Meeting began at 12:45 p.m.

In attendance:  Executive Board (EB) Members:  Alan Tomkins (Chair), Pat O’Connor(Treasurer), Alison Martin (Student Representative), Cliff O'Donnell (Chair-Elect), Cathy Stein (Secretary)

1. Welcome and Introductions

2. Review Agenda:  Chair, Alan Tomkins welcomed Board members.  Agenda for meeting was reviewed for any necessary revisions or additions.

3. Approval of Minutes for Mid-Summer Meeting 8/24/98 (Conference Call) were unanimously approved.

4. Treasurer's Report:  Treasurer Pat O’Connor provided an update on the status of the Council's budget.  As of this meeting, the balance was $2999.16.  Pat reported that 31 programs and 3 individuals paid Fall 1998 dues and that there were 7 programs not paid.  It was noted that the Mid-Winter meeting is a major expense of the Council and that Board members should discuss ways to continue to minimize costs of the Mid-Winter meeting. Due to the small number of programs in each category, it was suggested that the Council program categories of "Community Interdisciplinary" and "Community Other," be combined to form a single category named "Community Interdisciplinary." It was agreed that this category would be used for future billing of dues.  The usefulness of combining these categories was further discussed later in the meeting and is summarized in "upcoming elections" section of the minutes.

5. Plans for Upcoming Elections:  Alan Tomkins provided the Board with copies of an email from Stephen Small in which Stephen resigned from the Board and from his position as secretary. In his letter, Stephen discussed being unable to attend the Mid-winter and June SCRA meetings and being professionally overcommitted in general as reasons for his resignation.  Alan asked Cathy Stein to become secretary and she agreed to do so. It was noted that as Chair, Alan will be rotating off the Board and that with Stephen Small's resignation, two new Board members would need to be elected.  Cliff suggested that Alan continue to be on the Board for one more year, since he had missed his first year while on sabbatical, to represent “Community Interdisciplinary" programs, a position now vacant due to Small's resignation.  Alan graciously agreed to extend his stay on the Board for one more year. The terms of Board members were discussed and are as follows:  Cliff, Chair-elect, one year remaining; Pat, treasurer, one year remaining, Cathy, secretary, two years remaining; Alison, student representation, one year remaining; Alan, present, one year extension. It was noted that the Board needed to vote for a Chair-elect, Cathy Stein and Pat O’Connor declined to serve as Chair, and further discussion was tabled until later in the meeting.  At the end of the meeting it was decided that there should be a temporary increase from one to two Council representatives from Free Standing Community Programs on the Council for 1999-2000.  This change would reflect the number of free standing programs who are affiliated with the Council and facilitate the nomination and election of a Chair-elect for the EB.

6. Reports and Updates:

Recruitment of Programs: Pat reported that she has been unable to attempt to recruit new programs due to professional time constraints.  Cliff suggested that programs in Australia and New Zealand might be interested in joining.  Cliff said that he would email Pat with the names of new programs to see if they were Council members. Pat agreed to follow-up with recruitment materials to those programs Cliff suggested that were not currently Council members.

SCRA program:  Alan reported that Cary Cherniss, Julian Rappaport, and Rhona Weinstein have agreed to be participants in a round table discussion on training to be presented at SCRA on Wednesday, June 9, 1999 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm.  Alan asked if someone else on the Board would be willing to co-chair the session.  As Pat and Cliff will not be able to attend the SCRA meeting, Cathy agreed to co-chair the session with Alan.  Alan solicited names from the Board of others who might be appropriate for the round table panel. Suggestions were given by Board members and Alan agreed to follow-up and contact potential participants.  Cathy agreed to write questions to give to Alan to facilitate discussion for the round table.

Student Exchange: Cliff provided a history about how the student exchange project began.  Cliff reported that he sent an email to all of the program chairs describing the student exchange program and the schools who had agreed to participate.  Cliff reported that he has not heard if any of the schools have actually initiated exchanges and agreed to send an email to program chairs to see the extent to which students have participated in exchanges.  Cliff noted that he was unsure how well program chairs conveyed information about the student exchange project with students in their programs.  Alison agreed to write an email about the exchange program on the student listserv to increase visibility of the project.  It was suggested that the Council may want to consider funding a $500 student scholarship to defray costs for a student who participates in the exchange project.

