Joint Committee

Hismen Hinnu
March 10, 2005 12:00-2:00 p.m.
Meeting Notes

Next Meeting: Thursday April 14, 12:00-2:00pm Hismen Hinnu

DECISIONS:

• If you don’t already have a grant in place, please use the proposal guidelines format.
• For future discussion: final bulleted question on scale.
• Get a position paper draft for district two candidates out and finalized by next Thursday and mail it to all the candidates by next week. Invite them to the next JC meeting and have someone moderate. Give them an opportunity to respond in writing as well. Have LSAC members attend the other forums as well.
• Karen will visit work groups and check in about how the work relates to communications.

ASSIGNMENTS:

• Deb will make revisions to the Proposal Guidelines document and email it back out with folks. Carl will create a sample to guide others in the development of their proposals.
• Deb will send a final draft of the February Site Report and feedback from the foundation to the JC members.
• Mara will send the latest drafts of the work plans and the link to the work plans on the LSAC website. USC will also send the Results Charts.
• Mara will get a list of candidate email addresses from Dayna.
• Lisa and Don have volunteered and will have help from Junious to develop the letter. Deb and Carl will do the cover letter and a flyer with the bulleted points of issues.
• Carl will work with Jennie and Mara to organize the next JC meeting with candidates. Need to choose a moderator.
• If you would like to be part of an ad hoc communications advisory committee, please contact Karen Stevenson at Karen@CoreCommunications.org .

Carl Pascual, EBALDC; Jennie Mollica, Lao Family; Catherine Chen, EBALDC; Beth Leeson, AECF; Deb Montesinos, AECF; Junious Williams, USC; Brendan Leung, FES Coach; Sonya Shah, KQED; Lisa Prigozen, EBALDC; David Kakishiba, EBAYC; Mapi Tudela, La Clinica; Mariam, Self-Evaluation; Don Davenport, SACDC; Karen Stevenson, Communications; Mara Guccione, USC; Kerry Forbord, ORTL; Bill Wong, Diarist

Decisions:

• If you don’t already have a grant in place, please use the proposal guidelines format.
• For future discussion: final bulleted question on scale

Assignments:

• Deb will make revisions to the Proposal Guidelines document and email it back out with folks. Carl will create a sample to guide others in the development of their proposals.
• Deb will send a final draft of the February Site Report and feedback from the foundation to the JC members.
• Mara will send the latest drafts of the work plans and the link to the work plans on the LSAC website. USC will also send the Results Charts.
  1. Delegation from Oakland attending School Readiness convening in San Antonio, TX (Kerry, Deb, Junious, etc)
  2. Elena is on her way to South Africa through a peer match opportunity
  3. Proposal Guidelines: Purpose is to 1) help work groups go deeper in the work and have members determine what their contribution is to the work of the group; and 2) to make sure that the proposals line up with the work plans which line up with results so that you can see the connections and not have to figure out new information.
• Carl: the site report organized our work and the numbers listed are collective. The proposal doc asks what amount of the total number can your organization contribute? Orgs and people sitting around work group bring different capacities. It’s a way to see what pieces each organization brings.
• Can we assume that the work plans are accepted? Yes. For the time being, the work plans are the best road map that we have.
• Site report: we will get feedback from Baltimore and Deb will make sure that the feedback is sent out to everyone. The group reviewing them is very comprehensive and diverse. We can decide what we want to do with their feedback.
• David – please send the latest versions of the work plans. The charts within the work plans need some revision.
• Deb reviewed the questions at the bottom of page one.
• Junious: Language check – strategy on page 2 in the first chart needs to be changed to program/intervention.
• Chart is a way that we can update each other quickly on where we are with the work.
• Jennie: are quarters to be referred to on the calendar year? Look at this case by case. In some cases, the work has begun and in others
• The first chart is tied to work plan outcomes. The second page chart is more flexible. You might have multiple performance measures under each column.
• This is meant to be used by individual organizations for applying for a grant. This isn’t meant to be used by work groups.
• This will help line up all of the work.
• Different strategy charts for each result area that an org is working on.
• Sonya: Can we have samples of proposals or a prototype? Deb and Carl were thinking about creating that. Carl will do this for the FES work.
• Give Deb and Carl feedback.
• Sonya – 3A is confusing. How do you want the answers to the questions written out? Deb – want to leave some flexibility but 3A should be considered a narrative.
• Do we have a definition of Powerful Strategy? Think about it as the program intervention.
• Jennie: how do you see the proposals aligning with the work plans? The work plans really describe how we are a collaborative and it seems that the proposal format should line up really well with the work plans. The idea is not to create anything new but to just flesh it out more and give the agency’s specific role in the work. Its good because it speaks to transparency. It is all public knowledge.
• How comfortable are we at sharing these proposals with each other?
• Jennie – feel that I should be consulting with my work group as I design the proposal.
• Kerry – is there a range of amounts? There is a spreadsheet with the requested amounts.
• If you don’t already have a grant in place, please use the proposal guidelines format.
• What is the distinction between question three and four? Is this something that MCO is attempting to do? To what degree are the residents focused on the results and to what degree is this integrated. In the last bullet, with scale: is it necessary to write this? Isn’t it made up? There is individual thinking and larger thinking around this and give it your best effort. This is one way to get at the information. Karen – it’s a starter question. Is there the possibility of taking this program to scale? If you are thinking it is not, we need to have that conversation. Don’t fake it if there are not good ideas around it. But we need to be able to show that we can have an impact.
• We will get a final matrix with the results, strategies, etc.
• If an organization is involved in multiple work groups, it should all be listed in one proposal.
• Look at this as a learning opportunity. It’s meant to give you a chance to ask what have we done, what are we learning, etc and give you time to reflect and adjust.
• Attachments: cover letter signed by ED, 501C3, organization description, budget (current), staff resumes, etc.
• Don: what’s the timeline for getting the money to do the work. It’s a problem that groups are doing the work and not getting paid. What’s the turn around time? If we bulk proposals we might be able to move them along quicker rather than doing them one by one. What is a realistic time frame for getting the proposals in? The other thing is that we are learning the different parts to process a proposal so that when it goes in it moves quickly. Don – just want a reasonable time frame.
• Junious – need to have a conversation around scale. We need to talk about if we really know what that means.

