Multi-Cultural Committee

The Multi-Cultural Committee meets on the first Tuesday of each month, from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM.

2008 Scheduled Meetings:

February 5, 2008
March 4, 2008
April 1, 2008
May 6, 2008
June 3, 2008
July 1, 2008
August 5, 2008
September 2, 2008
October 7, 2008
November 4, 2008
December 2, 2008

Multicultural Committee Meeting Notes:

Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Meeting Activities

Issues:

1.        Introductions

2.        Minutes

3.        Conference planning

4.        Updates/Events

Discussion:

2.        Minutes:  No changes were suggested for the minutes.

3.        Conference Planning:

a.        Timeline: Committee received timeline to-do list by Pat Murphy and event ideas/notes from Adrienn and Penny.

b.       Choice of Venue: Mackenzie explained why the Radisson was chosen for the conference venue, considering such factors as accessibility, date availability, enough space for breakout sessions. The dates for the conference will be October 3-4, 2008.

c.        The committee developed the budget for the Conference.

                                                                           i.      Budget line items discussed were: Conference planner, speakers’ fees, meals will include morning and afternoon breaks, Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday lunch. Adrienn wondered if there are ethnic foods to choose from. Italian, Mexican meals are already on the menu, and they may be willing to work with the committee on menu choices, audio-visual costs, estimates for translation for ASL and Spanish, printing and mailing costs, childcare reimbursement, lodging costs/ transportation costs.

                                                                          ii.      Charging professionals a registration fee: Consensus is to charge $150 for both days.

                                                                        iii.      Council’s website can set up an interactive registration form.  Payment, though, is done by checks being sent by mail.  This is where a planner would be very helpful.

                                                                        iv.      Resource tables for a fee: $25/table.

d.       Call for Papers and Hold the Date mailings:  Barb Novak, who does the Council’s publications, will offer different logos for consideration.  Deadline for paper proposals: May 23, 2008. June 3, 2008 committee meeting will be devoted to choosing papers for breakouts.

e.        Budget for follow-up workshop:  Include about 80 people, 6 hours on a Friday, 4 breakout workgroups, budget for mailing out a reminder.

4.        Updates:

a.        Cultural Data conference will be on October 17, 2008.

Actions:

1.        Mackenzie will talk with two proposed planners to let them know of the new scope of work the planner will be asked to do. Mackenzie will ask Penny and Maria to decide between the two planners by Friday this week.

2.        Maria will decide on logo, based on committee member feedback.

By Whom/By When:

1.        Planners will be informed of new scope of work and their proposals will be reviewed by Penny and Maria by the end of this week. 

2.        Voting item:  Penny will get feedback from José and Adrienn for the narrative, and get that to Marna to include in the draft of the voting item that the Committee needs to approve before it is included in the Council packet by March 18, 2008.

3.        Call for Papers:  Adrienn and Penny will work on the wording and get that out to the committee in one week.

4.        Speakers and breakout session presenters will have registration fee waived.

Present:  Yvette Plummer, Kathy Grant, Darlene Beals, Marna Ares (staff), Mackenzie Helton (staff), Maria Cabral, Adrienn Albert Hollands, Ellie Valdez Honeyman (by phone), Patricia D. Murphy (staff), Penny Gonnella, José Reyes 

Absent: Jesus Castillo, Eileen Forlenza

Date: February 5, 2008
Multicultural Committee

ISSUE:

1. Meeting schedule

2.  Venue for Fall conference

3.  Conference details: Call for Papers

DISCUSSION:

1. The meetings will be on the first Tuesday of each month from 9:30 to 11:30 AM.

2. The committee reviewed the information on possible and available venues.

3.  The tentative plan is for 5-6 breakouts: one block on Friday morning, two Friday afternoon, one block on Saturday morning and another on Saturday afternoon. Thinking of having a dinner on Friday night. For families coming in from out of town the committee considers having some money in a budget line item for overnight accommodations. Child care stipends will be offered, too. Maybe there could be some supplemental funding from the Office of Health Disparities. The Colorado Trust has been part of the Culture of Data conference and might be another source of financial support. Penny has begun the development of a narrative about the conference, and has sent it to Adrian. Dr. Reyes agreed to look at it, as well.

