Attending: Gail Langellotto, Casey Sclar, Pam Bennett, Debbie Hamrick, Ellen Bauske, Clint Albin, Cynthia Haynes, Tom Underwood, Dave Close, Suzi McCoy, Julie Weisenhorn, Penny McBride, Rick Durham, Shannon Spurlock, Margaret Pooler

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1. NIFA Strategic Planning Grant Readiness:

a.    Status of nominations to pre-application relevance review panel for Tom B.: Tom B. not able to be on call, today. Mentioned that he has received ~10 names, thus far.

• this is a critical next step to the success of the initiative,

• Nominations/Contact lists: Tom and Suzi have put together a one-pager that folks can use to recruit industry relevance review panel members (as well as a short email invite). These documents can be found in the Box Folder, ‘NICH Outreach Documents’: https://app.box.com/s/y4mbul2ab5cutlgdp3zyena00mwwc0ye

• Is there a limit on the number of names to send Tom? No. He’s seeking names of qualified reviewers from the industry for all types of panels, and consumer hort should have a voice in the relevance review process.

• We ask potential relevance reviewers to serve ~ if they are willing/able to serve, then we/they get back to Tom with their contact information.

• To Do (Ellen): Link informational .pdf on website ~ a place where potential reviewers can go for more information.

• Deadline for sending out email invites and on-pagers: within the next two weeks (before the next NICH conference call)

• To Do: Ellen will send out the email on the NICH listserv, from the Exec Committee (please proofread before sending it out)

b.    Grant Preparation Task Force Members (Casey):

• This group will prepare the grant pre-proposal ($50k for one year) that will go to NIFA for review . . . will prepare full proposal if we are selected to submit a full proposal.

• Grant proposal will be used to fully develop the NICH strategic plan.

• Funds (probably) need to go through a land-grant university / federal sector ~ which land grant will submit; who will be PI or co-PIs? This will be one of the decisions that the task force will make.

• Folks who serve as relevancy reviewers can not serve on the grant preparation task force (or at the very least, they may need to recuse themselves from certain applications).

• Volunteers for task force: Tom, Julie, Ellen, Shannon (depending on timing), Casey, Gail, Cyndi, Dave Close

2. Engagement

a.    Upcoming Conferences/Presentations List: Tom U. developed a list of NICH visibility opportunities. The second part of the list is to document what actually happened, with regard to NICH outreach/visibility.

• If you have upcoming presentations, please send that information to Tom. Please follow up after presentation to report outcomes/what happened.

• Debbie can present at the Green and Growing Show.

• Is it possible to get article written for the Digger into other industry newsletters (good time would be ~ January).

• A cohesive NICH message should be going out, when we give these presentations ~ with a cohesive look and branding: Share these presentations on the Box site as a first step towards developing a 2-3 slide stock that folks can use for presentations.

• Action item: If you have items to add to Tom U’s list (upcoming presentations and/or outcomes), please send them his way

b.    First Committee Meeting Dates Goal (Casey)

• Has a firm date been set for first committee meetings? Goal was to have first committee meeting by the end of September.

• Environmental committee invite will be going out, today. Meeting will happen in the next couple of weeks.

• Economic committee tentatively scheduled to happen by the end of September.

• Social/Community committee will be meeting next Monday.

• Non-profit council and Industry Council are targeting early October for a meeting.

• Land Grant Council targeting sometime in September to touch base.

3. Road Map: Establishing Timelines and Priorities (Suzi, Casey)

a.     Action Item: Reminder to send 5 high-level benchmark deadlines to Suzi by EOD September 20, 2016.

• Suzi to compile and Gail to Communicate.

• There was a question about whether or not we should wait on this until committees have had a chance to meet? No ~ timeline is high-level, broad view outline of key dates, deadlines, goals. Timeline can be modified as needed.

• Look at goals/objectives, and think about what we need to do . . . key benchmarks to meet . . . in order to get there. Also, think not just about the work of your committee, but the big picture of NICH.

• In the future, can we map out a time to have committees/councils touch base with each other, to ensure that our efforts are coordinated? If we get the planning grant, this will be part of a retreat where we can start to map these things out.

• Can we post committee agendas/notes, so that we can all see them? Yes (we can do this on our Box working site).

