Minutes

MCSWE QUARTERLY MEETING

MCSWE QUARTERLY MEETING

MINUTES

Friday, November 13, 2020 @ 1 pm

Members Present: Shelly Smart, Jay Palmer, Sara Lien, Elena Izaksonas, Omotola Akinsola, Tony Bibus, Mary Kirk

1) INTRODUCTION

a) Meeting called to order at 1:00pm by J. Palmer. Meeting taking place in virtual zoom meeting room.

b) Approval of the minutes from November 22, 2019. A motion was made by E. Izaksonas, and a second from S. Lien.

c) Approval of the agenda for the November 13, 2020. Correction: Tony Bibus currently attends the Coalition of Licensed Social Workers meetings as a non-voting advisor and reports back the updates. An addition to the agenda was made by E. Izaksonas to talk about winter conference attendance and whether a quarterly meeting was held at the conference. A motion was made by E. Izaksonas, to approve the agenda with the addition and correction, and a second from S. Smart.

2) TREASURER’S REPORT

a) Checking $ 221.51

Savings $ 1,640.00

Pay Pal $ 4,026.63

Total $ 5,888.15

b) The treasurer’s report does not reflect the honorarium of $500 paid to presenter for the first workshop in the MCSWE Virtual Workshop Series.

c) Brief discussion about the history MCSWE’s bank account. T. Bibus shared that it has been typical to have several thousand dollars in the account to use to offset conference costs, and the board hasn’t felt a need to fundraise.

d) S. Smart shared member institutions who have paid 20-21 membership dues to date: Bethel College, St. Cloud State University, St. Olaf, Winona State, The College of St. Scholastica.

3) MCSWE Tax Exempt Status

a) J. Palmer sent an application to IRS to reinstate 501 3C status for the organization. It will take 1 month for processing before we hear back from IRS on status and next steps. We failed to file the last several years so are taking steps to reestablish our tax-exempt status.

4) COMMITTEE REPORTS

Coalition of Licensed Social Workers. T. Bibus shared that a number of legislative and policy proposals related to COVID have been approved by the Board of Social Work and Legislature/Governor; including continuing education adjustments, licensing processes and telemedicine and tele-social-work adjustments. T. Bibus said that he will direct anyone interested to additional information regarding these legislative proposals and enactments. The Coalition’s new By-Laws have gone through several drafts and will soon be ready for approval by member associations – stay tuned

a) E. Izaksonas asked if there has been discussion around the Coalition’s stance on police reform and intersection of/implications on social work practice. Discussion followed on the merit of having discussion with the wider membership related to police reform. The group decided MCSWE will reach out to members to ask what’s on people’s minds regarding this issue. The executive board will draft a query and send out.

b) BOSW. E. Izaksonas will be the new MSCWE board rep for BOSW. J. Palmer said E. Izaksonas can expect to hear from the advisory board about upcoming meetings, etc. J. Palmer said that there have been changes in legislation and these seem more user-friendly and beneficial to students and social workers. J. Palmer will send E. Izaksonas links to these changes.

5) CONFERENCE MCSWE 2020-2021 VIRTUAL WORKSHOP SERIES – Advancing Equity and Social Justice in Social Work Higher Education

a) MCSWE hired consultant Leah Fulton to guide content and direction for the series.

b) The first workshop took place Nov. 6, and about 12 people were in attendance. Cary Waubanascum gave an excellent presentation on colonial matrix of power, indigenous lens and opportunity for social work education.

c) The next workshop will be on principles & practices for advancing equity in the field. Field instructors will be invited at no-cost. S. Lien asked if MCSWE could consider inviting social work students, as well, especially because of COVID-related field reality for students. Many placements are being canceled and students and field programs are accessing virtual trainings, workshops and other educational opportunities to satisfy field hours. Here are the next workshop titles and dates.

