Multilingual Initiative (MLI) Committee Meeting Minutes
February 8, 2005
Designated Federal Official (DFO)
MLI Program Owner(s)
- Sharese A. Stevens
- Raymond G. Mills
Panel Members Present
- Jerald Fireman, Edmonds, WA
- Dorothy Havey, Lincolnville, ME
- José Irizarry, San Juan, PR
- Delford Jones, Griffith, IN
- Steve Kreisler, Potomac, MD
- Mary Ann Lawler, Dearborn, MI
- Paul McElroy, Winston-Salem, NC
- Theodore Perros, Washington, DC
- Lovella Richardson, Knoxville,TN
- Iris Sosa, Fontana, CA
- Robert Stokes, Kemp, TX
- Bruce Twomley, Chair, Juneau, AK
Panel Members Absent
- Helen Curol, Lakes Charles, LA
- Clifford McKenzie, Del City, OK
- Joseph Meissner, Cleveland, OH
- David Terrazas, Vice-Chair, Santa Cruz, CA
Staff Present
- Inez E. De Jesus, Program Analyst & Note taker
Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
Chair Bruce Twomley opened the meeting by welcoming
everyone.
An announcement was made that James Abraham will no longer
be serving on this issue committee; he has been selected to
participate in the newly established, Communications Issue
Committee. The MLI Issue committee is now composed of 16 members
and this will affect a change in the quorum.
Roll Call (Quorum=8)
Quorum was met.
Joint Committee Report
Chair stated that he was finalizing the Monthly Report due
to the Joint Committee today and that a copy of the report
will be shared with the entire committee and Program Owners.
(Action item for Analyst De Jesus)
Chair also stated that his report will include the program
owner’s response to the National Women’s Law Center
and issues raised by the committee with respect to the Low
Income Tax Clinics (LITC’s) surveys and bilingual brochures
previously addressed by the committee. Mills asked if the
committee had reviewed the IRS’ responses concerning
the LITC Surveys and bilingual brochures. The Chair thanked
Raymond Mills and other program owners for their efforts in
providing their responses but noted that the full committee
had not yet seen them. Therefore, the Chair proposed we put
the matter over to the next meeting for any comments from
the committee. Action item for the next agenda.
Review/Approve Previous Meeting Minutes
The January 11, 2005 minutes were approved by consensus.
Ray Mills clarified that the final letter to the National
Women’s Law Center will be mailed to the TAP Florida
Office by no later than Friday, February 11, 2005; it is to
be distributed by the TAP Staff and copies will be sent to
the entire committee as well. (Action item for Mills/De
Jesus)
3 MLI Project Teams- Charters and Assignments
Mills gave a brief overview of the draft “TAP MLI Issues
Team Charter” – he promised to send it out electronically
to the TAP Program Analyst for distribution to all after this
call. (Action item for Mills/De Jesus)
In summary, these were the areas Mills highlighted to the
panel:
- The Purpose of the teams is to work
with the IRS MLI Strategy Office to support strategies and
operational priorities to facilitate IRS compliance with
Executive Order 13166 which mandates federal agencies
to provide meaningful access to products and services to
persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).
- The Goal of the teams is to provide
support for IRS MLI improvement projects that focus on obtaining
LEP feedback, developing a standard ESL (English as a Second
Language) tax curriculum, and assisting in the development
of products for LEP taxpayers. The three teams are:
- FEEDBACK TEAM: Obtaining grass-roots, “frontline”
feedback from LEP taxpayers about IRS MLI products and
services.
- EDUCATION TEAM: Develop a standard basic tax
curriculum for use in ESL programs and Stakeholder educational
programs (USCIS, DOE, DOJ)
- PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAM: Providing assistance
in the development of new IRS MLI products and services.
- Membership Leadership Cadre Team: will
consist of the MLI Program Owner, TAP MLI Program Manager,
TAP MLI Chair, and the TAP MLI Vice-Chair. These will provide
oversight for the three teams. Team membership will include
the other at-large members of the TAP MLI Issues committee.
The MLI Strategy Office will provide overall program management
for the three teams. The responsibilities of this office
will primarily be “working with the teams to develop
key milestones to address their identified areas of focus”
as well as approve the agenda, and facilitate the preparation
of meeting minutes. In addition, facilitate an on-going,
two-way communications between MLI Strategy Office, the
teams, and outside stakeholders.
- The TAP MLI Issues Committee: will be
“working with the teams to and accomplish strategic
goals.”
- Each TAP MLI Issues Team is responsible for:
- Clearly defining team objectives, goals and deliverables.
- Developing a timeline for completion of action items
and deliverables.
