MSO Happenings - Mid

MID- S IOUX OPP ORT UNIT Y, INC.
MSO Happenings
V O L UM E 2 4, I S S UE 1 0
S E P T E MB E R 2 0 1 4
Notes from the Director’s Desk
Dick Sievers
Executive Director
Over the past few months we have had 5 of our major
programs/services monitored by their respective state
agency. They all had excellent reports. Suggestions for improvement
were made but there were no issues of non-compliance and in fact each
monitor told me that they have a good deal of confidence in the work that
we do. They also expressed to me how organized the staff was when it
came time to monitor. Documentation was ready for them, neatly
organized and easy to follow. All monitors talked highly of staff and how
well they treated everyone during the visit. While I was not surprised at
any of this, I was surprised to learn that reviewers are not always met with
such politeness and professionalism.
Needless to say I am very proud to work with such an efficient staff and
Board. Little things sometimes do mean a lot. There are a good deal of
rules and regulations that we must follow. More today than ever before
and it keeps increasing. Monitors, state staff and regulators are given the
task of making sure that the rules are being followed. When we are able
to support what we do, we give a good impression of the agency and
community action agencies in general. I have numerous elected officials
from Congressional members to Senators tell me what a good impression
they have of Mid-Sioux.
Thanks to the staff, Board and Policy Council for the effort you take in
representing Mid-Sioux in such a positive way.
I N S I D E T HI S IS S UE :
Board of Directors
2
Administration
3
Outreach Happenings
4
Child Care Resource & Referral
5
Consumer Advisory
6
Employee Anniversaries
7
OFFICE CLOSED
Nov. 11 - Veteran’s Day
WIC/MCH CLINIC
CALENDAR
Oct. 1 - Cherokee
Oct. 7 - Ida Grove
Oct. 14 - Sioux Center
Oct. 15 - Orange City
Oct. 21 - Rock Rapids
Oct. 22 - Le Mars
Oct. 28 - Rock Valley
Oct. 29 - Hawarden
The mission of Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. is Helping People. Changing Lives.
P AG E 2
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The role of Community Action Agency Boards has changed tremendously over the past several
years. When agencies were first created, the emphasis was on getting feedback from the families we serve and from community partners. While that is still an important aspect of what our
Board does, the emphasis has changed a good deal. Today there are 3 primary areas that
Boards are responsible for.
Dick Sievers
Executive Director
They are:
1. Fiduciary Responsibility: This means that Boards must regularly oversee the financial
side of the agency. They are asked to assure that finances are in good order, an audit is completed and
that practices are in place to properly account for all agency funds.
2. Executive Director supervision: It is the responsibility of the Board to hire and supervise the Executive Director. There should be an annual evaluation of that person and ongoing communication between the Board and the Executive Director to assure that all practices of the agency are being carried
out according to legal and ethical standards.
3. Planning and Programming: Every Board should regularly evaluate the needs in its service area, review
its mission and assure that the services provided by the agency are meeting that mission. In addition,
any current services should be evaluated to assure that they are meeting all regulatory and agency requirements.
There are many other roles that a Board plays in making an agency successful. The Mid-Sioux Board serves
on a voluntary basis. Their support is key in our ability to meet the needs of the communities we serve.
Board of Directors
Executive Committee
Tom Letsche, President
Caryn Barry, Vice-Chair
Carol Van Gelder, Secretary
Joe Cronin, Treasurer
Low-Income Sector Representatives
Ann Cole-Nelson, Plymouth County
Caryn Barry, Cherokee County
Evelyn Baldwin, Lyon County
Carolyn Salberg, Sioux County
Vern Beernink, Sioux County
Finance Committee
Caryn Barry
Joe Cronin
Tom Letsche
Gordon Smith
Private Sector Representatives
Barry Thompson, Plymouth County
Jean Miller, Cherokee County
Betty Knudson, Cherokee County
Carol Van Gelder, Sioux County
Gordon Smith, Lyon County
Teresa Hunt, Ida County
Personnel Committee
Tom Letsche
Merle Koedam
Jean Miller
Barry Thompson
Public Sector Representatives
Tom Letsche, Plymouth County
Don Kass, Plymouth County
Rick Mongan, Cherokee County
Al Bloemendaal, Sioux County
Merle Koedam, Lyon County
Joe Cronin, Ida County
P AG E 3
ADMINISTRATION
Administrative services involve a variety of responsibilities. Over the years these responsibilities
have changed and the interaction with funding agencies has changed as well. Funding agencies
used to spend most of their monitoring visits looking at their specific grant or contract and nothing
else. Today they look at the agency as a whole to determine if we have the tools we need to complete the contracts that we administer.
