AVA/OVW Conference Call – November 2014
Summary of Conference Call Meeting between AVA & OVW
Date: Monday, November 3, 2014, 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
OVW Staff: Associate Director Michelle Brickley and Program Managers Omar Mohammed, Kim Galvin, Paule Tessier
AVA Board Members: Bill Schaefer and Michelle Bynum
AVA Coordinator: Dorene Whitworth
ISSUES DISCUSSED:
Annual Conference
AVA asked if there were any updates OVW could provide on the upcoming administrator’s conference. OVW indicated that ALSO is still researching locations and they have no definitive dates as of yet. AVA was pleased to learn that OVW is now considering April dates, which was great news! Currently Jacksonville, Florida still looks to be the location. Michelle reiterated that the conference will be limited to a 2-day meeting with one administrator per state/territory being able to attend due to financial constraints. Although no decision has yet been made, they are considering allowing grantees to bring a second participant at their own expense. And, as mentioned previously, there will be no new administrator day as those are now being offered via webinar. The actual conference format has not yet been discussed. ALSO will survey administrators on topical content but the conference must also meet OVW priorities. AVA discussed the challenges of having one attendee when multiple workshops are offered. It was suggested that ALSO may want to consider a more open forum so everyone has access to all information presented.
Administrators’ Handbook
AVA discussed that the new administrator’s handbook is a good tool for administrators. Unfortunately, some states have deemed accessing DropBox as a security risk so those administrators are unable to download the additional resources associated with the handbook.
AVA discussed that they have already reached out to ALSO to try to find a solution but wanted to let OVW know that this issue has arisen.
Muskie Forms
AVA inquired into whether any updates were available on the upcoming revisions to the Muskie forms or whether another extension of the older form would be offered. Michelle discussed that she has a meeting on Muskie forms later today and will touch base with Dorene tomorrow. OVW passed along the information from administrators that AVA previously sent them and are aware of the training timetable that administrators need for their subgrantees.
AVA also discussed the recent receipt of the Red Flag Reports and the shortened timetable administrators were given for responding. Although administrators were told they could request an extension, AVA inquired if there was an impending federal deadline that we should strive to meet. AVA discussed that in previous years administrators were given 3 weeks which was challenging so cutting it down to a 2-week response time was very difficult. Michelle was not aware of the shortened timetable set by Muskie or any impending deadline.
December’s Call
It seems there was a misunderstanding from our last call relating to the upcoming December call that envisioned an all-administrator, open-forum discussion. Michelle indicated that they were under the impression that AVA wasn’t interested in holding an all-administer call; that OVW wanted to have more in-house discussions; and, that OVW would offer a call on a topic that they would like to see addressed. AVA clarified that following the October call, information about the envisioned December call would be taken back to the AVA Board to identify key topics and discuss logistics that would allow administrators the greatest ability to interact.
At the close of this discussion, it was decided that the December 1st call would be between the STOP team and the AVA board. OVW will still determine if they will hold an all-administrator call at a later date.