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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 11/12/2020APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 7:00 P.M., Eden Prairie Center Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper (Chair), Shahram Missaghi, (Vice Chair), Katherine Lucht, Leslie Philmon, Sana Elassar, Philip Skeie, Asad Aliweyd, Tyler Aman, Anjali Limaye STUDENT MEMBERS: Ifrah Edow, Jillian Pearson, Nadiah Johnson, Rashmi Acharya, Sehan Adan, Serena Jain COMMISSION STAFF: Megan Yerks, Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Student Commissioners Edow, Pearson and Johnson were absent. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS DeYoung Consultants and the Improve Group will be presenting during New Business. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Leeper said he would like to change the order of New Business. He would like to discuss the Work Plan first, then the Land Acknowledgement Statement and finally the Eden Prairie Race Equity Initiative. MOTION: Aliweyd moved, seconded by Philmon, to approve the amended agenda. Motion carried 9-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE OCTOBER 8, 2020 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Aliweyd, to approve the October 8, 2020 minutes. Motion carried 9-0. V. LOCAL NON-PROFIT PRESENTATION There was no presentation this evening. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 12, 2020 Page 2 VI. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS A. Community News 1. PROP – Jenny Buckland will be leaving PROP at the end of 2020. Yerks would like to find a way to compile messages from the Commissioners to put together in a card and asked they send them to her via email or chat. B. OHCS Updates 1. HSSC Applications – Park and Rec submitted an application to the HSSC (a local grant making organization) for funding to bring additional community based arts/youth leadership programming to youth in collaboration with local non-profits (Treehouse, YMCA@Briarhill and 180 Communities). The application is pending. 2. MLK Jr Day – Yerks said she is collaborating with Park and Rec to host an event in honor of the day. They are currently considering an essay or art contest with HRDC Commissioners as part of a review panel. 3. HRC Municipality Equity Index – The rough draft was sent to Rick and Ron and it is still considered internal until published. A few items have been submitted for consideration and some had positive impact. The items to consider for 2021 will be reviewed as a Commission when published to see where improvement is possible. 4. Smoke Free Multi-family Housing Initiative – Hennepin County and OHCS presented at the Council Workshop on October 8th regarding the community survey and next steps. No decision was made. Staff is considering next steps internally in order to make recommendations with buy-in from relevant departments. C. HRDC News 1. Feminine Hygiene Project – Rick Getschow confirmed with HR and Facilities that the will be moving forward at the City Center with this project and requested places are at the Art Center and Outdoor Center and to also be available upon request at the Community Center. Elassar asked if the products would only be going in the female restrooms or all the restrooms. Yerks said she would follow up with Rick Getschow. VII. OLD BUSINESS There was no old business. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 12, 2020 Page 3 VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. WORK PLAN 2021: INTRODUCTION AND DISCUSSION GUIDE Chair Leeper said the goal this evening is to work with the discussion guide. He reviewed the Work Plan 2021 Discussion Guide for the Commissioners. When he was done with that he reviewed the 2021 Calendar Project Timeline. Chair Leeper pointed out in 2020 there were a lot of items that were canceled due to Covid. He also stated because of Covid, 2021 will look much different. He asked the Commission for highlights from activities in the past. Skeie said Kickin’ It with the Cops a year ago was a highlight and commented if conditions allow he would like to see it happen in 2021. Missaghi said he has three items that were highlights for him; Human Rights Award, PeopleFest and creating the Land Acknowledgement Statement. Philmon echoed Skeie’s comments on Kickin’ It with the Cops. She would also like to continue with PeopleFest and the Human Rights Diversity Award. She said she really enjoyed the human library at PeopleFest. Chair Leeper asked the Commission Members what they would like to see changed. Aliweyd said the Commission should not get rid of things but just adjust them. Lucht said she agrees with Aliweyd that we should not get rid of things but ask how we can make things different in 2021. Elassar said she also agrees with Lucht that we need to adjust things and make them more virtual as how Culture and Motion was done. Chair Leeper reviewed the existing 2021 Commitments. They are as follows: 1. Race Equity Initiative – Ongoing through mid-2021, final date TBD. 2. Human Rights Awards – Application opens in Feb, selected in March, and awarded in May. Categories are individual, Business, Youth and Non- Profit. 