BICO General Meeting Minutes for May 13, 2008

INTRODUCTIONS


RECENT ACTIVITIES
Thank you BICO Volunteers for planning and executing March and April '08 outings!  Also, thank you to all those that performed other important BICO activites outlined as follows ... !  

--->  The National ICO Chair Training held in Sausalito, CA from March 13-16 was attended by Bob Iacovazzi and Lindsay Major Ringgold.  The training was especially energizing!  Some ideas resulting from this meeting that are specific to BICO are added at the end of this email.  If you would like to help implement them, please let the Chair know (bicobob3@verizon.net).

---> BICO Gear Shed Inventory and Cleanup - Nicole Veltre, Bob Burchard and Bob Iacovazzi performed a very extensive rearrangement/cleaning of the BICO gear locker.  

---> BICO at Baltimore Green Week was made possible by Bob Burchard and Bob Klasen on April 26.  Over twenty new potential volunteers were engaged during the course of the day!

---> New BICO Bylaws and Guidelines -
1) The BICO Steering Committee voted to eliminate CPR as a requirement for Certified Leadership.  On the other hand, we at BICO will strongly encourage the practice of CPR certification by offering it every year, and reimbursing those that take the training on their own elsewhere.  
2) The Steering Committee also voted to allow students and those with financial hardships to be reimbursed for the yearly Sierra Club Membership.  Just send a message to the Chair at bicobob3@verizon.net regarding your situation.
 
---> New Fishing Rods - Nicole Veltre wrote a proposal to the Sierra Club Water Sentinels ask for new fishing rods and reels for BICO.  BICO received
1) 10 fly fishing rods
2) 12 conventional spin/closed-reel rods
3) 22 protective goggles

---> The vendor of our T-shirts was contacted again.  Due to family priorities on part of the vendor, the process is taking quite a long time.

---> Water bottle exchange - BICO is currently in the process of exchanging water bottles with phthalates and bisphenol A (abbreviated BPA) using in the manufactoring process.  This is part of REI's lifetime satisfaction guaranteed policy on goods.


ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING with Irvine Nature Center
Stephanie Tommasello of the Irvine Nature Center gave the attendees of the meeting a very enthusiastic environmental education training.   She covered topics from various environmental curriculum building guides, which included the volunteers participating in games that they can teach the children.  In this way, the volunteers learned about how the games and concepts are worked into the education portion of an outing, and how these types of resources might be helpful for them as educators/leaders.  Stephanie also suggested certification and free books which are available to volunteers as well.  She also gave a few handouts on child management, as well as tips for engaging various age groups in the "learning through doing" process."

A hearty thank you to Stephanie for her time and effort!!!


NOTES from ICO Chair Training
Attracting and Retaining Volunteers

1) BICO has a very limited public face:
--> Plan an event at REI where we talk with people about the group, and tips on exposing kids to the outdoors.  We could do a gift wrapping event at REI, which would serve the same function.
--> Hold social meetings at local restaurants or pubs.
--> Meet with or write to current and past funding foundations about the impacts of their donations.  Go beyond the numbers ... maybe making "scrapbooks" for grantors that includes pictures and writing from kids.  Also, it could contain comments from leaders, agency people and parents/guardians of kids.
--> Booths/Tables at Baltimore festivals/events (ethnic festivals).  This may lead to more diversity in the group.
--> Talk to civic groups.
2) Interact with high schools and colleges that have service learning hours.
3) Advertising in church newsletters.
4) Contact returning Peace Corps members.
5) Develop a BICO "buddy system", ... matching current Leaders and Volunteers with new volunteers.
6) Develop a calling protocol for new volunteers.
7) Make sure expectations of all volunteers/positions are clearly stated in  Bylaws.
8) Engage theatres in their "sneak preview" performances.  One group in Tampa actually gets all the proceeds from one theatre group.
9) Exclusive tours of the Baltimore Zoo or Aquarium.

