EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Elliott Robinson, Director, Dept. of Social Services – Chair
United Way Monterey County
60 Garden Court, Suite 350, Monterey, CA
Mary Adams, United Way Monterey County (Yuri Anderson,
Alternate)
Ray Bullick, Health Department (Dr. Edward Moreno, Health
Officer, Alternate)
Nancy Kotowski, Ph.D., Monterey County Office of Education
(Deneen Newman Ed. D, Alternate)
Marcia Parsons, Chief, Probation Department (Vice Chair)
(Todd Keating, Alternate)
MEMBERS
Jayanti Addleman, Monterey County Free Libraries (Berenice
Astengo, Alternate)
Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation for Monterey County,
(Laurel Lee-Alexander, Alternate)
Valerie Barnes, M.D., Child Abuse Prevention Council (David
Maradei, Alternate)
Stephen Bernal, Sheriff (Jerry Teeter, Alternate)
Vacant, (Sid Smith, Deputy Director Behavioral Health,
Alternate)
James Collins, Special Kids Crusade
Margaret D’Arrigo-Martin, Community
Larry Drury, Child Care Planning Council (Mary Johnson,
Alternate)
James Egar, Public Defender
Dean Flippo, District Attorney (Jeannine Pacioni, Alternate)
Thursday, May 7, 2015
7:30 – 8:30 am
AGENDA
1. Welcome & Introductions, Elliott Robinson, Chair
2. Administrative Items:
a. Approve the minutes of the March 5, 2015 and April 2, 2015 Executive
Committee meetings
b. Updated MCCC website. Boots Road Group to provide hosting and
maintenance of updated MCCC website at rate of $50/month. Confirm
responsible budget.
c. FY15-16 meeting calendar
3. Information/Discussion:
a. Update on Early Childhood Development Initiative, Francine Rodd/Nina
b.
c.
Jean Goebel, Housing Authority of Monterey County (Joni
Ruelaz, alternate)
d.
Jody Hansen, Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce
(Kathi Speller, Alternate)
e.
Kristan Lundquist, City of Salinas
Robin McCrae, Community Human Services
Charles McKee, County Counsel (Annette Cutino, Alternate)
Elizabeth Modena, Superintendent, Gonzales Unified
Schools (Theresa Rouse, Alternate)
Eduardo Ochoa, Ph.D, CSUMB (Cynthia Holmsky, Alternate)
Supervisor Jane Parker (District 4) (Supervisor Simon Salinas
(District 3), Alternate)
Timothy Roberts, Judge, Superior Court, Juvenile Division
(Sam Lavorato, Alternate)
Francine Rodd, Monterey County First 5 Commission (Sandra
Chapin, Alternate
Alcaraz
Update on Parent Engagement Taskforce, Nancy Kotowski
Update on Superintendents’ Council regarding health/social service needs
of students, Nancy Kotowksi
Discussion and strategy for filling open seats on the Council, Elliott
Robinson
Family Engagement Index, Elliott Robinson
4. General Assembly Agenda Setting
Action Items:
o
Approval of the minutes of the April 13, 2015 meeting
Initiative Updates:
o
Early Childhood Development Initiative, Nina Alcaraz
Presentations:
o
enLACE – Leadership and Civic Engagement Academy, Angelica
Chavez, MCHD (15 minutes)
Information/Announcements
5. New Business/Announcements
Next Meeting: Thursday, June 4, 2015
Robert Taniguchi, Department of Social Services
Walter Tribley, Monterey Peninsula College
Kari Yeater, Superintendent, North Monterey County
(Marvin Biasotti, Alternate)
Staff Support
Arlene Boyd, Administrative Assistant, Dept. of Social Services
Mission
The Children’s Council provides leadership and policy direction to
encourage the development of a comprehensive and collaborative
delivery system of services to children and youth in Monterey County.
Executive Committee
Children’s Council of Monterey County
Thursday, April 2, 2015
60 Garden Court, Suite 350, Monterey, CA
Members Present: Elliott Robinson- Chair, Nancy Kotowski, and Marcia Parsons - Others Present: Yuri
Anderson, Katy Castagna, Francine Rodd, Nina Alcaraz, Matt Luther, Stephanie McMurtrie
Welcome
Robinson called the meeting to order at 7:35am. All present introduced him/herself.