Web-based activity log developed by the Office of Health Disparities suggested by Dr. Reyes.  Mackenzie suggested the Gill Foundation, with a focus on diversity of all kinds. Penny has a name of a contact person, and she’ll call to find out if the Council would be of interest to them.

Mercedes Hernandez will be translating printing materials.

Should a fee be charged for professionals and/or organizations?   The consensus is to charge a fee, and also to encourage a team to come from each paying organization. The idea of having resource tables, for a fee, was also put forward.  There also needs to be a book source (Penny’s husband has a contact). Colorado Asian Health Education and Promotion organization has received grants in the past from the Office of Health Disparities, to get monies to work with the Asian community, to look at those communities that are not being served by the Asian Pacific Center. Alok Sarwal = the executive director (303) 300-5263.

ACTION / MOTION / CONSENSUS

1. Need a date and venue, hire a conference planner, narrative developed for fundraising, call for papers for breakout sessions.

BY WHOM/ BY WHEN:

1.  Marna to send out the meeting schedule to committee members.

2.  Penny will send José the draft narrative for him to review.

3.  Maria and Penny will talk on February 11 in order to share the list of conference planners to interview.

4.  Mackenzie will send out the conference schedule/timeline to committee members and update it periodically as information is added.

Those in attendance: Maria Cabral, Ellie Valdez Honeyman, Penny Gonnella, Mackenzie Helton (staff), Marna Ares (staff), Kathy Grant (by phone), Jose Reyes (by phone), Darlene Beals (by phone at 11 AM)

Those absent:            Eileen Forlenza, Yvette Plummer, Jesus Castillo, Adrian Albert-Holland

Tuesday, January 7, 2008

Issues:

1.       Call to Order

2.       Introductions – guest Dr. José Reyes with Cultural Competence Consulting

3.       Review of Draft for Proposal for the conference on cultural competence scheduled for October 2008

4.       Decide on meeting date and time for the year

Discussion:

3.       Dates for Conference discussed.  October 23-24 seems to be the best since in is likely to precede the El Grupo Vida Conference.  October 9 is Yom Kippur. The committee also has settled on using the Radisson Hotel, Stapleton Plaza.

People already confirmed (speakers):  Dr. José Reyes, Wendy Jones
People to ask: Ian Watlington, person who Darlene talked about at the meeting today, Vincent Kaniatobe.

Penny is looking for a company who can be hired to organize the conference.  Tracy Williams of Tradewinds is suggested by Dr. José Reyes.

Dr. José Reyes suggested using a meeting with conference attendees as a way to produce a proceedings document that would be used to set the agenda for the follow-up workshop 6 months later (May 2009). Attendees will be attending conference sessions with the idea that they will be involved in the planning for the content of the 6-month follow-up workshop. Dr. Reyes offered to attend future meetings, as he is able to help shape the conference & follow-up meetings.

The discussion included a concern that a conference on week-days will not be easy for families to attend. The group decided to conduct a survey. Question for Survey:  For conferences that deal with your child or family member, would it be better on the weekend or weekday, and what hours would work? It will be important to gather input from adults with disabilities as well.

 Dr. José Reyes would be able to bring a colleague to do a break-out session, in addition to the keynote speech. 

Is it possible to show a profit increase after cultural competency training? One training isn’t effective. The discussion resulted in agreeing that the conference is not a one-shot affair, but to effect a shift in thinking, and that takes an on-going effort.

4.  Next meeting date can’t be set until Penny gets information from other committee members.  Between 9 AM and 1 PM works best for Darlene, and between 11AM and 1 PM work best for Kathy Grant.

