Actual scholarships coming out of other Regionals are capped at $300 and are not all- inclusive, meaning that the $300 is given as partial payment for airfare and lodging. All of the regionals and NCA have decided to eliminate the reimbursement of meals. MRCAC has not decided on a monetary cap as other regions have, but will likely state a scholarship cap soon.

Grants:

The NCA grants program expects to have the RFPs out by August 15^th. All applications will be online. Part of the grants monies will go to Telehealth and Streaming. Chapter Support and Program Support grants will remain the same. Training grants will likely be eliminated. There will be 40 “develop a standard” grants, 2 (large) chapter development grants, 1 urban initiative and 3 urban center grants.

New grant year:

Jane reported that the new grant year started August 1. This makes the new grant cycle Aug 1- July 31. With this new grant year started, meal reimbursement for attendees to trainings will be eliminated.

There is an opportunity to pay $250 per state, to layer further study on each state to define the gap analysis. This could have great impact on legislative initiatives. Jane asked the group how important this would be to them. The consensus was that this would be something the states would be in support of. MRCAC would financially support this project.

The RCACs feel that this is becoming a national issue, and want ideas, suggestions, thoughts on the Chapters on whether this is a trend among states. A few states feel that this is an issue in their states, but attribute it to new director stress, regular rotational turnover and ethical issues with directors.

The NRCAC initiative to do mentoring with directors in their state will be starting. It will involve 3 trips to the northeast, and numerous conference calls. If interested, contact Anne Lynn at the northeast regional.

This package is coming together and hope to offer in the fall. The possibility for Chapter insurance is also being explored.

The regional chapter summit is September 23-25, 2008 at the Millennium Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. MRCAC will pay for one chapter representative to attend. Additional representatives are at the cost of the chapter/CAC. The first day Betsy Goulet will be there to present on new director training, and Teresa Huizar will be joining us on the 24^th- 25^th to go over the new accreditation standards as well as chapter standards. We will meet 8-4:30 each day (approximately- we will likely end earlier on the 25^th). Additionally, Tom Frost has offered a tour of CornerHouse on Wednesday the 24^th during the summit. Email Tom if you would like to attend at Thomas.Frost@childrensmn.org