Desired Outcome of Retreat:
Participants will:
1. have common context among participants re: Promise Neighborhoods opportunity.
2. validate Bibb desired outcomes
3. have common context re: baseline data regarding Bibb and identified zone (existing challenges and assets)
4. have common context re: research-validated structure, strategies, outcomes of Harlem Children’s Zone
5. affirm similar structure and strategies or agree to alternatives
6. give additional needed input to grant-writing committee

Tentative Agenda:
1. Recap of the Promise Neighborhoods Opportunity
2. Known Bibb Desired Outcomes (Seek agreement/refinement to straw man)
3. What do we know about identified zone? (Show picture – review key data)
4. Overview of Harlem Children’s Zone Baseline, Strategies, Outcomes
5. Building blocks to achieve our desired future:
A. Neighborhood Committee Report:
B. Partnership Committee Report:
C. Fund-raising Committee Report:
D. Planning and Implementation Committee Report:
E. Grant-writing Committee Report:
6. Identify concerns and agree to next steps
7. Meeting evaluation
4. The NOFA is now out, and the application deadline is June 25, 2010.

Committee Assignments:
In order to make our time together during the retreat productive and to make a reasonable application, much information is n eeded from the varying committees. (This information should be provided electronically and in hard copy prior to retreat, per instructions above.)

A. Neighborhood committee: (Baheeja Hasan (chair), Annie Walker, Ann Levett, Ursula Harris):
Report regarding neighborhood assets in the zone – key leaders and organizations in the zone with names and contact information, description of structures.

B. Partnership committee: (Dianna Glymph (chair), Mike Killen, Tammie Collins) Report regarding partners at the table, institutions (churches, MHA, health care providers, not for profits, businesses) and partners already operating in the zone (services offered, known service gaps, known reasons for service gaps); Who is missing from the table, and what have been the attempts to engage them?

C. Fund-raising Committee: (Doris Christopher (chair), Chip Cherry, Mayor Reichert) Plan for raising the funds required for the grant opportunity and status rep ort regarding funds raised.

D. Planning and Implementation Committee: (Travis Blackwell (chair), Pamela Lightsey, Ursula Harris; Dianna Glymph; Julie Moore) Picture of the identified zone and feeder schools. Literally a map with Bibb County depicted in Georgia, with the zone depicted in Bibb with each of the elementary schools, middle schools and high school identified; picture of each Bibb zone and feeder schools identified. We need data regarding Bibb and that zone (geographic size, population, demographics (age, income, educational attainment, businesses in the zone, who they employ, crime rates, etc.)….. baseline data re: each individual school number of children educational attainment, conduct, etc.

E. Grant-writing committee (Kathleen Varda (chair), Shannon Harvey, Gigi Cabell) will interview additional needed information from participants.

Thank you for your interest in the education of Bibb’s children, for your commitment to our co mmunity.

Yours in service,

Shannon Harvey
Chief Executive Officer
River Edge Behavioral Health Center
478-751-4515
sharvey@river-edge.org