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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 12/09/2021APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2021 7:00 P.M., EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper (Chair), Shahram Missaghi, (Vice Chair), Leslie Philmon, Sana Elassar, Philip Skeie, Asad Aliweyd, Tyler Aman, Samuel Griffin, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver STUDENT MEMBERS: Hina Kazama, Keerthana Ramanathan, Salma Awale, Shubhangi Mohan, Sophie Lunda, Zudaysi Osman 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 7:11 p.m. Commission Members Aliweyd and Aman and Student Members Kazama, Lunda and Osman were absent. Chair Leeper arrived at 8:00 pm. Elassar and Aman attended virtually. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS There were no guests in attendance. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Urbanski moved, seconded by Weaver, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 6-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE OCTOBER 14, 2021 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Philmon, to approve the October 14, 2021 minutes. Motion carried 6-0. V. LOCAL NON-PROFIT PRESENTATION There was not a presentation this evening. VI. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS A. CITY/OHCS NEWS HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 9, 2021 2 1. Eden Prairie Human Services Grant This was approved by the City Council on 12/7/21. There were 10 community partners, 9 returning and 1 exiting (YMCA), and 1 new (Relate Counseling). 2021 funds were reallocated to support Relate at PROP and food distribution at Briar Hill. There were program changes coming at MOW; they were weekly delivery and Treehouse moving away from a fully managed site to a partner site and will be monitored through 2022. 2. CDBG Grant Application The City of Eden Prairie is now accepting requests for the 2022 community Development Block Grant Funding from local human service providers. Please direct any questions and submit all proposals electronically to Jeanne Karschnia by Wednesday, Jan. 12th. B. EPREI UPDATES 1. EPPD/FD Yerks stated she spoke with Police Chief Sackett and he and Fire Chief Gerber would like to start a program called, Chat with the Chiefs. They are also preparing interviews with Hennepin County for the social worker position to start mid- January. C. UPCOMING MEETINGS OPPORTUNITIES The MN Department of Human Right's Local Commission quarterly meeting will be held on January 11, 2022 from 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm. Commissioners check your inbox for the RSVP link. D. COMMISSIONER UPDATES Leslie Philmon will be resigning. Tonight will be her last meeting as she is moving to Woodbury. VII. OLD BUSINESS A. WHITE PRIVILEGE PERFORMANCE The White Privilege performance was held at Immanuel Lutheran church. Commission members attending were Elassar, Urbanski and Weaver. Urbanski said the performance was set up in the Big Hall with approximately 100 people in attendance. He commented it was a powerful experience. Weaver said thought it was very good and honest. She commented people were very HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 9, 2021 3 responsive. Elassar said the HRDC table was very popular. She commented an individual from the Bloomington HRDC stopped by and suggested collaborating with them. B. PAX CHRISTI PRESENTATION: JUSTICE SPEAKERS PANEL Commission members attending this event were Griffin, Elassar, Philmon and student commissioners, Mohan and Ramanathan. Griffin commented it was a great event with a very engaged group. He said they did a small presentation and there were a lot of questions. Yerks said this is a committee that works with Joan Howe-Pullis and they meet monthly and that they were given a sneak preview of the REI report. She pointed out a lot could not be said because it has not been presented to the City Council yet. Mohan commented it was very informative. Elassar said the student commissioners did a great job. C. EP RACE EQUITY INITIATIVE: COUNCIL WORKSHOP PRESENTATION Vice Chair Missaghi commented this was a good group of people working together to do good work. Griffin also agreed and said he liked that the City Council was interested in what comes next. Philmon agreed that they had intentional interest in the report. Urbanski also agreed they were interested in next steps. Weaver said the Commission did a great job in the 30 minutes allocated to them. Skeie said he thought the student commissioners; Kazama and Ramanathan did a great job. Vice Chair Missaghi thanked Yerks for all of her work she has done with this. IX. NEW BUSINESS A. EP RACE EQUITY INITIATIVE: COUNCIL MEETING PRESENTATION Yerks stated this will be a 15 minute presentation that will take place in January and she would like to discuss the events and commissioner assignments. There will be a brief presentation to the Council and an audience. Chair Leeper, Elassar and Ramanathan said they will present to the City Council on January 4th. For the events surrounding this, Yerks asked the Commissioners what they would like to do and who should be invited. She said she will put together a list of who attended the previous meeting and invite them. Weaver suggested having people that were involved in the focus groups raise their hands and acknowledge them. Yerks asked the Commissioners if they would like to present early in the meeting or later. Chair Missaghi asked what they should be asking of the people that come to support the Commission. Urbanski suggested they take the report and review it and get