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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 07/11/2019APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2019 7:00 P.M., Eden Prairie Center Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper, (Chair), Shahram Missaghi, (Vice Chair), Sana Elassar, Katherine Lucht, Leslie Philmon, Rehmatbai Sumra, Philip Skeie, Asad Aliweyd, Tyler Aman COMMISSION STAFF: Megan Yerks, Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Leeper called the meeting to order. Aliweyd was absent. Philmon arrived during approval of the minutes. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS The guest speakers for the evening were the Ladybirds of India. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Lucht moved, seconded by Elassar, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 7-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE JUNE 11, 2019 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Elassar moved, seconded by Philmon, to approve the June 11th, 2019 minutes. Motion carried 8-0. V. LOCAL NON-PROFIT PRESENTATION – LADYBIRDS OF INDIA Yerks started the presentation by stating there would be 4 representatives from the Ladybirds of India that would like to discuss their cultural events with the Commission. One of the representatives stated the organization started in 2008 in the Fountain Place Apartment complex as a summer program to introduce their culture to their kids. She stated it has grown since then. She also pointed out they started as a Yahoo group and then moved it to Facebook. There are 570 members of which all are ladies. The membership is free and not just exclusive to members of the Fountain Place Apartment complex. Some of the events that take place are as follows: HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES July 11, 2019 Page 2 - Independence Cultural Event – this takes place August 17-18 and includes approximately 700-800 attendees. - Food & Fun Fest – this takes place in June at Fountain Place and includes approximately 500 attendees. - Kids Fun Fest – this takes place either in June or July at Fountain Place and includes approximately 200 attendees. - Ladies/Kids Sports Day – this takes place in the summer at Fountain Place and includes approximately 100 attendees. All activities are volunteer driven and there are no fees to attend. There is only a small contribution that is collected to cover snacks and trophies. Whatever funds are collected, if there is excess, they donate to some of the following organizations: Asian Indian Family Wellness, Red Cross, Malayali Association of MN, Nepal Association of MN, Assam Foundation, RU Hungry, PROP, and St. Andrew Church. The following are their hopes for the future: - Establish a better connection with the Eden Prairie Community. - They would like to be a registered non-profit - Establish better links with the City government and institutions. - Improve the system for donation collection and passing it on. - Organize bigger and better events which can be attended by a larger number of people. - They would like better places for venues. - They would like to overcome some issues related to organizing their events. Chair Leeper asked about registering and if they have reached out to Mark Weber of the Eden Prairie Foundation. He works with organizations that are not incorporated and he would be a great resource. Sumra stated she attends all events and said it is like a home away from home. Missaghi asked if they were asking if the City could be a physical agent. Yerks said they were looking into it but the Park and Recreation Department found some challenges with public events, such as home cooked food. The Ladybirds stated they do not want to change the home cooked food portion of this event as that is one of the main attractions. Yerks suggested reaching out to faith communities. The Ladybirds said if they sell food the church would have to be a part of these functions. Chair Leeper asked Yerks to make a connection with the Ladybirds to Mark Weber. Chair Leeper also pointed out there are some events that HRDC has that they could connect with. One would be PeopleFest. Yerks stated this year they are already full. Chair Leeper suggested they be a part of next year. He also said in October there is an event called Speed-N-Prairie. The goal is to encourage understanding of different cultures. Elassar explained to the Ladybirds the Human Library event that is coming up. It takes place at the Eden Prairie Community Center and asked if any would be participants to be HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES July 11, 2019 Page 3 a book or just come in and attend. Chair Leeper also suggested they look at being involved in one of the City’s Commissions. VI. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS A. COMMUNITY UPDATES 1. Neighborhood Children’s Book – this will take place on Saturday, July 13th from 2-8pm at 12100 Singletree Lane in Eden Prairie. The purpose is to give children the opportunity to continue to read and learn while school is out and the library is closed. 2. Humans of Minneapolis – Being Black Panel Discussion – this will be held on July 18th from 5-7pm at the Hennepin History Museum. This will feature a panel of people who will share their live experiences as they relate to being Black in Minnesota and beyond. 