committee is composed of members and partners representing K-12 schools, the
community college, and corrections, and there is a consensus that we should not
alter that composition at this time. Additionally, adding constituents will only further
complicate and potentially impede the work of the committee.
Meeting with regional business stakeholders, before we have all 7 planning
objectives in place, seems untimely and redundant at this time. The committee has
access to the North Coast Prosperity Network’s Targets of Opportunity reports, and
the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy proposal, and it is doubtful that
new and relevant information would emerge from additional meetings at this time.
There is a perceived need to set practical limits on individual outreach meetings with
separate entities, and any other directives from the committee, in order to maximize
grant resources and personnel, and the AB86 Grant Director has the discretion to
establish those boundaries. Some of these conferences will have to be conducted by
phone.
Data Collection and Reporting: In the first reporting period, narrative input from the
Workgroups was extremely valuable in supplementing the spreadsheet data. The
Consortium’s data collection efforts were respectable and encouraging, and we are
on track for the next reporting deadline on October 31st. We will refine the draft on
Objectives 1, 2, and 4, and fully develop Objectives 3, 5, 6, and 7. We will offer
coffee cards for K-12 faculty participation in our survey. We will probably use Dutch
Brothers or Jitterbean coffee cards. College faculty will meet in small groups with
Julia.
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