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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 09/14/2023 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 7:00 P.M., EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper (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: Tamia Hassan, Jude Kambal, Kanya Karthic, Shivangi Mohan, Navya Nambiar, Madeline Wilson, Kiana Poul, 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 Elassar, Kleckner, and Pfahnl and Student Members Nambiar and Wilson were absent. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS There were no guests in attendance. III. INTRODUCTION OF STUDENT COMMISSIONERS Chair Leeper welcomed all the student members and asked them to introduce themselves to the Commissioners and to share why they joined the HRDC. Talla is a returning member to the HRDC and rejoined because she said she really enjoyed last year and liked what she did with the Commission and would like to continue it another year. Karthic said she is growing up in a diverse community and that is important to her and would like to make a difference in the community and felt being on the HRDC would give her that opportunity. Mohan cares about diversity; she also went to the Human Library and was so impressed she wanted to be on the Commission. Hassan thinks diversity and equity are important and wants to use the Commission as a voice to make a difference. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES September 14, 2023 Page 2 of 5 Poul lives in Eden Prairie but attends Blake High School and because of that she would like to make a difference in the community and feels the Commission will give her that opportunity. Kambal said she is very passionate about diversity and wants to use her background and voice to make a difference in the community. IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Weaver, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 9-0. V. APPROVAL OF THE AUGUST 10, 2023 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Urbanski moved, seconded by Aliweyd, to approve the minutes dated August 10, 2023. Motion carried 9-0. VI. COMMUNITY PRESENTATION There was no presentation. VII. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS A. COMMUNITY NEWS There was no Community News B. CITY / OHCS NEWS 1. OHCS Closure The HCS will be moving to the City Center in the 4th quarter of 2023, likely mid-November. Going forward, Yerks said the meetings for the HRDC Commission will take place at the City Center in the Heritage Rooms . C. EPREI UPDATES 1. REAT City Council Presentation The REAT update will be given to the City Council on Tuesday, September 19th at the workshop. At that time, Yerks will be giving the presentation and all Commissioners are invited to attend. It will take place at 5:30 PM in the Heritage Rooms. 2. Equity and Inclusion Survey This survey was conducted in the summer of 2023 and was a little longer than the 2020 survey. There were 565 respondents with a similar demographic distribution as the 2020 survey. Disaggregated results are available at this time to make sure diverse perspectives are being captured. This survey will be reviewed by Staff. REAT HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES September 14, 2023 Page 3 of 5 members will be given an update at a future meeting. The summary report is on the City website. 3. REAT September Meeting Yerks said there were a panel of 4 community members that shared their experiences as part of the Indian Community and Eden Prairie residents. The Staff were given basic information about India, immigration from India and Indian culture to review in advance. The conversation included questions about the Indian culture, fostering belonging, and advice for City Staff. Part of the goal is cultural awareness and testing different models on how to do this. D. HRDC NEWS 1. Work Plan Overview Yerks said she had to adjust the Work Plan process for 2024 due to the joint meeting in October. For this evening, the Commission will review the Work Plan from 2023 and will be given a Work Plan 2024 feedback form. At the November meeting, there will be an initial Work Plan discussion with active planning taking place. The December meeting will be used to finalize the Work Plan, presentation and volunteers and in January it will be presented to the City Council. E. UPCOMING MEETINGS OR OPPORTUNITIES 1. October HRDC Meeting The October meeting will take place on Monday, October 16th and will be a joint meeting with the Heritage Preservation Commission at the City Center. There will be a student mixer at 6 pm in the lower atrium area with light refreshments; the official meeting will begin at 7 pm. There will be a virtual guest presentation by Margaret Plank, who is the daughter of Agnes Deluge, who was a former Eden Prairie resident who helped to save hundreds of Jewish refugees and downed Allied pilots via her aunt’s villa in Munich, Germany, during World War II. Also, each Commission will have time to give a brief update of work that their Commission is doing. Chair Leeper will give the HRDC presentation. F. COMMISSIONER UPDATES There was no information on this segment. VIII. OLD BUSINESS A. FOLLOW UP: ADVOCATING FOR FAMILIES WITH SPECIAL NEEDS Skeie shared the follow up with the Commission as he was the liaison for Suzanne Anderson and