The Consultant

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Glen Peterson is regional manager for Mennonite Economic Development Associates’ capacity building project for CDCs and economic development organizations in south Florida, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Indianapolis.

Glen is a member of the International Policy Governance® Association and trained with John and Miriam Carver at the Policy Governance® Academy. Peterson provides technical assistance to adopt and install a complete board governance system that links an organization to its moral ownership, holds it accountable to accomplish what it should and avoid unacceptable situations.

For fifteen years he was the executive director of a community-based organization that provides microenterprise training, financial literacy and traditional employment programs in south Los Angeles.

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Taxpayer Education Programs from State BOE Chairman John Chiang

State Board of Equalization Chairman John Chiang periodically hosts taxpayer
education programs for his constituents. These programs are held for small
business owners, non-profit and religious organizations, as well as specific
industry groups. Chairman Chiang's taxpayer education programs bring
representatives from a variety of federal, state, and local tax agencies
together to help individuals, businesses, and organizations better
understand their federal, state, and local tax compliance obligations. The
programs are especially helpful to individuals, organizations, and small to
medium sized businesses who feel overwhelmed by all of the complex tax laws
and tax reporting requirements.

Past topics have included: (1) Social Security Benefits & Small Business
Owners; (2) Raffle Reporting and Pre-Registration Requirements; (3) State
and Federal Payroll Tax Reporting and Depositing Requirements; (4) Home
Based Businesses; (5) Audits and Appeals; (6) Record Keeping Obligations;
(7) State Income Tax and Small Businesses; (8) The Difference Between an
Employee or Independent Contractor; (9) How to Start a Small Business; (10)
Financing Your Small Business; (11) General Sales and Use Tax Reporting
Requirements; (12) How to Prepare a Sales and Use Tax Return; (13) Sales Tax
for Construction Contractors; (14) Property Tax Exemptions.

Within the next few weeks, Chairman Chiang is hosting a Free California Tax
Amnesty Informational Panel Discussion to inform his constituents about the
California Tax Amnesty Campaign that began February 1, 2005 and continues
through March 31, 2005. More information about Chairman Chiang's California
Tax Amnesty Panel Discussion will follow shortly.

We have found that these taxpayer education programs are most successful
when Chairman Chiang partners with a local community based organization to
host a particular event. Programs are typically scheduled at least six to
eight weeks in advance and draw, on average, seventy-five to one hundred
fifty attendees. The number of attendees varies depending on the
organization, program location, etc.

Little Haiti Housing Association

Sam Diller, Executive Director of Little Haiti Housing Association greets MEDA board member during a tour of the south Florida Capacity Partership Project sites. MEDA subaward helped LHHA plan and start a home ownership conversion project.

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Little Haiti Housing Association and Miami Dade Neighborhood Housing

. . . hosted the MEDA board of directors as they toured CCF projects in south Florida as part of their board meetings.

Pictured here is Howard Good, MEDA Vice President, North American Opporations; Leoni Hermantin, Board Chair, Little Haiti Housing Association and director of Sant La Little Haiti Neighborhood Center; and Arden Shank, Executive Director, Miami Dade Neighborhood Housing

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Kids programs at Peacemakers Center at Trinity Church

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Trinity Church has a lot of programs going on through its Peacemaker Center. These pre-schoolers are enjoying a hot lunch during their school day.

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Local Hero Susan Burton

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MEDA Capacity Partnership Project participant Susan Burton of A New Way of Life Re-entry Project, was awarded the Neighborhood Hero Award by Bank of America. She is pictured here near the center in pink with here board of directors. Congratulations Susan from all of us.

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Policy Governance Academy 2004, Atlanta, GA

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It was a great opportunity to study Policy Governance with its designer John Carver and Miriam Mayhew Carver. Here we are pictured with the group who participated in the Policy Governance Academy this week.

Policy Governance Academy in Atlanta Georgia

I had the great opportunity to attend the week long Policy Governance Academy in Atlanta this week with John and Miriam Carver. Policy Governance is a complete system that boards can use to fully embrace their opportunity to lead an organization to its fullest potential.

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Good Book

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from Good Publishing



And this one about helping leaders go with their strengths.



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In search of a model of legitimate leadership

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I have been looking for some good material on leadership that makes sense. Something that squares with what I have experienced and seen to influence people in a positive way. I witness an excess of poor leadership--bullies pushing people around; I'd like to see something better than that.

I found this book hard to start--too much like a tract trying to convert me to something I already believe and the print type and graphics made it hard to read on an airline seat with poor lighting.

After all of that, I got into it, and found some gems worth reading and sharing with others. I read "A Devotional on Successorship" at a recent meeting, emphasizing the importance of teaching a new generation to be leaders and helping them fit into structures before us old guys are gone.



What do you recommend?

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Boards that Make a Difference and Reinventing Your Board

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This set is the essential starting place for someone interested in starting the path to Policy Governance(r).




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What is the unique value that the board brings to an organiztaion?

A board has unique values or products that it can bring if it rises to the occasion.

The board’s contribution or products must include:

1. Linkage with the moral “ownership”
2. Explicit governing values
3. Assurance of organization performance and avoidance of unacceptable situations

John Carver in Los Angeles for CCF

Along with the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, Riordan Volunteer Leadership Development Project, JobStarts, and others, MEDA had sponsored a one day workshop on Policy Governance with John Carver the author of Boards That Make a Difference : A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series) and other books.

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Capacity building through economic development and asset building

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Met with various organizational clients to help design economic development projects and then assist in the application process to Health and Human Services Office Community Service department for funding. Various planning grants were funded in the second year.

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These kids love this guy

Scott Parker and his wife Moon provide artistic expression for kids through their Starfish Studios. Kids write, direct, produce, act in movies that are sold as DVDs and shown in public forums. On this evening they are doing skits that they wrote to develop ideas for future projects. They are also learning how to act and what works and what doesn't.

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