November 2023 Board of Directors Minutes

Attendees

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes 

November 21, 2023

7:05 – Sonia Call to order – invited guests to introduce themselves

• Introduction & Attendance
  • Erika Brockman introduced herself as a neighbor in Union Square
  • Meeting ground rules

Minutes Approval

• • Jane was not in attendance last month but was marked as attending.

• Motion to approve minutes with correction noted (Abigail), Kurt 2nd

None opposed – None Abstain – All in favor –

Seating New Board Members:

• Diana is the new chair for the Workforce Development Committee 
• Kurt is replacing Rebecca as the LifeBridge representative on the Board.

Acting Executive Director Report (Elizabeth):

• We will need to have a board meeting in December to approve the budget for 2024
• The Rec Center will be opening in May – There are a few items that have been discovered that need to be corrected that were not part of the original scope. An additional $150K is needed.
• Introduce Adrian Muldrow – The new Commercial Development Program Manager – Welcome 
  • Will allow Carrie to focus on housing development.
• Most of the committees will not have a meeting in December and instead will be joining the Safety walk November 29th at 5:30 – meet at SWP office 1317 W Baltimore Street.
• Maryland NonProfits is providing some capacity building support to us (in kind):
  • Board excellence training
  • Fundraising assessment
• Adrian introduced himself

Standing Committee Updates:

• Governance (Chuck)
  • Bylaws update – We will revisit later in the meeting once we have a quorum.
• Executive Director Search Committee (Scott)
  • Chuck Durakis – the recruiter has sent us a batch of candidates.
  • We have scheduled interviews that will begin next week and complete within 2 weeks.
  • Expect a 2nd round of interviews later in the month and hope to have a candidate to recommend to the Board in early January.

Community and Program Committee Announcements:

• • Neighborhood Associations
    • Barre Circle (Serena) – no updates
    • Franklin Square (Edith) – no updates
    • Hollins Roundhouse – no update
    • Mount Clare – no update
    • Pigtown – no update
    • Poppleton (Sonia) – Met with Patrick and consultant team on the housing plan
    • Union Square (Chuck) – The Union Square Cookie Tour will be held the first Sunday of December – He will send the link.
  • Anchor Institutions
    • B&O Railroad Museum (Kris) – Polar Express rolls in Friday – she will send a flier
    • Bon Secours Community Works – no update
    • Lifebridge Health (Kurt) – no update
    • University of MD Baltimore (Bill) – 
      • Turkey give away
      • Xmas Store 12/15 & 12/16
      • CEC emergency repair the basement is closed until spring – activities are ongoing on the other floors
    • University of MD BioPark (Jane) – Holiday Happy Hour – 12/13 from 4:30-6 in the Invent & Advance
    • University of MD Medical Center (Chuck) – 
      • Michael Franklin is Workforce Leader – Chuck is hoping to bring him to a meeting soon
      • Diabetes links in the chat…
    • Wexford Science and Technology – (Jane) 4MLK is topping out Friday 12/1 @ 11:15 – They are on schedule to open the building October 2024.
  • Committees
    • Commercial Development – no update
    • Education: – (Abigail)
      • The Community Survey is still in draft – will go out early in the new year
      • The Packett fund is looking for funding – consider donating
        • Edith – How do we donate – 
        • Elizabeth – Make a check payable to SWP and write Packett fund in the note.
      • The Steuart Hill appeal has been officially dismissed from Circuit Court
      • The crossing guards that were promised by City Schools have not materialized.
    • Historic Preservation (Scott) – no update this month – hope to have an update and recommendation for action on 1504 & 1506 W Baltimore St next month
    • Housing (Cecilia)
      • Update on Inclusionary Housing bills: after a lot of negotiations and some tensions about changes that were attempting to weaken the bills, City Council passed the bills to second reader, and Mayor Scott came in support. The vote for third reader is scheduled for early December. See Brew article about it: https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2023/11/20/inclusionary-housing-advances-at-the-city-council-with-mayor-scotts-objections-turning-to-praise/ 
      • BUILD Action on Dec 11: Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) is holding an important action that will take place at Greater Harvest Baptist Church (1617 W Saratoga St), 6:30-8pm on December 11. We will encourage the Housing Committee to attend in lieu of our December meeting, and the board is also encouraged to attend as I believe Mayor Scott will participate and make an announcement about a strategy to address the issue of vacant properties.
    • Public Safety (Howard)
      • Be aware that it is getting dark earlier.
      • Do not start your car without being in it.
      • String lights are available – check with Meghan
      • Public Safety Walk – Wednesday – Meet at the partnership office at 5:30
    • Vibrant Streets – no update
    • Workforce Development (Diana)
      • As the new chair of the Workforce Committee, I’d like to tell you that my interest in the committee is closely linked to my desire to encourage folks to get their GED as a stepping stone for other workforce development programs.  Once a teacher, always a teacher, I guess.  I’m presently a tutor at South Baltimore Learning Center (sometimes an instructor when needed) and help students pass the GED test – particularly the scary math section.
      • I’d like to share with the board the conversations our committee has had over the last year or so – and that is to consider dissolving the Workforce Committee.   When it was formed, it was a clear response to the need for Workforce Development in our neighborhoods, but now in 2023, there are numerous programs with professional capacity to offer amazing workforce training in a wide range of areas.   The Workforce Roundtable, housed at the CEC and already sponsored by the SWP, meets the 3rd Friday of the month at 3:00pm and generously invites resources from all over the city to share information on programs and opportunities.   You will often see those posted in the monthly SWP newsletter.
      • Other options  (besides dissolving) are to fold the Workforce Committee into the Workforce Roundtable or into the Education Committee – from where it evolved initially about 5 years ago.    No decisions have been made – those are board decisions,  but I wanted to inform the board – now –  of the ongoing conversations and some of the options we may be bringing to the board to consider for the future of the Workforce Committee.  Any of you are welcome to attend our meeting December 7 at 7:00pm on Zoom.
      • While I’m reporting, I’d like to report that the Workforce Roundtable had a speaker from the city, who is excited to share that BCIT Baltimore City Information Technology will be offering grants from the state of Maryland BEAD (Broadband Equity Access) funds to provide Internet access as well as equipment to large segments of Baltimore including the SWP.   There will be grants to write, but it looks promising.  
  • Scott – Now that we have Quorum let’s revisit the bylaws update.

• Chuck – Motion to accept the bylaws change:

• Three directors will be selected to serve two year, renewable terms. Should there be an unexpected vacancy, an At-Large Directors will be replaced by the committee of designated neighborhood organization Member Directors.

• 2nd by Jane

• • None opposed – None Abstain – All in favor –

8:11pm – Meeting Adjourned

Motion (Sonia) to adjourn.

All in favor – Move to executive session