In attendance: Carlin Christy and Jen Vickers of HCEF; Sarah Aglio of Healthy Start House, Stacy Dubina of Sisters Place, Andrea McIlhattan of Womanspace East, Cacie Cunningham of Open Arms, Anita Brown of Bridge to Independence, Major Clarke of Salvation Army, Stephanie Pettus of Women's Center & Shelter, Joann English of Sojourner House, and Barbara Berret of Bethel Park Library/HCEF

Not in attendance: Traci Arnold and Rachel Weleski of AK Hope Center, Tina McCallian of AVAC, _____ of Hearth, Amy Black of Crisis Center North, Jolie Meade of Womansplace and Judy Jackson of Salvation Army

I. Shelter staff gave brief reports on the children and programs at their individual sites.

• Stacy Dubina commented that Sisters Place is starting the Building Blocks program with Star Reading and Accelerated Reader. She was surprised by how low the scores were for her students, but they are looking forward to getting the program off the ground. The students had just completed their first book and will begin quizzing soon!
• Stephanie at Women's Center and Shelter stated that they have 26 kids right now and are full.
• Anita of Bridge to Independence commented that there have been lots of changes at BTI including new staff and lots of babies being born. They have been building up their children's programs rooms little by little in 2007 and 2008.
• Cacie at Open Arms noted that because she has a low number of students, she will begin working with Stephanie Leavy at San Kofa House to bring more programs to the teens there and engage them in the Learning Center.
• Sarah Aglio noted that there are lots of newborns at Healthy Start House and they are trying to work through the behavioral problems being faced by their one school-age student who attends Duquesne.
• Andrea at Womanspace East noted that a new volunteer will be providing her kids with drama and creative expression workshops once a week. She thinks the children will enjoy it and thanked HCEF for connecting her to the volunteer.

II. New people were welcomed to the group!

• Carlin introduced 2 new people to the group. Major Clarke is the new director at the Salvation Army Family Crisis Center. She came on in January after working at the S.A.'s East Liberty site. She is still getting her feet wet, but loves her job and interacting with the clients.
• Joann English of Sojourner House was also introduced to the group. HCEF will be working with this organization to build 2 mini-Learning Centers in their buildings. Joann has worked with Sojourner House (located in Garfield) since its inception in the early 90's. She described the 2 programs they operate, which includes a 6 month D&A program for moms with kids ages 12 and under. The second site (located in East Liberty/Highland Park) is a Permanent Program for dually diagnosed Moms and children. They will be completing additional units in the future. Joann is interested in speaking with other Learning Center staff to learn how to manage a large group of children.

III. Updates on HCEF Programs and Resources

• Carlin provided staff with the Survey Monkey results from June 07 to the present. Statistics were shared on the demographics of Learning Center utilization. She thanked everyone for sending in their statistics and for participating.
• The staff looked over the most recent "Best Practices" document, also compiled from the monthly reports. Carlin noted that these are also available on the HCEF website and are updated each month: www.homelessfund.org/shelters/shelter_bestpractices.html
• The important dates for summer programs were reviewed, including Mini-Grants and Tools for School. Carlin reminded the staff that the Mini-Grant final reports were due Friday April 25th.
• The Field Trip funding form was passed out to the group. The award amount has been raised to $300 (from $250 last year). If you wish to apply for funding, please turn in the application by May 15th. Funds will be distributed in early June.
• Carlin announced plans for the CAPE Summer camp. HCEF will be providing hands on science activities to children via Labratz Science Club. Kids who participate will get their own T-shirts! The sites that will have a full week of programming include: WC&S, WSE, Salvation Army, Sisters Place, and MOMS House/Sojourner House. Those with potential one day programming include Hope/AVAC, Bridge to Independence, Womansplace, and Primary Care. Carlin encouraged the group to look at the Labratz website for more info: labratzscienceclub.com/corp/
• HCEF announced that this Spring they will also be offering a 1-time anti-violence training for shelter staff to be certified "Safety Kids" instructors. HCEF will pay for up to 3 staff from each shelter to attend the training, which will focus on lures, home alone, bullying, conflict resolution, buddy system, cyber safety, self esteem, etc. for the K-5 age group. Included with the 6-hour training are 2 age-appropriate curriculums courtesy of HCEF. This has a value of $270 dollar. The date May 10th was offered as the training day, but several staff commented that this day would not work for them. Carlin agreed to find alternative dates (weekdays, not Saturdays) and to get back to the group. She asked for a quick response from the staff in order to secure the training date. For more information: www.safetykids.org
• Carlin thanked those staff who volunteered at the Champions Benefit or the Home and Garden Show.

IV. Building Blocks Introduction and Overview

• Carlin, Jennifer, and Stacy Dubina gave a few additional comments regarding the new program at Sisters Place. Prizes have already been given to the students for motivation. The points in the Accelerated Reader program will be tied to "money" and the prizes will be available for purchase in a "store." It was noted that this will help with the concepts of math and money value in addition to the reading aspects. There will be a parent kick-off this week to introduce the mothers to the program. Carlin and Jennifer are excited to get this program going at Sisters Place and will bring it to additional sites as time goes on.

V. Raffle

• Prizes were distributed to shelter staff to enhance their Learning Centers and Shelters.

VI. Training

• Barbara Berret, Children's Librarian at Bethel Park, shared resources with the group to help engage readers. Informational resource guides were distributed to the group and will be available on the HCEF website.

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