Terry Fawcett

Greetings!  I hope this holiday season finds you in good spirits despite the heavy snow and bitter cold!  Some good things are happening in MACPO that I wanted to highlight:

• ·         Three Decision Points trainings have been scheduled for January, in part due to a generous grant from the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee (JJAC).  A fourth will be offered as a special training track at the conference in May. 
• ·         Dr. Emily Gaarder, Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth will provide a presentation at the Awards dinner at the conference on the importance of implementing restorative practices in our work.  Dr. Gaarder also serves as the Duluth Site Director for the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking, University of Minnesota.
• ·         JJAC’s Juvenile Justice Specialist & Compliance Monitor Callie Hargett has been invited to address the attendees at the conference.
• ·         MACPO Lobbyist Nancy Haas will provide a legislative update at the conference.
• ·         I met with MACCAC’s Chair Midge Christianson at the AMC Annual Conference in hopes of bringing the two delivery systems closer to a healthy working relationship.  Many issues were discussed, including the “Bring Back MACCAC” campaign this year offered to staff from MACCAC counties at the conference.  I feel that safety and training should never be political.  It was a very productive meeting, and I am thankful to Midge for agreeing to meet to work through some issues.
• ·         The MACPO Executive Board voted 5-4 in opposition to supporting removal of the minimum population requirement for choosing the CCA delivery system.
• ·         I met with the DOC Chief of Staff Josh Syrjamaki on November 12^th to talk about the DOC’s Strategic Plan (One DOC Plan), which includes two strategies: Improving Organizational Culture & Delivering Exceptional Public Service.  As part of the “Delivering Exceptional Public Service” I recommended the development of a Task Force that would look at delivery systems, funding, options for reform, return on investment/impact on transforming lives of clients, etc.  I am appreciative that Josh sought input for correctional partners.

These are challenging times in corrections, yet opportunities for improvement of services to our clients, and an opportunity to work together.  While the One DOC Plan is important, we should still be operating under the One Corrections Plan that I wrote about in my initial MACPOST.  Invite each other to meetings, have coffee with someone outside of your delivery system, meet with your local legislators, etc.  Be mindful that we are supposed to be working hard to assist our clients to transform their lives.  Providing a good example and modeling is important for professionals along the way.

Terry Fawcett,

MACPO President

President@MACPO.net

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