Minutes 04/09/1996

An Executive Session convened at 5:30 p.m., pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.02, notice having been duly given.

A Work Study/Strategic Conversation meeting of the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board was scheduled to be held at 6:30 p.m. at GateWay Community College at 108 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85034.

PRESENT

GOVERNING BOARD
Donald R. Campbell, President, Nancy Stein, Secretary, Ed Contreras, Member, Linda B. Rosenthal, Member, Roy C. Amrein, Member

ADMINISTRATION
Paul A. Elsner, Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr., Rufus Glasper, Ron Bleed, William F. Waechter, Janice Bradshaw, Mary Vanis for Larry Christiansen, John Cordova, Art DeCabooter, Raul Cardenas, Homero Lopez, J. Marie Pepicello, Phil Randolph, Linda Thor, Tessa Martinez-Pollack, Arnette Ward, Stan Grossman

ABSENT
STATE BOARD
Jim Ullman

CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by President Campbell.

EXECUTIVE SESSION
President Campbell called for a motion convening an executive session, notice having been previously given.

MOTION 8520
Ed Contreras moved that an executive session be convened. Motion carried 5-0.

The meeting recessed at 5:31 p.m.

The Work Study/Strategic Conversation meeting reconvened at 6:30 p.m.

(I-A) STRATEGIC ISSUES REGARDING BUILDING COMMUNITIES: LISTENING AND LEARNING TOGETHER

The outcome was to identify what contributions are currently being made, what contributions can yet be made, and the obstacles or barriers that are observed in the efforts to build strong communities through conversation between representatives from the local community and the Maricopa community. Don Campbell welcomed the group. Janet Beauchamp also welcomed the group, read the ground rules, and immediately asked that small groups be formed. Small groups were structured by region and were asked to address three questions: 1) What are the Maricopa Community Colleges doing that successfully contribute to strong communities?, 2) What kinds of things should the Maricopa Community Colleges do with other groups to improve the successful building of community?, and 3) What obstacles or barriers have you observed in this effort?

Dr. Marie Pepicello brought the large group back together and asked those who wished to receive minutes from this meeting to give their names and addresses and also to fill out the survey form provided.

The groups reported as follows:

GROUP A - CENTRAL; WEST
Facilitator and Recorder: Al Battle and Dorothy Sisneros

1) What are the Maricopa Community Colleges doing that successfully contributes to strong communities? - Leadership in education Elementary and Secondary catalyst Serve as coordinating point - Serve as convener for small cities/communities in government - Resource for parents - future - Skill Center training leads to jobs Companies relocating - Health care agencies/facilities hire graduates from community colleges Provide employees - Training for neighborhood leaders - Bulletin board development Electronic

2) What kinds of things should the Maricopa Community Colleges do with other groups to improve the successful building of community? - Helping others learn to work with communities (non-profits, etc.) Policy governance model - Continue, expand training for small groups (block watch, etc.) - Service learning developed more - students work as part of the curriculum - Trained facilitators to guide effort - Use facilities for forums - place to discuss issues at schools, churches - go out to them - Information resources - technology, etc. Share/collaborate on best ways to share - Need to do better of inviting the community in Proactive, not reactive to needs - Build into classes/curriculum and projects are a result - Community sections in paper - use to address issues and forums - consistent message

3) What obstacles or barriers have you observed in this effort? - How we think - "this is the way we deal with it" mindset - Systems are in place - static - Not as flexible as possible - meeting times, etc. - Competition gets in way among the colleges - affects collaboration (limited resources) - Lack of resources to do the additional things we need to do - Help the others enhance image - Might help with block grants - Neighborhoods are overwhelmed with everyone trying to help - Burnout of leaders - Politicians - see themselves as true leaders - Scarcity mentality - abundance is future?