• Clint, Suzi, Ellen, Casey to conference call to discuss high-level timeline.

4. Communication and Recruitment

a.    Seed Your Future: Casey met with Susan Yoder and Doug Needham(sp?) about Seed Your Future. Re-enforced that our efforts are complementary. Casey and Suzi are on the Seed Your Future Advisory Council. Susan will be a member of one of our groups.
b.    Final Update on Recruitment of Chairs: all chairs are recruited, with the exception of the Honorary Chair
• Honorary Chair: Suzi and Casey to conference on the honorary chair position ~ and will bring ideas back to the committee
c.     One-Pager Use and Distribution (Shannon, Suzi)

• Where to get it: Box File entitled ‘NICH Outreach Documents’ (direct link = https://app.box.com/s/y4mbul2ab5cutlgdp3zyena00mwwc0ye )

ii.     Key messages:

1.     Join our unified effort to make this happen

2.     Offer your expert advice

3.     Spread the message

• The one-pager is stand-alone. There is no accompanying email to go with it.

d.    Digger Article: Gail will send out updated draft (which incorporates Casey’s and Ellen’s comments) to all for review. Action Item: Deadline for getting comments back to Gail is this Friday.

• Debbie has copyright free photos of nursery production, landscape. These can be posted in the NICH Box file.

• Article can be used/modified for use in other newsletters ~ should have a strategy for communication/distribution. Suzi/Shannon and the communication team will develop a communication strategy. Action Item: if you have places where you want to see the article distributed, contact Suzi, who will be developing a list to foster coordinated communication.

• We need to also have a high quality copy of the NICH logo on the Box file.

e.     Other Marketing/Communications Team Updates (Suzi, Shannon)

Contact Gail for links to NICH Working Documents

Attending: Cindy, Suzi, Clint, Gail, Casey, Rick, Penny, Tom, Dave, Ellen, Julie, Tom, Penny

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1. Communication and Recruitment

   1. Final Update on Recruitment of Chairs (All):
      • Updating the Google Sheet for our Executive Committee to add Suzi as lead of the marketing team and Tom Bewick as our USDA Liaison.
      • Decision was made to call the different sectors (commercial, NGO, land grant) sectors councils. Decision made to call goals (social, environmental, economic) committees.
   2. Steering Key Members to the Right Committees (Casey)
      • We discussed a potential honorary chair for this committee. Suzi and Casey agreed to approach one potential honorary chair ~ when timing is right and when a job description is available.
      • Suzi and Casey had a phone conversation with Charlie Hall, who has been suggested as a powerful NICH ally. His agreed to working with Debbie on the Economic Committee.
      • Jenn T. was mentioned as someone to join the social goals committee or the NGO council. Tom U. will reach out to Jenn.
      • Suzi mentioned several folks that she reached out to. She will send the full list of contacts to the group.
      • Cindy H. will remain on the communications strategy team.
   3. Final Update on One-Pager (Shannon, Katie, Suzi):
      • Note that Katie will continue to serve on the marketing committee, but not the leadership team. Please drop her name from emails that go out to the leadership team.
      • One-pager is complete. Will be used as a recruitment and engagement tool. Share as a PDF.
      • Note that the advisory committee is being asked to do the first three things on the ‘how can I help’ part of the one-pager (e.g. ‘Join, Offer, Spread’).
   4. Other Communications (All)
      • Marketing Committee: first step is to put together a long-term marketing plan, with a goal of September.

2. Engagement

   1. ASHS Conference Report (Rick, Ellen, Lucy, Tom B., etc.)
      • Julie notes that the folks who presented on NICH at ASHS did a good job (so much so, that she joined the effort). Rick was recruited to the academic council at ASHS.
      • Katie presented at the GWA Next Gen Summit, and Garden Media Group have included NICH in their trend report.
   2. Upcoming Conferences/Presentations
      • Katie and Suzie will present NICH at New England Grows in November.
      • Rick will be giving presentation at the National Master Gardener Coordinators Conference in September.
      • Send Tom U. your additions to the list of conferences / presentations. This will be useful for marketing strategy, but also for annual reports.

