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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 11/10/1998 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 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: Jennifer Johnson and Sopanha Te CITY COUNCIL STAFF: Michael Barone, Supv. Personnel/Payroll, and Jan Nelson, Recording Secretary I. ROLL CALL Chair Winans called the meeting to order at 7:05 P.M. Yasiri arrived late. Stanton left early. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Behrends moved, seconded by Stanton, to approve the Agenda as published. Motion carried 6-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF OCTOBER 13, 1998 MEETING The consensus was to change the motion to approve the agenda as follows: "Helzel moved, seconded by Moran, to approve the Agenda as published and amended." Winans said Page 3, Paragraph 4, Sentence 1, should be changed as follows: "Winans stated she had spoken with a representative from Oak Park, Illinois prior to the conference, ...... Page 4, item VI.B. heading should be "The Minnesota League of Human Rights Commissions -Winans" and the first sentence following the heading should be changed to: "Winans attended The Minnesota League of Human Rights ..." MOTION: Stanton moved, seconded by Behrends, to approve as published and amended the Minutes of the October 13, 1998 meeting. Motion carried 6-0. IV. OLD BUSINESS B. Senior Issues Task Force -November 1996 -excerpts for review HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES November 10, 1998 Page 2 Winans asked Commissioners how the points in the SITF report mesh with what we are doing. Pellar-Price noted the issue of age discrimination and hiring. Helzel thought the transportation issues are very important. Winans thought we could help instigate an organization raising funds to get another van. Moran noted a number of Boy Scout troops have service projects with the elderly. Stanton thought the issue of partnering with the clergy is an important piece. Helzel thought the quality of life issues are important, and he thought the City ought to encourage development of life-cycle housing. He thought we could help with some of the food issues. Stanton noted Meals on Wheels is the only project addressing the food issue at this time. A discussion followed regarding the Volunteers of America hot lunch program and how the Commission might encourage development of that program. Stanton thought we might be able to partner with local restaurants to encourage and publicize delivery service and reduced rates they might provide. Yasiri arrived at 7:25 PM. Winans reviewed the points made including helping out with jobs, no discrimination against older workers, transportation, meal deliveries and discounts for seniors at local restaurants, and other issues regarding the quality of life. Winans then asked for ideas to have more involvement with students. Yasiri thought community service is a component in the schools, and she thought we could set up a liaison with Community Resources. Te said driving the meals might be a good way to get more youth involvement,but she was not so sure they would have the time. Stanton asked if that would count for their community involvement. Te said the freshmen have a requirement for that,but they could not drive. Stanton asked about distributing any surplus food from the school cafeterias to seniors. Helzel noted there are government regulations that prohibit that. Winans asked if we might be able to get student involvement on a project-oriented basis rather than an on-going commitment. Yasiri suggested holiday-related events or one shot commitments. Johnson said they did Christmas packages for service men and had an incredible turn out. A similar project for the elderly in the community might be a possibility. Te said there is a six-hour minimum service commitment for the Global Insights class for High School seniors. Yasiri thought the Rivers Academy might incorporate a human resources aspect into their focus on environment issues. Johnson said that is a sophomore class, and they couldn't drive either. HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES November 10, 1998 Page 3 Yasiri thought we could develop an education unit sponsored by the Commission that would focus on aging resources in the work force. Te thought that might fit into the health class focus because they have a unit on aging. Yasiri suggested we put together a brochure on age discrimination and distribute it. We could also canvass restaurants in the area and put the information together in a brochure. Pellar-Price noted that at some point the City will be faced with an aging population and a facility that needs to be updated. Yasiri noted that Eden Prairie does not have a large percentage of older residents. Winans thought we need Werts' presentation to put a final shape to this discussion. Helzel thought we need to pick the major quality of life issues that need support. Winans thought there is a whole commission that deals with transportation issues, so the issues of housing and meals may be more appropriate for us to address. Winans noted that December 10 is the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. To raise the visibility of that event, she thought we should celebrate it by presenting a proclamation at the City Council meeting on December 1. We could move the December meeting date or keep it on the 8th and do something similar but not tie it into the Council meeting. The consensus was to put a hold on the December 1 date, while Barone checks with the Council on the possibility of presenting a proclamation at their meeting. Stanton left at 7:45 PM. A. Final Version of Focus Area Responsibility -discussion The Commission reviewed the document and agreed that there was a lot of work to be done. MOTION: Yasiri moved, seconded by Pellar-Price, to accept the final plan for the Focus Area Responsibilities. Motion carried 6-0. Regarding her follow-up issues, Johnson said the seniors went to the matinee of Godspell, and the Senior Citizens Prom will be held in April. Winans asked Behrends about the Building Inclusiveness Committee report. Behrends said it will be completed by the December meeting. A discussion followed regarding the issue raised at the October meeting of providing a housing center service. Yasiri thought we might be better off to focus on senior housing options in the City and list those in a brochure. Helzel thought we could list realtors who specializes in housing for the aging population. Winans thought we might put together a memo and send it to the