WEBVTT 00:00:00.482 --> 00:00:08.814 - It is October 8th at noon. This is the BUIA meeting, Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association meeting 00:00:08.814 --> 00:00:17.228 - for October 8th, 2025. Take it away, Heather. All right, welcome everyone on this beautiful day in our 00:00:17.228 --> 00:00:25.478 - fine city. It's absolutely lovely fall weather. So thanks for being here, everyone. As is customary, 00:00:25.478 --> 00:00:29.726 - we will start with a roll call and around the room. 00:00:30.466 --> 00:00:41.086 - Phil, if you'd like to start, please. Michael Hover, BU-EA. Kate Rosenberger, BU-EA. Heather Robinson, 00:00:41.086 --> 00:00:52.016 - BU-EA. Jane Coopersmith, BU-EA. Erin Morgan, BU-EA. Della Rosa, BU-EA ESD. Cheryl Billeland, Controller's 00:00:52.016 --> 00:00:59.646 - Office. Elisa Spinelli, BU-EA. And we have some guests in the room. John? 00:00:59.810 --> 00:01:06.850 - John Zoddy with CDFI from the Bloomington. Davon Woodwell, Wellandale Fellow. Julius Mitchell from the 00:01:06.850 --> 00:01:14.095 - Office of the Mayor. Cirilla Helm, Foundation for American Community Schools. Lily Albright, the Director 00:01:14.095 --> 00:01:21.340 - of Elementary Education in the American Community School Corporation. And Alex Pratt from the Law School. 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:26.398 - All right. Welcome, everyone. Thank you all again so much for being here. 00:01:27.010 --> 00:01:36.338 - We need an approval of minutes from the September meeting. Were there any comments, corrections, questions 00:01:36.338 --> 00:01:45.056 - on the minutes? If none, do we have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second, please? Second. 00:01:45.056 --> 00:01:54.123 - All those in favor? Aye. Oh, we do. Sorry. Yeah, we have online, so we'll need to do a roll call around 00:01:54.123 --> 00:01:55.518 - the room, Phil. 00:01:56.130 --> 00:02:06.993 - Paul Emerson, yes. Michael Hover, yes. Kate Rosenberger, yes. Virginia Guthrie, I guess, yes. Minnis. 00:02:06.993 --> 00:02:18.175 - Oh, of course, yes. Heather Robinson, yes. Jane Kuversmith, yes. Mary Morgan, yes. All right, fantastic. 00:02:18.175 --> 00:02:25.630 - Thank you. Dee, it looks like we have some guest presentations today. 00:02:25.794 --> 00:02:39.248 - We do. First, we have John Zote from CDFI Friendly to give his report while I get this screen shared. 00:02:39.248 --> 00:02:52.702 - No way. He brought snacks. Virginia. Hi, John. I've probably never seen these again, but here you go. 00:02:53.090 --> 00:03:05.286 - Good afternoon, everyone. I'm John Zodi. I'm the executive director of CDFI Friendly Bloomington. We 00:03:05.286 --> 00:03:11.806 - are a regional organization and I'll say as for those 00:03:12.162 --> 00:03:20.286 - at home or online, passing out popcorn that we handed out at our event last night that the BEA helped 00:03:20.286 --> 00:03:27.614 - sponsor and support. And local business, Dr. Gutheri, from popcorn with a twist on college. 00:03:28.098 --> 00:03:36.309 - We had extra and I brought it with me, so enjoy. Enjoy snacks during my presentation. Anyway. Well done. 00:03:36.309 --> 00:03:44.363 - I teed it up. That's right. I just have a short presentation. I know you've got a full agenda, so I'll 00:03:44.363 --> 00:03:50.462 - be quick and be happy to answer any questions from you all when I'm finished. 00:03:50.658 --> 00:03:56.800 - You can head to the next slide there if you want. So what are CDFIs? Just a reminder, I think most folks 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:02.766 - in this group know, and I want to say hello to Ms. Spinelli online. She was in attendance last night, 00:04:02.766 --> 00:04:08.732 - and thank you for coming. So a Community Development Financial Institution or CDFI is a mission-based 00:04:08.732 --> 00:04:14.874 - lender whose job it is to help unlock financing for people or places that have not previously had access 00:04:14.874 --> 00:04:18.910 - to it in towns and cities and counties all around the United States. 00:04:19.522 --> 00:04:26.405 - the CEFI community will assist those who might be lower income, may have troubles starting a business, 00:04:26.405 --> 00:04:33.489 - building an affordable housing project, investing in child care. So the CEFIs are a tool in the community 00:04:33.489 --> 00:04:39.102 - development toolbox and their $500 billion sector of financing here in our country. 00:04:40.002 --> 00:04:47.136 - And so what does the friendly mean a lot of people ask that so we were created to be a hub, so we serve 00:04:47.136 --> 00:04:54.064 - a 13 county region here in South Central Indiana Monroe county and 12 counties around it, and so our 00:04:54.064 --> 00:04:55.230 - job is to bring. 00:04:55.490 --> 00:05:01.140 - investment and interest from CDFIs and other community development investors into this region. My job 00:05:01.140 --> 00:05:06.900 - is gonna be a cheerleader for the region and say, hey, look at this housing project, look at this small 00:05:06.900 --> 00:05:12.550 - business, look at this childcare facility and come here and think about investing in it. Here are the 00:05:12.550 --> 00:05:18.200 - local partners involved, here's what we need to do to try to get this done, can you help us? And just 00:05:18.200 --> 00:05:23.960 - to be clear, this is loan financing, it's not grants, but if you can secure the stack of financing that 00:05:23.960 --> 00:05:25.456 - is in place for a project, 00:05:25.456 --> 00:05:32.489 - that can be enhanced with grants, and maybe that makes the loan a little easier so that there's a financial 00:05:32.489 --> 00:05:39.262 - stack that's more palatable for the project. So as a mission-based lender, we do those things, and part 00:05:39.262 --> 00:05:45.839 - of that job, and Jane will speak to this as my predecessor, not speak to it, but you'll know this, a 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:48.574 - big part of that job is writing technical 00:05:48.674 --> 00:05:54.751 - technical assistance. So as a community development financial institution, we are one, but we provide 00:05:54.751 --> 00:06:01.006 - technical assistance. So if we're trying to get a project to financing, we will work with that potential 00:06:01.006 --> 00:06:07.083 - borrower and look at their budget, look at their business plan, whatever it is related to the project 00:06:07.083 --> 00:06:13.278 - and help them with some technical things with numbers or a communication or how they wanna present this 00:06:13.278 --> 00:06:18.640 - project to a potential lender. And so part of that is providing that technical assistance 00:06:18.640 --> 00:06:24.990 - We've done 218 hours so far of technical assistance for projects in Bloomington and the region. About 00:06:24.990 --> 00:06:31.403 - 60% of that has been with projects within the city of Bloomington. Bloomington's very busy and there's 00:06:31.403 --> 00:06:37.940 - a lot going on here. I don't have to tell the city of Bloomington that, but certainly a lot of activity. 00:06:37.940 --> 00:06:44.166 - And historically, CDFIs have not always been present. And so a couple of numbers that put that into 00:06:44.166 --> 00:06:47.902 - sharp focus is that if you spread CDFI financing out across 00:06:48.002 --> 00:06:55.421 - the United States per resident over basically the first 20 years of this century, you're going to get 00:06:55.421 --> 00:07:02.840 - a $714 number back on the per head investment from the CDFI. In Indiana during that time, it was only 00:07:02.840 --> 00:07:10.258 - $169. In our region, it was $22 a person. Now we're now approaching $50 in this region. That number's 00:07:10.258 --> 00:07:11.422 - close to, well, 00:07:11.650 --> 00:07:17.249 - Doubled, thereabouts. But that tells you that there are what are called deserts of investment for community 00:07:17.249 --> 00:07:22.900 - development across the country. So CDFIs historically have invested very heavily in larger cities. Obviously 00:07:22.900 --> 00:07:28.136 - population centers there. There's a lot of business, a lot of housing, that kind of thing. But rural 00:07:28.136 --> 00:07:33.373 - areas have been tougher. Smaller cities have been tougher. And it's harder to do stuff there because 00:07:33.373 --> 00:07:38.713 - there aren't the programs that exist in smaller communities that exist sometimes in larger cities. And 00:07:38.713 --> 00:07:41.616 - so there just isn't the financial base there sometimes. 