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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 02/11/2021APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 7:00 P.M., VIRTUAL MEETING Virtual Participants 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 I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Vice Chair Missaghi called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Commission Members Aliweyd and Limaye and Student Commissioner Johnson were absent. Elassar arrived at the approval of the minutes and Chair Leeper arrived during New Business. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS There was a resident guest attending and she introduced herself as Patsy. Also in attendance; Jill Lipski and Moira Gaidzanwa of the Improve Group and Karen DeYoung, Anna Peters and Christopher Jones of DeYoung Consulting. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Aman moved, seconded by Philmon, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE JANUARY 14, 2021 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Lucht moved, seconded by Aman, to approve the January 14, 2021 minutes. Motion carried 6-0. V. LOCAL NON-PROFIT PRESENTATION There was no presentation. VI. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 11, 2021 Page 2 A. COMMUNITY NEWS MNDHR Local Commission Meeting Notes: Yerks said she participated in a call with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MNDHR) where they reviewed legislative priorities and listed below are the updates from each of the cities participating. Brooklyn Park: They are working on a deep dive look at their Police Department in partnership with Wilder Institute. They will be scheduling a follow up conversation with the MN Commissioner to hear more and share information regarding their project. St. Cloud Regional: Their focus is on homelessness and warming stations for individuals during cold weather events. Robbinsdale: The new community liaison person will be working with their Park and Rec Department and the Police Department. They have passed a conversion ban at the Council meeting; the second reading and adoption will be on February 2nd. This will prevent licensed practitioners from practicing conversion therapy on minors and vulnerable adults. They are the eighth city in Minnesota to ban this practice. Conversion Therapy is an attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Anoka: Their City Council was considering disbanding the commission but community members organized and persuaded the City to maintain the commission; which is now working on negotiating priorities and roles. Chaska: They are working in partnership with the Police Department on the community building; no details were given. They also reached out to Eden Prairie and Northfield to inquire about the Land Acknowledgement Statement; both cities were able to share details about the process and resources. Plymouth: This City was not on the call but Yerks was contacted by a resident that was advocating for the creation of a commission in Plymouth. They were looking for information to use to gain council member support. Elassar asked if the City has a list of warming stations in Eden Prairie. Yerks said she was unaware of any formal warming stations in Eden Prairie. She also pointed out this topic is normally at a county level. Elassar followed up and asked if we could work with Eden Prairie Center to make sure they would accommodate this. B. OFFICE OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SERVICES NEWS HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 11, 2021 Page 3 HSSC Application: The City received a $7500 grant from HSSC to implement community based arts programming and youth leadership programming in 2021. Community partners will be 180 Communities, Treehouse and YMCA at Briar Hill. The Park and Recreation department is working on getting a framework together for options and then the City will begin conversation with the participants to allow them to drive the program design. C. HRDC NEWS Sponsorship request from Native Governance Center: 2021 Events: Language Matters: How to Talk about Native Nations (May) You have Treaty Rights Too (August) So you’ve written a land acknowledgment: Now What?: (October) Sponsor commitment: $500 or $1000 or $2500 for all three. The Native Governance Center thought the City of Eden Prairie might be a great fit for a sponsorship program because of the recently created land acknowledgment statement. They will be planning an event on how to move beyond land acknowledgement toward meaningful action later this year. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. EDEN PRAIRIE RACE EQUITY INITIATIVE: COMMUNITY OUTREACH 1. Objectives and Agenda 2. Outreach Materials 3. Best Practices for Recruitment of Liaisons 4. Discussion, Reactions, and Next Steps Ms. Gaidzanwa said they are getting to the stage of outreach training. Last meeting they reviewed the population and discussed who would be doing the interviewing. This evening they would like to talk about how all diversity will be discussed through the liaisons. She stated when talking to the community liaisons be mindful of recruiting strategies all the way from youth to the elders. The template that Yerks previously sent out was shared with the group. The first document shared was the email piece from HRDC to prospective liaisons. This template would be sent from Commissioners to prospective liaisons inviting them to email or call them HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 11, 2021 Page 2 to discuss this opportunity. Liaisons will be compensated and that should be discussed in the communication with them. Community members will also get a stipend. When conversing with the liaisons, share with them the dates of the workshops. Missaghi asked if we are paying community members and liaisons to come to the workshops. Ms. Gaidzanwa said they will be compensated for coming to the workshops. Missaghi asked if this could be an option if someone did not feel comfortable being paid. He also asked if other parts of the cities are doing this. Yerks answered by stating it is becoming more popular that people get compensated to discuss their expertise in community engagement practices. Elassar said she agreed with Ms. Gaidzanwa that individuals should get compensated for their time and asked how much money is built into the budget for this. Yerks responded by saying they have a “total” budget but the compensation is not divided up. Ms. Gaidzanwa displayed another email template in which the liaison could use to send out to other groups or individuals asking