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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 05/09/2005 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION MONDAY, MAY 9, 2005 7:00 PM, 125 EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Human services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Larry Piumbroeck(Chair), Jeff Strate (Vice-Chair), Gerry Beckmann, Linda Chung, Melissa Barra, Cari Maguire and Pam Spera STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Jackie Beutell, Hojun Lee and Tara Degn COMMISSION STAFF: Molly Koivumaki, Staff Liaison Mary Zilka, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Commission Chair Larry Piumbroeck called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm. Jackie Beutell arrived at the meeting at 7:30 pm. Hojun Lee excused himself from the meeting at 7:58 pm. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Gerry Beckmann would like to add under OLD BUSINESS A. Scholarships MOTION: Piumbroeck moved, seconded by Maguire to approve agenda. Motion carried 7-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM APRIL MEETING Under APPROVAL OF AGENDA, Gerry Beckman's Old Business was to discuss Diversity Fair. Not regarding Eden Prairie Hennepin Library. Under ANY COMMISSIONER MAY REPORT—Beckmann reported about the SHAPE program, not Maguire. Pamela Spera asked Khadra Duale if the Somali girls were interested in just swimming or learning to swim. MOTION: Maguire moved, Chung seconded, to approve the minutes as amended. Motion carried: 6-1 with one abstention (Strate) being absent at April meeting. IV. NEW BUSINESS A. SOMALI GATHERING Maguire inquired about the status of the Somali Gathering this year. Koivumaki stated that the library did not want to have a Gathering right now,but wants to work with the Solution Finders group. Ali Turner from the Eden Prairie Library has been attending the Solution Finders meetings. Beckmann said the Hennepin Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes May 9, 2006 Page 2 County Library system has recently hired a Somali man to work at the Eden Prairie library. This man would be available to help the Human Rights and Diversity Commission if the commissioners decide to host another Immigrant Gathering. Beckmann thinks more people would attend a "gathering" this time due to the work the school district has done with their programs on elders, and their stories of immigration. More people are now more aware of why immigrants have moved into Eden Prairie. Maguire remembers talking about a gathering for folks to come together and give people opportunities to talk to people that are different from them. Piumbroeck agreed and believes the challenge goes to Maguire's thought of building some sense of community. Koivumaki stated that the school district has taken a lead at that and have taken the building of community to a different level. Piumbroeck sees the International Festival that the HRDC is working on with Park and Rec as a step to build community around diversity. Maguire would like to work on some ways another gathering could be done. If anyone on the HRDC is interested in helping her with this,please contact her. IV. REPORTS OF STAFF A. HUMAN SERVICES REVIEW COMMITTEE (HSRC) Koivumaki reported that the Human Services Review Committee met at and toured the affordable home project, a collaborative effort between the City of Eden Prairie, and the West Hennepin Affordable Housing Land Trust (WHAHLT). The home is located at 16301 Valley View Rd. The open house will take place on June 4"' and the HRDC is invited to attend. The Land Trust selects that family who will own the home. B. BIAS CRIME ACTIVITY STATUS None was reported by the police department. V. OLD BUSINESS A. SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM Piumbroeck reported on Scholarship and 2004 Human Rights awards that were presented at the City Council meeting on May 3, 2005. Two Human Rights and Diversity Commission members were present. Christopher Em and Anna Affias , recipients of the Dr. Jean L. Harris Youth Scholarship, were each awarded $1,000 scholarships. The Human Rights Award in the Individual Category was presented to Mr. George Schell, and the award for the Non-Profit category was presented to the Eden Prairie School District and Mr. Larry Long for the "Elders Wisdom Children's Song"project. The Mayor named each of the commission members, and expressed her appreciation for the work the commission has done. Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes May 9, 2006 Page 3 Beckmann stated that she is opposed to continuing the awarding of the scholarship because of problems with funding, however the other commissioners would like to continue the Scholarship Program. Beckmann is also uncomfortable with the month that we choose to work on these awards. She suggested moving the awards up a month to March instead of April. The March meeting would be the meeting right before any commission member terms ends. That way the awards would be voted on by all of the commission members that have been meeting all year and the new commission members would not have the responsibility of voting and learning the commission policies and procedures all at once. Beckmann used the HRDC approved point system to score her top candidates this year and she was relieved that she had done so after a parent at the award ceremony asked her how the commission arrived at the decision to give the award to her daughter. Many commission members expressed their belief that the process for choosing the award recipients works for them and they view the point system as a tool to use if they choose it. After much discussion, the commission decided that using a point system is a totally subjective approach and it decided to wait to see if there will be any future scholarship funds before discussing the issue of selecting scholarship winners. Piumbroeck stated that he believes collectively the commission would like to continue with this scholarship program. Funding is the issue. Strate has found in his conversations with organizations in town that many have their own scholarship programs Chung suggested asking the City Attorney if it is legal for a City Commission to go out in the community and raise money. The City Manager is having a meeting in June will the chairs of all of the cities commissions and Piumbroeck will bring up this issue with him. Strate stated he thinks the commission should ask the city for more investment in the program. Koivumaki mentioned the City of Eden Prairie now has a Communications Manager that the HRDC could possibly request services from. Chung reminded the commission not to limit themselves to the companies in Eden Prairie that have diversity, because there are many companies that would like to support diversity. No decisions can be made until we get an opinion from the city council and the city attorney. VI. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION MEMBERS A. SOUTH HENNEPIN IMMIGRANT SERVICES GROUP (SHISG) Beckmann reported that Nanette Missaghi from the Eden Prairie School district attended the SHISG meeting and shared information about the WMEP program. Checkout their website www.wmep.com to learn more about the program. Hennepin Technical College is looking for more ESL students. U of M Extension has a program called U-Lead to train people to be leaders in their communities. The Voyage Program is looking for space to hold classes for sewing Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes May 9, 2006 Page 4 and cooking and Beckmann suggested contacting the Eden Prairie Office of Housing and Human Services. B. COMMISSION MEMBER REPORTS Strate attended a joint meeting between school officials, school board and the PTO at Forest Hills Elementary School. The discussion focused on diversity issues that Forest Hills Elementary School has been experiencing. At Forest Hills Elementary School 30% of the students, come from families that are below the poverty line. Forest Hills also has the most diversity and immigrants of all the elementary schools in Eden Prairie. The school has had a very difficult time accommodating all the special needs that their students have. Myths about Forest Hills were discussed, for instance lower test scores. Forest Hills does have lower test scores because they have many students that do not speak English. Strate left the meeting feeling that Forest Hills has made a lot of progress over the past year and one half. There was not any discussion about changing school boundaries to balance the diversity. Maguire asked the commission to please save September 24, 2005 on their calendars to come to The 341h Annual conference of the League of MN Human Rights Commissions. The theme is "This is My Home: Ensuring Human Rights for All". Spera offered to help Maguire with this and Maguire. Koivumaki thinks the city will pay for Commissioners to attend the conference. Piumbroeck, Barra, Spera and Koivumaki attended the Robert Putnam Presentation on May 5, 2005. The commission members appreciated Dr. Putnam's studies of recognizing that Americans have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and social institutions. America reinvented themselves after Pearl Harbor, but the organizations created for instance, the VFW's, Legions, Clubs memberships are declining but Spera felt hopeful when Putnam said American can be reinvented again with the bonding that our high school and college students felt and still feel after 9-11. Piumbroeck reported that next Wednesday night, May 18, is another meeting regarding the International Festival. Piumbroeck is creating the agenda and work plan for that meeting at 7:00 pm, City Hall (Prairie Room),but he also shared that he will not be moving ahead if more volunteers do not come forward to help. VII. FUTURE MEETINGS/EVENTS Next Meeting is Tuesday, June 14. VIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Strate moved, Chung seconded to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 pm. Motion carried: 7-0.