November 27, 2007

National Action Board Meeting Minutes
November 27, 2007

Members present:
April Mendenhall- Conference Coordinator, appointed Chair after Tommy Inglis resigned
Megan Baker- North Eastern Region President Antoine Jefferson- Southern Region Second Year
Amber Mathisen- Western Region Second Year
Jasmine Honore- Business Manager
Amy Schwertner- Secretary Christy Clary- Advocacy Team Liaison Jessica Falkenthal- Web Team Liaison, proxy for Kristie Storms
Autumn Sheridan- Western Region representative, proxy for April Mendenhall

Members Absent:
Kristie Storms- North Central Region President
Sarah Edens- Southern Region President
Beth Bray- North Central Second Year Vanessa Cerny- North Eastern Second Year

The November meeting of the National Action Board of the National Collegiate 4-H Organization was called to order at 9:04 PM (CST). Mendenhall called the meeting to order via teleconference call.

Schwertner announced that the minutes from the October meeting have been posted on the NAB blog. Falkenthal moved to accept the minutes as posted to the blog. Jefferson seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

Under old business, Mendenhall reminded members that NAB will be having their December meeting on December 4 at 9 PM (CST). Cathann Kress, National 4-H Council, will be participating in the conference call. Falkenthal delivered the document to Kress that NAB had prepared for her in October and would be sending to the NAB list serve. All members are asked to review and be familiar with the document for the December meeting as it will be referred to during the discussion with Kress. Falkenthal also reminded members to read the posts on the NAB Facebook group as they will also be referred to. Falkenthal will send links to the Facebook group and the document in an e-mail to the NAB list serve. Finally, Mendenhall asked that all NAB members be in attendance at the December meeting to maintain the status of our national organization.

The second item of business discussed was the creation of a set of Education goals for the national organization for the next three years. The goals should be related to the national initiatives set by National 4-H Council and are suppose to give direction to the next three national conferences as well as the regional conferences. Discussion on developing a document and goals to present to Kress at the December 4 meeting followed. Falkenthal mentioned developing a certification that conference delegates could receive after attending the workshops or trainings. There are six different emphasis areas, and Falkenthal mentioned that NAB focus on teaching two areas at the regional conferences in 2008, two at the national conference in 2009, and two at the regional conferences in 2009. Members agreed that this would present each of the six emphasis areas to collegiate 4-H members within the next two years. Mendenhall said that she would prepare a short document using the six educational goals from the Volunteer, Research, Knowledge, and Competency document. She will revamp each area so that it is focused toward collegiate 4-H members instead of 4-H volunteers. Once the document is prepared she will send it to the NAB list serve. Members should look over the document before the December 4 meeting; it will be presented to Kress, and members should be familiar with the document.

Discussion on the strategic plan was the next item of business. NAB went over several different areas of the strategic plan that need to be developed before national conference 2008.

-The first area of concern was the National Acton Board Handbook that Mendenhall has been preparing. The handbook is a document that lists responsibilities of each position on the National Action Board. Each member has been asked to prepare a short description of their position’s responsibility on the National Action Board. The descriptions should be e-mailed to Mendenhall as soon as possible.

-Diversity was the next area of concern. Jefferson spoke on the progress he and Honore have been making toward the NAB’s diversity goals. He said that they have developed two different ideas to increase the diversity of the collegiate 4-H organization. The first is club oriented. The idea is for clubs to partner with people outside of the 4-H family to complete projects and activities; thus, increasing the awareness of collegiate 4-H, and hopefully, increasing the diversity of the organization’s members. Secondly, they would like to encourage collegiate 4-H clubs from 1890 schools to partner with 1960 schools. This will create a completely diverse new group of individuals for the collegiate 4-H family. Jefferson was asked by Mendenhall and agreed to create an informational document explaining ways clubs could become more diverse. The document will be added to packets given to delegates at the National Collegiate 4-H Conference. Jefferson and Honore will also plan an ice breaker game that focuses on diversity for the national conference. Jefferson will also make changes to the club of the year application so that it diversity. This document will be presented to delegates at the national business meeting to be approved.

