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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 03/19/2015 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015 7:00 P.M., 125 EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Human Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Sandra Filardo (Chair), PG Narayanan (Vice Chair), Tonja Bivins, Jenny Buckland, Sana Elassar, Connie Iacovelli STAFF: Patricia Fenrick, Staff Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Emily Higgins, Karena Lin, Elizabeth Corpuz, Tanvi Mehta, Shreya Venkatesh I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Filardo called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. Student Representatives Higgins, Mehta, and Venkatesh were absent. Lin arrived late. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Narayanan moved, seconded by Elassar, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 6-0. III. MINUTES MOTION: Iacovelli moved, seconded by Bivins, to approve the February 12, 2015 minutes as published. Motion carried 6-0. IV. REPORTS OF STAFF A. BIAS CRIME Fenrick said she received a contact about another bias crime. The individual has not filed a bias crime report but it is an on-going situation. For three years her house has been "egged" frequently and other acts have occurred such as firecrackers being set off near the house. The incidents often happen around midnight, and they frighten her. Narayanan noted he had asked her to contact Ms Fenrick. Filardo asked how she knows it is because of race. Fenrick said she is the only one on the cul-de-sac who is Indian. Fenrick said there is a cost involved for her to remove the egg because the eggs are thrown against the brick and the upstairs window. Fenrick said she talked with the Police Department, and they have done HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES March 19, 2015 Page 2 directed patrols in the neighborhood. The next step would be to talk to her to see if she is interested in filing a report so they could do things such as set up cameras. Fenrick will follow up with her in the next couple of weeks. Elassar asked if the Police have contacted the neighbors. Fenrick said they have not. There is no actual police file about the situation. Although the individual did talk with the police, she didn't file a complaint. Narayanan commented the individual does not know the process. V. OLD BUSINESS A. TOWN HALL--New Date-4/29/15 Fenrick said the City Council does a certain number of Town Hall meetings every year. This Town Hall meeting will give an opportunity for Council Members to be in intentional communication with the international community. They have reserved the Cambria Room at the Community Center for April 29. There will be activities for children and youth. They have discussed doing some round table discussion with a Council Member at each table to make it more informal. The event will start at 7:00 p.m. Narayanan suggested a Commission Member be at each table with the Council Members. Iacovelli asked how the Town Hall will be advertised to the international community. Fenrick replied that is the Commission's job. She wanted to brainstorm about who is our international community and who are the community leaders. The Council would like to have a broad group of people from diverse communities who live in Eden Prairie. She will work on a flyer for the event, and she needs Commission members to volunteer to contact the communities. The Commission members agreed to reach out to their contacts. Narayanan asked if we can get an article in the Eden Prairie News. Fenrick said she can do a press release. Bivins said she would like more information on the International Town Hall as she didn't understand the purpose of it. Fenrick said the purpose of the Town Hall is a community meeting. The City Council has several each year as an opportunity to hear from the community and get feedback about what the City does well and what they want the Council to know. It serves as an opportunity to interface with the City Council for anyone who lives or works in Eden Prairie and wants to speak about how to make Eden Prairie better. For the International Town Hall, we are intentionally seeking out those who might not attend a regular Town Hall. She noted the Council is trying to make the format more acceptable to non-Western cultures. Filardo asked if there is an agenda. Fenrick said our job is to help shape the conversation. Typically Council Members would introduce themselves along with the City Department heads. Two years ago at the International Town Hall we did a presentation on immigrant businesses in our community where they shared a HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES March 19, 2015 Page 3 little about their experience in Eden Prairie and then opened it up for questions. They found that type of format doesn't always work well with non-Western groups. We are tasked with coming up with questions that they would discuss at the tables. Narayanan suggested the facilitator have a guided way to start the discussion. Buckland said it would be important to know what the City Council wants to know from the international community in Eden Prairie so we can center our questions around that. Narayanan asked if we