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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity Commission (HRDC) - 10/08/2026Meeting Agenda Eden Prairie Human Rights and Diversity Commission 7 p.m. Thursday, October 8, 2026 Heritage Rooms 4 8080 Mitchell Road Eden Prairie, MN 55344 ATTENDEES Commission Members: Gregory Leeper, Chair; Asad Aliweyd, Shana Bates, Shalanda Berry, Zaheer Khan, Jody Knight, Jessica Oaxaca, Brenda Pfahnl, Wendi Russo, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver Student Commission Members: Anjolaoluwa Raimi, Gatrika Ravella, Ikra Ibrahim, Roshini Drakshapally, Ryan Altawil, Safiya Mohamed, Siri Bachigari City Staff: Paja Xiong, Community Services Manager & Staff Liaison, Julie Krull, Recorder MEETING AGENDA I.Call the Meeting to Order II. Introduction of Guests – None III.Approval of Agenda IV.Minutes from HRDC meeting held Thursday, September 10, 2026 V.Community Presentation – None VI.Old Business a.Citywide Open House Debrief– 7:00 pm – 7:15 pm b.Human Rights Award – 7:15 pm – 7:45 pm c.Student Led Community Conversation Update – 7:45 pm – 8:00 pm VII.New Business - None VIII.Next Meeting – November 12, 2026 IX.Adjournment Unapproved Minutes Eden Prairie Human Rights and Diversity Commission 7 p.m. Thursday, September 10, 2026 Heritage Room 1 8080 Mitchell Road Eden Prairie, MN 55344 ATTENDEES Commission Members: Gregory Leeper, Chair; Asad Aliweyd, Shana Bates, Shalanda Berry, Zaheer Khan, Jody Knight, Jessica Oaxaca, Brenda Pfahnl, Wendi Russo, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver Student Commission Members: Anjolaoluwa Raimi, Gatrika Ravella, Ikra Ibrahim, Roshini Drakshapally, Ryan Altawil, Safiya Mohamed, Siri Bachigari City Staff: Paja Xiong, Community Services Manager & Staff Liaison, Julie Krull, Recorder MEETING AGENDA I.Call to Order/Roll Call Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. Commission Members Bates, Berry, Knight, Oaxaca, Pfahnl and Student Commission Members Raimi, Altawil and Bachigari, were absent. Aliweyd arrived during Old Business. There was not a quorum at the start of the meeting so the Agenda and Minutes were approved after the PeopleFest! Pary Debrief under Old Business. II.Introduction of Student Commissioners Xiong asked the Student Commissioners to introduce themselves and supplied an ice breaker in which the Commission participated in. III.Introduction of Guests There were no guests this evening. IV.Approval of Agenda MOTION: WEAVER moved, seconded by KHAN, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 6-0. V.Approval of the July 9, 2026 Meeting Minutes MOTION: KHAN moved, seconded by ALIWEYD, to approve the minutes. Motion carried 6-0. VI.Community Presentation There was not a presentation this evening. HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES September 10, 2026 VII.Old Business A.PeopleFest! Party Debrief Xiong asked the volunteers that attended the event for their feedback. Weaver commented it was a very busy event. Urbanski said their table was in a place that had a lot of traffic and commented the bracelets were very popular. Xiong said she felt there was a lot of engagement with the attendees and also stated the auditorium, which holds 150 people, was at peak capacity. B.Community Conversation Debrief Xiong stated there were 3 speakers in attendance and they discussed the following prompts. They are: •The importance of food •How would you define family in your culture •What role does education play in your culture •How do you show up for one another in your community. Xiong pointed out there were 13 people in attendance. Xiong asked the volunteers that attended the event for their feedback. Russo suggested the speakers bring in a dish from their culture and a recipe. Weaver felt the event was under marketed, and would have liked to see more people in attendance but commented it was a great event. Russo suggested having it during PeopleFest. Chair Leeper said previously the Commission did the Human Library during PeopleFest. Urbanski suggested having a list of HRDC’s events at the PeopleFest table that people could take with them. Xiong said she has taken the feedback back to the committee that it would have been good to piggyback off the Immigration speaker. Xiong shared some of the feedback from the Gallery Walk notes in regards to the prompts. There are as follows. In regards to showing up for your community they said this could mean coming to events, volunteering, helping neighbors and advocating for them. In regards to education, this was very important in all cultures; this is what all of the speakers shared. Urbanski said, in regards to the Gallery Walk, he would like to see thebpanelists get up and mingle right away. VIII.New Business A.City-Wide Open House Xiong stated this event will occur on Saturday, October 3rd, from 11 am – 2 pm. She said she would like three volunteers for this event. The first shift would be from 10:45 am – 12:30 pm. Mohamed said she could volunteer. The second shift would be from 12:30 pm –2:15 pm. Ravella and Drakshapally said they could volunteer. Xiong said the bracelets were a success last year and she would like to see them again this year. B.Human Rights Award Xiong said she would like to launch this event on Wednesday, September 16th and closing it on Monday, October 5th. The rubric and scoring sheet will be sent out to the Commission on September 17th. Nominations will be sent to members as they come in to allow for HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES September 10, 2026 scoring. The HRDC will independently score them and return to Xiong by October 7th. The HRA recipients will be notified on October 9th for their invitation to the City Council meeting. The HRA recipients will be presented to the City Council at their November 9th meeting. Xiong said she will send a link for the Google sheet. She also pointed out she has shared this with some non-profit organizations and was asked if groups such as Grass Roots would be able to be nominated since they are not a 501C non-profit organization. Urbanski asked what the groups are again for this award. Chair Leeper said they are Individual, Non-Profit, Youth and Business. Khan said the Commission should recognize the groups that are doing good work even though they are not an official 501C registered group. Russo also felt they should be recognized if they are doing good even though they are not a registered non-profit. Aliweyd commented the Commission should keep the Non-Profit organizations separate and maybe come up with a different group. Xiong said she would seek approval to see if the title of the group could be changed to Non-Profit/Community Group. She also asked the Commissioners and Students to nominate people for all of these groups. Chair Leeper thanked Xiong for all of her work in regards to this award. Weaver asked if the person has to live in Eden Prairie and do their work in Eden Prairie. Chair Leeper said the answer would be yes to both of the questions. It was discussed not to show the nomination’s name and the nominator’s name. C.Student Led Community Conversation Xiong said these are the 4 discussion points and asked the students to start thinking about all 4 points. They are: 1.When do we want to host the event; what months. 2. Do we want to host this event during the school day. 3.Are we okay with the Eden Prairie School District choosing some prompts. 4.Should this entirely be led by Student Commissioners. Khan asked what the topic would be. Xiong suggested having the students run with this and get input from the Commissioners. Ravella said December is not a good month but suggested January or February. She thought March and April would be getting too late in the school year. She also said she likes the idea of the students taking the role in this event; the other Student Commissioners concurred with that. Weaver and Urbanski thought it was a great idea too for the Student Commissioners to take the role in this event. Urbanski also commented the Commissioners will always be there for help and to answer any questions. Xiong also said she can assist where needed. Khan said in regards to the Commissioners, it would be good if they were in attendance at this event and offering assistance. Chair Leeper said he likes that the Student Commissioners are taking ownership of this event. Xiong said she will send over to the Student Commissioners information from last year for them to see and use as needed. HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES September 10, 2026 IX.Next Meeting The next meeting will be October 8, 2026 X.Adjournment MOTION: URBANSKI moved, seconded by RUSSO, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 6-0. CHAIR LEEPER adjourned the meeting at 8:20 pm.