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Home My WebLink About06/17/2004 SCC minutes MOUNT PROSPECT SISTER CITIES COMMISSION Minutes June 17,2004 Members Present: Tokiko Blaine Carole Bloomquist Larry D'Urso Lil Floros Melanie Karsen Dorothy Kucera Paul Scils Judy Thorne Adelaide Thulin Fred Thu]in Rachel Toeppen Members Absent: None Guests: Bill BJaine Staff Liaison: Maura EI Metennani The meeting was caJIed to order at 5:30 p.m. Judy Thorne reported on the Mount Prospect Community Band trip to Sèvres. She shared the schedule of activities and said that 25 families were hosting. The band gave three performances, mostly American music, big band. She invited the Commission members to attend band sumll1er concerts (see attached). Carole Bloomquist reported on gifts that she and Janice Farley had purchased for the band to take over to give to the host families and other Sèvres officials. They purchased candles in heart shaped container with the Village seal engraved on the top, and a silver box also engraved in the same way. These gifts were for the Sèvres officials. For the host families, they purchased flashlights, tins of candy and also gave postcards, pens and a pin. Carole Bloomquist gave an update on the 4th of July parade. They were considering a smal1er vehicle was provided to carry the peace pole model. It would have banner reading Mount Prospect Sister Cities Commission and Sister Cities - Mount Prospect/Sèvres. Staff would provide flyers explaining the Sister Cities Commission to be passed out. Carole Bloomquist reported on the October 28 Thanksgiving in October banquet. The banquet would be held at the Avalon again this year. The cost for tickets wi11 be $30. She guaranteed a minimum of 200 people. Rachel Toeppen is in charge of decorations. Paul Seils said that Busse Flowers would donate the table anangements. Leo Flows would hand!e the P.R. for the banquet. Kings Players will perform. We will notify SèVTes about the banquet to let them know about it. BiJ1 Blaine mentioned that there might be a student exchange through DistTict 214 possibly this fall. Rachel Toeppen reported that the quilting 6'fOUP is working on a qui1t to exchange with SèVTes. They are planning on making notecards with a picture of it. Bi11 Blaine suggested making notecards of the church banner also. Both of these items could be considered for a potentia! fundraiser. Larry D'Urso reported on the Sister Cities Intemational Sustainable Development Grant Program. The program gives a boost, a step up to communities in need toward long term improvement. The program provides $5,000 matching grant (the sister cities would conect the matching funds). He suggested that this program may not be appropriate for our relationship with Sèvres, but maybe would be feasible to partner with other communities. Or the Commission could partner with Sè\TeS to assist their Sister City in Romania. The application deadJine is in February. It was suggested that we discuss this project with Sèvres to see if they would be interested. Melanie Karsen translated Le Sè\Tien, which featured an aliicle about the Band visit. Rachel Toeppen reported on the Sister Cities State convention in Hanover Park. Next year, the convention wi11 be held in Dixon, llJ on April 8 and 9. She also attended a fair in Hoffman Estates, which was hosting a delegation from their sister city, Angoulem, France. The fair featured products from Angoulem. Bí1l Blaine reported that Karen Rogers, the principal of Prospect High School was prepared to accept 5-6 students to visit the school and sight seeing. Prospect High School was planning to send a group to Sèvres during Spring break next year. Dorothy Kucera reported that she had submitted the Orchestre Visit program to Sister Cities International for an award, but it had not been selected. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m. (~ran [::'.rn(H~ad and /,..,1 i.. ".",': ~,~",¡e.,\.,-., t:,g, d;~ li..,iU;¡;~> ou,th ~;'* n ¡ t,,)¡ ,,/, ~" ¡ ',..; t~e€t thing yüur a et or L~ if. }<,ids Gar¡ enjoy the "'V er pad". arid pìaygi'ound! in case rair¡. concerts rnO\/H inshle Lions cf:.nter ..., "f "'" it J '" d L "'.-.. -t.' itJ! ! r ~' '.' Fe,; merE;' ¡rcfÜn1'li',!fnn, p¡"a"e. can the r','; , Fn:>s FD'~. f, [) . S (; i:<4,(,4340, Sister Cities International Sustainable Development Program As per my assignment from the Sister Cities Commission meeting of March 18, 2004, I have researched the SCI Sustainable Development Program and am submitting this report. First of all, must state that as of our meeting on March 18th, we had already missed the proposal submission deadline by nearly three weeks, proposals were due to SCI by February 27,2004. So it is a moot point for this year but, if they offer the grants again next year (and I'm still waiting to hear from Matthew Corso at SCI as to whether or not they'll do this again but my guess is they wiH), we have time to prepare should we decide to proceed. The SCI Sustainable Development Program is an outgrmvth of efforts by the United Nations to stimulate partnerships that will assist in developing and executing programs that will enable localities and/or countries to improve their social and economic conditions and develop the resources to enable them to sustain and build upon it after the program is over. SCI-SDP provides a wealth of information and links to other very informative web sites via the SCI web page (many hundreds of pages of information are available, along with SCI employees, to help member sister cities with their projects). SCI-SDP has a variety of areas where initiatives can be made including: Good Governance (public administration, public-private partnerships, emergency preparedness, human rights, etc.), Economic Development (tourism, entrepreneurship, technology, land use, transportation, downtown redevelopment, etc.), Energy Systems (renewable energy, clean energy, technology, etc.), Health (nutrition, HIV/AIDS, child health, etc.), Clean Water (safe drinking water, watershed protection, waste water treatment and management, water quality, water conservation, etc.), Environmental Protection (open space, parks, air quality, etc.) Social Development (poverty alleviation, affordable housing, basic education, art and culture, etc.). Under the terms of the grants offered by SCI-SDP, a participating Sister City member must do the following: Partner with private sector and/or public agencies to develop and execute a program. Provide local funds to match the amount of the grant (assumption is corporate giving, fund-raising, etc.). Submit periodic financial and narrative reports to SCI providing a financial accounting and an update on progress toward goa!s. I'm assuming that since the Sister Cities Commission is part of the Village government, the Village Finance Office would be responsible for the financial reports. The Commission would be responsible for the narrative reports. Both reports would be submitted as a package and must meet SCI deadlines. Submit reports and other information on the project to SCI electronically via the SCI website. What will the Mount Prospect Sister Cities Commission need to do to undertake such a project? Some of the activities will include: Develop partnerships with our sister city, local private and public sector businesses and agencies and other parties who are interested and willing to work on and provide resources for such a project. Another aspect of partnership could be to investigate the possibilities of forming a cooperative effort with neighboring communities which could expand local resources. Establish a task force to plan, develop and execute a project. Decide on a project within the scope of the SCI-SOP areas listed above. Apply and receive a SCI-SOP grant. Solicit and receive matching funds. Expenses could include: Travel and living expenses for experts sent abroad to provide advice and consultation (hopefuHy their employers will continue to pay them). Travel and Hving expenses for bringing people here for training and development activities. Assistance with purchasing, shipping and installing technology, machinery, supplies, training, expertise, etc. depending on the nature of the project. Go to work and accomplish the goa!s while adhering to the requirements of the grant. The Sister Cities International Sustainable Development Project is a very important, worthwhile and ambitious effort at building bridges within the local and global communities. Its intent is to bring assistance to those who need support in their goals of improving life in their localities. A sustainable development project will require much effort to raise the funds, provide the expertise and resources and to keep the project going in order to fulfill its goals. If the resources are available and it is well organized and staffed with dedicated corporate and individual people, it can bring positive results. Respectfully submitted by: ~~- Lawrence A. D'Urso Mount Prospect Public Library June 17, 2004