3. NIFA Strategic Planning Grant Readiness (Casey)

   1. Status of nominations to review panel: Shannon has forwarded three names from CO. Suzi is willing to serve on the review panel, and will talk to others about joining.
      • Name of the review panel: industry relevance review panel. Tom will share information developed for SCRI. The goal is to keep the time commitment for industry reps as little as possible (20 hours or below)~ but there is a time commitment that needs to be made to: (1) to do the reviews, and (2): to participate in the conference call. Folks who agree to commit, must commit to do both. How many conference calls are there? How many applications must folks review? Tom will forward that information to Gail for sharing in NICH documents.
      • 20 hour time commitment includes: There is a 1-hour orientation webinar. You review 10-12 pre-applications (~1 hour per app), and then a 1 hour conference call to discuss the pre-applications that you reviewed.
        To Do: Every committee member should be sending names and contact information to Tom B.
   2. Grant Preparation Task Force Members: tabled for next call.

4. Road Map: Establishing Timelines and Priorities (Suzi, Casey)

   1. Committee Survey
   2. List of Priorities: think about what this group should prioritize and work to accomplish in short-, mid- and long-term timelines. To Do: send your list of high-level priorities (five, benchmark deadlines) for the next 12 months to Suzi, who will compile and bring results back to the full leadership team: 1st 6 months from now, next 6 months from now. Please send to Suzi by September 20th (end of working day). (draft 3 year calendar is part of this document, as appendix 1, pages 4-5 of this document)
   3. Casey will send out blank timeline that they’ve put together, for the next three year’s priorities.
   4. The planning grant would be to complete and prioritize the NICH strategic plan. Planning grant funds would be available (if we get it) in the spring of 2017. The planning process could be completed by the summer of 2017 (end of June).

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Appendix

ROAD MAP TO 2019

GOAL: CONSUMER HORTICULTURE INCLUSION IN 2019 FARM BILL

2018: Harvest the Garden

• December
• November
• October
• September
• August
• July
• June
• May
• April
• March
• February
• January

2017: Plant the Seeds

• December
• November
• October
• September
• August
• July
• June
• May
• April
• March
• February
• January

2016: Cultivate the Earth

• December
• November
• October
• September
• August

Attending: Cyndi, Casey, Gail, Debbie, Clint, Tom, Ellen, Dave, Shannon, Katie, Suzi, Tom, Penny

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1. The Story of SCRI (Tom B.):

a. As an aside, Tom noted that lots of NICH folks at ASHS. Lucy is giving a talk, later this week on NICH. Good visibility for NICH at ASHS

b. 2002 Farm Bill. Small group of specialty crop industry tried to get SC into Farm Bill, unsuccessfully. They hired a former congressman as a consultant. One of the thing he told that small group (particularly United Fresh Vegetables) was that they needed to come to congress with a unified message. They created the specialty crop Farm Bill Alliance (that included United Fresh Vegetables, American Hort, US Apple, etc.). In prep for the 2007 Farm Bill, Johans from Nebraska had a series of listening sessions across the country. The group had 2-3 folks at every listening session ~ where they said they didn’t want handouts, they wanted $$ for research and extension. When they did an analysis of listening sessions, it came through that specialty crops were important and that funds were needed for research and extension. So, USDA was promoting specialty crops from one side (based upon comments coming in from industry), other specialty initiatives (e.g. National Grape and Wine Initiative) were coming forward to say that they needed money for research and extension. Next farm bill had $230 million for specialty crops (later, raised to $320 million). When we pulled NICH together, one hope was that we could have a plan that we could go to Congress, and at the same time, the Specialty Crop Farm Bill alliance is also saying we have a plan and need money . . . that gives Congress the confidence that there is thought behind this plan. NICH represents non-production side of things. We represent the consumer and novel approaches from NGOs. There is an opportunity to make the case that we need additional funds, so that the public can be served.

c. Question: What do we mean by Research and Extension: research on specialty crops that include both biology and social sciences. Extension is taking the scientific information, and putting it into language that people can understand. Research can include field and bench research to discover biologically relevant information, but can also include social science surveys.

d. Question: Who took the message to Congress?

