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Minutes of December 4, 2007 Teleconference

Those in attendance:

  • John Blaine, Special Emphasis Program Manager (SEPM) Disabled, Missoula
  • Channon Big Horn, Lower Missouri Representative, Sidney
  • John Bowe Columbia Basin Representative, Deer Lodge
  • Andrea Ceartin, Federal Women’s SEPM, Glendive
  • Paula Gunderson, Chair, Upper Missouri Representative, Choteau
  • Jodi Hastings, Secretary, Lower Yellowstone Representative, Hardin
  • Bart Huber, Advisor, Bozeman
  • David Kascht, Advisor, Bozeman
  • Kathy Knobloch, SEPM Native American/Alaska Native, Lame Deer
  • Robert Moler, State Office Representative
  • Val Oksendahl, SEPM, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Scobey
  • Valerie Robertson, SEPM Black, Billings
  • Julie Sacks, Headwaters Representative, Whitehall

Meeting started at 9:00 a.m.

First item on the agenda was to approve the minutes. John Bowe motioned to approve the minutes and Val Robertson seconded. All approved.

Pilot Mentorship Program

Paula conducted teleconference for mentors, approximately 4 members were on and they bounced ideas off of each other how to proceed. All mentors have taken the online course, which was recommended by the Civil Rights committee. Paula further indicated she visited with the mentors about a timeline to guide the process. She suggested the second week in December be a time frame for the members to have a formal or informal agreement with the mentee. This agreement would include the commitments made by both parties.

ACTION ITEM Six month reviews sent in to John Bowe. The Mentor sub committee which is comprised of Paula and Andrea will send out a reminder/ survey for progress of the pilot Montana Mentor Program. The survey will be sent out to the participants approximately the end of March.

Budget

Bart updated the group about the upcoming budget. NRCS is still under a continuing resolution. We will be under the continuing resolution for the immediate future, with no change expected until after the New Year. The same will be with Civil Rights activities which will be to operate normally and not exceed levels of year before. Further restrictions could be applied.

Dave White will be back in January, we will then see how the upcoming meetings, schedules and plans for the Montana Civil Rights Advisory Committee will proceed. Bart stressed the importance of having a face to face meeting in 2008.

ACTION ITEM John Bowe will ask for funds to have a face to face meeting. John will indicate to David White the direction of the committee. He will ensure the direction is in line with David White and ask for guidance if change be needed.

457 Series Update

Bart indicated there was nothing new to report at this time. The issue is still at the OPM office and he has not seen any response or action taken. Bart indicated the agency does have a few grievances pending this decision.

Exit Reviews

John Bowe indicated there have been no new exit reviews reported. There have not been any individuals leaving the agency since October. Bart indicated there would be approximately seven individuals leaving the agency in the near future. The data compiled from the exit reviews will be written into a biannual report.

ACTION ITEM John Bowe will compile this report and forward it to the State Conservationist, David White and principal staff.

Recruitment Brochure Update

Robert Moler sent out an email with the images of a recruitment display. This display was developed by Human Resources. Human Resources have undertaken a big recruitment campaign. A seven foot display has been made to emphasize NRCS as a career. SEPM recruitment can be inserted into the original one. Robert asked the committee who would provide specific populations or audiences to target?

Robert suggested the content and the panels of the display can be general or very specific. The brochure could then be the next step and then other media products could be developed as necessary. Robert suggested if a specific audience is used, need to measure success and actually recruit individuals we are targeting.

Val Robertson will be the main person to contact with your ideas on what direction to go with the recruitment effort. The committee will send ideas/thoughts to Val and she will compile and work with Robert to sort through and polish the ideas.

ACTION ITEM The committee will get ideas to Val R. by the January 16, 2008 on what could be included in the display.

