This is been a very busy month of meetings: the EFCL Trade Show, the EFCL Alberta Cabinet meetings, the TriPartite Licence committee, Rink Program Workshop, Area 17, Steele Heights, Killkenny and Evansdale’s Little Kickers program and more.
Download the EFCL February 10 Board Package - pg. numbers refer to the board package
6.0 pg. 15 – Community League Infrastructure Grant Program
Preliminary details of the new City capital grants program. Grants will be offered in three categories small, medium and large projects. See the board package for more information. The grants and the increasing operating grants are tied to the new Tripartite agreement process.
8.2 pg. 20 – Community League Operating Grants
This comes up later in the agenda, but it is connected. The operating grants for community leagues are increasing by about 40%. This will mean the base amount will increase from $3,500 to about $4,900 and the per capita amount will increase from $1.47 to $2.07 (I hope this is accurate). The increased operating grants are also tied to the new TriPartite Agreement.
TriPartite Agreement
I am pleased to report the TriPartite committee has at long last arrived at an official draft of the new agreement. After a few last minute tweaks at the Wednesday meeting of the committee it should be ready to present to leagues very soon. The plan to host a meeting with interested community leagues and go over the draft agreement with them in detail. This will likely happen in March. Then the goal would be to present the agreement to the EFCL membership at the AGM on April 4, 2011.
It has taken almost two years, but there is a sense on the committee that the agreement is improved in many ways. Perhaps the biggest achievement of the process was securing a $1.5 million a year increase in funding for the next two years. Stay tuned for more details!
6.2 pg. 16 – Community League Rink and Carnival Day
Today the board approved a motion to create a new winter Community League day to help promote rinks and rink programs and winter carnivals. The very first Community League Rink and Carnival Day will be in February 2012. All that is left is to pick the date, which will be done with input from the leagues. The idea is to promote outdoor ice and winter programs by hosting a lot of our events on one day in the winter similar to the way the Community League Day worked last year. More than 90 leagues participated and it brought a great deal of attention to leagues and their programs.
6.4 pg. 18 – Meeting with the Edmonton Public School Board
We are working to organize a meeting with the EPSB to discuss the importance of retaining neighbourhood schools and offering to partner with the school board to find ways to retain as many schools as possible.
8.2.2 Pg. 20 – The Rink Program Workshop
This meeting was a success. See notes in package and see my EMHA-EFCL Outdoor Rink meeting blog post for the secrets of a successful program from Shirley at Belvedere and much more information.
8.2.4 pg. 22 – Meeting with Provincial Cabinet
The meeting with Cabinet ministers was a big success and very well attended considering it was a last minute opportunity. This is the second time the EFCL has been able to meet with the provincial cabinet and it was a very good opportunity for community folks to roll up their sleeves and work on issues with the provincial representatives. A very good event!
8.3.1 pg. 24 – Edmonton Community Challenge
It’s back, the Edmonton Community Challenge is just the thing to get new, young community leaders involved. Last year we gave away $14,000 in prizes. Check the EFCL website for more details. The event is June 3-5.
8.3.4 pg. 24 – Living Local
The process to work with community and other groups to define what Living Local means continues with a meeting on March 9, 2011. We are hoping to get support from the City to host a major summit on living local in the fall. Living Local is about being able to do as much as you can in your own community.
8.3.5 pg. 24 – Community League Day 2011: Saturday, Sep. 17
Start your engines, book your parties, start planning your events and join with your fellow community leagues in creating a massive collection of incredible events in as many communities as possible this year. More than 90 leagues participated last year!
8.4.2 pg. 25 – Swim Time Allocation Meeting
There is a meeting coming soon, notices will go to those who have participated in the previous meeting and others!
8.5.1 pg. 28 – Retaining Families in Mature Neighborhoods
The EFCL will contribute our message to the Mayor’s Task Force on Neighborhood Revitalization about retaining families in the places we call mature neighbourhoods.
8.6 pg. 31 Community League Hall Lookup
Ding, ding, ding, a new feature has been added to the EFCL website. There is now a Community Hall Lookup function. Please click here to check it out and click here to get the form to update your hall information at the EFCL website. While you are at it make sure your executive information is up to date as well! This is very worthwhile, even if you have your own website since many people will land on the EFCL website to look for halls and communities!
Wow, what a crazy month. I also have an update on insurance for you once I get a change to write it up.
If you would like more information please let me know. If you would like me to raise an issue at the EFCL please let me know that too!
Cheers,
David Dodge
