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RETREAT PARTICIPANTS
A.R.S Retreat Facilitators Bill Kincaid, Kincaid Consulting, Life and Work Planning Facilitator/Organization Development Consultant Glenda Kincaid, Kincaid Consulting, Life & Work Planning-Co-Facilitator A.R.S Retreat Knowledge Workers:  Module
1 - Event IntroductionTiming 9:00 am to 9:25am Suzanne Pohlman: We’ve been meeting quarterly, and at one of our quarterly meetings we discovered there was a concern addressed regarding “dumping” of hospital patients on the street. Three people raised their hands and said, “That’s not right.” It turned out that anyone operating shelters had experienced that, so we put together a task force and within a couple of weeks, we had gathered with district administrators and conquered that problem for the minute, but moreover we opened relationships with those folks to enhance problem solving and communication. Another thing we decided to tackle was transit by marginalized populations. There was a huge problem with empty buses and people being landlocked and unable to follow through with case management plans. So we formed a separate committee for that. Lastly, Hannah Cohen, one of our committee members, mobilized the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, which she headed for the County of San Diego. She’s worked with the head of almost every jurisdiction, but as yet there has been no real implementation of that, so that’s something else we want to get working on.
Bill: Today we are going to take a step back and take a 40,000 ft view. The process we are going to use is the creative process. Every time I get together with Suzanne and her folks, you can feel it, she gets the creativity stirred up. We are here today to come up with something magical. The creative process model is very simple and we designed our session today using the scan, focus, act model . The model we used to design this event is a little more utilitarian, and it starts and ends with identity.
We will come out of here today with
three projects to move forward with. It starts with identity, then
with vision. Vision leads to action. Then we have intent, which
is our mission. Intent leads to passion. When we collectively have
a mission, we can ignite that passion. Next, we have insight. When
we begin something, we have to start somewhere and that’s
where we are today. ARS went through this process once before in
May 2007 and it ended when the winter shelter closed, and today
we are not pigeon holed by that project. It was a successful project.
Now, we are going to learn how to harness that knowledge and begin
new projects.
Mel: I’m here to talk about what we can accomplish when we come together. This past winter, 6 of our alliances came together with 9 north county cities and with United Way, and San Diego County HHSA, in an unprecedented collaboration. We planned and funded a state of the art, regional cold weather shelter for homeless, men, women, and children. From October to March, we served 671 residents from our communities. These are our neighbors. What did they receive this winter? What they received this winter was much more than a hot meal. For the safety and security of all residents, these were dry shelters. A breathalyzer was administered, as well as case management. Intensive case plans monitored weekly were required to help people get back on their feet. What services did clients receive at the shelters? Hundreds of volunteers provided hot meals. Medical treatment; vocational training; on-site counseling; enrichment activities, such as movies and religious studies; and therapy for seniors was provided by the community. How effective was it? A quantitative and qualitative evaluation was conducted by CSUSM and SDSU that looked at chronically homeless, described by HUD very specifically. 43 shelter residents met HUD’s narrow definition. 17 of them have found independent living situation, 1 found shared housing, 1 found vets housing, 5 were reunited with family, 4 entered recovery programs, and 4 entered inpatient treatment. This means that 32 of 43 found stable housing or entered treatment programs. That’s 74% moved into more stable housing. For provider agencies and their staff, there was a sense of unity and common purpose among agencies. They shared donations and extended resources to other shelters. In short, because of the synergy of people of good will working together the value of the regional shelter system is far greater than the sum of its parts. This is what we can accomplish when we come together. Suzanne Pohlman: That’s an absolutely wonderful example of all of us coming to the table, bringing our abundant gifts, letting our energy flow back and forth form one another and working in a very cooperative, collaborative way for maximum leveraging of value, and so today is going to be a lot of dreaming and envisioning what more can be. Bill Kincaid: Our identity is not defined by the Winter Shelter, but what it does do is show us what can be done when we come together and work together.Back to Top
The date is August, 2011. Three years ago the Alliance for Regional Solutions came together at the Quantum Learning Network to redefine it's identity and mission. Today the Alliance is hailed as a national model for bringing non-profit agencies, municipalities, the county, social entrepreneurs and funders together to solve the most urgent emerging social issues of the day on a regional basis. From the Vantage Point of the future (August 2011) looking back, respond to the following questions:
