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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 03/09/2023 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, MARCH 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 7:06 p.m. Commission Member Kleckner and Student Members Ciise, Kazama, Olad, Talla and Sagi were absent. Student Member Cook arrived during the New Business and Student Member Ibrahim attended virtually. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS There were no guests. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Pfahnl moved, seconded by Khan to approve the agenda. Motion carried 12-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE FEBRUARY 9, 2023 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Weaver moved, seconded by Skeie, to approve the minutes dated February 9, 2023. Motion carried 12-0. V. COMMUNITY PRESENTATION There was no presentation this evening. VI. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS A. COMMUNITY NEWS HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES March 9, 2023 Page 2 of 6 There was no Community News B. CITY / OHCS NEWS There was no City / OHCS News C. EPREI UPDATES EP REAT Yerks said the next meeting will be held on Monday, March 13th. The group is working on performance metrics and defining goals. There will be an update of the Department’s progress at the next REAT meeting. 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 A. WORDS IN ACTION CONTEST PRESENTATION Yerks pointed out the presenters were Khan, Kazama, Cook and Skeie; also in attendance was Chair Leeper. Chair Leeper thanked everyone who was part of the process. Weaver said she attended virtually and said she was impressed by the children in the contest. Khan concurred with Weaver and suggested in the future that a stool for the children to stand at the podium would be helpful. Skeie wanted to give a shout out to the student presenters and said they did an excellent job. Khan suggested if parents are taking pictures of their kids that they do it off to the side so it is not distracting to the rest of the group. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. IFTAR PLANNING Committee Update: Committee Members: Khan, Elassar, Missaghi, Aliweyd, Olad, Juliette, Mohamed, Yerks Present at the last meeting: Khan, Elassar, Juliette, Mohamed, Yerks HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES March 9, 2023 Page 3 of 6 Event and Facilities: The spaces were reserved and an initial walk through with Facilities staff was done. The table arrangements and buffet location are all set. The overflow spaces are also arranged with the private dining area and Heritage Room to be used for personal care and overflow dinner seating. Fundraising: $3,400 was raised. The sponsors are NADC, the Foundation, Crime Fund, Rotary Club, the City and two anonymous community members. Catering: There is a contract pending with Afrodeli for a buffet dinner. Guest List: The City Staff and City Council have been invited and RSVPs are ongoing. Currently there are 6 yes and 10 pending. The Community member list was made and committee members are working on outreach. There are 22 yes and 33 pending. For the other Electeds, the outreach is ongoing. Sponsors have been contacted and they get up to 3 seats. If more are needed they will notify Yerks and RSVPs are ongoing. Commissioner RSVPs + Guests: Greg Leeper + 1 guest Shahram Missaghi + 1 guest Asad Aliweyd + 3 guests Sana Elassar +2 guests Sam Griffin + 1 guest Babar Khan + 4 guests Chris Kleckner – absent from the meeting Jody Knight + 1 Brenda Pfahnl + 1 Kuhu Singh + 1 Phil Skeie + 1 John Urbanski + 1 Susan Weaver + 1 Muntaaz Ciise – absent from the meeting Morgan Cook Ayan Ibrahim + 2 Hina Kazama – absent from the meeting Taslim Olad – absent from the meeting Ananya Sagi – absent from the meeting Sudiksha Talla – absent from the meeting Yerks pointed out the Iftar event will take place on March 30th at 6:30 pm. She displayed the invitations to the Commission. She also pointed out it will be the Commission’s responsibility to set up the food and make sure everything is flowing properly as the cater will just drop the food off. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES March 9, 2023 Page 4 of 6 B. PEOPLEFEST PLANNING UPDATE Committee Members: Singh, Knight and Leeper Khan asked if this event was put on the web. Yerks said they did put portions of it on the web in 2020 and could do it this year also. Urbanski suggested adding a QR code. Weaver said she liked the design of the PeopleFest guide and suggested keeping it but updating the information inside. Yerks agreed that they could keep the design and just add information to the inside. Urbanski suggested adding the restaurant’s specialties. Knight asked if the restaurants know they are in the book. Yerks said that most of them do. Singh said what is in the book is enough but suggested adding the phone numbers of the restaurants and also a phone number on the front of the guide if people have additional questions about the event. Yerks said there is a PeopleFest email address if people have questions. C. CEDAW DISCUSSION Chair Leeper wanted to circle back and get the Commission’s thoughts