Actions:

1.       The conference date will be October 23-24, 2008, with October 2-3 as the second choice.

2.       Mackenzie will talk with North/Central Procurement about how to go about hiring the conference organizer.

By Whom/By When:

1.        Mackenzie will ask Pat Murphy to check on the dates with the Radisson.

2.        Yvette and Darlene will make phone calls and/or send email to ascertain from families and people with disabilities whether a weekday or weekend or evening conference will work best. Deadline for survey responses is January 16, 2008.

3.        Penny will set the next meeting date and email the agenda to committee members a week before the February meeting.

4.        Penny will contact Tracy Williams of Tradewinds, and other organizations, to determine which conference organizer to hire for the conference.

Present:  Penny Gonnella, Yvette Plummer, Kathy Grant, Darlene Beals (by phone), Marna Ares (staff), Mackenzie Helton (staff), Dr. José Reyes (guest)

Absent: Ellie Valdez Honeyman, Maria Cabral, Jesus Castillo, Eileen Forlenza, Adrienn Albert Hollands

November 9, 2007

Attendance:  Penny Gonnella, Jesus Castillo, Kathy Grant, Marcia Tewell

Absent: Maria Cabral 

The committee met as part of the Council retreat in Winter Park, thus some community members were not able to make the meeting.  The topic of discussion was planning for the upcoming Cultural Competence Conference.  A discussion was held on the content in terms of break out sessions as well as outreach.  Penny also updated us on the cost of some of the keynote speakers she has been researching. 

Entertainment:  It was pointed out the DHS fiscal rules will not allow ‘entertainment’’ to be reimbursed by the state, thus any of the cultural events will have to be woven into the content of the sessions. 

Outreach:  to the Indian Center and other groups should be made once there is a set location and date and brochure. Kathy will attempt too reach the Indian Center.  Marcia will contact a Sudanese group that is in her neighborhood. 

Budget:   Penny and Mackenzie are working on a budget to be presented to the full Council in January. 

June 26, 2007

 ___________________________________________________________________________

ISSUE:

1. Choosing DVD for Council presentation tomorrow, and developing guided questions
2. Review of proposed budget

________________________________________________________________________

DISCUSSION:

1. Committee watched two videos, one on Ted Polito and the other Marvin and Jack.   Both are part of a series called Special Quest, by Early Head Start. Both videos were enjoyed.  The last video was about a young boy, and people at the Council had commented on Christopher being young and cute, and what would happen as he got older.  Consensus is to show Marvin and Jack so that the Council can see what adult life looks like.

Questions from previous video:

1. Who will be in Christopher’s life as he grows up?
2. Leadership concepts: what have we learned from the NASAP project?

Questions for Marvin and Jack work:

      1.   What kinds of work/jobs do Marvin and Jack have, what did they and others think they wanted as they began to work?

                  2.    How can the Council help employers to consider employment options “outside the box?”

2.             Committee reviewed proposed Council budget for 2008.  Mackenzie reviewed the Council’s process, let the committee know that the budget is a draft at this point and still needs to be reviewed by the Fiscal Oversight Committee. 

__________________________________________________________________

ACTION / MOTION / CONSENSUS

Next meeting is July 24, 2007 from 10 AM to Noon. The meeting adjourned at 11:55 AM.

Those in attendance:  Jesus Castillo, Yvette Plummer, Darlene Beals

Guest: Darlene’s mother, Dottie

Staff Present: Marna Ares, Mackenzie Helton

  ___________________________________________________________________________

Those absent:  Penny Gonnella, Ellie Valdez Honeyman, Eileen Forlenza, Maria Cabral, Adrienn Albert Hollonds, Ellie Valdez Honeyman

                                   May 22, 2007

 ___________________________________________________________________________

ISSUE:

3. Choosing DVD for Council presentation tomorrow, and developing guided questions
4. Review of Penny’s leadership training with National Center for Cultural Competence at Georgetown University.