00:07:41.616 --> 00:07:48.548 - trying to get that amped up basically. We are kind of a CDFI desert in southern Indiana and so our job 00:07:48.548 --> 00:07:55.278 - to be that hub to bring that investment in is to help help get that number up. So that's what we're 00:07:55.278 --> 00:08:02.277 - working to do. So since our creation we've seen about 26 million dollars of CDFI investment, additional 00:08:02.277 --> 00:08:06.046 - CDFI investment come into the region to help impact 371 00:08:06.146 --> 00:08:12.990 - housing units that's affordable housing created or retained. That's larger multifamily projects, smaller 00:08:12.990 --> 00:08:19.704 - multifamily projects. I'll end with the latest project that's been finished. And that totals about $57 00:08:19.704 --> 00:08:25.310 - million in project costs. So total project investment in the region since 2018 or so. 00:08:26.882 --> 00:08:32.991 - And so we just want to thank the BUEA. You provided us with lending capital as well as financial support 00:08:32.991 --> 00:08:39.099 - for operations. I want to tell you that as things get tougher over the next couple of years and we tried 00:08:39.099 --> 00:08:45.150 - to be thoughtful about how we're doing that, we're trying to stretch that money over a couple of years. 00:08:45.282 --> 00:08:51.986 - It was a $250,000 operational support. And so we're not, we didn't use all that at once. We're not using 00:08:51.986 --> 00:08:58.498 - all of it. We're trying to say we're gonna use this much this year and that much. And so as the years 00:08:58.498 --> 00:09:04.947 - come, we'll continue to keep you updated about that. But we are trying to stretch those dollars out. 00:09:04.947 --> 00:09:11.523 - And in that lending capital, we invested in projects to help in multi-family affordable housing in and 00:09:11.523 --> 00:09:13.694 - around the urban enterprise zone. 00:09:15.138 --> 00:09:21.488 - So big news this year is we got certified. Jane started this process for us. So we received a technical 00:09:21.488 --> 00:09:27.838 - assistance grant a few years ago. That put us on a path to get certified. Before Jane left, she started 00:09:27.838 --> 00:09:34.371 - laying the groundwork for that. And I'm not sure you, I do have to point out, if you've dealt with federal 00:09:34.371 --> 00:09:40.477 - money and federal regulation, you've laid a lot of groundwork on the regulatory side for us. So you 00:09:40.477 --> 00:09:43.102 - put a lot of stuff in place that helped us 00:09:43.330 --> 00:09:56.318 - There was a ton of federal stuff that you teed up both for a couple of grants. 00:09:56.642 --> 00:10:03.889 - The certification process for the US Treasury CDFI fund is sort of a vetting process. So there are 1,400 00:10:03.889 --> 00:10:11.342 - CDFIs in the country that are certified. We became certified in July. And that helps us build relationships 00:10:11.342 --> 00:10:18.313 - with banks. It gives us literally that sort of stamp being certified that we've met certain criteria 00:10:18.313 --> 00:10:25.214 - as a community development mission-based lending organization. So we were happy that that got done. 00:10:25.634 --> 00:10:32.142 - A few months, but move faster than we thought. Will that mean that your friendly status will be, I mean, 00:10:32.142 --> 00:10:38.650 - are you going to change the name to be just CDFI? No, I think we're going to stay friendly. We'll always 00:10:38.650 --> 00:10:44.910 - be friendly. At least for the time being. So what that means that friendly, we were not set up to be 00:10:44.910 --> 00:10:50.302 - a direct lender. We were set up to bring loans in, but because of the capital that was 00:10:50.626 --> 00:10:56.426 - provided us by this organization and the Redevelopment Commission, we are able to participate. So part 00:10:56.426 --> 00:10:58.622 - of that friendly model is also to help 00:10:58.850 --> 00:11:04.464 - put money in, sort of put some skin in the game locally. So we do have those loan funds that we can 00:11:04.464 --> 00:11:10.133 - participate with. If we wanted to do direct loans, we would have to engage underwriting services and 00:11:10.133 --> 00:11:16.084 - things like that, which we're talking about doing. But right now, we'll be mostly that sort of matchmaker 00:11:16.084 --> 00:11:21.754 - plus a partnering lender before we go into direct loans. I liked the way the speaker last night, the 00:11:21.754 --> 00:11:23.550 - first woman, I forgot her name. 00:11:24.162 --> 00:11:32.051 - Aspen Aspen talked about the complexity of capital stacks for housing development projects having like, 00:11:32.051 --> 00:11:39.636 - you know, nine or ten components to them and some of them are big and some of them are small and so 00:11:39.636 --> 00:11:47.525 - I think that Just highlighted for me that you having these Capital funds available really can make make 00:11:47.525 --> 00:11:53.214 - or break a project if it's not the bulk of the finance sure That's true so 00:11:53.506 --> 00:11:56.094 - and sort of part of our technical assistance process helps. 00:11:56.322 --> 00:12:03.342 - sort of put that together. So we were awarded a $300,000 technical assistance grant. Jane totally teed 00:12:03.342 --> 00:12:10.158 - that up for us because she hired the consultant, started the application before she left and then I 00:12:10.158 --> 00:12:17.178 - finished it and we were awarded that last fall and that helped us this year and will help us next year 00:12:17.178 --> 00:12:24.062 - and allowed us to hire another staff person. So we have doubled our team, if you will. So this year, 00:12:24.062 --> 00:12:25.630 - lots of changes in the 00:12:26.306 --> 00:12:31.195 - state and federal levels and advocacy has been a piece of what we do. We're a non-profit so we can't 00:12:31.195 --> 00:12:35.454 - make it all of what we do or even a very big percentage, but we have been active in the 00:12:35.554 --> 00:12:41.632 - network of CDFIs and other community development lenders around the country and activists to try to 00:12:41.632 --> 00:12:47.711 - make sure that we are vocal about the importance of community development funding, both at the CDFI 00:12:47.711 --> 00:12:54.093 - fund, which is about a $320 million appropriation every year in addition to money that impacts community 00:12:54.093 --> 00:13:00.232 - development otherwise with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other places. So part 00:13:00.232 --> 00:13:05.520 - of this is that when you, sort of our central talking point is that if you look at the 00:13:05.520 --> 00:13:11.634 - federal money from the CDFI fund, every dollar you put in federal gets you $8 back out. And this is 00:13:11.634 --> 00:13:17.870 - not all public money in projects, right? So that nine or 10 sources that Jane mentioned, some of that 00:13:17.870 --> 00:13:23.985 - is private loan money. Some of it is private philanthropy. It's not all public money. And so you're 00:13:23.985 --> 00:13:30.160 - bringing in different sectors here to complete a project. So that federal money is an important sort 00:13:30.160 --> 00:13:33.278 - of catalyzing resource to help get a project done. 00:13:34.018 --> 00:13:40.038 - We're currently in a federal shutdown, but we are still pushing for appropriations to the CDFI fund 00:13:40.038 --> 00:13:46.239 - to be made. And that's going well. There's positive direction from where it started. And so one of our 00:13:46.239 --> 00:13:52.379 - senators, Todd Young, has been very helpful with keeping that movement going. CDFIs is a good time to 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:58.941 - say they've always had bipartisan support. And so on both sides of the aisle, you get people that understand 00:13:58.941 --> 00:14:02.974 - the importance of CDFIs and what they do. So we're happy for that. 00:14:04.226 --> 00:14:11.307 - So last year, I showed the picture on the left to you. I looked back at my presentation and said, here's 00:14:11.307 --> 00:14:18.050 - the house that's going to be built on the west side of Bloomington. And here's the finished product 00:14:18.050 --> 00:14:24.861 - that just finished at the end of July. So this is a seven-bedroom cooperative housing structure that 00:14:24.861 --> 00:14:28.030 - just opened. That picture was taken July 31st. 00:14:28.546 --> 00:14:35.046 - They're done. And you all helped do this. The city helped do this. This was, again, a partnership between 00:14:35.046 --> 00:14:41.239 - our organization, the city of Bloomington. They got a grant from the hand department. And then LEAF, 00:14:41.239 --> 00:14:47.923 - the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund, is a CDFI based out of Boston that worked with Bloomington Cooperative 00:14:47.923 --> 00:14:54.361 - Living. And this is actually a separate arm called Avalon Community Land Trust. This is a separate legal 00:14:54.361 --> 00:14:56.446 - entity for this particular house. 