MINUTES

MANSFIELD ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

6:30-8:00 PM

Council Chambers - Town Hall

PRESENT: S. Baxter (staff), L. Dahn, J. Stoughton (staff), J. Goldman, C. Guerreri, J. Greene, J. Higham, A. Bloom,

N. Hovorka, K. Grunwald (staff), D. McLaughlin

REGRETS: M.J. Newman, Liz Buczynski, B. Lehmann, A. Lapsis, S. Daley, A. Bladen,

ITEM	DISCUSSION	OUTCOME
Open	-Welcome: S. Baxter opened the meeting in the absence of the Chair -Vote to adopt 2/4/09 Minutes	Minutes accepted as written.
Mansfield 2020 Strategic Plan	Action Item: “Provide affordable early care and education from birth through kindergarten.”  This group has been asked by the Mansfield 2020 planning group to provide feedback on this action plan.  A discussion ensued in response to the questions posed by the planning group, and S. Baxter will compile all of this information into a report that will be submitted to the Town Council.	S. Baxter will submit feedback to Town Council by April 1.
Leadership Work Group	-Update from Leadership Work Group-Powerpoint  to review  Survey feedback : S. Baxter presented the results of a survey that was recently conducted by the Leadership Work Group.  Overall comments made on the survey were positive; 527 responses were received.  It was noted that healthcare and support for families with financial challenges are the top two priorities.	Follow-up on this survey through focus groups; get the story behind the data.  S. Baxter will attach this survey and parent one-on-one and IT surveys in response to the Town Council.
Infant/Toddler Group	Provide feedback on proposed presentation to UConn Work/Life Group: S. Baxter announced that a group from MAC will be presenting to the Work/Life Committee on March 6.	No action taken.
“Other”	K. Grunwald provided a brief orientation to the iParentNetwork website.  He encouraged members of MAC to visit the site and provide feedback on how this can be utilized as a resource for parents of young children.	Please visit http://iparentnetwork.org and provide feedback.  Note that the site is still being tested, and will not be released to the public until mid-August.
Next Meeting	Topics for Next Meeting on April 1, 2009:  Meeting adjourned at 8:00 PM.	No specific topics were identified for the April meeting.

Respectfully Submitted,

Kevin Grunwald