New SCCAP Head Start site coming at St. Paul’s Methodist Church

The South Central Community Action Program’s search for two new Head Start sites is now down to just one site.  

That’s because SCCAP Head Start has reached an agreement to have a new site in January at the St. Paul United Methodist Church on West Third Street in Bloomington.  

“I believe this will be a great partnership,” SCCAP Director of Head Start Shirley Stumpner said. ”They are very excited about hosting a Head Start site, just as I’m very excited about them hosting it.  Their site will serve families in the Highland Park area and possibly the Grandview area. ”

Stumpner is hoping to have an agreement for another new Head Start site completed soon. We’ll keep you updated on the details of both new sites that will open in January.

SCCAP taking nominations to fill a seat for a low-income representative on its Board of Directors

Nominations for seats on the Board of Directors of the South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP) are now being accepted. Two people will be elected, one for a vacant seat and one alternate.

Nominees must be at or below 150 percent of poverty. SCCAP is committed to serving low-income individuals and families and to ensuring the rights of low-income individuals to participate in the governance of the organization. Nominees must also reside in Monroe County and not have any conflicts of interest that would preclude them from serving on the board per the by-laws of the organization.

Nominees can contact Beth at 339-3447, ext 233 for a nomination form and relevant by-laws. Completed nominations forms should be sent to:

Attention: SCCAP Elections, South Central Community Action Program, Inc., 1500 W. 15th Street, Bloomington, IN 47404.

Nomination forms must be received by Dec. 11, 2009 at 4:30 p.m. The date of the election will be announced at a later time.

A Circles Thanksgiving

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the Circles Thanksgiving last Thursday at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church.  

More than 100 people ate a delicious traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls, pies and more. We give our thanks to the following organizations and people who made the event possible:

Clear Creek Christian Church donated 15 turkeys – one for each of the 15 Circle leaders to take home and cook for Thanksgiving.

Voices of Hope, a choral group at Indiana University, performed three songs after dinner. They also held a food drive on campus and provided bags of side items that are traditionally eaten as part of a Thanksgiving meal to each of the 15 Circle Leaders

 Jo Gilbertson, a member of the Circles Guiding Coalition decorated the room and set the tables. She and four St. Paul’s Catholic Church members cooked much of the meal. They and Wykita Walker, Erica Thompson, Marcy Wenzler, Katie Toler, Angie Thorpe, Shane Springer all peeled a lot of potatoes, served the meal, and helped clean up.

In addition, Patrick Aleer and Will Murphy each bought and cooked a turkey, and delivered it to the Circles meeting. Wal-Mart and Smokin’ Jack’s Rib Shack made contributions for the meal.  

Thanks, everyone!

MLK Web Design Contest for local students

From the NonProfit Alliance newsletter

Contest deadline is Monday, Dec. 7 

The MLK Commission announces its Web Design Contest for elementary, middle and high school students in Monroe County Community School Corporation and Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corporation.  Contest information is at www.mccsc.edu and www.rbbsc.k12.in.us. 
 
The deadline is Monday, Dec. 7. Students should answer the question “If Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, what advice would he give to President Barack Obama?” 
 
Text, graphics, art, audio and video may be used. Judges will consider relevance to the theme, quality and cohesiveness of design, graphics, organization, and ease of navigation. Last year’s entries are at www.mccsc.edu/mlkjbcc.html.
 
IU School of Informatics and Computing grad students will serve as judges. Winners will receive cash prizes and recognized at a reception at First United Methodist Church, 219 E. 4th Street, at 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 18, 2010.  All participants are invited to attend.
 
Information is at www.bloomington.in.gov/cfrd. 

Meeting held to spread Circles Initiative

Organizations from all over the state met Thursday for a workshop on how to start Circles Iniatives in their own communities.

Representatives from programs from Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Evansville, and Japer met at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Bloomington for a workshop led by the Muncie Circles Iniative.

The program aimed to show other organizations how to get Circles started and what elements were needed for success. It provided attendees with a thick binder full of resources and information, and the presentation was led by a step-by-step slideshow.

But the meeting wasn’t a strict and rigid affair.

