March 20 Meeting Minutes

PRESENT: Betsy Sawyer-Manter, Kelsey Preecs, Kelly Day, Diane Lebson, Scott Adams, Janet May, Pamela Proulx-Curry, Ruben Torres, William Guidon, Celeste Branham, Necole Janczura, Jennifer Burke, Ninette Irabaruta (remote), Chelsey Fortin-Trimble, Michael Williams (remote)

STAFF AND GUESTS: Lucy Martin, Maureen Kendzierski, Brittany Gleixner-Hayat, Esayas Gebre

PUBLIC COMMENT: No public present for public comment

CALL TO ORDER

Pamela Proulx-Curry called the meeting to order at 10:02 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:

Lucy Martin discussed her attendance of the Goodwill NNE Retreat

APPRECIATIONS:

Scott Adams appreciates Lucy Martin for the Annual Report

Diane appreciates Celeste for her work with the Maine Volunteer Foundation

Pamela Proulx-Curry appreciates Maureen making the DC plane reservation for the DC trip

CONSENT AGENDA:

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

MOVED by Celeste Branham to approve the consent agenda. SECONDED by Bill Guidon

Vote on the motion (roll call): in favor – Adams, Branham, Burke, Day, Guidon Jr., Irabaruta, Janczura, Lebson, May, Preecs, Sawyer-Manter, Torres Opposed – none. Motion passed.

Under the motion, the following minutes were approved and reports accepted: Commission business meeting minutes of February 13, 2026.

PLANNING AND FUTURE INITIATIVES    

Update on federal issues.

Formula allocation is about the same as last year

With the formula allocation can now prepare for the formula competition – it will be a continuation for many of our grantees

Commission Investment Fund (CIF) has been allocated

FY2027 Commissioner Sign On Letter

Letter advocates for funding for activities and programming at a 5% increase

Congressional Earmark Request

Applied to Rep Chellie Pingree’s CPF to fund a Coastal Resilience Corps in partnership with the Island Institute and were one of the 20 proposals that Rep. Pingree submitted to Appropriations

Diane Lebson asked about the impact on staff bandwidth and Brittany Gleixner-Hayat responded that Corps management is dependent on economies of scale

Discussion occurred around how funds are allocated and how the staff would manage the funds and the project

FOCUS ON MISSION RESPONSIBILITIES

April 1st – Save the Date for the National Service Recognition Day at the Hall of Flags

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat invites all of the Commissioners to attend as there will be AmeriCorps programs from across the state attending and tabling

At least 20 members are going to be there

Invitation will go out to legislators with their annual report

Asked the governor if she would be available to do the swearing in

AmeriCorps Alumni have been invited to renew their oath

Ambassadorship Program

Ambassadorships are important for relationship building

Discussion occurred around the relationships between the Commission and the Grantees and how the Commission is engaging with the Grantees moving forward as it also adjusts the scope of work for Volunteer Maine positions

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat discussed her time at the Catholic Charities Volunteer Management training

Kelly Day discussed the event – Volunteer Coordinator Meeting – thank you lunch, training day, touch base day, Britt was featured speaker and discussed what Volunteer Maine offers regarding volunteer management;

Some takeaways from the meeting included: trends at Catholic Charities, current volunteers tend to do more hours instead of recruiting new volunteers; senior volunteers >65 make up a lot of the volunteer pool which needs to be taken into consideration when developing onboarding; workforce development is a more common term when it comes to volunteer management; Catholic Charities recommends having on your applications how they were referred to volunteer opportunity (SNAP are only there for three months required but can stay longer); make sure that you are recognizing/thanking your volunteers

Discussion occurred around the implication of volunteers looking to fulfill SNAP requirements and how nonprofits and organizations are engaging with those volunteers and what role Volunteer Maine should be playing in helping to facilitate those conversations and manage those relationships.

Janet May asked about the determination of the SNAP hour requirements and who is making those decisions

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat asked Ninette Irabaruta about the United Ways approach to SNAP benefits

A reminder to prioritize hosting the National Service Luncheon as it was not done last year

BUSINESS REPORTS

Public Policy & Communications Task Force.

Ruben Torres said they will be returning to regularly scheduled task force meetings moving forward

Planning for the upcoming legislative session

ServeMaine PSA is approved

Grant Selection and Performance Task Force.

