Multilingual Issue Committee Meeting Minutes
April 16 , 2004
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Teleconference
Roll Call & Confirmation of Quorum (4)
TAP Program Analyst Inez E. De Jesus took the roll call, and quorum was met;
Quorum=4 and there were 5 committee members present and the Designated Federal Official.
Designated Federal Official (DFO)
Panel Members Present
- Linda Bader, Chesterfield, MO
- Elizabeth Brodbine Ghoniem, Winchester, MA , Vice-Chair
- Joseph Meissner, Cleveland, OH
- Sharon Stetz, Salt Lake City, UT
- Bruce Twomley, Juneau, AK, Chair
Panel Members Not Present
- Delford Jones, Griffith, IN
- Sharon Lassar, Miami, FL
MLI Program Owner(s)
TAP Staff
- Inez E. De Jesus (Program Analyst/Scribe)
Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
Chair Bruce Twomley opened the meeting by welcoming everyone; he will be sharing his recent conversation with Sharon Lassar, regarding the new “Financial Literacy and Education Commission” project later on this call, and also shared that Lassar will not be able to participate on today's call due to other commitments.
Review/Approve Meeting Minutes of March 19, 2004
These minutes were approved by consensus; and, appreciation was expressed for how well detailed they are, and this is very helpful for when a member misses a meeting.
Review all Action Items from Previous Meeting
DFO Ferree reviewed the action items from the previous meeting, and for the record:
- Follow-up to FDIC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Education “Money Smart” Curriculum: since the last meeting, the link where one can place an order for these materials was shared by email with the entire committee. Ferree asked whether everyone had placed an order and had the product arrived yet. Responses varied; some had and others had not yet. Inez stated that if anyone needed assistance with this matter, to please let it be known to the staff.
- The draft agenda for the MLI Issue Committee face-to-face meeting on June 3 & 4, 2004, was coordinated among Nancy, Ray Mills, and Inez. This draft agenda is a topic for discussion during today's teleconference.
- The topic “Partner with Homeland Security/U.S. Citizen Packet-Tax Filing Responsibilities” has been added to today's agenda.
- The topic “Draft Recommendation-Partnering with the New Financial Literacy and Education Commission” has been added to today's agenda.
- Chair Twomley did speak during the past month with Lassar about the new “Financial Literacy and Education Commission”, and will be sharing discussion with all during today's teleconference.
Status Report on Elevated Recommendations
Program Owner Raymond Mills reported that the final version of the memo from the MLI Executive Owner should be finalized by next week, and ready by the next call. This memorandum will address the elevated recommendations that this committee has made.
Guidance from the Program Owner
Raymond Mills shared that the upcoming face-to-face meeting will be in a workshop setting and he proceeded to walk-through the draft agenda as noted below.
Update on Face-to-Face Meeting & Review Draft Agenda
Before commencing the review, Mills inquired if everyone had a copy of the draft agenda. He proceeded by reminding everyone that the travel day will be Wednesday, June 2, 2004, and the meeting will be the whole business day on Thursday, June 3, 2004, from 8:00am to 4:30 pm ET, and on Friday, June 4, 2004, from 8:00am to Noontime, and travel day back home beginning that afternoon for all. (Break times have been allocated throughout the agenda).
Meeting will begin with the usual procedure of Welcome, Announcements, Roll-Call, Confirm Quorum, Review/Approve minutes from previous meeting, and comments from National Office Representative.
Panel member Joe Meissner wanted to know, “Are we going to meet with any LITC, Low Income Tax Clinic, representatives or “are we visiting any LITC's in the area?”, and this was answered by Mills when he referenced that the LITC National Director Randy Swartz is scheduled to give an overview of the LITC program on June 3, 2004, from 9:15am to 9:30am.
Swartz's overview will be followed by a presentation from Alan M. Goldberg, ESL (English as a Second Language) Program Manager.
Then, the “South Brooklyn Legal Services, Inc.” LITC representative(s) will be giving a presentation based on their experiences with their contacts, English and Spanish languages.
Afterwards, the “Queens Legal Services Corporation” LITC, will be giving a presentation based on their experiences since they deal with clients in 4 languages.
This will be followed by a questions and answers period, and then a workshop to discuss issues brought up by the speakers.
The panel will then be given the opportunity to develop a formal survey to hand out as a way to obtain feedback from various focus groups.
The group will then break for lunch and the afternoon session will begin with a 30 minute presentation given by Ms. Sally Sandy, Program Director/Instructor from Parkway Area Adult Education and Literacy, St. Louis , MO. Ms. Sandy has been very instrumental in working with Linda Bader on the draft “Tax Curriculum for English as a Second Language (ESL) Individuals.
After an afternoon break, time has been set aside for a workshop to address:
- Finalize template for ESL curriculum outline
- Strategic plan outline for development, dissemination, and implementation.
From 3:15-4:15 pm , time has been slotted for “Continued Discussion” and committee asked if perhaps a LITC site visit or a visit to see the “kiosk” in Queens , NY is a possibility. Mills stated that he would look into this but before the call ended, Mills reported that this would be very time consuming and in the midst of rush hour traffic in a large city.
Mills did share that he was planning on arriving early in NY on June 2, 2004, in order to visit the kiosk in Queens , NY and others chimed in and expressed an interest in joining him. Action item for Mills: coordinate field trip to visit kiosk in Queens on June 2, 2004 with interested parties.