Find a flipchart and some markers. There are many around the room. If you are not able to find one a knowledgeworker will assist you. You will have 30 minutes to respond to these questions. Use words, color, pictures, metaphor and graphics to respond. View
Individual Panel Gallery Modules
2b Share Individual Panels Instructions Assign one person to be a time keeper. Allow each member of your team 5 minutes to present the contents of their individual panel. Go to the area where the panel is located. As presentations proceed, if an idea has already been mentioned, speak to the ways that your concept differs rather than present the same material. Team members should ask questions for clarification only - no discussion at this time. You have a total of 35 minutes. View Participants Working in Groups Click on participant name to view individual panels
Modules
2C Synthesis Instructions This is a group exercise. Identify the similarities and differences in the individual panels. Discuss this with your group. Select a scribe to document your group discussion, using your flip chart as a scratch pad. Your final product will be to prepare a presentation on 2 to 4 flip chart pages that synthesizes and summarizes the ideas of your group. Make sure to include some or all of the questions below. Include any other important insights from your group. From the Vantage Point of the future (August 2011) looking back, respond to the following questions:
You will have 30 minutes for this exercise. Modules 2C Synthesis Team Presentations After working together for 3o minutes, teams were given 5 minutes each to report to the whole group their findings Modules
2C Synthesis - Team 5 Presentation View
Complete Presentation Modules
2C Synthesis - Team 3 Presentation Team
Members Modules
2C Synthesis - Team 6 Presentation Team
Members
Team
Members
Modules
2C Synthesis - Team 2
Presentation
Team
Members
Team
Members Modules
2D Group Discussion - Entire Group Who we are
7 C’s
Where do we put our emphasis? Barriers
Buckets
What vehicle will I.D. meaningful outcomes?
Solutions based approach, model it
deliver it North County Community Services –
is fiscal agent
Context: During lunch it became clear to Suzanne Pohlman that people with less experience with the Alliance needed to hear some more history of how the Alliance came to be and where it is going. Suzanne and Don Stump had that conversation with others listening to start and then a short dialogue followed. The transcription follows below. Suzanne Polhman: Yeah! And so there is a little background about how the Alliance got started and I think we need to share it. During lunch time Don said to me… Don Stump: Well, let me give you a little bit of context…I’m the executive director North County Lifeline. I've held that position for around 9 months. Prior to that I had work primarily in the City of San Diego. So I’m new to north county. So I was invited by Suzanne to get involve with the Alliance…so I got involved. All this happened just as we were ready to launch the Salvation Army’s first time. Although we tried for several years to encourage them to come forward to do the winter shelter. Paul and I have been together for 18years doing these things and he has always provided the oversight and the mentoring of the guys that are in there because of using folks in the recovery program as models for leading folks to recovery.. And so...... we didn’t have a winter shelter except for a tiny little smidgen in time. And I made a vow that never again would that happen. And so the day after that council meeting I called my two friends Mel and Paul and said, “We’re going to make something happen regardless.” And then, I invited Marva and she cannot be here today because she is traveling and Barbara Mannino, same deal, and Shirley and Sharon and a bunch of people who had a great understanding and experience of what we had done collaboratively as a north county community in previous reiteration of tough times and tough experiences. And so, we all came together and we began planning. As we began planning, lots of people said, “Let’s just reform the old director’s council but make it bigger and better by having a group that includes every elected official and their policy advisor that includes the State of California, the Federal Government and all local jurisdiction. Let’s look at what wonderful like-minded people can do beyond this issue of a winter shelter.” We all committed to it. Moreover we developed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding; because my friend Mel is very process oriented. We were so lucky to have Mel on board and to be available and to be semi-retired and willing to take this on and so well qualified. And then, all of you wonderful people stand up and said, “Count me in. I want to be a part of that,” and so our membership grew. Remember, we meet quarterly. Our sub-committees meet voraciously as their passion is ignited over particular issues. Also, on a consistent basis and so as things were identified like wonderful County Mental Health Systems. Remember, when we talked at last quarterly meeting about patients dumping at our doors and Warren was experiencing it and Steve was experiencing it and everyone throughout the county. What we do, we problem solved and we’ve done it heroically throughout this period of time. But then, our initial idea was when we got to this stage after our success and I think Laurin you framed it beautifully. You said, “After we’ve done celebrating a first very very a well known and well publicize project then we'll move on to other things.” And you said, “Transportation ought to be next because it’s an easy one.” I remember that. Laurin Pause: Maybe