________________________________________________________________________

DISCUSSION:

2. Committee watched two videos, one on Francisco and the second on Christopher.  Both are part of a series called Special Quest, by Early Head Start. Ellie left 12 DVDs for the committee to use.  For the future use Marvin and Jack, Ted Polito.  Consensus is to use Christopher’s story at the Council’s meeting tomorrow.

Questions:

1. Who will be in Christopher’s life as he grows up?
2. Leadership concepts: what have we learned from the NASAP project?

Book suggestion:  Walking with Grandfather

What are the opportunities to discuss cultural diversity and disability?  PEAK’s conference (LeDerick R. Horne) on inclusive education, TASH conference has a strand, also.

What is the objective of making these presentations to the Council, over time?  What is measurable as outcomes?  The goal is a long-term one. The goal, in the broadest terms, is “listening.”  One of the issues the Council faces is disability trumping. Goal is to increase communication and listening, acknowledge the diversity of the Council members, and have the discussions at Council meetings, over time, include more overt acknowledgement and discussion of the influence of diversity on the Council’s work.

New golden rule:  Do unto others as they would have you do unto them. That’s cultural competency.

Introductions can be done with the following rules:  Use just your first name, and don’t talk about your job.

2.             Funding comes from Maternal and Child Health programs.  The project will continue over the next year.  Each person has at least one project to develop over the course of the training. 

________________________________________________________________________

ACTION / MOTION / CONSENSUS

Next meeting is June 26, 2007 from 10 AM to Noon. The meeting adjourned at 11:55 AM.

___________________________________________________________________________

BY WHOM/ BY WHEN:

1.  Conduct Council meeting without name cards (and labels)

___________________________________________________________________________

Those in attendance:  Penny Gonnella, Ellie Valdez Honeyman, Jesus Castillo, Yvette Plummer, Darlene Beals, Adrienn Albert Hollonds

Staff Present: Marna Ares

  ___________________________________________________________________________

Those absent:  Bill Bass, Eileen Forlenza, Charles Blackwell, Maria Cabral

                                        April 24, 2007 

 ___________________________________________________________________________

ISSUE: 1. Letter to Council last November, and MCC draft response

            2. Membership on the committee

            3. Cultural competence

            4.  Grants and grant process at the Council

            5. Minutes from February and March

___________________________________________________________________________

DISCUSSION:

1. The issue is being revisited because the Council has asked this committee to respond to the letter.  The committee reviewed the draft of the letter. Suggestions for changes were offered. The committee members supported the resonse letter since the reason a response is called for is that the original letter was copied to key state and federal contacts. The letter is going to be from Penny Gonnella, the committee’s chairperson. 
   
   
2. Committee discussed how to make sure the committee can recruit active members.  Darlene suggested sending flyers to universities asking people to join this committee, specifically students with disabilities. Mackenzie will talk with Julie Farrar and those who have been active in MLK Day activities in Denver.
   
   
3. Penny will be going to the Georgetown cultural competence training in about a month, and will bring back information on self-assessment tools.  Special Quest has produced many videos on multicultural perspectives on disability. All of the references give credit to Early Head Start. Ellie suggested the Council see Norman Kunc’s new version of the Credo for Support with people with disabilities reading the text, noted as being sponsored by the MCC. After each such viewing the Council could be asked for a self-assessment type of feedback.  Colorado is diverse in having a significant rural population, and awareness of that aspect of diversity is important to include.  The important question to ask is not just, “Where are we lacking?” but, “What are we doing right?”  The committee discussed asking Part C (Ardith Ferguson) and Fred DeCrescentis to help this committee survey families about whether and how culturally-competent services are being offered.
   
   The committee would like to include videos and guided discussion as a series for future Council meetings.
   
   
4. Grant process: Council staff reviewed the Council structure and how funding flows, and the priorities of the Five-Year Plan.  It is important that a member of the MCC be on the Five-Year Plan committee in order to let the Five-Year Plan committee hear ideas the MCC has for future funded projects.
5. Minutes: Penny will email Marna with text of the minutes that will be approved to go on the website.