- Developing a mechanism for gauging success of team
initiatives.
- Identifying risks and mitigating actions associated
with the implementation of team initiatives.
- Each TAP MLI Issues team member is responsible
for:
- Communicating MLI and individual Team strategies
to the general committee.
- Supporting the development of mechanisms to track
the success of team initiatives.
- Working with their team members and the general committee
to identify risks and mitigating actions associated
with the implementation of their initiatives.
- Method of Operation, Sources for Team Issues,
Representation at Meetings, Decision Making Process, and
the Updating of the Charter was also briefly highlighted
by Ray Mills.
Chair Twomley inquired on behalf of the committee, when
will we know which team we have been assigned to? Ray Mills
responded by sharing that he had received from Inez a coordinated
List of the Members’ Skills & Interests and a List
of the Members’ Preferences for which team they wanted
to serve on. The next step would be to match members according
to their skills level to a team. Action item for De
Jesus: Mills requested that Inez coordinate a teleconference
meeting for Friday, February 11, 2005, at 1:30 pm Eastern
Time to finalize the team roster. Participants will be: Mills,
Stevens, Ferree, Twomley, Terrazas, and De Jesus.
DFO Ferree inquired if everyone had responded and Inez shared
that she had not heard from the following:
Regarding Members’ individual skills: Jones,
Kreisler, and McKenzie.
Regarding preferences of which team to work on: Lawler
Action item for De Jesus: Re-send email
to Steve Kreisler dated December 1, 2004 requesting information
on Job titles, Skills, and Interests, since he has been experiencing
computer problems.
Jones was on this call and McKenzie will be reminded again
after this meeting by Inez. Lawler promised to follow-up on
this after this meeting.
Inez inquired from the Program Owners if they had had time
to review an email she recently sent out regarding Issue #
3251, Outreach to ESL Taxpayers Linking Paying Taxes to Retirement,
which was received by the TAP Area 6 Committee, and they wanted
to know if the issue should be handled by the MLI Issue Committee.
Jerald Fireman informed everyone that he was the individual
that had made the suggestion to his area committee. Sharese
Stevens responded by stating that this ties in perfectly with
the brochures, “Why Should I Pay Taxes?” developed
by the MLI Strategy Office at a tax forum last year. After
a brief discussion, it was decided that this issue will be
accepted and worked by this committee. Action Item
for Staff: Make arrangements to have Issue # 3251
re-assigned to MLI.
Face-to-Face Meeting – Planning Dates/Location
Ray Mills shared that he proposes that the face-to-face meeting
be tied in with an upcoming Tax Forum. DFO Ferree stated that
at this point, the TAP was not sure if it would be participating
this year with the Tax Forums due to funding issues. Currently
the MLI Meeting calendar reflects that June 24 and 25, 2005
(Friday and Saturday) has been set aside by this committee
for this event.
Mills highlighted that the first Tax Forum is scheduled
for June 28-30, 2005 (Tuesday-Thursday) in San Francisco,
California. He expressed that the Asian population and language
issue is relevant to the multilingual initiative incentive.
Iris Sosa shared that her Area Committee 7 has already scheduled
their face-to-face meeting for June 30-July 1, 2005 in San
Francisco.
Mills envisions that as this committee has done in the past
(last year’s face-to-face took place in Brooklyn, NY)
representatives from the Low Income Tax Clinics (LITC’s)
and USCIS (United States Citizenship & Immigration Services)
should be invited.
DFO Ferree shared that there is a TAP Master Calendar which
she will be sharing with Ray Mills’s information on
how he can access it, for future planning purposes. Action
item for Ferree.
After the committee discussed different scenarios, Ray Mills
requested that this be an agenda item for the next
meeting. In the interim, DFO Ferree and Mills
will be fine tuning the logistics and report back to the committee
next month. Action item for Ferree/Mills/De Jesus.
Closing Assessment
Perros shared information that he had sent to Inez to forward
to the Area 2 Committee, regarding an article that appeared
in the Washington Post on February 6, 2005, titled “A
Taxing Challenge”. Perros expressed his views regarding
monies spent on translating of IRS forms and requested that
this article be read by everyone. Action item for
Inez: share this article with both Area 2 and the
MLI issue committee, since many expressed an interest to read
it.
DFO Ferree reminded everyone that the next call will be
on March 8, 2005 at 2:30 PM Eastern Time.
Chair Twomley stated that he looked forward to the materials
that will be sent out by Ray Mills.
Chair adjourned the meeting.
*These minutes were approved by the TAP MLI Issue
Committee by consensus on March 8, 2005.
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