GROUP B: NORTH AND NORTHWEST PHOENIX
Facilitator and Recorder: Holly McKinzie Beene and Pam Joraanstad

1) What are the Maricopa Community Colleges doing that successfully contributes to strong communities? - Connections/connectedness - Joint activities/projects - Work with school system - 2+2+2 - Work with Boys/Girls Clubs/volunteerism - Blood drives - Speaker forums - Career day - Continuing education - Literacy and basic education - Economic development - skills - Safety net - education - Employees as consumers - Major employer - Pull out of talent/cultural appreciation - Volunteerism - campus as a whole and contributions of employees individually - Masterminds/Ace-Plus - Facilities - community use - recreation and entertainment - Partnerships - Team sports/arts/theater/music - Service learning - K to Gray program

2) What kinds of things should the Maricopa Community Colleges do with other groups to improve the successful building of community? - Respond to high level tension/illegal immigrants - Develop programs for middle school age children/connections - Academic buddy system for incoming students - Shared social events - Help develop sense of community Many newcomers coming in Be a catalyst, provide information - Share resources (human, facilities) - Tackle community issues beyond educational issues - Extend technology to community classrooms - Brainpower - business faculty - Short term seminars - Off-site instruction/service

3) What obstacles or barriers have you observed in this effort? - Add-ons - more work for the overworked - Policies - Partisan politics - Need to change mindset that community college can be a forum (raise relevance of issues) - Liability - bringing children Physical facility - Institution image to identity of people - putting community back into community college - Turf - who is responsible? - Finances

GROUP C: CENTRAL AND EAST PHOENIX
Facilitator and Recorder: Carol Scarafiotti and Stacey Ayers

1) What are our communities? - High schools by area - Economic as defined by groups/students - Age groups - Common problems - Local business - Community of interest defined by programs What makes a strong community? - Current, employable skills - High level of participation - Common values - Relationships - Taking responsibility/ownership - Giving back, adding value - Structure - Diversity/accepting diversity - Accepting, valuing 1) What are the Maricopa Community Colleges doing that successfully contributes to strong communities? - Access to college facilities - Business partnerships - employment, skills - School connection/charter schools - meeting unmet needs of high schools - At risk programs - Service learning - Community service/volunteerism - Literacy programs - Scholarships - Flexible scheduling - Broader area of student services - Hands-on training - Skill Center - Re-entry opportunities

2) What kinds of things should the Maricopa Community Colleges do with other groups to improve the successful building of community? - Work closely with elementary/secondary schools and universities - Should District get involved in religious groups? - Be a convener of forums for community issues - Homeless group as part of the community - Parenting skills - Serve as facilitator to bring groups together to solve common problems - Utilizing resources of community - Retired, community agencies, prisons - Business/industry - Diverse communities together to focus on service learning - Focus on global life management - Service for underserved, i.e., LD and ADA

3) What obstacles or barriers have you observed in this effort? - Issue of resources - time, money, people - Difficulty in identifying, i.e., the homeless - Lack of prioritization - Level of effort (not enough) - Listening - Being responsive to students - Assumption becomes a barrier - Structure of system - lack of access, i.e., incentive, method of rewards - Need to be politically neutral - Need to motivate all levels of community - General communication: formal/informal - We talk to ourselves - We don't outreach - Lack of data/relevant factors - MCCCD should be reaching "out" and "reaching down" - "Turf" issues - Assumption that someone else is "doing it" - No systemic view of total - We are not a system of communities - Lack of a comprehensive plan for Maricopa {existing plans that no one knows about (i.e., Maricopa County government)}

GROUP D: EAST VALLEY
Facilitators and Recorder: Barbara Thelander, Terry Pickeral and Irwin Noyes

1) What are the Maricopa Community Colleges doing that successfully contributes to strong communities? - Open atmosphere for teaching/learning process - Leadership in community organizations - Focal point for community partnerships and corporations, i.e., United Way, etc. - Participation of employees in community functions/organizations - Educating the community - Catalyst for change - Providing specific opportunities for citizenship in and from the campuses - Provide leadership to the community through service - Membership in neighborhood development committees - Opportunities for athletic and artistic participation - Job placement - working as interface between industry and students - Provide facilities (a place in the sun) - Partnerships for seamless education K- 14 (womb to tomb) - New learning opportunities for our communities

2) What kinds of things should the Maricopa Community Colleges do with other groups to improve the successful building of community? - Greater sense of awareness for partnerships between colleges and business/industry (win-win for both) - Discounted tuition for special population - Continuing development in school to work initiatives - Expand neighborhood college curriculum - Communicate, celebrate and coordinate - Increase ability to share resources - Plan to eliminate "turf" - collaborate - Find a way to serve the underserved population - Expand and keep current library resources - Speakers bureau - Expand communication networks, i.e., e-mail, web, etc. - Flexible schedules and expanded curriculum - Community access to joint grant writing - More work-related opportunities tied to curriculum - Remove fear of community to use campus services - Public activities on campus - Increase internal communication - Work more strategically with community agencies on common concerns, i.e., gang problems, health/welfare, illiteracy, etc. ( use joint expertise)