-Mendenhall then discussed the possibility of collegiate 4-H partnering with NAE4-HA. This was one of the goals set in the Organizational Affairs section of the Strategic Plan. Mendenhall announced that Betty Wingerter, President of the NAE4-HA national organization and former Ohio State Collegiate 4-H member, will be meeting with the National Action Board on February 20 in Denver. Wingerter will discuss with the NAB possibilities of the two organizations partnering and possibly combining the two conferences. Mendenhall will be contact with Wingerter until the meeting in Denver.

-The next item of business pertaining to the Strategic Plan was in regards to the National Service Project of emphasis. Both of the current national service projects expire at conference in 2008 and a form needs to be created to either get the current projects renewed or for new applicants. Falkenthal mentioned that she had the past requirements for submitting a national service project, and Schwertner has the form used two years to submit service projects. Falkenthal and Schwertner will work jointly to develop an application for submission for the national service project of emphasis. The service projects submitted will be voted on by delegates at the national business meeting.

-The National Service File, also known as “Ideas in Motion,” was the next area of concern discussed regarding the Strategic Plan. Mendenhall is currently updating the 1990 file as well as compiling new service projects for a packet that will be distributed to delegates at national conference. All NAB members were asked to fill out the “Ideas in Motion” form with service projects that their club has participated in. This will add more service projects to the book and give delegates more ideas for their clubs. Falkenthal e-mailed a link to the form to all NAB members.

-The last area of concern regarding the Strategic Plan was the Service Project Grant that was discussed in the Community Service section of the Plan. Because NAB does not have the funds to provide a grant to clubs of the national 4-H organization, Schwertner will compile a list of grants available that clubs can use to apply for if funds are needed. The list will include the name of the grant, the deadline for submitting the grant, and a link to access the grant. The list will be added to the national collegiate 4-H website for clubs to access when needed.

A National Conference update was given next. Mendenhall discussed several different activities that they will be offering delegates, and also asked NAB members to lead some of the workshops.

-At the 2008 national conference they will be offering a National Action Board Workshop. The goal of the workshop is to give delegates a better understanding of what the National Action Board is, and their roll in the national collegiate 4-H organization. Mendenhall asked for a coordinator for this workshop who would develop a short agenda and lead the discussion. Schwertner volunteered, and Honore said that she would assist.

-Mendenhall then went over NAB requirements at national conference. National Action Board members are asked to be at the Renaissance Hotel before 5 PM on February 20, because the meeting with Wingerter will begin at 5. Because the airport is a good distance from the Hotel, members’ flights should arrive no later than 3:30 PM. Cathann Kress and Byron Garrett will also be participating in the meeting with Wingerter so it is imperative that all National Action Board members be present and on time. There will also be a meeting during the dance on Saturday night. All new NAB and old NAB members are required to participate. The meeting will be an informative meeting for new NAB members.

-The selection process for secretary and business manager was discussed next. Schwertner said that she had the web and advocacy team applications and would e-mail to the NAB list-serve for review. Applications for the secretary, business manger, and web and advocacy team will be sent in an e-mail to delegates prior to conference. If there are any changes or questions that NAB members would like to see added to the applications they should get in contact with Falkenthal as she will be compiling and creating the new applications.

-Finally, NAB discussed the voting member orientation. The orientation went very well at conference 2007 and made the business meeting run very smooth. The orientation will last one hour and should introduce proper voting procedures and amendments that will be on the floor for discussion. Clary volunteered to lead the orientation, and Schwertner will help.

Under regional updates, Falkenthal reported on the North Central Region. They had their regional conference the first weekend of November in Purdue. Next fall their regional conference will be hosted by the University of Missouri. The North Central Region will also be hosting the 2009 National Collegiate 4-H Conference in either Kansas City or the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Falkenthal was elected as the 2008 North Central Region President and will be next years National Action Board Chair.

Under Web and Advocacy updates, Clary announced that the news letter has not gone out yet. They are still working on it, and it should go out in the next few weeks.

The next item of business was the National Leadership Grant. Honore said that she had sent the grant to Baker, but it had never been cashed because the North East Region no longer needed it. Since the 2008 National Conference team had also applied for the grant, discussion began on weather or not the money would go to them. Mendenhall said that the grant would be helpful in paying for National Conference workshop. Discussion was tabled to the next meeting.

Sheridan then moved to adjourn the meeting. Mathisen seconded the motion. Motioned passed unanimously. The eleventh meeting of the National Action Board was adjourned at 10:16 PM (CST).

Respectfully,
Amy Schwertner
National Action Board Secretary