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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 11/09/2023 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2023 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: Megan Yerks, Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Commission Members Aliweyd and Elassar were absent. Kleckner arrived after the approval of the minutes. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS There were no guests this evening. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Weaver moved, seconded by Skeie, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 9-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Urbanski moved, seconded by Khan, to approve the minutes dated September 14, 2023. Motion carried 9-0. V. COMMUNITY PRESENTATION There was not a community presentation this evening. . HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 9, 2023 Page 2 of 6 VI. STAFF REPORT – MEGAN YERKS A. COMMUNITY NEWS There was no Community News B. CITY / OHCS NEWS There was no City/OHCS News C. EPREI UPDATES Yerks presented a PowerPoint presentation of the last City Council presentation for the REI Implementation Update which occurred on September 19th. She said that she and Julie Klima, the Eden Prairie Community Development Director presented to the City Council. Yerks pointed out there are approximately 20 staff members that make up the REAT team and they focus on three things; accountability, collaboration and engagement. Yerks pointed out the public facing dashboard is now on the City website and is tracking the action the City is taking. Chair Leeper stated it is encouraging to see that activities are taking place. Griffin concurred with Chair Leeper and suggested it would be interesting to hear what the different departments are specifically doing. Chair Leeper suggested having a department come and do a presentation at the HRDC meeting one evening. Pfahnl thought focusing on key issues might be better. Yerks said they use a comprehensive list to capture all points and will look at them all versus addressing something specifically. Khan said one measurable thing should be highlighted and be able to show some improvement. Yerks said this dashboard asked staff to look at things thru a different lens and see what could be done differently to promote race equity. Chair Leeper said some detail would be good in the documents, such as target dates or surveys and could possibly be linked out. Yerks said that they also discussed the 2023 Equity and Inclusion Survey that was conducted this past summer and pointed out it was similar to the questions in the 2020 survey. Yerks said there were 565 respondents and the racial demographics mirror the community demographics. Disaggregated data was also available. Yerks said most of the items or topics in the survey increased from 2020 to 2023 in the different groups; Black, Asian, White, Hispanic/Latino. There was a decrease of 22 percent in the Hispanic/Latino in regards to “demonstrating respect to residents of different cultures and belief systems”. Griffin asked what the source data was for the survey. Yerks said it was a third party organization and there is not access to the specific respondents. Yerks said there is another tool they have been working on and that is the Census Data Dashboard, which gives race data and family size, and renters versus homeowners. Yerks said City Communications has created a Limited English Proficiency (LEP) policy. The policy was developed with feedback from department directors and the City Manager. There also will be no REAT meeting in October and the November REAT meeting will focus on the results of the Equity and Inclusion Survey. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 9, 2023 Page 3 of 6 D. HRDC NEWS HCS Move The Eden Prairie Center office officially closed. The HCS staff has begun operating at the City Center as of November 6th and is focusing on maintaining services through the location change. 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. CITYWIDE OPEN HOUSE Chair Leeper asked for feedback from the volunteers who were present. Skeie commented that Karthic did a great job on the bracelets. Karthic said she had a good time and that it was nice to talk to the parents and kids that were present. Knight said it was fun to see the younger kids answering the questions. B. JOINT MEETING WITH THE HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION Chair Leeper asked for feedback from the Commissioners. Griffin said it was a great presentation by the HPC. Chair Leeper said the documentary is well worth watching. C. MNDHR LOCAL COMMISSION MEETING Chair Leeper asked the attendees for their feedback. Singh thought it was encouraging to see what other cities are doing and said there was a lot of insightful information. Knight commented that it appears Eden Prairie has more programs than other cities and she thought other cities were surprised at how forward thinking Eden Prairie was. