December 22, 2021

EPIC Board Meeting Agenda 1-8

EPIC Board Meeting Draft AgendaOriginal_EPIC_Image

January 8th, 2022, 10am – 11am

EPIC web address: eastphillips.org

Email: sarah@eastphillips.org

Office: 2433 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55404

Phone:  (612) 354-6802


Board Roster: Laura Dale, Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes, David Ingold, Shontal Lajeunesse, Steve Sandberg, Earl Simms, Karen Townsend, Nikolas Winter-Simat

Board Members Present:

Board Members Not Present:

Members:

Guests:


10:00   Review vision and mission

Welcome guests/intros

Approve agenda,

Approve minutes,

Reminders:

●      Next Community Meeting will be: Thursday,  January 13 from 6:30 to 7:30 at East Phillips Park (masks required) and online (link to join meeting can be found at eastphillips.org)

o   Discuss whether to keep hybrid due to Omicron variant

●      Next Board Meeting will be: Saturday, February 1 from 10am to 11am at the EPIC office and online (link to join meeting can be found at eastphillips.org)

o   Board Meetings are open to the public, the public is welcome to join virtually. In person attendance will be reserved for Board members and staff in order to follow safe distancing.

●      Annual Meeting: March 26 2022

o   Those up for re-election: Laura Dale, Nikolas Winter-Simat, David Ingold, Karen Townsend

o   Are you interested in running again?

o   Know a neighbor who might be interested in running?

▪        Start talking with them about the board, or give their name and contact info to Sarah so she can reach out to them

o   Plan for hybrid mtg??

o   Interested in being on the planning committee for the Annual Meeting?

            Announcements:

●      Board received monthly financial report via email

○      Also find here and posted on website

○      Any questions or concerns?

●      Board motions passed via emails since last board meeting:

MOTION: The EPIC board approves of paying rent ahead for 18 months at the current EPIC office (2433 Bloomington Avenue) using our CPP funds, passed, 7 board members emailed stating they approved of the motion

 

MOTION: The EPIC board approves of purchasing office materials as outlined in the Purchase Request form for paper and ink, not to exceed $1700, passed, 7 board members emailed stating they approved of the motion

 

10:05   Report/Update from Executive Coordinator

1)     Greater Phillips Meetings

Decided to bring the following ideas to our various boards and see what aligns with current project / organizational goals and capacity. We also talked about picking a project that is strategic: one that helps us build power in our neighborhoods and/or a sense of shared interest and identity.

●      Green space/ Phillips garden tour

○      Could be combined with a Phillips history and/or walking tour

○      A series of workshops hosted in garden spaces across all four neighborhoods

●      Phillips-wide strategic approach to dealing with developers

○      Developing a shared set of expectations could give our neighborhoods more power

○      We could use/adopt/modify the Green Zones scorecard

●      Shared traffic/ lighting safety improvements

○      24th Street goes through all four of our neighborhoods, could be a good project site

●      Safety - connect neighbors who live on 2900 blocks all through Midtwon, East and West Phillips

2)     Contacted by Mpls Parks to inform us that EPIC could sponsor public art mural on the basketball courts at East Phillips Park

●      Find more information here

3)     Ameriprise Grant

●      Read more here

●      Grants to revitalize housing and neighborhoods and enhancing cultural awareness

●      Interested in applying to help cover food and entertainment costs

●      Requires an audited financial statement or financial review prepared in conformance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), completed within the last 2 years. Did the audit that the city do fulfill this? The audit says that it was "conducted in accordance with attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants."

○      If so, apply?

4)     Update on Reimagining Safety Partnership opportunity

●      EPIC was selected for an interview - Steve and Sarah attended on ⅙

●      Should hear early next week if we are chosen

●      At last month’s meeting discussed augmenting the stipend with EPIC funds or raising additional funds

5)     NACDI/4 Sisters Farm is requesting a letter of support from EPIC for a MN Urban Ag Grant to support start-up farming costs such as soil, water, tools, labor expenses and a portion of staff time. 

●      They would love to show that we have the support of the community and partnerships with neighborhood organizations such as EPIC

6)     Review Garden Committee budget

7)     Southside Harm Reduction report

8)     Social Media Report - presentation

●      More Facebook data in this folder 2021 - EPIC Board Docs - Google Drive

●      View the Mailchimp report here Mailchimp 2021 Report

9)     Review MN Secretary of State filing

●      Will file in February

MOTION: The EPIC board approves of changing the agent on the MN Secretary of State filing to Nikolas Winter Simat,

            Report from Departments

1)     Vision Department

●      Strategic Planning

○      You all received the contract to review, currently working with Devika to finalize and to set up the dates for each step

■      Devika came back and requested that due to the uncertainty of COVID that we add a line to the scope of services below the steps stating that

●      “The above is our proposed timeline but there is room for flexibility as needed. For example, if someone key to the strategic planning process gets COVID and there is a need to reschedule a meeting, or if it is taking a longer time than predicted to get a sufficient level of community input the timeline may need to be adjusted.”

○      Vision Committee will do a large portion of the work for the Strategic Plan, with steps for the community and board to give feedback

○      Vision Committee will consist of Vision Department (Nikolas, Earl and Karen), along with any board members and community members who are interested

■      Who else is interested?

■      Since we are forming a committee, our bylaws state we need a charter - review draft here

○      Find timeline with proposed dates for each step here

■      Step 1 is with the Vision Committee to identify key areas for intervention for EPIC (i.e. housing, safety, neighbor participation, etc.) and setting long term goals in these key areas. This is a two hour meeting (including prep time) and Devika is proposing Feb 1 (weekday) or Feb 5 (Saturday)

 

MOTION:

 

10:35   New business and delegate to proper spaces (work group, department etc.)

 

11:00   Adjourn