November 2020 – FAB Meeting #31

FAB Meeting #31 11/13/2020

             

Attendance: 

  • UB Backbone Staff (Kassa Belay, Athenia Rodney, David Harrington, Danielle Augustine, Dionne Grayman, Briona Clark)

  • 18  FAB Members

Objectives:

  • General Updates

  • UB Participatory Budgeting Project II: Small Business Relief Fund Scope

Icebreaker

  • Dance Party Celebration!

News and Updates

  • This month’s PAT Meeting: November 2020 Review

    • We discussed Community Care Project Scope of Work

      • Visions, Goals, Roles and Timelines

    • Asked how has early childhood enrollment and attendance been impacted by the pandemic in Brownsville?

      • Enrollment has gone from 96% of capacity to 67% across 9 programs

      • The average change in enrollment is -16 across 9 programs

      • The largest change to a program was -78%

  • FAB Participatory Budgeting: Home delivery of goods and food to Brownsville area residents

    • 3 weeks of successful deliveries completed

      • Week 1: 420 boxes, 356 deliveries

      • Week 2: 420 boxes, 417 deliveries

      • Week 3: 420 boxes, 420 delivered to homes

      • We currently have a waitlist for week 4

      • Next week is the last week of deliveries

  • Year Two of the Family Co-op has launched

    • Families gather virtually every Saturday at 11am and 1pm

    • Year 2 is divided into 4 sessions

      • Session 1: October 3 – November 21

      • Session 2: Dec 5 – Feb 13

      • Session 3: Feb 27 – April 24

      • Session 4: May 1 – June 19

    • Registration for Family Co-op Session 2 is now open. Nine slots are still available. Sign up here : http://bit.ly/fcsession2

    • Charters have been reissued to Family Co-op members with times and grace period reminders

      • FAB members would like special cut-off times and grace periods to be clearly communicated in the future

      • Some FAB members feel that 5 minute cut-off is too short while some feel it is fair.

      • Grace period came about by concerns from family co-op staff and feedback from participants who find late joining disruptive

      • This can be seen as an opportunity to decolonize our rigid notion of time in our commitment to anti-racism and dismantling white-supremacist ways of thinking

  • FAB Stipends

    • Payments for activities from October 10 – November 13

      • Will not include anything next week

    • A link to review our records will be sent via WhatsApp and email following this meeting. Please check our records for your participation here: https://bit.ly/novfabattendance

    • Please let the backbone staff know of any changes by Tuesday, November 17

    • There will be an increase in stipends to a base pay of $100 per month plus additional stipends for every meeting attended to reflect the growing role of the FAB (as long as funds are available)

    • If a member misses two consecutive FAB meetings, the backbone staff will schedule a check-in to ensure that participation is still feasible

  • Backbone Updates

    • Welcome Athenia Rodney as Community Engagement Associate, new UB full-time position including the following duties

      • UB Strategy and project development

      • Social media and professional Development

      • Dedicated FAB member support

    • Stay tuned for a special announcement on December 1st about UB and a FAB member

      • On December 1st 7-8pm we will be featured on NY1, News12, Pix 11, MSG, WNBC (NBC), WNYW (FOX), and multiple iHeart Radio stations

Discussion Topics

  •  Early Intervention Ambassador

    • We have just completed phase 3 of the process, reviewing work samples

    • All FAB members are invited to the next step, the second interview

      • Work samples will be shared with the FAB via email

    • The second interview will take place on Thursday, Nov 19th from 2 – 4pm

  • Community Care Project Vision

    • Co-develop standards of excellence in care

      • Previously defined by local residents and agreed to by service providers

    • Part of a vision of equity discussed by the FAB

      • Supports the idea that Brownsville should be thought of as a desirable place to live, work, and receive care just as other more affluent neighborhoods around NYC are

    • Reviewed scope of work

      • Vision, goals, roles, timeline

    • UB has begun PAT recruitment

      • Currently identified PO2, Healthy Steps, and Nurse Family Partnership as particularly active PAT members to participate in the first pilot

