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Prevention Works! Minutes |
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Clallam County Prevention Works!
Community Coalition Jane Shefler called the meeting to order. We had three people willing to serve on the executive board, John Beitzel, Shaine Schramling, and Angie Graff. These three people were elected. Jane went over the profit and loss detail sheet. There is a little bit more money coming in from the big event. So far we have a net profit of over $1200. Our current assets include a CD of $3500 plus $2500 from recent deposit so we have net assets of $6,014.50 We then had introductions beginning with Don Corson who is a Vice President at Merrill and Ring and the facilitator for today’s meeting. Members attending included Jody Jacobsen, Mel Melmed, Elna Kawal, Kathleen Dionne, Nancy Martin, Angie Graff, Chris Borchers, Martha Hall, Ida Carroll, Patty Hannah, Debra Sharp, Patra Boots, Tracey Hosselkus, Florence Bucierka, Jennifer Charles, Bill Jevne, John Beitzel, Fiona Hert, Nita Quan, Jo LeDuke, Karin Tauscher, Jane Shefler, and Cynthia Martin. Don Corson discussed the need to bring efforts into planning for the future and the importance of celebrate what we were doing. He made the parallel between a bus trip that focuses on “What a bus trip so far! Where we goin’ next?” Focusing on our goals will help us celebrate and then focus on what is next. Hopefully this has been a successful trip so far. Why are you on this bus? This question elicited varied response from the group. Chris Borchers said prevention really does work. Her goal was to get a large enough number of people to make a difference in the community to reduce child abuse and neglect, and substance abuse. Don said there was a need for a group like this to be successful to keep an energy and excitement. Patty Hannah said that enough people come together we can make a difference, a cultural shift in the community. Florence Bucierka said there isn’t enough money to individually make a difference but together we can make money stretch further. Elna Kawal discussed the wonder of the collaboration that we are doing and the need to not duplicate services through coordinating our efforts. Don pointed out that the collaboration doesn’t show up that much in the strategic plan. Ida Carroll discussed the public relations that our solution orientation brings to the community. Angie Graff talked about the education that is possible by this group coming together. Mel Melmed talked about the group being a fun group to belong to because it is energizing. Fiona Hert mentioned about her professional curiosity to meet the other people and how we really know each other now. Patty Hannah talked about being on the bus for the long trip. Kathleen Dionne talked about being a new member of the community and this was such a great way to get involved with a new community. Don gave a handout about the Five Plain Truths About Partnerships (from Community Matters, Chris Pack). 1) Partnerships are critical to the long-term success of any initiative, 2) Partnerships are challenging to manage and to master, 3) Partnerships are built on two pillars: Form and Process (Form is how it is organized and process is about how people interact and treat each other.), 4) Partnerships are easier to start than to sustain, and 5) Partnerships go through stages of development. Has the trip been successful so far? The fact that we are still here indicates our success. The expansion of the group through KEYS and Rock and Roll, the success of the summits for home visiting and parent education are further indicators of success. We have brought in a lot more money to Clallam County through collaboration. Martha Hall talked about the working together by sharing facilities, and in the collaboration grants we write much more than we used to do. Learning about all the services that are available in the community was another indication of success and certainly the fact that our evaluations show that we are making a difference. The new outreach to the business community, building a relationship with the Native American community and the Latino community are additional measures of our success. Our technology achievements are measures of success in that we went from 7 to 170 on our e-mail list, we have a website, and a community calendar. Sometimes it takes a few years to make these things happen and we need to look at things over time rather than to look at what didn’t happen. Don discussed the lag time when you make wine. We have community recognition on a state-wide level which raises our visibility throughout the state. This allows us greater ways to get the message out that is even better than marketing. Prevention Works! is an open avenue that allows smaller groups to be involved. The trainings that Prevention Works! has conducted to increase the knowledge of professionals in the community to provide services has been a strong success. We fund parenting classes with people learning how to use the curriculum and then they come back to teach classes throughout the county. Last fall Prevention Works! sponsored a workshop in Developmental Assets and started using it with the parents in Five Acre School. Over half of the parents come to the meetings. Don says it is the stories that make the difference. We need to get this information out to the public. Looking in the rear view mirror. Where have we been? What have we seen? (The milestones of Prevention Works!) Certainly the big event two years ago was a significant event. Prevention Works! has focused the attention of the community on the early years of a child’s life. The Carolyn Foundation giving the group $200,000 was a great accomplishment. Spin-off groups from Prevention Works! also encourage the expansion of our services. This is the first time the county has made financial decisions related to early childhood--never before. The importance of knowing that each group can go to other groups and get encouragement from one another—other groups have turned into assets to each of us. Looking to the trip ahead. Would the group continue even if the main people were missing? The group resoundingly agree we would. Don passed out more information on Strengthening an Sustaining Partnerships to Achieve Lasting Results (Chris Pack). Groups need the following:
Don talked about the draft from the Strategic Planning Committee being such great work and that if other committees were doing this kind of work, we were in good shape. He reminded us of our vision and mission. The Vision of Prevention Works! Vision of Prevention Works! is that Clallam County is a community where all children and families are healthy and safe. Mission of Prevention Works! The mission of Clallam County Prevention Works! Community Coalition is to reduce child abuse and neglect, violence, and substance abuse by assisting families with children from conception through four years of age by: Reducing the risk factors Strengthening protective factors, and Enhancing the resilience of children, youth, and families How
do we convert this to what we can do next year?
Who is not at the table? Why? Do they want to be? What do parents want: Parents want greater economic opportunities, access to services, access to knowledge, more presentations like we just had, maybe parents don’t want to come to the table, block parties would be more helpful than meetings, people want to be active not just come to the table, but need to do more to build relationships. Judith Morris wanted more of an activity kind of event. If you want to expand, may use people who want to prepare the meal, dictate the interaction, tea, block party or whatever. Group may need to expand the delivery model. We really may be talking two different models, parents and professionals. Relationship based practices is beginning to have the research to support it. How do we engage the people we serve? We need to relate to them and build on their strength. Committees of Prevention Works! Letting Passengers have their own music while remembering to also sing the team fight song. Each committee has to develop annual objectives that support the consensus themes. Overriding themes: · Same message need to be sent to everyone. CLEAR MESSAGE NEEDED. · Literacy one of the themes. MUCH OF THE GROUP AGREED BUT NOT ALL. · Need to look over the overriding themes we just discussed. The themes need to be able to be communicated to the community and the parents. The general feeling was we had lots still to do but a lot of pride in what has been done. It was a helpful session and something giving us some direction for the coming year. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Martin Note: Meeting
of Prevention Works! are regularly the first Tuesday of the month
at 11:30 at Juvenile Services. The
next scheduled meeting of Prevention Works! Has been changed to the
second week, April 9 because of Spring Break What’s Next? Join us and see. |
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