00:14:56.546 --> 00:15:02.116 - Still a lot of the same folks involved and sort of the same model of financing that was approached for 00:15:02.116 --> 00:15:07.794 - this. So this is a great innovative way to get cooperative housing, not only in Bloomington, but looking 00:15:07.794 --> 00:15:13.256 - at other ways to do this around the state. There's what's called the Indiana Cooperative Development 00:15:13.256 --> 00:15:18.664 - Center. And Hugh Farrell, who is president of the board for Bloomington Cooperative Living, is also 00:15:18.664 --> 00:15:20.286 - the executive director now of 00:15:20.482 --> 00:15:25.718 - the Cooperative Development Center statewide. So he is trying to get more cooperative housing in place 00:15:25.718 --> 00:15:31.005 - around the state where, unlike Bloomington, there are not those housing protections for rental housing. 00:15:31.005 --> 00:15:36.292 - And so this is sort of a self-governed model, which works really well here. But we like to see it other 00:15:36.292 --> 00:15:41.528 - places too, because it's a way to approach affordable housing in communities across the state. So this 00:15:41.528 --> 00:15:46.815 - is Bloomington Cooperative Living. Bloomington Cooperative Living. This is Avalon Community Land Trust. 00:15:46.815 --> 00:15:48.798 - Similarly, it's a- But not affiliated. 00:15:48.898 --> 00:15:54.872 - It is affiliated. It's a separate legal structure, but he was still involved in a lot of folks there. 00:15:54.872 --> 00:16:01.139 - It just was a separate, it came together in a different way, but as the same model of cooperative housing. 00:16:01.139 --> 00:16:07.113 - Exciting because it says seven bedrooms, but it's really seven units. It's seven unrelated adults who 00:16:07.113 --> 00:16:13.497 - can live here and it's inherently or sort of organically affordable. So there aren't major federal subsidies 00:16:13.497 --> 00:16:16.894 - driving compliance and construction costs up really high. 00:16:17.122 --> 00:16:23.984 - It's really a version of something that's just attainable. And so just, yeah, just really inherently 00:16:23.984 --> 00:16:30.981 - low, low, low cost for people without having that compliance burden. Yep. That's right. So on West 8th 00:16:30.981 --> 00:16:37.843 - Street. So indeed, you can head to the next one there if you want. So that's it. Glad to answer your 00:16:37.843 --> 00:16:43.550 - questions. We're trying to amp up our social media. So give us a follow if you can. 00:16:43.778 --> 00:16:49.551 - Emma, our program coordinator, is working hard on that. So we really appreciate the support of the BUEA 00:16:49.551 --> 00:16:55.269 - and all of you individually in all your own different ways. I've got a lot of folks interested in what 00:16:55.269 --> 00:17:00.820 - we're doing, and we appreciate that. So happy to answer any other questions. Or enjoy your popcorn. 00:17:00.820 --> 00:17:03.262 - Thanks for coming in. All right. Thank you. 00:17:03.650 --> 00:17:15.210 - Thank you, John. I'll leave this for you. You get a popcorn. Thanks, John. Thank you, John. 00:17:15.210 --> 00:17:28.153 - Great presentation. Okay, cool. Thank you, John. Next up, we have Lily and Sorola for MCCSC to present 00:17:28.153 --> 00:17:31.294 - their proposal for 2526. 00:17:31.714 --> 00:17:47.419 - This is email support that we give to MCCSC for various programs, various education programs. A lot 00:17:47.419 --> 00:18:00.926 - of new faces. It's been about a year since we were here, so it's nice to see you all. 00:18:01.538 --> 00:18:08.933 - I'm Cirilla. I run the foundation for Monroe County and our offices are adjacent. We do see each other 00:18:08.933 --> 00:18:16.185 - periodically and bumping. Normally there's an evaluation on last year's. There was a little slowdown 00:18:16.185 --> 00:18:23.365 - and the funds being released. So we didn't actually receive the funds until June this year. So with 00:18:23.365 --> 00:18:28.894 - education life moves with legislation life moves. So some of the things that 00:18:29.122 --> 00:18:35.216 - we have asked for, we cannot purchase. We've had an adoption change in math, so some of that curriculum 00:18:35.216 --> 00:18:41.193 - was math related. Or we have found solutions in the, yeah, in the time in between. Yeah, so solutions 00:18:41.193 --> 00:18:47.287 - have changed. So our things have changed inside of that. So the schools, the principals and their teams 00:18:47.287 --> 00:18:53.380 - are working on what's the best use of all of those resources to make sure that they're buying what they 00:18:53.380 --> 00:18:58.654 - need today versus what was asked for a year ago behind that. So, cause they were all out. 00:18:58.978 --> 00:19:05.546 - on summer break at the time that that came in. So unfortunately, we didn't get it used, but we're going 00:19:05.546 --> 00:19:11.988 - to get it used. Does that make sense for everybody? Can I ask what the time frame originally was? Can 00:19:11.988 --> 00:19:18.556 - you remind us when you were expecting to get those funds? It usually arrives in November, December-ish, 00:19:18.556 --> 00:19:24.935 - so just some. December, yeah. Wow, OK. Yeah, just some. No fault of date, I would believe. She and I 00:19:24.935 --> 00:19:27.966 - were working hard. No, I believe that for sure. 00:19:28.322 --> 00:19:32.318 - Yeah, just some unfortunate delays. But like I said, 00:19:32.450 --> 00:19:39.172 - It is all there. They are working through that. And with the change in science of reading, some of the 00:19:39.172 --> 00:19:45.829 - materials that may have been used last year, we're now looking at some other sources, things that are 00:19:45.829 --> 00:19:52.681 - coming through the legislation, because now anything in literacy has to be approved by what's classified 00:19:52.681 --> 00:19:59.273 - as science of reading. And Lily's way more attuned to that. So I'm going to flip it over to her. She 00:19:59.273 --> 00:20:00.382 - runs elementary. 00:20:00.546 --> 00:20:06.467 - Eric Gilpin is our secondary director now for middle school and the only middle school inside of here 00:20:06.467 --> 00:20:12.272 - is Tri-North. But Liz can go ahead and speak to that. He's at a conference today and wasn't able to 00:20:12.272 --> 00:20:18.192 - make it. Thank you. There's a lot of that today. Eric is getting to, he owes me. That's what I think. 00:20:18.192 --> 00:20:23.997 - He needs to skip out on several meetings. No. If you want to go to that last summary page, it might 00:20:23.997 --> 00:20:24.926 - just be easier. 00:20:25.026 --> 00:20:33.377 - So you're probably all aware, but in the BUEA zone, we have three elementaries, so three of our 14 elementary 00:20:33.377 --> 00:20:41.045 - schools within there, and then one middle school. So we're looking at Fairview Elementary, at Summit 00:20:41.045 --> 00:20:47.422 - Elementary, and then Trenworth Middle School, and also Templeton Elementary School. 00:20:47.970 --> 00:20:56.646 - So they've requested similar sorts of materials here. They kind of could be categorized in a few ways. 00:20:56.646 --> 00:21:05.153 - Some materials to support foundational literacy. So I would say at Fairview, that would be the boost 00:21:05.153 --> 00:21:07.006 - reading site license. 