Success by Six Meeting Minutes November 10, 2011 Present: Deb Neuman (Executive Director, Thrive), Dr.

Kirk Miller (Superintendent, Bozeman Schools), Billie Warford (Early Childhood Consultant), Joanie Slaybaugh (Food & Nutrition Program Specialist, Child Care Connections), Megan Brenna (Program Director, kidsLINK), Amy Cory (Best Beginnings Coordinator), Libby Hancock (Director, Early Childhood Project), Cassie Burns (Community Health Partners; Director, Learning Partners), Jane Arntzen Schumacher (Executive Director, Child Care Connections), Candy Lubansky (Superintendent, Belgrade Schools), Carol Townsend (President/CEO, Greater Gallatin United Way) Not present: Matt Kelley (Health Officer, Gallatin City/County Health Department), Jeff Rupp (President/CEO, HRDC) Next meeting: December 8, 2011, 10:00 am 10:30 am

I.

Announcements

Amy Cory has begun work as the Best Beginnings Coordinator, and will begin making plans for the January retreat to bring together the Success by Six Coalition and the Greater Gallatin School Readiness Team. Amy will be producing agendas and minutes and facilitating meetings for this group, in addition to working on the community needs assessment described in the Best Beginnings grant. Billie Warford will be providing Amy with some background regarding state and federal Early Childhood activities, reading materials, etc. We will propose possible dates for the Best Beginnings Council retreat by the end of today (last half of January). This retreat will help us outline group and individual roles, and how we will move forward as a collaborative group. A more in-depth 2-day strategic planning session will happen at a later date, after the Best Beginnings Needs Assessment is complete. We will form a planning committee comprised of 2-3 members each from SB6 and the School Readiness Team to plan the January retreat. Action items(s): Amy will provide possible dates for the January retreat, and the group members will respond with availability as soon as possible. Amy will solicit nominations from the School Readiness Team for the planning committee. II. Discussion

Item: Using United Ways Success by Six brand Notes: This group had previously discussed whether to apply with United Way Worldwide to officially use the Success by Six name. Since we may be renaming the group under the new Best Beginnings Council umbrella, we may not want to do this at this time. Action item(s): none at this time. Item: Upcoming early childhood needs assessment Notes: Simone Schilthuis from MSU Dean of Ed. Larry Bakers office has emailed Carol requesting follow-up regarding the needs assessment. Dr. Baker and MSU are ready to proceed with structuring the Best Beginnings needs assessment. The group noted that other programs in the

area may also be conducting needs assessments related to early childhood, and we should discuss with them what they are doing and how it may relate to the Best Beginnings needs assessment. Action item(s): Amy and Carol will follow-up with Simone to plan a meeting with Dr. Baker and graduate student(s) and discuss moving forward with the needs assessment. Item: Best Beginnings Planning Committee Notes: We would like 3 members of Success by Six to participate on a Best Beginnings Planning Committee (the current Greater Gallatin School Readiness Team will also nominate 3 members to this Committee). The Committee will prepare agenda items, conduct preliminary discussions and planning, and discuss facilitators and other meeting details. December 8, 10 am is proposed as the first meeting of this Committee. Deb Neuman, Carol Townsend, and Marilyn King were nominated as representatives from the SB6 group. Potential agenda items for the retreat were mentioned, including defining the operational structure of the BB Council, naming the group, planning for a needs assessment, Early Childhood Services scan, defining subcommittees, discussion of Amys role and tasks, and discussion of a timeline for moving forward. The school readiness formula drives the work being done, and it will be useful to bring everyone together and see how each party fits together in the larger scheme. Action item(s): Amy will follow-up with this planning committee once members have been nominated by the School Readiness Team. Item: Deborah Neuman requested that a list of each group (Success by Six and School Readiness Team) be emailed to all. Action item: Amy will follow up with the list for the group. Item: Park County participation Notes: Cassie Burns asked whether Park County is involved in the School Readiness Team. The group noted that some members/agencies of the Team overlap counties. Carol mentioned that Ted Madden with Park County Community Foundation (PCCF) has been invited to represent Park County because PCCF is leading early childhood efforts and needs assessment in Park County. It was proposed that we invite Ted to come to a meeting. Perhaps we will discuss engaging Livingston, the Greater Gallatin area at the January retreat. As we think about the needs assessment it will be helpful to know what Park County measures, what theyve already done to assess needs, and how we might align our efforts. Action item: Carol will email Ted and cc Tawnya Rupe with the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch, who is Board Chair of the PCCF. Item: Meeting time for this group Notes: Carol asked the group whether we could adjust the SB6 meetings by 30 minutes on either side to allow for more discussion time in between the Graduation Matters and Success by 6 meetings. This would be tough for some members with tight schedules, and the general consensus is that we should leave the meeting as is. Additional note: It was suggested that as we move toward organizing the larger Best Beginnings Council, perhaps the meeting structure will change, and we will see what happens after the January retreat. We may utilize sub-committees more and the SB6 group may become a leadership team that might meet less frequently (quarterly? 2 hours instead of 1?). Action item(s): none at this time.

Item: Update from the states Best Beginnings Advisory Council Notes: Libby and Deb N. attended the State Best Beginnings Advisory Council meeting and have materials from that event. Deb represented Carol T, who is appointed as Philanthropy representative. At the State meeting, the Statewide Early Childhood Services scan was presented and it appears good progress has been made to compile information. It was noted that we should look to the statewide scan process as we prepare for the Best Beginnings needs assessment. Billie discussed the scan in more detail. (Scan can be found at http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/hcsd/childcare/documents/MontanaKidsCount.pdf) Action item(s): none at this time. Item: Announcement from Washington Notes: Arne Duncan with the Department of Education has proposed the formation of an Office of Early Learning. His press release can be found at http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/usdepartment-education-proposes-dedicated-office-early-learning Action item(s): none at this time.
We will discuss minutes at our next meeting. Please email comments, corrections, etc. to amy@greatergallatinunitedway.org.