Hi, Folks-Here are some NYSCAA updates and other items that you might find of interest.

NYSCAA News and Updates

Yonkers Risk Management Session. NYSCAA is hosting its fourth in series of four regional risk management roundtables. For more information about the session to be held on Friday, November 2^nd, 10:30-2:30 at the Yonkers Public Library, please go to http://www.nyscaaonline.org/Events_Events_NYSCAAEvents.aspx

June Annual Conference and Awards Dinner. Thank you to all who responded to our brief survey on conference locations. The winning location was Lake George, NY. Given the many comments about the need to host an event in western New York, the Membership Development Committee will host the June 2009 conference in western New York in Niagara Falls. Mark your calendar now for June 11-13, 2008 at the Georgian Resort in Lake George and hold June 10^th for a possible pre-conference session that you won’t want to miss. Details to follow.

Poverty Symposium-David Greenberg of the Center for American Progress has agreed to be out Keynoter for the February 25-26 Symposium on Poverty and Economic Security. Please mark your calendar now and plan on joining us for this second of what we hope will be an annual event.

Workshops for Asset Development Announced. As part of NYSCAA’s new EITC and Other Asset Formation Grant activities, we are hosting a series of session to assist CAAs and others in developing Asset Development Programs and moving our customers who file taxes with our assistance into these programs. Financial Education and Asset Development Training: Workshops for Human Services Personnel Serving Low-Income Working Families will be held in five regions of the state: In cooperation with Chautauqua Opportunities and other trainers from across the state, NYSCAA is hosting these sessions this December FREE of charge. An agenda will be posted soon as well as registration information. These one-day workshops will include sessions on the following:

How to bring financial education opportunities to your customers AND make sure they participate
How to recruit and work with volunteers to conduct financial literacy and asset development training
How to approach financial institutions to assist with setting up bank accounts and opening Individual Development Accounts (IDAs)
How to successfully use the Money Smart curriculum

The workshops are scheduled for the following dates in December. Specific location and registration information will be posted soon. Workshops are free and lunch is included but pre-registration is required. Registration will be open soon on the NYSCAA website. Sessions are open to all organizations looking to provide financial education and asset development services. For more information, go to http://www.nyscaaonline.org/cnfcontent/2007/EITC/EITC.pdf or contact Lisa Allison at lallison@nyscaaonline.org.

Ø Monday, December 3rd (Rochester, NY)

Ø Tuesday, December 4th (Syracuse, NY)

Ø Monday, December 10th (Poughkeepsie, NY)

Ø Tuesday, December 11th (Schenectady, NY)

Ø Friday, December 14th (Corning, NY)

Ø Monday, December 17th (Corning, NY - snow date for Rochester/Syracuse/Corning training)

Congratulations to Mohawk Valley Community Action Agency. MVCAA was selected as the Community Action Partnership’s 2008 Calendar Photo Contest Winner. The 2008 CAP Calendar will feature MVCAA’s picture and will be mailed to Partnership members in early November and additional copies will be available for sale.

Thank you RECAP. Thank you to Chuck Darden and his senior management team for meeting with me on October 11^th. I appreciated hearing your thoughts on NYSCAA and on policy issues on which we should be focusing our attention.

NYSCAA Executive Committee is meeting by conference call on Tuesday, November 6^th at 10:00 via confernce call. Please call 1-866-360-1500 and enter code 3162025# at the prompt. Please let Gordon Hazel hazelgj@jceo.org and Denise dharlow@nyscaaonline.org know if your plans to attend change.

Other Events and Items of Interest

Coalition for Human Needs Host Webinar. A webinar about how to prevent a presidential veto from derailing gains in education, health care, nutrition, and a host of vital services for families and communities will be help Thursday, November 1, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. eastern time by the Coalition of Human Needs. To register go to http://www.bostonconferencing.com/chn/1 . NYSCAA will be participating and will share lessons learned with the network.
Speakers:
Ben Allen, National Head Start Association
Mark Wolfe, National Energy Assistance Directors Association
Deborah Weinstein, Coalition on Human Needs
Moderator: Ellen Teller, Food Research and Action Center
(When you register, you will receive an email with instructions for joining the webinar. If you don't receive such an email, please first check to see if it was caught up in a spam filter; if not, please contact Maricela Donahue at mdonahue@chn.org)

The Community Action Partnership’s Winter Conference. WORK HARD IN THE BIG EASY! January 9-11, 2008 at the New Orleans Marriott. Click here to see the array of training intensives, panels, and activities we have planned for the 2008 Winter Conference. Meeting in New Orleans is an emotional return for the Community Action network and a fitting location for the release of the “Community Action Plan to Reduce Poverty.” We will hear from the New Orleans and Gulf State CAAs on their rebuilding efforts. The intensive training sessions cover relevant topics such as Housing Tax Credits, Maximizing CAA Resources, By-Laws and Board Best Practices and much more! Register today and reserve your room at the newly renovated New Orleans Marriott at a fantastic rate of $159 single or double. Please complete and return the registration form (click here). Registration is $395. Current members pay only $345.

Family Development Association of New York State (FDANYS). Mark your calendars with a save the date for FDANYS’ annual confernce scheduled for May 21-22 at the Desmond in Albany.

Fiscal Policy Institute recently released its annual update to The State of Working New York. To see a copy of this report, go to http://fiscalpolicy.org/archivepages/sowny_archive.html.

Thanks!

Denise

Denise Harlow, CEO

New York State Community Action Association, Inc.

2 Charles Blvd.

Guilderland, NY 12084

518-690-0491, ext. 24

FAX 518-690-0498

dharlow@nyscaaonline.org

Join the Call for a Statewide Commission on Poverty and Economic Security. Learn more and add your name and organization to the list of supporters at http://www.nyscaaonline.org/FirstPageNewsArticles/StateWidePovAndEcoSec.aspx.