00:21:07.106 --> 00:21:13.726 - the developing decoders, the MyHaggerty subscription. Generation Genius is more related to science and 00:21:13.726 --> 00:21:20.218 - social studies, but it's integrated into language arts. So all of those are really language arts and 00:21:20.218 --> 00:21:26.838 - literacy initiatives. Down at Summit, you can see UFLY manuals, decodables, novel effect, hand-to-mind 00:21:26.838 --> 00:21:28.702 - versus tiles, literacy kits. 00:21:28.866 --> 00:21:36.584 - and literacy support for levels and Spanish immersion. At Templeton, those decodables, those are all 00:21:36.584 --> 00:21:44.456 - related to literacy foundation, building literacy foundation skills. And then another category you see 00:21:44.456 --> 00:21:52.785 - across all of them would be library support and just bumping up the library resources that we have available 00:21:52.785 --> 00:21:57.982 - and the titles that we have available to students in our libraries. 00:21:58.338 --> 00:22:05.863 - and you see that across all four schools. You can also see their vertical math supplies. We're employing 00:22:05.863 --> 00:22:13.675 - some strategies in our math classrooms to get students up and out of their seats and working collaboratively 00:22:13.675 --> 00:22:21.630 - in vertical spaces. So when you go into classrooms, you'll see on the wall whiteboards or large post-it paper. 00:22:21.730 --> 00:22:27.469 - kits where we're filled with markers and post-it notes and all kinds of things that could be used for 00:22:27.469 --> 00:22:33.209 - groups of students to go to that vertical space and learn about math together. And so all schools are 00:22:33.209 --> 00:22:38.835 - trying to build up their supplies to support that initiative. So this will be really helpful there. 00:22:38.835 --> 00:22:44.631 - You can see that across all the schools or three of the four schools. Summit Elementary was using some 00:22:44.631 --> 00:22:47.838 - of their building supplies or building funds to do that. 00:22:48.642 --> 00:22:57.100 - And at Tri-North, finally, you can see PBIS support. PBIS is Positive Behavior Support. So they are 00:22:57.100 --> 00:23:05.897 - intervention and support. So those are things like prizes and certificates and experiences. And I think 00:23:05.897 --> 00:23:10.718 - Fairview has some of that as well. So they have parties. 00:23:11.010 --> 00:23:17.300 - every quarter to celebrate and things like that so you're helping defensively. I think last year they 00:23:17.300 --> 00:23:23.467 - had a bounce house or you know they've done things like that to try to encourage students to really 00:23:23.467 --> 00:23:29.757 - be their best at school. So I think that's a pretty good summary of just general overview and you can 00:23:29.757 --> 00:23:35.986 - read more detail about each specific thing that we're requesting in the in the grant proposal itself 00:23:35.986 --> 00:23:38.206 - but I want to make sure that I just 00:23:39.650 --> 00:23:46.537 - Also, in addition to answering your questions and providing a brief summary, just express how grateful 00:23:46.537 --> 00:23:53.492 - we are for this opportunity. Of course, it's not a surprise, but I'm a huge advocate of public schools. 00:23:53.492 --> 00:24:00.045 - And I truly believe strong schools equals a strong community. And your investment in our schools, 00:24:00.045 --> 00:24:05.662 - I think, supports that belief and philosophy about how we become stronger together. 00:24:05.858 --> 00:24:12.893 - I think supporting our children is a community effort and these sorts of partnerships are an example 00:24:12.893 --> 00:24:19.999 - of that and in these really difficult times in many ways, but particularly financially, the financial 00:24:19.999 --> 00:24:27.870 - landscape is really challenging right now just due to legislative mandates and also declining population really. 00:24:28.290 --> 00:24:35.887 - locally and across the country, these sorts of partnerships are critical to our public schools. So just 00:24:35.887 --> 00:24:43.410 - want to express my gratitude and acknowledge that as well. Anything you'd like to add, Cirilla, or any 00:24:43.410 --> 00:24:50.934 - questions from the group? If you guys have questions. I do, but Heather, do you want to? Oh, yeah, no. 00:24:50.934 --> 00:24:54.878 - Thank you so much for being here and for a truly very 00:24:55.106 --> 00:25:01.464 - agreed the strong schools are strong communities, certainly strong public schools. So I did just want 00:25:01.464 --> 00:25:07.696 - to note that the request from this year is a $25,000 increase over what the past year has been. And 00:25:07.696 --> 00:25:14.366 - I just kind of was flipping back and forth. And it looks like each school has some new things that they're 00:25:14.366 --> 00:25:20.723 - looking for support. And it seems like that relates to the challenges that are being experienced with 00:25:20.723 --> 00:25:25.086 - funding and so forth. So they're really just trying to, in some ways, 00:25:25.442 --> 00:25:34.150 - Are they filling some of the need or are they simply trying to augment some things that maybe aren't 00:25:34.150 --> 00:25:36.478 - otherwise being addressed? 00:25:36.898 --> 00:25:42.781 - Well, one thing is where you see a lot of language arts requests there and next year we have the opportunity 00:25:42.781 --> 00:25:48.287 - to present a proposal. I expect it will be a little different because we are one year before adopting 00:25:48.287 --> 00:25:53.793 - a new curriculum in language arts. So we're ending our time with one curriculum and getting ready for 00:25:53.793 --> 00:25:59.298 - a new. The old curriculum really isn't meeting all the needs of our students. So we have a gap in our 00:25:59.298 --> 00:26:04.318 - curriculum that we're trying to fill. So that's where you see all that foundational literacy 00:26:04.674 --> 00:26:11.686 - supplies and materials. That's what that's about. All schools are really challenged with finding ways 00:26:11.686 --> 00:26:18.561 - to fill that gap and we're working on that. Your support of these schools allows us to redistribute 00:26:18.561 --> 00:26:25.710 - funds and to support other schools in other ways too. I suspect next year you'll see a lot less of that 00:26:25.710 --> 00:26:32.791 - because we have some really good curriculums that we're exploring and we'll hopefully be able to adopt 00:26:32.791 --> 00:26:33.822 - for next year. 00:26:33.954 --> 00:26:39.782 - the literacy team set a lot of work on which ones are best because if you just Google decodable readers, 00:26:39.782 --> 00:26:45.499 - you're going to find a bazillion of them. All kinds of companies are trying to get in the game, right? 00:26:45.499 --> 00:26:51.215 - Yeah, all kinds of them. They do have to be aligned with the science of reading. And so following that 00:26:51.215 --> 00:26:54.046 - type of mandate has led us into certain paths with 00:26:54.530 --> 00:27:01.030 - who's recommended and who's highly recommended. And the highly recommended, they're not inexpensive. 00:27:01.030 --> 00:27:07.080 - When you look at it, you're like, oh my goodness. But what those have done that I thought was 00:27:07.080 --> 00:27:13.516 - very interesting, and I'm not really an educator, I just have a strong interest in it, is that what 00:27:13.516 --> 00:27:20.274 - those books are doing is they're knowledge base. So as they're breaking down words and decoding, they're 00:27:20.274 --> 00:27:22.462 - written to be in a knowledge base 00:27:22.594 --> 00:27:29.977 - experience so that you're not just reading about cat, rat, bat in order to break those sounds down. 00:27:29.977 --> 00:27:37.433 - They're actually building a knowledge to it that allows them to carry that into maybe social studies 00:27:37.433 --> 00:27:44.890 - or science. So that book may be written about a species of animals. So they're getting some level of 00:27:44.890 --> 00:27:47.326 - scientific knowledge. So they're 00:27:47.458 --> 00:27:53.092 - The structure of that particular developing decodables I found to be like super interesting when you 00:27:53.092 --> 00:27:58.893 - look at it and say it's really doing two different things here. It's helping and that's kind of I think 00:27:58.893 --> 00:28:04.471 - the challenge with literacy has been is