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EXECUTIVE BOARD
FutureForce NebraskaExecutive Board
August 7, 2007
Location: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Memorial Stadium, 7th Floor SkyBox, One Memorial Stadium Drive
In Attendance: Gregg Christensen, Dennis Baack, Matt Davison, Bill Harding, Marshall Hill, Rich Katt, Jim Linderholm, Marty Mahler, Joan Modrell, Ron Scholz, Trish Souliere, Randy Vlasin
Call to Order - Rich Katt
The meeting was called to order at approximately 10:30 am followed by introductions.
Approval of May 22 Meeting Minutes
There were no additions or corrections to the minutes from the May 22 meeting. Gregg Christensen moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Joan seconded. The motion carried.
Executive Director Report – Randy Vlasin
Think! NebraskaState Scholars Program
According to the contract terms, the Federal grant for State Scholars is supposed to be complete on September 30. In Nebraska, we still have work yet to be done to fulfill the contract. We are being encouraged to file for an extension.
In addition to completing the remaining contract work, we would like to design a program that will both work in Nebraska and target the middle 50% of the student population. The national program continues to target the upper range of students who are highly likely to take more rigorous courses and attend college with or without a scholars program. We have had several discussions with our pilot schools regarding these issues. The next step will be to create and meet with a state steering committee.
One of the contract terms we not done fulfilled due to discomfort with the overall program is a big, broad statewide kick-off. We have initiated discussions with the Husker Sports Network about having the kick off at a NE football game. Currently the target date for that kick-off is the Iowa State game on September 29.
Pipeline Committees Activities
All pathway committee projects are now complete and most of the invoices have been submitted. There should be approximately $25,000 left in unexpended funds. FutureForce projects included curriculum development, development of dual course options, identification of technical skills etc. Please read the summary for details.
Career Connections
A grant application has been submitted to the Federal Department of Labor requesting funds for the formation of a 4 state consortium to develop an online career planning utility for adults. The four states include the MINK states, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. The proposal was for approximately $15 million.
Partnerships for Innovation
PFI is a concept that came out of the new Perkins legislation. Local schools and community colleges that traditionally receive Perkins money will be giving back 10% of those funds to form a statewide consortium to help meet revised Perkins guidelines. One main area addressed by PFI will be the increased emphasis on technical skill attainment and accountability the other will be on building statewide systems. FutureForce will act as the fiscal agent for PFI. This is a great opportunity to create meaningful statewide systems. For more details, please review the handout.
There was a question about whether Perkins funding had been increased this year. Rich explained that Nebraska remains frozen at the minimum level of funding due to the slow population growth in our state.
FutureForce Website
If you haven’t been to the FutureForce website, it has changed quite a bit. We are already working with teachers to provide a forum space for them to discuss best practices, meetings, curriculums etc. We would like to start getting people other than just board members on the site because there are a lot of usable functions.
Promoting FutureForce Initiatives via Husker Sports Network
Think! Nebraska statewide kick-off
Randy outlined the current plan for the Think! Nebraska statewide kick-off which is to center it at the Nebraska Bookstore during the pre-game show. We will have 6, 15-second live interviews during that time period. We plan to invite the Governor, pilot school superintendents, Department of Education officials, business and industry reps. In addition to the 15-second spots, there will be another pre-game or half-time interview opportunity of approximately 3-10 minutes depending on who we set up as our guest. Also, we will set up the FutureForce display and hand out brochures. The cost for the kick-off will be somewhere around $4800, which will be paid for with State Scholars funds. Eventually, we are looking at possibly using Husker athletics tickets as incentives for state scholars.
There was a question about the reasoning choosing September 29. Randy explained that we need time to put the pieces together and we want to get our kick-off done by September 30 in case our extension request is denied. Also, while there are bigger games, advertising time is more costly.
The suggestion was made to ask Tony Raimando or Tom Whalen to do the interviews for the Think! Nebraska kick-off.
FutureForce Messaging
Randy introduced Ron Scholz and Matt Davison from the Husker Sports Network. We have been talking to them about the possibility of FutureForce purchasing some advertising time this fall. If business partners could be recruited to help pay for the spots, there has been discussion about having a couple of spots at every game focused on FutureForce.
Ron talked about the Husker Sports Network, explaining that they have the largest listening audience in the state of Nebraska and would be a great venue for disseminating our message and moving people to our website.
Matt Davison added that clients of the Husker Sports Network are very consistent and continue to come back over and over because they get results. In addition to selling advertising, it is important to Husker Sports Network to have good quality business partners.
