Multilingual Issue Committee Meeting Minutes
May 21, 2004
1:00-2:00 PM ET
Roll Call & Confirmation of Quorum (3)
TAP Program Analyst Inez E. De Jesus took the roll call, and quorum was met.
Quorum= 3, 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 Lassar, Miami, FL
- Bruce Twomley, Juneau, AK, Chair
Members Not Present
- Delford Jones, Griffith, IN
- * Effective May 19, 2004 , Sharon Stetz resigned from TAP.
MLI Program Owner(s)
TAP Staff
- Inez E. De Jesus (Program Analyst and Scribe)
Public Participant(s)
- Teresa Douglas, H&R Block, World Headquarters, Kansas City
Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
Chair Twomley opened the meeting by welcoming everyone.
Twomley shared the news for those who had not heard yet of Panel Member Sharon Stetz' recent bad car accident, and that as a result she has decided to resign from TAP. Twomley suggested that each member communicate individually with Sharon if they wish to. Everyone on the call expressed their concerns and well wishes for Sharon 's speedy recovery.
The thought of inviting Stetz to join the committee by phone whether during the upcoming face-to-face meeting or at a future teleconference meeting arose, and Chair made the commitment to contact Sharon Stetz and extend this invitation to her. Twomley also inquired if the proper technology was available in order to make this happen. Action item for Chair Twomley to invite Stetz to participate during a future MLI Issue Committee meeting.
Review/Approve Meeting Minutes of April 16, 2004
Minutes were approved by consensus.
Review All Action Items from Previous Meeting
DFO Ferree reviewed the following “action items” as noted from the previous meeting minutes:
- On Page 3, April 16, 2004 MLI Meeting Minutes, “Mills is to coordinate field trip to visit kiosk in Queens, NY on June 2, 2004 with those members who are interested”- Update: Mills shared that he should be arriving in New York around Noontime on this date, and he plans on renting a car and depart for Queens around one o'clock in the afternoon. He polled the committee to see who will be available and it resulted in none due to members arriving later on in the day.
Dialogue which followed related to “kiosks”- Linda Bader thanked Program Owner Mills for his quick response to questions she had sent to him a day earlier. Mills reminded everyone that the information shared was in “draft form and for your eyes only status”. Mills went on to explain that there will be a meeting next week with the Kiosk Group and he should be able to update the committee with additional information during the upcoming face-to-face meeting.
Chair Twomley expressed his interest in the three kiosks in Alaska, primarily the one in Juneau which he plans on visiting once it becomes available.
Action item: for the MLI Issue Committee
Mills requested that any questions the committee may have regarding “kiosks” be sent to him by no later than Monday, May 24, 2004, Noontime.
Review All Action Items from Previous Meeting-Continued
- On Page 4, previous meeting minutes, “ Nancy is to find out the room size of the conference room that will be used for the upcoming face-to-face meeting, to determine how many people it holds comfortably.” Update: Nancy shared that “it holds approximately 34 people”.
- Also noted on Page 4, “ Nancy is to send to Mills, a copy of the U.S. Citizen Packet- Office of the Citizenship and the Development of the New Citizenship Test”. Update: This has been completed.
- On Page 5, “Bader is to submit all her “kiosk” questions to Program Owner Raymond Mills”. Update: This has been done as previously discussed during today's call.
- On Page 5, “DFO Ferree will pursue the Tax Educational ideas with the guest from the Department of Education once she makes the contact”. Update: Ferree shared that this contact has not been finalized yet; the one with U.S. Immigration has been. Mills made the commitment to assist Nancy Ferree in pinning down the responsible individual. This remains an Open Action Item for Mills and Ferree: Ferree will send Mills the telephone number she has on record.
Status Report on Elevated Recommendations
Mills reported that Program Owner Toni Cross will not be able to participate on today's call, but plans on attending the upcoming face-to-face meeting. He plans on having at the face-to-face meeting the final version of the memo which addresses what the MLI Program Owners are doing. Information regarding the Low Income Tax Clinics (LITC's) survey will be available as well.
Mills shared that his goal for the committee is to go into the face-to-face meeting with “good things” and come out with “good things”.
Chair Twomley made an inquiry: “Can we get something before we get on the plane?” Action item for Program Owner Mills: Mills requested that individual LITC questions be sent to him (he apologized for the short turn around time) and he would forward these to the LITC National Director who in turn will share with the invited LITC guests. Mills goal is to accomplish this by Wednesday, May 26, 2004.
Guidance from the Program Owner
Mills shared that Toni Cross was very pleased with the “draft agenda” for the upcoming face-to-face meeting.