that so much of the model before was just phonics based and 00:28:04.471 --> 00:28:06.814 - how do you just break it down but without 00:28:07.234 --> 00:28:12.985 - putting an interest in if you're not interested in what you're reading that context that context giving 00:28:12.985 --> 00:28:18.626 - them context if they're not interested in it then they're not so like what they will tell us like you 00:28:18.626 --> 00:28:24.378 - see the librarians asking for that four thousand if you have let's say a boy who's interested in snakes 00:28:24.378 --> 00:28:30.295 - and lizards and all these things if they have a decodable that is hitting that knowledge space of interest 00:28:30.295 --> 00:28:32.286 - they're gonna they're gonna take it 00:28:32.514 --> 00:28:40.338 - they're going to check that out. And even if they only build one word of vocabulary out of that book, 00:28:40.338 --> 00:28:45.630 - that's a success. So it's hard to visualize it because we're all up. 00:28:45.762 --> 00:28:52.208 - Go with we're all 45 foot above, right? I'm looking around the room. I don't want to get anybody. It's 00:28:52.208 --> 00:28:58.465 - hard to imagine how you learned how to read. Did I not get you? I'm in that. I'm definitely in that 00:28:58.465 --> 00:29:02.846 - group. I don't think we want to assume. That's why I was like, maybe. 00:29:03.266 --> 00:29:08.401 - So when you think it's hard to remember how you learned, like what did you have and what you had at 00:29:08.401 --> 00:29:13.690 - your hands, you're probably the one I knew I would not, I was gonna miss there, yeah, so. So there you 00:29:13.690 --> 00:29:19.081 - go, so that's kind of when you think back at it, or if you go in and you do a reading, it's interesting. 00:29:19.081 --> 00:29:24.422 - And we hear that, we have a program that's not in this, it's Real Men Read, and we have volunteers from 00:29:24.422 --> 00:29:29.608 - across the community going into these kindergarten classrooms, and they're all like, oh my goodness, 00:29:29.608 --> 00:29:32.894 - you just completely forget what it's like to be in those rooms. 00:29:33.090 --> 00:29:40.927 - To have that age and so helping anything that you do works helps so I think you kind of touched on it. 00:29:40.927 --> 00:29:48.612 - I just wanted to know How you anticipate the needs changing going forward with these enormous budget 00:29:48.612 --> 00:29:56.450 - cuts? I mean we saw the headline about Reduction six million dollars in MCCS funding and we know about 00:29:56.450 --> 00:30:00.254 - the rifts and or not rifts, but we know about the 00:30:00.514 --> 00:30:07.363 - not back-filling positions. This money can't hire people, obviously, but I'm assuming you're a very 00:30:07.363 --> 00:30:14.212 - busy person these days, Paula. She is. Coming from all directions. It's coming from all directions, 00:30:14.212 --> 00:30:21.198 - yeah. The operational side is, you know, it's tough. And when you get into education, a huge chunk of 00:30:21.198 --> 00:30:26.814 - our budget is, it's people. So, it's people. Yeah. But we're doing a lot of work. 00:30:26.978 --> 00:30:34.953 - you know, obviously in these times you have to really prioritize and be really focused and intentional. 00:30:34.953 --> 00:30:42.774 - And I think hopefully, Cirilla has felt a really aligned approach to our requests for funding. And so 00:30:42.774 --> 00:30:50.442 - it's definitely, we're not requesting funding for frivolous items here. This is really critical and 00:30:50.442 --> 00:30:54.046 - which is both nice, but also tough, right? So. 00:30:54.626 --> 00:31:01.459 - We'll see how our request changes next year. It's hard to predict, but I do anticipate it'll be quite 00:31:01.459 --> 00:31:08.358 - different. I do have a question. How are you determining which programs to, is it purely based on what 00:31:08.358 --> 00:31:11.038 - the educators themselves would suggest? 00:31:11.138 --> 00:31:17.258 - Or is there like a template that most of those in Indiana are using? How are you coming up with those 00:31:17.258 --> 00:31:23.258 - specific ones? For programs? For like the literacy programs or for any of them? It would be through 00:31:23.258 --> 00:31:29.438 - reviewing research and evidence based practices and I mean that's really where it comes from. Teachers 00:31:29.438 --> 00:31:35.498 - might have some suggestions from their experience but we have a really strong team in our curriculum 00:31:35.498 --> 00:31:40.478 - office that reviews all those resources to make sure they're aligned with research 00:31:40.706 --> 00:31:47.900 - evidence-based practices. So, yeah. So, where can we see some of that research? We could provide some 00:31:47.900 --> 00:31:55.023 - to you. Yeah. Did you note anything? Did Allison provide any? They usually don't. From other grants, 00:31:55.023 --> 00:32:02.499 - we could probably pull some of that that we've used. I mean, it's okay. I mean, you're asking for pennies 00:32:02.499 --> 00:32:10.046 - on the dollars that we really need. Yeah. And it would be helpful for some of us to have a better sense of 00:32:10.722 --> 00:32:18.191 - what the research is showing us as a result of the cutbacks. Okay, yeah. We can work on that. What would 00:32:18.191 --> 00:32:25.517 - be the best way to share that information? Yeah, you can do that. Yeah, a lot of it is going based on, 00:32:25.517 --> 00:32:32.843 - a lot of it they're looking at iLearn as well, like where are the holes, which schools have, you know, 00:32:32.843 --> 00:32:35.902 - where are those, and the literacy coaches, 00:32:36.354 --> 00:32:42.458 - Each school has a literacy coach, correct still? Instructional coach. Instructional coach. So there's 00:32:42.458 --> 00:32:48.801 - instructional coaches inside of each of these buildings that are really in the elementary that are really 00:32:48.801 --> 00:32:55.264 - looking at where the evaluations are showing weaknesses in individual kids and how they build interventions 00:32:55.264 --> 00:33:01.846 - in order to meet them at a one-to-one versus just at a full classroom load. So a lot of this is intervention. 00:33:01.846 --> 00:33:04.958 - A lot of these are used for intervention resources. 00:33:05.218 --> 00:33:11.538 - but they can also be used for that kid who is ready to pop up a little bit too. And it's all based on 00:33:11.538 --> 00:33:17.982 - data. So we have database, really robust database decision making processes where we're doing universal 00:33:17.982 --> 00:33:24.240 - screeners and seeing which students are struggling with which things and then diagnostics to see why 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:30.623 - they might be struggling with that thing. And then we have resources and interventions that match that 00:33:30.623 --> 00:33:31.614 - specific skill. 00:33:31.778 --> 00:33:37.342 - You know, there's that piece, too. What do we need? What are our students struggling with most? And 00:33:37.342 --> 00:33:43.185 - then what does the research say is the most effective practice there? And then trying to find a resource 00:33:43.185 --> 00:33:48.805 - that matches it. It's quite complex. I always like the teaching reading is rocket science. You know, 00:33:48.805 --> 00:33:54.537 - t-shirts are mugs. It is rocket science. It's really challenging, which I think is shown just over the 00:33:54.537 --> 00:33:59.934 - many, many, many, many, many years that we've been working on trying to find that silver bullet. 00:34:00.034 --> 00:34:11.453 - And it just doesn't exist because we're complex human beings. So yeah, just have to be nimble and responsive. 00:34:11.453 --> 00:34:22.042 - Yeah. Overwatching in our state and our nation. Yeah. As more and more groups are expected to pick up 00:34:22.042 --> 00:34:28.894 - the slack from what our state legislatures should be doing. Yeah. 00:34:29.058 --> 00:34:39.011 - if there are ways we can have research that can help lobby legislators, I'd like to have it. I mean, 00:34:39.011 --> 00:34:48.866 - I think there's some wonderful initiatives in town, but every time I support those initiatives that 00:34:48.866 --> 00:34:58.622 - really are substitute funding for what the legislature should be doing, I have a little heartburn. 