April 17 Meeting Minutes

PRESENT: Betsy Sawyer-Manter, Kelsey Preecs, Kelly Day, Diane Lebson (remote), Scott Adams, Janet May, Pamela Proulx-Curry (remote), William Guidon, Celeste Branham (remote), Jennifer Burke (remote), Ninette Irabaruta (remote), Michael Williams (remote), Mary Krebs, Luke Shorty

STAFF AND GUESTS: Lucy Martin, Maureen Kendzierski, Brittany Gleixner-Hayat (remote), Maria Millard, Steve Niles

PUBLIC COMMENT: Steve Niles updated about the AmeriCorps Goodwill Northern New England Goodhealth Works program and the new AmeriCorps volunteers

Luke Shorty asked a question about…

Kelly Day is looking forward to connecting with Steve Niles and the program as the Commission’s ambassador

June 24th Member Recognition Event with Goodwill NNE and AmeriCorps programs and partners are invited to attend. It will be hosted at the Washington Gardens in Portland through their partnership with Portland Housing Authority

Janet May wanted to know if there was an organization called Three Rivers in Orono/Old Town area that is involved in the AmeriCorps program to which Steve responded that they do have a relationship

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat asked Steve to outline Goodwill NNE Goodhealth Works AmeriCorps logic model: empowering organizations to use evidence to try and help communities identify the issue they’ve identified in their community

Mary Krebs asked if mapping successes meant improving programs and supports and resources and Steve confirmed that in Caribou

Rand Corporation model: Getting to Outcomes

CALL TO ORDER

William Guidon Jr. (vice chair) called the meeting to order at 10:12 AM. After the introductions of Commissioners, staff, and guests. The protocols for a hybrid business meeting were covered after Public Comment opened. The chair did remind members that conflicts of interest should be declared as agenda items come up.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Riana Segerson updates that ASC is starting to get back into travel

May 16 is Good Neighbor Day

Social media and event toolkits available

Volunteer enrollment period changes will be delayed until February 27

Planning grants are open

Volunteer Generation Fund only available to State Service Commissions

Next steps for Formula in May

APPRECIATIONS:

Appreciate ASC for making Volunteer Generation Fund just service programs again

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat would like to appreciate

  • Lucy Martin for the National and Community Service Recognition Day and the finalization of the LD1433
  • Appreciate Tom Meuser for taking photos for Commission events
  • Appreciate Pamela Proulx-Curry for sourcing Senator Chip Curry as MC for the event
  • Appreciate Maureen Kendzierski to get Maine Service Fellows matched with their host sites seamlessly

Diane Lebson appreciates Luke Shorty and Lucy Martin for their leadership of the Governor’s Awards Task Force

Scott won the Commissioner’s Quiz once again!

CONSENT AGENDA:

Addition to the agenda under mission responsibilities read out of the Catholic Charities volunteer manager training

MOVED by Luke Shorty to approve the consent agenda. SECONDED by Mary Krebs

Vote on the motion (roll call): in favor – Adams, Aleynne Aular-Torres, Branham, Burke, Day, Irabaruta, Krebs, Lebson, May, Preecs, Proulx-Curry, Sawyer-Manter, Shorty Opposed – none. Motion passed.

Under the motion, the following minutes were approved and reports accepted: Commission business meeting minutes of March 20, 2026.

PLANNING AND FUTURE INITIATIVES    

Update on federal issues.

Presidential Budget Request

AmeriCorps is eliminated in that budget request but this is repetitive from previous Trump administration

AmeriCorps Volunteer Generation Fund application is due on April 30; Maureen Kendzierski and Brittany Gleixner-Hayat are the lead on this

The grant is no longer a 3 year but a 1 year grant

CIF and CSG were successfully submitted

ASC National Service Training Read-Out

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat discussed the strong presence of Maine’s AmeriCorps programs at the conference in

LD876

LD1433

 

FOCUS ON MISSION RESPONSIBILITIES

Business Meetings

Change of date for June to June 26th

National Service Luncheon on the 26th?

Poll coming to understand Commission capacity and planning of the event

September Retreat dates survey – option for one day or two day event

BUSINESS REPORTS

Public Policy & Communications Task Force.

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat noted the state budget outlook

Luke Shorty discussed how there are reductions in the federal budget that affect state programs and budgeting especially if AmeriCorps is zeroed out as is currently in the Presidential Budget Request

Determine what to prioritize for Volunteer Maine resilience building in the face of limited funding

Grant Selection and Performance Task Force.

Bill Guidon Jr. acknowledges the Grant Review

MOTION to limit FY26 AmeriCorps formula funding to continuation applications only

MOVED by Kelsey Preecs SECONDED by Luke Shorty

Discussion

Luke Shorty asked if this limits the competition to those that only have formula funding

William Guidon Jr. clarified that it offers a fallback for those programs that are competing at the national scale if they do not receive that funding

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat presences that funding restrictions will impact available funding for programs regardless

Discussion around the process and how the Commission will navigate the changes in funding opportunities moving forward. Brittany Gleixner-Hayat asked for additional Commission member participation in the Grants Task Force

Because this is the first year of our Prime(?) there are not additional funds to carry over and so this is a common occurrence. The programs are either aware or will be made aware prior to the continuation applications. The process is very transparent and Mary Krebs and Kelly Day both emphasize that it is important to support our programs sustainably and that there are no specific money amounts

Vote In Favor: Adams, Aleynne Aular-Torres, Branham, Burke, Day, Irabaruta, Krebs, Lebson, May, Preecs, Proulx-Curry, Sawyer-Manter, Shorty Opposed – none. Motion passed. Opposed: None MOTION PASSED

Executive Committee Task Force.

No further updates outside of the report.

Governor’s Awards for Service and Volunteerism

Luke Shorty updates that the planning is going well and invited the Commissioners to attend and register through Zeffy and that Ninette Irabaruta has connected United Way of Southern Maine to help with volunteering

Service Programs Task Force.

Maine Volunteer Leadership Conference planning committee

Institutional Effectiveness and Accountability.

Looking for financial support for a Dawnland showing

Financial Task Force.

Luke Shorty has nothing to report except to revisit the charge for the Financial Task Force and budget season is coming up

Maine Volunteer Foundation

Celeste Branham and Diane Lebson have been working to expand the Board

State Service Strategy Task Force.

Maria Millard was hired as the facilitator for the State Service Strategy development moving forward.

State Service Strategy – Engagement Strategy Feedback & Design

Discussion around the different buckets that identified partners and stakeholders were placed in, what/who is missing, and the logistics of carrying out the timeline was conducted.

BUSINESS WRAP UP

William Guidon Jr. checked in on the hybrid meeting experience and all members that were online reported that once the OIT people came the visual was good and the audio was excellent.

Next scheduled business meeting is May ____, 2026

Motion was made to adjourn the meeting

Scott Adams MOVED and SECONDED by Kelsey Preecs and accepted unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 1:04 pm.