This change in monitoring means that visits now include a good deal of time for fiscal staff in
providing an accounting of the dollars spent. It also means that other agency practices will be reviewed. Things such as personnel policies, fiscal policies, affirmative action plans, and Board of
Directors’ minutes, Board training and staff training will be looked at also.
Administrative staff works with the funding agencies to assure that we are qualified and ready to
manage their grant or program. Specific programs will often add policies that they want to see in
place at the agency. For instance, Head Start monitors will want to know that we have provided
monthly reports to the Board on attendance and FaDSS monitors will want to assure that staff has
received their Family Development Certification. All of these things must be documented and
available at the time of a review.
Accountability in administering federal and state services is increasing. While that is a worthy pursuit, it does come with a cost as staff must spend their time providing for those accountability
measures. Our administrative costs are less than 6% of our total budget. Thanks to all the staff and
Board members at Mid-Sioux for doing such a fine job.
Dick Sievers
Executive Director
Front Row: Sharon Heidesch, HR/Fiscal Director; Dick Sievers,
Executive Director; Beth Tentinger, Receptionist/Secretary
Back Row: Tammy Nilles, Bookkeeper; Shannon Hofmann,
Bookkeeper; Melany Roling, Bookkeeper. Not pictured: Connie
Galles, Custodian.
P AG E 4
CHEROKEE COUNTY OUTREACH HAPPENINGS
Hello from the Cherokee County Outreach office!!!
I want to welcome Lynn Carlson! Lynn is the new Intake Staff for the
Cherokee and LeMars offices. Lynn was born and raised in Cherokee.
Lynn
This summer we were busy with our back to school project. We served
57 children in Cherokee County. We partnered with The Cherokee
Rotary Club, Pioneer Hi-Bred, and Cherokee Villa NAHCA. All the donations of
backpacks and school supplies and community support for this project has been great! Thank you .
Nicole Meir
Cherokee & Plymouth Counties
Outreach Coordinator
Cherokee Rotary Club members donate backpacks filled with school supplies
The Cherokee Police Department partner with Mid-Sioux Outreach in Cherokee County to provide a
Christmas for 100 children that would otherwise not have a Christmas. We currently have forms in
our office that parents can sign up their children for this program. Those children that are not able to
participate with that program may still contact us as we also do a program right here in the office.
Now we are approaching the beginning of our LIHEAP winter heating assistance program and that will
run through April 2015. Last winter we served around 500 households in Cherokee County, this year
we hope to exceed that number of applications.
P AG E 5
Child Care Resource & Referral Staff Achievements
Provide Better Consultation
Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) dedicates many hours to assisting child care providers to meet their
personal and professional goals and achieve a higher standard of quality in their program. Consultants across the
state are going through the I-Consult training program developed by Iowa State University (ISU) to provide effective consultation services.
Child Care Consultant, Jody Lehman, received credentials from ISU as part of their
I-Consult strategy training in August. I-Consult is a system of relationship-based
professional development programs developed by ISU to support agencies like
CCR&R with providing on-site consultation and coaching services to early child
care programs.
During on-site consultation, child care consultants will help providers with a
problem they are having or assist with areas they’d like improve. Consultants help
with the solution or implementation of a change.
Congratulations to all of our consultants who are putting forth additional efforts to
make the consultation strategy even more effective!