3. Stop the Trafficking 5K – June 2021, date TBD. Commission will be doing fundraising, marketing and packet pick up. 4. PeopleFest! – August 2021, date TBD. Commission will have steering committees and festival participation. Potential Endeavors for 2021 include: 1. Police Community Relations Subcommittee: Kickin’ It with the Cops 2. Community Presentations. This would include joint meetings with HPC: Land Acknowledgement Statement and Somali Community in Eden Prairie. Chair Leeper asked who else the Commission would like to have at their meeting. Elassar said she would like to see Shelly from Chain Reaction Theater and commented they still would like to partner with the Commission on future endeavors. She would say it may be interesting to talk to another city in regards to HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 12, 2020 Page 2 their Race & Equity Commission and suggested Hopkins or Bloomington. Missaghi said he would like the Lady Birds of India to come back. Yerks showed the Commission the PowerPoint that will be presented at the City Council meeting. The two items that will be featured for highlights in 2020 is the Virtual PeopleFest and the Land Acknowledgement Statement. She stated that goals for 2021 need to be completed. B. LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT STATEMENT: NEXT STEPS UPDATE Elassar asked when the Mayor will make this a proclamation. Yerks said when he wants to highlight some things. She asked if the Commissioners wanted to make this a proclamation or just a form reading. Philmon said having it as a proclamation would be appropriate; Elassar and Yerks agreed. Chair Leeper asked Philmon to read this to the Commission. Aliweyd asked if we ever had this type of proclamation before. Yerks said we have not. She also stated it would be appropriate to add the “s” on people as it refers to numerous tribes and not one tribe but commented she would have to look more into this. This will be read at the next City Council Meeting. C. EDEN PRAIRIE RACE EQUITY INITIATIVE – MEET THE CONSULTANT: DEYOUNG CONSULTANTS AND IMPROVE GROUP The consultants for the Race Equity Initiative attended the Commission meeting this evening. In attendance was Karen DeYoung, owner of DeYoung Consultants. She introduced herself and pointed out her organization always works with organizations on disparities. Also introduced is Anna Peters, who is a consultant. She has been with DeYoung Consultants for 1 ½ years and stated she has a large HR background. Jill Lipski works with Improve Group, a partner organization and stated she will be leading the projects. Her interests are working with cities and getting involved in Human Rights. Christopher Jones is a consultant with DeYoung consultants. Ms. DeYoung stated the relevant experience they bring to this initiative is organizational and developmental skills, race equity tools, and experience in conducting studies on racial disparities. Ms. Peters pointed out their ideas, goals and outcomes are rooted in fairness and input from others. The project phases for Eden Prairie are as follows: 1. Project definition and grounding. 2. Design engagement process. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 12, 2020 Page 3 3. Internal scan with document review and individual interviews with key informants. 4. Review of best practices. 5. Deep listening to communities, leaders and residents. 6. Data analysis and presentation of findings. She stated most areas of inquiry involve: internal review (data, interviews), external listening (world cafes) and best practice review. Ms. Lipski said the other approach they would take would be to identify community liaisons and find community values as they would be used to create community based solutions. The HRDC roles and responsibilities would be to identify data sets and documents for review and analysis and to identify community liaisons. Chair Leeper asked Ms. DeYoung what they need from the Commission. Ms. DeYoung said a kickoff meeting should be scheduled to discuss hopes, expectations, roles and responsibilities. She said she also hopes the students will attend this. Yerks said she looks forward to working with the consultants and Commissioners on this initiative. The consultants left the meeting at this point. Chair Leeper said this consulting group stood out from the rest when they were interviewing them and he is excited to work with them. Yerks said a key point they saw from this group was that they wanted to work with the Commission and not just do it themselves. The time line they provided is that this will wrap up in mid-July. They have a well-structured step by step plan. The contract is not finalized yet so that is why they have not begun work. It will be signed next week at the City Council meeting. They met with the Commission tonight because they did not want to wait until the December meeting. IX. UPCOMING MEETING A. DECEMBER 10, 2020 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Missaghi moved, seconded by Lucht, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 9-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:46 p.m.