Guideline and Bylaws  (Steering Committee Items)

1) Term limits on all positions?  Or maybe on certain positions (Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer)
2) Removal/Disciplinary process for Volunteers/Leaders/ Administration.  Need to add statements about what constitutes need for removal/discipline.  There is some in the bylaws ... .
3) Parents and their children on outings.  Do we allow this or not.  At the moment we do not.
4) Process to select or terminate and Agency partnership.
5) Guidelines on acceptable and unacceptable outings.

Fundraising

1) We need Bob Burchard to mentor a person whom may be interested in Fundraising for BICO at some point.
2) We could do a gift wrapping/calendar sale event at REI.
3) Develop a program evaluation process/tool.  What indicates success of the program?
--> Go beyond the numbers ... maybe making "scrapbooks" for grantors that includes pictures and writing from kids.  Also, it could contain comments from leaders, agency people and parents/guardians of kids.
--> # youth participants X # days on outing.
--> Include program stability indicators ... (# Leaders over time, # Volunteer hours over time, $ or number of funding agencies over time.)
--> Evaluation of the program by an outside, objective, auditor.

Strategic Planning

1) Fill out Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats worksheet.
2) Fill out program assessment and planning worksheet.
3) Need group participation.

Other Ideas

1) Separate gender outings.
2) A team for summer outings.  Maybe we could partner with a youth summer program that is looking for an outdoors component.

UPCOMING EVENTS
----> All four teams have a full roster of outings planned.  Please check our web site: http://ico.sierraclub.org/baltimore for more information.

---> ICO OLT 101 Training for those Certified Leaders that have not had a training in four years.  Also, annual CARP Training for all Certified Leaders.

---> ICO OLT 201 is planned to be offered in Washington, DC by members of the ICO National Training team!  This training is tentatively scheduled for Columbus Day Weekend in October.


GENERAL NEWS
General Reminders
---> Please send your trip reports from your most recent team outings to Bob Iacovazzi at bicobob3@verizon.net and Lindsay Major Ringgold at lindsaymajorringgold@gmail.com.

Why do we complete trip reports after our outings:
1) Need detailed information to fill out quarterly insurance reports for ICO National
2) BICO fundraising
3) Establish an archive of BICO activities
4) Share information (eventually they can end up as a wealth of information for the group)

---> Current and prospective Certified Leaders: Please renew your Sierra Club memberships when they come due.  It is important for BICO (you) to be covered by the Sierra Club insurance.  If you do not have a current Sierra Club Membership, BICO (you) are not insured during an outing by the Sierra Club.

---> Please inform Bob Iacovazzi of your van reservation requests early for the spring outings, to ensure that you get a van.

---> Please tag, and make the Gear Master aware of, gear that is broken.  Nicole Veltre is our current Gear Master.

GROUP  BREAKOUTS

HELP WANTED
---> Certified Leaders and Volunteers to support the BICO Dickey Hill Elementary School (DHILL) Team.  After the first of the year, this team may not be able to go on outings because there are not enough Certified Leaders and Volunteers.  If interested, please contact Brian Green (bgreen20@yahoo.com) or Dave Barry (manhat@verizon.net).

---> BICO Publicity Coordinator.  The duties of the Publicity Coordinator include 1)  Developing and coordinating all BICO articles and promotional pieces and distributing them to local media, and 2) Liaison to and providing articles and information for the Maryland Chapter, Greater Baltimore and Howard County Sierra Club publications, and others as determined to be necessary.  If interested, please contact Bob Iacovazzi at bicobob3@verizon.net.

---> Assistant BICO Leadership Development Coordinator.  The duties of the Assistant Leadership Development Coordinator include helping the Coordinator to 1) Supervising the leader training programs; 2) Ensure that BICO leadership training meets the standards of the Sierra Club and the ICO National Subcommittee; 3) Provide guidance and support to all leaders as needed; 4) Attend outings to support leaders and giving feedback on leadership issues; and 5) Help to identify appropriate training resources (i.e., leadership, first aid, etc.) If interested, please contact Bob Iacovazzi at bicobob3@verizon.net.

NEXT MEETING  
TBD