Charlottesville Sister Cities Commission AGENDA Meeting June 15, 2021 www.charlottesville.gov/zoom I. Approve meeting minutes from May 18 (whole group) and subcommittee meeting minutes from May 24. II. City Rep Updates: a. Winneba b. Besancon c. Poggio d. Huehue (Kate can take this one) III. Updates from subcommittee meetings: a. Grants b. Outreach and Communications c. Education d. Finance - Grants question from this meeting: are the recipients from our LAST grant cycle spending $$? Are they planning on continuing with their projects? We’d love an update! IV. Our new, awesome Co-Chair. Who will it be? You? Next Meetings: Tuesday, July 20 @ 4:30 pm Tuesday, August 17 @ 4:30 pm ** plan on a retreat at some point in September. Perhaps it can be in person this time! Charlottesville Sister Cities Commission Minutes Meeting May 18, 2021 Zoom Present: Amanda Folsom, Michael Grinnell, Daman Irby, Kate Kogge, Stella Mattioli, Elizabeth Smiley, Adrienne Ward Absent: Joan Clarke, Nana Ghartey, Neeley Minton, Dave Norris Non‐members present: Maxicelia Robinson, Lachen Parks, Terri DiCintio, Gary O’Connell Meeting opened at 4:37 pm. Ms. Kogge presided. A quorum was present. I. Approval of April minutes Ms. Smiley requested a correction to the wording of item VIII. There was no exchange update from Besancon. Motion to approve minutes with correction: Ms. Kogge Seconded: Mr. Grinnell Motion passed unanimously with no abstentions. II. City Rep Updates: a. Winneba – Mr. Ghartey i. Mr. Ghartey is in Winneba, and no report was provided. b. Besancon – Ms. Smiley i. Ms. Smiley received an email from Besancon teacher, Paul Lo Papa, who is interested in bringing a student group to Charlottesville for a sports related activity most likely in 2022. She plans to meet virtually with him to learn more. ii. Contact has been established with the Director of International Relations of Besancon following a change in local elected officials. iii. Contact has been made to Charlottesville teachers to determine if any outreach has been made in regards to potential exchanges with Besancon. c. Poggio – Ms. Mattioli i. Ms. Mattioli is currently in Poggio, her home city, and she has plans to meet with city officials to discuss future opportunities for cooperation. d. Huehuetenango – Ms. Kogge i. The process for establishing the official “Friendship City” status is proceeding well, and grant programs connected to the city are also progressing. A city representative or person to stand in that role until it is officially established needs to be found relatively soon. ii. A question on the process of establishing a CSCC city representative for Huehuetenango was brought forth by Ms. Kogge. Ms. Robinson stated that the “Friendship City” relationship would need to be officially established. Charlottesville is waiting for the Huehuetenango’s official response. At that time the City of Charlottesville City Council may establish a new Commission Sister City representative. III. Update from Elizabeth on spending guidelines ‐ no formal documentation on what the commission adopted regarding discretionary spending guidelines. a. Missing 2018 meeting minutes i. The missing minutes were found in another location in the CSCC Google folder. The only minutes now missing are those from the January and February 2020 meetings. b. How do we best proceed? i. A document outlining CSCC Spending Guidelines was drafted over a period of time and completed in early 2018. Former CSCC Chair, Terri DiCintio, stated that it was approved by the Commission though it appears that this approval was not recorded in meeting minutes. ii. Ms. DiCintio encouraged the CSCC to review these Spending Guidelines and add updates that the current Commission sees fit. Commissioners agreed. It was noted that guidance regarding the funding of discretionary spending such as $1,000 per year for expenditures proposed by City Representatives could be added. The question was asked if the Commission should establish an ability for commissioner to make purchases of a smaller amount prior to Commission approval. iii. Ms. Ward asked for clarification on if it is permissible to allocate $1,000 per year if we do not have an associated line item in the budget. iv. Ms. Robinson stated that a conversation between two Commission members and Charlottesville City Attorney, Lisa Robertson, would help to determine answers to the questions. Mr. Irby as Co‐Chair and Mr. Grennell as Treasurer agreed to meet with Ms. Robertson, and Ms. Robinson agreed to make the meeting arrangements. IV: Pleven Update from Terri. a. What “Emeritus” status means i. The relationship is on hold. It should be listed as a Sister City Emeritus but the CSCC should not actively search for or promote opportunities for engagement with the city. b. Pleven’s status as an official Sister City to Cville i. The CSCC could state that the relationship is “inactive”. If the CSCC did receive a grant or event proposal focusing on Pleven, contact should be made to assure Pleven is willing and able to participate. ii. Pleven has always been gracious to visitors and contact from Charlottesville. iii. Gary O’Connell, former Charlottesville City Manager, who was a founding member of the CSCC, spoke