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EXECUTIVE BOARD
FutureForce Nebraska Executive Board
January 22, 2008
Location: Bellevue University-Lincoln Campus
In Attendance: Dennis Baack, K.C. Belitz, Dennis Ellis, Mary Hawkins, Marshall Hill, Jolene Jeffries, Rich Katt, Jim Linderholm, Marty Mahler, Joan Modrell, Caleb Pollard, Joe Rowson, Korinne Tande, Greg Smith, Trish Souliere, Randy Vlasin
Call to Order – The meeting was called to order at approximately 1:25 pm.
Approval of Meeting Minutes – The August minutes were approved as submitted.
FutureForce Nebraska Bylaw Final Revision & Adoption
Randy Vlasin, Executive Director, provided a brief overview of the revised Bylaws.
Major points of discussion were as follows:
Executive Board membership. Currently in the bylaws, the following positions are specifically designated.
- (2) Private Business & industry
- (1) NE Workforce Development Board
- (1) NE Economic Development
- (1) NE Dept. of Labor
- (1) NE Dept. of Education
- (1) CCPE
- (1) NE Community Colleges
- (1) UNL
- (1) State Colleges
- (1) Independent colleges & universities/private career schools/P16
- (1) NE Chamber of Commerce
- (3) Additional at Large members
Points to consider include a lack of secondary school representation and whether we need a policy making representative, such as someone from the Governor’s office. Also, there was some question about the logic behind which state agencies were represented on the original board.
Jim Linderholm noted that regardless of what the board make-up is intended to be, we need to primarily consider actual participation.
The question was raised about having Health & Human Services represented on the executive board while other state agencies such as Department of Transportation and Department of Agriculture are not. Dennis Ellis, representing Health & Human Services, indicated that the question of HHS representation on the Executive Board is less about the why of the original board selection and more about the fact that the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has a role in workforce development. There is a specific employment training component to DHHS with a focus on helping welfare recipients become self-sufficient.
Joe Rowson suggested that one way of getting representation from other state agencies not represented on the Executive Board would be to include them on the pathway committees or other FutureForce activities.
Jolene Jeffries questioned whether the Board structure as proposed is too light on industry and too heavy on education.
Marshall Hill proposed increasing the number of private business & industry representatives to four and decreasing the number of at large members to two. A straw poll was taken and reflected agreement by the board. These changes were made.
Caleb Pollard recommended checking into adding a representative from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). That representative could be one of the at large members. There was discussion about adding the SHRM representative as a separate position but the decision was made to use one of the at large positions and revisit this issue next year.
Greg Smith opened discussion about the remaining by laws. In Article 1, he indicated there seemed to be redundancy between 1, 2, & 4 and questioned whether 5 should actually be a function of this group since it seemed to be more of a Department of Labor charge.
Jolene Jeffries said that she read section five as using the Department of Labor statistics to identify whether or not the schools have the educational capacity to address the needs showing up there.
Rich Katt asked for further discussion. Jim Linderholm moved to accept the bylaws as presented with the modifications discussed. Mary Hawkins seconded. The motion carried.
Position Description for Executive Board Members
Randy Vlasin explained that the Nebraska Community Foundation recommends all affiliated non-profits have a description for a Board Member. It helps with later recruitment efforts as well as defining the roles and responsibilities for the members.
Marshall Hill moved to adopt this as part of our operational procedures. Greg Smith seconded. The motion carried
Executive Session
The Executive Board moved into Executive session to discuss the Executive Director’s evaluation.
Executive Director Report
FutureForce Funding Review
Funding Sources: One source of FutureForce funding has been the State Scholars Initiative, secured in 2006. That contract ends in February.
$50,000 was received from Department of Labor via the Nebraska Department of Education in the fall of 07. This funds Executive Director’s salary and FutureForce operational expenses. Funds must be spent by June 2008. The Nebraska Department of Labor had planned to provide an additional $175,000 to FutureForce but was forced to hold back because the US Department of Labors recission of 250 million nationwide, 2.4 million from Nebraska alone.
