Montcalm County Great Start Collaborative

Minutes

2/3/16

I. Call to order:

Call to order at 11:40am by Roger Thelen

II. Welcome & Introductions:

Present:

Shannon Behrend, Cassandra Davis, Liz Ingraham, John Johansen, Christine Mann-Munger,

Karen Marsman, Lillie McNeil, Brandy Minikey, Janel Minnie, Jyll Mitchell, Car O’Connor,

Jennifer Peterman, Mary Peterson, Veronica Schleiker, Nancy Secor, Jennifer Stratton,

Kristina Syjud, Roger Thelen, Mindy Train, Todd Furlong, Nancy Aldridye

III. Public Comment:

None

IV. Agenda Approval:

All voted to accept the agenda, none opposed.

V. Meeting Minutes Approval:

Motion to accept the minutes, was made by Nancy Secor, motion seconded by John

Johansen. All voted in favor, none opposed.

VI. Director Report: Cari O’Connor

Early Childhood Administrator Network: We are working on 3 legislative proposals to

provide to our lobbyists to address GSRP legislated issues; specifically inadequacies in GSRP

funding process. Discussion about what is in the best interests of all is a serious topic of

discussion.

Early Childhood Advisory Council for West Michigan: We have been reviewing

CONNECTIONS data and developing newsletter topics that locally we believe parents need

more information on. Several colleges in Kent County have volunteered research assistants

to help identify best practice information to get this into the hands of parents!

YOU Think: This substance abuse prevention initiative in our community was awarded

another round of funding for 5 more years of community level work. Montcalm Care

Network has agreed to be the fiduciary for this project. Phil Millerov has been identified as

the YOUThink Coordinator. The Executive Committee has been working diligently to redo

the grant application and get through the process of changing fiscal agents in an attempt to

bring the grant money locally! The next Full Coalition meeting is scheduled for February

10th 2016 at the Montcalm Care network from 1-2:30 pm. If anyone has any interest in

participating on YOU Think please contact me immediately.

Part C Plan of Action State of MI: Michigan Early On was cited at the Federal level for

compliance concerns. This year 3 pilot communities have been identified to help roll out the

plan focusing on Social Emotional health building for all Early On families. Messaging plan

of action (target is parents) is being developed at the state level. Advocacy for more

evidenced based home visiting programs continues to be the focus. Reviewed 78% response

rate from EO program surveys and identified strategies to dig deeper into for state wide

implementation. There does not seem to be any consistent messaging regarding SE health to

parents. DECA on line data base is where we are starting. Representative came and

presented the how to on DECA at the January meeting. Funding continues to be discussed as

a barrier to implementing.

KEA: Not TS Gold, RFP will be coming out soon. MDE is choosing to go in another

direction. Director is gone. Will continue to be optional. MDE is working on putting out a

statement about young 5 options in local districts.

211 Discontinuation: Planning is taking place to try to fill the gap that ending 211 will

cause. Anyone who would like to support or assist please let me know!

Reminder about principles of collaboration survey: Agenda item and written feedback.

Tell us what you think!!

MCGSC Collaborative Activities & Support Recognition:

MACC: Space for PC meeting and childcare

Spectrum United Lifestyles, Ann O’Neil for PC presentation

Hank Marshall for visiting the PC in December in his Red Suit and Kylie Wells for

donating time and equipment for PC pictures.

Partnership with Flat River Library & Meijer donation for January event

Toothbrush and toothpaste donations for PC and GSRP Classrooms: Dr. Donohue, Dr.

Kinser, Dr. Mahar, Dr. Meachum, Dr. Marshall, Dr. Wemmer

PC Meting Activity Supplies: Spectrum United Lifestyles.

Parent volunteers: Resource Guides, dental supplies packaging

VII. New Business:

A. Highlight Presentation: First Five Years Video

Reminder of why we are doing what we are doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eis-CLs6ds8

B. Data Presentation: WIC, Jennifer Stratton

See attached slides.

C. Please send information for the MCGSC Calendar

Any events that are being offered in your organization that you would like to

share, please Great Start know and we will add them to our calendar.

For the month of January we had 82 views for our calendar.