not so easy huh! Suzanne Pohlman: Maybe not so easy but I thought that was so amazing. Don said, “Why don’t we start putting this stuff together.” And I said, “You know we already have a staff member. We have Mel 7 months a year. Wow! Aren’t we lucky! And he said, “What about the fiscal agent? Is there a fiscal agent? Stan, stand up! We’re so blessed because we have North County Community Services who’s served. I think they deserve to have a big hand. Those of us who had done a lot just as a fiscal agent, I knew Laurin you have, and Sharon you have too. Sal you as well, that’s not always the funnest job in the world and he had done it effectively and efficiently. So we had that in place. The last quarterly meeting I agreed to be the chairperson and keep things moving forward for the next 6 months. And then, I’m ready to walk out stage right probably. Hopefully there will be someone else or perhaps we need to move forward with establishing another more active participation in choosing leadership, because frankly, I did it because I was going to hold true to my promise and I was very intentioned about that. Does that help to explain more of the details? Don Stump: I think you know the context is when you are new coming to the group, and I think I was speaking probably for a great portion of the people in the meeting. Which is we came and we didn’t really know what the history of the group was and what the organization’s structure was in place. Laurin Pause: ...so, back to not re-creating the wheel we have the mission statement. I don’t have a copy with me but maybe it would be appropriate to bring it forward and put it in the web or send this out. Suzanne Pohlman: Ya! It’s in the web I think. Laurin Pause: Didn’t we all establish core values. Suzanne Pohlman: Yes, we did. Laurin Pause: And sending them out so that people know where we stand. Suzanne Pohlman: ...and we really debated it. We got really hot and heavy about it. And we lost a couple of members through it because some folks didn’t want to agree to the same system of trust we had in mind. And…. They really didn’t really want to trust and so we said, “ok that’s good, go do your own thing.” We’re going to be very respectful and thoughtful of one another and we're going to appreciate the expertise that surrounds all of us and this collaboration. So were kind of an odd egg. Is that helpful to some of you better understand how we can came to be. Tamara Stark: I just have a comment since you graciously brought us in to help with Mental Health kind of near the end. You could of used us sooner. Suzanne Pohlman: We were inviting we were contacting him and we just didn’t know how to get involvement from you. Tamara Stark: So when you talk about now to do recreate the wheel, I also feel like we kind of come in this a little late. I don’t want Mental Health sort of back slide. Suzanne Pohlman: Neither do we. Tamara Stark: What I would appreciate and maybe others who are bringing expertise to the table too. What do you need me to do now? What do you need us to do now? As a region? As a company? From Mental Health? How do you need us to respond in a pro active way? Suzanne Pohlman: Can I piggy back on that with the thought that you prompted from me. It was never the focus of this group to be only limited to the homeless issues ever… ever…ever…. It was never ever thought to be that way. Otherwise, Sharon never dared continued coming to my meeting nor my friend Barbara Mennino. The idea was that would be broad base, very broad spectrum. That truthfully, the whole mentality is that none of us are smart as all of us are together. I felt that so strongly today when my group was lead by Paul and the brilliance that came from everyone regarding the real core needs for education and for franchising people. We are looking at the full spectrum of human needs not just homelessness because some people are graduating from your shelter program for example. You want them to have a great job. You want them to have adequate housing and you want that their kids are nurtured and supported by the university or by school district. So, does that help at all? Mel Takahara: Responding to Tamara In response to your wondering how we plug in and how do we participate. It is at two levels. One is that you do have now the history started and now the on going function of working together with the homeless winter shelter. For That I will be in touch with you and we will be in touch with many of your agencies regarding the services you offer to us. We will be talking about the schedule for advance training and opportunities for working together. That’s specific to shelter “year two.” In terms of the larger agenda of the Alliance’s pursuit of new areas of growth. By this afternoon actually you’ll participate in the process of helping to identify what those other areas are. And you can help to shape those depending on what you are passionate about as will all of you. You’ll have a better idea of the ways in which you would participate and the ways in which you would be assisting and supporting those efforts. Stan Miller: I was just digging through my notebook as you guys were searching for the mission for this organization. I found an old flyer from one of our past meetings. We call ourselves The Alliance Regional Solutions and its mission should be to work collaboratively, advocating changes to assure emerging human needs are justly met. Suzanne Pohlman: Can't get
broader than that. Remember how we debated about using the word
“justly”. The 32 of us who signed on the dotted line
never had envisioned a narrow focus of exclusively homelessness.