on CEDAW and next steps. Pfahnl asked Yerks if she checked the dates regarding the presentation to the City Council. Yerks said no, but she has had a conversation with Rick Getschow and he is aware. Pfahnl suggested this may not only involve just women but other groups. Weaver would like to know what is required of the City Council. Yerks said when she was talking with Rich Getschow, he asked if it was just a resolution or would there be more to it. Singh said the most important thing would be to get the City Council to adopt this as it would give women a sense of a blanket of protection. Chair Leeper asked who would like to be on the task force. Pfahnl, Khan, Singh and Aliweyd all agreed to be on the task force. Yerks said she will reach out to the student members to see if they would like to be involved. Elassar asked if the Commission is looking for a whole new task force or if this could be considered One EP task force. Chair Leeper thought that was a good idea. D. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS Chair Leeper stated this year there have been no nominations for the business category. For the Youth category there were two nominations: Jermell Taylor and Kowsar Ahmed. Chair Leeper opened this voting up for discussion. Knight said working at the Prop Shop she loved when the kids would get involved and volunteering and she likes the idea of what Jermell is doing for sports and youth. Aliweyd said if a person is mentoring and coaching someone else is makes them an outstanding leader. Singh said her vote would go to Jermell. She thought what he was doing was pretty impressive. Urbanski agreed with Singh. Pfahnl stated it was difficult to pick just one. Chair Leeper and Yerks responded that there can only be one winner in each category. A vote took place and the results were: Jermell receiving 8 votes and Kowsar receiving 5 votes. The winner is Jermell Taylor. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES March 9, 2023 Page 5 of 6 For the Individual category there were 3 nominations: Belia Jimenez-Lorente who has been a cultural liaison for schools in Eden Prairie focusing on Latinx students. The next nomination is: Jill Slipper Scholtz, who was nominated by Chair Leeper. The last nomination is: Shanti Shah, she is on numerous commissions and was nominated by Elassar. Khan stated he is inclined to go with Belia as she is an advocate for students. Singh said she knows Shanti well and does a great job but would vote for Belia or Jill. The results of the vote are: Belia receiving 12 votes, Jill receiving 0 votes and Shanti receiving 1 vote. The winner is Belia Jimenez-Lorente. For the Non-Profit category there were 4 nominations: Hammer Residence, who also received this award in 2012. The second nomination was Academy for Young Leaders. The third nomination was Chain Reaction Theater, which is a local theater group and the last nomination is Choice, Inc., who received the HRA award in 2014. Elassar nominated Chain Reaction Theater and said they go above and beyond to cover a broad array of issues. Aliweyd also agreed with Elassar and said that this theater deals with human rights and is supportive of them. Singh asked who the audience for Chain Reaction Theater would be. Yerks said they do a lot of shows in churches. Urbanski said he is in favor of Chain Reaction Theater as well as Singh. Khan said he thinks the other three are doing something every day to impact lives and is not so sure this is the case the Chain Reaction Theater and feels it should almost be in a different category. He said he feels the Academy for Leaders empowers individuals. Chair Leeper commented that Hammer Residence supports residents with disabilities and supplies housing for them and Choice, Inc., also helps people with disabilities. The results of the vote are: Hammer Residence receiving 0 votes, Academy for Young Leaders receiving 1 vote, Chain Reaction Theater receiving 11 votes and Choice, Inc., receiving 1 vote. The winner is Chain Reaction Theater. Chair Leeper asked what the next steps will be. Yerks said the winners will go to the City Council meeting on May 2nd. She is looking for 3 volunteers to present the winners to the City Council. She also said there will be a reception in the basement after the award presentation. Yerks will ask for volunteers at the April Meeting. Elassar said she can be a presenter. Yerks asked members what they thought of the new nominating and voting process for this year and if there were additional thoughts or suggestions. Khan said there is a lot of overlap between the first and third question. Also, he asked if all the questions are important and said if they are not they should be taken off. Urbanski said there should be questions that ask for specific information such as specific numbers or examples; more objective measures. 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 HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES March 9, 2023 Page 6 of 6 X. UPCOMING MEETINGS A. April 13, 2023 XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Singh moved, seconded by Knight, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 12-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:51 p.m.