PFI will receive Carl Perkins Vocational Funds of $575,000 per year through 2013. FutureForce Nebraska does not draw operational funds from this source. Consortia dollars are to be used for secondary & postsecondary schools although some of those funds may be available for qualifying FutureForce projects along with a 5% administration fee. However, PFI is in initial stages of start-up use of those funds has not yet been defined.
Nebraska Career Connections (NCC) was originally funded through the Department of Labor & Perkins. The intent is to develop a private/public partnership to fund operation. Overall, it will cost $475,000 per year to operate. Southeast Community College has $120,000 to be put toward NCC. Currently, 45% of high schools in Nebraska are using NCC.
FutureForce Funding Challenges:
FutureForce owes payments to Kuder for Nebraska Career Connections.
The Program Coordinator position is linked to State Scholars funds. That position ends in February. Losing this position would force a shift in priorities for the Executive Director.
FutureForce currently has $23,000 in operating funds that must be spent by June 30th, 2008 but will most likely be expended before that leaving a budget shortfall.
Funding Opportunities:
FutureForce has submitted a 4.7 million dollar GEAR UP grant that will encompass 39 schools. It will be 30-60 days before grants are awarded.
FutureForce partnered with NDE on a $100,000 grant to Innovations in American Government for the Pathway Committee work. Notification of this may not happen until fall.
Nebraska Career Connections presents a long-term funding opportunity. It will need to generate $475,000 to pay for NCC. The goal is to generate a total of at least $600,000 to fund other FutureForce activities. FutureForce is pursuing development of a business plan with the assistance of Kuder, Inc., who developed and operates NCC.
Mary Hawkins volunteered to host the meeting with Kuder at Bellevue and simultaneously record it so it could be posted later for the entire Executive Board to review. Marty Mahler, Mary Hawkins, KC Belitz, Jolene Jeffreies, Greg Smith, and Rich further volunteered to meet with Kuder, Inc to develop a business plan.
FutureForce is working on drafting a funding proposal for the Kellogg Foundation. Marty Mahler suggested that FutureForce not approach them alone on this as J.B. Milliken, University of Nebraska President contacted the Kellogg Foundation who indicated interest in Nebraska’s P-16 initiative. FutureForce will meet with P-16 on coordinating a joint proposal.
Marshall added that the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education put forward a request for base level funding at the last budget session but it was not accepted.
Earlier this year Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri cooperated on a grant application for the US Department of Labor to fund an adult component to Nebraska Career Connections that would addresses the needs of job seekers, job changers, etc. The request was not funded but the consortium has been invited by the US Department of Labor to resubmit our proposal for Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri.
Mary Hawkins asked how much money would be needed to bridge the budget gap until June. It was estimated a minimum of $50,000 would be needed to fund FutureForce staff positions and basic operations through June.
Dennis Baack commented that he meet with the college presidents next week and would look into support possible financial support by the community colleges.
Strategy & Design Session
Randy briefly reviewed the results of the Strategy & Design session and requested feedback. The main question is, do the results of the session sound like the right direction for FutureForce? Action plans for each of the initiatives have been written. The summaries and synthesis documents are available on the website. http://www.futureforcenebraska.org
Randy Vlasin asked the Board to keep these questions in mind relating to the proposed goals:
Are these the right goals?
Are any major goals missing?
Are the goals realistic? If not what are priorities?
Jolene Jeffries suggested linking virtual community tours to Career Connections. If it is to be a one-stop shop, that would be useful. Caleb Pollard commented that is a great idea but most Nebraska communities are at least 10 years behind. The key will be to start connecting with communities that are working right now, like Columbus, Scottsbluff/Gering.
Meeting Dates
Board members were asked that everyone fill out the meeting sheet in their packets and list every regularly scheduled monthly meeting. The information will be combined to come up with a meeting schedule for the next twelve months.
Adjourn – The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:00 PM.
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