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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 05/04/2023 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, MAY 4, 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 7:07 p.m. Commission Members Griffin, Khan, Skeie, Weaver and Student Members Ciise, Ibrahim, and Olad were absent. Aliweyd arrived at the beginning of New Business and left at the start of the discussion of PeopleFest. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS There were no guests. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Yerks said there was a correction to the agenda, there were no guests for the Community Presentation. MOTION: Singh moved, seconded by Knight, to approve the amended agenda. Motion carried 8-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE APRIL 13, 2023 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Pfahnl moved, seconded by Elassar, to approve the minutes dated April 13, 2023. Motion carried 8-0. V. COMMUNITY PRESENTATION There was no community presentation. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES May 4, 2023 Page 2 of 6 VI. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS A. COMMUNITY NEWS There was no Community News B. CITY / OHCS NEWS Yerks reminded everyone of the Commission Banquet that is scheduled for May 11th from 6-8 pm in the Garden Room. She stated she needed volunteers for the Eden Prairie Trivia Game. Singh, Knight, Cook and Talla said they would volunteer. C. EPREI UPDATES Yerks said the next meeting will be Monday, May 8th. The agenda will include a review of the online dashboard for implementation tracking and discussion of future REAT topics. D. HRDC NEWS Yerks pointed out that this evening’s meeting is the last one for the student commissioners. Talla is the only member that is not a senior and would be able to apply for next year if she so chooses. The application deadline for all new student commissioners is May 26th and is open to all juniors and seniors that live in Eden Prairie. 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. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS Volunteers: Chair Leeper, Singh, Kazama, Skeie, Elassar, Weaver, Knight, Pfahnl Chair Leeper thanked all the volunteers that attended the Human Rights Awards. He asked if there was any feedback from the attendees. Knight commented the recipients appreciated being acknowledged. Chair Leeper also thanked Yerks for all of her assistance in this event. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES May 4, 2023 Page 3 of 6 B. CEDAW Committee Members: Pfahnl, Khan, Singh, Kazama and Aliweyd Pfahnl presented the resolution at the May 2nd City Council meeting. She stated one of the City Council members suggested adding gender rights to the resolution. Yerks said she will follow up with Rick Getschow on that. Chair Leeper commented the resolution was well presented and thanked everyone that was involved. Urbanski asked how this resolution gets published now that it was accepted by the City Council. Yerks said she will also follow up with that. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. STOP THE TRAFFICKING 5K Registration Code: STAFF2023 – there is a 50% discount for Commission Members that would like to run. Chair Leeper said they are looking for 6 volunteers to help with the packet pickup on Wednesday, June 14th. The first shift would be from 1:00-5:00 pm, and includes 60 minutes for setup. The following members volunteered: Urbanski, who will also be the point person for Christine Erickson, Kleckner, Missaghi (from 2:30-5:00 pm), and Kazama said she is tentative. The second shift would be from 4:30-8:30 pm, and includes 30 minutes of clean up time. The following members volunteered: Knight, who will also be the point person for Christine Erickson, Aliweyd, and Pfahnl (from 5:30-8:30 pm). Missaghi suggested having the car flow so the driver’s side of the vehicle would face the volunteers. Elassar also suggested putting a pamphlet in the race packets for the standalone event in June hosted by the FBI on a discussion regarding sex trafficking. She said she will follow up with Christine Erickson regarding the flyers. Yerks said she does not see a problem with the pamphlet in the bags. Kleckner said Breaking Free may also be willing to speak at the event. B. PARTY FOR PRIDE Yerks said the Parks and Recreation Department will be hosting this event on June 24th and they would like the HRDC to participate with a table. The Fitness Staff at the Community Center will be running this event and it will take place at the Starting Lake Amphitheater area. Chair Leeper asked the Commissioners if they would like to participate with a table and if there would be any other activities they would like to do. Yerks suggested the spin wheel or beads and strings. Pfahnl suggested having material focusing on LGBTQ, such as CEDAW and the Manifesto. Chair Leeper asked for volunteers and they are as follows: For the first shift from 8:30-10:15 am, Elassar will be the point person along with Knight. For the second shift from 10:00-12:15 pm, Pfahnl will be the point person along with Talla and Elassar. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES May 4, 2023 Page 4 of 6 C. SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS Yerks said she would like to discuss the Pride social media posts for June. She said she is conflicted about feedback on these sites and she does not know how much of the posts the City can monitor and is concerned about the hate received. She would like to know if the Commission would like to move forward with the traditional posts. Pfahnl said if there is a family with parental permission the Commission should submit that. Yerks said one concern is the City’s ability to monitor the comments on social media posts. Knight pointed out security could be an issue for individual posts of participants. Pfahnl suggested having a post from Raghavan Iyer, a famous chef from Eden Prairie that has since passed away. Yerks said there are three options. The first would be to move forward, knowing the risks, the second option would be to do prominent Eden Prairie residents and lastly a generic template. The Commission suggested doing the first and second option. For the Asian American Pacific Islanders, AAPI posts, Yerks said Kody has committed and Kazama will supply the information. Yerks pointed out May 14th is the deadline for the return of materials. For Juneteenth, Yerks asked if the Commission would like to get volunteers or highlight a specific person. Chair Leeper suggested highlighting former Mayor Harris. Yerks shared there have been past residents, such as Monroe Barker and Joseph Graham, who are freed slaves that have been buried in Eden Prairie that could be used. Commissioners thought that was a good idea. Yerks said if the Commission wants to showcase individuals for Pride the information will have to be in to her by next week. D. PEOPLEFEST: GUIDE REVIEW Chair Leeper said he would like to review the closures and updates of the restaurants in the guide. Great Mandarin is now closed and Aurelias and Lotus Leaf have new websites. In regards to the Asian Mall and the 10 new restaurants that are there, Kazama suggested highlighting each restaurant individually. She commented Osaka is a national chain. Urbanski suggested not to include national chains. Singh said instead of listing out and describing each restaurant in the Asian Mall, to just list their names. Yerks and Chair Leeper pointed out that the Asian Mall restaurants are all individual and if you just list their names you should do that for all the other restaurants in the guide. Chair Leeper suggested adding a page to the guide, which would require adding 4 pages because of the paper size. Yerks said if that happens then to add the Land Acknowledgement Statement and to keep the back page blank. She asked if all the restaurants in the Asian Mall should be sub listed under the Asian Mall or put them in alphabetical order with the others. The Commission agreed to list them separately under the Asian Mall. Chair Leeper also wanted to re-evaluate the following restaurants: Campiello, Baker’s Ribs, Detellos, Red Savoy, Wingman Matt, and Smokin’Hottdish. The Commission decided to keep all of the restaurants listed and to also keep the map. Yerks asked the HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES May 4, 2023 Page 5 of 6 Commission to think about additional on-line content that could be added for PeopleFest for social media. Yerks also said the Commission could reach out to the restaurants listed in the guide book and see if they would be willing to offer a discount or a special item to highlight. Pfahnl suggested not doing coupons and the Commission agreed. Kazama suggested reaching out to some of the owners or customers for their feedback. Yerks said that was previously suggested and it would have to be done for all restaurants and not just a few. Yerks stated the final edits need to be in to the Communications Department by May 18th and can be submitted to a committee member; Chair Leeper, Singh, and Khan. Urbanski suggested that the definition of what the guide is that is currently located at the end should be at the beginning of the guide. The Commission agreed. E. PEOPLEFEST: HUMAN LIBRARY Chair Leeper gave a review of the 2022 Human Library and the brochure. Given that, he wanted to go over the structure for the 2023 Human Library to see what changes should be made or what stays the same. Chair Leeper pointed out the schedule for this year’s PeopleFest is 3–7 pm. Last year they did the table from 4-6 pm and asked if they should keep the same time. Singh suggested 4-6:30 pm, with Yerks suggesting 4-7 pm. Elassar pointed out that talking for an hour is a lot and said two hours would be way too much. Chair Leeper suggested having the hours 4:30-7 and the Commission agreed. Elassar pointed out that during last year’s Human Library, if there was a popular book she would have to stop the interviewing as it got to be too much for the individual. Yerks suggested asking the books, or individuals, how many readers they are comfortable with. Given the time constraints, Chair Leeper said to table the discussion until the next meeting. F. CELEBRATION OF OUTGOING STUDENT COMMISSIONERS Chair Leeper said this evening there are three seniors, Cook, Kazama, and Sagi and one junior, Talla at tonight’s meeting. Chair Leeper gave the students words of encouragement and thanked them for their services. Knight asked each student member present what they liked best about the Commission. Talla said she liked getting to be a part of the community. Cook said he like to see how government meetings worked. Sagi commented she had learned a lot about the City and enjoyed being on the Commission. Kazama said she also has learned a lot about Eden Prairie and how the Commission works and also liked to be involved. 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 May 4, 2023 Page 6 of 6 X. UPCOMING MEETINGS A. JUNE 8, 2023 XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Singh moved, seconded by Urbanski, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 8-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m.