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS Yerks asked the Commission Members if they would like to make the social media posts stacked or interview individuals and if the latter is picked then volunteers will be needed. Chair Leeper asked who would like to be profiled or get an individual to profile. Talla said she could find someone to interview for Christmas. Yerks said the volunteer should supply one photo and one tradition for the holiday and have the commentary be within 3-4 sentences. Karthic said she will check with the school groups in regards to finding HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 9, 2023 Page 4 of 6 participants for Kwanzaa. Khan volunteered to take Hannukah. Urbanski suggested getting information from the United Nations for IHR Day. Chair Leeper said Yerks will follow up with each Commission Member that volunteered. B. 2024 WORK PLAN Yerks said with the work plan this evening the Commission will not be planning anything specific but the goal will be to establish a yes or no for the calendar of events. Specific ideas and components will be discussed during the planning process. Yerks reminded the Commissioners to keep in mind capacity, workflow and the overall commitment level. Below is the list of events that will be reviewed and confirmed by the Commission. 1. Human Rights Awards • Kick off in January with a presentation in May The Commission agreed to keep this event for 2024. 2. Words in Action Contest Tentative Timeline (dependent on the City Council Meeting Date) • Submission Period: Jan. 8- Feb. 5, 2024 • Committee Evaluation Meeting: Feb. 8, 2024 6pm • Winners/Honorary Mentions Notified: Feb. 9, 2024 • Winners/Honorary Mentions Recognized Feb. 20, 2024 The Commission agreed to keep this event for 2024 3. Tabling Events: Pop Up Splash Pads and Citywide Open House • This event is run by the City with Commission participation • Pop Up Splash Pads: July and August • Citywide Open House: October The Commission agreed to keep these events for 2024 4. PeopleFest! • Participate in Planning Committee, Jan. – Aug. • Events take place in July and August Singh commented that 3 pm is too early for meetings. The Commission agreed to keep this event for 2024 6. Community Listening Events/Iftar • It was decided to have Iftar in March and Oct. for the second listening event. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 9, 2023 Page 5 of 6 In regards to Iftar, Singh recommends participating in this event but not being pressured to do other religious events based on other asks. Weaver asked if this event satisfied the goals of listening to the community or was it aimed at exposing people to their religion. Urbanski said it was more of building bridges with individuals. Chair Leeper pointed out there was a good amount of listening. Yerks said from a staff prospective, she has gotten good feedback regarding this event. Pfahnl commented she attended the event and thought she learned a lot from being there. Skeie said he spoke to some fire and police attendees and they said they had good communication with individuals at the event. Yerks said she will add Iftar to the 2024 calendar for March. For the listening event in October, Pfahnl suggested having Dakota leaders discuss the history of the land and review the Land Acknowledgement Statement. 7. Social Media Posts Chair Leeper wanted to discuss social media posts with the Commission and asked the members if they wanted to continue with these posts or make changes. Singh suggested each Commission Member should take one post and be responsible for that. Weaver said there are 20 posts, and commented that seems to be a lot. Skeie said the posts should tie into what the Commission is doing for the month. Singh said we should maintain some connection with the individuals in regards to the posts. Khan said there is a lot of value in these posts and feels it is important to understand other cultures. Weaver suggested possibly cutting back on the list as some of it is repetitive or duplications. Chair Leeper pointed out that half of the list is templates and given that there would only be about 10 where we would need to interview individuals. Yerks commented when they started these posts there were only two participants picked each year and the rest were templates. She said the Commission could go through the 2024 calendar and see what could be templates and get an amount that the Commission would want to feature. Khan suggested dropping the ones off that the Commission cannot get participants for; Singh agreed. Given the time, Chair Leeper said the Commission will revisit the work plan at the December meeting. New Ideas for 2024 The Commission came up with the following new ideas for 2024: Skeie suggested Disability Access and Advocacy and said he would like to see adult changing tables and bikes. Weaver suggested having better signage at events; this would include banners, and eye level signage that is colorful. Khan suggested Digital Art – a competition for a diversity art project. IX. UPCOMING MEETINGS HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES November 9, 2023 Page 6 of 6 A. DECEMBER 14, 2023 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Griffin, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 10-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:04 p.m.