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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 04/13/1999 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION TUESDAY,APRIL 13, 1999 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER Prairie Rooms A & B 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Brad Behrends, 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 VISITOR: Rachelle Drakeford I. ROLL CALL Winans called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. Behrends, Stanton and Te were absent. Johnson arrived late. Commission members introduced themselves to Ms. Drakeford. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Yasiri moved, seconded by Pellar-Price, to approve the Agenda as published. Motion carried 4-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR MARCH 9, 1999 MEETING MOTION: Yasiri moved, seconded by Moran, to approve as published the Minutes of the March 9, 1999 meeting. Motion carried 4-0. IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Update on Sr. Awareness Week - Vicki, Gloria and Mike Winans said we will be participating in the Saturday, May 8th event that will be held from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at the Eden Prairie Library. We are partnering with Senior Community Services to provide outreach to seniors and their families. There will be a three-member panel discussing aging issues for adult HUMAN RIGHTS &DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING NOTES April 13, 1999 Page 2 children and their parents. Beverly Abbot will be the main presenter. We are ordering brochures for the event, and Sandy Werts is coordinating the publicity for it. Winans suggested we publicize the event in local churches. Pellar-Price noted they will be meeting tomorrow to plan the event. Winans asked her to get a copy of the news release at the meeting. Barone said he will be sending out a letter to some local grocery stores as potential food vendors. Pellar-Price noted she will help coordinate the food procurement. Winans asked all Commission members to attend the event if possible. Yasiri, Moran and Johnson said they will try to attend. B. Update on Commission By-laws Amendment for Quorum - Barone and Winans In reference to the motion passed at the March 9, 1999 meeting, to temporarily lower the quorum majority from 4 to 3 until the issue of membership on the Commission is addressed by the City Council, Barone said we need a 2/3 majority of the Commission to approve a By-Law amendment. The Commission agreed to continue the vote on the amendment to the next meeting in order to have the necessary 2/3 majority present. C. Report on Eden Prairie High School Diversity Day - Winans Winans said she was pleased with our representation with four of five Commissioners at the event. She thought it was well-attended compared to other years. Moran liked the way it was organized and the layout that was provided showing the location of each group. Yasiri was disappointed because there were fewer booths this year. She thought it may be difficult for youth to come forward. She heard rumors that last year's participants were made fun of. Winans thought there may be something we can do in terms of talking to the High School Staff and organizers to promote preparation for the event in the classes. Winans was disappointed with the publicity. She believes there is not enough discussion around the event to help students get an understanding of it. She noted one of the men who helped last year was not able to help with this event. She thought the Commission did a good job. HUMAN RIGHTS &DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING NOTES April 13, 1999 Page 3 Moran thought they need to do a debrief of the event and then bring it up to the High School staff. He thought the event made our Commission visible to students who weren't aware of us before. Yasiri thought it was good that the classes are requiring participation at such events. She thought we may need to help in the planning process, possibly by giving a prize for the best booth. Winans thought we might want to visit the School and see what the long-range plans are. She believes there is no staff team there that is committed to doing the event. V. NEW BUSINESS A. Human Rights Award and Youth Scholarship Awards 1. HRA Award Winners Barone distributed copies of a summary for the Youth Scholarship Award and for each of the three categories for the HRA Award. The subcommittee to review the HRA Awards met on April 6. All of the winners have been notified and invited to the luncheon. Moran asked if we received more information on some of the MTS programs. Barone said he is in the process of trying to pin down some statistical data for the press release. He noted that MTS's focus on families and the community as well as their work with young people seemed to make them a good candidate for the award. He said the ABC Foundation provides a live model of our Manifesto in their work. We have contacted Gardner Gay, and they will attend the luncheon as well as the City Council meeting next Tuesday. Barone said that the Kooiman's are involved in PROP and Common Ground. Mr. Kooiman will be able to attend the luncheon, but his wife will be out of town. Winans thought it would be good to arrange for a photograph of the two of them before Mrs. Kooiman leaves town. Barone said we could also ask them for a photograph. 