Participants were encouraged to ask questions throughout–such as how to raise funds–and the representatives from Muncie and Bloomington–the “model” organizations–bounced ideas for growth off each other and took notes for the future.

Actual Circles volunteers were present to share their stories. One woman said, “I’m really excited to start my circle. I think that’s going to be an amazing experience.”

Molly Flodder, the leader of the meeting, summed of the reasons for spreading Circles best. She said, “I’m getting almost old enough to retire, but I want to wake up one morning and know we changed the mindset of the community.”

Afterwards the participants joined the Bloomington Circles program for their Thanksgiving dinner.

More funds on the way to help low-income families and stimulate the economy

The South Central Community Action Program has received its contract for $696,929 in additional Community Services Block Grant funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

These funds will be used for traditional CSBG activities that SCCAP offers to support low-income citizens in Brown, Monroe, Morgan and Owen counties, as well as for new economic development activities that will help people develop their skills to obtain and retain jobs that will keep them out of poverty. We’ll keep you posted on the development of the new activities and programs.

SCCAP Head Start featured on 1370 AM

SCCAP Director of Head Start Shirley Stumpner appeared on the Glass in the Morning Show Tuesday on WGCL Radio 1370 AM to talk about the coming expansion of the Head Start program this winter. You can hear that interview by following this link: http://www.wgclradio.com/2009/11/glass-in-the-morning-11-17-09/

Also, there was a report today on Glass in the Morning about a benefit to help those without enough food in our area: http://www.wgclradio.com/2009/11/glass-in-the-morning-11-18-09/

In the news . . .

Weatherization for everyone: http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/cash-for-caulkers-the-president-is-mulling-home-energy-efficiency/

Individual Development Accounts for foster children: http://www.ketv.com/news/21640263/detail.html

Lots of bad news, too:

Hunger rising in America: http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_13802879

Child poverty rising in Georgia: http://www.ajc.com/news/child-poverty-spreading-in-203071.html

Nearly one in five children in California live in poverty: http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=13646

A couple of items on Tuesday’s calendar

SCCAP Director of Head Start Shirley Stumpner will be a guest on the Glass in the Morning show on 1370 AM at 8:08 Tuesday. She will talk about expansion of the Head Start program.

And, there’s a meeting at Bloomington Hospital for those who work with volunteers:

Volunteer VIPs – “Dealing with Problem Volunteers” 
November 17, 3:30pm
Bloomington Hospital Auditorium Atrium (601 W. 2nd St.)

And the winner is . . .

Kathleen Edwards won the prize in today’s contest for the best side dish with her baked beans. Thanks and congratulations, Kathleen.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for today’s Thanksgiving meal put together by the Culture Team. Special thanks goes to Kate Scales, Christine Combs and Debbie Cohen of the Culture Team for their work on making today’s meal possible, as well as to everyone who brought in side dishes and desserts: Debbie Cohen, Deborah Wessel, Barb Hefty-Jones, Linda Patton, Marilyn Vehslage, Edward Pate, Mary Zimmerman, Eddy Riou, Kathleen Edwards, Kara Nichols, Beth Harris, Terry Crowe and Doug Wilson.

List of Region 5 Head Start grantees distributed

A list of Head Start expansion grantees has been released by Kay Willmoth, Regional Program Manager in the Office of Head Start. As most of you know, SCCAP is one of these grantees, receiving ongoing funding of $270,000 to expand its program by 32 children. 

The 34 grantees in Region 5 (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin) were awarded $14,595,055 in Head Start expansion funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to serve 2,077 additional children.  To see the list of grantees along with the approved funding and enrollment levels, click on the following: Region V Head Start Expansion Funds Award List_November 2009

Lennie’s Restaurant and Brew Pub celebrates 20th anniversary by giving to local nonprofits

I received this by e-mail today. Quite a generous contribution by one of my favorite local restaurants – Lennie’s – to three local nonprofits. You sometimes see business donating part of their proceeds to a nonprofit, which is great, but in this case Lennie’s is donating ALL of its proceeds on Nov. 16-18 to Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Stone Belt and WonderLab:

Lennie’s Restaurant and Brew Pub, a Bloomington favorite since 1989, is turning 20!  In honor of this exciting anniversary, Lennie’s will host three days – NOVEMBER 16-18 – dedicated to raising money for three cornerstone not-for-profits.
 
ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of their sales – including lunch, dinner, take out, the pub – will be split evenly between STONE BELT, HOOSIER HILLS FOOD BANK, AND WONDERLAB MUSEUM. Their goal is to raise at least $5000 for each agency, but there will be no limit to their donation. The more they bring in, the more each agency will get! So Bloomington – mark your calendars to eat, drink and be merry at Lennies… and support three amazing causes in our community.  Please spread the word far and wide!
 
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, LENNIE’S!

Thanksgiving arrives Monday at SCCAP

REMINDER: The SCCAP Thanksgiving meal for employees will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Monday. Turkey will be provided by the SCCAP Culture Team. It’s up to the rest of us to bring our own drinks, desserts and side dishes.   

As noted previously, a Thanksgiving Potluck Contest will be held. Employees are encouraged to submit their favorite side dish for the Potluck Contest.

The winner will receive a prize. Sign up sheets are at the front desks with Shelba and Kara.

State wildlife pins help provide deer meat to low-income residents

State wildlife officials are selling special lapel pins intended to help pay for processing donated deer meat that feeds low-income Indiana residents

The Sportsman’s Benevolence Fund pin was created to give Hoosier hunters and trappers the opportunity to give something back to their neighbors. The proceeds from each $5.00 pin goes directly to deer processors who receive donated deer. The resulting venison is donated to provide much-needed meat to food banks across the state.

Each pin is $5.00. You can order the pin online by clicking here.

Fed takes aim at overdraft policies.

I’d like to bring to your attention a story in the Washington Post about the federal government taking action to limit bank overdraft fees. In a recent community assessment presented by Circles Leaders in the Monroe County Circles Initiative, the overuse of these fees was identified as a significant problem affecting low-income households.

The Obama administration is currently taking action to limit overdraft fees related to ATM withdrawals and debit card transactions, which account for about half of overdraft transactions according to the story. You can read the whole story by clicking here.

In addition, members of Congress are considering taking further action to restrict overdraft fees, as explained in the final section of the story (provided below). We will keep you posted on Inside SCCAP about the progress of this legislation. 

Congress may weigh in

Two bills — from Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) — would more aggressively curtail overdraft fees. Both limit overdraft charges at one per month and six per year and require fees to be proportional to the amount of the overdraft. They also prevent banks from debiting the most expensive purchases from accounts first, which could increase the number of overdrawn transactions. Maloney’s bill covers checks in the opt-in requirement, but Dodd’s does not.

Both lawmakers praised the Fed’s action on Thursday but said they plan to move forward with their bills. A hearing for Dodd’s legislation is scheduled for Tuesday.

“This is a long-overdue announcement for American consumers,” Dodd said in a statement. But, he added, “we need to do far more to protect customers from abusive bank products.

Some banks have already begun making changes to their overdraft programs. J.P. Morgan announced last month that it would begin requiring customers to opt-in to overdraft protection in the first quarter of next year. It also said it would not charge a fee if the account is in the red by less than $5. Bank of America said it would allow customers to opt out of its program and restrict fees to overdrafts of more than $10.

Holidays bring opportunities to support local girls

Here  are a couple of Thanksgiving and Christmas events to support Girls Inc. of Monroe County, as well as an opportunity to support local girls while doing some Christmas shopping: 

Wednesday, November 18, 6pm:  Woman/Man of the Year Thanksgiving Celebration; please RSVP to 336-7313 and bring a dish to share.  Turkey and drinks will be provided.

Saturday, November 28 (all day): Barnes & Noble Gift Fair; print off the following voucher (hol bkfair voucher) and shop ’til you drop (at ANY Barnes and Noble) on Nov. 28 and part of the proceeds will benefit Girls Inc.  There are also lots of fun things happening in the Bloomington store that day!

Saturday, December 5, 9am-noon: This is the third year we have held this wonderful event at Fountain Square Mall (thanks to CFC, Inc.) and we hope that it will become an annual tradition for you and your family.  A delicious pancake breakfast will be served by Championship Catering- a Division of IU Athletics, Santa will be making a special appearance for photos, there is a holiday boutique for the little ones to shop in, LIVE festive music from favorite local artists, gingerbread house making, a raffle, and MUCH MUCH MORE.

