Great Start Montcalm          

Parent Coalition             

Minutes

Heritage United Methodist Church

September 29, 2009, 6:30-7:30 pm

19931 W. Kendaville Rd., Peirson, Mi.  49339

Present:  Mishawn Zudweg,  Shari Olsen,  Brenda Hall,  Suzie Batenburg,  David Princer,  Susan Sunden

1.       Welcome

2.       Summer Review of PC Activities: The PC had a very busy and productive summer! We marched in 3 of 4 planned parades:   Coral Days, Stanton Old Fashioned Days was rained out, Greenville Danish Fest and Howard City Harvest Fest. We completed goals of community awareness, recruitment, and advocacy at every parade! Mike Huckleberry marches at every parade, so we had good face-to-face time with him all summer!

Parent Coalition Potluck: We had about 40 people attend the summer potluck at Sue Sunden’s house! We held a postcard rally and held a meeting to kickoff summer!

Anderson and Girls Orchard Event: The Collaborative Board and PC came together for a family friendly event as well as a meeting for both groups.

Articles were written for the Greenville Daily News regarding supporting early childhood programming.

3.        Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) Updates: The PC was updated as to ECIC’s involvement in the Childcare Regional Resource Centers, and work that continues in this area. Protective Factors: Blueprint for Strong Families information was shared.  This involves community investment to reduce and eliminate child abuse and neglect.

 ECIC continues to emphasize the importance of Advocating for Early Childhood Services, especially during this critical budget decision time. ECIC continues to support Advocacy events even after the budget is complete, due to an upcoming election year with new candidates entering the political arena. ECIC believes these candidates must receive their message regarding the importance of early childhood programming.

4.        Montcalm Great Start/Parent Coalition Goals and Objectives: Western/Panhandle PC Goals and objectives were reviewed for revision, change or edit. No changes were warranted at this time as per the members. 

Esther Combs will attend an upcoming meeting and speak about Social Emotional Health and Resilience in Children and Families. The PC plans on inviting surrounding Parent Coalitions from other counties and any community members who wish to attend.

Legislative Luncheon schedule was reviewed and PC members were invited to attend. Legislative Luncheons are the third Monday of every month, at 12:00 noon at Montcalm Community College. If you need a ride, contact Sue Sunden.

5.       Parent Time:  Shari Olsen spoke about the Childcare incident in Middleville Michigan where a mom watching children before they got on the bus in the morning was in legal trouble because she was not a licensed childcare provider.  Rep. Brian Calley and the parent were on the TODAY show discussing the situation. Brian Calley is currently introducing legislation to combat the proceedings.

Suzie Batenburg supported the need for an article to be present in the Howard City Paper: The River Valley Shopper. The article should describe the PC and what it entails, plus include our goals and objectives. A focus of the article should be to recruit more members to the PC.

David Princer reviewed the Boyne Mountain ECIC conference that he and Susan Sunden attended in June 2009. He described a session Sue and he attended where the Newaygo County Parent Liaison and Director spoke of their activities and structure for their PC. David suggested that our Coalition visit Newaygo County to get ideas, gain insight and glean important information for application for Montcalm County PC.

Susan Sunden announced that incentives will be in place if members bring a guest to the next PC meeting. Further information to follow.

Next Meeting for Panhandle/Westside Parent Coalition:  October 27, 2009, 6:30-7:30 pm. Heritage United Methodist Church, Peirson, MI.

Respectfully Submitted,

Susan Sunden, M.Ed., CTRS

Parent Liaison, Great Start Montcalm

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