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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 12/10/2020APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020 7:00 P.M., Virtual Meeting via WebEx 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 Christine Ruzek, Human Resources Manager I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Commission Member Lucht and Student Commissioners Johnson and Jain were absent. Aliweyd left at the end of discussion of Eden Prairie Race Equity Initiative Presentation. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS Anna Peters, Jill Lipski, Moira Gaidzanwa of the Improve Group. Christopher Jones of DeYoung Consulting III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Aliweyd moved, seconded by Philmon, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 8-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER 12, 2020 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Aliweyd moved, seconded by Limaye, to approve the November 12, 2020 minutes. Motion carried 8-0. V. LOCAL NON-PROFIT PRESENTATION There was no presentation. VI. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 10, 2020 Page 2 A. OHCS News Martin Luther King Jr Day Art/Writing Contest: The following is the Timeline for this event. Timeline: Release Date: December 14-18th Submission deadline: Jan 10th Review Committee Meeting: Jan 12th at 6pm (virtual) Winners Announced: January 13th Winners/Finalists recognized online: Jan 18th Winners recognized at CC Meeting: Jan 19th (format TBD) Cash Prize: TBD, request made to EPCF, awaiting response Info: 1. Participants can submit one of the following for consideration: piece of writing, art work, or video/audio work for consideration. This includes, but is not limited to, an essay, poem, painting, drawing, sculpture, collage, video art, sound art, etc. 2. Age categories: submissions will be considered in two age categories (under 13 or 13+ years old) 3. Prizes: up to 4 winners will be recognized at Jan City Council meeting, finalists featured on the City’s Social Media pages. Cash- TBD Theme: Words in action: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered many powerful speeches and wrote compelling letters and essays. His words continue to be quoted decades later as guideposts for racial equality and social justice. Select a quote from Dr. King and express what it means to you through art or writing. What actions can you take individually or can we take as a community to not just remember the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but to carry his legacy of racial justice forward? Select a quote from below or select another one through your own research. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied by a single garment of destiny. What affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” (April 16, 1963, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”) "If you can't fly, run; if you can't run, walk; if you can't walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.” (Speech given April 10, 1960 at Spelman College) HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 10, 2020 Page 3 “The time is always right to do what’s right.” (October 22, 1964 at Oberlin College) The following volunteers are needed: 1. Work plan 2021: One adult, one student 2. Martin Luther King Jr Day Proclamation: One commissioner 3. Martin Luther King Jr Contest Review Committee: One adult, One student Local Commission Work Group Meeting Notes: Commissioners and Staff Liaisons from local HRCs including: Red Wing, Northfield, St Cloud Regional Area, Duluth, Chaska, Grand Rapids, Olmstead County Topics: How can MNDHR engage with local HRC? Guide local work (note that MNDHR doesn’t have jurisdiction at municipal level), networking, best practices/training, programming, tackling our history, tracking data. How can MNDHR support engagement between local commissions? Virtual meetings, online community space, newsletters, shared training opportunities. Maintain a directory of trainers, speakers, experts on topics. Create opportunities for partnerships for joint programming, etc. Topics brought up by participating commissions: 1. How to educate the public about the role of an HRC and ways to use them as a resource 2. Learn more about resources for issues that aren’t “human rights violations” but impact community members, IE subpar housing 3. Surveillance and data collection as a human rights violation 4. Identifying qualified speakers/experts that local commissions can partner with 5. Role of HRC in educating/contacting employers with anonymous reports of discrimination in the workplace Concerns identified by local HRCs: 1. Difficulty filling vacancies- either a lapse between appointment or lack of diversity in applicants, commitment and attrition. St Cloud in particular has a regional council that is overseen by a joint powers board that rarely meets. Other cities follow a similar process to that of Eden Prairie with annual appointment. 2. Struggle to get City Councils on board 3. Unsure how to educate residents about reporting civil rights complaints 4. How to interact with local state representatives, especially in an environment where human rights are politicized and representatives are more conservative. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 10, 2020 Page 2 Looking to continue meeting on a quarterly basis. B. HRDC NEWS Feminine Hygiene Project: Yerks stated that all of the below was already in place and they just made the dispensers in the two noted below no longer require a quarter to be put in. The restrooms that have free pads and tampons are: • Women’s restroom by Council Chambers—Dispenser no longer needs a quarter to attain • Women’s restroom by Communications office • Women’s restroom by Motor Room (Facilities Shop)--Dispenser no longer needs a quarter to attain • Women’s restroom by Garden Room • Women’s restroom Patrol Officers Locker Room • Women’s restroom by Investigations in Police Art Center and Outdoor Center have been supplied. The Community Center setup will be to have supplies at the front desk and signs in the Women’s bathrooms by the time it re-opens. C. SUBCOMMITTEE NEWS Eden Prairie Land Acknowledgement Statement: The City of Northfield City Councilor, Clarice Grabau reached out regarding the EPLAS. Northfield’s HRC has also been working on a LAS statement and was looking to see if other municipalities have done the same. She reached out to learn more about our initiative, how it was received by council and our next steps. Yerks agreed to keep in touch about future actions related to the EPLAS. The Star Tribune is working on an article, interviewed today. Article is scheduled for next week. Lucht and perhaps Mayor Case will be interviewed as well. VII. OLD BUSINESS There was no old business. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. EDEN PRAIRIE RACE EQUITY INITIATIVE Chair Leeper pointed out he has allotted 1.25 hours for the consultants and Commission Members to discuss this initiative and next steps. Karen DeYoung HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 10, 2020 Page 3 was unable to attend the meeting tonight, but the rest of the consultants were in attendance. Anna Peters said she would like to give the Commission an overview of what will be happening and engagement opportunities. She stated they have finished Stage 1, which is Project Definition and Grounding. The following are the rest of the stages with their timelines: Stage 2 – Design Engagement Process – Dec. 7, 2020 to Jan. 15, 2021 Stage 3 – Internal Scan (Document Review/Interviews) – Dec. 21, 2020 to Jan. 22, 2021 Stage 4 – Review Literature on Best Practices – Jan. 25 to Feb. 5, 2021 Stage 5 – Deep Listening to Communities – Feb. 5 to May 30, 2021 Stage 6 – Data Analysis and Presentation of Findings) – June 1 to June 25, 2021 Stage 7 – Reporting – June 28 to July 16, 2021 Ms. Peters said there will be a handout coming out that describes what success with look like and any barriers that could be associated with that. She also showed the Draft Project Purpose. This states that recognizing that disparities exist in Minnesota’s current outcomes and experiences; Eden Prairie’s HRDC will assess its current systems and processes and conduct deep listening with employees and community stakeholders. The goal is to uncover opportunities for the City to become more inclusive and responsive to residents’ diverse needs and to advance racial equity, diversity, and inclusion through its policies, procedures and community experience. It is hoped that the process and its outcomes will create and strengthen community relationships and build pathways for joint decision making. Ms. Peters asked if there were any questions or thoughts on this. Aman said he liked how it started, “The goal is to uncover opportunities….” but said he gets lost in the very first sentence because there are a lot of buzzwords in there. He suggested saying something like, “This is the goal and we know there are disparities. Chair Leeper agreed and said the statement should be broader. Jill Lipski stated they can work on this and said she appreciates the feedback. Aman said he would be willing to work with the consulting group on this. Ms. Lipski discussed the topic of informing the community engagement process and said stage 5 will start after February 5th. She also displayed an article showing the barriers Richfield faced. The article was titled, Richfield’s Latino residents say they face barriers in accessing city programs, services. Elassar commented this resonates with her a lot and stated the nice thing is that Eden Prairie has options for different languages. Ms. Lipski said the process of gathering information looks favorable on the City. Ms. Lipski displayed Example 1: The Eden Prairie Promise document. This states, “We value differences and foster inclusion” This document shows that a person is comfortable with hearing uncomfortable truths. It will help people feel welcome in ways they find welcoming. Christine Ruzek said this was an internal HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 10, 2020 Page 2 document and commissioners are not familiar with it. It is for the employees and how they do their work. Missaghi asked why we are doing this. Ms. Lipski said they know disparities exist and want to let people feel comfortable addressing the issues. She stated we need to get into what it will look like when we engage people. She used an example of hosting a World Café. Elassar asked what the difference is between a Work Café and a Focus Group. Ms. Lipski said the World Café is going from one table to another and just staying a short time at each table, this would be a larger group of 30 to 50 people. Focus groups are smaller groups consisting of approximately 15 people and getting into in-depth conversations. Chair Leeper asked how we will find these people and who makes the questions and who will facilitate the Focus Group. Ms. Lipski said the Commission needs to brainstorm who they would like to have participate. She said these people will also be compensated. Ms. Peters said they will lead the Focus Groups and World Café. Ms. Lipski said she and Moira will lead the group until they can get Commission Members training to lead the groups. Ms. Peters said the next steps will be to define the roles and responsibilities within HRDC/subcommittees for getting ready for February 1 start date for Phase 5 (“Deep Listening”). Specify the external stakeholders (get super clear so you know who to recruit). Let us know if you need assistance. Yerks said she thinks it is a good idea for the three Commission subcommittees to get back together for discussion. Ms. Peters said in the next few weeks they would like to get together with Chair Leeper and the heads of the subcommittees. Ms. Lipski said January 8th would be good, otherwise the week of January 11th. Yerks asked if this should be in writing or if a meeting would be more beneficial. Ms. Lipski said both will work and she will also prepare a homework sheet. B. LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT STATEMENT: NEXT STEPS UPDATE Yerks said they went to the City Council on November 17th and this was read as a proclamation. She also pointed out Northfield had reached out to her for information as they plan on doing the same thing as Eden Prairie. Yerks also said she received a media request regarding Northfields’ and Eden Prairie’s statements and they said they would like to do an interview with Lucht. They said these two cities were the only two they could find in Minnesota that were doing this. Elassar said that she was not aware that Eden Prairie was the first city that created this in Minnesota. Yerks said she would like to recognize our City Council members for their support in this project. C. WORK PLAN 2021 Yerks stated some of the things the Commission will do this year are the 5K Race in June and the Human Rights Awards. She pointed out what will require a lot of time with be the Race Equity Initiative. She ran through the calendar for the year and discussed the items listed on the handout and stated that some of the event HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 10, 2020 Page 3 may be virtual or hybrid or to be determined. It will all be dependent of Public Health Recommendations. Chair Leeper asked if he could call for a motion to adopt the work plan. Yerks said not yet as she needs to run it by Rick Getschow. IX. UPCOMING MEETING A. JANUARY 14, 2021 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Missaghi moved, seconded by Skeie, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 7-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.