August 23rd Conference Call

Attending: Cindy, Suzi, Clint, Gail, Casey, Rick, Penny, Tom, Dave, Ellen, Julie, Tom, Penny

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1. Communication and Recruitment

   1. Final Update on Recruitment of Chairs (All):
      • Updating the Google Sheet for our Executive Committee to add Suzi as lead of the marketing team and Tom Bewick as our USDA Liaison.
      • Decision was made to call the different sectors (commercial, NGO, land grant) sectors councils. Decision made to call goals (social, environmental, economic) committees.
   2. Steering Key Members to the Right Committees (Casey)
      • We discussed a potential honorary chair for this committee. Suzi and Casey agreed to approach one potential honorary chair ~ when timing is right and when a job description is available.
      • Suzi and Casey had a phone conversation with Charlie Hall, who has been suggested as a powerful NICH ally. His agreed to working with Debbie on the Economic Committee.
      • Jenn T. was mentioned as someone to join the social goals committee or the NGO council. Tom U. will reach out to Jenn.
      • Suzi mentioned several folks that she reached out to. She will send the full list of contacts to the group.
      • Cindy H. will remain on the communications strategy team.
   3. Final Update on One-Pager (Shannon, Katie, Suzi):
      • Note that Katie will continue to serve on the marketing committee, but not the leadership team. Please drop her name from emails that go out to the leadership team.
      • One-pager is complete. Will be used as a recruitment and engagement tool. Share as a PDF.
      • Note that the advisory committee is being asked to do the first three things on the ‘how can I help’ part of the one-pager (e.g. ‘Join, Offer, Spread’).
   4. Other Communications (All)
      • Marketing Committee: first step is to put together a long-term marketing plan, with a goal of September.

2. Engagement

   1. ASHS Conference Report (Rick, Ellen, Lucy, Tom B., etc.)
      • Julie notes that the folks who presented on NICH at ASHS did a good job (so much so, that she joined the effort). Rick was recruited to the academic council at ASHS.
      • Katie presented at the GWA Next Gen Summit, and Garden Media Group have included NICH in their trend report.
   2. Upcoming Conferences/Presentations
      • Katie and Suzie will present NICH at New England Grows in November.
      • Rick will be giving presentation at the National Master Gardener Coordinators Conference in September.
      • Send Tom U. your additions to the list of conferences / presentations. This will be useful for marketing strategy, but also for annual reports.

3. NIFA Strategic Planning Grant Readiness (Casey)

   1. Status of nominations to review panel: Shannon has forwarded three names from CO. Suzi is willing to serve on the review panel, and will talk to others about joining.
      • Name of the review panel: industry relevance review panel. Tom will share information developed for SCRI. The goal is to keep the time commitment for industry reps as little as possible (20 hours or below)~ but there is a time commitment that needs to be made to: (1) to do the reviews, and (2): to participate in the conference call. Folks who agree to commit, must commit to do both. How many conference calls are there? How many applications must folks review? Tom will forward that information to Gail for sharing in NICH documents.
      • 20 hour time commitment includes: There is a 1-hour orientation webinar. You review 10-12 pre-applications (~1 hour per app), and then a 1 hour conference call to discuss the pre-applications that you reviewed.
        To Do: Every committee member should be sending names and contact information to Tom B.
   2. Grant Preparation Task Force Members: tabled for next call.

4. Road Map: Establishing Timelines and Priorities (Suzi, Casey)

   1. Committee Survey
   2. List of Priorities: think about what this group should prioritize and work to accomplish in short-, mid- and long-term timelines. To Do: send your list of high-level priorities (five, benchmark deadlines) for the next 12 months to Suzi, who will compile and bring results back to the full leadership team: 1st 6 months from now, next 6 months from now. Please send to Suzi by September 20th (end of working day). (draft 3 year calendar is part of this document, as appendix 1, pages 4-5 of this document)
   3. Casey will send out blank timeline that they’ve put together, for the next three year’s priorities.
   4. The planning grant would be to complete and prioritize the NICH strategic plan. Planning grant funds would be available (if we get it) in the spring of 2017. The planning process could be completed by the summer of 2017 (end of June).

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Appendix

ROAD MAP TO 2019

GOAL: CONSUMER HORTICULTURE INCLUSION IN 2019 FARM BILL

2018: Harvest the Garden

• December
• November
• October
• September
• August
• July
• June
• May
• April
• March
• February
• January

2017: Plant the Seeds

• December
• November
• October
• September
• August
• July
• June
• May
• April
• March
• February
• January

2016: Cultivate the Earth

• December
• November
• October
• September
• August