CMT Meeting Minutes, January 7 2010

Missoula CMT Core Group Meeting
January 7, 2009

CMT Full Group Meeting/Social
The CMT had planned to have a full group meeting on Thursday, February 18th from 3-5 at Mountain West Bank. It was decided after discussion that the full group meeting will be moved back from February to March. The meeting has been rescheduled for March 18th from 3-5 at Mountain West Bank on Great Northern, and the room has been reserved. We will also plan on inviting a few agencies that have been unrepresented in the CMT, including Mental Health and Aging Services. Saundra will send email announcements. For the meeting in March, HRC, Job Service, VR, and CCR volunteered to provide refreshments. If possible, one person will purchase and others will reimburse.

February Resource Fair
Job Service is organizing a resource fair for February 16th at the Doubletree hotel. Originally this resource fair was for Smurfit employees, but it may be expanded to the public as a whole. The hours have not been determined. Our discussion about the November cross training academy prompted a discussion about the next CMT training, which was scheduled for May. Jim pointed out that there is a huge need in our community right now for our service provider agencies to have staff who are familiar with resources available to those who are out of work or who have been laid off. We discussed the possibility of piggy-backing off this event and having an hour at the beginning of the event before it opened to the public, to have staff walk though and get information and training on the providers and opportunities to plug their clients into. Registration would not be needed, and the format would be open for people to get the information they need most to serve their clients. Saundra will check with the Job Service to see if this is a possibility, and to get more information.

November Cross Training Academy Review
The cross-training academy in November 2009 was a success. Mo reported that the feedback was positive, people like the format and the information. There was discussion about possible options for combining the training to keep the energy level up.

Bylaws
Saundra is working on a CMT bylaw update. The update will be done so the CMT could vote on the new bylaws at the full meeting in March. A draft will be sent out to the Core Group in advance for their review.

Other News and Updates
The Lifelong Learning Center will be reinstating their Parent Expo. Monique will email Saundra the information for distribution to the full CMT.

A survey will be distributed to Smurfit employees to provide the agencies serving the laid-off employees with more information. The Lifelong Learning Center and COT hope to use that to help tailor the training they will make available. The Lifelong Learning Center is holding Adult Basic Education classes in Frenchtown.

Next week the Lifelong Learning Center will begin workshops for the folks laid off from Smurfit. At the workshop they will take a TABE test and go over the results, as well as complete an enrollment for programs at the Job Service. After that, they can sign up for a 20 hour “Where to Go From Here” workshop. It will include a distance learning component, an education prep component, and information about MCIS (Montana Career Information System). After that, there will be a revised transition to college program available. The “Where to Go…” workshop and the transition to college program are available to anyone.

The University and College of Technology are meeting this week to discuss the University response to the current layoffs in our community. They are looking at job statistics to determine what makes sense for education programs and where there will be jobs. They are also pursuing two different grants to assist the community. The COT will be holding two open houses in February.

Next Meeting
February 4th, 9:00 am, Missoula Job Service