Answer: The Specialty Crop Farm Bill alliance included folks who work in production agriculture. In addition, there were separate initiatives (tree fruit technology road map, NGWI, etc.) that took message to Congress.

e. Question: is community horticulture relevant? The idea of being outside in nature (particularly in urban areas) makes folks more healthy. All of this is data that industry can use to raise the profile of consumer horticulture.

Answer: Tom notes that NICH is inclusive. When Tom says consumer horticulture, it includes community gardens, urban planners, hort therapy, and more ~ indoor and outdoor gardening. It’s not just what the consumers are growing, but what the consumers are exposed to (e.g. interiorscapes ~ and a need to get these into more work spaces). These things have been included in NICH from the outset.

f. Casey notes that NICH is helping to get the message out, and helping to determine the priorities on the funding. We are not the body that carries out the research. We are not a funding organization. We are a planning organization that will allow the academic community to have that focus.

g. Question: Who decides how money gets distributed?

Answer: Since we already have SCRI, it will be easier to get funds added to SCRI for consumer horticulture ~ rather than start from scratch. For SCRI, there is an industry relevance review and scientific merit review. USDA takes these reviews (giving them equal weight), and makes decisions about how to distribute the funds.

h. Question: Would our committee decide what types of grant proposals we would put together?

Answer: NICH could put together a grant proposal. There is broad relevancy to SCRI calls for applications. As long as they are addressing priorities that have been identified, a group has a chance at funding. What groups are considering for funding will have an impact for industries we will serve.

i. Question: Where did the $320 million for SCRI go?

Answer: The money comes to USDA-NIFA on an annual basis: $80 million per year for 5 years. USDA-NIFA administers the SCRI. The funding is mandatory funding, and thus does not have to go through the appropriations process. Of the $80 million, a chunk (~$25 million?) goes to citrus research. For the remainder, scientific merit and relevancy review is used for USDA-NIFA to make recommendations. Most of the funding goes to Universities, but projects usually have partners that are outside of Universities. Most SCRI projects are quite large ~ cross discipline, cross state, cross organization. They are often big projects that focus on big picture challenges. One of the reasons that Universities are more successful at getting funding is that they have the infrastructure that supports their research efforts.

j. A lot of times, the prioritization is based upon the industry folks who review proposals. Prioritization is based upon 50% scientific merit and 50% industry relevance. This is where the industry has its biggest impact, through the relevancy review. That is why it is important to have representatives on the review panel who understand what the priorities are.

k. Question: Let’s say we come up with a number of $100 million dollars that we need over 5 years. Does this mean that this funding gets added on top of what is currently part of SCRI, and that part of the SCRI funds would be set apart of for NICH-type projects?

Answer: generally, funds are not set aside for particular initiatives. The citrus set aside was to deal with citrus greening disease, and this set aside is set to end soon. We should have a funding target in mind, but there likely won’t be a set aside.

l. Question: What we’re talking about is using our effort to increase SCRI funding from current allocation to a number that is greater, we’re not talking about a separate set aside, correct?

Answer: It would be easier to get overall SCRI funding increased (because it already exists), rather than getting a set aside. We need to come up with the right priorities, and we need to come up with the right people for the industry relevance review.

m. Question: Staffing the relevance panels is an extremely important annual charge for NICH. When is the deadline to suggest folks for the next round of funding?

Answer: request for pre-aps will be published on October 1st. There will be ~6 weeks for pre-applications to be submitted. Reviewers’ names and email addresses will be needed by ~November 10th. But, if you don’t get them in by the 10th, keep sending in names, because they can be added at any time.

n. Question: Who could NOT serve as a relevancy reviewer?

Answer: anyone at a University is not eligible to be an industry representative. Casey, Debbie, Shannon, Clint could serve, as they are not part of the University enterprise. Scientists who work in private industry would be eligible to serve as relevancy review. Brand managers would be eligible to serve. Adjunct and affiliate faculty who work in industry would be eligible to serve ~ there would be conflict of interest guidelines to adhere to . . . but as long as the person is not primarily at a University.