Distance Learning: Cliff reported that he sent an email about distance learning to program directors to solicit information and feedback, but received no response from program directors.  Cliff put together information about distance learning and websites that might be helpful to people interested in the topic.  It was suggested that Cliff write an article for The Community Psychologist (TCP.) to disseminate this information and that someone who has actually done distance learning to also write about their experiences in CP.  Cliff agreed to pursue this possibility.

Award for Contributions to Training and Research in Community Psychology:  Cliff reported on previous discussions about creating an award given by the Council to recognize individuals who contribute to community training. The Board discussed the merits of such an award and decided that the award should focus specifically on training accomplishments and not to include research accomplishments. It was decided that an inaugural award should be presented at the SCRA round table presentation to recognize the founding members of the Council and that the award should be given every two years thereafter at SCRA. Cliff agreed to draft a document outlining the criteria for the award. Cathy agreed to obtain certificates of recognition for the following seven first recipients:  Richard Price, Kenneth Heller, Edward Seidman, N. Dickon Reppucci, Murray Levine, Anthony D'Augelli, Edwin Susskind.  Alan agreed to contact the first recipients and invite them to the Council presentation to receive their award.

Web site issues: Alison reported that former student representative, David Lounsbury, is making arrangements to move the Council's website to the APA server.  According to Alison, David has agreed to manage the website until Alison obtains more experience and can take over management of the Council's website.  Until further notice all website questions and issues should continue to be directed to David.

Survey of Community Programs: Alan said that he has been in contact with David Lounsbury, from Michigan State University who is conducting the survey of Community Programs. David has conveyed to Alan that he will have the results of the survey by June as he is doing a poster on the survey for the conference.  The Board discussed how the final results of the survey would be disseminated.  It was noted that historically, a special issue of TCP. is devoted to the description of community programs and results of the survey.  This special issue was disseminated to undergraduate institutions as a recruitment tool for community programs.  Alan agreed to follow up with the editor of TCP. to see if 1999 survey results could be featured in a special issue of TCP. and work with David about writing up survey information for dissemination.

Cultural Compatibility Project:  Cliff reported on the history of the Cultural Compatibility Project to help promote cultural diversity in community programs. Cliff reported that Cary Cherniss, past president, completed a survey on cultural diversity in community programs and reported his findings in an article in CP.  Cliff completed a literature review on cultural compatibility issues and has put together a list of psychologists who specialize in diversity issues.  It was suggested that the Cherniss piece, and O'Donnell literature review be placed on the Council's website.  It was also suggested that Cliff's email address be included on the website as Board representative for diversity speaker referral list, and Cliff agreed to be the contact person for the speaker's list.  Alison agreed to contact David Lounsbury about placing this material on the website.

CCTC Statement:  Cliff reported that his draft of a policy statement encouraging APA-Accredited graduate and internship programs to award practicum and placement credit for community work was approved by the APA Council of Chairs of Training Councils (CCTC). Cliff suggested that this statement be placed on the Council website and be published on the SCRA listserv.

Employment Project: Cliff reported that his edited book with Joe Ferrari on employment in community psychology should be published in early 2000.  Alan suggested that the Abstract for the book be on the Council website.

Feedback on Annual Survey of Member Programs: EB committee members reported on their conversations with program directors about the status of their respective programs. The general impression from committee members were that most programs were doing well.

Thinking about the Future of CPDCRA:  Alan invited the committee to think about the mission of the Council and entertain the idea of disbanding the Council.  Alan helped members to articulate the goals and direction of the Council. Cliff provided members with a brief history of Council activities. There was discussion about ways to keep in contact with committee members without incurring the expense of a mid-winter meeting.  A mid-winter conference call was proposed as an alternative to a mid-winter meeting and the merits of this was discussed.  The committee decided to be mindful of the purpose of the Council and periodically consider the degree to which it was meeting its goals.

There was no new business.  The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.