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Prevention Works! Minutes |
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Clallam County Prevention Works! Community
Coalition The meeting was promptly called to order by Angie Graff, acting president. Angie introduced Deborah Feldman, an independent evaluator for Prevention Works! and United Way. She had an interactive presentation after presenting the most recent parent education evaluation. The grants being discussed were everything being done in Clallam County through the DASA funding, United Way, Carolyn Foundation, and Clallam County Community Network. The evaluation included an end of the class evaluation and about 30 evaluations done on the telephone. If anyone else wants to receive the data, they can e-mail Deborah dfeld@seanet.com and she will send the information. There were about 16 per class but 51% attended less than half the classes. These figures were significantly lower than the previous group. Fiona said that the age level of 8 per class is about normal for the nation. Nita spoke to the fact that many didn’t continue because of space or lack of interest really in the class. It was also suggested that no matter how many meetings each person attended, they were getting additional parenting information and we shouldn’t be unduly concerned. It was suggested that maybe a questionnaire asking why they didn’t continue. Mainly, she suggested we continue to look at these numbers and trying to figure out why. Most of the people who continued, filled out the questionnaire which was higher than previous year. Most of the people felt they were happy with the instructor’s knowledge and communication skills. Lowest area was the community resources. It was brought up that this was not one of the goals of the curriculum; we can add that to the curriculum but it doesn’t happen naturally. Deborah felt it was important for the staff to know what a good job they are doing. People were able to say exactly things they were changing in their behavior such as timeout, ignoring behavior, clear and consistent rules. On the parent interviews, they too are somewhat biased. They seemed to mirror what the parents said on their evaluations. Group interaction and support seemed to be really important and brought up by those being interviewed. Since the evaluations were almost identical to the previous year and for the other years, it was brought up that we may really need to look at the costs involved to get almost the same results from year to year. The goal is for each program to look at their individual results and make modifications accordingly. Perhaps we are doing that even without this more complex evaluation process The regular business meeting was then begun. John Vincent, the new director for Healthy Families, was introduced. Others attending the meeting included Angie Graff, Connie Hyatt, Ellen Fetchiet, Fiona Thom Hert, Jennifer Charles, Jim Borte, Elna Kawal, Rachel Anderson, Roxanna Gonzales, Sara McPhee, Sue Renes, Ida Carroll, Susan Hillgreen, Sheli Stutsma, Starlet Oakley, Steve Tharinger, and Cynthia Martin. One of the reasons for meeting today was to discuss some of the results of the parent education grants completed last year. Ida and Nita both had parents to talk about the programs they had conducted. Ida had a family that discussed the Second Step program from West End Outreach. The goal is to help them have as little stress as possible, complying with TANF, transportation issues, being a listener, help parents see the joy of being a parent, and to discuss developmental issues. This is a home visiting program. Nita introduced Sheri from First Step who is involved in the Second Steps program. Starlet, one of the moms from that program said that it was great to meet new moms as well as to have her children meet new children. She liked the discipline issues discussed, potty training, now are going ahead with a walking group. She uses time-outs now where before she didn’t She has learned about behavior control when they go to the store from the classes. As part of the home visiting part she talked about ways Sherri (Home Visitor) helped. Sherri talked about the difference in doing thing in their homes rather than going to the agency. Housing and transportation issues are helped through home visitors. Nita announced that the Home Visiting Committee will be having their annual conference this Friday. Their speaker will be Martha Erickson from University of Minnesota who will talk about video taping families to teach positive behaviors. Call Jennifer Charles for more information. Cynthia discussed the Building Harmony with the Latino Community that was held in Sequim. Shaine arranged this program as part of the Rural Health Grant. About 120 people attended and it was very well received. Many things are currently taking place as a result of this meeting. Because of the need to use the room, we adjourned very promptly. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Martin, If there are corrections, please e-mail Shaine Schramling (shaines@nwinet.com) |
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