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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 01/11/2024 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024 7:00 P.M., EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper (Chair), Asad Aliweyd, Sana Elassar, Samuel Griffin, Zaheer Khan, Christine Kleckner, Jody Knight, Brenda Pfahnl, Kuhu Singh, Philip Skeie, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver STUDENT COMMISSION MEMBERS: Tamia Hassan, Jude Kambal, Kanya Karthic, Shivangi Mohan, Navya Nambiar, Madeline Wilson, Kiana Poul, Sudiksha Talla COMMISSION STAFF: Jonathan Stanley, Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Commission Members Aliweyd, Griffin, Singh and Student Members Hassan, Karthic, Mohan, Nambiar, and Talla were absent. Kleckner arrived at 7:25 p.m. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS There were no guests this evening. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Weaver moved, seconded by Pfahnl, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 8-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER 11, 2023 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Elassar, to approve the November 11, 2023 meeting minutes. Motion carried 8-0. APPROVAL OF THE DECEMBER 14, 2023 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Urbanski moved, seconded by Knight, to approve the December 14, 2023 meeting minutes. Motion carried 8-0. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES January 11, 2024 Page 2 of 6 V. COMMUNITY PRESENTATION – JONATHAN STANLEY – 2ND HALF OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION SURVEY FINDINGS Stanley presented a PowerPoint of the 2023 Equity and Inclusion Survey (Part II). The highlights of the PowerPoint are as follows. The first topic discussed was “have you personally experienced discrimination based on your race in Eden Prairie in the past 12 months”. The highest group that felt this was happening most of the time were African Americans. The next question was “how much of a priority, if at all, should it be for the City of Eden Prairie to focus on creating a diverse, inclusive and fair community”. For total of all respondents, 65 percent felt it was a priority. Breaking this down by race and ethnicity, 97% of American Indians felt it was a priority, followed by 82% of Hispanic/Latino respondents. The next question was “how much of a priority, if at all, should it be for the City of Eden Prairie to hire a more diverse staff”. This was split 50/50 down the middle that it either was a priority or not so much of a priority. In regards to a breakdowns by race and ethnicity, again 97% of American Indians felt it was a priority while 89% of race not listed felt it was not a priority. For the question of “how much of a priority, if at all, should it be for the City of Eden Prairie to focus on recruiting diverse people into positions of local government leadership”, there was a slight edge of 55% of the respondents voting that this was high or moderate for them, while 45% of the respondents felt it was low or not a priority at all. For the breakdown by race and ethnicity, there were 97% of American Indians who felt it was a priority, followed closely by 89% of the Asian population; 90% of a race not listed felt it was low or not a priority at all. Below is the breakdown of respondents: African American / Black – 41 respondents Hispanic / Latino – 20 respondents Asian – 24 respondents American Indian / Alaska Native – 16 respondents White – 405 respondents Race not listed – 55 respondents When asked the question how likely it is you would recommend living in Eden Prairie to a friend or family member the results are as follows: American Indian/Alaska Native – 96% Asian – 78% Black/African American – 74% Hispanic/Latino – 94% White – 89% Race not listed – 98% HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES January 11, 2024 Page 3 of 6 Pfahnl asked when the next survey would take place. Stanley said the surveys are given every other year. Chair Leeper said this would have been the second survey that has taken place. Elassar asked when this current survey took place. Chair Leeper responded around July of 2023. Khan said he feels that some of these surveys may not reflect accurate information as there are times when a respondent may not give accurate information based on fear or retaliation. Chair Leeper asked Stanley if the Race Equity Committee has seen these results. Stanley confirmed they have seen the results. Chair Leeper also stated that more respondents are needed for these surveys and suggested Stanley take that suggestion back to REAT. Urbanski suggested different avenues for taking the surveys, such as having them in different languages. Stanley said the Communications Department has been working on that and pointed out the ability to do this is available. Khan said he feels people still prefer a paper survey versus an online survey. Stanley also pointed out for the future surveys, particularly the Quality of Life Survey, they like to keep all the questions the same for consistency and not add additional questions. VI. STAFF REPORT – JONATHAN STANLEY A. COMMUNITY NEWS There was no Community News B. CITY / OHCS NEWS There was no City/OHCS News C. EPREI UPDATES Stanley presented the second half of the of the Diversity and Inclusion survey findings during the Community Presentation. D. HRDC NEWS Liaison Transition Stanley said he will not be the HRDC liaison long term as he is transitioning out of his position and in the next 2-3 months they will be hiring a new manager who will take over the meetings. Bias Incident Stanley said there was a household in Eden Prairie that had a flag that was torn down. They reached out to the homeowners to see what they could do and to talk to them about what happened and shared additional resources available to them. Urbanski asked when the incident becomes a city or school issue as he has a neighbor with a child in school with anti-Semitic things happening to them. Stanley said the police are called first and then the school along with the HRDC would get involved. Chair Leeper summarized the process by stating the victim reaches out to the police first and then the HRDC is notified HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES January 11, 2024 Page 4 of 6 to see if our assistance is needed. Stanley added they are also working to track all of these instances. Elassar said