Fox Cities Project Promise Poverty Coalition

Executive Steering Committee

LEAVEN

February 5, 2009

3:04 – 4:50 p.m.

Meeting minutes

In attendance: Marcia Engen, Jon Stellmacher, Andrew Konkel, Nicole Harrison, Jennifer Wanke, Jennifer Lehner, Pastor Manns, Kelly Butzlaff, Debra Cronmiller, Carrie Hankes

Call to Order: The Fox Cities Project Promise Poverty Coalition executive steering committee was called to order at 3:04 p.m. by Jennifer Wanke, co-chairperson.

Invocation: Kelly Butzlaff shared the message, “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself” because relationships matter and love + action = kindness. Matthew 25 adds to the message of relationships recognizing Jesus was an example sent by God.

Approval of the minutes: The minutes of the January 8, 2009 meeting were previously approved via email.

Treasurer’s Report: Debra Cronmiller reported 162 individual members but stated in the transfer of data to a new computer system members were lost from the database as this number is less than what was reported in January. Hard copy PPPC membership applications are available to check the official memberships. There are 30 paid memberships and $750 in the PPPC account.

A report on income and expenses was reviewed for the PPPC Annual Event. CAP Services ($100), Head Start ($100) and UW Oshkosh ($100) will send in their sponsorship funds. Including those funds, the total income was $6500. Kelly will contact Wendy at Willems about the $2500 bill. In the meantime, Debra will hold that invoice until the bill is clarified. The PAC stage bill of $340 was the estimated cost of their service. The PAC gave in in-kind donation for the use of the Kimberly Clark Room. The Bouwer Printing expense of $1205.89 was anticipated for printing and postage. The $805 bill from Michiels was higher than estimated. Kelly will get back to Debra with information about the Willems invoice. B.A.B.E.S. was incorrectly listed as a sponsor. Debra stated the Emergency Shelter would be able to increase their sponsorship for this year, if needed.

In light of the expenses for the PPPC Annual Meeting, the proposed new member orientation document will be printed in house by PPPC coalition members.

Committee Reports:

• Analysis & Information: Jennifer Lehner announced the committee would be meeting on Thursday, February 12, 2009 at LEAVEN. Current members of the committee have agreed to an alternating monthly meeting schedule; 3-4 hours one month followed by a 1 hour meeting the next month. Jenn has spoken to Jeff Williams, prospective co-chair from Kimberly Clark, a local expert on root cause analysis. An additional 4-5 new members will be joining the committee which will bring the total membership to 8-10 members. The Poverty Score Cards project is on hold due to the training and focus on root cause analysis.

• Awareness & Education: Pastor Manns reviewed the A&E sub-committees; Speakers Bureau, Community Connections, New Member Orientation and the PPPC Annual Community Report. Kim Lee will be the new Community Connections chair. Kelly Butzlaff will chair the Speakers Bureau and orientation sessions for volunteers are being held today (2/5) at 5 p.m. and tomorrow (2/6) at 7:30 a.m. at the United Way. Pastor Manns sent thank you notes to all PPPC Annual Community Report participants. A handout is being created by the New Member Orientation sub-committee for new PPPC members. The Community Connections sub-committee will review nonprofit organizations to find those that are doing similar work and look for consistency. This sub-committee should be in contact with Andrew Konkel for the PPPC website.

• Action & Impact: Andrew Konkel reported Sandi Moore volunteered to serve as secretary and Carrie Hankes as co-chair. A procedure for proposing new projects and listing goals and outcomes was presented and approved by the committee. Andrew asked all subcommittee chairs to establish goals/outcomes for their individual projects that they are working on and to get those back to him and Carrie. The Faith to Face Poverty Week is scheduled for October 9-15, 2009. The sub-committee of 10-11 members has met twice and is working on creating “save the date” postcards for distribution. Note: a concern about funding was expressed. (Oshkosh is also interested in a similar project and information will be shared.) Participating faith organizations will be listed and commitment cards will be distributed and collected to document participation. The eight member Continuum of Care sub-committee, chaired by Barb Uehling, will have their task completed in 2-3 months. The Volunteer Resource Fair (4-5 members) and the Legislative Lunch and Learn (three members) are beginning work on their project. Andrew and Amber have been working with the Willems Agency on the PPPC website, and it should be ready in 2-3 weeks. The site will be updated monthly and will offer online sign up; projectpromisefoxcities@capmail.org. Organizations will be instructed to send their $25 donations to defray expenses to Deb Cronmiller at the Emergency Shelter. The A&I Committee is exploring the possibility of using the Farmers Markets during the summer to recruit members and collect food donations. Seedfolks, the book designated for an informal Community Book Read, will hold an event on May 10, 2009. The author of the book will be present. PPPC has been asked if it would like to have a booth at the event. Ten books will be given to PPPC for individuals to read, sign their names and give to others in the community to read. This “read, sign and send on” procedure will continue until a date listed on each book that asks the holder of the book to return it to their local library (date unknown). Andrew will also be presenting some activities in this project that committee members could potentially engage in.