2. Communication and Recruitment

a. Recruitment of Chairs and Committee Member (All):

i. Shannon is chairing the NGO committee. Tom will work to support Shannon, perhaps as an ‘interim ghost co-chair’.

ii. Cynthia Haynes and Dave Close are co-chairs of the environmental committee.

iii. NICH will only be as good as we are at succession planning ~ bringing on great people who can lead this effort into the future.

iv. Margaret Pooler is serving as interim chair of the government/academic committee. With Tom’s help, they will recruit additional USDA researchers (ARS, NRCS, etc.). We need to get University Deans/Directors on the committee.

v. Suzi is setting up a conference call with Charlie Hall. Casey, Suzi will talk to Charlie about the overall NICH goals.

vi. In the Mid-Atlantic region, there has been great response to NICH from GWA.

vii. NICH and Seed the Future made their way into Garden Media Group’s upcoming TRIM report.

viii. Question: is there a cap to the number of folks on committee? And, are we looking for folks to serve on subcommittees?

Answer: at the moment, we’re in active recruitment mode, so there is no cap on participation (at the moment).

ix. Question: what are we asking committee members to do?

Answer: the job description and the charge, we hope that it became more clear from Tom’s presentation. Folks can help us craft the strategic plan, and can also participate in the industry relevance review (if they are eligible).

x. Question: are we asking them to participate in a regular conference call? Or to respond to written text? Or to travel for NICH?

Answer: at the moment, participation in a conference call, and to respond to text. Committee members will participate in putting together a strategic plan for each goal. Chairs decide how to work with committee members to develop an action plan.

xi. For the economic committee, Debbie has been talking to folks about this effort, at about 1.25 hours per conversation. She’s recruited 2-3 people to serve on the economic committee. Because folks don’t know who we are, it takes a lot of time to educate potential committee members. Debbie’s plan is to assemble a good group of people who can help develop an action plan. Time invested in getting these good people is fairly substantial.

xii. There could be value to having a separate call to talk about recruitment, so that we have a wide and organized reach.

b. Discuss and finalize One-Pager (Casey and All): we worked to revise the one-pager.

Decisions Made: The final language of the one-pager was approved, and the one-pager sub-committee is moving it to the design phase.

c. Tom Underwood’s list of upcoming events (attached) ~ make sure your event is on the list.

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Next Conference Call: August 23, 2016, 10am ET / 9am CT / 8am MT / 7am PT.

Attending: Casey Sclar, Gail Langellotto, Shannon Spurlock, Rick Durham, Tom Bewick. Tom, Debbie Hamrick, Dave Close, Pam Bennett, Tom Underwood, Ellen Bauske

Update on Recruitment of Chairs

Casey will be talking to Clint Albin, to on-board him as the commercial council chair. Tom has been talking to potential folks to find a Land Grant University Chair. A strategy may be to look to USDA people ~ this may be a good place for Margaret Pooler to stay engaged. Margaret had a few questions related to if she were to serve as Land-Grant/Federal Research as chair ~ particularly the potential advocacy nature of this group, and any potential COI. Tom B. will follow up with Margaret to discuss. If State Departments of Ag might have good folks who could be chairs, please forward that information to Tom.

Update on One-Pager

Shannon shared one-pager earlier on Monday. She heard back from 4-5 people. Ellen and Lucy wondered if parts might be too repetitive. Tom asks ‘what is the intent’ of the 1-pager. The intent reads as if we’re trying to recruit sponsors. There is only one line about the science enterprise of our group ~ so this would not be useful for recruiting Land Grant Deans and Directors. Keeping the focus strategic planning around research, extension and education related to consumer horticulture should be retained as a core part of what this group does. Casey notes that this reflects our challenge of trying to appeal to a broad audience. One strategy is to revise the current version to appeal to all. A second strategy is to create two versions ~ one to appeal to industry and a second to appeal to researchers. Debbie shared the previous version of the one-pager with folks she was talking to about the Economic committee. One industry person noted that he questioned the part ‘what’s in it for me?’. Ellen suggested that different parts of the one-pager will appeal to different people ~ so you wait until you see what they’re interested in, and then talk about that part of NICH.

Action Items

• Ellen will revise the one-pager, taking these comments into account ~ and will finalize on the next call.
• Tom B. will also put together a couple of bullet points. If Ellen and Tom can get the one-pager back to Shannon within a week, she will share with her staff for refinement, if there is specific direction on changes that need to be made. The revision will be brought back to the next conference call (August 8, 2016) back for final approval.

