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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 02/09/2023 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2023 7:00 P.M., EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper (Chair), Shahram Missaghi, (Vice Chair), Sana Elassar, Philip Skeie, Asad Aliweyd, Samuel Griffin, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver, Zaheer Khan, Christine Kleckner, Jody Knight, Brenda Pfahnl, Kuhu Singh STUDENT MEMBERS: Muntaaz Ciise, Morgan Cook, Ayan Ibrahim, Hina Kazama, Taslim Olad, Ananya Sagi, Sudiksha Talla COMMISSION STAFF: Megan Yerks, Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Commission Members Kleckner and Weaver and Student Members Ciise, Ibrahim, Kazama, Olad and Sagi were absent. Commission Member Aliweyd arrived during the Community Presentation and Commission Member Pfahnl attended virtually. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS The following guests attended virtually; Ellen Kennedy with CEDAW, Tara Kalar, and Melanie Willett with League of Women Voters. Juliette Glynn with Eden Prairie Police Department and Mohamad Duale of Housing and Community Services were present. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Khan moved, seconded by Singh to approve the agenda. Motion carried 9-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE JANUARY 12, 2023 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Missaghi, to approve the minutes dated January 12, 2023. Motion carried 9-0. V. COMMUNITY PRESENTATION – ELLEN KENNEDY, CEDAW Yerks introduced Ellen Kennedy of World Without Genocide to the Commission. She stated her intent to bring Ms.Kennedy and her guests to the Commission were to have a better understanding of CEDAW. Ms. Kennedy started out by pointing out there is a formal declaration for the HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 9, 2023 Page 2 of 6 discrimination of women called CEDAW and was established in 1979. This organization also focuses on discrimination against others with markers. Ms. Kennedy gave examples of women’s rights from the benches. Some of these examples include prohibiting contraceptives for women who were married (1965). In 1971, there was a law that stated women were not allowed to work if they had pre-school children. Some statistics Ms. Kennedy shared are as follows: • 1 in 4 college women are sexually assaulted • Every 9 seconds a woman is assaulted or beaten • Women make 38 cents to a man’s dollar • 61% of the people in poverty are women • 684,000 of MN women will be raped by an intimate partners in their life time • In 2019, there were 200,000 – 400,000 untested rape kits in the United States • In 2019, there were 1700 untested rape kits in Minnesota • In 2009 to 2018 in Eden Prairie there were 1,213 total sexual and domestic abuse cases Nations that have not ratified CEDAW are Sudan, Iran, Somali, and the United States. In 1979, CEDAW was adopted by the United Nations. For the ratification process in the United States, 67 votes are needed by the Senate. An obstacle to the ratification is US exceptionalism, which means the US believes it is above this and because of that thought process does not feel the need to participate. Some myths of CEDAW are as follows: • Discrimination is too broadly defined in CEDAW • This would destroy family structures by ratifying gender roles • CEDAW encourages abortion by promoting access to family planning Ms. Kennedy said the United States should ratify CEDAW as it demonstrates the global commitments to human rights. Cities that have ratified CEDAW are Minneapolis, St. Paul, Edina, Red Wing and Duluth. She also said she hopes the Commission can influence the City Council to adopt CEDAW and create a sense of belonging. Singh asked the panel what the reasoning is given by leaders for their reason for not ratifying CEDAW. Ms. Kennedy said every city they have brought this forward to has accepted CEDAW. Aliweyd said he could connect CEDAW with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Somolia as she lives in Hopkins. Melanie Willett, with the League of Women Voters, said she would like to connect with that person. Khan stated men typically are the people that have guns and not women and asked how that can be reduced. He also commented that support of women in the political arena is not good in the United States as compared to other countries. Ms. Kennedy said it is a critical issue to discuss gun violence and stated that we need to take into account that many women are also strangled and so not just the use of guns. Chair Leeper asked what other steps the CEDAW is taking in Eden Prairie. Ms. Kennedy said it has to come from this Commission in the hope that a resolution could be prepared to present to HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 9, 2023 Page 3 of 6 the City Council to encourage them to pass CEDAW. Chair Leeper asked the Commission where they would like to go with this. Elassar said the Commission needs to move forward with this and present the proclamation proposal to the City Council. The Commission Members all agreed that this should move forward to the City Council. Juliette Glynn, with the Eden Prairie Police Department, commented that she sees every day that women are looking for help and she would like to see women having an avenue for this. Urbanski asked if the Eden Prairie social worker could help. Ms. Glynn said yes she does help, but she is extremely busy and from Hennepin County and pointed out it would be helpful to have a local connections that could offer help. Chair Leeper stated this evening the Commission has agreed to encourage the City Council on CEDAW and that the programs can come after they are onboard. Pfahnl agreed with Chair Leeper and said the Commission should also establish next steps. Khan also agreed. Elassar said in regards to the resolution, she would like to make sure the City is held accountable. An example she shared was that there were to be free feminine hygiene products in City buildings, yet the machines are not filled. Chair Leeper said he would like a motion to move forward with this to the City Council. Yerks said there is a site for the Cities for CEDAW that has a toolkit for resources. She said this could be a good topic for the One EP subcommittee. Yerks said the commission should decide on an official ask towards the City Council and should be well organized. Chair Leeper agreed and said the Commission should be doing this and taking time and doing due diligence with it. Pfahnl suggested the Commission have a deadline for completion of the resolution. Aliweyd suggested 6 months to bring this to the City Council. Khan suggested completing this sooner. Yerks asked the Commission if they could develop a group of “champions” and they can come back in April or May with the information for the resolution. Elassar said we do not want to rush this procedure and suggested having it completed for Women’s History month as it would give the proposal more backing. Griffin said he would like to see a task force established. Yerks replied that would be good idea and asked the Commissioners to look into this and make a decision by the March meeting if you would like to join. MOTION: Aliweyd moved, seconded by Missaghi, to have a task force to create a foundation for moving the proposal forward. Motion carried 10-0. VI. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS A. COMMUNITY NEWS There was no Community News B. CITY / OHCS NEWS There was no City / OHCS News HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 9, 2023 Page 4 of 6 C. EPREI UPDATES EP REAT Yerks said they are continuing to discuss metrics. The Departments are working on assigning metrics to current and planned activities while the Community Development begins framing the reporting structure. D. HRDC NEWS There was no HRDC News E. UPCOMING MEETINGS OR OPPORTUNITIES There were no upcoming meetings or opportunities discussed. F. COMMISSIONER UPDATES There were no Commissioner updates. VII. OLD BUSINESS There was no old business. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. IFTAR PLANNING DISCUSSION Schedule on Thursday, March 30th 6:30pm: Event begins 7:00pm: Program begins 7:39pm: Maghrib (Sunset) 7:45pm / 8:00pm: Dinner Served 9:00pm: Event Ends The event will take place at the City Center; the Garden Room will host the dinner and program and the Heritage Rooms will be for personal care. Yerks asked Aliweyd to explain Iftar. Aliweyd said Iftar is the breaking of fast. After this is over with people gather together and eat and share stories. He stated individuals cannot do anything bad as it will break the fast. He said not everyone has to fast, only the ones that are able. There is no water, food, smoking, intercourse, fighting or lying. Mohamad Duale reiterated that anything that is bad has to be stayed away from. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 9, 2023 Page 5 of 6 Yerks addressed the Commission and said she would like to go over the enclosed sheet. She has the space and date secured but would like to go over the timing. Khan said this event should not go beyond 9 pm. He suggested this should end at 8:30 pm so people will have time to leave to go to the mosque for prayers. Yerks wanted to discuss the guest list. She said City Staff, Commission and Electeds are included which makes up approximate 60 people; there can be 125 people total. She would like to discuss how to go about inviting the public. Yerks said they should be diverse in the invitation list. Missaghi commented that he understood this was for the community and asked if this should not be organic. Elassar and Aliweyd said that was correct that it should be organic. People should just be there to gather and eat and socialize. Aliweyd suggested sending out invitations. Chair Leeper asked who should be invited. Aliweyd said inviting needs to be strategic. Mohammad Duale said City official should be invited but there needs to be a plan when inviting the community. Elassar commented that if someone walks in during Iftar and they are not on the list per the rules they cannot be denied from entering and eating. Yerks wanted to address the food. She said they have a budget of $2500, that would be $20 per person for 125 people. The City is donating $500. An additional $500 will be from NADC, $500 from the Foundation and Juliette Glynn will see if the Crime Fund can donate $500 and Urbanski will check with the rotary to see if they will be willing to donate $500. Khan asked if he could get more money could more people be invited. Yerks said yes, but she would need to see how many more people could fit in. Khan asked when the invitations would be going out. Yerks said she would like to send them out at the end of February. Picture invitations will be used, such as a small jpeg and she will work out the details with Communications. B. WORDS IN ACTION CONTEST Yerks asked Talla to give the Commission an update. Talla said they have been reviewing the entries this week and today they have picked 8; 4 winners and 4 honorable mentions. Yerks shared with the Commission that she received an email from Eden Lake Elementary School’s first and fourth grade students. They all submitted pictures around Eden Lake. They chose a quote from Black American civil rights leaders and each student designed a poster as to what it means to them. At Eden Lake, classrooms worked together to create posters and they were put up in the halls of Eden Lake and this all came from an EPHS mentor in the first grade class. Yerks said they will do a special callout at the City Council Meeting. She will also notify the winners and invite them to the February 21st City Council meeting. She stated she currently has two confirmed volunteers; Talla and Sagi and Knight, Skeie and Khan to attend and assist as needed. C. PEOPLEFEST PLANNING UPDATE Yerks said the PeopleFest committee will have their first meeting on February 16th, from 3-4:30pm. The committee will be responsible for the overall event plan and execution. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES February 9, 2023 Page 6 of 6 The HRDC responsibilities will be to support the planning committee with representatives. They will also be responsible for updating the PeopleFest Guide and will be starting this at the April HRDC meeting. The Commission will also be sponsoring the Human Library at the PeopleFest Party and will be planning that at the June HRDC meeting. D. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS Yerks said currently there are two submissions; one from the Police Department and one from the Art Center but typically the City organizations do not receive the award. Chair Leeper reiterated that we cannot use these two nominations and encouraged the Commissioners to submit nominations before February 28th. Yerks said she will do things a little differently this year and send out nominations in advance for review and scoring. Yerks will rank the nominations and then final selection will take place at the March meeting. IX. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS A. EPREI: EMERGENCY RESPONSE/COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE B. EP REI: RECRUITING, HIRING AND RETENTION/DEVELOPING FUTURE LEADERS C. FACILITY AND PROGRAM ACCESSIBILITY AND CULTURE/CONNECTION TO COMMUNITY D. ONE EP X. UPCOMING MEETINGS A. FEBRUARY 9, 2023 XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Khan moved, seconded by Griffin, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 10-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:02 p.m.