New health and wellness champions
Hello fellow MPCA employees. We’d like to introduce ourselves, Xiongmee Lor and Amanda Cotton, as MPCA’s new Virgin Pulse Champions. We recently completed the Leadership Academy program in 2022 and our project focused on health and wellness opportunities for all MPCA staff.
While many of us try to reach the 300 points to receive $70 off our health insurance deductibles, we learned about so many more opportunities for staff to work on personal wellness. We plan to share what is available for all of us and be a connection to MMB that organizes the Virgin Pulse program. To start, there will be a brown bag at noon on Tuesday March 7, that will include the MMB contact to give an overview of what is available to us and how to earn your 300 points. Join the meeting.
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We Are Water MN coming to the Sherburne History Center
We Are Water MN kicks off it’s 2023 tour on March 2 at the Sherburne History Center, with an opening ceremony from 4-6 p.m.
The Mississippi River St. Cloud Watershed Collaborative is hosting the exhibit and related programming. The watershed’s counties, SWCD’s and watershed districts are developing programs to communicate the importance of water to people in the watershed and raise awareness of strategies for protection and restoration.
You can visit the exhibit from March 2 through April 24 at the Sherburne History Center, 10775 27th Ave SE, Becker, MN 55308. It’s open Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is free. More info: https://www.pca.state.mn.us/events-and-meetings/we-are-water-mn-becker-2023-03-0204-24
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Tableau is getting much-needed upgrade this next weekend, March 4-5!
Our current Tableau environment is running on an older system with an older version of Tableau. We are happy to announce that we have upgraded to a new system and the latest and greatest version of Tableau. With this upgrade, there will be some changes.
If you find a link on the Lorax that goes to the old reporting site, please send an email to intranet.pca@state.mn.us to have the link updated. If you have any questions, please contact Miranda Nichols.
Voyageur and Continous Improvement Awards photos available for download
In response to many requests, we have posted all of the Voyageur and CI award photos that were taken over the last 3 years. This seemed like the easiest way for staff to have access to their portraits for other uses.
This is an unlisted link, meaning you will only be able to find this album if you have the exact URL. To download your image, click on your photo and then the 3 dots in the upper right corner.
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Learn more about your optional employee benefits
Sign up for a virtual informational meeting March 9 to speak with an Ochs account manager to discuss the following benefits:
- Life Insurance (Employee, Spouse, Child)*
- Short Term Disability (Employee)*
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment “AD&D” (Employee and Spouse)
- Long Term Disability (Employee)
*Health questions and evidence of good health are required to enroll outside of your newly eligibility period.
Be prepared — before your meeting:
- Visit ochsinc.com/stmn to learn more about your Optional Benefits
- Have your 8-digit employee ID number available
FAB tidbits
— from the Financial Assistance and Budgeting (FAB) Section, your partners in purchasing, accounting, contracting, and budgeting.
Tidbit: The Office of State Procurement (OSP) has made significant changes to their website and previous bookmarks will no longer work. The new website is: Office of State Procurement / Minnesota Office of State Procurement (mn.gov)
Many contract and purchasing deadlines are in March. Review the deadlines on the Lorax.
Term of the week: Purchase Order (PO) is a document that is used to authorize the purchase of a product or service. Issuance of a PO is required before an obligation occurs.
If you have a question that you would like the FAB section to answer in PCA 2Day, please email Sandy Bowes.
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Intercultural Development Inventory Qualified Administrator Information Session
Are you interested in cultivating a workplace culture that is more inclusive? Have you heard about the IDI? Do you know what a QA is or does? Come find out at the IDI QA Information Session! Tuesday, March 7, 11-11:30 a.m.
The IDI is widely used and well-known, and is a reliable and valid measure of intercultural competence. The IDI can be used to assess where individuals and groups are in their intercultural development along the Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC). This IDI magic can’t happen without a Qualified Administrator (QA). A QA is someone who has been trained to assist others in understanding their IDI results and supporting them on their journey of cultural competency. We are looking to recruit more QAs for the MPCA’s IDI program and would love to share all the ins and outs of what this entails, with you. Join Teams meeting.
New report series examines “forever chemicals” in industry and the future of PFAS pollution prevention
As Minnesota state agencies and community partners advance strategies to prevent, clean-up, and manage per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances, the agency is learning more about their use — and identifying alternatives that would better protect communities from contamination.
The MPCA has released the first in a series of reports on industrial uses of PFAS in Minnesota. The full report, PFAS in the metal plating and finishing industry, is intended for a technical audience, but the findings are of interest to anyone concerned about PFAS pollution.
“Taking a closer look at how industries in Minnesota use PFAS, understanding how PFAS pollution might happen, and exploring alternatives to PFAS within those industries are all steps toward a future without PFAS pollution,” says author and MPCA researcher Maya Gilchrist. Read more.
