Meetings

DakotaLink Advisory Council
Quarterly Zoom Meeting
Draft Meeting Notes
March 12th, 2024

Members Present: Richard Moeller, Eric Weiss, Amy Scepaniak, Kayla Kane, Gloria Pluimer, Bill McEntaffer, Matt Cain, Mollie Keating, Beth Schiltz, Gaye Mattke
Members Absent: Mary Sjerven, Sarah Rush, Kendra Gottsleben, Lyle Cook
Staff Present: Brett Burden, Page Hudson, Brett Crosby, James Honomichl, Alex Ramirez, Andrea Steele
Guest Present:

Meeting Start
Richard called the meeting to order at 1:08 pm MT, 2:08 pm CST.

Agenda
There were no corrections to the draft agenda.  Gloria motioned to approve the agenda. Amy seconded.

Meeting Notes
There were no corrections to the December 11^th meeting notes. Amy motioned to approve the meeting notes. Gloria seconded.

ATIA Experience
Brett Crosby is a technician at the Sioux Falls DakotaLink office. He spoke on his experience at the ATIA conference this year. That conference was held in Orlando, Florida on January 25^th, 26^th, & 27^th. ATIA is held annually for assistive technology companies to congregate and show off what they can offer companies and individuals. He demonstrated to the council a type of software called MindView. It is made by a company called MatchWare out of Europe. It allows people to visualize content in a mind mapping format. It costs $499 for a three-year subscription.

2023 Annual Progress Report
Page said the 2023 annual report was approved by the federal government with no issues. It is viewable on the DakotaLink website.

ACP: Affordable Connectivity Program
This government program will be ending in April due to lack of funds. It may be available in the future if they receive more funds. It helps provide people with affordable internet services.

Open Position in Sioux Falls
Alex Ramirez was hired for this position on February 27^th, 2024. He introduced himself to the council.

DakotaLink Advisory Council Hybrid Meeting in June
A hybrid meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 18, 2024. The reason for the hybrid meeting to have the best attendance possible during the meeting whether people can attend in person or via zoom. The exact time will be determined after Page sends out an email to all the council members. A hybrid meeting means there is a DDN hooked up for people to join via zoom and then all the people who are able to attend in person may arrive at the Sioux Falls DakotaLink office address.

This June, the meeting will be held at the Sioux Falls DakotaLink office. Next year the hybrid meeting will be held at the Rapid City DakotaLink office. The reason the meetings will alternate between the Sioux Falls and the Rapid City locations is because those are the locations DakotaLink does the most business. The goal is to host tours of each facility the day of each hybrid meeting. Page will be asking everyone in attendance to explain how they or their family use assistive technology and what their position and responsibilities are in their employment.

DakotaLink Outreach Efforts
DakotaLink is currently advertising through social media, KELO, and Midcontinent. Brett Burden shared that DakotaLink and the TIE office were going to start filming a longer version of a video this week but there has been some scheduling conflicts. It is still in progress.

Right now, Midco advertising is focused East River except for Sioux Falls. DakotaLink ran Midco ads West River last year. Brett met with the Midco sales rep lady recently. She said the ads are not receiving enough clicks. However, several people are saying they have seen the ads. Midco and DakotaLink may try a new ad. Currently, the KELO ads are running West River on MeTV.

In the future, Brett Burden would like to create a YouTube account and upload DakotaLink’s videos. Page will double check if DakotaLink is still on Twitter and Instagram. Page talked to Sioux Falls Simplified and Pigeon 605 about advertising some testimonials of successful loans on those websites. They both said yes. Once DakotaLink accrues some successful loan testimonials, Page will reach out to them again to advertise them.

DakotaLink Low-Interest Loan Program
Page Hudson contacted the DRS district supervisors in Sioux Falls. Brett Burden contacted the Rapid City DRS district supervisors and asked them to help spread the word about the loan. These supervisors forwarded it on to Lifescape, DakotaAbilities, SE behavior Health, Goodwill, and Teachwell Solutions. Brett is scheduled to do a presentation to the SBVI Rehabilitation teachers in a couple weeks.

Brett receives several calls on vehicle loan requests; however, no new applications have been completed.

Brett did research lately and discovered that there is a national organization that has a website resource for accessible vehicles that has DakotaLink’s information listed. However, DakotaLink’s listed information was wrong. He submitted a request for that organization to update the information or remove it. Updating it is Brett’s preference.

Next Meeting
The next meeting is set for Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Page will send an email to lock in an exact time.

Meeting End
Gloria motioned to adjourn the meeting. Bill seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 1:55 pm MT, 2:55 pm CST.

Notes taken by Andrea Steele