NIFA Strategic Planning Grant Readiness

Does anyone know when the RFA becomes available? Is there an old RFA available? Tom Bewick can forward the group the 2016 RFA. The 2017 RFA for pre-applications will come out in early October. There will be 6-8 weeks to prepare pre-applications. Part of the pre-application process includes an industry-relevance review. Pre-apps are much shorter than full application. If this group knows folks who are interested in consumer horticulture, and would be interested in serving as relevance reviewers ~ please send names and emails to Tom Bewick (tbewick@nifa.usda.gov). The time commitment is ~20 hours over and 8-week period. There is a 45 minute ‘orientation’ webinar (what the process is about, how to go through the reviews). The reviewers are assigned applications via an online tool. Reviewers submit reviews online. Then there is a conference call, where decisions are made about who is invited to review.

Action Items

• All ~ send names and emails of potential industry relevance review panelists to Tom (tbewick@nifa.usda.gov).
• Tom B. ~ send 2016 RFA to Casey/Gail.

Update on Website Updates

Casey noted that there are many updates on the website, since our Denver meeting. Folks gave kudos to Ellen and Richie for the great look and improvements on the website.

Action Items

• All ~ if you have comments on the website (http://archive.consumerhort.org/), please send them to Ellen (ebauske@uga.edu).

Engagement

One person may have been listed two times, as a potential member of more than one committee. If a chair speaks to someone who is not interested in your committee, but may be interested in another committee ~ please help steer them to a committee that is a good fit. Debbie talked to Craig from American Hort, as the right person to serve on the economic committee. Debbie talked about how NICH would be nothing but supportive of American Hort. Debbie will be putting three people down on her email list (Craig, Jennifer, Jill) for the economic committee, with the understanding that their engagement may change or switch out, depending upon their time availability. American Hort’s engagement is really important. Debbie suggested that Casey reach out to the new Executive Director of American Hort, to make sure that they understand that NICH is supportive of American Hort. Shannon and Tom U. have a coordinating call to talk about the NGO council recruits.

Action Item

• Casey will reach out to Craig and the new Executive Director of American Hort in August.
• Gail ~ will send out the Google Docs spreadsheet of potential committee chairs and members to all.
• All ~ please update the spreadsheet with relevant notes, as you contact potential committee chairs and members.
• All ~ when you recruit a committee chair, make sure that they have us for support, that the know about the bi-weekly conference calls, and that we align expectations.
• All ~ We should be reporting back on committee work (first conference calls, recruitment, etc) at bi-weekly conference calls.

New Business:

• NICH Article in the Digger: Gail will be taking lead on writing. Due in September, to be published in December. Gail will share with all on the Box site.
• Warwick bill from Denver Meeting: Gail submitted for payment.

Attending: Bradley, Underwood, Haynes, Durham, Dubow, Bennett, Pooler, Sclar, Spurlock

Absent: Bauske, Bewick, McCoy

1. New Bi-Weekly Call Details:

Casey shared the new call-in information for the bi-weekly calls. Time will remain the same.
-Redacted-

2. Acknowledgements:

Casey and others shared their thanks to the steering committee, those who coordinated and assembled in Denver, and to all involved in the initiative. All coming out of the Denver meeting are excited and eager to move forward.

3. Denver Meeting Recap (All)

a. Key Outcomes (Lucy, Ellen, Tom U.)

Lucy shared her brief recap of the Denver meeting. An outline is below:

i. New wording on vision, goals, objectives

1. Comments on Vision

a. Where do we get numbers, no more NGA Survey

b. Dow Jones average of gardening impact?

i. Could be part of work plan

c. How does one engage in “Consumer Hort”

2. Goals

a. Inject passion into some of the wording

3. Objectives

a. Ensure that goals are technical, approachable and have something for everyone from researchers to retail industry alike.