D. GSRP CNRA Review: Action Needed

Motion to endorse the 2016-17 GSRP CNRA, was made by John Johansen

motion seconded by Nancy Secor. All voted in favor, none opposed.

VIII. Old Business:

A. DPIL Updates: Mindy Train

Montabella Community School board members provided a donation.

1,226 children enrolled.

IX. Committee Reports:

A. Executive & Communication: Cari O’Connor

Review our 2016-2018 Strategic Plan and finalized changes that were request

to be made and submitted the changes.

B. Parent Leadership: Brandy Minikey

MCC Holiday Event MCC Holiday event was well attended with 501 people

attending. Many whole families attended but fewer with small children this

year. The PC provided 3 crafts that followed the "Holidays around the World

Theme". With each craft we provided a brief history and the country of origin.

13 parents signed up for the Montcalm County Great Start Newsletter and 13

children enrolled in Connections! Information was also distributed about

healthy holiday snacks, Finding Quality childcare brochures, Childcare Aware

booklets, Parenting class info and PC Information.

Many PC families came to help and the Miss Heartland Court also came and

helped children with the crafts, it was wonderful to have so much help that day!

December 14th Parent Coalition Meeting: Holiday Potluck. Families ate

together, did crafts and visited with Santa. Information was available about PC

meetings, winter wear, healthy eating and playgroups. 36 adults (7 Dads) and

53 children.

January 11th Parent Coalition Meeting: This month’s meeting covered Good

Nutrition for Children, with Ann O’Neill, MPH, Registered Dietitian,

Spectrum United Lifestyles. She shared a lot of great information on good

nutrition for families, items to avoid and why as well as items to include in

your family diets. Resources were passed out and she also did a beverage

sugar demonstration! We had 14 adults (3 dads), 13 children and 2 childcare

providers. Low attendance numbers due to school cancelations and poor road

conditions.

Newsletter Our monthly newsletter is going out to over 1,380 email addresses!

We will be highlighting topics that follow the 6 protective factors each month.

The Benefits of Board Games was the January topic and Dental Health is the

February topic.

Sponsors:

See Directors Report

Upcoming Parent Coalition Activities:

PC Meeting: February 8th, from 5:30pm-7:00pm. Childcare and dinner

will be provided. (Topic: Bullying: Empowering the Victim with Esther

Combs a Family Counselor and Teacher Consultant)

Walk for Warmth: February 27th Walkers and soup supporters needed!

Sign up with our team or gather your own, may the best soup win! All

support helps with heating costs locally.

WCFK Family Fun Day: March 19th at MCC please plan to attend as a

vendor (sign up information will be available soon)

Kindergarten Round Up typically begins in April!

C. Early Care & Education: Christine Mann-Munger

Sledding Event

5 dads present, 34 children, 12 Families

Each family received a great start bag that included:

Connection Enrollment Form, PC Schedule, Love and Logic, Playgroup,

Activity Packet, Early On Information, DPIL Information

Families enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies as well as crafts and a few stories.

Each child was able to take home a sled, thanks to Meijer of the donation. As

well a book thanks to great start.

Winter Wear Drive

Want to thank the following locations for hosting a donation box: Carson City,

Stanton, Edmore, Lakeview, Howard City, and Greenville Libraries, Edmore

Methodist Church, Seiter Education Center. Also want to thank Stanton

Women’s Club and Order of Eastern Start Chapter 47 of Stanton.

Coats: 500, Gloves/Hats/Mittens/Scarfs: 324, Boots: 13, Snow Pants- 10

Still looking for donations for toddlers and youth.

D. Family Wellness: Brandy Minikey

Dental care, obesity prevention and social emotional supports such as

breastfeeding continue to be a focus for this committee.

Ounce of Prevention:

We have created an Ounce of Prevention Website where visitors can

download any of the documents to use in their homes, workplaces or

volunteer activities. We can track the traffic on this site so that we

know how many we are reaching. FY to Date (December 1- February

1) we have had 7 pages views. We expect this to go up again with our

next mailing to Doctor Offices.