Jody Lehman
Program for Infant/Toddler Care
Child Care Consultant, Heather Hinds, completed PITC Module V.
Heather is our resident infant and toddler specialist. The Program for
Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) approach equates good care with trained
infant/toddler care teachers who are preparing themselves and the
environment so infants can learn. For care to be quality, it must explore
ways to help infant/toddler care teachers get "in tune" with each infant
they serve and learn from the individual infant what he or she needs,
thinks, and feels.
PITC believes infant care should be based on relationship planning -- not
lesson planning -- and should emphasize child-directed learning over
adult-directed learning. Rather than detailing specific lessons for infant/toddler care teachers to conduct with infants,
the PITC approach shows infant/toddler care teachers ways of helping infants learn the lessons that every infant
comes into the world eager to learn.
Heather Hinds
Congratulations to our infant/toddler specialist Heather!
To learn more about CCR&R services, please visit our website at:
www.iowaccrr.org or call 877-216-8481.
Lending you a helping hand
P AG E 6
P AG E 7
Employee Anniversaries
SEPTEMBER 2014
Employee
Sharon Heidesch
Sue Miller
Deb McPherson
Shari Smith
Cindy Van Hill
Marti Meissner
Anita Penning
Kim Schroeder
Jane List
Carri Koele
Debra Baldwin
Megan Kerkmann
Edith Small
James Chapman
Kathleen Alons
Amanda Sandbulte
Cheryl Sohm
Years of
Service
36 Years
19 Years
18 Years
17 Years
17 Years
17 Years
17 Years
16 Years
14 Years
12 Years
6 Years
5 Years
3 Years
2 Years
1 Year
1 Year
1 Year
Program
Administration
Child Development Center
Head Start
Head Start/Early Head Start
Head Start
Head Start
WIC/MCH
Child Care Resource & Referral
Head Start
Head Start
Child Care Resource & Referral
Child Care Resource & Referral
Head Start
Early Head Start
Head Start
Head Start
Head Start
Work
Location
Remsen
Hawarden
Akron
Remsen
Rock Rapids
Le Mars
Remsen
Kingsley
Orange City
Akron
Hinton
Le Mars
Akron
Orange City
Orange City
Rock Rapids
Le Mars
Welcome: Rachel Schuld, Bus Monitor, Rock Valley Head Start
Kerrie Olson, Temporary Assistant Teacher/Substitute, Akron Head Start
Denise Uden, Temporary Classroom Aide, Le Mars Head Start
Barb Johnson, Foster Grandma, Sioux Center Head Start
Cherokee County Outreach
Nicole Mier & Lynn Carlson
Mon,Wed, & Fri 8 am - 4:30 pm
921 Second Street
Cherokee, Iowa 51012
Phone # 712-225-3322
Fax # 712-225-1083
[email protected]
Lyon County Outreach
Karmin Jeltema & Brenda Koel
Wed. 9 am - 4 pm
302 South Lincoln
Rock Rapids, Iowa 51246
Phone/Fax # 712-472-3746
[email protected]
Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc.
Toll Free # 1-800-859-2025
Administrative Offices
418 S. Marion Street
Remsen, Iowa 51050
Phone # 712-786-2001
Fax # 712-786-3250
Plymouth County Outreach
Nicole Mier & Lynn Carlson
Tues. & Thurs. 9 am– 4 pm
180 10th Street SE; Box 1
Le Mars, Iowa 51031
Phone # 712-546-6603
Fax # 712-546-6603
[email protected]
Ida County Outreach
Sally Thompson
Thurs. 9 am - 4 pm
Court House - 401 Moorhead
Ida Grove, Iowa 51445
Phone # 712-364-2175
Fax # 712-364-2717
[email protected]
Sioux County Outreach
Karmin Jeltema & Brenda Koel
M, T, Th, & F 8 am - 4:30 pm
313 N Main Avenue
Sioux Center, Iowa 51250
Phone # 712-722-3611
Fax # 712-722-3619
[email protected]

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