Bill Guidon Jr. acknowledges the Grant Review

MOTION to acknowledge and appreciate the work of the peer reviewers, Sophia Doremus, Debra Bare-Rogers, and Ben Levak

MOVED by Scott Adams SECONDED by Kelly Day

Vote In Favor: Adams, Branham, Burke, Day, Fortin-Trimble, Guidon Jr. Irabaruta, Janczura, Lebson, May, Preecs, Sawyer-Manter, Torres Opposed: None MOTION PASSED

MOTION to approve submission of GPCOG’s renewal application to the AmeriCorps National competition requesting $475,000 and 19 MSY

MOVED by William Guidon Jr. SECONDED by Diane Lebson

No Discussion

Vote In Favor: Adams, Branham, Burke, Day, Fortin-Trimble, Guidon Jr. Irabaruta, Janczura, Lebson, May, Preecs, Sawyer-Manter, Torres Opposed: None MOTION PASSED

MOTION to approve submission of MCC’s continuation application to the AmeriCorps National Competition requesting $1,234,000 and 49.36 MSY

MOVED by William Guidon Jr. SECONDED by Celeste Branham

Discussion about the MSY filling positions and that their expectations for filling their positions were more realistic. The missing positions noted in the application were the positions that were lost during the shutdown

Vote In Favor: Adams, Branham, Burke, Day, Fortin-Trimble, Guidon Jr. Irabaruta, Janczura, Lebson, May, Preecs, Sawyer-Manter, Torres Opposed: None MOTION PASSED

Brittany Gleixner-Hayat explained that this meant that these applications have been approved by the state and now have to go to compete on a national level

Minimum number of MSY needed to apply for a Competitive grant is now 20

Executive Committee Task Force.

No further updates outside of the report.

Governor’s Awards for Service and Volunteerism

Lucy Martin updated on the Governor’s Awards and that the finalists have been selected, that they have raised about $10,000 of the $15,000 goal and are looking for volunteers for the day-of from Commissioners but also potentially working with United Way of Southern Maine to have volunteers for the event so that the Commissioners can engage with the nominees

Service Programs Task Force.

Maine Volunteer Leadership Conference planning committee working closely with the Governor’s Awards Task Force

Reviewed the nominations and determined finalists

Institutional Effectiveness and Accountability.

Looking for financial support for a Dawnland showing

Financial Task Force.

Using extra funds from staffing shortage to contract consultants

Pamela Proulx-Curry asked to have a statement of financial position sent to the board for fiscal oversight

Discussion occurred regarding what that would look like and what the responsibilities are of the Finance Task Force and the Commission as well as Volunteer Maine in this process and financial oversight

Executive and Finance Committee will determine what financial information is going to be communicated and in what format

Maine Volunteer Foundation

Anticipating a leadership change. John Portela is stepping down from President but will remain on the Board

Recruiting for a President as well as two other positions on the Board

Diane and Celeste are working on filling those positions

The annual appeal report at the time of the meeting was that we had received $5,875

Administrative/logistical discussion about how funds transfer from the Board to Volunteer Maine

Need an invoice system to transfer funds

Betterment Fund award of $40,000 to the Maine Volunteer Foundation

75 letters were sent out for the annual appeal and thank you notes are in progress

Celeste asked for recommendations for Maine Volunteer Foundation Board members

State Service Strategy Task Force.

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

Internal Stocktaking Session – 90 min facilitated conversation

Commissioners broke up into small groups to discuss four different decision areas:

  • What do we continue, refine, scale, or stop?
  • What is our realistic and effective role in engaging young people?
    • Who is tracking youth participation?
    • How are we tracking working with organizations that target youth?
    • How are we defining volunteerism for youth?
    • How is youth/young defined?
  • How do we equitably and effectively serve rural communities?
    • Barriers in rural communities – spaces for informal volunteering
    • We assume that we have the solutions to their needs
    • What affects successful grant applications
    • Assumption that technology is available in rural communities
  • How can Volunteer Maine clarify its role and build more sustainable partnerships beyond individual relationships?
    • People in communities across the state know who we are and what we do
  • How visible and understood should we be — and by whom?

BUSINESS WRAP UP

Pamela checked in on the hybrid meeting experience and all members that were online reported that the visual was good and the audio was excellent.

Next scheduled business meeting is April 17, 2026

Motion was made to adjourn the meeting

Chelsey Fortin-Trimble MOVED and SECONDED by Kelsey Preecs and accepted unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 1:04 pm.