      • Please let the backbone staff know if you have other suggestions

  • UB Participatory Budgeting Project II

    • Small Business Support: Sirius Offer

      • Approached by Sirus Fund for a project that would offer $50,000 targeted at providing relief to business(es) that:

  1. The FAB identifies as vital to the community

  2. Whose continued existence is threatened by the economic dislocations caused by COVID-19

  3. For which there is a will and path to survival

  • Initial UB Response – Suggested Stipulations

    • Requires that the selected business have a focus on serving families with young children to align with UB’s early childhood mission

    • Requires that the selected business fully participate in projects designed to coach small businesses for success

  • Home Delivery – Lessons Learned

    • Original concept: Home delivery of covid relief PPE and food to residents who cannot physically get to food banks using local drivers through partnership with Rydehails

    • UB Commitments

      • Signed up 420 residents for home delivery

      • Purchased food and PPE for 420 weekly home deliveries over 4 weeks (approximately $60k)

      • Recruited FAB to assist with distributions

      • Secured pro bono consulting from accounting/management firm EY

    • Rydehails commitments

      • Staff 168 driver shifts and 21 driers for each of the four delivery dates (approx. $10k)

      • Manage delivery logistics and tracking

      • Starting approximately 9/15

      • None of these commitments were fulfilled by Rydehails which lead to continuous delays in the start of the deliveries

    • Direct and Indirect costs of attempt to partner with Rydehails

      • The project was expensive in various ways. At times in September and October, UB backbone staff spent up to 25% of our time on this project

      • Hundreds of residents experienced weeks of delays when they expected food and PPE

      • UB staff scrambled to find new delivery partner

      • UB risked tarnishing its reputation among residents, which is the same thing we want to fight with the cares project

      • Prioritizing local hiring may take more time and effort

    • Francesca shed more light on what went wrong during the meeting

    • For future projects we should check-in early and often and go through multi-step verification of all potential partners

    • Future project partners should also have a plan B

  • Co-create Project Scope of Work with FAB

    • Will set template for UB Participatory Project selection going forward

    • Review proposed categories in breakout groups

    • Offer feedback

    • Agree on next steps

  • Proposed Categories

    • Background Materials and Context

      • A link to the Sirus Proposal is here: https://bit.ly/FABSirusLetter

      • Relevent knowledge for each project i.e. grantmaking

      • FAB Scan for language/themes that perpetuates anti-black racism/white supremacy

    • Preliminary Objectives

      • Measurements and Metrics

    • Selection Criteria

      • I.e. Business selection criteria

    • Project roles

    • Timeline

    • Special Considerations/ Requirements

    • Collaboration Opportunities

      • Ways to bring projects to scale or leverage for greater reach

  • Background Materials and Context: Review of The Sirus Fund Letter by the FAB

    • Kassa asked the FAB if there is any language they feel would perpetuate anti-black racism and/or white supremacy

    • It was recognized by a FAB member that there will always be anti-black and white supremacist undercurrents to text

    • Dionne asked if there is any language that needs to be flagged in order to receive the letter with the intention with which it was sent

    • A poll was taken to decide if UB should move forward with the Sirus Fund’s proposal.

      • It was voted on 100% yes

    • The FAB and UB Backbone staff began drafting some business selection criteria on the new project worksheets; the backbone staff asked the following questions

      • How will equity be considered in the business selection process?

        • Thoughts included: supporting a business that wouldn’t survive without support, taking into account race, gender, other resources the business does or doesn’t have access to

        • Account for equity when designing the application process

      • What are the FAB’s goals for this project?

        • Help a community business that was most impacted by the pandemic and that will help the community if it survives

        • FAB should learn grant writing and making process

      • What additional supports should UB be prepared to offer a recipient to ensure their success?

        • What are the barriers to entry to receiving the grant?

      • How can we balance capacity with need?

      • How can we vet a company for intention and priorities? Make sure that they are also about the community and not just earning money.

Next Steps

  • Review the Nov attendance spreadsheet

  • Upcoming interim and FAB meetings

    • 2nd Learning Landscapes roundtable and materials review

    • Early Intervention final candidates interview: Thursday 11/19 from 2-4pm

    • FAB/ EY intros and Business Selection Criteria review and development

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