00:34:58.818 --> 00:35:07.003 - I'm very supportive of your request. I wish we could give you more. But I think the deeper issue is 00:35:07.003 --> 00:35:15.188 - around deep structural chasms. And it is, of course, the poor that suffer the most. So I appreciate 00:35:15.188 --> 00:35:23.373 - these three schools. But we're really facing some serious issues. And I appreciate any research you 00:35:23.373 --> 00:35:26.974 - could give to help. We'll give that to you. 00:35:28.866 --> 00:35:38.944 - Maybe to track a group of children or that's going through the program to see their success with the 00:35:38.944 --> 00:35:49.122 - diversion of going through these programs and see the outcome of it. To have that track of where they 00:35:49.122 --> 00:35:58.302 - started versus where they ended up. Yeah, certainly. That would be a good research to show. 00:35:58.882 --> 00:36:04.819 - I'm sure that's what you would share in an update, right, in the following year? I haven't been a part 00:36:04.819 --> 00:36:10.756 - of one of those updates yet. Usually the updates will try to show you if they were looking at literacy 00:36:10.756 --> 00:36:16.520 - scores, was there movement, was there any in that category, and a lot of these are kids that are in 00:36:16.520 --> 00:36:20.094 - that below proficiency and approaching proficiency groupings. 00:36:20.226 --> 00:36:27.659 - So we do have it. Unfortunately, it's not moving as fast as we would all love for it to move. But I 00:36:27.659 --> 00:36:35.538 - think that's just a nationwide problem and no one's quite sure why. It's multifaceted. It's multifaceted. 00:36:35.538 --> 00:36:42.302 - It's not just what we do inside those six hours that we get on each day. It's beyond that. 00:36:46.370 --> 00:36:54.416 - community effort. That's right. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it very much. Yeah. 00:36:54.416 --> 00:37:02.541 - Thanks. I think unless the committee has any other questions, thoughts, concerns, comments or whatnot, 00:37:02.541 --> 00:37:10.429 - I think we can take a vote on the request today for the $75,000 to support the three schools listed 00:37:10.429 --> 00:37:14.846 - here through the MCCSE Foundation. So I would entertain 00:37:15.234 --> 00:37:24.835 - Motion to approve the request today. Motion. Second. Second. And then if we could do an around the around 00:37:24.835 --> 00:37:34.164 - the room please, Phil. Phil Amerson, yes. Michael Hover, yes. Kate Rosenberger, yes. Jane Coopersmith, 00:37:34.164 --> 00:37:40.414 - yes. Virginia Gethier, yes. Heather Robinson, yes. Mary Morgan, yes. 00:37:41.858 --> 00:37:50.988 - And there would be no opposed. Thank you. And that was the yes from everybody. Motion carries. 00:37:50.988 --> 00:38:01.078 - Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. And that will be reflected in the budget for the 2025-26 00:38:01.078 --> 00:38:08.766 - budget, I believe. So the 2026 budget. Yeah, the 2026 budget. Sorry. So will it 00:38:09.026 --> 00:38:18.002 - So if the disbursement typically hits November or December, wouldn't it hit this budget then? We usually 00:38:18.002 --> 00:38:26.636 - sign the contract in November or December, and then the disbursement happens at the beginning of the 00:38:26.636 --> 00:38:35.014 - year, if I'm not wrong. But we'll have it out by January. So was this just a fluke that the? Yes, 00:38:35.014 --> 00:38:36.638 - it 100% was. Yeah. 00:38:37.474 --> 00:38:45.024 - So I think we, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I think we have some financials to talk about. Is that right? 00:38:45.024 --> 00:38:53.497 - Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. I'm Cheryl. I'm thinking, thank you for having all of the financials 00:38:53.497 --> 00:39:01.355 - here. Maybe unless others have a preference, we could focus on September because that's going to give 00:39:01.355 --> 00:39:05.438 - us the everything. Yeah, actually I thought I would. 00:39:05.570 --> 00:39:13.291 - If we like the quarter three, because that goes through September. So that's right on target with what 00:39:13.291 --> 00:39:20.787 - you. Yeah. I mean, the overall. Yeah, because we're like, June, July. Yeah, we've got July, August, 00:39:20.787 --> 00:39:28.283 - September here and the balance sheets and all of that. So you have that as all the details. I could 00:39:28.283 --> 00:39:34.430 - just do like quarter three, which is just really your budget versus actual. Okay. 00:39:34.914 --> 00:39:44.647 - September 30th. Do you want me to pull that up? Yeah, if you want to. That would be great. Yeah. Dee, 00:39:44.647 --> 00:39:54.762 - where do we look for this? Is this the most recent packet? You want the one? Mm-hmm. I sent an amendment. 00:39:54.762 --> 00:40:02.110 - Just the Q3 by input? Yes, I sent it separately from the rest of the packet. 00:40:04.258 --> 00:40:16.239 - I just wanted you to have everything. Yeah, there you go. So yeah, but one page earlier, thirty-four, 00:40:16.239 --> 00:40:29.278 - we'll get you started there. So for quarter three, basically going through September 30th. On the income side, 00:40:29.378 --> 00:40:42.165 - I can't make it any bigger right now. Go ahead. Okay. Yeah. So you've generated $766,622.82, which is 00:40:42.165 --> 00:40:55.579 - above your budget, which was $458,780. And that is a direct reflection of Cadillac catching up in previous 00:40:55.579 --> 00:40:56.958 - years. So, 00:40:58.402 --> 00:41:08.436 - If you took that out, you're right on target of having brought in your income for the year. In addition, 00:41:08.436 --> 00:41:18.279 - you had $3,663.71 generated from your CDs. And you'll see that's at the very bottom of this particular 00:41:18.279 --> 00:41:27.358 - document. So you need to include that in addition to your regular income. On the expense side, 00:41:27.618 --> 00:41:42.916 - Overall, you have expended 40.6% of your budget, which totals $257,354.52. The details of the expense 00:41:42.916 --> 00:41:56.414 - comes from your different categories of administration. You've spent 8.3% of your budget. 00:41:56.578 --> 00:42:08.034 - And this is low because of the outstanding administrative payment owed to ESD. And we'll get that process. 00:42:08.034 --> 00:42:19.276 - So you'll see that go up in the next quarter. In the grants category, you've spent 46.3% of your budget, 00:42:19.276 --> 00:42:21.310 - which is $538,500. 00:42:22.434 --> 00:42:29.044 - That's your budget and of that you spent two hundred and forty nine thousand three hundred and ninety 00:42:29.044 --> 00:42:35.718 - three dollars and fifty two cents Can I just one comment on that and I e-mailed you about this knowing 00:42:35.718 --> 00:42:42.263 - that we had the MCCSE foundation Yes, yes, I looked and I saw the hundred thousand dollars there and 00:42:42.263 --> 00:42:48.030 - so that raised a question for me So I think that's just an entry error. So technically I 00:42:48.322 --> 00:42:58.698 - our total grant expense is just under $200,000. Once that adjustment is made, you are cut. If you get 00:42:58.698 --> 00:43:09.175 - down into the details of the different categories of your grants, I will point that out as well. Under 00:43:09.175 --> 00:43:17.822 - the arts and culture, you've expended 14.4 percent of your $260,000 budget. Of that, 00:43:17.954 --> 00:43:24.424 - Um, you'll see the, like, you haven't spent the a hundred thousand and your arts incubator and then 00:43:24.424 --> 00:43:31.153 - nothing out of your, uh, city arts program. So those are like two big things that haven't been expended 00:43:31.153 --> 00:43:37.429 - out of, uh, arts and culture. So I'm not sure. We're working on working on those. Okay. So just, 00:43:37.429 --> 00:43:44.093 - you know, there's in like today, you've got a lot of other grants that are going to be coming through, 00:43:44.093 --> 00:43:47.134 - but, um, this is just where you are right now. 00:43:47.586 --> 00:44:00.475 - So then, yeah, the second is education and entrepreneurship. It shows here that you've expended 60.8% 00:44:00.475 --> 00:44:13.490 - of your $76,000 budget. So that one is going as planned. Under education grants, I'm showing, and this 00:44:13.490 --> 00:44:17.534 - is where the air is showing up, 00:44:17.698 --> 00:44:28.347 - I'm showing that you have overspent, but that $100,000 for MCCSC is actually only $50,000, because I 00:44:28.347 --> 00:44:39.102 - had it marked as a $50,000 distribution, and then it came in as two individual, there was an error in 00:44:39.102 --> 00:44:45.534 - there, so that has to be corrected, so it will show $50,000. 