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March’s Equity Experience events
Equity Experience events offer a variety of ways to “experience” equity, so we can hold ourselves accountable to learning, growing, and engaging with this important work and our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Check out the event list on the Lorax. In order to receive an IDEA credit for attending an Equity Experience event, you will be required to report what you learned, thought, experienced, etc. to your team, so that there will be accountability and shared learning.
IDI group debrief sessions
Tuesday, March 2, 1:30-3 p.m.
As part of the MPCA's Intercultural Competency Professional Development Program, all agency employees will need to complete the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Please wait to sign up for a group debrief until after you have received your IDI code and taken the assessment. Important: Please put your full first and last name on the assessment! During the group debrief, employees will receive one IDEA credit as well as further instructions and options for next steps in continuing the IDI process. Find out more on the Lorax.
Join Teams meeting.
Join the IDEA Credit Book Club!
First discussion: Tuesday, February 28, 2-3:30 p.m.
Join Carolyn Kammeyer (she/her), recruitment & retention consultant, and Riley Spielman (they/them), diversity consultant, throughout 2023 for the IDEA Credit Book Club! We will read four books throughout the year. Our first book to kick things off is a non fiction work by Sabrina Strings, Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. The first discussion will take place Tuesday, February 28, 2-3:30 p.m. Find out more on the Lorax calendar.
Courageous Conversation training — Mental Health in the Workplace: The Stigma and the Costs
Thursday, March 9, 1-2 p.m.
Please join the Equity Committee in watching a couple videos that touch on the importance of recognizing how employee’s mental health is vital to workplace culture, the stigmas around mental health in the workplace, and the operational costs associated with ignoring this issue. Afterwards, there will be a guided discussion where we will reflect on the videos we watched, as well as discuss our own experiences with mental health in the workplace. This event is eligible for 1 IDEA Credit, and should be titled “Mental Health in the Workplace” in ELM.
Click here to join the meeting
IDI Qualified Administrator Certification Course
Interested in becoming a Qualified Administrator (QA) of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)? As we roll out the IDI agency-wide, the MPCA is in need of more qualified administrators to host group and individual debriefs for staff. Minnesota Management and Budget is offering an online IDI qualifying seminar for individuals to be trained and licensed as IDI QAs.
The seminar runs April 3-6, 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. The cost of the three half-day qualifying seminar will be paid for by the MPCA. Registration deadline: March 20.
During the seminar, participants will:
- Gain proficiency in using the IDI for increasing intercultural competence for individuals, teams, and organizations
- Learn how the IDI differs from traditional measures of intercultural competence
- Learn how to interpret individual and group IDI profiles of intercultural competence
- Practice giving IDI Profile Report debriefs in supportive role-play scenarios
- Receive introductory training to use the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory®
For more information about the IDI QA Certification course, email here. Check out step-by-step instructions on how to enroll.
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8 Hour HAZWOPER Refresher classes
This course is required for staff who respond to hazardous substances released in the environment. The course satisfies the OSHA requirements for uncontrolled hazardous waste operations, response, and management. The course will cover the levels of PPE, toxicology, chemical safety, and managing an incident. Sign up through ELM. A minimum of eight attendees is required to hold each class. Below are upcoming classes.
R32PCASAF002-092 In-person – St. Paul March 15
R32PCASAF002-093 In-person – St. Paul April 6
R32PCASAF002-090V Virtual May 31
In the news
For years, St. Paul took a hands-off approach to trash collection. Now, the city might start buying garbage trucks
It wasn’t all that long ago that the city of St. Paul took a hands-off approach to garbage collection, leaving residents responsible for arranging their own trash pickup. Now, St. Paul might get into the garbage business itself. “If St. Paul were to go away from their current system of a private consortium of haulers and start collecting with city trucks, that would be a pretty big change to their system,” said Peder Sandhei, who’s been a solid waste planner with the MPCA for 16 years. — Minn Post
Black Minnesotans disproportionately affected by environmental pollutants
Zip codes with the largest percentage of BIPOC residents had more than five times the rate of asthma emergency room visits related to air pollution compared to areas with more white residents, according to the 2022 Life and Breath report by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and MPCA. — SC TImes
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Minnesota GreenCorps salt sleuths are hitting the sidewalks in Minneapolis to help solve oversalting mysteries before they become a bigger problem! Check out their work to reduce chloride pollution in Minneapolis waterways with the City of Minneapolis Government, a GreenCorps host site this year.
Does your organization have an environmentally focused project you are looking for assistance on? Apply to host a GreenCorps member today! Applications are open now through March 14: https://bit.ly/3Ecr4WK
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