Career Resources, Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Minutes via Zoom November 12, 2021 Board Members Present Lucy Baney (via Zoom) Victor Fuda Mickey Stayman Jill Brennan Mayor Toni Harp Mark Thorsheim Kam Cheung Christopher Kunhardt Ilsa Moreno Craig Donovan Betsy Dupont Rev. D. Stanley Lord Mark Soycher David Scaramozza Sharon Martinez Crystal Engram Rich Dupont Roger McKenzie, Chairman Staff Present Dr. William Clark Wanda Lary Danielle Turner Joe Rietano Kathy Maness Scott Wilderman, CEO Kim Harris Mary Murano Rob Hebert Angela Pelligrino-Grant Chris Landino Krystyna Ramano Roger McKenzie called the meeting to order at 8:32 am. Mission Moment – Scott Wilderman Honored two colleagues who are retiring: • Kathy Maness, runs One Stop, going to be an unsurmountable loss. I never had to worry. Kathy reminisced on how she met Scott originally, plans to travel and relax. Roger offered his travel planning assistance for Jamaica. Rich DuPont thanked Kathy for all of her workforce development contributions over the years. • Joe Rietano – Originally was involved with Powerline originally. Scott reflected of Joe’s personality being such a perfect fit for what he needed as an HR lead and his expertise. Scott thanked Joe for introducing him to golf. Joe will be a big loss for CRI. Joe shared some remarks and reflected that he still sees some of the Powerline kids. Looking forward to coaching baseball. Joe is the consummate multi-tasker – he relayed a story where he helped Scott solve a payroll issue while on a parade float in New Mexico. Minutes approved via vote at 8:45 am Strategic Issues – Scott Wilderman Solar/PosiGen: Solar on all 4 houses, PosiGen, No out of pocket costs for set up will save CRI a total of $3k per month as a result, plus reducing our carbon footprint. We are leasing the equipment so no maintenance costs. Project Evaluation Subcommittee (PES): Scott said CRI is facing a good problem of too many opportunities. To address, Chris took on a project to drive the creation of a scorecard to evaluate the opportunities. Rob Hebert used the evaluation form for the first project, Credible Messenger. Proposed members for the variety of backgrounds represented: Mickey, Chris and Jill. Mickey moved to approve. Roger seconded. Waveny Healthcare Project: Shortage of qualified employees projected. Dr. Clark provided background and that the program will leverage STRIVE. It’s a paid training program with Waveny offering to help with wraparound services as the clients are trained (eg childcare, transportation, etc) The goal will be training 100 clients. It is a unique approach with the partnerships, scope and also the help of Bernie Parks from SVP. City of Bridgeport ARPA funds: Scott gave a shout out to Mary, Rob, Dr Clark, Angela for the $2M over two years for a variety of programs. CRI is the largest grant recipient for funds tied to serving Bridgeport. Reentry Welcome Center – nothing exists in Bridgeport so far. This will help CRI’s Reentry efforts as well as Entry Point Staffing STRIVE – This funding ties STRIVE to our residential programs in Bridgeport Secure Jobs (been around 6 years, in partnership with Melville Charitable Trust) to help families grow out of homelessness and gain stability. It’s been successful, but the funding manner had changed, so this will help fund the program for the next three years which also covers the variety of expenses for families YCA – Leadership based, job readiness program. This will allow CRI to partner with RIASTAT in Bridgeport to help reduce the administration process to qualify the youth for the program. This will boost CRI’s profile in the city of Bridgeport as well. Some press opportunities with this grant, as well. Vineyard Winds Credit goes to Rob Hebert for this project. They have always been Reentry friendly. Communicating with them for three years. Our reputation helped us win this program, more training funds than typical. First cohort June 2022, and ideally a long-term partnership and is another example of private sector partnership. Rich Dupont shared some context about this project by Colin Cooper State’s Chief Manufacturing Officer asking about Community College involvement. Rich thinks this partnership with CRI is a better fit, but there is still an opportunity to partner in the greater Bridgeport area. Targeting roles that are sourced from Bridgeport and certain percentages must be returning citizens. Need to be work ready, educated on green energy. CRI will recruit and prepare people for secondary training for the roles. Roger asked about another green company that we have done work with. Rob Hebert said that CRI did work with PosiGen a few years ago. That went well and we are still essentially in a relationship with them as evidenced by the solar on the residential houses. Chris Kunhardt challenged the team about how to capture best practices for longer term build and maintain of relationships with the private sector since CRI seems to be building critical mass. Organizational Metrics – Angela Pelligrino-Grant FY ended June 30 2021 – these programs reflect 90{1f039711b840c078d28ef67e2242d847b07366eda7a19d9b499ee802413fd790} of our revenue How many people served and how many were we able to assist with employment: 2 AJC’s – SW 571, NW 556. AJC doesn’t measure employment until after they’ve left our services. We expect to meet 70{1f039711b840c078d28ef67e2242d847b07366eda7a19d9b499ee802413fd790}. We’ve met every year in NW since we’ve had the contract. STRIVE – 166 statewide, placed 