Richmond Times-Dispatch article

An article appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on September 4, 2011 entitled "On Northern Neck, Fighting the Fade." Census figures show that Lancaster County is the "oldest" county in Virginia, with a median age of 54. Northumberland County is right behind with a median age of 53.6. All four counties of the Northern Neck are experiencing "natural decrease" in population, which is a phenomenon in which there are more deaths than births.

To read the entire article, see this link:

www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/sep/04/on-northern-neck-fighting-the-fade-ar-1284371/

Working in Teams and Collaborations Workshop

COMMONWEALTH 0f VIRGINIA
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

July 18, 2011

Dear Community Partner:
The Virginia Department of Social Services' (DSS) Office on Volunteerism and Community Service (OVCS) are collaborating with Virginia Community Capital (VCC) to offer local nonprofit and faith based organizations a day of interactive leadership training, networking, and resource sharing on Tuesday, August 9 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Grace House at Grace Episcopal Church, 303 South Main Street, Kilmarnock, 22482.

This interactive session based on Patrick Lencioni's material from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team will create lively discussion and take-away tools that promote trust, encourage healthy conflict, invite commitment, ensure accountability, and achieve results. If your organization is interested in operating at a higher level of effectiveness and building strong relationships to achieve greater results, you will want to attend the Working in Teams and Collaborations - Partneringfor Success workshop.

There is no fee for the workshop; however, registration is requested to assure adequate materials and handouts for participants. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the workshop presentation will begin at 9:00 a.m. For your convenience, a copy of the agenda is enclosed.

DSS believes that healthy communities result from "people helping people overcome poverty, abuse and neglect to shape strong futures for themselves, their families and their communities." Healthy communities are dependent upon collaborations, effective partnerships, and the full participation of faith-based, volunteer, private, and community organizations. Because VCC shares our commitment to partnerships and collaborations, we are pleased to be a part of the VCC Learning Initiative. To learn more about this initiative and other capacity- building workshops, visit their web-site at www.vacommunitycapital.org.

We hope that you will consider attending the August 9 session in Kilmarnock. To reserve your space, please register online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MZQ7L52 or by calling Cathy Walker at 1-800-638-3839, option #3, by Thursday, August 4.

Sincerely,

Nikki Nicholau, Director
Office on Volunteerism and Community Service
801 East Main Street· Richmond, VA 23219-2901
http ://www.dss.virginia.gov • 804-726-7000 • TDD 800-828-1120

Working in Teams and Collaborations - Partnering for Success
Agenda
9:00 am Welcome and Purpose Overview—Defining and Making the Case Partnering Simulation Self-Assessment

10:30 am Break

10:45 am Partnership Best Practices—Panel and Discussion Relationships Information Accountability

12:00 pm Networking Lunch/ Creating a Personalized Action Plan

12:45 pm Funding Partnerships that Work Current Trends Deliverables: Making Choices that Make Sense Relationship Management

2:00 pm Debrief and Adjourn

Position Description - Visions Director

Background

In 2006, representatives from the Northern Neck attended a conference initiated by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund to explore building assets of individuals, families and communities in order to reduce poverty. The team, now called Visions, has successfully completed a planning grant to build a brand for the organization and to hold community conversations around poverty in Lancaster and Northumberland Counties.

Responsibilities

• Promote collaboration between organizations with similar goals
• Build the capacity of existing nonprofit organizations
• With the Advisory Board, develop grant opportunities and other funding strategies
• Supervise the Community Actions Director and an administrative assistant person
• Reports to the VISIONS Advisory Committee and the fiscal agent

Project Assignments

• Conduct a needs assessment with organizations who serve people in need to determine best ways to increase capacity and/or service areas

• Collect output measures and other data from non-profits, and promote/leverage collective local dollars and volunteer hours to bring more resources and volunteers to the non-profits

• Organize training and workshops to strengthen capacity of non-profits

• Organize a resource fair for non-profits to recruit volunteers and donors

• Explore a source of revenue from the vendors who sell products to non-profits through a convention type event or summit.

• Work with other affinity groups (economic development, education, etc) to develop asset building strategies
• Work with the Community Action Director to bring action to strategies generated by the conversations and to recruit volunteers for non-profits
• Work with the fiscal agent, Rappahannock Community College, and appropriate advisory board members to administer the YouthWorks program

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree required, graduate degree preferred; at least 10 years of professional experience in a general management role, ideally in a rapidly evolving institution; knowledge of Lancaster and Northumberland Counties and existing organizations serving those in need.

• Highly organized and ability to wear multiple hats in an ambiguous environment;
  
• A successful track record in setting priorities and shaping processes
• A consummate team player with a flexible and creative approach
• Excellent communication and coalition building skills with an ability to balance, negotiate, and work with a variety of people; high level of knowledge and understanding, especially as it relates to program replication, connecting programs to funding, creatively generating other resources, and building strategic partnerships
• Personal qualities of integrity, credibility, and a commitment to VISION’s mission

Compensation

This is a full-time grant funded position with the flexibility to work some hours from home. No medical or retirement benefits available at this time.

