An Average Monday

It wasn't until after I got Hayden into bed tonight that I got to catch up with my email for the day. And now I'm reflecting on my day and thought I'd share. I try to have monthly meetings with each of the Leadership Team members and this morning was Angela's turn. We discussed progress, setbacks, challenges, and opportunities wit each of the initiatives with which she is most closely associated and made some plans for tasks she'll accomplish over the next month. This led immediately to our bi-weekly Leadership Team meeting. During these meetings, the program directors and I talk about agency-wide issues with an eye on opportunities for increased efficiency, integration, cross-functional support, and overall agency improvement. I always miscalculate the amount of time it'll take to consider any given issue and these meetings tend to run long. Today was no different. I'll spare most of the details but we got into some interesting tidbits. As per the Board President's suggestion, we discussed starting a facility inventory/inspection process. This led to a broader discussion of ADA requirements, lease contract liabilities, and our facilities' likelihood to support client needs. We'll be collecting information about each of these things and regrouping to consider next steps. It never seems like these things should be a big deal but this team is both extremely thorough and thoughtful and that leads to a significant desire to do things right . . . and thus slower than any of us would like. Next we got into a discussion of HIPAA rules and CMCA policy regarding infectious disease. It's really important that we encourage and promote sanitary, clean work environments and we'll be circulating hand washing reminders for all of our offices. While it might seem simplistic or rudimentary, good hand washing practices are the best strategy for preventing all kinds of disease transmittal, down to the common cold.

So then the meeting went long and Anita and I had to quickly get our bearings for a lunch meeting with our agency insurance broker and carrier. This is our annual review of our current policy and recommendation for our next renewal which will start Jan. 1. Anita and I haven't had a chance to follow up with this meeting since it ran to nearly four o'clock so I won't divulge details yet but we'll be following up with more information about our plan soon. After that meeting, I knew I had a series of quick things that had to get done so I ran into Dianna's office to reschedule a meeting we'd missed at three and plan to talk about a brief subject at 4:45. Then I ran downstairs to talk to Mernell about our Boonville Head Start center which we are desperately trying to finalize. After that I had a brief interview with an MU journalism student who wanted to know more about the apartment building we're planning to build in Columbia. Next Joyce caught me for some signatures and follow-up to an earlier conversation we'd been having. Then I sent one email to the leadership team about a report we're going to discuss next week and wrapped up my day debriefing with Dianna about an apartment complex in Mexico we're trying to rehabilitate. I caught Chris on his way out and we had a typically geeky conversation about voiceover IP options for office communications. I went home in time to have dinner with my family before Stacey, my wife, had to go to her Monday night class. Hayden and I played games for a couple of hours before we got him ready for bed and I worked through my email. I took a break to watch Survivor on Tivo and then I wrote this post.

It was just an average Monday.

New and Good

It's the week of Thanksgiving. I have a lot to be thankful for. A wonderful family, a meaningful job, fulfilling volunteer life . . . and I'm interviewing for a new Executive Assistant! This week is dedicated to hiring someone to help us to continue moving the agency forward. I'm excited about it. But still, this time of year makes me both grateful for what I have and thoughtful about the work we do. Ask just about anyone what they have to be thankful for and you'll hear a litany of responses about the thing's in their life regardless of their income. We can all find joy in our lives when we think for a minute. At CMCA we often take time at the beginning of meetings to consider "New and Good" things in our lives. Sure, staff complain incessantly about it but the fact is, it's nice to reflect, event briefly, on the positive things in our lives. Seems like it is the things we focus on that tend to perpetuate. Positivity breeds good things and negativity generates unnecessary barriers. Have you heard about "Complaint Bracelets?" It's based on the idea that complaining generates negativity which in turn generates those barriers I mentioned. Sure, it's a little hokey, and frankly, there are things worth complaining about, but I like the idea. You can check it out and get your own bracelet here for free. Stay positive, think about the new and good in your life, and enjoy Thanksgiving.

Being David Bradley

I just added a weblink on the right side of this blog to NCAF's blog. If you want to feel like you've got a front row seat in Washington DC, get inside of David Bradley's head and check it out. (If you're not a fan of stark reality, you might want to hold off until we have some good news at the national level) David Bradley is the lobbyist for community action interests in DC and the Executive Director of the National Community Action Foundation. He's the one making friends for community action in DC and trying to make sense out of what is a pretty complicated mess of a federal budget. Right now, that mess amounts to the fact that we have a majority in Congress that favors greater spending on domestic issues that address poverty and human dignity in the United States and less on a war in Iraq that may be worse for humanity in general. So the House and Senate seem to agree that human service programs generally and Community Action specifically ought to get more funding. They'll pass spending plans that represent this agreement. The White House is opposed to these expenses because it is proposing an additional $200 billion in Iraq. That means the White House will likely veto the domestic spending bill and everyone that thought that was a good idea will have to start from scratch. Not a pretty picture.

CMCA has a board meeting coming up tomorrow night. You can now get the agenda and all related documents online. Just click these words and you'll see what I mean.

Building in fun

CMCA's central office had a chili cook off this afternoon at lunch time. Thanks to Leah Patrick and Mollie Rackers for coming up with the idea and carrying it through. The idea was to raise funds to purchase a picnic table outside on the south side of the building and to have a little fun. The nature of work in Community Action Agencies is pretty serious. We're trying to help people who are struggling with the crises of poverty to meet an immediate need or to think longterm about what it takes to get out of poverty. With that work we necessarily see some extremely difficult and emotionally trying circumstances. Rather than letting those circumstances suck the life out of us who are trying to help, it's important to have some fun and fellowship from time to time. It takes the focus temporarily off of the realities we see and allows us to appreciate our colleagues and friends in an environment that allows us to catch our breaths. I encourage all county offices, Head Start centers, and Career Centers (as well as anybody that reads this) to think about creating opportunities like this to keep yourselves sane.

In addition to Leah and Mollie, thanks to our entrants: Chris Macy, Liz Popovich, Teresa House, Smilin Bob Green, Andy Prevo, and Pat Lockwood . . . and to everybody that took a time out to eat some awesome chili and visit. Special congratulations to Smilin Bob Green for winning with his special recipe. I hope he enjoys the Mickey Mouse cookie jar!