September Board Minutes

September 14, 2010
Early Learning Partnership
Board Meeting Minutes

Attending: Jim Vining, Suzanne Merritt, David Lisk, Stephen Cox, Sylvia Echols, Susan Martoccia, Jean Marshall, Jane Turpin, Sue Gover, John Gettys, Lauren Powell, Lynn Gessner for George Gessner,
Julie Case, Cherie Barton.

Staff/Guests Present: Donna Wooldridge, Teresa Creech, Penny Sanders, Karen Hill.

Jim Vining welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked Penny Sanders for hosting us.

Sylvia introduced John Gettys, an attorney from Rock Hill, as a new board member. He was not here last month when the other new members were introduced. George Gessner’s wife, Lynn, represented him at this meeting.

Penny welcomed everyone. She told us that home visits started August 30. Their case load is already full. English classes and Adult Education have started. PECAN training is continuing. Back to school events were held at the four local schools. The dedication of the new high school is September 26.

Suzanne reviewed the August financial reports. Both revenues and expenses were lower than expected. The Nurse Practitioner is budgeted. Amounts are as follows:
August 2010 $279,967.87 Total Assets and Total Liabilities & Capital

$ 1912.24 Total Revenue

$ 15714.90 Total Expenses

$ -13802.66 Net Income

David reported that some slots were lost for teen moms due to Budget cuts. First Steps will work with the Resource Centers to help some of these moms. They have $4000 from the First Steps board and EarthFare. First Steps is working toward having a Nurse Family Partnership in York County along with Lancaster and Chester Counties and the Catawba Nation. The Catawba Nation has access to funds and provides enough population to make this viable. They need to find funding and an implementing agency. There are grants for Indian tribes for this kind of program. The nurses will target at risk mothers and make home visits until the child is two years old. The mother has to be enrolled by the 28^th week of her pregnancy. This kind of early intervention has been very successful in other parts of the country. David has met with a church alliance of eight churches in Fort Mill that serve at risk children.

Lauren told the Board about the party to retire the Tapestry cookbook. It will be November 3 at the White Home from 5:30-8:00pm. Artists that were involved with the cookbook will be there to sign copies, and some of their work will be for sale. The Board was asked to sell tickets at $35 per person and $50 per couple. Sylvia mentioned that a big draw will be the location, since the White Home is opening in October. The house can accommodate a maximum of 250 people. The proceeds will go to ELP.

Julie reported that the Bowl-a-Thon made $42,000 last year. She hopes to increase it this year and will start working on it in January.

Teresa reported on the activities of the Resource Centers and Medical Clinics.

Medical Clinic # of People Seen Resource Center # of People Seen

Clover 16 Clover 156
Fort Mill 24 Fort Mill 1018
Rock Hill 32 Rock Hill 975 + 500 at Healthy Home Town
York 20 York 109

Teresa spoke to the Homeless Coalition and told them about the medical clinics. Yesterday she and Donna met with the Resource Center Coordinators. They will meet each month on the Monday before the ELP Board meeting.
Ellen Crouch and Peggy Medlin are in the Fort Mill Resource Center along with a staff of volunteers. There is a smaller presence there, but families are being served. Ann Bogan bought two dehumidifiers and put in WiFi in the Resource Center/Medical Clinic – paid for out of her budget.

Teresa thanked Winthrop for moving an exam table from Rock Hill to Clover. She thanked Dr. Oehme, who despite two deaths in his family has continued to take donations to the Rock Hill Clinic.

Jodi Harris is interviewing people for the Nurse Practitioner position.

Teresa discussed an article in The Herald about insurance for children. South Carolina has a program for those who do not qualify for CHIP called Healthy Connections Kids.

Teresa will be collecting success stories about people being helped by ELP’s programs. United Way and the Funders of ELP need to know how we help the population. She asked board members to submit any success stories they may be aware of.

Stephen reviewed ELP’s relationship with CMC and the two health care employees, Scott and Amy. They are loaned from CMC. The clinics are managed by Jodi and the doctors at Rock Hill Pediatrics. Sylvia made a motion that Stephen work through the agreement with CMC. The motion was seconded and carried.

Donna reported that the Born To Read training was done in Clover with about 20 people attending. The volunteers in this program visit new mothers in the hospital and take a bag, bib, CD and a book for the new baby. This contact will help to get them involved in Resource Center programs.

Donna asked for approval to write a grant request to the River Hills charities. Last year the grant of $3000 was used for operating costs. A motion was made for approval, seconded and carried.

ELP is in the middle of an audit with David Noble’s group.

There are 3,297 children enrolled in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. First Steps will pay for 10 children per Resource Center at $28 per child. The school district will give $10,000, and Penny will probably get $1000 from the York Rotary Club.

Donna and Teresa will attend the United Way kick-off on September 23.

Lin Hollowell is coming from the Duke Endowment for a site visit and to talk about the grant proposal following this meeting.

Jim welcomed John and Lynn.

Jim asked for approval to secure the website name of ELPofyorkcounty.org for two years at a cost of $60. A motion was made, seconded and was passed. He would like a committee to work on the website, made up of Donna, Teresa, Julie, and Karen. Ad hoc members may be added.

Jim reminded the Board that this will be another hard year for the school districts, and that we need them to know what we do, along with the City and County Councils.

Next Meeting: October 12, 2010, 8am at the Clover Family Resource Center.