People Helping Peoplewww.tvoc.org

Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc.2015

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

In This Issue:* CEO News and Notes (Jason Carlson)* Senior Programs In-Service Event* Transit Photo Earns Cover Spot!* National Wear Red Day

In This Issue:* Viking Ticket Winner Update* Sunday Church Bus* Upcoming March Calendar Items* Bloggers Wanted

The first update for the month concerns Tri-Valleys Strategic Plan. At its February meeting the Board of Directors approved four strategic priorities for 2015-2016. The priorities are: Improve/promote/advance the objective of coordinating the various services for area preschool children with Head Start; Improve/promote/advance the objective of keeping seniors in their homes and avoiding premature nursing home placement; Improve/promote/advance housing options in the service area; Improve/promote/advance Financial Literacy in the service area. The full plan including the strategies developed to address the priorities will be discussed in March.

The Board of Directors will also be discussing Tri-Valleys Property, Liability, Auto and Workers Com-pensation insurance during the March meeting. Recall that an RFP was issued in December. We hope that we will receive enough competitive quotes to feel comfortable working with one agent for the next three to five years. Our recent experience with Workers Compensation claims may be an impediment to that goal.

In addition to the steps we are taking to comply with the new Uniform Guidance, we will also be held to new Organizational Standards. The new standards are required of all Community Services Block Grant grantees. As a Community Action Agency, that includes Tri-Valley. We have been aware that nationwide standards were on the way for some time. In fact, anticipating the standards would be developed by the Community Action Partnership was one of the driving factors in Tri-Valleys participation in Pathways to Excellence. Much of the work that was done as a part of completing our Pathways to Excellence doc-ument will be helpful in demonstrating our compliance with the new Organizational Standards. Mitch Bakken and Jennifer Haugen will be leading our organizational self-assessment and coming up with a plan to ensure Tri-Valley is in full compliance with the standards by October 2015.

I will close with a reminder that the week of March 2nd is Audit Week at Tri-Valley. As always, please be available and responsive to requests for information by our auditors.

Senior Programs In-ServiceOn February 6, 2015 the Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Program held their in-service meeting at Trin-ity Lutheran Church in Crookston. The morning speaker was Chris Bates who is the Superintendent of the Crook-ston Public School District. Mr. Bates spoke on the topic of recognizing poverty in the classroom. He shared things that he had learned from a seminar he had attended when Ruby Payne did a presentation here in Crookston a little while back. He engaged the volunteers by having them take a quiz on poverty in groups of 4 5 people. The afternoon speaker was Polk County Sheriff Barb Erd-man. Sheriff Erdmans presentation covered a lot of dif-ferent topics on Senior Safety. She gave a lot of good sug-gestions to the volunteers on how to keep safe in different situations. Some of the topics covered were driving safely, travel safety (on the road, at the airport, at the hotel) and cons and scams. Each of the volunteers received a brochure on these topics as well as a household inventory planner where they can keep an inventory of all of their property. Another topic that she spoke on was proper disposal of unused medication. Sheriff Erdman shared that there are drop off spots in Crookston, Fosston and East Grand Forks for people to dispose of no longer needed medications.

Transit Photo Earns Cover SpotCongratulations to Tri-Valley Transportation. The picture submitted for the 2015 Minnesota Transit Systems Pro-viders Directory was selected for the cover!

National Wear Red DayFebruary 6, 2015 marked National Wear Red Day. Tri-Val-leys Program Design team wore red to take part in the event. Pictured from left to right are Nicolee Mensing (Apple Valley), Mary Johnson (Apple Valley), Tara Mor-rison (Apple Valley), and Jessica Flores (Administrative Office).

National Wear Red Day raises public awareness of heart disease in women and ways to avoid and combat this problem.

Bloggers Wanted!

If you are interested in writing an occasional blog arti-cle for the Tri-Valley blog page, please email Mitch at mitch.bakken@tvoc.org.

Upcoming March Calendar Items:* March 2- Head Start / Early Head Start Policy Council Meeting.* March 4, 11, 18, 25- Basic Parenting 101 (Crookston) @ 3:30 pm.* March 10- Tri-Valley Board of Directors Meeting.* March 17- Parent Meeting at CFSC (Crookston) @ 5:00 pm.* March 19- Celebrate the Young Child- Family Festival.* March 23- Migrant and Seasonal Head Start/Early Head Start Policy Council meeting* March 30- March Music Madness @ 6:30 pm.

Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc. (TVOC) is a community action agency headquartered in Crookston, MN. It is our Mission to provide opportunities to individuals and communities in order to improve the quality of our lives. In existence since 1965, TVOC provides services in 84 counties in Minnesota and Northeast North Dakota. For more infor-mation on services offered by TVOC please call 218-281-5832 or 800-584-7020.

Did You Know?...* You can receive more information on Tri-Valleys programs and services by calling 218-281-5832 or 800-584-7020.

* You can keep up with Tri-Valley news on the TVOC website at www.tvoc.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TVOCInc and on Twitter at @Tri-Valley_TVOC.

* Everyone can receive the Tri-Valley Newsletter. If you know of anyone who would like a copy please have them contact Mitch Bakken at 218-281-5832 or mitch.bakken@tvoc.org.

Dont forget to schedule a ride on the Sunday Church Bus in Crookston and Thief River Falls!

Viking Ticket Winner UpdateJulie Bauer (Transit Route Coordinator) was the lucky winner of the Minnesota Vikings tickets for the October 12th game against the Detroit Lions. Julie had something unexpected come up so she was unable to go to the game so she gave the tickets to her co-worker Jamie Dauksav-age (Transit Route Coordinator). Jamies oldest son Jack (8 years old) is the biggest sports fanatic she has ever seen so he was excited to get to go to the game. Even though the Vikings lost 17- 3 it was a once in a lifetime experience for Jack and he will never forget it. The family along with Ja-mies husband and other son David also went to the Mall of America and enjoyed Sea life and Nickelodeon Universe. Jamie says, We would not have been able to experience such a fun weekend without the generous donation from Otis-Magie Insurance! (Photos submitted by Jamie)

This information is available in alternative formats to individuals with disabilities. Contact us at 1-800-584-7020 or by calling the Telecommunication Relay Service at 711 or 1-800-627-3529. Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer/provider. EOE/M/F/D/V