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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 06/13/2024APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2024 7:00 P.M., EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper (Chair), Asad Aliweyd, Shana Bates, Samuel Griffin, Zaheer Khan, Jody Knight, Jessica Oaxaca, Brenda Pfahnl, Savannah Riese, Kuhu Singh, Philip Skeie, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver COMMISSION STAFF: Paja Xiong, Community Services Manager & Staff Liaison Julie Klima, Community Development Director Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Commission members Aliweyd, Bates, Griffin, Pfahnl and Singh were absent. II. INTRODUCTION OF COMMISSION STAFF LIAISON Klima introduced Xiong, who is the new Community Services Manager and official Staff Liaison for the HRDC. Klima asked the Commissioners to introduce themselves and share how long they have been on the Human Rights & Diversity Commission and why they joined. Skeie stated he is in his second term on the Commission. He has been a long time resident of Eden Prairie and had previously worked at the EP Fire Department. When he retired he was looking for another outlet where he could provide assistance to the public and that was his reason for joining the HRDC. Knight commented she was in her first term and had volunteered in several other areas and felt the HRDC would offer a variety of activities for her to help in the community. Next was Urbanski, who is in his second term. He said after the George Floyd incident he became involved in activities at his church and wanted to be more involved with the community and that is why he joined the Commission. He pointed out a good exercise was the creation of the Race Equity Report to move the curve forward. Chair Leeper stated he was in his fourth term. When he moved to Eden Prairie and saw the announcement for the Commission program he waited a year and then applied and was accepted. He said the diversity, equity and inclusion work has been a big part of his life and he enjoys working for change and ultimately seeing it happen. Riese is in her first term and said what drew her to the Commission was that diversity and inclusion have been her professional journey as a communicator and she wanted to do something to engage in the community and give back. Oaxaca is also in her first term and said she currently works at Hennepin County for a Commission and saw the work that Eden Prairie was doing on the Race Equity Report and she wanted to see how she could assist in making sure the report was not just a report but had action behind it. Weaver commented she was in her second term and was a retired clergy. After retirement, the Commission was the first thing that interested her as it involved HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2024 Page 2 of 7 human rights. Khan, who is in his first term, said he worked with Pakistani rights in the past and thought by being on the Commission he could benefit the community. Xiong thanked all the Commissioners for sharing that information. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Weaver, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 8-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE MAY 9, 2024 MEETING MINUTES Urbanski had a change to the minutes under Section V11, bullet point B1: Human Library – Book Ideas & Even Administration. The sentence that read “The book commitment would be approximately 20 minutes.” Should read, “The book commitment would be approximately 20 minutes per session over a two-to-four-hour period.” MOTION: Khan moved, seconded by Riese, to approve the amended May 9, 2024 Meeting Minutes. Motion carried 8-0. V. COMMUNITY PRESENTATION There was no Community Presentation VI. OLD BUSINESS A. DISABILITY ADVOCACY Klima pointed out at the last meeting the Commission discussed the cost of a changing table that included a hoist. The cost was approximately $10,000 to $12,000 for the equipment only. There was a question if there would need to be structural changes made at the Eden Prairie Community Center if it was to be installed there. She asked the Facility staff about the location and they did confirm there would need to be structural changes. There were two possible locations and the first one would cost approximately $30,000 to make modifications and the second location would cost approximately $75,000 to make changes. She said there have been other ideas brought forward, such as free feminine hygiene products in the City restrooms and that was able to be implemented. She pointed out when comparing this project to what we were asking with the changing table is a much different ask with a much different scope of cost. She suggested the Commission look at other alternatives that are less costly as it is difficult for the City to absorb that in their budget. An example of an alternative option would be Marilyn’s TWOcan bicycles that Chair Leeper and Skeie were following up on. Chair Leeper asked Skeie if he had reached out to Marilyn and Skeie said he did about a week ago and is waiting to hear back. He stated they do not have a web presence and are not on Facebook. Chair Leeper explained that this is an adaptive bicycle where you can put an attachment on so someone in a wheel chair could go for a bike ride. It mainly focuses on seniors but this could also be a good partnership for the disability community. Skeie said the Marilyn TWOcan organization transports the bicycles to the people. He said he would like to re-visit the City buying a HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2024 Page 3 of 7 bicycle for the community to use and commented they are approximately $5,000. Klima asked when the Park & Recreation Department gave their presentation to the Commission a few months ago did they discuss the possibility of an adaptive bicycle. Skeie said they did not. Klima said she will follow up with them and see if this could be an option. Skeie said if the Commission partners with a shop, they could possibly offer