00:44:47.010 --> 00:44:59.495 - in your next report. Then under your zone improvements grants, you've expended 48.8% of your $135,000 00:44:59.495 --> 00:45:12.226 - budget. So you're halfway there. And again, you probably have more grants probably that are coming this 00:45:12.226 --> 00:45:16.510 - month that I've seen come through. 00:45:16.802 --> 00:45:30.840 - So overall, you've actually, I think, spent, you've expended better this year than you did last year. 00:45:30.840 --> 00:45:45.566 - And your income is perfect, so you're on target. Yeah, so this second page shows your total expense there. 00:45:46.082 --> 00:45:59.204 - Yeah, and you'll see that actually when I send us for next month when I'll just do the one for October 00:45:59.204 --> 00:46:12.581 - I think it's worth just noting our our total our total total current assets are three point four million 00:46:12.581 --> 00:46:14.110 - dollars and 00:46:14.370 --> 00:46:22.946 - We've seen about a $540,000 increase just from, I think, July. And I know a big part of that is catalysts 00:46:22.946 --> 00:46:31.118 - and whatnot. But we have tipped $3 million. So I think that that's quite a pot of money for us as an 00:46:31.118 --> 00:46:36.862 - organization. And just to put some awareness around that, that we have 00:46:37.026 --> 00:46:44.656 - quite a few funds there. And this will, you know, ultimately lead into some of our budget discussion, 00:46:44.656 --> 00:46:52.735 - of course, and then just what is our future revenue stream look like. And so those will be some discussions 00:46:52.735 --> 00:47:00.290 - to come, but I think just, you know, kind of making a point and everyone awareness that we have over 00:47:00.290 --> 00:47:04.030 - $3 million in assets at this time. So, all right. 00:47:04.226 --> 00:47:13.794 - Thank you. And then I think all of your, they're listed as I think assets, all of your RF loans. I think 00:47:13.794 --> 00:47:22.998 - we'll have a discussion with Dee on how that needs to be reflected in this reporting. Right. Because 00:47:22.998 --> 00:47:28.830 - if you're going to write some off and just how that needs to be 00:47:29.122 --> 00:47:37.132 - Right. Documented and reflected. Right. You know, just go in and say, zero, and I'm out. I mean, because 00:47:37.132 --> 00:47:45.067 - it ends up being a loss. Right. So they'll have to move from the balance sheet to the income statement, 00:47:45.067 --> 00:47:52.848 - and we'll record it as an expense. Yeah. Yeah. So that process has to happen. And if we wait to do it 00:47:52.848 --> 00:47:57.502 - at the end of the year, after you know exactly which one are 00:47:58.018 --> 00:48:05.371 - You know do it all at once or if you want to do We can talk about that so Make a request. So where it 00:48:05.371 --> 00:48:12.724 - will be Likely looking at a proposed or draft budget at our next meeting and then we had had a number 00:48:12.724 --> 00:48:20.077 - of questions come up over the last couple of months about grant eligibility and our bylaws and I know 00:48:20.077 --> 00:48:27.934 - there's a bigger conversation about where we're going with revenue and the strategic focus in the group, but 00:48:28.162 --> 00:48:34.321 - in the short term, when we're budgeting for 2026, if we could really look, like ground ourselves in 00:48:34.321 --> 00:48:40.604 - the bylaws before we start the budget discussions, I'd really appreciate that. And I think doing that 00:48:40.604 --> 00:48:47.132 - here in this meeting would be really helpful, because then it's shared with the public. Yeah, absolutely. 00:48:47.132 --> 00:48:53.291 - I think we were going to kind of have some of that discussion here. I know we're nearing time, Dee, 00:48:53.291 --> 00:48:57.726 - but you had put that in your report, correct? Yeah. So with that, yeah. 00:48:58.434 --> 00:49:07.655 - Are there any other questions on financials for this? If none, we do need a motion to approve, but I'd 00:49:07.655 --> 00:49:16.876 - like to make a note that the approval would be contingent or reflective of the $50,000 adjustment that 00:49:16.876 --> 00:49:26.366 - will be made so that that will be corrected for the next group of financials that we will take a look at. 00:49:26.690 --> 00:49:35.168 - And this is for the quarter. This is for the quarter. Yeah. So we have, this will take us through Q3 00:49:35.168 --> 00:49:43.815 - September 30, 2025. So I would move approval of the Q3 2025 financials as presented with the exception 00:49:43.815 --> 00:49:52.545 - of a $50,000 adjustment in the grants category. Second. And then around the room, Bill. Bill Langerson, 00:49:52.545 --> 00:49:56.574 - yes. Michael Hover, yes. Kate Rosenberger, yes. 00:49:56.706 --> 00:50:06.323 - Jane Cooper Smith, yes. Virginia Gutierrez, yes. Heather Robinson, yes. Mary Morgan, yes. Molly Benelli, 00:50:06.323 --> 00:50:15.848 - yes. Motion carries. Thank you. D, your report. So really quickly, my director's report is pretty short 00:50:15.848 --> 00:50:20.702 - because I wanted us to move along. If I can find it. 00:50:22.978 --> 00:50:32.266 - So I'll have a couple of outstanding grants for your review for the November meeting. With that, I would 00:50:32.266 --> 00:50:41.288 - like to ask the board if we could potentially extend the meeting in November by 30 minutes so we have 00:50:41.288 --> 00:50:47.038 - time to take care of outstanding business aside from the budget. 00:50:47.458 --> 00:50:53.507 - I would say 30 minutes before the meeting, as opposed to after the meeting, because I know a lot of 00:50:53.507 --> 00:50:59.677 - people have to go with two things afterwards. So. That's November 12th. Yes. And you're suggesting we 00:50:59.677 --> 00:51:06.209 - start at 1130 and go until one o'clock? Yes. And I'll be out of the country. OK. So are you going someplace 00:51:06.209 --> 00:51:12.258 - good? It better be good. It better be good. At all. I'll have to tell you after the meeting. I wish 00:51:12.258 --> 00:51:16.190 - you could come. Of course. Yeah, I won't even be in the country. 00:51:16.386 --> 00:51:25.372 - I know I'll miss you all too. Is there going to be an issue with, like, do we need quorum to talk about 00:51:25.372 --> 00:51:34.618 - that discussion? So is there a better day to move that, like a week ahead or something? Are you available, 00:51:34.618 --> 00:51:40.926 - Michael? Yeah, I'll be available. Okay, so I think we might have quorum. 00:51:41.666 --> 00:51:53.619 - If everybody else. Are you available, Felisa? You're on mute, hon. You are still on mute, Felisa. OK. 00:51:53.619 --> 00:52:05.338 - So we're speaking of the first week of November. November 12. The meeting would be November 12 that 00:52:05.338 --> 00:52:11.198 - we are looking for an extension for that meeting. 00:52:11.906 --> 00:52:23.049 - There's nothing that prevents me from moving. At 11.30. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I will be fine. I will be 00:52:23.049 --> 00:52:34.192 - available. One, two, three, four, five, six. So that still gives us quorum as long as everybody can 00:52:34.192 --> 00:52:40.766 - show up. Right. And Brad may potentially be able to. Okay. 00:52:41.730 --> 00:52:48.250 - Do we need to vote on that? I think it's fine, right? I don't think it is. Yeah, I don't think we need 00:52:48.250 --> 00:52:54.833 - to vote on that. Just send an update to that meeting calendar invite so everyone will remember. Because 00:52:54.833 --> 00:53:01.289 - I'll forget if it's not on my calendar. Yes. I will change all of that. Awesome. Thank you very much. 00:53:01.289 --> 00:53:07.745 - So as we saw, the Catalan payment is received. I will put proof of it in the packet. Thank you all so 00:53:07.745 --> 00:53:10.910 - much for your patience on that. I'm very excited. 