The proceeds will be used to support the mission of Girl’s Inc. —-Inspiring all girls to be Strong, Smart, and Bold.  We serve hundreds of girls in Monroe County through such afterschool programs as economic literacy, preventing adolescent pregnancy, and media awareness.  We also team up in volleyball, basketball, dance and other great team activities.

Tickets are available at the event, $5 at the door, or reply to my email and I can help arrange your purchase.  If you cannot attend, but would like to help Girls Inc. I can tell you how.  Raffle tickets are $5 or 5 for $20, Family Sponsorships are $40.

All are family friendly events and open to the public.  For more information, please visit our website at www.girlsinc-monroe.org or call 336-7313.  Please help us get the word out by passing along this email to those you think may be interested.

SCCAP is seeking Head Start employees

The South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP) is seeking to fill several positions as a result of receiving a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to expand its Head Start program. 

SCCAP teams up with Eigenmann to form “reciprocal relationship”

When IU’s Residential Programs and Services paired SCCAP with Eigenmann Residence Hall for the school year, neither knew what to expect.

Yet, Tom Kenning, the SCCAP coordinator for the partnership, said it’s been more beneficial for both organizations than they could have ever imagined at the start.

All IU dorms are paired with specific non-profit organizations this school year. The key, Kenning said, is to make the pairing a reciprocal relationship—both the organization and the students need to be involved and reap the benefits.

Kenning said part of the goal is to get students to look beyond the Sample Gates and make them see that Bloomington isn’t just a place to come for four years and leave—it’s a community with its own needs and issues.

But that’s the entire goal. Kenning said community members can sometimes see students as only wanting the party and college aspects of the community. He said this partnership is also helping change that view by allowing families to interact with students and put a face on the University, as well as showing young children that college students are just like them, and that it’s something they could do, too.

To build this reciprocal relationship, Kenning said floors have volunteered with Circles and Head Start,  SCCAP has greeted and handed out water during move in day, and both have come together for informational meetings on campus about poverty.

Most recently, they combined forces to put on a Halloween party with Head Start and Circles. Kenning said students decorated lounges, dressed up and interacted with the kids, and did face painting.

In the future, they are planning a Christmas event, most likely pairing family “wish lists” with different floors that can provide items.

Kenning said the turn-out on both sides has been surprisingly strong, and he credits this for much of the success they’ve had.

Although he’s not sure what RPS is planning for next year, he says in his eyes, the program has been very successful. SCCAP would love to be involved again, he said, and they’re already looking forward to next semester.

In the news . . .

Bloomington Interfaith Homeless Shelter Project off to good start: http://heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2009/11/12/news.qp-4332130.sto

Community Kitchen serves more free meals than ever: http://heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2009/11/12/news.995704.sto

New Fairview’s challenge will remain a difficult one: http://heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2009/11/12/digitalcity.qp-8520430.sto

Indiana University aims for record food drive: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911100378

Indiana among the states slow to receive Recovery Act weatherization funds: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/06/AR2009110603919.html?sub=AR

Schwarzenegger creates preschool panel to give California a better chance to receive a share of $100 million in early childhood education funds. http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2318109.html —Does anybody know what Indiana is doing to get ready to apply for this funding?

Washingtonians demand to see the end of poverty: http://www.examiner.com/x-26550-DC-Charity-Examiner~y2009m11d10-Washingtonians-demand-to-see-The-End-of-Poverty

If the cause of violence isn’t poverty, what is? http://rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/opinion/2009/11/URBAN-JOURNAL-If-the-cause-of-violence-isnt-poverty-what-is-it/

Energy Assistance Program still ahead of ‘08 pace

As of today, the SCCAP Energy Assistance Program has served 1,899 households since the start of its winter program on Oct. 5. That’s 328 households more than it had approved for assistance at the same point last year.

The rate of increase has been largest in Morgan County, where 510 families have been approved to receive help with the cost of heating their homes. Last year at the same point, SCCAP had served just 283 households.