MassPRA Board Meeting 3/9/2007

ATTENDING

Bob Schueler, Lyn Legere, Deborah Delman, Mary Gregorio, Steve LaMaster, Maria Restrepo-Toro, Marcia Webster, Paul Ottenstein, Margaret Jordan, David Webster, Diane Gould, Brett Poza, Kerri Kuklentz, Will Buckley

NOT ATTENDING

Brian Osborne, Clara Carr

FEBRUARY MINUTES

The February minutes were unanimously approved after one correction was made. It was the Community of Bristol County that did not renew their membership.

MARCH 07 TREASURER’S REPORT-

• All receipts & bills from the 2006 annual conference have been received.  The receipts from the event allowed us to add & $994.85 to our fund balance.  Please see the attached profit/loss statement for a full account of our cost Vs revenue.
• Last month we received a rebate check from National in the amount of $2,788.30
•  We reimbursed our Conference Committee Chair  $108.60 for hotel accommodations associated with the conference
• We will pay Elsevier Books $89.38 for an tax exempt purchase that I thought we were entitled to as a non-profit but are not
• And we will reimburse our Chapter Rep $466.56 for expenses incurred while attending the February National Board meeting.
• This will give us a current fund balance of $13,541.84..

NATIONAL REPORT

 Bob reported that a new version of the CPRP exam, which will be usable in international settings, will soon be available. One downside to this development is the lack of US specific information on the test, such as Social Security incentives. Steve will talk with Pat Nemec, the vice president of the certification commission, about the impact this will have on the specific US content.

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

The Annual Meeting will be held at the John McCormick State Building located at 1 Ashburton Place in the cafeteria from 10am-1pm. Ken Duckworth is our featured speakers and lunch will be provided. Mary will send out flyers.

Tentative Title: Workforce Development Part II: Continuing the Dialogue to an Authentic Partnership

Tentative agenda of the annual meeting:

• Introduction to MassPRA discussing the history and values of the board
• Ken Duckworth
• Committee reports
• Recognize USPRA award recipients

There was discussion about asking a student the class or Sue Sciaraffa speaking also during the Annual Meeting.

Margaret requested an effort to contact your local area DMH offices to invite people to the Annual Meeting.

Will has set the date for the conference, which will be held October 18, 2007 at Holy Cross. This year there will be 9 break out rooms and exhibit space.

Everyone on this committee please email Will so the conference committee can convene to streamline the conference preparation.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

 The February 23^rd regional conversation attracted many CASCAP employees and was very successful.

Mary spoke with Ann Roy who is very interested in participating with our board. She was active member in her Georgia chapter before relocating.

Brett has agreed to take on a regional conversation in June at Westborough State Hospital hosting an art show that takes place outside under tents. She is interested in inviting Niki Glasser from MPOWER to speak on the same day.

Work Inc. joined as an organizational member, totaling the number of organizational members to 15, which is an all time high for the Massachusetts chapter.

There was discussion around how to get members to be active on our committees. Marcia recommended identifying projects we need assistance with as a means to draw people to participate with us. Potential areas that members can assist are: online gallery, regional conversations (sponsoring a location), CPRP preparation course, and volunteer writers for our website.

CURRICULUM

The last class of the PSR curriculum is Wednesday, March 14th.  All board members are invited to come to lunch to celebrate the graduates.  Class will be in session until 11:45 and it will end by 1 pm. If you arrive early please wait outside the room until class is finished.  The lunch is being held at Worcester Youth Guidance Center in their conference room. Margaret was able to change the meeting space for the Central MA providers so the room won't need to be vacated by 1:00 pm.

Feedback that has been received focuses around having creating two tracks of training; one track would be for case managers, who have work experience, lasting six classes, and a second track for people new to the field lasting for twelve classes.

CPRP WORKBOOKS

 Bob and Brian have been editing the CPRP workbook order form. As soon as it is completed it will be put up on the website for use.

WEBSITE

Brett will be meeting with Ralph when he is in the area again to discuss potential website restructuring.

E-ACADEMY

 Lyn and Marcia have been asked to give feedback for the E-Academy curriculum. The table of contents is out, and feedback has been given from our representatives on the board. Bob has arranged a meeting with Michael Weeks, a board member, and Christine Power to discuss the E-Academy curriculum. Bob will explore to see if Pat Nemec would be available to work on the curriculum once E-Academy’s current writer meets his deadline. The long term goal is for MassPRA to get co-authorization on this project.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Marcia and Diane have assisted Margaret in putting the priority areas into goal form. During this process a number of questions arose, leading to the need for a lunch retreat for strategic planning. The meeting will be held on April 11 from 10-2 at Marcia’s home in Shelburne Falls in Western Massachusetts. If you are interested in attending, please email Margaret to inform her.

SCHOLARSHIPS

There were a few individuals who needed scholarship money for the annual conference. Eve wanted to know from our board if we are open to supporting members from our community to attend the conference. The board was willing to support members to attend the conference. Anyone interested would need to request directly to the MassPRA board.