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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 01/09/2007 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION TUESDAY,JANUARY 9, 2007 7:00 PM, 125 EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Human Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Cari Maguire (chair), Melissa Barra (Vice Chair), Larry Piumbroeck, Jeff Strate, Gerry Beckmann, Linda Chung, and Pam Spera STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Sandra Moran, Steven Shouts and Thea Terp COMMISSION STAFF: Molly Koivumaki, Staff Liaison Mary Zilka, Recording Secretary I. ROLL CALL Cari Maguire called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm. Linda Chung, Larry Piumbroeck and student representatives Steven Shouts and Thea Terp, were absent. Pamela and Griffin Getz were guests. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Maguire moved to approve agenda with additions. Agenda approved. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM MAY, OCT. & DEC. MEETINGS Change, P4 Pam Spera did find the right meeting room, but there wasn't a meeting. Maguire added to P1 Judy Reinhr represents the district Eden Prairie is in. Gerry Beckmann moved to approve and Jeff Strate seconded approval of December minutes as amended. December Meeting minutes approved. Commission will approve May and October 2006 minutes at February meeting. IV. NEW BUSINESS A. NEW HUMAN RIGHTS CATEGORY—MOLLY KOIVUMAKI Molly Koivumaki shared the draft of Human Rights Criteria Award document to the group. There is a new Youth Category added this year. The eligibility language is taken from the Jean Harris Scholarship Award. The commission voted to add (under 18) at the end of the sentence describing the Youth nominee. After reviewing the Human Rights Award Nomination Form the commission will add a sentence at the bottom of the page stating "you or the nominee may be contacted by a member of the HRDC for follow up on this nomination." Human Rights & Diversity Commission Tuesday, January 9, 2007 Page 2 Strate recommended and the commission agreed to add under the Youth Category, the second bullet point, reflects the principles of human rights and the value of diversity in our community. Spera recommended the word Has be put before shown in that same bullet point. The Eden Prairie Manifesto has been reaffirmed and signed by Former Mayor Nancy Tyra Lukens and will be reaffirmed by Mayor Phil Young at next Tuesday's, January 16, 2007 council meeting. The commission asked the question why the manifesto doesn't show the history of the reaffirmation process each year. Koivumaki will talk to City Manager Scott Neal and his assistant, Michael Barone to get an explanation of the protocol for the reaffirmation to the Eden Prairie Manifesto. At Tuesday, January 16, 2007 City Council Meeting, Commission Chair Maguire will talk about the Human Rights Award. The commission will accept nominations until March 30, 2007. Press releases will be sent to both Eden Prairie Newspapers, the forms will be sent to schools, churches and organizations as well as available for pick up at the City Center and for print out on the website. Sandy Moran will make sure the nomination information is made available on the Eden Prairie High School newsletter and also mentioned on the Eagle Vision TV Program. Maguire requested the Nominee Selection Process as a February agenda item so we can have this process in place and all set for March, 2007. Maguire will ask at Hamline what kind of a selection/scoring process they use to possibly get some ideas. Strate would like Pat Brink's opinion on an event that could involve 3 or 4 past winners of the Human Rights Award as a forum, or presentation to a school, etc. Maybe Brink could do a PR article on what are the past winner's doing today? That would be a great human interest story on Life in the Prairie. Spera remarked the commission as a whole could contact past winners and create an article too. Koivumaki will bring these recommendations and ideas to Brink when she meets with him Wednesday, January 10, 2007. V. REPORTS OF STAFF A. HUMAN SERVICES REVIEW COMMITTEE (HSRC) The HSRC will meet on January 29 to review funding requests for Community Development Block Grant(CDBG) funds. The recommendations will go before the City Council at a Public Hearing on February 20, 2007. Although the City has not been advised by HUD as to the exact amount of our 2007 CDBG allocation, we have been informed by Hennepin County to expect the same amount as last year which was $267,766. Of that amount 15% can be allocated to Public Service programs, which is what the Human Services Review Committee will be reviewing on January 29. B. BIAS CRIME ACTIVITY STATUS Human Rights & Diversity Commission Tuesday, January 9, 2007 Page 3 No crimes of bias were reported. C. OTHER REPORTS FROM STAFF Report from Koivumaki: Jean Harris Scholarship: Koivumaki reported that the Chamber of Commerce scholarship process will take