her daughter Carissa who has special needs and seeking how the City could assist her family and other families with special needs. Suzanne followed up with a letter to the Commission referencing things the City could do to make situations better for HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES September 14, 2023 Page 4 of 5 special needs individuals. Skeie addressed Susan’s response and said she was glad to see the number of programs already available but noted these programs are not highlighted and she had to look for the information. She felt it should be more accessible; as it could be on Facebook, Instagram, or via text. In regards to the Community Center, she would not qualify for the programs that are income based. Another program that is offered is the health reimbursement, but pointed out it is hard to show up 12 times a month in order to be reimbursed. She pointed out that Carissa currently attends an autism program Monday thru Friday from 1 pm to 4:30 pm all year long. She also attends the Friends Together Camp. It is at the same time and stated it would be nice if there were different scheduling opportunities for this. One issue she pointed out that was not addressed was the need for adult changing tables. Skeie said he would like to see those at the Community Center. Suzanne also said when there is open gym at the Community Center they cannot use it because of the noise level and it would be nice if there was an option for an adaptive bike and stated individuals with special needs can use it along with seniors. She also said she would like to see more resources listed on the City’s website. Singh thanked Skeie for all his work with this and Chair Leeper concurred. Chair Leeper asked Yerks what the next steps would be. Yerks said she has seen some gaps with the requests for changing tables and adaptive bikes. She also pointed out sometimes it is a lack of knowledge about existing resources, which is a hurdle and noted most of these action items are done at a staff level versus a City Council level. IX. NEW BUSINESS A. CITYWIDE OPEN HOUSE This event will take place on Saturday, October 7th, from 11 am to 2 pm at the City Center. The HRDC will have a table at this event. Yerks asked for volunteers. The following Commissioners and Students have volunteered for the 2 shifts listed below: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm, (this will be the setup crew): Knight, Skeie, Kambal, Karthic 12:15 pm – 2:30 pm (this will be the teardown crew): Knight, Khan, Talla, Nambiar B. FALL/WINTER SOCIAL MEDIA POST SCHEDULE Chair Leeper pointed out to the new Student Members that the HRDC tries to highlight holidays thru social media. Yerks said the Commission would like to have 3-5 community members to share on each post. She said currently there are 4 holidays that need to be posted between now and October. They are NDEAM, Indigenous People Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Native American Heritage Month. Yerks said two of these should be full posts and two should be template posts. The Commission decided to have Native American Heritage Month and NDEAM to be full posts and Indigenous Peoples Day and Dia de los Muertos will be a generic post. Yerks asked the Commission to be thinking about the 3 holidays that will need attention between the October and November meetings. They are Diwali, Hannukah, and International Human Rights Day. She also asked the Commission to think about if they want to do full posts for Christmas and Kwanzaa. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES September 14, 2023 Page 5 of 5 C. 2023 WORK PLAN REVIEW Chair Leeper went over the 2023 Work Plan that was handed out. D. 2024 WORK PLAN INPUT FORM Yerks provided a PowerPoint overview of activities from 2023. She said the top 3 items were the PeopleFest Library, Community Presentations and the City Wide Open House. Multiple mentions were CEDAW, Splash Pads and Black History Month. When asked what the HRDC should do differently the three top responses were: HRDC should go out in the community more and make themselves more available, balance events and advisory roles and have better event feedback. The top responses as to how have the HRDC been successful in engaging diverse, underrepresented and BIPOC Communities are as follows: Splash Pads, PeopleFest, Human Library, Social Media Posts and Community Speakers. Some suggestions to see the Commission drive engagement in 2024 are as follows: meet the community where they are at, continue developing partnerships, continue developing events, Commission composition and community presence. The priorities for 2024 are the Race Equity Initiative, PeopleFest, Human Library and MLK Words in Action. X. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS B. EPREI: EMERGENCY RESPONSE/COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE C. EP REI: RECRUITING, HIRING AND RETENTION/DEVELOPING FUTURE LEADERS D. FACILITY AND PROGRAM ACCESSIBILITY AND CULTURE/CONNECTION TO COMMUNITY E. ONE EP XI. UPCOMING MEETINGS A. JOINT MEETING WITH THE HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION- OCTOBER 16, 2023 XII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Weaver moved, seconded by Singh, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 9-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:07 p.m.