___________________________________________________________________________

ACTION / MOTION / CONSENSUS

1. The committee agrees for Penny to re-word the letter and send it to those originally copied on behalf of the Multicultural Committee.
2. Committee members are encouraged to attend the next Council meeting (May 23, 2007 at 10 AM) in order to support the introduction of videos as part of Council development.  The film will be introduced and followed up with questions for Council members to discuss.

___________________________________________________________________________

BY WHOM/ BY WHEN:

1. Penny will redraft and send the letter.
2. Ellie will bring a selection of Special Quest videos to the next committee meeting (May 22, 2007).
3. Penny will contact DDD about the possibility of surveying families receiving services.

Those in attendance:  Penny Gonnella, Ellie Valdez Honeyman, Jesus Castillo, Yvette Plummer, Adrienn Albert Hollands, Darlene Beals (by phone)

Staff Present: Marna Ares, Marcia Tewell, Mackenzie Helton

___________________________________________________________________________

March 27, 2007

______________________________________________________________________________

Discussion of cultural competence assessments
______________________________________________________________________________

DISCUSSION:

1.       Penny asked that Marna re-send the link to the Ethnic and Racial Populations With Disabilities: A Public Health Bibliography (http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dh/minoritiesbiblio.htm)

The Council’s Executive Committee recognizes that the Georgetown tool is more applicable to service-providing organizations than to the Council.  The Executive Committee has asked Penny to take the lead in helping the Council find assessment tools.

The MCC discussed the need for on-going support for training, and would like the Council to spend some money and time on strategic planning for increasing capacity for cultural competence.  This committee would like to be the group that offers on-going support for this.

Penny asked committee members to provide her with names of organizations that might be resources for the Council.  Some of the people and organizations discussed were: Rudy Chavez, who used to be at the Bueno Center in Boulder, Leonard Baca who is there now; Wendy Jones at Georgetown University; Jamie Morgan at CRC (Community Resource Center in Denver, who has done the board training for the Council-funded grant to El Grupo Vida and Families & Allies Working Together); José Reyes of Cultural Competency Consulting, Inc.; Ralph Edwards and Dee Spinkston in Massachusetts; Wanda Blanchette at the University of Colorado at Denver; Tamanika Odinga in Louisiana.

Committee members were asked to add to the list of names, organizations and/or assessment tools as possible resources. ____________________________________________________________________________

ACTION / MOTION / CONSENSUS

Next meeting is April 24, 2007 from 10 AM to Noon.
 ______________________________________________________________________________

BY WHOM/ BY WHEN:

1. Marna to send out February minutes for a vote of approval. 
2. Committee members are asked to bring more names for people and organizations as resources on cultural competency assessment by the next meeting on April 24, 2007.

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Those in attendance:  Maria Cabral, Adrienn Albert Hollonds, Yvette Plummer, Ellie Valdez Honeyman, Darlene Beals, Penny Gonnella

Staff Present: Marna Ares
____________________________________________________________________________

Those absent:  Donna Batkis, Eileen Forlenza, Karmen Kelly

February 27, 2007

ISSUE:

1. New “Directions”
2. National Center for Cultural Competence
3. Self-Assessment Checklist – Check it Out
4. NICHQ Conference – March 17^th in San Francisco
5. Where do we go from here?

______________________________________________________________________________

DISCUSSION:

1. Penny reviewed the history of the Committee. The committee reviewed materials from Georgetown University on assessing cultural competence. Penny reviewed the development of the RFP for the two leadership development grants, and gave a general overview of the Council.
   
   
2. Discussion of essential elements:  a) value diversity, b) conduct self-assessment, c) manage the dynamics of difference, d) acquire and institutionalize cultural knowledge, e) adapt to the diversity and cultural contexts of the individuals and communities served.  Adrienn talked about the difficulty of figuring out how to graphically portray babies with special needs and include images of cultural diversity. The discussion also reviewed how other organizations have portrayed diversity using either photographs or graphical images

Penny mentioned Diversity, Inc. daily newsletter (online).