III. Candidate Platform

Decisions:

• Get a policy paper draft out and finalized by next Thursday and mail it to all the candidates by next week. Invite them to the next JC meeting and have someone moderate. Give them an opportunity to respond in writing as well. Have LSAC members attend the other forums as well.

Assignments:

• Mara will get a list of candidate email addresses from Dayna.
• Lisa and Don have volunteered and will have help from Junious to develop the letter. Deb and Carl will do the cover letter and a flyer with the bulleted points of issues.
• Carl will work with Jennie and Mara to organize the next JC meeting with candidates. Need to choose a moderator.
• Don – the newspaper has already taken an approach. There was no discussion about this side of the freeway. SACDC has sent emails and made phone calls to get candidates to answer the questions. Doesn’t mean that we can’t ask other questions but we are already getting a response from candidates.
• Brendan – are we going to attend existing forums or have a forum? We decided to divide the discussion so that we talked about our platform and also thought about this question.
• Jennie – sample of FES on the back of the agenda. Today, get a sense of the goals and priorities of other work groups.
• Don – we were more specific around 23 rd Avenue.
• Jennie – Write up a page on 23 rd Ave priorities.
• Dayna – what are we doing with the platform? First see what people’s ideas are and go from there. We will discuss this afterwards.
• Jennie – these fall into good categories – they fall into key groupings – but are there any changes we want to make given that neighborhood grants, etc wouldn’t mean much to the candidates.
• How do you elevate them to a policy level? They are very specific. 2-3 key policy issues around affordable housing, for example. Elevate them to that level.
• How do we use these? What’s the best way to present this? If we create a policy paper with a list of demands and policy changes we can send it as a letter to each candidate. Lets them know that we are working towards X and this is what we are requesting.
• What’s the most effective way to use our time? Which of the forums do we want to attend?
• Create a letter with MCO letterhead and ask them to respond in writing. Invite them to the next meeting?
• Get list of candidate email addresses from Dayna.
• What is the purpose of this platform? Junious – to get the issues into the spotlight and frame the debate, get us out there, have an echo at each of the forums.
• RECOMMENDATION: Policy paper draft out and finalized by next Thursday. Mail it to all the candidates by next week. Invite them to the next JC meeting and have someone moderate. Give them an opportunity to respond in writing as well. Have people attend the other forums as well.
• Lisa and Don have volunteered and will have help from Junious. There is trust that this group will send it out with letterhead. Deb and Carl will do the cover letter. Also, do a flyer with the bulleted points of issues.

Work Group Charts:

1. Neighborhood Grants
   • Support youth programs-afterschool programs
   • Community social events-block gatherings
   • Pedestrian safety-lights, slower traffic
   • Implementation of homeless services
   • Crime prevention
2. Early Childhood Education
   • Push for fair % of local $ for 0-5
   • Pressure on OUSD to keep ECE programs open and supported
   • Raise funds for local ECE programs
   • Keep CBET and ESL programs
3. 23 rd Avenue
   • Support funding for community cultural center
   • Advocate for redevelopment funding to target 23 rd Avenue
   • Support funding for traffic calming around Garfield School
   • Support for streetscapes on 23 rd Avenue
   • Advocate for fascade improvement program on 23 rd Avenue for area businesses
4. Health
   • Commit to one farmers market that meets twice per week
   • Support for afterschool programs focused on exercise and outdoor activity for young people
   • Increase funding for clean-running public transportation
   • Funding for adult education programs that lead to increased self-sufficiency
   • Funding for free health screenings
5. Community Outreach
   • Commitment to 23 rd Avenue corridor/International (as much attention has been given to Eastlake and Fruitvale)
   • Neighborhood revitalization (e.g. loan availability for small businesses)
   • Affordable housing
   • Support of local arts and culture
6. Housing
   • More $ for affordable housing (both rental and for ownership)
   • Support mandatory code enforcement inspections of rental housing
   • Ease Oakland’s restrictions on affordable homeownership funding
   • Support strategies to include mixed legal status among residents of affordable housing
   • Support inclusionary zoning

IV. Communications Work

• Karen – looking for a mentee to take on and learn about her work. Lots more articles about LSA neighborhood. Need to think about communications and where it is housed, turned over to the community. How is this going to happen?
• Karen will create an ad hoc advisory committee. If you want to be a part of it, send Karen an email.
• Have Karen visit work groups and check in about how the work relates to communications.

• Happy Hour tonight at La Clinica to have fun and get to know each other better.
• Lisa – articles on code enforcement
• Junious – we released a report on homicides in Oakland and have an analysis of LSA neighborhood. We’ll send a notice out on the list serve and it can be found on the LSAC website.