Student Career Experience Program SCEP Announcement

Channon talked about the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP). He said there are individuals working in Outreach for recruitment purposes. These folks should be contacted if outreach is occurring. He also said the SCEP is good for high school students. SCEP stresses the importance of getting kids interested early in their career. If there are individuals you are working with, let Human Resources know and Robert could also assist. Bart indicated there is a SCEP announcement advertised. It is an open announcement and Montana NRCS is hoping to hire some students. He also indicated there is a need to invest a little more in this area. At one time Montana led the nation with the number of SCEP students, it would be good to again have between 15 to 20 students. This is a good tool for diversity and could reverse the trend of Native American loss in the workforce.

There was a discussion of opportunities to get word out. Some of the suggestions included the U of M career fair, Salish Kootenai College in May and Crow Agency has a grazing symposium where the information can be handed out. It was also suggested to have individuals do some Outreach at schools. Kathy K. has targeted parents through the Indian Health Service for employee newsletter. She suggested this may reach kids home from college or lower income families...VAL R. said she has attended a fair focusing on younger age girls interested in sciences in February in the past and will bring this forward then. John B. said Conservation District newsletters would be a good opportunity to get word out as well.

Veterans Employee Association

Robert Moler looked into the feasibility of a Veterans Employee Association He thought this would be a great opportunity to work with individuals as they leave the military and enter college with the GI Bill and other military educational benefits. NRCS could offer incentives to join our workforce. He indicated this is a group that is very diverse by its own nature. Targeting veterans for the SCEP is something he has worked on. There are a number of veterans in our agency already. He indicated there are four opportunities to be gained by a Veterans Employee Organization:

  1. Promote diversity
  2. Identify and address veteran's issues in the workplace
  3. Recruitment
  4. Harness internal employee special skills

John Bowe and John Blaine spoke with a number of individuals about the feasibility and perception of a Veterans Employee Association. The thought is the association would charter with NRCS. The agreement could be mutually beneficial, with similar goals and objectives. It was suggested to look into this opportunity more and see what other states are doing. Robert will do more research and bring the information to the committee.

2008 Compliance Reviews

The schedule has been forwarded to all members. It is a draft version, please look at this and become familiar with the review.

The February 25-29, 2008 review will be in Great Falls. John Bowe offered to help with this review. Julie had been on schedule. Two members would be good to have help with review. The new guide requires that the CR portion has someone from the CR advisory committee or the Assistant complete the review. Members have to be familiar with the guide and know what to look for to determine if there are any issues.

Dave K. was wondering if there could be training for use of the guide. The guide is in draft form through Fiscal year (FY) 2008, to see how it works. The format may be changed to be a little more user friendly.

AGENDA ITEM The committee will walk through the review to understand we are getting through the guide effectively.

ACTION ITEM John Bowe will look at the offices that will be reviewed in 2008 and get back to the committee on scheduling help.

Member Reports

John Bowe. John attended the Women Stepping Forward in Agriculture Symposium in Dillon, MT on October 2-3, 2007. He gave a presentation about Montana NRCS, and the types of technical and cost share assistance that is available. He received good feedback from the audience, and provided field office contact information to several of the participants. John contacted the Missoula area District Conservationists (DCs) about the SCEP announcement, and spoke with Herb Webb about participating in the 2008 Salish Kootenai College job fair scheduled for May, 2008 in Pablo, MT. He is planning to help out at the University of Montana's Big Sky career fair during February, 2008. He spoke with Phyllis Phillips about assisting with the Great Falls Area Office compliance review scheduled for February, 2008. He prepared a slide presentation about the Montana CRAC and will present this material at the National Civil Rights Advisory Committee Meeting/Training which will be held in Las Vegas on December 12-13, 2007.

John Blaine. JHe attended a number of teleconference calls with Cliff Denshire, who is National Disabled SEPM. He has worked on a report for Cliff. He has worked on recruitment with a number of different offices and has done appraisal work.