Application

Please send cover letter with salary requirements and resume to Lindsy Gardner, President of the Visions Advisory Board, at lgardner@lancasterlibrary.org by July 1, 2011. For more information on Visions, go to http://visionsinnnva.blogspot.com/.

Minutes from the May 18, 2011, Advisory Board meeting

Meeting was called to order by Lindsy Gardner at 9:00 a.m. Minutes from previous meeting accepted as written.

Those in attendance included Lindsy Gardner, Chair, Alison Towles, Secretary, David Alberts, Jean Duggan, Tom Gosse, Torrence Harman, Margaret Nost, William Pennell, Jean Poole, Paul Sciacchitano, and Marilyn Warren.

Lindsy announced that the implementation grant was approved in full by DuPont. This amounts to $276,182 over a three-year period.

Nonprofit Status

Mat Terry has started on the Articles of Incorporation and will help us with the legal side of incorporating. Alison and Lindsy have started the application for 501(c)(3) status. Dwight Clarke of Dehnert, Clarke, and Company will look that over and help to complete it.

Jacksonville United Way Notes

Lindsy spoke to Melanie Patz of the Jacksonville United Way. She hoped to learn more about structure, but Melanie actually shared more information on how to get buy-in from local organizations. She suggested that we include more heads of nonprofits on our board. Paul Sciacchitano shared his experience with the Hampton United Way board, where they had an advisory board made up of heads of nonprofits. Melanie also suggested that we appeal to businesses, asking them to partner with nonprofits in providing services such as financial literacy education. Jean Duggan said that Bay Aging has a financial literacy education component.

Economic Development

Bill Pennell and Paul Sciacchitano updated everyone on the progress of the Economic Development Committee. The Lancaster IDA (soon to be EDA) approved all three proposals put before it, providing funding for the Kilmarnock TLC, the Visions Youth Works, and the RCC satellite location. The Town of Kilmarnock is also supportive of the RCC project and may provide some assistance. The difficulty of getting more Northumberland County support was discussed. Bill will be talking to Kenny Eades, the county manager, within the next week. Sissy Crowther was planning to talk to some people. Sherry Magill indicated in April that the DuPont Fund would approach them about being more involved.

Paul pointed out the need for public education on economic development and why it is vital to the area. Sissy, Jack Russell, and Bill are working towards preparing a position paper that documents what will happen to the economy without pursuing growth. This paper could be presented to various groups. It is important that it is a compelling argument.

Jack and Bill are meeting with Senator Warner about Free Virginia, Virginia Free. Julian Patterson is being approached about joining the Economic Development effort, as well.

Connect

The DuPont Fund agreed to pay for the technology to rebuild the network and upgrade the website out of an administrative budget. They are in the loading data stage with that. The main thing that may impede progress is the name. There is some question as to whether they can use “Connect” in the name. Richmond Connect had agreed that they would draw up an agreement allowing that, but there will be a delay with that. The next board meeting for Connect will address that. They will use “Northern Neck” in the name somehow. Bill Pennell pointed out how important it is to brand this area with that name, as many do not know what it means. Jean Duggan asked for clarification on the scope of Connect. Paul indicated it would still be available for use in all 6 counties, but they will focus their efforts more on the 4 counties north of the river.

Northern Neck Food Bank

Paul also shared that Sherry Magill visited the site of the NNFB when she was here in April. She asked why they did not have more equipment and was reminded that they had only received partial funding for the first year. Sherry asked that Torrence Harman write the fund a letter requesting the needed money, which she did. The result was that the Food Bank received another $22,000 for a walk- in refrigerator, pallet shelving, etc. Jean Duggan will see that a link to NNFB is added to the Bay Aging website. Bill Pennell will do the same with the county website. Lance Barton is now working on ways to partner with local farmers for excess produce. Trinity Episcopal will sponsor a nutrition education program.

Youth Works

Students met Monday night and they are very excited about starting their work experience. Fewer students indicated that they planned to go to college, but this program historically has build confidence that they can juggle the demands of work and school.

New Grant Business

• Advertising for, interviewing and hiring new Director. Lindsy formed a subcommittee to engage in search for the new director, including herself, Paul Sciacchitano, Marilyn Warren, and Jack Russell. They will present final candidate(s) to the full Board for approval. A tentative first meeting was set for Tuesday, May 31^st, at 3:00 p.m.
• Office location. Many suggestions were made, including the YMCA, the adjacent RGH rehab space, and several others. Bay Aging no longer has any office space in Kilmarnock. Dave Alberts volunteered to look into this and Susan Cockrell, assistant town manager for Kilmarnock, will be asked to help.
• Accounting. The grant allows for this to be outsourced. The director is not expected to do the bookkeeping.

