Attending: Ellen, Debbie Hamrick, Penny, Margaret, Tom U., Clint, Pam, Gail, Julie, Suzi, Rick, Casey, Shannon
1. Discuss role of NICH councils to overall NICH strategic efforts (Rick & Margaret)
a. Rick and Margaret are co-chairing government/university council
b. What should they be asking potential council members for, and what is the role of the councils? Should it be to make sure that the goals of NICH reflect what folks are seeing in their own university or government lab?
c. Shannon and Tom (co-chairs of the non-profit council) have discussed this and came up with 4 points
i. Asking folks to sign on and show support for NICH ~ so that we can say we have xx number of people that have signed on to NICH.
ii. Asking folks to serve in an advisory capacity
iii. Asking folks to contribute to the awareness of NICH, to help build our constituency
iv. Developing a pool of volunteers that can be called upon, as specific needs arise within the council (such as serving on a relevancy review panel)
d. Clint (industry council chair) ~
i. has been doing outreach to make them aware that NICH exists
ii. it is for consumers, so that it is non-competitive within industry
iii. we’re not asking for $$, we’re asking for time
iv. asking them to get the word out to get the widest # of people on the relevancy panel, where we’re asking for ~16 hours over a relatively short time span (between December 15th and January 14th)
e. Overall goals include:
i. building awareness,
ii. building support (such as folks who are willing to let us use their name as supporters, on grant proposals or other items)
iii. developing potential volunteers (such as on the relevancy review panel)
iv. expressing their needs and/or giving feedback on NICH efforts as a way to advise/guide NICH work importance of listening to stakeholders
f. Question on advocacy ~ what is the role of NICH members / stakeholders on advocacy?
i. Different branches of this group might advocate, in ways that don’t put the rest of the group at risk
ii. Academic/government sectors can not advocate ~ but can reach out and build awareness of NICH, build support for NICH (such as list of stakeholders who support grant proposals)
iii. At this point, we are not anticipating that any particular NICH group, committee or council will be involved in lobbying. May be easier to work with another group that already has a well-established presence in DC ~ let them do the advocacy work. This is the importance of getting industry members involved ~ who have needs that can be represented by these larger and longer established organizations.
g. When we have more specific ideas, which may come in the next two quarters, it may be easier for industry stakeholders to sign on to NICH (Clint).
h. Economic Committee (Debbie) ~ the committee is working on deliverables (e.g. infographic) to show collective economic impact of the industry. They are working to get this done by the end of the year.
i. Work flow between economic committee and industry council could include, for example, if the economic committee needs stats or figures that industry council reps could provide
2. Need current NICH committee and council members and their affiliations on our website (in advance of SCRI proposal) ~ Ellen
a. In the pre-proposal (to be submitted November 15th), we refer folks to the website, and want it to be as populated as possible, in advance of proposal review.
b. To Do for Committee and Council Chairs: Please send current list of NICH committee and council members, together with affiliations, to Ellen. Contact information not needed. Logos can be added, if they would like and if it is reasonable to do so.
c. Should there be a critical number of committee or council members per group before they are posted? Casey suggested 5+ people.
i. Chairs can work on recruitment over the next two weeks, in advance of Nov. 15th.
ii. Asking folks to be on an advisory council (or to serve in an advisory capacity on a committee) is an easier way to get folks on the list. From that list, a smaller subset can / will be more active volunteers.
3) SCRI pre-proposal update (Ellen and Gail):
a. Box File with Pre-Proposal Files: https://app.box.com/s/dkvhcwinl2ox0v08fxkafnfoyqr3ktby
b. To Do for All: Input on pre-proposal and letters of collaboration are due to Ellen BEFORE November 5th.
c. Pre-proposal draft is in Box. Please take a look, make changes (using track changes) or send suggestions to Ellen.
d. Draft of letter of collaboration is also in Box. Note that letters of support should not be from the same folks who are serving on the relevancy review panel or from the same folks who are listed as a collaborator/PI on the proposal. We thus don’t need letters from us (NICH Exec Committee). And, we don’t need letters from academics. But, folks who write draft letter of support can be from the same company as folks who serve on relevancy review panel. We should be aiming for 20+ letters of support from non-profits and industry. Letters should be on company or organizational letterhead.
i. Letters of support are one example of a relatively easy way for council members to participate in NICH.
e. Who will be asking stakeholders for letters? Our group should reach out to our (non-academic) networks for letters of support.
i. Debbie will ask Anna Ball for a letter. Good opportunity to express how different and complementary we are to Seed Your Future.
ii. If we each get five letters of support, we will have 60 letters of support.
iii. Letters tend to be more meaningful if they come from as high up in the chain, as possible.
f. How many relevancy reviewer names has Tom B. received? ~ two dozen, thus far.
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