Session 2: Principles & Practices for Advancing Equity in the Field ($40 for members, $50 for non-members, free to all field supervisors) February 19, 2021 (1:00pm - 3:00pm)

Session 3: Implementing Equity in Social Work Education ($40 for members, $50 for non-members) April 9, 2021 (1:00pm - 3:00pm)

6) Next Meeting Feb 26, 1-2:30pm

7) ADJOURNMENT

a) J. Palmer adjourned meeting at 1:45pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Mary Kirk

Secretary

MCSWE Quarterly Meeting Minutes

November 22, 2019 1:00-2:30

MCSWE website

Attendees: Jennifer Parker-Mankato State, Tanya Rand-University of St Thomas, Shelly Richardson-College of St Scholastica, Robert Jay Palmer-Winona State, Elena Izaksonas-Metro State, Mary Kirk-Winona State

1. Introductions

2. Approve minutes from May 2019 meeting

6.7.19. MCSWE Quarterly Meeting Minutes

Could not approve because attendees today were not at the May mting

3. Presidents’ report – Jay Palmer

Jay shared that he and Eydie will continue as co-presidents. Jay also shared that MCSWE is at an important juncture, and the organization is looking to the membership to discern the future of the organization. Financially speaking, decisions need to be made to ensure the financial viability before the organization runs out of money reserves. The history and purpose, as well as the future direction and purpose of the organization will need to be revisited.

4. Treasurer’s report – Shelly Richardson

As of October 2019:

$121.00 in checking

$3,237 in savings

$1,729 in the PayPal account.

Shelly is sending out reminders for membership dues.

5. New Business

a. Discussion around communication avenues regarding the mission, goals and future direction of the organization. Some programs have been confused about where to find information and how to participate. Currently the organization provides 1) representation on BOSW, 2) participation in the coalition of licensed social workers and 3) annual conference. The group decided to create a written document about the history and purpose of MCSWE to send out on the listserv, as this will help provide context first, before pursuing next directions of the organization. Officers will obtain more information about the history by tapping into members who have institutional memory of MCSWE. Officers will also work on a Qualtrics survey to solicit feedback and ideas from the membership.

b. BOSW needs an MCSWE representative. Jay is willing to be an interim representative, will attend meetings this year and share out with the membership. Elena would be willing to serve as well, so possibly switch out the position next year.

c. Spring elections update. We are in violation of the organization’s by-laws because Jay and Eydie have served beyond their allotted time, but have agreed to take on an additional two-year term. Mary Kirk, the secretary position, is in a de facto role. Earlier this year the nominating committee (Tony) sent out to the membership a solicitation for any interest in officer/leadership positions and did not receive any responses. We will ask Tony to send out another solicitation for nominations. Elections are typically held during the quarterly business meeting at the annual conference.

d. Coalition of licensed social workers. Efforts are being made to extend protections to social work students around ‘duty to warn’. Currently psychology students have these protections and efforts are being made to extend these to social work students. This new legislation has important implications for field. Jay will look into any updates and will pass along new information.

e. Winter Conference update. February 13 & 14, 2020, St. Scholastica Monastery, Duluth. The conference will begin ~ 4pm on Thursday, Feb. 13 and end early afternoon on Friday, Feb. 14. The date was chosen because it doesn’t interfere with larger conferences- such as APM and BPD. The location was chosen because the hosts (the nuns and staff at the Monastery retreat center) were “amazing, a joy to be around, very helpful and easy to work with” during the 2019 conference. One of the primary goals of the conference is to create a friendly environment for social work educators to not only connect with one another but also present their scholarship in order to gain experience and feedback that will support them moving forward in their careers. Jennifer requested time be allotted for opportunity for field educators to connect while at the conference. The conference committee will send out a Save-the-Date asap and will follow with conference registration and RFP’s. Tonya offered to provide feedback to leadership committee as they plan for the conference.

Meeting was adjourned at 2pm on 11/22/2019.

Respectfully submitted by Mary Kirk