73 into employment Reentry residential – 139 past year, employed 63. Reminder that many residents were not able to seek employment due to COVID and DOC restrictions. Foster Grandparents: Substantial amount of revenue. COVID challenged this program, but we still served 70 low income seniors grandparents and 120 students via outreach. Employment is not a metric for this program. Kam – do we follow and measure follow up? Angela: “Yes, 4 quarters of follow up in many programs such as STRIVE and Entry Point Staffing.” Follow up to come. Lisher Lager – 50 cases produced. Jim sold 38 cases. Finance Committee report – Mickey Balance Sheet – Receivables continue to grow, driven by the Workplace. As of Sept 30, The Workplace was $330K past due. We needed to tap our line of credit for $150k as a result. This was repaid in October as the Department of Corrections prepayment was received. P&L – Revenue is a little behind, primarily offset by a favorable effect from salaries and benefits. Deficit is driven by Entry Point Staffing. Focus to reduce costs. Structuring this differently going forward due to EPA strategic role for CRI long term. Cash FlowLargest impact is from the operating deficit. Focusing on working capital to reduce cash needs going forward. Rich Dupont questioned the Workplace payments and thanked Mickey for his efforts here. Mickey said the late payments are coming a bit quicker, closer to 60 days than over 60 days, but not the level of improvement that we want. Met with Workplace last year. CRI continues to press on the hardship that this places on our operations. Contract is up this winter, so efforts underway to prepare for this discussion. Scott – if Workplace cuts physical check it’s a quicker process than ACH transfer. They have been doing this now. Scott – close to being complete for the Audit. Goal is to complete by end of November. So far so good. In the package, refer to the Management Discussion and Analysis. Scott raised attention to DOC releasing RFPs for Isiah and Mary Magdelene halfway houses. These are long term (5 years+) contracts, and we are locked in as a result. We estimate a 24{1f039711b840c078d28ef67e2242d847b07366eda7a19d9b499ee802413fd790} increase and fair market rents as we developed our responses. We hope to hear soon on how DOC responds. Cost savings side. D&O policy renewed. Krystyna to send a copy for everyone’s records. Saved $24K in insurance costs with reduction in policy cost. EPS restructuring how we fund Lisa Tella’s salary through involving her with STRIVE and Reentry. Mickey evaluating the overhead/admin costs and how we allocate, absorb and use. This will be helpful as we renew our bids for the programs so that we can better match the effort for the programs for the future and support them in a way that doesn’t overly burden CRI overall. Kam questioned how we address inflation in our bids with the long term contracts. Rob mentioned the CT Nonprofit Alliance is helping overall to plead the case for all non-profits and increase in costs. Hopefully this will help us. Marketing & Fundraising – Chris Landino Over past two months in his exploratory conversations, he immediately uncovered we have a branding issues. We’re planning a marketing retreat to discuss and plan for the future. There are nuances in positioning us in Workforce development vs. Business development for the purposes of fundraising. People think we are the Workplace, or everyone THINKS we’re the Workplace. Strategically we need to clarify our differentiated positioning. Chris shared his notes from conversations with his primary contacts. Agenda loose with the conversation. He is encouraged with conversations despite the branding issue mentioned. The good work that CRI has done speaks strongly to keep these conversations going. Three tiered approach for his focus. Tier 1 focus. Bank of America – has known her a long time. Since we do not have sponsorship vehicle in place, we are leaving money on the table. Such as a Community Forum. These funds would be indepent of a grant Citi Community – precedent is that they don’t give less than $50K CT Next – economic development group. Also spoken with Small Busness Administration. Challenged Chris on how we postitiong ourselves in Biz Dev space. Esp EPS. This opens up an entire space for funding. Scott and Chris met with CT Next. Asked us to prepare projections for specific metro areas. M&T Bank – expanding through People’s acquisition. We’re at the top of list for 2022. Apply for $10K by year end. Focus on growing. Stephen Cohen foundation. They responded immediately – interested in Workforce Development. Likely $50K range TD Charitable thinks we’re the Workplace. Discussions are underway also with Travelers. Webster & Wells Fargo – focus for 2022. Webster doubling size and we are at the top of their list. Podcast or other sponsorship vehicle. Grants – Mary Murano CT Dept of Education $40K for an Adult Ed program at the Baney Center. Bridgeport Rotary Club – we are expecting $20K for a conflict resolution program at Baney Center. Two big proposals due in December: Credible Messenger and a second transitional housing program. HR – Krystyna Romano We have hired 12 since Board Retreat. Dan Perkins will do Payroll. Rebecca will do benefits. Online onboarding going well. Each year we host a large Thanksgiving lunch. This year due to COVID, we’ll do it outdoors 11:30-1 in a tent. Dignitaries invited. 150 Hot meals precooked and prepacked (prepared by Trumbull High School students.) Roger adjourned meeting at 10:02