I was so glad to hear how broad everyone’s view point was
and my little group that I was in. It was amazing. Modules
4 Developing Criteria for Selecting Projects- Entire Group Transcription of Session: "How do we select the projects we are going to focus on?" Bill Kincaid: How do we decide which projects the Alliance is going to focus on? In order to do that you have to have some kind of method to do it. You have to have some kind of criteria that you could apply as a way of guiding your decision making. Imagine a decision matrix where you have your criteria along the column here. Right! And you have your nominated projects like this along the top ….. it is a very analytical,structured process. It’s really something that needs to happen. It just doesn’t exist right now. And I think, the projects that have been addressed so far - the dumping of folks out of the street in front of the homeless shelter’s that are closed for example. It was addressed very rapidly. It was a need that came up very quickly. The Alliance galvanized around it and the problem got solved. It was wonderful! So there’s a whole bunch of these things out there that we can address very quickly with the awareness that it’s happening and some kind of criteria to to guide selection. Maybe some larger project that the group addresses does need some criteria. Mel said, “If we can tackle that today we will accomplish something with a great value. Because, that’s really a great driver for what this group ends up doing - the work that it ends up doing. We do have some other issues. There’s another bucket about “who we are and how we operate” and I think the last discussion is kind of a…. to get us a little of to speed. There are quarterly meetings. There is a fiscal agent. There’s a president setting over there. There is a governance committee that meets on a quarterly basis. Suzanne Pohlman: Actually, almost on a monthly basis. Bill Kincaid: The governance meets often then. Yes. So, it’s about building on to what exists right now. It’s definitely not a narrow focus. So, what we’re planning on doing for period of time right now is to focus on, “what are the criteria?” So, do we have a knowledge worker available? Amber, Russ. We have some card stock right over here and each person is going to get three sheets of card stock. The question right now is, “What are the criteria for selecting the projects that the Alliance will focus on. Go ahead and jot that down…. Write it nicely big… Okay, can someone give me idea what is a criteria. General responses: Regional issue How do we establish which projects the Alliance will focus on? What criteria should be used for selecting projects? At this point the group wrote down their top three criteria on a separate piece of cardstock. Participants came up and described their criteria. Some of the criteria that were presented required additional definition of terms. Each person in the group presented their criteria that were then sorted collaboratively. Here are the results from a quantitative perspective. These criteria may need to be further defined and weighted for importance. The criteria input are documented below.
SORTING THE CRITERIA The cards were sorted on the wall and categories were created based upon similar input. View Draft Criteria for Selecting Projects PDF.
