January 11, 2007

ATTENDANCE

Boone County Community Partnership-Steve Tatlow
1st Ward Ambassadors-Darrell Foster
Boone County Drug Court-Michael Princivalli
Boone County Mental Health Court-Stacey Crane
Job Point-Sue Long
Missouri Department of Corrections-Stan Landon
Phoenix House Programs-Sandra Davies
RAIN of Central Missouri-Christine Smith
Division Workforce Development-Craig Morton
Voluntary Action Center-Julia Fortune
Boone County Community Partnership, Americore Vista-Michael Harper, Joseph Carr
Division of Voc Rehab-Larry Brady
Family Counseling Center-Ted Solomon
Probation and Parole, District #6 Columbia-Jaime Strange, Mike Webber
Adult Learning Center-John McClure
Booneville Correctional Center-Terri McNeal
Columbia College-Stacy Ford
VA Hospital-Denise Heet
University Extension-Art Schneider
Department of Corrections- Mark Wright

OPENING

Steve Tatlow opened the meeting and introductions were made. Mike Webber indicated he had to leave to attend another meeting but that Jaime Strange would take all interested parties on a tour of the Day Reporting Center located at 1500 Vandiver after the meeting.

Steve handed out and reviewed December meeting minutes. Steve reminded everyone that the minutes are sent out via e-mail every month and that if someone was not receiving them to let Mike Webber or Jaime Strange know so their e-mail could be included or updated.

AGENDA ITEMS

Day Reporting Center:
Mike Webber stated the floor plans for the Day Reporting Center have been approved by the Office of Administration and passed out hardcopies for the group to review. Mike indicated that he hopes to have the phone system at the center piggyback on the current system utilized at the probation/parole office and that the center will be staffed by 3-4 probation/parole officers. Mike also reported that the center would contain a copy and fax machine and access to the Internet for clients and community partners.

Mike reported that there is grant money available to start up the program and that several agencies, such as JobPoint and Adult Learning Center, have indicated they plan to provide services to clients utilizing the day report program. Mike encouraged any agency willing to offer a class or provide services to contact him to see how those services can be implemented into the program.

Mike stated the name of the center is currently the Day Reporting Center Annex and that the hours are tentatively 9am-4pm and subject to change according to programming. Probation and Parole clients are, in theory, the current target population, however the center is not going to shut out others in need who could benefit from the services offered within the center. The target population needs to refer back to the charter and the group identified within the charter, which includes clients and their families. Several individuals suggested renaming the day reporting center and several names were brought up including: Success Center, Reentry Success Center, Transition to Success Center, and Transition Net. This item will be discussed further at the next meeting.

Mike also updated the group on its status within the Boone County Basic Needs Coalition. It was reported that if the Basic Needs Coalition were to dissolve at any point BCOTN would continue to meet therefore it is currently categorized as an affiliate of the Basic Needs Coalition and no longer a sub-committee. BCOTN will report its developments to the coalition, but will no longer operate as a sub-committee.

After the meeting was concluded Jaime Strange led all interested parties in a tour of the Day Reporting Center space located at 1500 Vandiver. Construction has not yet begun on the space, however with the help of the floor plan hardcopy everyone was able to visualize the layout of the center.

Charter:
Steve reported that a charter is established to provide guidance and structure to a group. Several months ago BCOTN got very far into the process of establishing a charter, however stalled somewhat while waiting for demographic data to incorporate into the charter. Previously there was a small group set up to work on the charter, however Twilla Cross has relocated to another state, and other participants have not met in some time. Steve asked if anyone was interested in meeting to work on completion of the charter. Jaime Strange, Michael Harper, Mark Wright, Stacy Ford, and Steve all volunteered. This group will need to establish a time to meet on this topic.
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Spring Conference:
Steve indicated that he currently has several names of individuals who have volunteered to assist with planning a spring conference on re-entry efforts within Boone County. At this time a date needs to be secured and the group needs to get together to start the planning process. Larry Brady offered to provide a conference room at the Resource Center for the planning group. Larry made arrangements for the Spring Conference group to meet on Friday, January 19, 2007 at 10:00 AM at the Resource Center located at 1500 Vandiver. The meeting will take place in room #H and participants can enter the building at the west entrance to gain entry to that room. Steve suggested that the conference might have to be pushed back to April 2007 and Stacey Crane indicated that the Drug Court Conference is also in April and suggested to avoid scheduling on the same weekend as several partners attend that conference.

Focus Group:
Michael Harper reported that tonight at the Boone County Community Partnership Building he is conducting a focus group with ex-offenders and all interested parties to look at what is and is not working within Boone County in regard to reentry efforts. Michael indicated anyone is welcome to attend.

Stacy Ford stated she is currently conducting interviews and researching what offenders would like to see at the day reporting center and within our community so that our group can be sure we are implementing those needs within our program. Stacy indicated she hopes to conduct a focus group on the target population which would be served at the Day Reporting Center to see what they think would be beneficial to them at the center. A focus group might help define what objectives need to be address as opposed to what our group thinks needs to be addressed.

Sue Long suggested including females in the target group, as they tend to have several unmet needs and Steve suggested speaking to the offenders currently at the Reality House as they are in the transition process from prison to the community. Steve also mentioned going within the prisons and speaking with offenders getting ready to be released to see what needs they are concerned about being met when released. Stan Landon reported that several prisons are currently operating Transitional Housing Units and that offenders within those units are in the process of being released therefore data can be retrieved from those institutions. Christine Smith with RAIN reported she goes into several prisons a month and could assist with focus groups.

Mike Webber reported that 3 basic needs are to be addressed upon release including employment, substance abuse, and education. Mike discussed the “need score” utilized by probation/parole staff to address need areas with clients and provided a handout of the needs scale. Jaime Strange briefly reviewed the needs scale utilized by officers to assist in supervision of clients and determining the level of supervision most appropriate for each case.

Mentoring:
Joe Carr reported that he currently has six people signed up to provide mentoring and is in the process of setting up a coordinated process to formally provide a mentoring program. Joe reported that by the end of the month he hopes to have met with all the mentors and will provide more information at the next meeting.

ANNOUCEMENTS

Denise Heet announced that January 25, 2007 is the homeless count and that anyone interested in volunteering to go around the Columbia area to count the homeless should contact her. Denise reported that no one goes alone and that she is in charge of coordinating the count so all questions and inquiries can be directed to her. The count focuses on those individuals living on the streets and in shelters and collects information such as their age, gender, and how long they have been homeless. Denise also indicated she would accept any information about “sofa hopping” homeless, who are staying with another person day after day due to having nowhere else to go. Although per HUD standards these people aren’t considered homeless they are worth noting.

Steve passed out a brochure on the “I Have a Dream” discussion on entrepreneurship taking place on January 16, 2007, at the Columbia Labor Temple across from Oak Towers.

Sue Long reported the next Job Readiness Program class is scheduled for January 29, 2007 and that anyone who is unemployed or underemployed is welcome to attend.

John McClure indicated that they are still signing up individuals for GED classes and that there are several open slots at the Resource Center for the afternoon session. Interested parties can call 214-3690 to sign up.

NEXT MEETING

Thursday, February 8, 2007, 8:30 A.M. at the Probation and Parole Office located at 1512 Heriford Dr., Ste A Columbia, Missouri.

Agenda items up for discussion: Day Reporting Center, Charter Development, Mentoring, Focus Group Information and Results, and a possible name for the Day Reporting Center.