Review Agenda for Face-to-Face Meeting & Address Any Other Related Matters
Mills proceeded to ask if everyone had the latest version #5 dated April 12, 2004 of the draft agenda. Mills will be confirming with Randy Swartz and Alan Goldberg regarding LITC participants/guests.
Chair Twomley mentioned that he was made aware during the recent Joint Committee's face-to-face meeting in Chicago that TAP Director Bernie Coston will be attending the MLI issue committee meeting in Brooklyn , NY . Mills noted that the agenda should reflect that the TAP Director be given the honor of opening the meeting and suggested that 15 minutes be allotted for this. DFO Ferree made the commitment to make sure to communicate to the TAP Director all pertinent information. Action item for Nancy / to update agenda and communicate with the TAP Director.
Mills also stated that in case the representative from the Department of Education is not able to attend, we need to have a Plan B in place. He shared with all the recent inquiry we have received from Kimberly Glassman from the National Women Law Center who may be sending a representative to the meeting and/or be addressing the committee by written comments. Pending- Inez shared that confirmation should be obtained during the week of May 24th. Mills suggested that space be allowed for limited participation of this person who has experience with LITC's and multilingual issues. (Based on communications between Ms. Glassman and Inez, the partners of this organization conducted a tax credit outreach campaign in New York , focusing on low income taxpayers with children by using an English and Spanish flyer about Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. They have also worked with the translation of flyers into 3 additional languages: Arabic, Chinese, and Russian. They would like to emphasize to the committee the importance of providing tax information in additional languages)
This led to Mills emphasizing the importance of the committee having questions beforehand for the LITC guests so that the LITC's can format their presentation around the committees' specific concerns. This will also allow time for Ms. Glassman's representative.
Mention was also made of TAP Area 1 Jim Grimaldi's intention or awareness of the MLI face-to-face meeting. Nancy confirmed that she had sent invitational flyers to him.
Joe Meissner suggested that the LITC presentations be made around questions related to “What are LITC's doing for ESL- English as a Second Language individuals?” Joe emphasized that the committee should provide the LITC's with good topics, good issues. The goal should be to find out what are their best practices.
DFO Ferree shared based on inquiries made that the South Brooklyn Legal Services services individuals in the languages of Russian and Spanish, and the Queens Legal Service Corporation services Chinese, Creole, Hindi, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.
Mills concluded that the opening of the meeting should be shared among Bernie Coston, Jim Grimaldi, and Toni Cross. If Sally Sandy is in early, then a portion will be allocated to her as well (20-25 minutes total).
It was recommended that Juniors Restaurant might be the closest and best choice for lunch on that first day.
Action item for Ray, Nancy and Inez: Mills suggested that he, Nancy and Inez speak off line regarding the packages that need to be prepared prior to the meeting.
Mills continued to review the draft agenda, and stated that after Sally Sandy's 30 minute presentation, another break, another workshop/LITC workshop. There may be time allotted around 3:15-3:45 pm to discuss kiosks. From 4:15-4:30 pm will be the wrap up of day one.
For day two of the agenda, time is allotted to Shyconia Burden, but currently commitment has not been firmed up yet. Action item: Nancy promised to send Ray the contact telephone number she has so that Ray may follow-up as well.
Ray shared that there should be alternates; perhaps he will look into seeking representatives from the State level that deal with multilingual issues.
Chair Twomley stated that the agenda looks good and he was looking forward to a good and productive meeting.
News from the Staff
DFO Ferree asked if anyone had any questions. There were no responses.
Ferree shared that TAP Recruitment for new members was very active and so far approximately one thousand applications have been received. The next steps will be firming up interviews, and screening process.
Appreciation was extended to Raymond Mills for his guidance with this committee.
Regarding travel, Ferree stated that it sounds like everyone has confirmed their travel plans.
Public Participation (Input)
Chair Twomley welcomed Ms. Teresa Douglas from H&R Block, Kansas City , headquarters office who services multilingual communities. Chair asked the committee if they had any questions for the public participant. Ms. Douglas wanted to know what was meant by “kiosks” and Mills responded and in essence he shared that they were created originally in order to reduce taxpayer burden specifically for those who could not visit a Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC) when they had tax problems. This avenue gives the taxpayers an opportunity when they cannot visit a TAC. This machine/system provides the user with access to services and information. Current and prior year federal tax forms are available.
Closing Assessment- Confirm next meeting: Face-to-Face, June 3&4, 2004, Brooklyn, NY
Chair Twomley expressed his appreciation on behalf of the committee to Ray, Nancy, and Inez for “putting this together”.
Mills questioned the technicality surrounding having a telephone in the conference room and reminded everyone to send their topics of interest to the LITC to him, if possible, today will be fine.
Chair adjourned meeting, and confirmed the June 3 & June 4th meeting in Brooklyn, NY. |
Text Version