The group split into two subgroups to address:
This subgroup addressed the following work:
Group Members
The subgroup went to work with the intention of using the project selection criteria as a decision matrix to create a prioritized list of nominated projects. Group Members
Modules
6 Final Dialogue - Entire Group
Bill Kincaid: Ok, let's see, where are we? Next steps. Where do we go from here?. Don Stump: I think Bill we're going to rely on you to coalesce all these and get a kind of a macro report back out to us. Bill Kincaid: This will come on a form of a website. We will do that and it will be posted on a website and we will send you the link. Actually, you may have gotten the link. Those of you who didn’t will get it. It is www.regionalsolutions.net/events and you’ll have the link to this event in its entirety. So, that will go from the macro to the micro. That’s one of the next steps - to post these into the website. What are the Alliance’s next steps? Suzanne Pohlman: Our next step is to have our regular quarterly meeting and continue as we are doing with our committee structure. I would think that we are going to go out and embrace the additional communities that we talked about aligning ourselves with. What do the rest of you think? Margery Pierce: I think that maybe if the structure is something that we put up here that people are satisfied with, that we need to formalize some of these in writing in terms of the structure of the Alliance and how it’s going to run. Suzanne Pohlman: That will become part of the bi-product and outcome of this. Bill Kincaid: Do you know when the quarterly meeting is? Suzanne Pohlman: Yes, It’s three months from today. Hannah Cohen: Suzanne, I’m not sure, I think we shouldn’t wait that long. I think that we need a debriefing and I don’t know if it would be a forum of the executive committee or the current governance committee which is going away. I really think that we need to do something very soon to capitalize on the momentum. I am not quite sure how we should do this but I really feel that we need to do it as a group. Suzanne Pohlman: As a group of sixty like today? Hannah Cohen: No, we really need another day but we don’t have that. So, I just think that we need some sort of debriefing to absorb this. Don Stump: I think what you are saying, instead of waiting for three months. We develop a material and take it to the executive board and say, “Is this a valuable thing?” Make sure we take it back out to the entire membership. Hannah Cohen: We don’t have that executive board yet because they're members at large that have to be elected. Suzanne Pohlman: Right, but the election process is through the general membership. Anyone who was signed an M.O.U. is a general member. I promise you that everyone who attended will have an opportunity to sign an M.O.U. so that we gather a constituent group. Hannah Cohen: But I still think that we need a mechanism to move ahead now if we do receive the material. Suzanne Pohlman: Sure. What would you recommend? Hannah Cohen: I would normally say at the executive board or maybe just for ____ we don’t have that yet to do the governance committee. Frank Doherty: One of the issues right now is we're going to have teams. We're going to have these additional goals. We're going too have resources and ideally have a lead for the teams. Suzanne Pohlman: Oh! Absolutely. Frank Doherty: So, I'm going to agree with Hannah, if we wait three months people just gets to be set out of the line. We almost have to figure a way Suzanne whether you call and say, “These are the three topics. Who would like to sign up right now”. Suzanne Pohlman: We have the sign up right now because we know what those three topics are. We could write our names and begin to take on those responsibilities. A matter of fact that could be really exciting. Unknown Speaker: The three topics would be the homeless issue, the youth issue and the transportation. Don Stump: One was the shelter expansion, one was the transportation, and the other one was the professional development. Suzanne Pohlman: Can you define it better, Don? Laurin Pause: That’s what he said, professional development, the shelter and the transportation. Suzanne Pohlman: Was the professional development totally isolated to the 211? Don Stump: No. It’s bigger than that. Laurin Pause: I think we need another column right now for organizational structure. Suzanne Pohlman: It is a great idea. Laurin Pause: We need to get that in place because it’s on paper but it doesn’t really exist that way. We have Suzanne Pohlman as chair. We have Bill as secretary and we have Stan as fiduciary recording into that. So that’s our organizational structure as at exist I believe. Suzanne Pohlman: Yeah, you’re right. Laurin Pause: We need to create this organizational structure. We need to get how we run and operate on paper and get that to the voting M.O.U. members. Suzanne Pohlman: How about a ……….. Margery Pierce: So, we need a committee for that. Suzanne Pohlman: I agree. Who’s willing to sit on the organizational development committee? I see Laurin, Hannah, and I also see Margery, Stanley and Paul. Who else? Also, Steve Bassett and Frank Doherty. That’s good enough group don’t you think to get that moving forward? Don, do you want to be part of that too. And Don Stump in that way we have a good representation