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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 07/09/2020APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, JULY 9, 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 COMMISSION STAFF: Megan Yerks, Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Commission Member Limaye was absent. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS Rick Getschow, Eden Prairie City Manager, was the guest speaker for the evening. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Elassar had the following amendments; the date should be changed from June 11th to July 9th. The second amendment should be approval of the June meeting minutes and not the May meeting minutes. MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Philmon, to approve the amended agenda. Motion carried 8-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE JUNE 11, 2020 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Aman moved, seconded by Elassar, to approve the June 11, 2020 minutes. Motion carried 8-0. V. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS A. OHCS UPDATES 1. Stop the Trafficking Virtual 5K Run – There are 820 registered participants for this event. The participants are from all over Minnesota, including 15 additional states and Canada. Awareness was spread as HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES July 9, 2020 Page 2 participants wore their shirts in their communities and posted on social media. The highest participation was through Facebook and Instagram. After finalizing finances, it is estimated that $35,000 will be given away to the following organizations who are engaged in supporting victims of human trafficking: Breaking Free, Terebinth Refuge, Source, The Link and Hope Sewn. Participation and proceeds were very similar to past events so there was not a decrease with this virtual event. 2. PeopleFest – The launch date for this will be July 31st. There will be 11 performers and 7 to 8 virtual exhibits. There will be $2500 in stipends to artists/performers which are primarily from City funding, and some from State Arts Board grant. There will be additional links to relevant websites and cultural exhibits to help fill the gaps: MIA’s When Home Won’t Let You Stay (migration), Somali Museum, and Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Website. Lori, from the Park and Recreation Department is working on the PeopleFest video, which will show a look back at the event and its importance in the community. The HRDC proposal has been accepted and the subcommittee will expand later. The Facebook event page is in the works with Featured Performers and other posts. 3. Student Commissioners – The students were appointed in June and 6 are confirmed to join the Commission in September. 4. City Facility Updates: All with Social Distancing and Other Precautions – City Center, OHCS and the Community Center are all open. Senior Center/Art Center is still to be determined. The Art Center is starting to resume programming. VI. OLD BUSINESS There was no old business at this time. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. EDEN PRAIRIE RACE EQUITY INITIATIVE Chair Leeper said about half of the Commission members were at the last City Council meeting where the awards were given out. At that time the Mayor gave out a challenge to the HRDC to investigate what we can do in regards to race equity issues in Eden Prairie. Yerks drafted a document to be reviewed at this evening’s meeting and then it is to be presented at the next City Council meeting. Rick Getschow addressed the Commission and said he concurred with Chair Leeper about the discussion at the City Council. He stated the Mayor asked if the HRDC could draft a plan and then Mr. Getschow will bring it back to the Council HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES July 9, 2020 Page 3 meeting for review. He stated this is a high level concept to dig into this issue. There are 6 different areas to be discussed in the document tonight. Yerks said the first item is to give this document a title. It is currently called “Eden Prairie Race Equity Initiative”. She also said the timeline for the final report is 6-9 months. There are two buckets the six topics fit into; Internal (City Related) and Community at Large. The six topics are: 1. Emergency Response: (City Related) This category will include a review of the policies and practices of emergency response services in Eden Prairie including police, fire and medical response services. It will examine both the intention of emergency response procedures and the experience of community members as they are implemented. It will include research into best practices and initiatives to strengthen the partnership between emergency services and community members. 2. Facility/Program Accessibility and Culture: (City Related) This category will focus on the experience of residents while utilizing public- facing City facilities including City Center, Community Center, Senior Center, Art Center, Outdoor Center, parks and any other public-facing facility. It may explore topics such as accessibility, language supports, diversity of programs and events, code of conduct expectations for participants and enforcement. It will include input from the community about their experience with customer-facing staff and leaders and recommendations about how to ensure that all feel welcome at City facilities. 3. Recruiting, Hiring and Retention: (City Related) This category may include a review of the City’s process for recruiting, hiring and retaining employees with a focus on diversity and inclusion. It may also include an assessment of the current professional development that is offered to staff and ways to ensure that all employees have access to training opportunities that are focused on equity in their area of responsibility. It may also include recommendations that will encourage diversity in hiring. It will also explore the internal policies that are used to ensure that employees experience a workplace free of discrimination or are able to report concerns without fear of retaliation. 4. Connection to Community: (Community at Large) This category will examine the relationship between the City and its residents. It may focus on the strategies the City uses to communicate information with residents, review current communication plans or make recommendations about how to ensure that residents are receiving information in a way that meets their needs. It may explore opportunities to build stronger partnerships with community organizations, neighborhood or resident groups, multifamily properties, neighboring cities, etc. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES July 9, 2020 Page 4 5. Community Experience: (Community at Large) This category will focus on learning about the experiences of Eden Prairie residents from their perspective. We will focus on how residents of Eden Prairie relate to one another and their experience with the Eden Prairie community as a whole. It may include conversations about racial disparities that exist in Eden Prairie and their impact on residents. It may identify strategies for building a community that provides equitable access to resources and opportunities and actively strives to eradicate institutional racism in all its forms. 6. Developing Future Leaders: (Community at Large) This category will focus on strategies that the City can implement to empower youth and young adults to prepare them as the next generation of leadership. This may focus on educational equity and building career pathways for youth. It may also include investigation into the ways that the City can provide additional opportunities for youth to actively participate in leadership initiatives through advocacy work, internships, educational programs, volunteer opportunities or partnership with community organizations. Elassar asked who the consultant would be. Mr. Getschow said the City has consultants that will work with the HRDC. Aliweyd asked Mr. Getschow to clarify how many consultants there would be, as he felt a few would be better than one. Both Mr. Getschow and Yerks agreed with Aliweyd. Chair Leeper said the six areas are an attempt to resolve race inequality in Eden Prairie. He stated the 6 to 9 months is the time to gather information and work with the consultants before it is presented to City Council. Missaghi asked who the audience is for the report, the City Council or the public. Mr. Getschow said it would be a report for the City Council but available to the public. Missaghi asked if we can include a section on what the HRDC has done in the past, like an inventory. Chair Leeper commented that is important to do but not sure if this would be the document to do it in. Mr. Getschow said that on each step we could address what has been done in the past. Aliweyd thanked Mr. Getschow and Yerks for all their work in creating this document and commented that all 6 points are very good. He felt more education should be done about the programs in Eden Prairie. He said when talking about race and inequality, affordable housing needs to be addressed and feels people have a right to live in Eden Prairie without discrimination. Yerks pointed out number 5 would be for addressing a lot of issues Aliweyd brought up; housing and equitable access. She stated this document was designed to be very vague so the Commission can work from that and expand on each topic. Aman said it was a good document and he likes that it was purposely vague so we could add to it; Lucht concurred. Philmon agrees that leaving it open allows more opportunities. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES July 9, 2020 Page 5 Skeie said he likes that it is a framework and commented it is a really good start. Elassar thought leaving it intentionally vague was very good. She also said the City of Hopkins has done a lot of work on racial disparities and would be a good city to go to for a partnership, as well as Bloomington. Missaghi asked if it was possible to see if other cities have done documents similar to this. Chair Leeper said as we move forward that would be part of the process. Aliweyd commented there was a group in Eden Prairie that addresses race inequality and suggested bringing them in as a guest. Chair Leeper asked Aliweyd to supply that information to Yerks. Mr. Getschow thanked the Commission members for their feedback and asked them if they could each pick one number and commit some time to it before the next meeting to come up with more information. Yerks said Mr. Getschow will be bringing this document to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 14th. At that time he will get direction from the Council and will supply more feedback to the Commission. In the meantime, she asked the Commissioners to think about what they would like to be working on and what is your passion so when we come together in August we can put the pieces together. Mr. Getschow thanked Yerks as she wrote up the first draft of this document and reiterated she had done an excellent job. B. PEOPLEFEST! VIRTUAL EXHIBIT HALL Yerks said Missaghi and Elassar can supply the Commission with an update. Missaghi said he was unable to do anything. Elassar gave an update on what she and Aman came up with. She said they came up with the game Jeopardy and this will have 5 categories about the HRDC and the Eden Prairie Community. It will be tailored to both a young and old audience. Yerks showed what the game will look like on-line and pointed out it can be an interactive experience that can be done at home. Aman emphasized this will be a family friendly activity. C. ONE EDEN PRAIRIE: LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT Chair Leeper asked Philmon, Lucht and Elassar for an update. Lucht said they have 3 statements they are working on with Christal. Elassar said Christal is a good partner to view what they have come up with. She also said one of the things she thought was important was to make sure the words in the document are pronounced correctly. They will work with Christal to see which statement is the most appropriate in regards to indigenous people. Chair Leeper stated all three statements looked great and he agrees with Elassar to get the pronunciations correct and suggested after each word to put a phonetic spelling next to it. Elassar said she is looking for one Commissioner to read the statement at the kickoff of PeopleFest on July 31st. If anyone has interest please let Yerks or Elassar know. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES July 9, 2020 Page 6 IX. UPCOMING MEETING A. AUGUST 13, 2020 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Aliweyd moved, seconded by Lucht, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 8-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:32 p.m.