COCA Steering Committee Meeting 16 August 2007

Attendees:
Clare Collins, ME
Mitchell Levitz, NY WIND
Gordon Richins, UT, Co-Chair
Laurel Ryan, TN, BCDD, Secretary
Norb Ryan, KY
Sharon Hennault, VT / SharonHauss, IN
Bethany Stark, CA, TarjanCenter
Susan Yuan, VT, Co-Chair
Denise Lance, KS
David Morrisey, AUCD Fellow
Crystal Parriseau, AUCD invited guest
Issues/Discussions: / Action Needed by:
FULL COCA CONFERENCE CALL:
Decision was made before this call by leadership not to have a full conference call this month, due to lack of prior notice to full COCA membership. Full COCA call is re-scheduled for September’s time slot. (We will devote the entire two hours to the full conference call.)
TO DO:
  1. Use next week and a half to two weeks to get agenda in order, (BY August 27 to 31)
  2. Use the following 2 weeks to advertise and make contacts and invitations to COCA members
(BY September 1 to 20 – since there’s a holiday Monday in September, should we plan to have the Agenda together and out to COCA membership before Labor day?)
  1. Decide how many full calls and decide the dates a full year ahead of time – put them on the calendar – quarterly? Start counting in November (Annual Meeting) – February, April and July – in order to plan for the conference. Start discussion today about annual meeting plan.
Discussion later in the call revolved around inviting COCA members to pose questions and comments to Co-chairs ahead of time to better manage time on the call itself.
Report from Crystal Pariseau, AUCD Central Office re: Annual Meeting
Note that information is available on the website.
Dates: November 10-14
Theme: Tomorrow is Here Today – The Interrelationship of Research, Education, Service and Policy
Tentative Agenda (slightly edited)
Sunday, November 11
Council Meetings (CIS, NTDC, COCA): 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Legislative Affairs Committee: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Workshops: 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm (Tickets Required, additional cost)
Legislative Affairs Briefing: 4:15 pm - 5:30 pm
New Attendee Orientation: 5:45 pm - 6:15 pm
COCA Council Meeting, continued: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Monday, November 12 (Veteran's Day)
Council Meetings (Multicultural, NCEDC, CORE): 8:00 am - 11:00 am
Concurrent Sessions: 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Training Symposium: 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm (Tickets Required, additional cost)
(tentative) Special Interest Group Meetings 1:30 pm- 5pm
Opening Plenary & Welcome Reception: 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Special Interest Group Meetings: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Trainee Reception: 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Tuesday, November 13
Committee Meetings/Special Interest Groups: 7:30 am - 8:45 am
Plenary Session: 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Concurrent Sessions: 10:15 am - 11:30 am
Concurrent Sessions: 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm
Concurrent Sessions: 2:30 pm- 3:45 pm
Plenary Session: 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Poster Session & Reception: 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Special Interest Group Meetings: 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Wednesday, November 14
Business Meeting & Awards Breakfast: 8:00 am - 10: 00 am
Federal Plenary Session: 10:30 am- 12:00 pm
(tentative) Concurrent Sessions & Federal Breakouts: 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Poster Session on Tuesday evening will have a theme, as yet to be determined.
Other notes on Annual Meeting:
Bill Kiernan (ICI MA) and incoming President of the Board will be chairing this year’s annual meeting
Thanks were given to all participants by Susan and Gordon for poster and concurrent session submissions; Gordon thanked Lu Zeph for her work on the awards committee; Gordon and Susan were thanked for working on the Training Symposium planning committee. Susan told Crystal about the accessibility ideas list made with Bethany’s help last year. Crystal noted AUCD has a contract with the hotel for the AUCD annual meeting through 2009. Gordon reminded COCA members to think about nominating someone for COCA’s Award.
David Morrissey, AUCD Policy Fellow and COCA Liaison:
Legislative Affairs Update went out last week about the summer recess. Congresspersons and Senators are back in home districts and it’s a great time to meet with them in person. If you have an issue, call their local constituency office. See legislative affairs website (AUCD) to get assistance identifying your representatives. Advocacy tip: schedule an appointment for yourself and build a coalition around an important topic. Kim and Joe and David (Legislative Affairs staff) are willing to support you as you need info. Some possible topics: ADA Reauthorization,
Appropriations, Expanding Promise for Autism Act.
Reports from Committee Chairs:
Nominating:
Clare (Nominating) Queries coming in, but no formal nominations yet. There will be another reminder on the COCA listserv to move along in a couple days.
AD HOC Committee: (Laurel) COCA’s submission for a Poster celebrating 15 years was accepted. Membership of Ad Hoc Poster Committee will be forthcoming and work will be started!
Website Discussion:
Due to email issues, perhaps not all COCA Steering Committee members are always getting information re: calls, and other issues. Proposal made to add previous meeting minutes to the COCA Council page on the website under “Meetings and Activities.” This page could also include:
Agendas for meetings
Minutes
Bulletin
Calendar – when each SC meeting is going to be – also for
Full Conference calls (dates and agendas)
Discussion of Regional Reps on Steering Committee:
Steering Committee has 3 regional representatives – Dean (West), Denise (Middle America), and Mitchell (East). Steering Committee needs to define specific activities for them to do re: feedback to Steering Committee from their region, and information dissemination. Currently, states/UCEDDs are not assigned to specific regions for COCA purposes. At Annual meeting, SC needs to brainstorm potential roles for these representatives, including regional reps input into their important role in their region. Do we need to have more of them? Etc.
Discussion of Steering Committee Meeting @ Ann. Mtg.:
Time needs to be carved out at the Ann. Mtg. for a face-to-face SC meeting to solidify operational rules. Think about fine-tuning to SC rules and please put specific suggestions and concerns in writing to Gordon and Susan.
Discussion of COCA Council meeting Agendas:
Need to start Agenda-making for 10 – 1 and 6 – 9 meetings of the Council.Please contact Gordon with possible agenda items for this and the NEXT STEERING COMMITTEE CALL ON 18 OCTOBER!
SABE representatives will be with us at the Council meeting to at least introduce themselves, and see if they would like to collaborate with COCA. ADD is providing funding for SABE representatives to come to this Annual Meeting.
UPCOMING COCA CALLS:
20th September – Full COCA call
18 October – Steering Committee call
2:00 p.m. Eastern Time
1:00 p.m. Central Time
12:00 p.m.Mountain Time
11:00 a.m. Pacific Time
9:00 a.m. Hawaiian-Aleutian Time
Call ended at 2:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Laurel Ryan, SC Secretary
(Note: Minutes from 19 July Steering Committee call need to be approved at the next meeting.)
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(Pictures from and inspired by the 29th Elvis Presley “Deathaversary” August 16, 2007 - here in Memphis, TN!)

L to R: The man; The Vigil last night, The Gates of Graceland / Steering Committee and other COCA members
Susan will send Crystalthe list of accessibility ideas
All COCA members
Who/What?
Laurel will contact previously interested parties.
David will upload minutes
See Steering Committee Meeting @ Annual Meeting below.
Who’s doing this?
Gordon Richins, I will work with Susan on a time and space for this SC meeting.
Who is finding the time & place at Ann. Mtg.?
All COCA members including SC

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