HTSSB asking them to consider making such information available. Yasiri thought it would be a HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES November 10, 1998 Page 4 good idea to have a housing options brochure. Winans noted at last month's meeting the Commission voted to sponsor the annual state-wide Declaration of Human Rights Essay Contest. She met with the School District's Diversity Coordinator about working with the Middle School on this project. Helzel thought we could also announce that if we meet at the December 1 Council meeting. Barone noted there will be a press release after we set up the details. Winans noted Johnson was to follow-up with the SLAB to get involved in human rights advocacy within the school system. Johnson thought we could get have people go into the schools,because they would be happy to be involved in that. Winans thought we could do some training around human rights education and provide a manual on training, probably in the first quarter of 1999. She thought we need to get in touch with the director of the program and then give Johnson a copy of the training manual. Winans asked if anything has been done to follow-up on our decision to offer assistance to develop some type of conflict resolution program within the school system. Winans said she noted there is a conflict resolution program at the Middle School. Te said the High School has peer counseling, and Colleen Clymer is the contact for that. Barone will check into this. V. NEW BUSINESS A. Suggestions for Entertainment for August 1999 DiverseCity on the Prairie to forward to Arts Commission Yasiri would like to see fewer local groups. Te thought we could encourage teen-age participation by getting bands that are popular in the High School such as "Three Weeks." Yasiri noted the event is at a bad time of the year because many groups stop performing during the summer months. Winans suggested asking the group of Hispanic dancers that performed at the Minnesota League conference in St. Cloud. Yasiri suggested the Mung comedian "Toujours" who will perform December 4 at the Human rights Day for the State. Winans suggested that, if the event is meant to represent the cultures of those who live here, we need to learn more about the Russian, Somali, Hispanic and Asian cultures that are represented in Eden Prairie. Moran noted the Hispanic bands have been quite successful in the past. Yasiri said there is a mariachi band from West St. Paul that is quite good. The last name is "Wrangle." Moran agreed to check on the group. Yasiri suggested working with Park & Recreation to change the date as this has been a consistently bad-weather weekend. Winans suggested we shoot for the August 22nd weekend. HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES November 10, 1998 Page 5 Barone will contact the City employee that does hand painting. B. Discussion of April 1999 Human Rights Award Process Barone said we need to discuss the April event with the Chamber including suggestions for the speaker and other details. Winans noted that Barone received a voice mail from the President of the Chamber that indicated they may not be willing or eager to participate with us again this year. They mentioned low attendance and the fact they need to cover more Chamber business issues at the luncheons. Yasiri thought we might make it an abbreviated event. Helzel thought it was a touchy issue for them going into last year. We tried to present it as a business issue by focusing on Reverse Commute and other problems. We hoped to identify businesses in the community that are taking a positive approach and to recognize them. Winans liked the thought of an abbreviated agenda and working with them on a speaker and a program. Yasiri thought we might have one of their members speak about Reverse Commute and other employment issues and provide a handout. Helzel noted the Chamber really represents small businesses so these may not be critical issues for them. Barone and Winans will contact Lisa Sisinni and let her know we want to work with them. It is so late in the game it would be best to modify the agenda to suit their needs and still accomplish what we want. Winans suggested Moran go along with them for the presentation to help persuade the Chamber about city businesses with successful stories. Moran will check his schedule. Barone noted there will be no room to hold the event at City Hall this April because of the construction for the new fire station. He will report back in December. C. Discussion of Senior Issues -Sandy Werts, EP Recreation Programmer To be rescheduled. VI. REPORTS OF COMMISSION MEMBERS A. Housing, Transportation & Human Services: Brad Behrends Behrends said there was no meeting. B. Minnesota League of Human Rights Commissions: Gloria Winans HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES November 10, 1998 Page 6 Winans said she has been the representative to the League for some time and thought we should get someone else to represent the Commission. She asked Commissioners to think about it and determine a representative so that they could transition by the end of March. She said they discussed the essay contest at the November meeting. C. Report of Youth Representatives: Jennifer Johnson and Sopanha Te Te said the World Civilization II class had a lot of speakers from different cultures, and this would be a good place for the Commission to have a speaker. She said the contact is Mike Grant or Myra Cogwell. Winans thought this would be a good opportunity to activate our Speakers Bureau, and she will contact the teachers about this. VII. REPORTS OF STAFF A. Activity Status No activity. VIII. FUTURE AGENDAS/EVENTS December 8 7:00 -9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting January 12, 1999 7:00 -9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting January 26, 1999 7:00 -9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop February 10, 1999 7:00 -9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting Winans reminded Commissioners about the possible December 1 meeting that would start at 6:30 PM prior to the presentation with the Council and could have a social aspect. She asked for opinions on inviting some of the former Commission members to attend. Yasiri would prefer not to mix the business and social aspects, and thought we might want to consider moving the social aspect to follow the MLK event. IX. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Helzel moved, seconded by Moran, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 6-0. Chair Winans adjourned the meeting at 8:50 PM.