from Vista. Bill: Laurin, Hannah, Margery, Stan, Paul, Frank, Steve….. Suzanne Pohlman: Ok. So, that becomes an organizing, steering committee to get these things mobilized and then to respond with the M.O.U. on what are our response is to the broader constituent group to vote on the decisions of what we come up with. Margery Pierce:: I think that the organizational structure is this on something we just need to put it in writing and formalize it and then work out the M.O.U. You already have an existing M.O.U. I state that at a general meeting with this as everybody satisfied with this M.O.U. or do we need to make changes? And then, vote on your elected board. Bill Kincaid: So, formalize it and bring it to who? Unkown Speaker: General membership. Margery Pierce: We going to come with slate and then go to the board, the whole board. Suzanne Pohlman: The whole board Bill is our general membership. Anyone who signed an M.O.U. constitutes a member. Bill Kincaid: Ok. Paul Savo: I would like to advocate something here. I heard Mel when he said, What Rocky mentioned in the last meeting of "not trying to take on too much." And I know that we don’t want the Alliance to be the homeless shelter network. I know we don’t want to be that. But we are going to … this going to be our purview again this year? And so, I would caution that we don’t spread ourselves so thin - that we have a very successful winter shelter year again. Craig Jones: Actually, that was explicitly recognized by the issues group. And that’s kind of intended to be incorporated with that first column which is to continue the winter shelter and expand that work by considering having that developed into a year round shelter. Unknown Speaker: Let me give you the political perspective on that....But the political reality is don’t come in and try to set up shelters. Unknown Speaker: You know we’ll just cross that bridge when we get it to what I think. Suzanne Pohlman: That’s right? Do you want to make that announcement about new legislation and requirement from _____ Unkown Speaker: In order to get funding which can go from housing funding to transportation dollars requires that the states certifies your housing element every five years. It looks like San Diego County’s housing elements are going to be extended a year. So, on 2011 which is funny that you pick that year. The new housing element law has been required you to actually designate zoning and really opening it up for siting from the homeless shelters. It’s going to be a big change. Bill Kincaid: So, guys let’s rap this up!! Sharon Delpshenich: I just want to say that, everything you guys that you laid down so far seems fine to me but keeping with the concern about momentum. Speaking for my own organization ... If you want my participation and momentum to remain engaged then the subcommittees to deal with those other issues need to get established. I think that we will pull in some additional membership because they have something meaningful to do that is related more closely to their individual organizational missions. Margery Pierce: I have a question to Suzanne for you non-profits because I’m thinking like as a city person here. Do I need to go back to my city manager or somebody you know that I committing this much time. Do you guys have to go to your board of directors and tell them? Suzanne Pohlman: My board is well informed of my activities and I would assume that are our colleagues are the same. Margery Pierce: So to sign an M.O.U. you don’t have to go through any formal process like I might. Suzanne Pohlman: You know I’m aware how much time we devoted to this today, and how much we accomplish. I’m really amazed at how much has been accomplished. I certainly want to thank you all for your participation and your courage at moving forward for doing this. Thank you to those of you who are my support system and who constantly were there, when we were working these things out. Thank you to all of you who have been so very kind and who have maintained your participation at levels that probably exceeded your limits. We’re just getting started and this is going to be a…… you can see the support when we take it outside of this intimate group that has begun it. You can see how it galvanizes and encourages and focuses others. We want to keep on that path. I just want to tell you that for me personally thank you so very much. You have just been absolutely incredible. ARS next steps:
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How
did all the parties work together?
Timing
11:30 am to 11:00am
Timing
11:10am to 11:17am
Timing
11:17am to 11:24am
Timing
11:24am to 11:33am
Modules
2C Synthesis - Team 1 Presentation
Timing
11:40am to 11:47am
Modules
2C Synthesis - Team 4 Presentation
Suzanne
Polhman: His predecessor Shirley Cole is a personal long
standing friend of mine for 24 years that’s also in context.
Interfaith and Salvation Army and the Fellowship have always worked
as partners. We were trying to put together the same inland winter
shelter that we had for a gazillion years. The city council majority
disagreed, saying the city had already done more for the homeless
than other cities, that it needed to be a regional effort, so they
did not approve it. There was a tremendous amount of press and it
became quite a controversy.
Modules
5b Project Selection Subgroup Presentation