Serve Illinois Commission budgets IT improvements

By East Central Reporter Reports

Dec 22, 2016

The Serve Illinois Commission met Aug. 13 to budget IT improvements.

Here is the meeting's agenda, as provided by the commission:

Agenda - April 13, 2016

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Location and Time

Illinois Historical Preservation Agency / Old State Capitol

1 E Old State Capitol Plaza

Springfield, IL 62701

Dial: 888-494-4032; Access Code: 4037150212#

9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Commissioners Present:

Frederick Nettles, Chair; Don Baden, Vice-Chair; Jane Angelis; Julian Brown; Nisan Chavkin; Merri Dee; Beth Ford; Amanda Guinn; John Hosteny; Sarah Mackey; Debra Marton; Giraldo Rosales; Anne Schuman; Steve Silberman; Barb Tubekis; Jeff Turnbull; Jennifer Witzel; Dora Welker (for Supt. Smith)

Guests Present

Anne Godman; Natalie Furlette

Staff Present

Scott McFarland, Executive Director; Mattias Ghelaidos; Jacob Nudelman; Kelia Beck; William Coussens

Call to Order

Call to order was made by Chair Nettles at 9:15am.

Approval of the October 20, 2015 Meeting Minutes

Turnbull made a motion to approve the minutes for the commission meeting on October 20, 2015

Tubekis seconded

The motion was agreed upon by voice vote

Executive Director Report

Thanks was extended to Illinois Historical Preservation Agency for the use of the Old State Capitol for the day’s eventsThe timeline for the Governor’s Awards was briefly discussed

Staffing

Sue Zellers will be retiring at the end of April

McFarland will be taking over the day-to-day Program Officer responsibilities until that position is filled

Two AmeriCorps Program Officer positions have been approved for bidding

One has closed; information on which applicant was selected is still forthcoming

One will be opened for bidding in the coming months

One Grant Manager position will be in the works once the state passes a budget

Budget

The full matching funds amount was met for the 2015 calendar year, despite earlier setbacks

The federal budget passed in December 2015 included a large increase in funding for CNCS, and by extension for AmeriCorps programming

Technical Training and Assistance funds were specifically appropriated for state commissions; Illinois is expecting to receive approx. $130,000 from this fund

Funding is not likely to change next year, as a Continuing Resolution is expected rather than a full federal budget

McFarland noted that he is a member of the Policy Committee for the Association of State Commissions

Audit

No new information is available; the Commission is still waiting on the final findings from the audit vendor

Commission? Appointments

McFarland is continuing to work with Governor Rauner’s office to reappoint current commissioners and appoint new commissioners

Any interested in serving on the Commission should apply through appointments.illinois.gov

Corporation for National and Community Service Report

Hosteny gave report?Program Officer position has been filled by Africa Alsip

There is a proposed increase in AmeriCorps VISTA funding for FY2017

Level funding expected for rest of the CNCS portfolio

Much of the new funding will be for IT improvements

Thanks was expressed to all for a very successful 2016 Mayor and County Recognition Day

3,500 Local, County, and Tribal officials took part nationally, 110 in Illinois

The work done in East St. Louis (by the Operation AmeriCorps program) was highlighted

Two new AmeriCorps VISTA programs have been developed

YMCA of USA and Greater Chicago Food Depository have both become host programs for VISTA members

Many program members and staff will be attending the North Central Region’s National Service Training Conference in Indianapolis, June 8-10, 2016

National Volunteer Week is currently underway; a number of programs were highlighted

A reminder that CNCS board meetings are open to the public; the upcoming meeting information is below

Friday, April 22, 2016; 11:00am-12:15pm (ET)

Call-in #: (888) 390-3401; Access #: 2572123

https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-08548

A potential change in focus by CNCS from AmeriCorps and Senior Corps Weeks to just Mayor’s Day was discussed. CNCS will be looking into the change in the coming months

In response to a commissioner’s question, Mr. Hosteny noted that it is unknown exactly how many AmeriCorps programs have a presence in Illinois that are not funded through the Serve Illinois Commission, though new information access through CNCS is starting to improve the ability of the Commission and CNCS officers to exchange information of that type

Commission Chair Report

Executive Committee

No report

Resource Development Committee

Marton gave the report

The Serve Illinois Foundation is off to a great start

Accounts are set up and growing

serveillinoisfoundation.org domain will be up and running soon

Any pro-bono web development assistance would be appreciated

Foundation board will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, May 10th

There is still an open position for a final board member

Finalization of non-profit documentation and forms should be done shortly, at which point the foundation will begin the process of soliciting for funds

Strategic Planning Committee

Turnbull gave the report

Committee has reviewed and edited the draft strategic plan

Plan will be discussed in full at the next commission meeting

Focus is on measureable outcomes

Potential to combine Strategic Plan and State Service Plan

There was discussion about the expanding role of the Serve Illinois staff and commissioners as volunteer connectors, as the strategic focus is expanded beyond AmeriCorps programming

Outreach Committee

The potential Public Service Announcement was discussed

Past progress has been slow due to issues securing pro-bono assistance

University advertising programs were considered as potential partners

Sponsorships from outside organizations were considered as well

Volunteer Recognition Committee

Tubekis gave the report

The preparation for the Governor’s Awards was very impressive

202 nominations were received for the 30 awards, 115 of those coming from the Northeast region

Thanks was extended to all involved in the nomination process

Goal for coming years is to have more state and local officials involved in the nomination process and present at the event

Regional Commissioners

Staff Reports

AmeriCorps

Monitoring

Monitoring visits are on hold for the summer, as staff changes take place; proactive monitoring in previous years means this will not put us behind our required monitoring timelines

MLK Day and AmeriCorps Week

AmeriCorps Week and Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service were both very successful this year

Full reports were sent to all commissioners and provided at the meeting

AmeriCorps Week involved 785 members, 382 outside volunteers, 6911 people benefitted, and 117 organizations represented

MLK Day involved 849 members, 2391 outside volunteers, 20,422 people benefitted, and 248 organizations represented

2016-19 Review

Federal funding for Illinois AmeriCorps programs has increased this year

The commission staff is waiting to hear from CNCS about competitive program application results

Peer review of all programs is in process; this is done by non-profit and community leaders not associated with the commission or CNCS

Illinois Disaster Corps

10 members are currently trained; another 13 will complete their training this week

The first phase of Disaster Corps, training current AmeriCorps members, is almost complete; the second phase will involve training commissioners, staff, other CNCS corps members and the general public

Volunteerism

Governor's Volunteer Service Awards

Thanks was extended to Kelia Beck for her work in organizing the Governor’s Awards

Volunteer of the Week

Volunteers of the Week are up on the Serve Illinois website

Send any nominations to the commission staff

Volunteerism Conferences

The Southern Illinois Volunteerism Conference was a success; upcoming conferences include:

Central Illinois Volunteerism Conference (CIVC)

June 2nd, 2016 – Springfield, IL

Illinois Conference on Volunteer Administration (ICOVA)

August 10th, 2016 – Chicago, IL