place in the early spring, and their Recognition Committee will select scholarship recipients on May Is'. Koivumaki will work with the Chair of the Recognition Committee on promotion of the Jean Harris Scholarship at the six area high schools that serve the Eden Prairie student population. Strate recommended a member of the HRDC be involved with the scholarship, at least at the beginning of the Chamber administration. Koivumaki will forward the recommendation to the Chair of the Recognition Committee. Prop Shoff The Prop Shop is still looking for a location for their thrift store operation. The location at Hwy 212 and Pioneer trail was lost due to opposition from neighboring businesses. WIC Office: A meeting will was held on Thursday, December 14, with representatives from WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program and Eden Prairie clients to study the feasibility of a satellite office in Eden Prairie. The two WIC representatives have sent a report on to their supervisors stating the need for increased services in Eden Prairie. Dental : The FamiLink Resource Center Coordinator, Kerry Holtmeier, reported difficulty in finding any Eden Prairie Dentist who will accept new clients who are on Medical Assistance (MA). She continues to check with surrounding communities. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. ALL OF US COLUMN - JEFF STRATE Strate passed out a draft of an information column he wrote. An information column is a column of events we can fall back on if we don't have an essay for our column that month. Beckmann will contact Jeanne Zetah, from Community Education with the Eden Prairie Schools and talk to her about possibly making some of these local and regional programs an offering from Community Education and HRDC. Maguire remarked that as a committee there was agreement that we would not submit the column until we had three more additional columns in the bank for future columns. Beckmann suggested for columns that are not submitted in essay form, to use short, impact quote or quip to grab the audience attention so they would read the whole column. Sandra Moran will write a column and Strate will contact the other people who said they would submit a column. Human Rights & Diversity Commission Tuesday, January 9, 2007 Page 4 B. SUGGESTIONS FOR MAYOR INITIATIVE FOR CONNECTEDNESS HRDC will be rewording the feedbackibrainstorming list from November, 2006 HRDC meeting before passing on to City Manger, Scott Neal. Koivumaki did give Mr. Neal a preliminary idea of what was discussed and also informed him that we would be discussing this further. VII. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION MEMBERS A. SOUTH HENNEPIN IMMIGRANT SERVICES GROUP (SHISG) Sirad Osmon, Executive Director of New Americans Community Services.(NACS) He is a PHD candidate and has been leading the organization since 2002. He has had over 20 years experience in human resource development. NACS has 8 staff members and a very impressive board of directors and program advisory committee. He spoke a bit about the NACS programs. In their health education program they have found that mental health issues and developmental disabilities are very difficult subjects for immigrants to understand. Mr. Osmon said the Somali language has only one word for these issues and that word is "crazy". Many of the NACS clients lead a very stress filled life and Mr. Osmon said that these immigrants have been living in survival mode for most of there lives. He also spoke to the difficulty of getting people who need services to use them. Mohamed Egal gave a very short presentation. He has been working with ARC for five months. Mr. Egal also expressed the need for this immigrant population to have a broader understanding of mental health and developmental disabilities. There was an interesting discussion about how the Somali language was development. B. ANY COMMISSION MEMBER MAY REPORT Strate visited the Arts & Culture Commission meeting. The commission was discussing a Diwali Hindu Celebration of Lights Festival presentation. Strate suggested they contact our commission if they decide to have this celebration. Strate made a motion and Beckmann seconded to send Sandy Werts, Park & Rec. event coordinator a sympathy card for the loss of her husband. Maguire will send the card. VII. FUTURE MEETINGS/EVENTS The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 13, 2007. There was a discussion of changing the meeting day of the HRDC permanently. Commission Chair Maguire is not able to make Tuesday's meetings. Monday or Thursday seemed to possibly work. Koivumaki will check with Commissioner Piumbroeck and Chung to get their feedback and then any changes will need to be approved by the City Council. The meetings will Human Rights & Diversity Commission Tuesday, January 9, 2007 Page 5 now be held on the second Thursday of each month, beginning in February and ending in June 2007. IX. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 9:10 PM