Valerie Robertson. Val worked with National chair of Black SEPM to attain list of predominantly black colleges. She compiled a list of potential black employees and has forwarded that list to Sharon Huber. Val sent the SCEP announcement to the National Chair for Black SEPM’s. She has worked with Robert Moler on recruitment.

Andrea Ceartin.

She has written a number of articles for Montana News. She started a year of “the Connected Family” Monthly Articles, National Family Day is September 25th, included an article with activities that can be done to achieve this. Also let everyone know that I have a game for opening the lines of communication between parents and their children. They simply need to e-mail or call and I can send them one.

  • October Turn you TV off month - put and article in Montana News with some alternative family projects when the TV is off.
  • November: Promoting Thoughtfulness – Put an article in Montana news with some items to help think back over the lat twelve month and what you have to be thankful for.
  • December: Let Surprises add spice to your Family Life.
  • December: Start the Red plate Tradition

She worked on getting the word out on the Agriculture Symposium, which she was unable to attend this year. She worked with National SEPM to gather information. She helped California woman write articles on maternity leave type issues.

Jodi Hastings. Forwarded the information on the SCEP announcement to area DCs.

Kathy Knobloch. Kathy has spent time getting up to speed with what is expected as the American Indian/Alaskan Native SEPM. Kathy spoke at Tribal Land Symposium, focusing on NRCS services and programs, local resource concerns, and how conservation systems could be implemented. She distributed SCEP announcement and wrote articles for Montana News during American Indian month.

Channon Big Horn. He worked with mentor/network. He wrote article for paper with EEO statement.

Val Oksendahl. Val participated in the Asian American\Pacific Islander committee conference calls, sent in her Annual Business Plan and End of Year Report on Accomplishments. She attended the Annual AAPIO Conference in Miami. She reviewed the individual reports of AAPI minorities in the States. She will visit high schools in Montana with known AAP populations for outreach and work at attending a student fair and career fair in the state if budget allows.

Robert Moler. Robert reported that Montana is in compliance with their website. Montana NRCS’s website is massive, updated and current.

Bart Huber. Bart talked a little about the Affirmative Employment Plan, he indicated the committee will have input into the 2007 AEP. He encouraged the committee to get together early enough to understand and work on it. We need to do an accomplishment report for FY 2007. Although the format for the report may change, we still need to move forward.

Each individual should look at action items for 2007 in AEP. Have a drop file to provide information/input done by January 2008. Reference the action item when indicating an accomplishment. The format will be clear when the request is sent out from Sharon/Bart.

Dave Kascht. He suggested we work with DCs to get a State template for a Business plan. He wanted to work with area and office staff to ensure Civil Rights activities are in the plan where appropriate.

John Bowe. John attended the Women Stepping Forward in Agriculture Symposium in Dillon, MT on October 2-3, 2007. He gave a presentation about Montana NRCS, and the types of technical and cost share assistance that is available through the Agency. He received good feedback from the audience, and provided field office contact information to several of the participants. John also contacted the Missoula area DC’s about the SCEP announcement, and spoke with Herb Webb about participating in the 2008 Salish Kootenai College job fair scheduled for May, 2008 in Pablo, MT. He is also planning to help out at the University of Montana's Big Sky career fair during February, 2008. He spoke with Phyllis Phillips about assisting with the Great Falls Area Office compliance review scheduled for February, 2008. He also prepared a slide presentation about the Montana CRAC and will present this material at the National Civil Rights Advisory Committee Meeting/Training which will be held in Las Vegas on December 12-13, 2007. John indicated there is a month that does not have someone designated to highlight Civil Rights activities. This is July and John has agreed to take this month.

We then scheduled the meetings for upcoming year. This will be modified after understanding if there will be budget for face to face meetings in 2008.

Next meeting will be March 4, 2007. This will be a teleconference.
June 3, 2008
September 2, 2008
December 2, 2008

Meeting adjourned at 11:00 a.m.

Sincerely,

Jodi Hastings
MCRAC Secretary

Last Modified: 03/04/2008