3) What obstacles or barriers have you observed in this effort? - People and resources - Making it a priority Make decision makers aware and supportive of needs - Apathy and lack of knowledge - Resistance to change in deliveries - all staff - Corporate stereotype - Get out of old model for bureaucracy - It takes too long to make it happen (streamline decision/response process) - Lack of visible mission statement - Reluctance of staff to get involved in community issues - Lack of timeliness and dynamic curriculum - Assume faculty/staff have skills for neighborhood development

GROUP E: SOUTH PHOENIX/EAST VALLEY
Facilitators and Recorder: Isabel Leroy, Marybeth Mason, and Maria Hesse

1) What are the Maricopa Community Colleges doing that successfully contributes to strong communities? - Chandler-Gilbert - neighborhood leadership college - brings resources, information, skills to homeowners and their neighborhoods - Provides volunteers and service-learning students (example: St. Vincent de Paul) - Facilitates neighborhood workshops (Center for Public Policy) - Service learning programs - Variety of partnerships in community (example: high school, business/industry, municipalities, all levels) - Projects for youth leadership - Going into community; asking about needs - Stable employment base - developing the people who contribute to the community - Recreational opportunities for community - Cultural opportunities for community - Advertising, reaching out through churches - MCCCD has established trust and confidence with community,; invites partnerships - Service learning connection to local community agencies - Community recognizes students as a resource/seeks help from college - Alternative high school - program for at-risk youth; in collaboration with Chandler Unified School District - Colleges seek input from citizen-based advisory councils - Summer recreation and youth programs that introduce young students to college (Example: SMCC ACE, Early Outreach) - Connection to Boys and Girls Clubs

2) What kinds of things should the Maricopa Community Colleges do with other groups to improve the successful building of community? - Publicize impact on community - Tell community about options, programs - has effect of both informing and spurring ideas about different kinds of partnerships/involvements - EMCCC has one room set aside in which community members can hold meetings; needs advertising - Space needed for some community colleges to meet community needs - Gyms, theaters, meeting rooms, etc. for community use - Co-utilization of space(s) - Communication needs improvement, how? (not just press releases) - Replicate this strategic conversation at each individual college campus - 24-hour operations of college; flexibility to meet people's schedule needs - MCCCD find ways to survey community to find out what issues communities/people what to discuss - Break out of the "box" in terms of service to community (example: SMCC automatic bank tellers) - Help people to get through daily living - Connections with homeowners associations (boards, representatives) - Grants love partnerships; investigate new community partnerships - Connect with university conference on community building; workshops, issues (do this process in a larger way) - Many people are intimidated to come on campus; make more "community friendly" - Take the college to the community (example: do a strategic conversation at Chandler Community Center)

3) What obstacles or barriers have you observed in this effort? - "Turf"; this is city turf, this is school turf -- you don't come unless your invited - Address issues of bureaucracy - Share maintenance, resources with community agencies (both human, physical and financial) - Advertising, invitations to get involved - Employees live in communities in which they work; then they know neighbors, people and can help make connections. This needs to happen in a planned way; intentional - Mission = to interact - More linkages between community colleges and universities - Space - Man/woman power; time - Let communities know what we are doing - Ask them what we need to be doing - A million constraints; a million opportunities

Following the reporting of the small groups, the following suggestions were made:
1. Participants should replicate the process in their own communities.
2. Develop shared vision across communities.
3. Develop a report and a list of what is happening.
4. MCCCD develop an annual report and share that report with the community.
5. Develop one or two ideas from the list generated in this evening's conversation.
6. Analysis/inventory of how our development fosters skills for working with community.
7. Analysis of best practices - "what work" for replication.
8. Take advantage of working with non-profits.
9. Develop process for students to share ideas with Governing Board and District
10. Develop a comprehensive plan that includes total community issues - i.e., transportation, county government, etc.
11. Develop a process so that community knows what we are doing.

Plus
GateWay a good host, Good ideas developed, Good interchange, Number of people, Some students, Non-profits invited, Comfortable and non-threatening, Similar ideas, Topic, Session format, Location at campus, Good organization

Delta
Sound problem - need more space, More students, More invitations to community, MCCCD invite people one on one, More business participation, Use information to support people in communities, Provide more services - out and down, On-going mailing list, Appearance of white paper document