MINUTES

MANSFIELD ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Southeast School

6:30-8:00 PM

PRESENT: K. Grunwald (staff), N. Hovorka, S. Baxter (staff), J. Higham, A. Bladen, L. Dahn, C. Guerreri, N. Hovorka, R. Leclerc

REGRETS: J. Goldman, M.J. Newman S. Daley, K. Paulhus, J. Stoughton, K. Russo, B. Lehmann, L. Oransoff

Item	Discussion	Outcome
Open	-Welcome: Chair A. Bladen called the meeting to order at 6:35 PM -Vote to adopt 4/2/08 MAC Minutes	Minutes approved as written.
Announce-ments	Updates on: S. Baxter distributed copies of legislative actions concerning children and youth. There is no additional funding for the competitive school readiness communities, as was hoped. Infant Toddler Group will be meeting next week. Parent Group will meet on June 6.	None
Leadership Work Group from Stakeholders List for Local Planning Grant	Brainstorm activity re: specific individuals representing key groups to be represented on the LWG.	Members will be given a copy of the Mayor’s recruitment letter and a write-up on the blueprint for potential recruits. Invite potential members to the informational meeting on June 11. Contacts should be made ASAP . N. Hovorka will create a flyer for this event.
Blueprint Local Planning Grant	Review Blueprint of Local Planning Grant: A.Bladen provided background on the work currently being done on the application for the community planning grant. She pointed out that the intent is to enter this process with an open mind to identify what the priority issues are for young children in Mansfield. The goal is that over the course of the year we will have identified those issues and determine how the community plan will actually be implemented. This process will be driven by the Leadership Work Group. This will involve data collection by looking at key indicators, conducting focus groups, interviewing key informants and possibly conducting a targeted survey. We have received permission to use a portion of the TA grant for activities that will start us on the community planning process. J. Higham asked how this initiative will be linked to “Mansfield 2020”, and K. Grunwald provided his understanding of the connection between the two. C. Guerreri provided a summary of the plan that has been created by Norwalk as a possible model for Mansfield to use. Steps include: -Articulate vision: this is something that needs to be articulated by the Leadership Work Group, identifying results to be achieved. -Identify data needed to achieve above vision: There will be a continuous cycle of collecting data, reviewing data, refining the plan and getting the information out to the community.	Contact Laura Downs from Graustein tomorrow to clarify whether or not there is any reporting required around the TA funds.
Meeting Evaluation	Plus and Delta +Positives and ^Negatives about this meeting + We covered all items on the agenda. + We have a better understanding of the Local Planning Grant. ^ Low attendance- Concern that MAC is not well represented at this meeting for the Local Planning Grant process.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:00 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Kevin Grunwald