Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 01/13/2004 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION Tuesday,January 13, 2004 7:00 PM—Prairie Room, City Center 8080 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie MN 55344-4485 Commission Members: Harry Moran (Chair), Jeff Strate (Vice Chair), Holly Clynch, Balu Iyer, Gerry Beckmann, Larry Piumbroeck, and Cari Maguire Student Representatives: Kian Missaghi, Molly Moroski, Jackie Beutell Commission Staff: Molly Koivumaki, Staff Liaison Tanya Whitsitt, Recording Secretary I. Roll Call Moran called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. He welcomed the commission members back after a month off. Roll call was read by Whitsitt. All commission members and student representatives were present with the exception of student Kian Missaghi. II. Approval of Agenda Piumbroeck moved, seconded by Maguire to approve the agenda. MOTION CARRIED: 7-0 III. Approval of Minutes from November Meeting Maguire asked that the last sentence of section V,part D of the minutes be scratched. She said that was not a correct interpretation of her comments. Clynch suggested that clarification be made about her letter to the editor in the Eden Prairie News. She asked to add "that was" to the middle of the first sentence of section IV,part A. Strate moved, seconded by Beckmann to approve the minutes as AMENDED. MOTION CARRIED: 6-0, with Iyer abstaining Missaghi joined the meeting at 7:10 pm. A brief recess was called from 7:10—7:15 pm to await the first speaker. IV. New Business A. Presentation by Sandy Werts, PRNR Department Werts, a Recreation Coordinator from the City's Parks Department, came to speak to the commission about a proposed Eden Prairie diversity/ethnic type celebration. She said she spoke to Koivumaki about the possibility of a City-sponsored celebration focusing on the immigrant population and featuring art, music and food. She asked if it would be possible to hold it this summer and wants the commission to support such an idea. Werts said they are just beginning to plan the event and have to think of the planning committee, a name, and the date for the event. She noted that we used to hold the "DiverseCity on the Prairie", and she does still have signs and banners bearing that name. Strate said he thought the "DiverseCity on the Prairie"had run its course, and Clynch agreed that it had "fizzled". Maguire said she did not think we should have the same name as in the past. In recent years the numbers who attended "DiverseCity on the Prairie" have dwindled and maybe it is time to rethink the event. 1 Werts said one idea is to hold it as part of another Parks events such as Arts in the Garden or the Concert Series, or just have it be its own event. Strate also suggested having it possibly tied to the City's 41h of July event. Beckmann said it could get lost in such a big event and Koivumaki said the Parks Department is already stretched thin during that time. Werts said she would like to have members of the ethnic community help plan the new event. She needs ideas from the committee members to get food vendors (who would probably pay a fee), and musical acts. Werts said she thought the celebration should have a similar framework to "DiverseCity on the Prairie",but with new insight and help from the outside rather than just planned by us. She stated the date could possibly be in late July or mid-August. Beckmann asked what kind of budget is available. Werts replied there is no specific budget,but they hope for donations from the community. She said she would like to do an event on a bigger scale that involves several immigrant communities, rather than focusing on one. The next step is to get a group together, and she said she is looking for support from the HRDC. Moran said he supports the diversity celebration, but said there is suddenly a lot of energy in this and doesn't want to over do it. Beckmann said she sees many ways to have fun with this. Werts confirmed that we have people who can help with things such as the sound system,but still need people to plan. She asked the commission if they knew of people to contact. Koivumaki said she had several names she could use. Missaghi suggested using the Diversity Club at EPHS to find possible names of people interested, and contact Tom Halloran, the leader of the club. Werts asked if the event should include new immigrants, or everyone. Moran replied he thinks we should not exclude anyone. Moran asked if the commission wanted to discuss this further and make a motion. Piumbroeck suggested a draft motion, but discussion soon followed. Clynch said she is concerned about the role the commission will have in the event. She said the commission should be involved in helping to promote the event only,but not be involved with planning and development. She said she isn't sure we are the ones who should be planning it. Werts mentioned the difference here is that"DiverseCity on the Prairie" was put on without getting input from the community, and this time she wants to see more involvement by the immigrant community. If they do not want to have the event or are not interested, it won't work. She also wants Somali citizens to be on the planning committee. Maguire said she supports the concept of the ethnic event and thinks the commission should help promote it. Iyer suggested we need to be involved and possibly help facilitate the meetings. Clynch said she did not agree with that. The "draft" motion was discussed and amended several times. The final motion reads as follows: "We as a commission endorse the concept of an Eden Prairie ethnic event and will work with the City Parks Department to help design and promote the event." Strate moved and Iyer seconded the amended motion. MOTION CARRIED: 6-1 with Clynch voting "nay" 2 B. Dr. Jean L. Harris Youth Scholarship Award and Human Rights Awards—process and timeline for 2004 Koivumaki asked that Whitsitt give an update on the two awards. Whitsitt discussed the background of the awards, timelines,press releases, ads, and the packets sent out to local schools and churches (for the Youth Scholarship). She also made note of the suggestion to add Holy Family in Victoria to the list of schools who receive application packets. Koivumaki said the funds for the Youth Scholarships are only at$1,189. Moran asked for clarification on where the money came from and when. Strate suggested he would like to have statements from past awards winners for both the Youth Scholarship Awards (YSA) and the Human Rights Awards (HRA). He said this could help promote them. Beckman said a problem she sees with the timeline of the HRAs is that those who do all the work on prepping for them, don't get to vote and select the recipients at the April meeting if their term is up in March. In addition, the new members who come on board as of April 1St have no idea what