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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 11/14/2024 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2024 7:00 P.M., EDEN PRAIRIE CITY CENTER Heritage Rooms 3 & 4 COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper (Chair), Asad Aliweyd, Shana Bates, Zaheer Khan, Jody Knight, Jessica Oaxaca, Brenda Pfahnl, Savannah Riese, Kuhu Singh, Philip Skeie, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver STUDENT COMMISSION MEMBERS: Jude Lambal, Ayanna Arora, Kayna Aneja, Alisha Shah, Melody Li, Swara Halbe, Tamia Hassan, Zahara Umar COMMISSION STAFF: Paja Xiong, Community Services Manager & Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Student Commission Members Jude Kambal, Kayna Aneja, and Melody Li were absent. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS There were no guests in attendance this evening. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Pfahnl moved, seconded by Aliweyd, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 12-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE OCTOBER 10, 2024 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Riese moved, seconded by Skeie, to approve the October 10, 2024 Meeting Minutes. Motion carried 12-0. V. COMMUNITY PRESENTATION There was no Community Presentation this evening. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. 2025 DRAFT WORK PLAN PREPARATION 1. FINISH DRAFT WORKPLAN HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 14, 2024 Page 2 of 6 Chair Leeper stated for this evening the Commission will finalize the work plan and create subcommittees. Xiong said she would like to choose activities and dates for the work plan. In regards to the calendar, she will update it with that information and send the updates to the Commission after the meeting. For next month’s meeting there will be a debrief of the calendar and the work plan. After the official meeting tonight, the Commission will break out into their designated subcommittees for discussion on next steps. Xiong pointed out the focus areas are LGBTQ+ and BIPOC Youth, and annual commitments of Words in Action, Human Rights Award, PeopleFest, Party for Pride, and planned preparation for this month and next month. The focus should be on one activity a month with subcommittees and the Commission will need to decide if they want eight speakers a year or fewer or more focused speakers. Chair Leeper addressed the work plan. He discussed the areas of the document which include the following; Objective/Focus Area, Purpose, Activities, Speakers and Target Time. He pointed out the intention is not to plan all the detail of the activities as that will be accomplished in the subcommittees. The objective of this evening is to focus on the calendar to make sure activities are spread out. The subcommittees will take the lead in the specific activities. Xiong said when working with the work plan, keep in mind that the Charter stated the Commission should promote and celebrate diverse activity in Eden Prairie and to keep that in mind when choosing activities. Chair Leeper discussed the calendar with the focus areas being; Commission, Continuing HRDC Education, Community Experience and Developing Future Leaders. Xiong pointed out the dates in red are what she plugged in and are subject to change. If there is something that is not on the calendar, that also can be added. Chair Leeper also commented that Iftar will also need to be addressed and added to the calendar. Oaxaca said she would like to reiterate the addressing of BIPOC youth and the LGBTQ+ communities that the Commission needs to be intentional when reporting information to the City Council. She had a question in regards to number 3 under Community Experience in the Activities column, Plan a community conversation with BIPOC youth to explore community engagement opportunities and number 3 under Develop Future Leaders in the Activities column, Create a community conversation with BIPOC youth. Her question was are those two separate events as engaging and developing are two different things. Xiong said community conversation can be different events such as inviting a panel of experts to speak or an actual conversation with BIPOC youth and that will be based on the subcommittee’s decision and pointed out there may be other duplicates within the calendar. Pfahnl asked if an issue of topic comes up that is not on the calendar how is that addressed. Chair Leeper pointed out that situation has come up before and the Commission would need to be flexible to address it. An example would be Iftar. It was not on the work plan but the Commission thought it was important to add it that particular year and the next year it was then added to the calendar. Xiong said the work plan is a map that can be subject to change especially if something emerging would need to be added or if the City Council would need to add something. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 14, 2024 Page 3 of 6 Aliweyd said in regards to community engagements the Commission should address issues with different groups and not just BIPOC youth and the LGBTQ+ community. Chair Leeper reiterated that what Aliweyd was stating was that we are focusing too narrowly on two groups; BIPOC youth and the LGBTQ+ community and that we could lose focus on other groups. Chair Leeper pointed out the thinking was to have a couple focus groups as the Commission cannot address all of the groups, but that we should have broader events to include all groups. Khan concurred with what Aliweyd said and suggested having local representatives speak in regards to issues in the community. Xiong said it was narrowed to two focus groups because that is what the Commission had voted on and pointed out that next year two more groups will be voted on. Riese said if the Commission wanted to have a larger community event they could partner with the City. There could also be a quarterly series of topics so individuals could choose what that want to attend. Umar suggested having a Juneteenth event. Oaxaca stated the Commission should be careful about the message given to the focus groups. The message should be to build trust and be both intentional and inclusive with the different groups that live in Eden Prairie. She also said instead of calling out the two focus groups, to have the focus area be an event like community engagement. Aliweyd said in regards to the recent election, there is fear in the community, specifically in regards to immigration. Riese pointed out the Commission should focus on topics versus groups of people, such as immigration. Weaver commented if people are afraid of being deported they will not come out in public. Aliweyd said people are afraid programs like food stamps may be cut. Singh questioned if there could be quarterly listening sessions. Riese responded that should be up to the subcommittees if they want quarterly listening sessions. Xiong said she will have another focus area called Community Conversations and that will also have to have subcommittees that will work with herself and Chair Leeper in regards to topics and speakers. Khan suggested having a town hall meeting with the City Council. Bates said she is on the Equity team in Prior Lake and they have been doing different listening sessions with leadership from the community in regards to topics and could be something this Commission would want to do. The topics from the Equity team included homelessness and housing insecurity and another topic focusing on refugees. Chair Leeper said a revised structure may be in place with a quarterly piece and then have a series under Community Conversations focusing on BIPOC youth and LGTBQ+ communities and a third could be a broad town hall meeting with the City Council and the fourth could be left open if an issue would arise. Riese suggested slightly reversing the order to start with the town hall meeting and then the next three topics pick from feedback from the meeting. Chair Leeper said he liked the idea of starting with the town hall meeting but does not want to not go with the other two focus groups as they were voted on by the Commission. He also said if a town hall meeting were to be done it should have a subcommittee or task force assigned to it. Urbanski said in regards to the broad town hall meeting, the previous one was on Race Equity and he suggested having a specific topic for the meeting as that would entice people to come along with City officials. Xiong suggested having a broad sessions in a community event, such as PeopleFest HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 14, 2024 Page 4 of 6 because individuals are already at the event. Chair Leeper agreed with the idea but would like to see it happen earlier in the year as PeopleFest takes place in the summer time. Arora said she would like to see the town hall meeting offered sooner than later to see what issues people are having in the community. Singh asked if there could be an alert the Commission sends over to the City Council that there may be a heightened sense of alert with the residents in the community that there is some unrest over the recent election and leave it up to the Mayor and elected official to propose a meeting with the HRDC support. Riese suggested if there was a listening session with the City Council hosted by the HRDC, there may be more of a desire for residents to attend. Khan said the Commission should push the City Council to take ownership because it is not all about the HRDC. This would be an opportunity for the City officials to meet the citizens of Eden Prairie. Chair Leeper commented that part of the Commission’s role is to advise and agreed there should be a town hall meeting. Aliweyd agreed with Chair Leeper and said the City should also take the lead in this. Pfahnl stated she would like to see more information out to the public in regards to immigration and human rights and suggested videos would be a good source of getting the information out to individuals. Oaxaca said the Commission should look further than immigration issues and partner with someone from the County that could speak to the safety net. Urbanski commented