Dental Month: We received enough donations from local dentists to purchase

tooth brushing supplies for all of the GSRP classrooms for the remaining

portion of the school year. We also will also be highlighting Dental Health at

our Parent Coalition Meeting next week and at Family Fun Day in March.

Resource Guides have been updated and we are making them as fast as we

can!

Connections Update:

o We have met our goal of serving 410 children by February 20th and will start

toward our goal of 560 children by next February. We need everyone’s help!

o Heidi will be at next month’s Wellness Committee to give a semi-annual

report of our program.

Current Work:

Collaborating with Healthy Montcalm to develop their next 3 year plan. We

currently also serve as the Childhood Obesity Prevention Committee for

Healthy Montcalm. This will be changing to Child and Family Health

Committee

We have gotten preliminary results back from local practitioners on maternal

infant health screenings. We will be discussing further how we can assist in

screening efforts and resources in the coming months. It appears that the

most beneficial help we can offer is in tracking down local resources.

Upcoming: Walk for Warmth: February 27th

Get Moving With Kids Training: February 27th

Summer Goody Bags: 600 of items to be passed out in the community.

Please have items to our office no later than APRIL 1st!

E. LICC: Teresa Boyer

Data

2014 & 2015 Referrals, Early On and Build up Michigan referrals. See

attached graphs.

Staff Updates

Tamara Villet has joined our team 3 days per week. She is a Speech and

Language Pathologist.

“You and Me Time” Baby and Caregiver Class

We offer a class to encourage fun interactions between baby and caregiver.

Participant are given opportunities to practice tummy time, massage, social

games and exercises to promote brain development. Each week they have a

baby tip where they have had guest speakers for parent education on topics

including breast feeding, tactile input, physical milestones and how to

support development. Class is on Fridays from 10:45-11:45. We are looking

for more participants.

Contact Kelly Taylor at 616-225-4868 or at ktaylor@maisdd.com

Professional Development

We reviewed Oral Motor Skills to Facilitate Speech Development, presented

by Tammy Youmans.

We have scheduled mini in-services to update our staff on services offered

through other agencies. Jennifer Peterman from United Lifestyles, came in

and talked about their services. Lillie McNeil from Great Start to Quality

Western Resource Center, will be in next week.

Planning to start a book study on Raising A Healthy, Happy Eater by Nimali

Fernando, MD, MPH and Melanie Potock, MA,CCC-SLP

Monthly update (as of 1/29/16): Currently

Open

Served through Montcalm program

history

Children enrolled 348 423

Families enrolled 302 357

ASQs sent (not including BCR) 2,244 2,529

ASQs received 603 675

ASQs that had low score or parent question 129 161 (from 115 children)

Parent coach contact attempts 124 161

Parent coach contacts completed 49 57

Professional Referrals Made 4 4 (from 3 children)

X. Roundtable Updates:

Roger Thelen- Show me the Money, February 6th from 10am – 2pm, Income Tax preparation

John Johansen- Renewal/restoration of the current operating millage to its 1974 approved

level of 5.0 mills. Due to headlee amendment rollbacks and Proposal A, the county is legally

allowed to collect 4.4082 mills for 2015. This millage request, if approved would be effective

for the July 1, 2016 property tax bill. The millage would generate an estimated additional

$986,077.67 the first fiscal year.

Kristina Syjud- Group of foster parents are looking to put together Hope Package for foster

children for their first night stay, which would include the basic essentials. Working on

getting donations.

Lillie McNeil- Looking for space to hold upcoming trainings

Karen Marsman- Alpha Family Center will be having an Easter egg hunt March 26th at 2pm

Liz Ingraham- Autism benefits extended was currently covering those up to age 6, now will

be covering those to age 21.

Veronica Schleiker- Wellness works in Stanton is now open 24 hours and it is a nice place to

work out.

XI. Principles of Collaboration and Feedback:

What else do you want to know about Early On?

Percent of children that would qualify but don’t take advantage of what is available to

them.

The video was impactful

Any additional resources you would like to have regarding WIC?

