Joint Committee

Hismen Hinnu
November 3, 2004 12:00-2:00 p.m.
Meeting Notes

NEXT MEETING – Joint Committee Meeting – Dec. 9, 12-2 PM

DECISIONS/NEXT STEPS:

Attendees:

Fred Blackwell, Making Connections Oakland – MCO Director
Sandra Chapin, Making Connections Oakland – Program Assistant/Small Grants
Don Davenport, San Antonio Community Development Corporation – Newspaper
Kerry Forbord, Oakland Ready to Learn – ECE
Mara Guccione, Urban Strategies Council – Coordinating Agency
Jerry Henderson, EBALDC – 23 rd Avenue
David Kakishiba, EBAYC - FES
Beth Leeson, AECF - TARC Liaison
Brendan Leung, FES Coach
Jennie Mollica, Lao Family Community Development – Housing/ECE
Carl Pascual, EBALDC – 23 rd Avenue
Lisa Prigozen, Real Estate Coordinator, EBALDC - Housing
Elena Serrano, East Side Arts Alliance – Arts & Culture
Sonya Shah, KQED - MCMOI
Robin Smiley, Volunteers of America, Bay Area - Unaffiliated
Karen Stevenson, Core Communications - Communications
Mapi Tudela, La Clinica de La Raza - Health
Junious Williams, Urban Strategies Council - LLP
Bill Wong, Diarist

 
I. Agenda Review

• Fred began by having everyone state their expectations and hopes for the Joint Committee. He then reviewed the meeting goals and added that we have a challenge, given that we are combining two meetings (Planning Committee and Site Team) that were both too short. However, we are going to try this approach and see how it fits.
• Fred added what was not on the agenda is the following:
• Recommendations for decision making, consensus building
• Roles and responsibilities of the site team
• Projects and activities without a home
  

II. Purpose, Goals and Expectations

• Jennie reviewed the list from the agenda and added that we may explore rotating facilitation of the Joint Committee meetings.
• Coordination
• Accountability – what kind of structure needs to be in place? We need to establish role for oversight of work group. It will also help to give us a sense of productivity.
• Clarity of roles of partners and site team
• Clarity of roles in constituency building – define vision and ensure it is shared and achievable. Establish concrete goals and ways to achieve them.
• Jennie then asked if these goals resonate with participants. Don said that they are right on. Lisa added that it is not clear how we’ll get there. Karen mentioned the Outcomes Newsletter as a possible discussion aide.
  

III. Meeting Format

• Fred described the format for meetings as a 1/3 operations component, where we will discuss process issues, clarify roles, updates from Baltimore and other nuts and bolts items, and a 2/3 strategy component, where we will strategize on issues and solutions to issues. One example of a strategy issue is discussing where work groups overlap and how we work together.
• Fred explained that we need November and December meetings to take stock and develop goals to start strong in 2005.
• We need to develop a work plan for this group.
• We also need to further define the resident network piece.
• In terms of topical areas, in January we will begin to identify issues within work groups and bring these to the table if we believe discussion of them would benefit everyone’s work.
• The status of our constituency building work will also be an item for continuous discussion.

 Questions

• Elena said that we need some way to have updates from work groups.
• Where does accountability fit in? Fred responded that he hopes this work group takes on the evaluation work although we haven’t thought it through. There are multiple dimensions: 1) projects in work groups and 2) how we hold ourselves accountable to the broader community.
• Dimitri added that updates should include the community – this should be one of the goals.
• Don added that we should also remember that we are accountable to AECF.
• Sonya stressed the importance of internal and external communications and that we need to have transparency.
• Junious raised a concern that strategy discussion needs to be a larger part of the discussion, particularly about how we move towards the results. Spending time with the Theory of Change is one idea. Jennie added that she feels that as the work groups involve residents, the macro issues are coming up.
• David expressed that he feels that meeting once a month isn’t enough to get into the work group issues. We should center on accountability because it frames the format and content discussion. He would like to see report backs from the work group about what they are hearing from residents – this is one way to hold ourselves accountable – and conversing about what the challenges are.
• Fred asked if the goals are out of sync. David responded that not entirely. We need time to check in on progress and environmental and political changes.
• Don added that we need to look at who we define as residents.
• Fred concluded this discussion by noting that we’ll take the feedback and modify what meetings will look like. Also, there was mention about wanting regular written updates from work groups.
  

• The following describes the connections that were described between work group projects during the activity:

23rd Avenue Work Group – Cultural Center

• Health: Meeting place for promotoras workshops
• ECE: Hub for community gatherings
• Housing: Developer on project is part of the Real Estate Council and we want to make sure he has support; affordable housing; good space for meetings
• Newspaper: Potential contributors for SA Unity

Newspaper

• 23rd Avenue: outreach
• ECE: Publicity
• Health: Publicity
• Housing: Publicity
• Small Grants: Recruitment, advertising
• All of these comments led to the question of how we use this get info out to the community since this is such an effective tool?

Health

Health Fairs

• Newspaper: good advertising for residents
• ECE: good communications
• 23 rd Avenue: good advertising

Promotoras Trainings

• FES: leadership development
• Housing: place-based trainings
• 23rd Avenue:

Small Grants

• Common – leadership development and facilitation training of residents: do we have the capacity? Once residents are trained, what will they do next?

FES : ______________

• Housing: opportunity to work with REC to commit to local hiring
• 23 rd Avenue: unionize
• Health: info-sharing

ECE: ______________

• Newspaper: info-sharing
• 23 rd Avenue: resident engagement
• Health: resident engagement

Housing: code compliance

• FES: tenants interested in affordable housing
• Health: code compliance as a health issue
• 23 rd Avenue: design principles
• Newspaper: feature articles
  

Discussion

• We’ll document these charts
• Don asked if there is allowance for mixed-use development. Lisa said that they’ll be discussing this at the REC. Don added that we should open up to different investors in housing market and ensure controls so that gentrification does not go too far.
• Fred summarized:
• We need to get clear and specific about who we are talking about; this will show where we are strong and where we are deficient.
• Highlight areas where there are a lot of dots
• Follow up with Sonya on MCMOI activities and how they connect.
  

V. Next Meeting

• Second Thursday of the month – Thursday December 9, 2004, 12-2pm at Hismen Hinnu