Bylaws

Tom Gosse and others made several corrections and suggestions. After some discussion, the following changes were recommended and adopted:

• The decision was that the fiscal year would be July 1 to June 31.
• The treasurer’s duty section needs to include audit.
• The annual meeting would be when committees are assigned. Committees should be appointed by the Board Chairman.
• This meeting could be at the beginning of the fiscal year, but many prefer it after the audit so they can be notified of results.
• The bylaws need to have language to stagger board members’ terms.
• The section on Executive Committee needs an additional sentence or two to define powers and responsibilities.
• The articles on funding and on Robert’s Rules of Order were removed.

Gaining More Support

There was some additional conversation on ways to involve Northumberland. Paul Sciacchitano agreed to see if he could enlist Monty Diehl of Omega Protein in Economic Development Committee meetings, with the hopes of later including in larger Visions efforts. He will ask Sissy Crowther to approach Dr. Clint Stables as well.

Jean Poole will approach someone from RGH about joining Economic Development, since they are the largest area employer. Alison will email her the minutes from the last few meetings to help her better pitch this.

Visions will continue to work in close association with the River Counties Foundation.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:45 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Alison Towles, Visions Project Coordinator

Great news on the implementation grant!

Here is Lindsy's beautifully written press release:

The duPont Fund recently announced the approval of funding in the amount of $275,000 over a three year period for Visions, a local organization formed to build assets and reduce poverty in the Northern Neck. A series of community conversations on poverty, sponsored by Visions, actively involved area citizens in dialogues that resulted in thoughtful and innovative ideas and strategies to improve lives in our community. "This grant, funded by duPont, directly addresses strategies raised in the community conversations," said VISIONS chairman, Lindsy Gardner. "With this generous funding from DuPont, Visions will hire a full-time director who will oversee future work to build the capacity of existing non-profits, to broaden community conversations around poverty, to leverage local philanthropy dollars to bring more financial resources to the area, to work with an active economic development committee, and to begin a leadership training program," Ms. Gardner continued. Additionally, duPont sponsors the ongoing work of Vision's YouthWorks Summer Employment Program, an initiative that promotes career readiness skills in youth through summer employment opportunities.

And a new year begins for VISIONS Youth Works!

The new year has begun for the Youth Works program! This is the second year of the duPont three year grant and the third year for the program.

In February, RCC staff and Virginia Extension Agents combined forces with members of the Visions team to stage a poverty simulation. Open to anyone interested in participating, it attracted over 50 people. Each hour represented a week in the life of a family living in poverty, so participants experienced a month of struggling to make ends meet in different scenarios. It was an eye-opener for all concerned. In future, this experience will be offered to employers in the program to help them better understand the challenges their employees face.

Towards the end of this month, the interview process begins for student applicants to Youth Works. Because the program has been so successful, using funds remaining from previous years, many more slots are available, up to 52 from 40 last year. Students who are accepted to the program will be tested for their Career Readiness Certificates in May. They will go to work full-time in June.

This year, there will be two college visit field trips for the participants, up from one in the past. As in the past, Bay Aging will provide support via their Community Service Block Grant funds. To help youths with transportation needs, they will either give them gas cards (if they have a car) or Bay Transit tickets (if they don't).

The Youth Works program is an opportunity for local students to learn important work skills and to experience the world of work in all its many facets. Employers get a "free" employee for the summer in return for mentoring that student.

For more information, contact Rusty Bragg, Program Manager, Workforce and Community Development at Rappahannock Community College, rbragg@rappahannock.edu

VISIONS Youth Works program concludes for 2010

2010 VISIONS Youth Works program staff, supporters and student participants. (Photo by Tom Martin)

VISIONS Youth Works Summer Employment program concluded for this year with a ceremony at Northumberland High School on Tuesday, September 14th. This employment program is financed primarily by the Jesse Ball duPont Fund and is made possible with the cooperation, funding and support of VISIONS, Lancaster Community Library, Bay Aging Community Action Partnership, Rappahannock Community College, Lancaster and Northumberland High Schools, Macedonia Baptist Church and local employers.

Forty students were involved in the Youth Works program, twenty from Northumberland and twenty from Lancaster County. Each student was matched with an employer, with the grant providing funding for the actual wages earned. Rusty Bragg, program coordinator of the Workforce and Community Developement department at Rappahannock Community College, acted as program director. Project coordinator Bonnie Davis and tutors Alex Stickler and Jovity Kelly worked with all the students to assess and develop job readiness. Bonnie Davis reported that 37 of the 40 students completed the summer employment program.

At the ceremony, those students who completed the program were honored and presented with Career Readiness Certificates. Thanks to a matching gift from Bay Aging CAP, students also received gas cards. Employers and family came out to enjoy these students' wonderful accomplishments.

Rusty Bragg notes that Youth Works develops the workforce from our community. "We have some talented and responsible young people in our area who would love the opportunity to contribute to their home community. This program gives them the chance to do just that."

DuPont has funded VISIONS Youth Works for a three year period, so this program will continue for the next two summers. Students will continue to have the opportunity to learn important skills and behaviors that will allow them to experience success in the working world.