Very comprehensive information provided during presentation

All programs/opportunities/options for those that don’t qualify financially

Do you do presentations at community partner agencies? I would like to discuss

possibility of presenting importance of our clients signing up for WIC

Loved seeing and hearing about the program and about the updates

I would like to see some more direct partnership with Head Start, we currently show low

numbers with our families being enrolled.

Thoughts on the MCGSC Meeting today?

Very informative and well organized

A lot of data but important info to have

Enjoyed the video, great reminder as to what we are all here for

Still learning all that is encompassed in Great Start

Any other Comments:

The dressing was not good, concerned about this being served to children

Loved the round table items brought up

MCGSC is accomplishing great things

XII. Adjournment:

Adjourn at 1:40pm

Next Meeting Date: April 13, 2016 11:30 am – 1:30 pm MAISD Building in Stanton

**Please see our website for the most updated calendar information at: www.GreatStartMontcalm.org.

Get The

Word Out

About WIC!

Mid-Michigan District

Health Department

What is WIC????

• WIC is a health and nutrition program which

has proven to have a positive effect on

pregnancy outcomes, child growth and

development

• It is a federally-funded program that serves

pregnant, breastfeeding, postpartum women,

infants, and children up to age 5 who have a

nutrition-related health problem and that

meet program requirements

WIC Program Mission Statement

The mission of the Michigan WIC program is to

improve health outcomes and quality of life for

eligible women, infants and children by

providing nutritious food, nutrition education,

breastfeeding promotion and support, and

referrals to health and other services.

How Does WIC Work?

• WIC provides a combination of nutrition

education, supplemental foods, breastfeeding

support and promotion, and referrals to other

programs or providers

Some facts about the Michigan WIC Program

• 54% of babies born in MI enroll in WIC

• 35.8% of pregnant mothers enroll in WIC during

their first trimester and WIC significantly increases

the number of women receiving adequate prenatal

care

• WIC participation dramatically lowers infant

mortality among Medicaid beneficiaries

• 63.6% of Infants are breastfed in Michigan

• WIC participation decreases the incidence of low

birth weight and lowers pre-term births.

• WIC participation leads to higher rates of

immunization against childhood diseases.

More Facts About WIC….

• Each month, more than 200,000 moms, babies, and children

less than age 5 receive nutritious foods from the Michigan WIC

Program

• WIC foods are worth $30-$112 or more per month for each

participant

• Every WIC dollar spent on a pregnant woman saves over $3.50

in federal, state, local and private health care cost.

• WIC significantly improves children’s dietary intake of vitamins

and nutrients such as iron, vitamin C, A, B6, thiamine, protein,

and niacin

Who Is Eligible For WIC?

• Pregnant Women

• Breastfeeding Women: for 1 year

• Postpartum Women: for 6 months

• Infants and children up to age 5

…who have a nutritional risk and meet

guidelines

– A single pregnant woman may have an

hourly income of $14.16/hour and qualify

for WIC.

What’s happening at MMDHD

• Current Caseload: about 3900 agency wide

• Breastfeeding PC program started 2010 with an

initiation rate of breastfeeding at MMDHD in the

60’s, 2011 70%, 2012 75%, 2013 77%, 2014 79%,

2015 81%

• Breastfeeding initiation rate at MMDHD currently:

81%

• 6 month breastfeeding duration: 17.26%

• Referrals are made to community partners

• Referral to other Health Department services

Sample Food Package for a child for one

month:

• 3 gallons of milk

• 1 quart of milk

• 1 pound of cheese

• 1 dozen eggs

• 36 ounces of cereal

• 18 ounce jar of peanut butter, 16 ounce dry

beans/peas or 4 cans beans/peas

• 2 bottles 64 ounce juice

• 2 pounds whole grains (breads, tortillas, brown rice

or oatmeal)

• $8.00 fresh fruits and vegetables

Why do you need to help get the word

out about WIC?

• 2015 Nondiscrimination Statement

• FNS nutrition assistance programs, State or local agencies, and their subrecipients, must

post the following Nondiscrimination Statement:

• In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and

institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from

discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or

retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by

USDA.

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program

information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.), should

contact the Agency (State or local) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are

deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal

Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made

available in languages other than English.

• This institution is an equal opportunity provider.