back with the Commission with thoughts and suggestions. Weaver said she anticipates that a large group would then leave after the presentation with the Commissioners. Yerks also said she would like some Commissioners to work in the front end to direct people. Vice Chair Missaghi commented it would be good if HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 9, 2021 4 everyone had the same talking points so all are getting a similar message. Yerks said everyone should be aware that a lot of questions will be asked. Urbanski asked who should be invited. Yerks said rotaries would be interested along with the Lions and Lionesses. Additional people to invite would be politicians, clergy, and community members who participated in the study. Chair Leeper arrived at this point. Yerks said the guests would be invited to go to the atrium to meet with the Commission Members for questions and discussion after the presentation. Yerks asked who could help with hosting. Urbanski, Weaver, Elassar, Skeie, Griffin, Awale and Mohan volunteered. Yerks said she will bring all the information to Rich Getschow for his approval. B. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY WORDS IN ACTION CONTEST Yerks said this contest will be in the same format as last year. It is a contest for kids up to age 18. Individuals will select a quote from Dr. King and express what it means through writing, art or video/audio. Up to four winners will be recognized at the January City Council meeting. Winners and finalists will be featured on the City’s social media platforms on MLK Day. Submissions are considered in two age categories, under 13 and 13 and older. Only one submission per individual and participants must reside or attend school in Eden Prairie. C. WORK PLAN 2022 Chair Leeper discussed preparation of the 2022 Work Plan to the Commissioners stating they are planning for the upcoming year and pointing out last year a lot of time was taken up by the Race Initiative report. He pointed out some of the same events will carry over from year to year. The presentation to City Council will take place on January 18th. Yerks said the goal for the evening will be to review the 2021 work plan, review 2022 commitments and discuss potential 2022 items. Yerks reviewed the 2021 work plan and discussed several highlights from 2021 from the Commission members and specifically asking for the top 6 highlights. They are as follows with 7 being listed: 1. REI Report 2. MLK contest 3. PeopleFest 4. Human Rights Awards 5. Stop the Trafficking 5K Run 6. Cross City Collaboration 7. Chain Reaction Partnership Yerks asked the Commissioners what they would like to see done differently in 2022. Missaghi said just showing up to do work. Yerks said she would like to review existing 2022 commitments. She said social media is new this year. The existing commitments would be the Race Equity HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES December 9, 2021 5 Initiative, MLK contest, Human Rights awards, Stop the Trafficking 5K run and PeopleFest. Chair Leeper wanted to discuss what the REI Implementation would look like. He explained to the group what was done last year. He suggested ongoing support from the Commission. He would like to have the report reviewed twice a year. Yerks said it should be discussed how we engage this to the community and how it will look. Chair Leeper said there are a couple of options. The first would be to keep the same sub-groups and have them address issues as it related to their documentation. He said he sees two items and asked Yerks if the following are correct. They are outreach to the public and how can we be of assistance to City Staff in their implementation. Yerks said that was correct and pointed out each group has a community base they can reach out to. Chair Leeper asked the Commission if they wanted to keep the same sub-communities. Elassar said the Commission should initially keep the same groups and can change later on down the road. Urbanski and Philmon agreed with Elassar. Yerks affirmed that everyone will be on a REI committee. There was a discussion to add Kickin’ It with the Cops in July. Yerks asked if the following three items should be included for 2022. They are Native American History, LGBTQ Community and Social Media Work. Elassar said we should also keep One EP; Skeie agreed it should be kept. Yerks thought it may be best to look at the social media proposal for 2022. She sat down with the Communications department and said they want the City to be involved with collaboration of certain events, check for gaps, and establish priorities and Facebook usage. Missaghi thought it was a good idea to ask a resident to share a bit about their culture and customs connected with the holiday/month and to post a video, photo or text. Weaver liked the idea of a face and story with a certain holiday. The Commissioners discussed this and thought one a month would be good as to not overwhelm Facebook. Yerks discussed the finalization of the PowerPoints for 2021 Highlights and HRDC 2022 Goals. She asked if the goals should be changed or stay the same. Elassar said a goal should be added regarding REI; the Commissioners agreed. Chair Leeper suggested one highlight should be regarding the great work done in the community. In lieu of time, Chair Leeper suggested Yerks send the PowerPoint to the Commissioners for their feedback. X. UPCOMING MEETING A. JANUARY 13, 2021 XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Weaver moved, seconded by Griffin, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 7-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:22 p.m.