There was a question about how far in advance of the game they need to know about names and copy etc. Ron said they would like to know whether we want the time as soon as possible so the spots can be reserved. Copy can be provided a week or so ahead of the game.
There was a question about what the demographic make-up of the audience is and how many listeners are out there. There is no information on that but they do know that three to four hundred thousand people are tuning in on the web radio every Saturday. The suggestion was made to use the number of hits on the website as a measure of how many people are reached. The suggestion was made to use the Think! Nebraska kick-off as a trial run. The suggestion was made to put a temporary survey on the site to track how people found out about the site.
There was discussion about what the goal of advertising is. If business partners express interest in sponsoring ads, what result we are expecting? Do we want general awareness or specific action? It will be critically important to define our goals before we begin work on any advertising. The suggestion was made that one of the messages be that FutureForce provides a great source of coordination and cooperation between business and education, especially if we can provide a funnel kids to business websites. Another suggested purpose is enhanced awareness of State Scholars and Career Connections and driving parents, students and employers to the website. Those ads can be posted to the website and reused.
Randy asked if the Board considers having two 15-second messages at every game to drive people to the website a prudent use of business sponsorship. The general consensus was that it is definitely worth pursuing. FutureForce is still not very well known, it has a compelling story and the message needs to get out to the businesses that will be the foundation of our success. Advertising of this sort will push us to the next level. If there is any way to do this, we need to do it. We should do it throughout the year and make an assessment at the end of season.
Approval of ByLaws
Bill Harding had several suggestions. First, electronic meetings are mentioned in the by-laws but there are no references to how to vote electronically. Second, the definition of a quorum is not clear. Is a quorum based on the number of members present or total number committee members? Third, typically ongoing committees are usually referred to as ‘Standing Committees’ rather than ‘Steering Committees’.
There was discussion about having the chair of every standing committee be members of the Executive Board to report on committee activities. If so, it will be important to designate whether they are to be ex officio members or ex officio non-voting. The additional suggestion was made to add a Part C allowing for special committees to be formed to address specific issues with limited life.
The general concept was that the Executive Board would be a policy making board with the Steering or Standing Committees serving as the action piece. Having the chairs of those committees as Board members, reporting on the work being done might make the connection between policy and actions more direct. The decision was made to add ex officio, voting positions for each of the Standing Committee chairs on the Executive Board.
There was a question about the dates set for the term of office and why those were offset from the fiscal year. The decision was made to change term of office to match fiscal year, July 1 – June 30.
There was recognition that electronic guidelines need to be defined to open FutureForce to a wider audience. State law allows video conference voting but not teleconference voting. However, FutureForce is not a government entity and does not have to meet public meeting laws.
The suggestion was made to ask Bill Harding’s advice on both the electronic guidelines and the definition of quorum.
The suggestion was made to provide better structure for the Executive Director’s position. For purposes of supervision, the decision was made to have a small group of four take that responsibility, consisting of two officers and two other board members. Marshall agreed to help draft language for both the structure of supervision and the evaluation of the Director.
There was recognition that this document be flexible so that it can continue to provide useful guidance in the future.
Randy will update the by-laws and will consult with Marshall and Bill.
Talent Pipeline Summit
The career pathways have finished spending their grant money and are looking for guidance in determining what their next step is. Randy conceived of the Talent Pipeline Summit to bring committees together to do some sort of visioning exercise that will help them to determine what direction to go. Such an exercise can be very helpful in identifying issues.
The concept is a good one. Some of the pathways are further along and have momentum. If we get them together, they can share ideas. Wendy Boyer is trying to get Alegant Health to facilitate a decision accelerator type session for the pathway committees.
FutureForce Nebraska Career Fair
Randy explained that we would like to put something together with a couple of hands on activities from the pathway committees associated with the Nebraska State Fair, Nebraska Land Days, or Husker Harvest Days. There has been discussion about getting into schools but time there is finite. This could be a great way of engaging kids in hands on activities in a wide variety of careers.
The suggestion was made to have a presence at the Governor’s Summit. FutureForce needs to get its message out to a wider audience, not just to people who already know there is a problem. Also, they are always trying to get business and industry to the Summit. This might be a good way to connect.
Joan said that there has been discussion about a career discovery day statewide sponsored by workforce development board. A white paper is currently being written. Joan will bring it to the Executive Board when it is done.
Next Meeting
Randy asked if the Executive Board would like to schedule regular, quarterly meetings or continue as it has been. The consensus was to keep things as they are. We have great variability on meeting content and need the flexibility our current process gives us.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:15 pm.
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