4. Organizational Structure:

a. Committee Formation

i. Include work groups formed to determine immediate needs and next steps

b. Executive Teams and Officers

i. Team Established by Nominations before and after

ii. Term limits not set, appointments for 12 months for now

iii. Inclusive, not exclusive – desire participation formally/informally from all

5. Industry Panel Conducted

a. Asked – What are our needs?

i. When do we need it?

b. Common script desired for…

i. Recruitment

ii. Social media

1. Marketing

2. Kick Starter or other campaigns

6. Next steps

a. Starter goal – apply for Strat Plan Grant from NIFA

b. Leadership – secure remaining committee leadership

c. One-Pager – produce simple statement for immediate recruitment

d. Biz plan and bylaws

i. Org status (501 c 3 status)

ii. Bylaws

iii. Honorary members

ii. Organizational Chart and new committee structures

1. Casey presented the organizational chart and structure as it now stands

2. This information will be available on the website ASAP

3. Still seeking Chairs for Environmental Goal and Public/Research/LGU Committee (immediate), Development Committee (future)

4. Casey strongly encouraged all steering committee members to please remain involved and to remain engaged, finding their “niche” in the new organizational structure which is specifically meant to be inclusive

b. Communication and Recruitment

i. Update on Recruitment: All should continue efforts to recruit to the cause

ii. One-Pager – Katie, Shannon, Cynthia, Suzi and others have produced the one pager and recruitment script. It was approved by all and will be uploaded to the internal site and or shared.

Rick D. requested a more graphical stylized version to use as a printed takeaway for his upcoming presentations. Shannon volunteered to have her marketing team at DUG look at this and return to the group.

iii. Website Updates: Ellen unavailable, but Casey and Ellen to meet ASAP and determine timeline for website updates.

iv. Casey message to Listserv, timing – Casey has a planned message to the entire listserv to re-engage them. Will launch as soon as website updates made.

4. Action Steps

a. First Dates for Committee Meetings

i. Casey encouraged (based on Debbie’s recommendation) that all formative/initial Committee meetings be held by end of September at absolute latest.

b. Further Recruitment Webinars

i. Definite interest in group to potentially do this in August. Item tabled until next call.

c. Upcoming Presentations

i. Digger Newsletter

1. Gail will prepare a short piece for this ONA newsletter

2. Debbie asked if she might be able to “clone” this for other outlets along with. General interest in group for this.

3. Lucy requested that we maintain a list of citations for those places either proposed to reach out to or having been published in.

ii. ASHS, other presentations

1. Casey mentioned that a brief calendar of upcoming meetings began verbally at the Denver meeting. Item to be considered at next bi-weekly on how to record/share this.

iii. MANTS

1. Tom Underwood and Margaret Pooler volunteered to put together a concept of how to present NICH either as a portion of an exhibit and/or presentation at the next MANTS show in February. SNA also a possibility.

5. The meeting adjourned at 11:05 am ET. The next bi-weekly call will be on July 26, 2016 at 10am ET / 9am CT / 8am MT / 7am PT.

Attending: Tom, Gail, Lucy, Casey, Katie, Rusty, Rick, Katie, Suzi

Denver Meeting Specifics

Update on Registration:

15 people registered

Budget, Contracts and Costs:

• Lucy and Casey have talked about budget, feeling like they have a good handle on costs.
• For the hotel contract, Casey is working with the hotel provider to avoid penalties.

Transportation:

Shannon and Rusty have personal cars. Casey also has a rental car. On last call, Shannon mentioned SUV rental that could be secured, if our numbers were low. With three cars, that is probably enough to ferry folks to and from the Botanic Garden.

• Besides car transport, hotel is ½ walk or shorter bike ride to the Botanic Garden.
• Recommendation is taking the train to downtown, and then walking or hailing a taxi to hotel.

Catering

• Our meeting will be held in a historic house that houses admin offices of Denver Botanic Garden ~ common meeting space and breakout spaces.
• DBG has an exclusive caterer, that includes box lunch on Friday.
• Action Item: If attendees have dietary restrictions, please get that to Casey ASAP. This request will go in the pre-conference packet that will be sent out by the afternoon of the 22nd.
• If we’re over budget on catering, Casey and Denver Botanic Garden will work on cost-overruns, together.
• Catering Note: End day with an hour tour of the botanic garden. Since we eat at noon, and then don’t eat dinner to 6 or 7pm, let’s have the pm break with snacks.