2. YSA Award Winner Barone contacted the winner, Diane Nguyen, and invited her to the April 20th Council meeting and the luncheon on April 22. We will also HUMAN RIGHTS &DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING NOTES April 13, 1999 Page 4 be re-presenting the Award to her on May 27th at the High School Award Ceremony. Barone also sent a letter to Dr. William Gaslin, Eden Prairie Schools Superintendent, inviting him to the luncheon on the 22nd. Barone also notified the other candidate that she did not win. Winans said she will attend the High School ceremony on May 27th and asked if another Commissioner would volunteer to attend with her. It starts at 7:00 PM, but we don't know where we will be on the agenda. Pellar-Price volunteered to attend. Barone said he will attend in order to get a picture of the award presentation. 3. April 22 Luncheon at Olympic Hills Golf Club Barone distributed a copy of the invitation list. He said the letters have gone out. Yasiri asked if there has been a press release. Barone said he is working on that with a write-up about each of the category winners. He said this year's luncheon will be different, and he would like all of the Commission members to attend because of the smaller numbers in attendance this year. Pellar-Price, Johnson, Yasiri and Moran will attend. Winans asked if we have sent out actual invitations, and Barone said that has been done, with the luncheon invitation list at 25 — 30, as we are trying to keep it on a smaller scale this year. 4. April 20 City Council presentation Barone is writing information for the Council packet giving background information with a cover memo. The winners have been invited to the presentation and are to let him know if they are coming. Winans asked if there will be a photographer for the presentations, and Barone said Steve Nelson will be at the meeting, and should be available for the luncheon, as well. B. Discussion of South Hennepin Immigration Forum on April 28, 1999 Winans noted this is the first time we have received something from the SHeRPA group about an event. A discussion followed regarding the history and objectives of SHeRPA. C. Other Items HUMAN RIGHTS &DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING NOTES April 13, 1999 Page 5 Winans said the School District Annual Partnership Breakfast will be held on April 20. She and Pellar-Price plan to attend, and other Commissioners should call the School District if they want to attend. VI. REPORTS OF COMMISSION MEMBERS A. Housing, Transportation & Human Services: Brad Behrends Barone said we did not get an update from them. B. Minnesota League of Human Rights Commissions: Gloria Winans Winans said the meeting is coming up and she will try to attend. They will have an awards ceremony for the essay contest on April 21 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. The first place state winner was from Golden Valley. Our local winner's essay was submitted but was not selected for a state award. The winners will read their essays at the celebration. C. Report of Youth Representatives: Jennifer Johnson and Sopanha Te Johnson said she passed the information on the Human Rights teachers. She said the Senior Services Day was postponed, and they want to reschedule it for next September. She understood that the teachers gave negative feedback regarding taking kids out of school for the event. She also had hoped more groups would participate in the Diversity Day event. D. Quarterly Report - Pride Institute: Munna Yasiri Yasiri said there have been lots of changes at Pride Institute. They lost the Executive Director and some key staff members. They are reorganizing the entire organization. They tried to open a chemical dependency out-patient clinic in the Duluth area but it did not take off because they weren't getting enough referrals to make it work. She described the mission of Pride Institute, noting they had issues about some discriminatory behavior on the part of some EMT teams in the area a number of years ago. VII. REPORTS OF STAFF A. Activity Status Barone described an incident involving a woman employee of the Eden Prairie office of Edina Realty who received a racially-biased telephone message on her answering machine on March 27. She had sent out her card and a brochure numbering approximately 1500 to many area residents promoting her real estate services. Both Peter Huck and Winans were informed of the incident at the time, and Barone sent the standard letter to the worman's work site at the Edina Realty office in Eden Prairie. Huck told Barone that he would also HUMAN RIGHTS &DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING NOTES April 13, 1999 Page 6 follow up with a letter. Barone spoke with Police Chief Jim Clark today who said they expect nothing to come from this and they have nothing new to report on the incident. VIII. FUTURE AGENDAS/EVENTS April 20, 1999 7:00 PM City Council Meeting April 22, 1999 11:30 - 1:00 PM HRA & YSA Awards Luncheon At Olympic Hills April 27, 1999 7:00 - 9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop May 8, 1999 1:00 - 3:00 PM Senior Awareness Week Event at Eden Prairie Library May 11, 1999 7:00 - 9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting May 25, 1999 7:00 - 9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop May 27, 1999 7:00 PM High School Awards Night June 8, 1999 7:00 - 9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting June 22, 1999 7:00 - 9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop Barone said there will not be an April 27 workshop. Winans suggested we check with Park and Rec on the August Diversity Event. Pellar-Price said she has the information packet prepared. Winans suggested we put that on next month's agenda. MOTION: Yasiri moved, seconded by Pellar-Price to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 4-0. Winans adjourned the meeting at 8:25 PM.