00:53:11.010 --> 00:53:17.475 - that that has happened. Another thing that I'm working on is a calendar for 2026. So every meeting will 00:53:17.475 --> 00:53:23.816 - pretty much be kind of charted out. The thing is that every October, it always ends up being CDFI and 00:53:23.816 --> 00:53:30.033 - MCCSE reporting. There are certain months where something is just going to happen, no matter what I 00:53:30.033 --> 00:53:36.561 - want to actually happen for the meeting. So I'm going to go with the natural flow and try and get things 00:53:36.561 --> 00:53:39.358 - sorted out. I think this will also help with 00:53:39.490 --> 00:53:45.956 - grant reviews and things like that, just kind of being able to stack them up in a way that is digestible 00:53:45.956 --> 00:53:52.546 - for everyone. And everybody kind of knows what's coming. And it's like, oh, I'm going to miss this meeting 00:53:52.546 --> 00:53:58.951 - because of whatever. It will help you all plan your schedules accordingly. And then finally, and I know 00:53:58.951 --> 00:54:04.062 - we're very low on time, but I did add the scoring rubric that the board requested. 00:54:05.282 --> 00:54:14.498 - This is just to establish a consistent awarding practice and provide clear communication to applicants 00:54:14.498 --> 00:54:22.014 - and partners who we work with when they want to tell potential applicants about it. 00:54:22.210 --> 00:54:29.662 - Questions I asked were, how will the board use this? How will the board consider granting funds to businesses 00:54:29.662 --> 00:54:36.438 - outside of the zone? Or will the board consider granting funds outside of the zone? And if so, what 00:54:36.438 --> 00:54:43.348 - are the parameters of qualification? So you asked, and I gave you. So what do you think? I thank you, 00:54:43.348 --> 00:54:49.310 - first of all, Dee, for the rubric. I think it's well done, and it will be very helpful. 00:54:49.538 --> 00:54:57.877 - There are a couple pieces of discussion in there. But as Jane mentioned earlier, in just all of you, 00:54:57.877 --> 00:55:06.298 - I know we've been in discussions for grants that have come before us this year that have been outside 00:55:06.298 --> 00:55:14.885 - of the zone. And we've struggled in trying to really decide how we want to treat that. And I think that 00:55:14.885 --> 00:55:18.270 - we need to make a solid decision on what 00:55:19.618 --> 00:55:26.878 - are we absolutely 100% always sticking to businesses, organizations, nonprofits, whatever in the zone, 00:55:26.878 --> 00:55:33.503 - or do we have some piece of that that has some flexibility, which the rubric would help with? 00:55:33.503 --> 00:55:40.551 - And if so, how do we define that flexibility? What is that piece? And so I know we don't have a lot 00:55:40.551 --> 00:55:47.670 - of time today, and I don't expect that we'll fully get this answered, but I'd like to at least start 00:55:47.670 --> 00:55:48.798 - that discussion 00:55:49.026 --> 00:55:58.234 - and get thoughts about that. I know we struggled with the Hazen Insurance grant that was before us. 00:55:58.234 --> 00:56:07.442 - And one of the main factors was it was just a business outside of the zone. And we still have First 00:56:07.442 --> 00:56:11.678 - Christian Church, which is right on the line. 00:56:11.778 --> 00:56:19.265 - of the zone. And so we've had some precedent, I will say, where we funded something, Fourth Street Arts 00:56:19.265 --> 00:56:26.607 - Festival, again, on the line of the zone. But the huge impact, the economic impact that it has to the 00:56:26.607 --> 00:56:34.238 - zones, the impact that it has on the residents and businesses of the zone. So I would like to be quiet in 00:56:34.402 --> 00:56:44.094 - hear from the others on the board. I'd love to hear some thoughts. 00:56:44.226 --> 00:56:50.043 - TF, Alex, before we have our, and I'll also be quiet, because I do a lot of talking, but Alex, have 00:56:50.043 --> 00:56:56.151 - you done a legal review of our bylaws? Are we restricted? Are we able? Are there any gray areas in terms 00:56:56.151 --> 00:57:02.027 - of whether we're funding outside of the zone? So I was thinking it might be good to do a legal round 00:57:02.027 --> 00:57:08.019 - on that subject, and I can look at case law, I can look at statute, it's going to have a few days, and 00:57:08.019 --> 00:57:10.462 - I can look at the bylaws and kind of like 00:57:11.010 --> 00:57:24.018 - I do have a general question quickly. I think it seemed it would be a little oppressive possibly for 00:57:24.018 --> 00:57:36.254 - the organizations or businesses, but is there a way to request that everyone show their impact 00:57:37.122 --> 00:57:42.374 - to the resident, I don't even know how that could be feasible. Because again, sometimes it's sensitive 00:57:42.374 --> 00:57:47.574 - to ask those questions, especially, let's say, for a first Christian church. If someone is coming and 00:57:47.574 --> 00:57:52.928 - has a need and is not necessarily in the zone, you're not going to turn away if they have a need, right? 00:57:52.928 --> 00:57:58.434 - So there's service to a person, but they may not be living in the zone. But I guess I'm trying to ascertain 00:57:58.434 --> 00:58:04.094 - whether there's a way to. Well, we do have some sort of precedent for that because of our support of Ivy Tech. 00:58:04.482 --> 00:58:12.373 - because they're clearly outside of the zone. But when they report, they show us how many zone residents 00:58:12.373 --> 00:58:20.037 - they've helped or whatnot and the effect that has, the impact that it has provided. So there is some 00:58:20.037 --> 00:58:28.384 - precedent for that. But when you start talking about like, they track numbers because they are an educational 00:58:28.384 --> 00:58:34.302 - institution. But when we're talking about nonprofits, businesses, that's some 00:58:34.690 --> 00:58:42.365 - different and potentially dicey territory. So, um, it's not that we haven't asked. It's that we've only 00:58:42.365 --> 00:58:49.966 - asked certain institutions that actually just formally carry those numbers. I don't, not the nonprofit 00:58:49.966 --> 00:58:57.715 - status isn't what makes it dicey. It's that, okay, Ivy tech has access to data that clearly demonstrates 00:58:57.715 --> 00:59:00.446 - their zone impact and they can, can, 00:59:00.610 --> 00:59:07.166 - kind of segregate that and show that they're targeting their activities in the zone, but like 00:59:07.362 --> 00:59:13.915 - Other nonprofits might not be that sophisticated. They just might not be able to do it. And it may not 00:59:13.915 --> 00:59:20.468 - be quantifiable in some ways. So if First Christian Church is helping someone, maybe, I don't know all 00:59:20.468 --> 00:59:26.894 - of the programs that they offer, but maybe the unhoused population or others in need, their services 00:59:26.894 --> 00:59:33.320 - provided to them are then directly impactful to the businesses downtown or in the zone that would be 00:59:33.320 --> 00:59:37.328 - adjacent to that that are in the zone. Because then, you know, 00:59:37.328 --> 00:59:46.035 - Just using that as an example, I'm not trying to stereotype or anything, but if someone gets a meal 00:59:46.035 --> 00:59:55.090 - there or gets some services or help, then it's less likely to maybe those challenges may be less likely 00:59:55.090 --> 01:00:04.145 - to have an effect on maybe businesses or those in the zone. That's hard to quantify. That's information 01:00:04.145 --> 01:00:05.886 - that's hard to say. 01:00:06.114 --> 01:00:11.454 - I think this looks good though and I think like getting that memo from Alex would be good too because 01:00:11.454 --> 01:00:16.847 - I think like just I think the rubric does it looks great and looks like it like follows like the legal 01:00:16.847 --> 01:00:22.134 - definitions for BUEA already but I think just like diving a little deeper with Alex would be good on 01:00:22.134 --> 01:00:27.475 - that. So I'm gonna put this topic at the top of the agenda for the next meeting so we can get through 01:00:27.475 --> 01:00:28.574 - it and move forward. 01:00:28.674 --> 01:00:36.184 - Excellent. Thank you, Dave, for your work on that. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Melissa. 01:00:36.184 --> 01:00:39.902 - Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Have a great week.