awareness should be raised for bias reporting with residents as she is unsure how many people know this is available. Knight asked if the Commission is ever made aware of these incidents. Chair Leeper said the liaison and the acting chair of the HRDC are notified and commented currently the number for these incidents in Eden Prairie are very low. Khan asked if there was a record of the incidents. Chair Leeper said he did not have a record as the incidents are so far and few between and asked Stanley if he could get this information and share it with the Commission. Chair Leeper asked the students if there was a bias protocol at the high school. Kambal said they do have a protocol at the high school and most people would go to the dean or principal to report the incident. Social Media Posts Stanley discussed the social media posts and shared he received instructions back from the Communications Department that if the Commission is going to interview individuals, there only needs to be one or two for each event and should be in final format and it should be within a week when it gets to them. There were eight holiday/heritage/history months the Commission chose and Stanley was looking for volunteers for each. They are as follows: Black History Month, 2/1/24 – it was decided to use the Words in Action Winners Eid al-Fitr, 4/9/24 – Khan volunteered Hispanic Heritage Month, 9/1/24 – Pfahnl volunteered Disability Employment Awareness Month, 10/1/24 – Kleckner volunteered Indigenous Peoples Day, 10/14/24 – Kleckner volunteered Diwali, 10/31/24 – volunteer needed Hannukah, 12/7/24 – volunteer needed Christmas, 12/25/24 – volunteer needed Stanley said the Commissioners can let him know if they would like to volunteer for the last three events in the list. E. UPCOMING MEETINGS OR OPPORTUNITIES There were no upcoming meetings or opportunities discussed. F. COMMISSIONER UPDATES There were no Commissioner updates. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES January 11, 2024 Page 5 of 6 . VII. OLD BUSINESS A. WORDS IN ACTION / 2024 WORK PLAN UPDATE AND COUNCIL WORKSHOP SPEAKER CONVIRMATION Chair Leeper said he would like to confirm who will join him next Tuesday, January 16th, at the City Council Workshop. He pointed out he will do the introduction and the question and answer session and will need one Commissioner and one student to discuss the slides. Knight said she could volunteer and Hassan volunteered at the previous HRDC meeting. Chair Leeper said the dinner will be from 5 – 5:30 pm, and the workshop will start at 5:30 pm. Skeie and Elassar said they will attend the workshop. Chair Leeper said Knight should discuss the HRDC Goals and Initiatives slides and Hassan should discuss the year in review slides. In regards to the Words in Action contest, that will be moved to the February City Council meeting and will be discussed later in the meeting. Stanley stated the Mayor will deliver the Proclamation and asked Chair Leeper if a Commission Member needs to announce it to the City Council that the Words in Action Contest will be in February. Urbanski asked if we had announced it to the City Council in previous years; Stanley said he did not think so. B. DISABILITY ADVOCACY / CITY UPDATE Stanley announced to the Commission that the Eden Prairie Community Center is exploring the purchase of an adult changing station. Chair Leeper asked Skeie if he had any additional information to add. Skeie said he had talked to Susan and she is excited to hear that the City is supporting her cause but is discouraged it is taking so long and suggested getting the City Manager and City Council more involved. He also commented for the small amount of investment for the City it would be life changing for the families affected. Elassar concurred with Skeie and said that should be part of what the Commission does and agreed we should be following up with the City Manager and City Council. Stanley said the City Manager is aware of what is going on. Chair Leeper suggested to Knight that she could highlight the disability advocacy next week at the City Council workshop presentation. He also said he would like to see someone from the Park and Recreation Department come to an HRDC meeting for discussion and feedback on this topic and asked Stanley if this could take place at the February meeting. Stanley said he will reach out to the Park and Recreation Department to see if they would be available. Elassar asked if the Commission had every done a disability survey. Stanley commented he was unsure but would follow up and see if previously there had been a survey completed. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS – TIMELINE – KICKOFF WILL BE AT THE FEBRUARY 20TH CITY COUNCIL MEETING HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES January 11, 2024 Page 6 of 6 Chair Leeper was looking for one volunteer to kick off the Human Rights Awards at the City Council meeting on February 20th. There will be a scripted announcement that will need to be read. At the time of the meeting there were no volunteers but some of the Commissioners said they will follow up with Stanley if they are able to attend the meeting. Weaver asked if a more specific framework could be developed for nominating for the Human Rights Awards. Chair Leeper said at the next meeting the Commission could look at the application process and discuss any changes if necessary. B. IFTAR EVENT – FUNDRAISING, COMMITTEE AND TIMELINE Chair Leeper said this event will take place on March 26th or 27th. Stanley responded he would talk with the City Manager and confirm a date. Weaver commented those dates fall within Holy Week. Chair Leeper said he will check with Aliweyd to see if he would be interested in volunteering. Khan said he would volunteer as did Elassar even though she will be off the Commission at that time. Stanley asked if any Commissioners knew of anyone that would like to contribute monetarily to this event and if so to let him know. Kambal asked why this event would be on a Tuesday or Wednesday and not on a Friday or weekend as people will be exhausted from fasting. Stanley commented during the week there is more City Staff present and more community members available. IX. UPCOMING MEETINGS A. FEBRUARY 8, 2024 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Khan moved, seconded by Skeie, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 9-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:47 p.m.