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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 08/11/1998 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION TUESDAY,AUGUST 11, 1998 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER Prairie Rooms A & B 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Brad Behrends, Richard Helzel, Harry Moran, Vicki Pellar-Price, Darryl Stanton, Gloria Winans, and Munna Yasiri YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES: Andrea Brown and Sopanha Te CITY COUNCIL STAFF: Michael Barone, Sr. Personnel Coordinator, and Jan Nelson, Recording Secretary I. ROLL CALL Chair Winans called the meeting to order at 7:05 P.M. Helzel, Pellar-Price, Brown and Te were absent. Stanton arrived late. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Behrends moved, seconded by Moran, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 4-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JULY 14, 1998 MEETING MOTION: Yasiri moved, seconded by Behrends, to approve as published the Minutes of the July 14, 1998 meeting. Motion carried 4-0. IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Review of Final Plans for "DiverseCity on the Prairie" -August 16, 4:00 -8:00 p.m., Staring Lake Park Barone distributed copies of the event brochure and a memo from Tria Mann summarizing the schedule and listing volunteers and phone numbers. He referred Commissioners to the evaluation and suggestion page attached to the memo. The Manifesto has been posted in the City Hall reception area along with the event brochures and information on the Commission. Commissioners reviewed the shift times for the event. Behrends will work on the first shift and Helzel on the second shift. Barone will call Pellar-Price and Stanton to remind them of the event. Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes August 11, 1998 Page 2 B. Copy of Letter Sent to Nanette Missaghi -ISD #272 Diversity Coordinator in Regards to May 21, 1998 EPHS Diversity Fair Behrends thought he had seen something about the High School diversity group being disbanded. Following a discussion, Moran suggested we call Nanette to learn more about whether the group has been disbanded. Winans thanked Barone for sending out the letter. C. Summary from July 14, 1998 Discussion on HRDC -Focus Area Responsibilities Winans suggested the Commission review each of the Focus Areas and include specific items on the Work Plan. 1. Preserving and Enhancing the Job Base Yasiri thought the first point is the main one, and the rest are subsets of the main point. The consensus was to list items 2-5 as subsets of the first item. The Commission then reviewed each of the four subset items. Set up a Speakers Bureau--A discussion followed regarding the concept of the Speakers Bureau. The objective would be to determine Commission members who would be willing to attend various events or speak to a group about the work of the Commission. Winans suggested that Behrends head up the efforts on this point. Behrends agreed to work with Barone and Swaggert to set up the Speakers Bureau. Stanton arrived at 7:40 PM. Continue partnership with the Chamber--Following discussion on this item, Barone agreed to put together a letter to the Chamber requesting that the Human Rights luncheon event be continued going forward. Yasiri thought our goal was to have regular meetings with the Chamber. She thought the Chamber is the key to establishing links to businesses, and we need to become more familiar with those who are active in the community. Barone agreed to include information mailed out by the Chamber in the Commission packets. Stanton thought it would be good for Commission members to attend some of the Chamber's events, and asked if we would have an opportunity to go to the events. Barone thought there probably would not be funds for this except for the Human Rights Award luncheon meeting in April. Winans said many of the larger employers in the City are not active in the Chamber. A discussion followed about how to get involved with those companies. Yasiri suggested that we finalize the information packet and set up an agenda to use for meeting with these companies. Each Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes August 11, 1998 Page 3 Commission member could select one employer to contact this year, maintain that contact next year, and contact another one next year. The consensus was to continue to connect with the Chamber members at the meetings while individual Commission members start to build connections with the larger employers in the City. Barone will bring the Chamber schedule to the next meeting. A discussion followed about how to maintain contact through the regular Chamber meetings. Barone thought we might be able to provide material at the Chamber luncheons but they do have sponsors who underwrite each of the luncheons. Winans thought we could plug into the January State of the City meeting. A discussion followed about how to publicize the Commission events at the January meeting. Barone noted that will coincide with the roll-out time for the Human Rights and Youth Scholarship Awards. Barone will find out if we can have a booth at the January meeting. Organize information packet--Winans read the list that Yasiri submitted of items to be included in this packet. Yasiri thought it might be nice to have a one-page demographic summary of Eden Prairie. Barone will check on the information on the Commission that is included in the current new residents' packet. Barone thought it would be important to have the packets put together by the time of the Job Fair at Eden Prairie Center. The October work session will be used to finalize the information packet preparation. Identify companies that are "high-end" users of Southwest Metro--This item needs to be corrected to include the word "Commute" before the word "Committee". Winans thought we could invite the Administrator of Southwest Metro to attend our September meeting in order to involve him in this process. Due to time constraints the Commission agreed to postpone discussion of the other two focus areas to the next Commission meeting. D. Summary of sub-Committee Discussion of Youth Scholarship Award Process for 1999 -sub-Committee meeting on July 14, 1998, 6:00 -7:00 p.m. Barone noted he included the summary as requested at the last meeting. Yasiri thought we might send out a flyer to everyone in the Junior class to publicize the award. Stanton thought we could also target clubs and organizations to publicize it as well. He volunteered to help work on a connection to distribute information about the award. Yasiri thought we might check out putting information on the web site. She asked if we will focus on the Eden Prairie School District. Winans noted we have to send it to all schools that serve the area including Hopkins, Minnetonka and Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes August 11, 1998 Page 4 private schools such as the International School, Breck and Blake. The consensus was to work on the distribution options during September and October. V. NEW BUSINESS A. Approval of West Suburban Mediation Center Services for 1999 1. Letter of Request SeekinlZ $2500 for Services -same as 1998 2. 1997 West Suburban Mediation Center Annual Report 3. Request for Human Service Fundinz Winans noted we have been approving their request but have never done a site visit. Moran and Barone volunteered to visit the center to get a better understanding of their operations. The consensus was to postpone recommending approval of the funding until Barone and Moran report back at the September meeting. group. B. Minnesota Fair Housing Center Information and Conference Barone said the conference on Building Inclusive Communities will be held on September 18 at the Radisson. He asked Behrends if it was brought up at the HTHSB meeting. Behrends said they mentioned the event briefly. Behrends agreed to attend the conference. Barone will check on the availability of funding. VI. REPORTS OF COMMISSION MEMBERS A. Housing, Transportation & Human Services: Brad Behrends Behrends distributed a report summarizing their last two meetings. They will have five or six groups presenting at their September meeting. Winans asked if other Commissioners could attend their meetings. Behrends thought that would be okay. B. League of Human Rights Commissions: Gloria Winans Winans said they are in the process of finalizing the agenda for the Annual Conference in September. She said Walter Mondale will be the key-note speaker. C. Report of Youth Representatives: Andrea Brown and Sopanha Te Not present. Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes August 11, 1998 Page 5 VII. REPORTS OF STAFF A. Activity Status Barone distributed copies of a Sun Newspaper article about a recent incident. He said the police are still looking for the suspects. It is being categorized as a robbery/crime of bias. A letter was sent to the victim offering the services of the Commission. Stanton asked if any weapons were involved. Barone said there were no weapons involved. Commissioners reviewed the procedure to call a Voice Mail box to hear about such incidents. Barone copied the procedure for Information Line updates and distributed it. VIII. FUTURE AGENDAS/EVENTS September 8 7:00 -9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting September 22 7:00 -9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop October 13 7:00 -9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting October 27 7:00 -9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop November 10 7:00 -9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting November 24 7:00 -9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop IX. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Behrends moved, seconded by Moran, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Winans adjourned the meeting at 8:30 PM.