From 4:15-4:30 pm, will be “Wrap up for Day One”.
The panel requested that the LITC representatives remain for as long as they may be needed for assistance, and Mills said that he will make the appropriate arrangements.
Friday, Day 2, June 4, 2004, meeting will begin at 8:00 am by a “Recap of Day one”.
At 8:30 am, a 30-minute presentation will be given by a representative from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. This will follow with a Q&A session. (Committee is interested in learning what testing is done when folks come to the United States from other countries.)
At 9:30 am, a 30-minute presentation will be given by a representative from the Department of Education. This also will be followed by a Q&A period.
At 10:15am there will be a Workshop/Wrap-up to cover:
- Identify Partnering Opportunities
- Develop formal programs with partners for ESL (Tax Education)
From 11:30am to Noon will be wrap up.
The committee expressed unanimously that this is a “remarkable” agenda and they were looking forward to the face-to-face meeting. Agenda was accepted.
Questions that arose after reviewing the draft agenda were:
- Linda Bader had good questions regarding kiosks and Mills requested that she forward these to him by email.
- Will the LITC representatives stick around? Mills responded “yes”.
- How big is the conference room (2C) where we will be meeting? Action item for Nancy : find out room size to determine how many people it holds comfortably.
- What is the purpose of the “formal survey”? Mills responded that it will be a way to obtain feedback from focus groups.
Proposal on Ways to Work with Low Income Tax Clinics (LITCs)
Meissner stated that he was looking forward to learn at the face-to-face meeting what materials did the LITC's have when they dealt with LEP (Limited English Proficient) individuals.
Mills stated that he would share this inquiry with the LITC guests beforehand.
The proposal previously submitted was not discussed.
Partner with Office of U.S. Citizenship (U.S. Citizen Packet-Tax Filing Responsibilities)
Chair Twomley motioned that instead of using the term “Homeland Security”, the committee use “Office of U.S. Citizenship” and the committee agreed.
DFO Ferree asked if everyone had received the information she had sent by U.S. mail several weeks ago. Responses varied. Action item for Ferree: send Mills this information. (For the record: 1) Office of the Citizenship & 2) Development of New Citizenship Test)
Ferree also shared that she has made contact, as stated in the draft agenda, and there will be a representative from the USCIS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
MLI Referral-Tax Curriculum for English as a Second Language (ESL) Individuals
Linda Bader shared that she has spoken to Sally Sandy and she has confirmed that she will be able to attend the upcoming face-to-face meeting. Ms. Sandy will have lots of exciting news to share with the committee regarding a grant she has recently written. (Teacher's grant on tax obligations) Ms. Sandy is assured that it will be funded. Bader also noted that the committee will become very knowledgeable after meeting with Ms. Sandy.
As noted in the “draft agenda” previously discussed, regarding the ESL curriculum, the committee would had already had heard from Alan Goldberg, LITC ESL Program Manager, during the morning session, and would be ready to develop the draft that Bader has been working on.
Bader asked at this point, “Are we going to discuss kiosks/costs/upkeep/how many leads?” Raymond Mills responded that this was a good point, and currently there are 37 kiosks Nationwide, and that she should forward all her questions directly to him as previously noted. Action item: Bader to submit all her “kiosk” questions directly to Program Owner Raymond Mills.
Elizabeth made an inquiry about the distance between the Brooklyn IRS office and Queens where the kiosk in New York is located since the committee had earlier expressed an interest in visiting the kiosk site. A trip to this site will be coordinated by Mills as discussed earlier.
Draft Recommendation-Partnering with the New “Financial Literacy and Education Commission”
Chair Twomley shared that he has spoken to Sharon Lassar and she brought to his attention that Area 1 Committee was addressing this same or similar topic. Elizabeth Brodbine Ghoniem shared that the Area 1 Chair, Jim Grimaldi, will be a good source of information on this. She will be communicating to Grimaldi, MLI's concerns.
This is being addressed as Tax Educational ideas; the goal is to reach agencies beyond the IRS to fully explore the Commission and how it proposes to move forward. Action item: DFO Ferree will pursue this with the guest from the Department of Education once she makes the contact.
News from the Staff
DFO Ferree reminded everyone that the upcoming MLI face-to-face meeting will be held at the IRS Brooklyn Office, located at 625 Fulton Street , within walking distance of the New York Marriott Hotel-Brooklyn where arrangements have been made for the committee to lodge. Ferree referenced email sent out by Inez on March 29, 2004 , at 3:51 pm ET which has all the pertinent travel information.
Panel members are to send the TAP Reservation Request Form, once filled out, to TAP Secretary, Jenny Reyes, fax # 954-423-7975 and Jenny will make all the travel arrangements. Members may make their hotel reservations directly with the hotel, and if not, they are to provide the staff with their credit card information, and reservations will be made for them if they wish. Deadline to make hotel reservations is May 5, 2004.
Public Participation/Input
None
Closing Assessment
Chair Confirmed next meeting: May 21, 2004 @ 1:00 PM EDT
Chair Twomley adjourned meeting and thanked everyone for their participation.
*These minutes were approved by the MLI Issue Committee by consensus on May 21, 2004. |
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