them to sign up for workshops, displaying the dates and additional information, including email addresses. The Community Placement Flyer is what the liaisons can use. This flyer will include all the workshop information and liaison contact information. Ms. Peters pointed out the flyer can be emailed out as an attachment. Ms. Gaidzanwa showed the Commission a PowerPoint presentation on training and taking the Commissioners through each step. After viewing the presentation Elassar asked what the cutoff age is for youth to show up at workshops and get compensated. Ms. Gaidzanwa said sometimes there are youth specific groups and typically the cutoff is 15 or 16 years old. Elassar asked if the children are under 15 and come with an adult will they be compensated. Ms. Gaidzanwa said when the workshops are in person they will supply child care. Elassar commented she would like the individuals with disabilities included on the flyer. Ms. Gaidzanwa stated they are focusing on race but that could be included. Chair Leeper concurred it was previously discussed to focus on racial diversity. Yerks said that was correct but they would also make accommodations for people with disabilities. Missaghi asked what the difference was between World Café and a workshop. Ms. Gaidzanwa said the World Café focuses on a specific topic and would accommodate approximately 10 people. There will be 4 World Café discussions and 4 workshops. The workshops will consist of the following: 2 general workshops to include adult and youth, 1 workshop focusing on youth, and 1 focusing on the Somalia community. Ms. Gaidzanwa said in the observance of time, the next steps can be discussed tonight or sometime in the future; it is up to the Commission. Chair Leeper asked HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 11, 2021 Page 3 for a time line for the workshops. Yerks responded it would be mid-April to mid- May and said next steps should be addressed this evening. Missaghi asked if this training was for the Commissioners this evening and then they will train the liaisons. Ms. Gaidzanwa said the Commissioners will give the liaisons the templates and explain the contents. There will be no specific training for them but emphasized to get their questions answered so they are comfortable recruiting. Chair Leeper asked if we should address the timing of the workshops and asked what are good days for Zoom workshops. Ms. Gaidzanwa commented workshops are best on Saturday afternoons and evenings. Mr. Jones added the best timeframe would be between 6-8 pm. Ms. Gaidzanwa confirmed Saturday afternoon would be good for an in-person meeting and they would make sure child care is available as well as the possibility for food. Yerks said this will be for the Somolia group and should be discussed with Commission Member Aliweyd. Chair Leeper asked if the other three workshops would be virtual and Yerks confirmed they would. Yerks addressed the students to see when would be a good time for a meeting. Pearson suggested looking more at April than May because that is a busy time with school year end. Yerks asked what days of the week would be good. The student members thought the weekend would be best. Yerks asked if Saturday, April 17th would work but Pearson said she had a conflict on that day and April 24th was suggested. It was concurred that day would work. Ms. Gaidzanwa suggested the time frame from 3-5 pm. Elassar commented the breaking of the fast takes place around sundown so suggested a 2 pm timeframe. Chair Leeper offered suggestions for the other two virtual meetings. They are Monday, April 19th and Thursday, May 6th in the evening from 6-8 pm. Elassar asked if at these meetings if the breaking of the fast could be something done together and asked if Ms. Gaidzanwa could put it in the agenda. At this time the consultants left the meeting. Yerks wanted to address the topic of outreach to community liaisons. She stated she would like Commissioners to help her with the liaison interview process. Chair Leeper asked how many liaisons will be needed. Yerks said they have six (6) right now. In regards to the budget, there is $2500 for stipends. She said she will work with breaking that amount down. Chair Leeper said he would be involved and knows Aliweyd would be too. Yerks said, in regard to youth, they will just focus on their group and not these. She would like one more Commissioner to assist. Elassar said she will help out. Yerks said she will schedule a meeting in the next week to discuss details. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 11, 2021 Page 2 B. EDEN PRAIRIE RACE EQUITY INITIATIVE: INTERNAL REVIEW 1. Document Review Update Yerks sent out an email to all Commissioners with the document and an example of what is would look like. Some feedback has been received and if there is any additional feedback it would need to reach her by February 12 as it needs to get to the consultants at that time. 2. Internal Interview Update In regards to internal interviews, Yerks said she and Ruzek have done a lot of work in the past few weeks. She pointed out they applied numerous criteria and have 15 hours for interviews. Consultants will be doing the interviews and the groups they are interviewing will be 8 hours for emergency groups; EMS, police and fire. There will also be a group interview for the human resource department. Connection to Community will be looking at the communications department. Outside of the 15 hours there will be a focus group with the administrative staff and park and rec staff. The other area for conversations for future leadership is in the Public Works Department. Interviews will start on February 12th and go through to February 23rd. Participants names will not be used in the interview process. C. EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS Yerks pointed out the nominations as of February 6th are as follows: 1 individual, 1 non-profit, 1 youth-pending, this may also qualify as non-profit. Nominations need to be received by February 28th and Yerks will send out another reminder by February 22nd. VIII. OLD BUSINESS A. WORDS IN ACTION CONTEST Yerks commented this was a success and hopes it is something that will continue in the future. Yerks mentioned that the mayor will do a Proclamation for Black History month at the next City Council meeting. IX. UPCOMING MEETING A. MARCH 11, 2021 X. ADJOURNMENT HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 11, 2021 Page 3 MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Philmon, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 7-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m.