3. ADA 29 Years of Protecting Our Rights – MN Department of Human Rights is sponsoring this event that will take place on July 26th from 1- 4pm and will be at the Anderson Center at Hamline University. This will be a 29th Anniversary Celebration of the passage of ADA. VII. OLD BUSINESS A. STOP THE TRAFFICKING 5K PACKET PICKUP Skeie said he was on the early shift for packet pickup and thought it went well; Lucht concurred. Yerks also said the event was a success and there were over 800 attendees. B. KICKIN’ IT WITH THE COPS EVENT Philmon said the rain did not deter anyone from this event and it was a good turnout. Participants that attended concurred it was a well-attended event and a lot of fun. Suggestions for next year would be to have a smaller kid zone and spread the area out a bit. Elassar stated if they do this event again they should also have recycling and have multiple garbage cans in the area. For next year have more participants for the dunk tank and a line monitor. Chair Leeper gave Yerks a huge thank you as she represented HRDC at the table for this event. C. COMMITMENT FORM Chair Leeper said he will put together a draft for this and will be implemented in October. He said it will include basic expectations for the meeting and also outside events. Also, on this form there will be a space to include your passions and also barriers. Yerks said she would like to have it rollout with the 2020 Work Plan. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES July 11, 2019 Page 4 VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. BIAS INCIDENT PROCEDURES Yerks said she made changes to this report that was discussed at the previous meeting. She would like it implemented soon. Chair Leeper asked if we could take a vote on the changes this evening. Lucht moved, seconded by Sumra to adopt the changes to the document. Motion carried 8-0. Yerks stated a letter of support was not included because she would like a commission member to draft this up. It is not mandatory with this document, just optional. Lucht said she could try and draft it up and Sumra said she would help. B. HUMAN LIBRARY Elassar asked if there were questions and asked if everyone has found a book. Chair Leeper stated he recruited PG, a City Council Member. Missaghi said the person he has reached out to is still deciding. He asked typically how many people attend this event. Lucht said approximately 20 people attended last year. Elassar said they would like to have 10 books this year. Philmon said she will be a backup book as is Elassar. Elassar said she also has three people who will be books and also David Grant; he is not an Eden Prairie resident but a part of the county. Sumra stated she had a book. Lucht will be the librarian and she may have a book also. Skeie said he has a book and can also be a backup book. Aman said he may have one if they can switch shifts at work. Yerks asked Elassar to put together a document for this event. Elassar asked if everyone could send her a list of titles by August 1st. Yerks asked if there was anyone that was a no or maybe. Everyone said they could all attend. Elassar asked if everyone could be there at 6pm the night of the 7th, as it starts at 6:30pm. The books can be there at 6:20pm and she commented it would be nice if they could stay the whole time, until 8:30pm. The time for each checkout will be 10 minutes with a maximum time of 20 minutes. Elassar suggested maybe some light music in the background would be a nice touch. Yerks said she will send out the rules of the books. C. PEOPLEFEST! PARTY This will take place on Sunday, August 11 from 3-7pm. Yerks gave some updates on this event. She said all the booths are full and no more tables are available and there is one performance slot left. They do not have representation from the Latino, African American and Native American communities. They are also trying to locate an MC for this event. Chair Leeper pointed out to the Commission that PeopleFest! is one of the Commission’s big events and he said it would be great if everyone could show up for this. Yerks said Mark Weber will be in charge of the volunteers and the Commission will be involved with performances and the food trucks. She said she is looking for a performance coordinator to assist her with this event. Sumra and Chair Leeper said they could assist Yerks with this. Yerks said she also needs the following: A primary contact HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES July 11, 2019 Page 5 for booth setup and cleanup; Lucht and Missaghi said they could help with that. Also needed is a food truck boss; Elassar expressed interest in that position. Yerks said she needs a person to run the “green team” to make sure the park is cleaned up afterwards. Elassar said she would be interested in that position also. Missaghi said he may be able to help with check in and overall booth setup. Philmon and Skeie said they will be traveling on August 11th and will not be able to attend. Chair Leeper and Elassar said they can be there at noon for overall setup. Sumra said she can stay after and help with cleanup. IX. UPCOMING MEETING A. SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 – Chair Leeper suggested since the Commission will be busy with PeopleFest on August 11th to not have the meeting on August 8th. MOTION: Missaghi moved, seconded by Lucht, to not have the meeting on August 8th. Motion carried 8-0. X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Missaghi moved, seconded by Philmon, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 8-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:57 pm