a discount to us. Klima said there may be some rules and regulations when spending City funds in regards to partnering with someone. Skeie said in regards to the changing table, he was reading in the Eden Prairie News that there were to be renovations to the City Center and plans may be for a single use restroom and asked if this could be designed to have a changing table installed. Klima replied she will follow up on that ask as well. She also said she was at the meeting when the renovations were being discussed and they did not mention the location of the single use restroom so she is unsure if it would be in a public or secure location. She stated the majority of renovation work is being done in the police department so she will follow up and get more information for the Commission. Urbanski said in regards to the bicycle, he asked if Marilyn was from Shakopee. Chair Leeper said she was from Shakopee. Urbanski pointed out there was a rotary club in Shakopee that he heard has money they need to spend by the end of June and there are donations forms online and suggested Marilyn look into this since she is from Shakopee. Urbanski asked Klima if someone would donate a bicycle to Eden Prairie who would be responsible for insuring and maintaining it and what is the process of managing it. He also said in regards to the single use bathroom at Eden Prairie City Center, could the addition of the changing table be put under Capital Improvements. Klima said the process for determining Capital Improvements was just completed and is done every two years. She also said she is not sure of any renovations planned at the Community Center but now that the HRDC is in discussion about the changing table it will now be on their radar. Urbanski said he just wanted to make sure it would not drop off of their radar. Khan asked what is the needs of the people asking for assistance and commented that maybe there is something more inexpensive that can be offered to them or take into account how many people are asking for it. Klima said Facilities do look at that and make sure they are doing everything possible at the most inexpensive cost. Riese stated in regards to adaptive bicycles, we should reach out to the disability community to make sure that is exactly what they want and not something else; maybe there is something else they would rather have. She said in regards to the changing tables, there was some problem talking to the folks that have installed them and now the MN Twins have just put in one at Target Field and suggested that may be a good resource to get in touch with. Skeie said he knows of only three tables being installed around the Twin Cities and only saw his first one six months ago. Chair Leeper commented it is good to see these getting installed in the Twin Cities and appreciates the work of City Staff in looking into this and also the work on the adaptive bicycle program. Chair Leeper also suggested having other City Departments coming in and addressing the Commission in regards to what they are doing to address the disability community service. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2024 Page 4 of 7 B. PEOPLEFEST! HUMAN LIBRARY BOOKS AND EVENT ADMINISTRATION Chair Leeper said the kickoff for PeopleFest! will take place on Sunday, July 28th to Sunday, August 4th. This is a community celebration of cultures. The kickoff is a party on July 28th. The HRDC plays a role in PeopleFest! by hosting the Human Library. Weaver explained what the Human Library entails. Individuals tell their story by getting checked out as a book. They tell their story for approximately 20 minutes. Chair Leeper said the event is from 3pm – 7pm and there will be an hour and a half commitment for someone that is to be a book. Chair Leeper asked Klima if there is a list of books currently established. Klima said she will follow up with Stanley. Chair Leeper commented previously there was a google doc that had a list of books on them. Chair Leeper asked Khan if he still had a book or was going to be a book himself. Khan said he did have a book for the event. Klima said she will find the Google doc and send it out to all of the Commissioners to fill out as to who has been recruited. Riese asked what would be the shifts for the librarians. Chair Leeper said they would be two hour shifts with 2 to 3 people working each shift. The Commission decided it would be preferable if the books live in Eden Prairie but decided if there were not enough volunteers they could look for people outside of the City. Chair Leeper said there should be 5-6 books per shift. He stated he will have at least 2 books there and would like all Commissioners to find at least one book in the next few weeks. The shifts for the books will be 3:30-5pm and 5-6:30pm. Urbanski asked if the Chief of Police or Fire could be asked to be a book. Chair Leeper said they should be asked and Skeie volunteered to ask them. He also said if they could not attend he would see if someone in the command staff could participate. C. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS 1. Debrief Chair Leeper asked Weaver to debrief the Human Rights Awards. Weaver said the event was fine but a little underwhelming and stated it would have been nice to have the youth and their family there. 