the previous discussion had been. She said she felt badly and was disappointed when she came on last year and was new to the process and some previous members who had worked on the Awards did not get to vote. For example, she noted that Clynch (whose term is up in March) will do "all this work" and not get to vote for the HRAs. Beckmann stated she is further disappointed that there is no way to ensure money every year for the YSAs. She said we need to be proactive. Moran asked how we are going to get money for the scholarships. He said the $1,000 mark appears to be a common amount given to students for scholarships. Moran asked what should be done and if a sub- committee should be formed to look at fund-raising. Beckmann said we should not say "up to two" scholarships would be awarded since we only have enough money for one this year. Clynch stated that she thought the City was supporting the scholarships financially. Koivumaki said the money is not the City's; it was donated years ago and it has been dwindling ever since. Piumbroeck agreed we need to find a way to raise money. It was suggested that Piumbroeck and Strate be the members on the aforementioned subcommittee. They both accepted and said they need to try hard and "get cracking." Beckmann still opposed offering two, and said we should still offer only one this year. The money raised now, she said, should go towards future scholarships. Clynch asked if we had always awarded two and Moran replied yes. The topic of the YSA application format was raised. Beckmann said last year some students didn't seem to understand the questions, and therefore answered some of them incorrectly. We need to make the directions clearer, she said. It was suggested to add "Write Two Short Essays" under section 11 of the application to ensure that students cover both. Beckmann also said she supports the idea that one letter of recommendation (LOR) be specifically geared towards this scholarship. Piumbroeck said he would prefer that the essays were typed. Missaghi said she has applied for a lot of scholarships and she also agrees that one reference letter should relate to the human rights and diversity scholarship. Clynch said the current application language says it is only "preferred" this way, and she would like to see it say "required." Moroski asked if the essays word minimum was 250 per essay or combined. She suggested changing the word requirements to "maximum" rather than "minimum". She said this helps students get a better grasp of what is expected of them; she recommended "maximum 300 each". Piumbroeck mentioned the commission 3 should also review the point system for scoring the applications from the students. It was agreed that Koivumaki and Whitsitt would collaborate on making the suggested changes on the YSA application. Beckmann raised the question whether student representatives knew they were ineligible for the YSAs when they applied to be on the commission. She also says she still does not understand why the students can't vote. Koivumaki said they need Council permission to vote. Missaghi said using the cable system at EPHS "Eagle Vision" to promote the YSAs would be a good idea. Beutell said she is on the school newspaper and could also do something. V. Reports of Staff A. South Hennepin Immigrant Services Group (SHISG) Beckmann handed out brochures for the commission to review. She stated Rita Krocek from SHAPE said they are going through cuts now and may have to ask ESL students to pay for some programs. Beckmann also said Somali citizens have asked for a bigger meeting space for their Saturday and Sunday classes. They also requested information on soccer fields for Somali youth to play. B. Human Services Review Committee (HSRC) Koivumaki said they did not meet in January, but will meet in February to continue their work. C. Bias Crime Activity Status Koivumaki reported there was one incident reported to the Bias Crime Network. An African-American woman said she was harassed and threatened by a white male in Eden Prairie at a gas station. The woman reported the incident and Koivumaki said she spoke with her. She said the woman did the right thing. It is currently being investigated. Koivumaki quickly mentioned a new service offered in Eden Prairie called the "Shopping Bus." She said it is a collaboration with SW Metro, the City, General Growth, and Cub Foods. The bus will run by various apartments on Tuesdays and Thursdays to pick up passengers who need a ride for shopping. They identified a target audience to needs this kind of support. She asked if the members know anyone who would want to volunteer to assist passengers on the bus, let her know. Koivumaki said the buses are scheduled to start rolling the first week of February. VI. Old Business A. The Gathering II discussion Moran said the second Gathering held in December had good attendance despite the tough weather;he guessed 60— 80 people. They got representatives from different countries to get up and speak. He said there was a"lot of energy and good points made" at the event when people told their stories. Clynch mentioned one citizen who is Canadian and how he mentioned his accent is sometimes a barrier for him in this society. Beckmann said someone requested minutes or notes from the Gathering. Moran said they will meet at the end of January to look at the Gathering and they have some feedback forms to review for further ideas. 4 Maguire noted it would be helpful to have an informational handbook for new residents put together, especially for new immigrants. Koivumaki mentioned books like this do exist and maybe we could add to it. B. Communications Plan Members of the HRDC are interested in sharing their thoughts and informing the community about Human Rights issues. So now periodically they submit columns to the Eden Prairie News. Maguire wrote the first one recently and Piumbroeck's column will be next. C. 2004 HRDC Workplan Koivumaki made a suggestion to table this item until the next HRDC meeting. It was agreed to do this. VII. Reports from Commission members Beckmann, Piumbroeck and Koivumaki attended a forum at Pax Christi church on the topic of immigrants in our community. It was lead by Nanette Missaghi and there were about 50—60 people in attendance. Beckmann said the commission should send a letter to Susan McKenna, from Pax Christi, thanking her for putting on the event. Maguire also recommended an idea for a Black History Month city-wide book reading. She would work with Barnes & Noble to get a book to be read by the end of February. The commission gave the go-ahead for a civic dialog and Maguire will pursue. VIII. Future Meetings/Events The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 10, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. IX. Adiourn Piumbroeck motioned, seconded by Iyer to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m. 5