Committee Terms of Reference

Vision Statement

Abbotsford's families and children 0 to 6 are healthy, safe and secure, successful learners, and socially engaged and responsible.

Mission Statement

The AECC is a catalyst for building family and community capacity in strengthening the health and well being of children.

Our Purpose

" Promote partnerships and collaboration among community organizations, agencies, individuals, and businesses
" Contribute to the design of a community action plan
" Guide the development of project activities for which funding is received (UEY, MCFI)
" Plan, promote, and implement educational and awareness initiatives
" Identify resources - formal and informal
" Provide support for the projects, such as materials, facilities, facilitators, speakers, according to capacity of committee
" Provide support and suggestions, and open doors for funding to work towards sustainability
" Participate in the evaluation of the projects and evaluation of individual initiatives

Our Core Values:

Mutual respect Strength-based
Inclusive "every child counts" Community-based
Valuing families Prevention
Collaboration Advocacy
Celebrate diversity

Functions of the Host Agency

The Host Agency is responsible for administering the funds, providing office space for the project(s), and clerical, financial
supports. The project staff are employed or under contract with the Host Agency. They work collaboratively with members of the
Committee to achieve the projects' objectives. Refer to Appendix A for a more detailed description of Host Agency Functions and
financial agreement.

Membership

The Committee offers two types of membership: general membership and core membership.

General membership is open to all interested parties and comprises of representatives from community organizations, agencies, and
groups, plus individual community members who have an interest in enhancing opportunities in the community for families and
children 0 to 6. Anyone with an interest in achieving the Committee's purpose and working towards the projects' goals is eligible for
membership.

General members of the Committee receive meeting agendas, event and activity invitations, opportunities to volunteer, and any other
information that may be deemed relevant. General members are invited and welcomed to attend Core Committee meetings but will
not have a vote.

Core membership is open to all general members. Core Membership requires a minimum one-year commitment to attend monthly
meetings. All core members possess a vote when it comes to decision-making.

Core members are strongly encouraged to attend all Core Committee meetings for the duration of their commitment. Should a Core
Member miss a meeting, that Core Member is deemed to be in agreement with the decisions made at that meeting. Please do not
send alternates or replacements in your place when missing a meeting. Alternates and/or replacements will not receive a vote. In
April of each year, core membership shall be reviewed.

Community representation on core committee should include: MCFD, public health, library, city, FVCDC, school district, ECD
expertise (preschools, daycares, service provider perspective).

Core membership is limited to a maximum of 20 members.

Core Member Duties
" Provide direction on the committee's initiatives and projects
" Participate in strategic planning
" Share knowledge and best practices
" Provide advocacy support
" Advise Host Agency regarding project staff/contractors and other terms and conditions of employment/contract
" 6 members of the core committee, representative of the following sectors, will form the leadership team:
o Ministry of Children and Family Development
o School District No. 34
o City of Abbotsford
o Health
o Host Agency
o Agency - Service Provider

Duties of the Leadership Team/Steering Committee:
" provide input and feedback to project coordinator on decisions of an urgent matter
" provide guidance on subjects of a sensitive nature - concerns with sponsor, team members
" operate as a quick response team
" inform committee core members of decisions
" make final decisions in the allocation of funding

Project Team Roles and Responsibilities

Refer to Appendix B for detailed description of team member roles and responsibilities

Meetings

Meetings are held monthly and as required. The meetings are scheduled at times that are appropriate for the majority of the
members of the Committee and are held in the host agencies boardroom or as determined by the members.

Meeting agendas are drafted by the project coordinator and distributed by staff prior to the meetings. Additional agenda items
may be added by informing the project coordinator in advance or informing the chair at the time of the meeting. All efforts will be
made to ensure there is time to deal with additional items. Where additional items have not been covered at a meeting, these items
shall be brought forward as unfinished business at the following committee meeting.

A record is kept of all meetings including ad hoc or extraordinary meetings. The recorder is a project team member. The meeting
notes are distributed to Core members subsequent to each meeting. Records are maintained at the Host Agency and are accessible
upon request.

Decision-making

Decisions are made by consensus. Consensus decision-making does not mean total agreement. It however requires individual members
to examine two factors:
1. Is the decision part of a solution?
2. Can I live with the decision?
If the answer to these questions is no, then the member should withhold consensus.

In the event that consensus cannot be reached, the committee will proceed to a vote. A vote will be considered successful by
receiving the majority of votes. There will be a maximum of one vote allotted per program. Any core committee member can
request an item be taken to a vote.

Conflict of Interest Guidelines

Committee members have a duty to avoid being in conflict between the committee's interests and their agencies' interests.
Whenever a committee member has a personal interest in the same subject matter as the committee, a conflict of interest arises.
Conflict of interest must be disclosed to the committee when it first becomes known. The individual declaring conflict should not
vote or take part in the discussion toward any decision.

There is nothing inherently wrong with having a conflict of interest. Problems arise when a committee member fails to disclose the
conflict. When declaring a conflict a committee member's disclosure must:
" Be full and honest
" Be made promptly to committee members
" Include the specific form of the interest
" Include the benefit that would be received

Failure to disclose and take measures to avoid a conflict of interest may result in a core committee member being asked to leave
the meeting and further conflict may result in the committee member being asked to step down from the committee permanently.