2. Sub-Committee Chair Leeper said for next year the word needs to get out better in order to get more submissions. Urbanski asked if other Cities do these awards and said it would be worthwhile to see what their applications and qualifications look like. Khan suggested looking at our questions that are asked and seeing if they could be changed. Chair Leeper asked Xiong to put that item as a future agenda item in the next few months so it is in place for the next year. Riese suggested reaching out to the Communication Department to see how we can market the award better and investigate what has worked in the past, such as pulling analytics on social media posts and landing page viewership from both this year and years past to help us pivot how we advertise the award in the future. Klima said the Communication Department has the ability to tabulate how many people are getting views and active views so they can distinguish between those and suggested that information may be helpful to the Commission. Weaver said she thinks there needs to be some sort of HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2024 Page 5 of 7 rubric in making decisions. Chair Leeper said it should be tied to the application questions. Xiong said in her free time she was on a scholarship committee and they used a rubric so she can bring that information forward. D. IDEAS FOR GUEST SPEAKERS AT FUTURE HRDC MEETINGS Chair Leeper pointed out it is helpful to the Commission to have guest speakers and would like to schedule these on a regular basis. He would like to get them scheduled from August to the end of the year. Some of the ideas from the last HRDC meeting are as follows: 1. Cindy from the Prop Shop 2. Student group – Dare to be Real 3. Transgender and LGTBQ speaker 4. Workshop with Gateway Institute 5. City Departments focusing on the Race Equity Report and what are they doing now Urbanski said in regards to the City Departments and looking back at the reports, he would like to see a person from the Human Resource Department speak about staffing and diversity. In regards to the Communication Department, he would like them to discuss the surveys they do and ask how we can reach more people and how we can make the surveys better in regards to the Race Equity Report. Khan suggested we have a person speak that has come to Eden Prairie and discuss the transition, such as a new student attending Eden Prairie High School and discuss what their experience was like. Oaxaca said she took a course on getting to know your Somalia neighbor and thought it was informative and suggested having someone talk about that topic to the Commission. Klima addressed Urbanski’s comment about surveys and asked if he was addressing the Race Equity survey or surveys in general, like the Quality of Life survey. John said he was addressing both of them. Klima said the City does not generate the survey process itself but goes through Polco and they have a template on Race Equity issues that the City used. The City does not have the ability to adjust what is in that survey. The City can adjust what is in the Quality of Life survey such as adding DEI questions. Urbanski said he was talking about accessibility to surveys, such as if an individual is blind or does not have a computer to access the survey, and asked how we reach these people. Klima said in regards to the surveys, it is best to ask the same questions all the time to understand where there is growth or change; the more you can keep the static the more reliable the information will be. Oaxaca asked what the best way is to provide feedback to the Commission. She also asked if the Commission had the head of the MN State Department speak to the Commission on human rights. Chair Leeper said they have had 1 or 2 Commissioners attend his virtual meetings and report back to the Commission, but said it would be a good idea to have him at the meeting or attend a zoom call. Oaxaca said she would reach out to him to see if he would be willing to attend a meeting. Chair Leeper responded to Oaxaca’s first question by stating she should send an email to Xiong and to include him. Xiong said she is already HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2024 Page 6 of 7 working on a document that she will share with the Commission. Riese suggested creating a Google form for Commissioners and Xiong and Chair Leeper can review it after. Klima said she wanted to comment on two different aspects of the agenda, one being the community speakers and the other regarding conversation on different departments coming and speaking about the Race Equity Report. She asked if it would be too much to have two speakers attend the same meeting. Chair Leeper suggested alternating the speakers each meeting. Klima wanted to address the workplan with the Commission that is completed every year. She pointed out a big part of what came out of the Race Equity Report was the Community Engagement aspect and said that falls completely within the realm of the HRDC and wanted to see if the HRDC wanted to host some connections to community and then it can be reported back to the Race Equity group. Skeie said there are two scheduled, one in April and one in October. Weaver commented in regards to the Human Library it would be nice to have better signage. Klima said she will follow up with the Communications Department. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. PARTY FOR PRIDE – VOLUNTEERS TO STAFF HRDC TABLE Chair Leeper said he is looking for volunteers to staff the table at this event on June 22 from 9am to 1pm at Starring Lake Amphitheater. Knight, Urbanski, Oaxaca, and Riese volunteered. Klima said she will get the candy and the trivia questions if Knight can get the beads. Knight said she will get the beads. VIII. STAFF REPORT – JULIE KLIMA A. RACE EQUITY ACTION TEAM (REAT) UPDATE Klima said tonight the Commission talked about bringing in Department speakers to talk about the Race Equity Report and how it is being implemented at a City level by each Department. She said she will work on scheduling these speakers. For the next REAT regularly scheduled meeting they will be going to the Culture Center at Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Klima will report back to the Commission about the trip at the next HRDC meeting. Weaver asked when the Pop Up in the Parks occur. Khan said one is in July and the other in August. Weaver asked where they occur. Khan said one is at Nesbitt and Klima said the other is at Edenvale. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2024 Page 7 of 7 IX. UPCOMING MEETINGS A. JULY 11, 2024 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Weaver moved, seconded by Riese, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 8-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:42 p.m.