to the Commission as a guest. Mr. O’Connell recently received contact from the Mayor of Pleven and would like to assist in reestablishing contact with the city and Charlottesville including potential participation in the 2022 Pleven Day for Sister Cities. The CSCC agreed and encouraged his efforts. V: Other business a. Ms. Smiley agreed to serve as CSCC Secretary through the next Commission retreat which will take place in August or September 2021. b. Ms. Kogge announced that she will move out of the Charlottesville‐area in July and will at that time end her service on the CSCC. Commissioners thank Ms. Kogge for her service and leadership particularly during the unusual COVID period. Meeting adjourned at 5:41 Respectfully submitted, Daman Irby, Higher Education Representative Next CSCC meeting is on Tuesday June 15 @ 4:30 pm via Zoom. Charlottesville Sister Cities Commission Subcommittee Minutes Meeting May 24, 2021 Zoom Grants Committee (4:30 - 5:15) Participants: Amanda Folsom, Daman Irby Notes: 1) Reviewed Grants annual goals (here) ● 2020-2021 Grants cycle completed ● Next focus area is to develop guidelines for Travel Scholarships 2) Status updates on 2020 and 2021 grants projects ● Reviewed draft “dashboard” for 2019-20 and 2020-21 grants projects. ● All grants projects are expected to proceed in 2021. 3) Project liaisons and check-ins with grantees ● Discussed need to clarify point of contact/liaison for each grant project (to be named at grant award and to follow up periodically for project updates) ● Amanda to develop draft description of grant liaison role 4) Process improvements for next grants cycle ● Adapted process in light of COVID-19 (flexible and adaptable) ● Started late, pushed back timeline (need to confirm schedule for 2021-22 cycle, recommending we get back to old schedule) ● Grants review process went well - and all sub-committee members mobilized to connect with applicants to seek clarifications on their proposals, as needed ● Need to clarify differences between grants, sponsorships, and scholarships (FAQ) ● Need to clarify expenditure guidelines for grantees (Kyna typically fields those questions) ● Need to clarify points of contact for grantees (“grant liaison role”) 5) Travel scholarship guidelines development (see draft scholarship principles and process the Subcommittee worked on last year) ● Grants sub-committee members need to review and discuss draft guidelines, determine if we want to discuss at next Commission meeting 6) AOB Outreach and Communications Committee (5:35 – 6:05) Participants: Michael Grinnell, Stella Mattioli Notes: 1) Status Update on website renewal a) Michael to research how to do the 2022 renewal via invoicing 2) Review Outreach Goals - CSCC Goals 2020-2021 a) Still need to complete some items 3) Review CSCC Outreach List - Sister City Outreach List a) Made a few updates 4) Review the Outreach Ideas - Outreach Ideas a) Divide the list up and do some followup research Education Committee (6:05 - 6:45) Participants: Daman Irby, Neely Minton, Elizabeth Smiley, & Erin Hughley-Commers, Kate Kogge (arrived at 6:26 p.m.) Notes: ● Reviewed goals: ○ Goal #1: ■ Need International Space Station project update from Kate (Kate to identify someone we could partner with in her place) ○ Goal #2: ■ Pivot to an in-person event ■ Students who have been historically underrepresented (potentially World Languages) ■ Spanish-speaking population of Charlottesville: connection with Huehuetenango ■ Maybe connect with grant project that was going to be spearheaded by SPEAK Language Center ● Elizabeth needs to reach out to Christina from SPEAK; if she does, Elizabeth can let her know that we have an interest in seeing if the project you’re putting together might be able to dovetail with our goal ■ Creative expression project (Rachel M.): target underrepresented students who are Spanish-speaking ○ Goal #3: ■ Plan an educational event that would engage local students and enunciate their connection between Charlottesville and our sister cities: participation in young authors’ and artists’ showcase from National Sister Cities organization ● Partnered with Charlottesville High School and Aaron Eichorst (Fine and Performing Arts Coordinator); 3 students submitted pieces; we’ll find out the results in June ● Proposal: pull together a working group of interested community partners to meet with members of the community so that we can plan for next year (and recruit students to participate) [involve students at Buford and CHS]--start meeting regularly in the fall (create community buy-in) Finance Committee (6:45 - 7:11) Participants: Michael Grinnell, Kate Kogge (left meeting early), Daman Irby Notes: ● How long do Grantees have to request funds? 1 year from the award of the grant (Feb/March 2022) ● We still have unclaimed funds from FY20. Work with Grants subcommittee (Amanda) to understand if we already established a deadline. Review the notes from June/July 2021 meetings to see if we specified a date ● Did we give any money to the VA Festival of the Book this year? March 2021 ● Did we give any money to the Festival of Cultures this year? May 7-13 2021 ● Set budget for next fiscal year! ○ FY22 Budget is here - FY21 and FY22 Budget