are to come up with an agenda. Fenrick said the Council is there to listen and we can set the agenda. Elassar suggested using City Connect to ask what people want to discuss. Filardo said she has not heard of the Town Hall concept so it would be important to communicate what it is in the advertisement. She thought we might want to call it something other than a Town Hall meeting,perhaps "Coffee with the Mayor" or "Come meet our leaders in Eden Prairie." Buckland agreed with Filardo and suggested saying that the Council values hearing your experience of being an Eden Prairie resident. Fenrick said that might be more like a "meet and greet." Fenrick said there has been little diversity when they have had Town Hall meetings with other groups. Filardo suggested we keep it very simple and maybe not serve just coffee,but also other beverages such as chai. There shouldn't be an emphasis on minorities, rather we just want to talk about Eden Prairie. Fenrick said we don't have to put the international label on the event,but we would target how we invite people so that those who don't normally attend the Town Hall meetings would feel welcome. Bivins said she is not used to having an international day one time a year because we are here 365 days a year and we should be including everybody all the time. After 12 years of living in Eden Prairie, she still does not feel like she is included. Iacovelli said she has two Hispanic friends who feel very ostracized in Minnesota. Fenrick said it is an element in our community. Filardo said the experience that Ms Bivins expressed is going on and we need to know how to change it. We should make the event be one to come and talk about Eden Prairie rather than an international event. Elassar said people from different backgrounds don't come to Town Hall meetings. We need to keep it very generic and advertise it as an opportunity to come and connect with the City Council. Filardo said we can aim the event at different groups. Iacovelli asked if there is a budget for the event. Fenrick said there could be a small budget. Filardo asked if the Police Department gets invited. Elassar said we should do something different involving the Police. Fenrick asked Bivins how else we can work towards not making it seem to single out people and make it welcoming. Bivins said inclusion is a challenge. Iacovelli said this is a good opportunity for those who don't feel included to let the leaders know how they could feel included on a daily basis. Filardo noted Hennepin County just started the Diversity and Inclusion Mission because they are looking HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES March 19, 2015 Page 4 for new ways to include people. Bivins noted we all have different perspectives and experiences, and we should talk about these things. Filardo suggested using a slogan such as, "high multi-cultural capacity creates high performance." Fenrick suggested that idea is embedded in the Eden Prairie Manifesto and we might take some words from that. She asked if we need that kind of descriptor as part of our marketing or do we just market it as coffee with our leaders. Buckland suggested we would want to offer an opportunity to share ideas about being included in the community and creating connections. Narayanan said it is an opportunity to meet the leaders and to bring concerns. Filardo said we could focus the questions on inclusion. Fenrick said she will take the suggestions, craft some ideas and send it out in a Word document on Friday. Commission members can make changes that will be tracked in the document and return it. We can then have an email conversation over the next week or so to finalize it. Iacovelli asked when the Commission Members should start to contact their contacts. Fenrick suggested using a "Save the Date" for April 29. We will work by email on focusing ideas and crafting the questions. Iacovelli asked how many the Cambria Room can accommodate. Fenrick said she will check on that, although it should not be a problem. Lin arrived at 8:00 p.m. B. THE MASK YOU LIVE IN FILM--4/24/15--Tonja Bivins said there will be a pre-screening for the Commission at The Bluffs on Saturday, April 18 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. There will be three panelists: Dr. Mahmoud El-Kati; Robert Thompson; and Kim Kane. They are looking for an additional counselor. Filardo said she could see if Linnea West's husband could do it. Bivins said the general screening will be on April 24 at Normandale College in Bloomington, starting at 5:30 p.m. It is a 90 minute film and she would like to have a ten-minute intermission before the panel starts. They will end by 8:30 p.m. She is waiting for the marketing materials. She will draft a press release and create a Facebook page. She asked Commission Members to push the information out to their networks. She sent the information to Channel 9 TV and will contact the other TV stations. She said Dr. El-Kati has a half hour program on Radio KMOJ and will promote the event on his program. Ticket prices will be between $10-$12. Bivins said she will set aside 20 tickets for Teens Alone clients. She asked Commission Members to let her know if there are any other situations where the price of tickets would be an issue. Buckland