Administrative Items
Parsons motioned to approve the minutes of the March 5, 2015 Executive Committee meeting and
accept the appointment of Sam Lavorato, Judge, as an alternate to Tim Roberts, Judge. Luther
seconded. Motion passed by Consensus.
Information/Discussion:
Discussion regarding defining roles and responsibilities of schools and service providers in meeting the
health/social service needs of students: It was noted that it was helpful to have services represented at
the Superintendent’s Council meeting. The major outcome was the recognition that families need follow
through support for access to services, not just provision of information. There is a need for general
training for staff that interact with the children in need. It is important to ensure that 2-1-1 referrals are
available in the location requested, most notably South County. Mental health services were brought up
and how schools can link them to students at a point of prevention, as opposed to after an event has
already occurred. Anderson reiterated the desire by some districts to have services co-located on the
school site, vocalized specifically by MPUSD. Robinson restated the availability of training for school staff
on how to utilize the C4yourself website for families to apply for social services, and also the capability
to do a reverse school lunch program to determine if a family receives or is eligible to receive CalFresh.
Kotowski suggested implementing a Resource Fair at the Rodeo Grounds for school staff to attend. The
event would be put on by agencies with tables and presentations, and a resource binder could be
provided to participants. Robinson commented that the event would be valuable. Kotowski expressed
interest in leading the planning of the Resource Fair. Anderson commented that a number of
Superintendents were vocal about a need for services, and asked if there should be follow up. Kotowski
stated that the Superintendents will follow up, as it is on their April meeting agenda to discuss further.
Anderson reiterated the points brought up by the Superintendents at the meeting: service availability,
co-location of mental health/general services, desire to be innovative, and King City offered to provide
space for service delivery.
Early Childhood Development Initiative (ECDI) – Strategic Plan: Alcaraz presented a PowerPoint
presentation she plans to deliver at the next Children’s Council meeting. She noted that the Mission of
ECDI has been updated to be more reflective of the current work. She reviewed the Research, Outreach,
Implementation, Capacity Building, and Action Plan components of the Strategic Plan. Robinson
suggested she inform the Children’s Council of the new state policies relevant to the Initiative. The Key
Elements of the Plan are pillars that need to move forward. Each of the Elements has associated
outcomes, some of which are current; some are still in the future. The proposed activity for the
Children’s Council meeting, to facilitate their involvement in the design of the Strategic Plan, is to
provide feedback on Continuous Communication and Infrastructure Support. Kotowski made a request
to be more specific, and also to provide a timeframe. Anderson helped to clarify by summarizing that
the Children’s Council is the Steering Committee of ECDI, and this is an opportunity for them to be
engaged in the Strategic Plan. This will allow the Children’s Council to determine how to move these
areas of the Plan forward, both as the Children’s Council, and also within their own Departments.
Parsons had to depart at 8:20am.
Robinson suggested providing a lead up to the questions to the Children’s Council, such as current status
of the Initiative, and its progress, and what will be valuable for the future.
Luther, representing the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, stated the desire for a referral system that
his office can use to link endangered children they encounter to services. It was determined that the
Sheriff’s office, Social Services, and the Health Department should meet together.
Rodd summarized the feedback from the Executive Committee for the Strategic Plan discussion at the
Children’s Council meeting - Tighten up the presentation and present the questions in a way that the
members can see themselves in them. Robinson added to include concrete steps, and to spend some
time discussing progress to date.
General Assembly Agenda Setting
The committee approved the following agenda for the April 13, 2015 General Assembly meeting:
1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Administrative Items – approve the minutes from the March 9, 2015 meeting
3. Updates –update from All Kids, Our Kids, update from Superintendent’s Council meeting
regarding navigating systems – Robinson/Kotowski
4. Presentation – ECDI Strategic Plan Feedback- Alcaraz
5. Information/Announcements
New Business/Announcements
Robinson shared that Steve Kennedy, Director of Child Support Services, is retiring. Kotowski provided
an update on the Parent Engagement Taskforce and that they are trying to work with Univision on a
program that will culminate with a local Summit. She is proposing it as an Action Plan for next year, and
will discuss further at the May Executive Committee meeting. Anderson announced that two
Community-at-Large positions on the Council will be opening up shortly and that perhaps we might
want to consider filling the seat with a person who has communication experience. Discussion and
strategy for the open seats will be put on the May Executive Committee agenda.
Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 8:50am.