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Update Agenda

Wednesday

• Arrival day
• 5-6pm, complimentary wine tasting
• 6-7:30pm, group dinner ~ place still undecided. Action Item: Rusty and Shannon will work to get restaurant name for Thursday night and Friday night. We should get that information out to people, prior to their arrival.
• later in the evening, gather in the bar area

Thursday

• Transportation leaving at 7:30am
• Arrive at Botanic Garden by 7:50am, continental breakfast
• 8:15am ~ start the agenda
• Welcome ~ Tom, Casey (If available, Brian Vogt, CEO of Denver Botanic Garden)
• Recognition and Appreciation ~ Casey
• Thursday morning piece is work
  • Presenting mission, vision, structure: Tom to present
  • Work on objectives relative to goals
  • Break
  • Present and populate the draft organizational structure: Casey ~ goal is that by noon, we have work teams that make sense with this organizational structure. Question ~ could this session be broadcast via webcam? Action Item ~ Rusty will set up a Zoom session for 11am – noon, Mountain time. Zoom address will be included in the pre-conference packet.
  • Question: how do we engage folks who might want to participate in NICH organizational structure . . . but are not in Denver?
    • Casey suggested we can have ‘ideal’ candidates in mind, to approach them to participate.
    • Lucy suggested that we reach out to those who have interest in NICH, but will not be in Denver. Lucy suggested sending out a note to the listserv letting them know about NICH leadership and participation opportunities.
    • Action Item: By early to mid, next week, Casey will send out pre-conference packet to all 131 folks on the listserv, and that will include a note letting them know about leadership opportunities. ‘Whether you can join us in Denver, or not, we are inviting you to be engaged in the leadership of this group. Here are ways you can get involved.
      • Pre-Conference Packet: Action Item: Ellen, Lucy, Rusty, Casey will work on Pre-conference packet note. Pre-conference packet should go out by the afternoon of the 22nd. Casey will ask Katie and Suzie to take a look at pre-conference packet before it goes out.
        • Zoom session URL
        • Note to send dietary restrictions to Casey
        • Invitation to become involved with NICH
        • General information about meeting logistics
        • Pre-conference survey (from Rusty, will edit survey to take names off)
• Lunch (Catering by Design)
• Industry Expert Panel ~ Suzie, Katie (and Shannon is working on getting two folks for the panel)
  • Brief overview of NICH / introduction ~ and why do we need industry to be involved (Action Item: ask Ellen if she can present brief overview and/or make the ‘pitch’ to the industry panel). Also, Rusty will send panelists materials from NICH, prior to meeting.
  • Use panel as a ‘focus group’ If we were going to approach an industry group . . . what would our steps be?
  • With the panel, briefly present our NICH ‘pitch’, and then get feedback from panel on what was positive, and what needs work.
  • What about the initiative is exciting? What are the sticking points?
  • How to approach industry ~ what are the time constraints, perspective, interests that would encourage or discourage participation.
  • Outcomes of the Panel ~ List of potential industry participants. Be able to articulate: What, exactly, do we want from industry? What are we asking them to give? What is it going to cost?
  • Action Item: potential panel participants for to follow up on, by end of week ~ look for direct to consumer participant, such as big garden center, seed, company, greenhouse, Welby Gardens (Dan Geraise, Casey can make connection), Botanical Interest (Katie has contact information), Lake Valley, BVD, Tacoma, Davey Tree (Kevin Marks), Swingle Tree Service (Steve Geist). Rusty will contact Jessica, and will work to confirm industry panelists by Monday or next week.
• After panel ~ Work teams will create action plans to accomplish objectives.
  • Bookmark ~ encourage folks to exchange contact information. Include as part of next steps.
  • Thursday Dinner on your own: Action Item: Rusty and Shannon will get name of restaurant.

Friday

• Recap and report back from Thursday work
• Friday also could be used as time to address important issues/items that emerge from Thursday work
• Action Item: Rusty will get Casey pre-conference survey will be included in pre-conference packet.
• Box lunch to go.

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• Question: With 15 participants, how many people per work team? Also, how do we work with folks who are very interested in being part of a work group, but aren’t present in Denver? Should we query the listserv before the meeting, to get their interest around different work groups?
• Suggested Response: Let people choose their work team, based upon interest. Parcel folks to other work teams, so that we have enough work/structure on them to move forward after the meeting.