FSFAPA Board Meeting
Feb. 14, 2015 – Amelia Island Masonic Lodge
1101 S. 14th St Fernandina Beach
Submitted for approval by FSFAPA Secretary Charles Parker.
Meeting started by at 3:45 p.m. after the closing of the quarterly mini conference.
Following were in attendance: Harriett Wynn (President), Chris Johnson (Exec VP – by phone), Orlando Avila (Director of Programs), Maria Bond (Treasurer), Charles Parker (Secretary), Lillie Blackshear (RVP), Dorothy Alvarez (RVP), Lynda Thompson (Parliamentarian/Bylaws/Conference Chair), Coleen LaCosta (FAST Coordinator, Kinship), Amanda Williams (Nex Gen/IL), Melanie Stimmell (RVP), Keith Best (RVP), Wendy Vernon (Advocacy), Harry Dubia (Membership), Trish Allen (Adoptions) and Laurally Segur (CBC Advisor), Victoria Herrin (Band Manager) and Trudy Petkovich (Executive Director).
Not in attendance: (All previously Excused) Carrie Toy and Kristi Putnam (DCF Advisors), Gay Frizzell (QPI Advisor), and Kara Elliot-Jordan (RVP).
After attendance, the minutes from the January Conference Call were accepted with changes (provided via email after submission to board) Motion made by Orlando, seconded by Amanda with no opposition.
Harriet opened the business portion of the meeting encouraging board members to review the documents they are sent. There were several corrections presented to the board directory (Charlie noted and will get changes to Trudy for an update.)
MINI CONFERENCE – The wrap up to the mini conference was generally positive, wit the only suggestion from the board members was allowing more time for duffels distribution (and to deal with issues – being the last item of the day issues had to be dealt with immediately) Orlando shared that there will be a wrap up teleconference with FSS and will share any comments from that in future meetings.
President’s Report – Harriet reported that while in Tallahassee for the Rally in Tally last week, she and Trudy met with Secretary Carroll and many other key contacts with DCF. She shared that she and Secretary Carroll had a constructive conversation on targeted recruitment for homes for teenagers (Laurallyn confirmed that DCF this week set up a meeting in March with the CBCs on this topic.) Harriet also added that she met with Minnie Jenkins with DCF on adoptions and plans to have her attend the Annual Conference and present or train at that event.
OLD BUSINESS
DUFFELS – LaShaun informed the board they distributed 69 duffels at the mini conference, and that there will be a few boxes distributed to board members (with paperwork) for further distribution. Reported that the distribution – while hurried – went well.
EDUCATION CONFERENCE – Lynda shared that she was working with the Hilton on space and menus. Has set aside space for the photo booth again. SuperSitters proposal for childcare was received this week and that Colleen was working on getting speakers and trainings lined up. One change for this year – because of the Father’s Day holiday on Sunday we are planning to start the Sunday sessions earlier and have a commencement breakfast and ceremony rather than lunch to allow the families to have the day together. Orlando suggested we attempt to work out late checkout with the Hilton to facilitate things in the event the breakfast runs longer than expected.
Harriet pointed out that this year we plan to give the teens, tweens and kids in childcare 2 t-shirts and they are required to wear them in care – so that we can better identify the kids in our program. She also mentioned that there had been a problem in the past with parents not responding to calls and texts from childcare, and informed the board that they plan to tell parents who do not respond that they have lost the privilege of childcare at the remainder of the conference. (This is for egregious cases, not delayed because they were presenting – hours of delay after multiple attempts to contact.) There were no objections to this procedure being used.
RALLY IN TALLY – Trudy reported that the event was very positive. There were many families and teens at the event and they were broken into 6 groups that were guided to various legislators and gatherings in the capitol. There was a legislative process training the day before that was helpful. It was characterized as “more welcoming” than Chidren’s Week and less stressful as there was not a specific “ask” but more general conversations of situations and needs. Amanda added that there were many teens there that shared their comments on the IL bills and the services IL kids (especially those with disabilities) need.
CHILDRENS WEEK – Wendy and Lillie reported that Children’s Week will be handled a little differently this year; rather than legislators reading with the children there will be an interactive storybook village that they will act out stories with the younger children. Lillie plans to reach out to the other RVPS about legislators in their areas and their involvement.
RVP News – Charlie reported that he had shared the names of two possible Suncoast RVP candidates with Chris and Harriett to consider.
Dave Thomas Grant Ideas – Maria asked the board members to consider ideas/programs that they would like to see the association pursue through grants. The finance committee will consider all proposals and winnow them down and present the top options back to the board at a future meeting.
Charlie shared two ideas that came from the Executive Committee Meeting the night before: One was developing a strategy to grow our annual conference through better engagement of adoptive parents (partnering with CBCs and DCF to identify; bringing more post adoptive service information and vendors to the event etc.); and another suggestion was to develop a post-adoptive services support line similar to the FAST line (that would also require the development of a list of available resources, partners and vendors.)
NEW BUSINESS
CONFERENCE AND SUMMIT STRATEGY – Harriet announced that starting after Children’s week this year, that event will no longer be a quarterly meeting for FSFAPA. The four quarterly meetings in FY2015-16 will be The Summit (Aug); the Fall Mini Conference; Winter Mini Conference and our annual Education Conference. This gives a more equitable distribution across the calendar and allows for the board to take a more strategic approach to attending Childrens Week, Rally in Tally, Family Café and other events.
Legislative update – Wendy reported that she will be attending the training in Fort Myers next month and will report back.
NEX GEN BAND – Victoria shared with the board that the band is teaming up with the struggling “Converge Teen Center” in Leesburg and will be holding a fundraiser that the center and the band will split 50/50. They will also be holding a fundraising dinner and a raffle for a Cruise and possibly another with a television. She also shared that Channel 1 has done a story and she will inform the board when she knows of an airtime. A motion was made by Orlando to donate the proceeds from the mini-conference (and future mini-conferences) 50/50 to the band. Keith seconded. There was no opposition (This was based on Lillie’s suggestion that we at least split the $175.50 that was our portion with the band.)
MEMBERSHIP – Harry reported that there were 8 new memberships today and shared a list of board members that had renewed. He reminded the others that they needed to do so.
TREASURER’S REPORT – Maria reported to close 2014 the association ran a deficit of $23,446.81 on an income of $143,276.69 (speding $166,723.50) She reminded the board that this was expected when we teamed with NFPA for the annual conference because that limited our income from the conference. So far this year we have an income of $20,349 vs. $7,557.62 in expenses (January expenses have not all closed yet) Orlando moved that we accept the Treasurer’s Report, Lillie seconded; none opposed.
CBC ADVISOR – Harriet intorduced Laurallyn Segur (Eckerd, C6) to the board and Laurallyn gave a brief rundown of her experience. She told the board she will be looking at how the various CBCs handle their relationships with foster parents in her new post and already today had some interesting conversations with the Licensing Director for FSS about integrating foster parents into their Quality Review committee and shared the model of the Task Force that Eckerd uses where foster parents and stakeholders come together for regular meetings to discuss the direction and updates in the system of care.
Motion was made by Orlando to adjourn at 4:54 and seconded by Wendy. No opposition.
