Say Yes to No: June 23, 3008
Meeting Notes

In attendance: Susie Peirce, Judy Lindsay, Judy King, Otha Aden, Kathyrn Lopez, Angie Glick, Jeff Studebaker, Greg Barnes, Down Cole-Easterday, Megan Kelly

Coalition Book Read Dates:

June 26 from 12 noon to 1pm in the ACPL Main Branch Business and Tech meeting room. (There is another group in there right at 1pm so be prepared to end at 1pm.) We will discuss chapters 6-9.

July 10 from 12 noon to 1pm in the ACPL Main Branch Business and Tech meeting room.

Book Read Resources

We discussed Parent University, being piloted at Indiana Stamp and Partner’s First Credit Union. Megan has divided the book into 8 ½ hour long lessons, with a parent handout. The format is for the facilitator to present the high points of the book section for 8-10 minutes so that parents who may not have read the book can participate, then spend the next 20 minutes discussing the book and q and a. Megan has the handouts and the facilitator notes if anyone finds them useful.

It was suggested to create a Say Yes to No Training of Trainers for Parent University as P.U. unfolds, so that businesses can have their own in-house trainer. This may be beneficial, especially to larger businesses where multiple P.U’s many need to run. There will likely be an ongoing need for Coalition members to teach at businesses however, and it was discussed that to make this successful, multiple coalition members need to be involved so as to share the teaching burden.

It is important to use the name Say Yes to No when discussing the book, doing book reads or parent support groups, to establish common language across the county. As long as Say Yes to No is at the beginning, describing the activity you will complete can be in any format – whatever is most acceptable to the group you will be working with. Examples might be: parent support group, book read, book study, class, workshop, etc.

We are reserving the use of the name Parent University for the activity going on in partnership with Indiana Stamp and the Chamber of Commerce. Say Yes to No is the first “course” of Parent University, but the whole concept is bigger than just Say Yes to No.

Status of Coalition

Early Childhood Alliance (Dawn Cole-Easterday): planning a Say Yes to No group with their teachers during nap times, and will do a parent group this fall (no dates set yet.)

Fort Wayne Community Schools- Bunche and Irwin Elementary (Angie Glick): Did some parent groups, had trouble with parent participation. Many parents work second shift, hard to make meetings. Principals have given Angie the green light to include parents from other schools in groups this fall to make her time worthwhile (versus one parent attending). Angie will be personally meeting with all parents during registration, and will pass our Say Yes to No information and sign-ups for groups.

Southwest Allen County Schools – Whispering Meadows Elementary (Kathryn Lopez): Reported that Catherine Sallaz, also of SACS, did a book read with parents and is planning for more in the fall. Kathryn was in contact with Dupont Hospital, and this fall, she, Catherine, and Roy McAllister will be doing a presentation for new and expectant parents as a part of Dupont Hospital’s every nine-week lecture series. They don’t have a date yet, but they believe this will be about a two-hour block of sharing time. Kathryn also shared that this fall before school begins, the school will be doing an open house at the two major apartment complexes that feed into Whispering Meadows, to try to establish better relationships with the parents that have children at their school. Kathryn indicated that they could perhaps talk briefly about Say Yes to No and have as sign-up sheet for interested parents

East Allen County Schools (Jeff Studebaker): Jeff indicated there was a core group of parents (about 10 families) at Village Elementary School that was very interested in meeting on an ongoing basis, and really asking for parenting information. Jeff believes this information would fit them well.

Urban League (Judy King and Judy Lindsay): Urban League will host Rally to Read on Saturday, September 27. Angie Glick, of FWCS, who is a case manager at schools near Urban League, offered to host a Say Yes to No booth at Rally to Read, since Judy and Judy will be running the entire event and unable to run a booth themselves. Megan will help Angie through providing materials, and Megan and Angie will go to the next Rally to Read meeting.

It was noted that it’s important to remember as we complete reads/studies, etc. to be on the lookout for parents that could perhaps take on doing book reads, disseminating information, etc.

Dates:
October 1, 2008: David Walsh to speak with Parents, Park Hill Training Center Time TBA (likely 7pm, Megan will connect with EACS to set time this week)
October 2, 2008: Conference on Youth, Dr. Walsh, Keynote and workshop speaker

Discussion of Public Kickoff, Fall

The need to get a calendar of Say Yes to No book reads and other events was underscored throughout the entire meeting discussion. Megan has the calendar available on the Great KIDS website, but need the information to plug into it. If you are doing a Say Yes to No event, email Megan with the information. Calendars can also be printed off so when kickoffs, public announcements and rallies happen, parents who want to can get a calendar of places they can plug into for more information.

Timing for the public kickoff will be the last week of Sept/first week of October, culminating with Oct 1 and 2 events. Star 88.3 will work on PSA’s for radio, PBS-39 will work on promoting events on their station. Megan will contact Char Binkley at WLAB, Clinton Faupel at Remedy.fm and Tracie Martin at News Channel 15.

Ideas for ways to get key Say Yes to No messages to the public.

Info disseminated at the Zoo
Info disseminated at Science Central
Grocery bag inserts at Kroger/Scott’s
Billboards/bus huts – look into getting a corporate sponsor
Using digital screens across town (Glenbrook, Embassy etc.) to get information out
Information blurbs on YMCA’s closed circuit television
Offering information as Sunday School classes (individual coalition members would need to take this to their churches)
One time meetings at YMCAs, local neighborhoods, library branches
One Sunday in October, churches to include information in their sermon or during announcements (Megan will talk to Vernon Graham for help, Otha Aden will talk to his contacts, Megan will ask Ken Shields and Fred Graf for help getting to The Chapel)
Pediatricians to “write prescriptions” to read book (Judy will coordinate/investigate)
Booth at Latin Fest (July 3-5) (Megan will call Sal Soto)
Booth at Black Expo (Aug 16)

Megan will also email Dr. Walsh about the status of the No book in Spanish.

Book Needs – Bulk Order

Say Yes to No . org now has a bulk order option on their website for books. Megan will be placing a large bulk order (over 700) next month, as the book will be the giveaway for the Conference on Youth. If anyone is interested in getting a number of books, they are free to add on to this order – contact Megan within the next month, and she will place the order. Bulk prices are as follows:

25-99= 8.40 per book
100-999 = 7.00 per book
1000-2,499= 6.30 book

All costs plus 5-8% shipping. Great KIDS/Allen Superior Court is tax-exempt, so we don’t have to worry about that. Megan’s tentative order date will be July 30, and shipping will take 10-14 days.

Next meeting date:

No next meeting was planned. Instead, coalition members are encouraged to use/check the blog: http://greatkidsallencounty.blogspot.com/ or link to it from http://www.greatkidsallencounty.org/

We will likely need to meet again before the public launch.

Old business: Please let Megan know if your agency is on board with the Coalition expectations distributed at the last meeting and included in the meeting notes sent by email. Additionally, please let Megan know if the coalition can use the agency’s name and logo.