Action Item:

Ideas for the March 5, 2009 PPPC Executive Steering Committee meeting should be sent to Jennifer and Jon.

Discussion Items:

• PPPC Annual Event: An email was received from a concerned member about the outstanding refreshments at the event which did not seem to reflect the theme of the meeting, poverty. In response Jennifer Wanke sent the following message to the concerned member. We tried to balance frugality with hospitality and our food provider was generous in its decoration.  We also made sure to deliver all leftovers to the Emergency Shelter to share with the homeless population and so nothing would go to waste.  But we agree with you that we need to be careful about appearances, and since so little food has been eaten at the past two PPPC reports, we plan to no longer serve food at our report to the community. The event drew new members to the PPPC and Assembly Majority Leader Tom Nelson’s speech was well received. He was one of the last people to leave the event which reflected his commitment to the coalition’s cause. Many positive comments were heard from the attendees and the Awareness and Education Committee is congratulated on organizing a great event on a frigid day.

Suggestions for 2010 include; set the date and location early, consider a panel format and/or an interactive program which includes the audience, consider inviting individuals who have worked their way out of poverty (pros and cons of this suggestion were expressed), and provide more information about actions that can be taken by coalition members.

Concern was expressed by some attendees that the program focused on what still needs to be done as opposed to what the PPPC had accomplished. The executive steering committee felt transparency was important which included reporting what was and what was not accomplished. The committee felt a responsibility to report what still needs to be accomplished in the coming year. Expectations for the PPPC are high and community involvement is needed if we are going to successfully eliminate poverty in the Fox Cities.

• PPPC membership lists need to be verified. Joelle Jahner, CAP Services, will send a template to all organizations requesting a list of their individual staff members. On the sign up card (and on the website sign up screen) a box will be provided for organizations to check if they want to be listed as supporters ($25) of PPPC. The PPPC website will maintain a list of all organizations supporting the PPPC and a list of all individual members.

• The 2009 Fox Cities Project Promise Poverty Coalition Goals were approved by the coalition members on December 10, 2008. (The 2009 Goals are attached to this email for perusal.)

• As PPPC plans for a variety of activities in 2009, the co-chairs of the committees were encouraged to take digital photos of the projects so they can be incorporated into the 2010 PPPC Annual Report to the Community.

• The PPPC Executive Steering Committee meeting time has been changed to 3-4:30 p.m. at LEAVEN. Every attempt will be made to have the meetings “start on time and end on time”. The co-chairs will establish reporting time schedules on each agenda item starting with the March 5^th agenda.

Coalition members are invited and encouraged to attend PPPC executive steering committee meetings. Contact Co-chairs Jennifer Wanke leaven@new.rr.com or Jon Stellmacher jon.stellmacher@thrivent.com if you plan on attending any of the executive steering committee meetings listed below.

• 2009 Meeting dates/times/locations:

Executive Steering Committee Full Membership

(First Thursday PM) (Second Wednesday AM)

3:00-4:30 p.m. 7:30-8:30 a.m.

LEAVEN Zion Lutheran Church

March 5 March 11

April 2 June 10

May 7 September 9

June 4 December 9

July 9*

August 6

September 3

October 1

November 5

December 3

*Adjusted date due to holiday

Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned at 4:52 p.m.

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Steering Committee Meeting Invocations:

(2009)

• March Jennifer Lehner
• April Nicole Harrison
• May Jennifer Wanke
• June Debra Cronmiller
• July Jon Stellmacher
• August Andrew Konkel
• September Pastor Manns
• October Kelly Butzlaff
• November Marcia Engen
• December Carrie Hankes