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VOAD of the Month

This month:
The Salvation Army
FLVOAD Meeting - Sept. 12, 2007
The meeting of the Florida VOAD was called to order at approximately 10:05 AM by Florida VOAD Chair, Marcus Hepburn.  The meeting was hosted by Lutheran Disaster Response Office and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Petersburg. It was held at the offices of Lutheran Services of Florida in Tampa. There were thirty-five attendees at the meeting.  Several called in on the Conference Call line.  This included Dan Neiderman, Greg Stader, Karen Thompson, and Trish Adams (part of the meeting).

Treasurer’s Report

Trey Jones, Florida VOAD Treasurer, presented the Treasurer’s Report.  Basically, the Florida VOAD accounts were the same from the last report, minus a payment for website maintenance.

Update from FEMA

Ken Skalitzky, Regional VAL Supervisor for FEMA, gave an update.

He explained that FEMA has passed the responsibility for the management of case management to HHS.  HHS has, in turn, issued a RFP seeking a contractor to design the outlines for a national case management system that would come into play with catastrophic events.  National VOAD organizations are following this project as is Ken.

He announced that there is a VAL vacancy in Hawaii.

He announced that the National Response Framework was due to be released very soon for comments and that he  would forward the NRF to Florida VOAD members for comment.  Background:  FEMA had initially released the  National Response Plan (NRP) but public reaction to the NRP was mixed. Principally, the NRP was seen to be too unwieldy for an practical use as a document. In response, the DHS/FEMA decided to re-write the NRP and re-issue it as the National Response Framework (NRF).

Update from ESF 15

Alex Amparo of Volunteer Florida gave an update from ESF 15.

FEMA is working with AID Matrix, a program aimed at more efficient donations management.  Alex expects the AID Matrix may be introduced to Florida, but to date, Florida has not signed on.  One feature of AID Matrix is the development of a statewide volunteer database.  In Florida, however, we have chosen a different path with regional/local volunteer centers set up to coordinate volunteers.

NIMS and ICS training is now online with FEMA.  Alex urged VOAD members to take the 100 and 700 NIMS/ICS courses.  Thereis still some discussion regarding who in a volunteer agency should get certified for ICS/NIMS; however, tere is the expectation that NGOs should get the training.

Florida VOAD Strategic Planning

Florida VOAD Chair, Marcus Hepburn,  gave a short presentation on the Florida VOAD July Strategic Planning Session  held in Tallahassee in July.  Copies of the Florida VOAD Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 were distributed to the attendees.  A summary of the plan contents was presented on page two of that document and is attached to these minutes.  Chair Hepburn invited Florida VOAD members to examine the priorities set by the organization and to volunteer for objective(s) that might want to get more involved.

Update on National VOAD

Karen Hagan, American Red Cross, presented an update from the National VOAD. Principally, she pointed out that the National VOAD is experiencing some of the same issues facing the Florida VOAD.

Ande Miller has left the NVOAD and the new Executive Director is Diana Roth-Smith.

Report - Ad Hoc Committee on Operational Conference Calls
Karen Hagan, Chair of the Ad HOC Committee, presented the results of the work on developing a protocol for the Florida VOAD conference calls.  This had been identified during strategic planning in July as a top priority that needed to be accomplished as soon as possible.  Ms. Hagan gave a PowerPoint presentation on the recommended protocol.  After the presentation, discussion took place and a motion made to adopt the Protocol for the 2007 season; with the provision that the protocol would be subject to changes and  improvements as deemed necessary.  In summery: FLVOAD calls will take place at 11:00 AM in the morning; Volunteer Florida and FEMA will be responsible for setting up the conference call logistics; Florida VOAD will chair the call; a roll-call will be made at the beginning of each call; an agenda will be followed the call; guidelines will govern participation; and calls will be scheduled to last 45 minutes.

The motion passed unanimously.  The new protocol will be widely distributed and posted on the web.

Report from Case Management Committee:
Marilyn Swanson (Florida United Methodist Conference, gave an update  on the work of the Case Management Committee.  The Case Management Committee had meet in August for a day-long planning session.  At that meeting, the top priority was the development of standardized forms for case management.

The Committee also held a conference call in early September.  The Committee decided to commence work on building a matrix of definitions for the core concepts in disaster case management.  Interns from the College of Social Work, FSU,  will be working with the Committee to develop the definitions matrix, along with:  Liz Bowen, Trish Adams, Marcus Hepburn, Marilyn Swanson, and Martell Teasley,

Agreement on Agency Release Forms for 2007
Liz Bowen of CAN gave a brief presentation on a standard release form to be used by all agencies for the 2007 season.  Several examples were distributed.  The attendees decided to defer a decision and authorized the Executive Committee of Florida VOAD to move forward to adopt a standard release form for 2007.  They will be looking at the merging of the KAT release form with the CAN release form. 

Next FLVOAD meeting

The attendees considered dates for the next Florida VOAD meeting, but deferred choosing a date and authorized the Executive Committee to identify a date.  Subsequent to the meeting, members of the Executive Committee met and tentatively chose November 14th as the date for the next Florida VOAD meeting.  Following approval from the Executive Committee, this will be  the date for the next meeting, hosted by American Red Cross  - Central Florida (Becky Sebren) and Catholic Charities of Central Florida (Danice Crawford).

Next Meeting:  November 14th - Orlando area (location TBA)  Tmie: 10:00 AM - Noon

An announcement was made by the Solar Energy Center.  They have a Disaster Fund and can be contacted at 321-638-1443.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:15 PM.

Notes and comments:
Conference call callers had difficulty hearing some of the conversation during the meeting.  Perhaps the use of microphones or multiple phone would alleviate this problem.



Minutes compiled by Secretary Rev. Karen Thompson & Rev. Mr. Marcus Hepburn
September 20, 2007