if the Commission goes to the City Council and says there is uncertainty in the City after the recent election and because of that we need to have a town hall session, the Commission is going to get push back because 40 percent of the population approved of the election results. He said from the City Council’s point of view there should be more specific topics addressed, such as immigration. Singh responded that was a good point but have the City Council put together a plan that educates residents on what they can do in certain situations, such as immigration issues. Aliweyd said the HRDC should host the town hall meetings. Chair Leeper said what he is hearing this evening is that the Commission needs to add a focus session subcommittee tasked with the focus of the listening session, such as immigration, and add timing and recommendations. 2. SUBCOMMITTEE STRUCTURE Xiong asked the Commission to sign up for one subcommittee, and possibly two and pointed out there can only be five people per subcommittee, including the chair. Chair Leeper suggested for the students that they not enlist in PeopleFest as that is in the summer and they would be off the Commission at that point. He also stated the Human Rights Award is a very short term and more of a task force but stated the other subcommittees such as Words in Action, BIPOC Youth, LGBTQ+, and Community Conversations would be a good choices. Xiong asked the Commission which subcommittees they would like to participate in and the following subcommittees were established. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 14, 2024 Page 5 of 6 Human Rights Awards – Weaver (chair), Singh, Riese Words in Action – Khan (chair), Hassan PeopleFest – Urbanski (chair), Khan BIPOC Youth – Bates (chair), Aliweyd, Oaxaca, Umar LGBTQ+ - Knight (chair), Pfahnl, Skeie, Halbe Community Conversation – Riese (chair), Oaxaca, Pfahnl, Singh, Aliweyd, Arora, Shah VII. NEW BUSINESS A. PREPARATION FOR HR DEPARTMENT PRESENTATION TO HRDC Chair Leeper said the HR Department will be presenting to the HRDC at the December meeting. They will share training on diversity and DEI and pointed out this will be an opportunity for the Commission to ask them questions. Given that, he would like the Commission to come up with a list of questions to present to the HR Department in preparation for next month. Oaxaca would like to know what they are seeing in recruitment retention with diverse candidates for City Staff. Khan would like to know the turn-over rate in employment. Aliweyd asked how many employees there are in the City and can we ask how many people of color were hired in the last 10 years. Urbanski looked it up and responded there are 275 full time employees and several hundred part-time and seasonal employees. Pfahnl would like to know what has the HR Department changed because of the Race Equity Report and are there any new initiatives to be aware of. Aliweyd asked what has changed in the hiring process since the Race Equity Report. Urbanski wanted to know if they are going to remain committed to this effort given the current nature of DEI and instances where people are being sued for doing this kind of thing. Bates wanted to know if there were a lot of issues that have come up with employment that deal with human rights and diversity. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 14, 2024 Page 6 of 6 Oaxaca would like to know what incidents are reported or discrimination and bias and how is the HR Department handling that. She would also like to know what onboard training they are doing in regard to diversity. Xiong said she will bring back all of these questions to the HR Department to address at the December meeting. Khan said he would like to know the breakdown of diversity and what platforms are they using to get a more diverse employment pool. Oaxaca said she would like to have a way to retain the information that will be given to them at the presentation next month. Xiong said she will follow up with the HR Department to see if they would have a one page note that could be shared. Chair Leeper said they will now break out in subcommittees for the remainder of the meeting. There will be three goals to achieve in the breakout session. They are as follows: 1. Lock down a time when everyone in the subcommittee can meet before the end of the year either by zoom or in person. 2. Give some definition to the activity or deliverable that the subcommittee would like to do. 3. Identify a time frame the subcommittee would like to do their activity. Kahn shared he had a timeframe for Iftar. He said the weekend of March 15th would be best and sunset is around 6 or 7 pm and suggested having the introduction at 5:30 pm and around 6 or 7 pm have the breaking of fast. VIII. STAFF REPORT – PAJA XIONG A. RACE EQUITY ACTION TEAM (REAT) UPDATE There was no update this evening. IX. UPCOMING MEETINGS A. December 12, 2024 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Urbanski moved, seconded by Bates, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 12-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.