3. Penny will be asking Ian Watlington to have the Council do a self-assessment. The committee members considered the checklist in terms of the particular agency they work for.  The assessment tool can be used to indicate where an organization could be doing more. The tool is designed for an organization delivering services to children who have disabilities and their families. Adrienn shared her experiences when doing graduate work in Australia, which is culturally diverse and including many immigrants from Africa.
   
   
4. NICHQ Conference – March 17^th in San Francisco re: children’s health. Parent Leadership is an important component of this conference.  Both Eileen Forlenza and Georgeanna Chapman will be attending this conference.
   
   
Where do we go from here? 
The standing meeting is the 4^th Tuesday of the month from 10 AM to Noon.  Penny encouraged future attendance and recruitment of more members.  The committee’s role as the “gnat in the ear” of the Council is an important one and one that should continue. Penny reviewed the goals and objectives of the Five-Year Plan and how they also guide committee work.  The ground rules for facilitated leadership were also reviewed.

The Blue Ribbon Policy Council on Children’s Mental Health (was convened as oversight for the three organizations listed) has the potential to impact policy changes (Harambe Colorado, Project Bloom and Headstart Kid Connects).  The Policy Council is looking at plans from other states to look at infrastructure that can be built-in in terms of early infant mental health. Passage of Referendum C has allowed funding for early intervention specialists in children’s mental health.

ACTION / MOTION / CONSENSUS

Next meeting is March 27, 2007 from 10 AM to Noon. The meeting adjourned at 11:56 AM.

______________________________________________________________________________

BY WHOM/ BY WHEN:

1.  Marna to send out minutes for a vote of approval.  Penny said they don’t need correction, as far as she is concerned.

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Those in attendance:  Maria Cabral mcabral@tchd.org , Adrienn Albert Hollonds, Penny Gonnella

Staff Present: Marna Ares
  _____________________________________________________________________________

Those absent:  Donna Batkis, Yvette Plummer, Ellie Valdez Honeyman, Bill Bass, Eileen Forlenza,  Karmen Kelly, 

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Issues:

1.       Status of two leadership projects

2.       Response to RFP

3.       Roles and responsibilities for the MCC

4.       Review of Council’s retreat

5.       DCIL

6.       Next meeting is February 27, 2007

Discussion:

1.        Council will vote on time extension for both projects at the Council meeting tomorrow.  The Five-Year Plan committee will send each grant a letter, assuming time extension is granted, asking they apply for renewed funding for a second year.

Both projects have provided successful and well-attended training events.

2.        RFP deadline was January 9, 2007 for grants to implement the Five-Year Plan 2007-2011. The proposals will be reviewed and then voted on by the Council at its March meeting.

3.        Penny would like Marna to send the draft out to all committee members.  Some of the language is taken from the letter of invitation that was sent out in October 2004 to invite people to join the newly formed MCC.  Also included are the goals for the committee that the MCC worked very hard on over the course of a few monthly meetings.

4.        One idea that came out of the retreat was that anyone with a developmental disability is a member of a minority group. Also discussed how the ground rules for Facilitated Leadership were incorporated, how they can be incorporated in the MCC meetings, also. The MCC is very willing, for example, to use Rule #8 (discussing the undiscussable).

In the future, the MCC needs to talk about how it can have a positive influence in the discussion of the undiscussables, and raise the issue of communities that are not well-represented.

5.  DCIL has moved to the northeast women’s center.  They have space to set up computer labs.  Bill was given copy of F&A/El Grupo latest report for contact information for computer training.

Actions:

            1.  Work on draft of committee roles and responsibilities

By Whom/By When:

            1.  Marna will send out the draft roles and responsibilities to all committee members after today’s meeting

Present:  Penny Gonnella, Bill Bass, Marna Ares (staff)

Absent: Yvette Plummer, Ellie Valdez Honeyman, Eileen Forlenza, Donna Batkis