said some of the participants at Oasis for Youth would probably like to attend and asked Bivins to check with her about that. Bivins asked Ms Fenrick to be a presenter/moderator at the beginning of the event. Fenrick said she would be happy to help. HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES March 19, 2015 Page 5 C. GIRL SCOUT EVENT-4/10/15--6 pm--Sandra Filardo said she attended the Girls Scout leaders meeting. There are two girls who can come and dance at the event. Narayanan said his main communication is through Facebook and he will try again to get someone from his contacts. Buckland said she would contact friends who are involved with the Russian Dance group to try to get representatives from that group to perform. Filardo said there will be about 50 people there. The event starts at 6:00. Fenrick said she has the Eden Prairie tablecloth to bring and could create a handout that would include the Town Hall and Mask events. Filardo said there will be a stamp for the table. Narayanan asked if we have anything about the HRDC Commission except for the Manifesto. Fenrick said it is just what is on the website. Filardo suggested having something about what we do and the events we sponsor. Iacovelli suggested including the awards we give. D. "TRACKS IN THE SNOW" UPDATE--11/12-12/3/15 Fenrick said we will partner with the Art Center for this event which is meant to be a conversation about Muslims in our community. E. COMMUNITY CINEMA--THE HOMESTRETCH FILM--4/6/15, 6:30-8:30 with Youth Service Panel Fenrick said The Homestretch film is about poverty and homelessness among teens. There will be a panel with representatives from Teens Alone and PROP following the showing of the film in the Community Room at Eden Prairie Center. F. DAKOTA 38 FILM, FOOD, "WHY TREATIES MATTER" EXHIBIT-- 3/23/15 Fenrick said there will be a panel with Ojibwe students, and the food will be from an American Indian caterer. She noted she sent an email with the flyers for the event and will send it again to Commission members. She asked Commission members to spread the word about the event. VI. NEW BUSINESS A. COMMUNITY FOUNDATION BOARD NAMES Fenrick said the Community Foundation is looking for names for the Jean L Harris Youth Scholarship. B. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES March 19, 2015 Page 6 Fenrick asked each Commission Member to state their choice for each of the four categories. She tallied their selections in a matrix, and Commission members then discussed names within each of the categories. After discussion and tallying of candidates in the four categories, a decision was made to request additional information for the candidates for the Youth award. Fenrick said she would contact the person who nominated each individual with the additional questions. Buckland asked if we could have two awards given in the Youth category. Fenrick said there is nothing that says we can't do that; however, we would not necessarily want to set a precedent. Bivins commented she would like to have all the nominees acknowledged in some way in order to encourage them and honor their efforts. Fenrick asked Commission Members for their suggestions about the additional questions for the nominees. Elassar said we should have specific questions. Filardo suggested using some points from the Manifesto to show how the individual's contribution connects to human rights and diversity. Narayanan said we should determine if the nominee's work was a one-time event or is on-going and how many people were affected by the work in addition to asking about how the work would promote diversity and human rights. Filardo asked if we would vote on the Youth award at the next meeting. Fenrick said we would vote on three categories now and then vote on the Youth Award at the next meeting. She will email Commission Members the additional questions for the Youth nominees. Filardo suggested we have discussion about making the application more specific as part of next month's agenda. Fenrick noted the CERT organization does not fit into the business category so she thought we might want to create another category if we have a group like that nominated. Buckland suggested something around community or public service. Iacovelli suggested having an "Other" category. Fenrick asked Commission members to think about having an "Other" category and then discuss it at next month's meeting. She asked the Commission to vote for the winners of the Non- Profit, Individual and Business categories. MOTION: Narayanan moved, seconded by Iacovelli, to accept the winners of the Human Rights Award, as follows: Non-Profit category--Choice; Individual category--Marcela; Business category--Punch. Motion carried 6-0. MOTION: Iacovelli moved, seconded by Elassar, to continue discussion of the Youth and "Other" categories to the next meeting. Motion carried 6-0. VII. FUTURE MEETINGS/EVENTS The next HRDC meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 9, 2015, 7 p.m. at Eden Prairie Center, Room 125. HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MINUTES March 19, 2015 Page 7 VIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Narayanan moved, seconded by Buckland, to adjourn. Motion carried 6-0. Chair Filardo adjourned the meeting at 9:15 p.m.