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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 09/14/2017 APROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 7:00 P.M., EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Sana Elassar(Chair), Greg Leeper, (Vice Chair), Joan Howe-Pullis, Harvey Humes, Katherine Lucht, Ann Martinka, Shahram Missaghi, Leslie Philmon, Rehmatbai Sumra STUDENT MEMBERS: Ashwin Senthilkumar, Carolyn Mason, Kholood Mo'allim, Mason Stoltz, Meghana Chimata, Tharun Rao COMMISSION STAFF: Molly Koivumaki, Staff Liaison; Megan Yerks, Staff Liaison; Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Howe-Pullis called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Commission Members Elassar, Leeper, and Philmon were absent. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS IIII. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Lucht moved, seconded by Humes, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 6-0. IV. MINUTES A. MOTION: Martinka moved, seconded by Missaghi, to approve the April Minutes. Motion carried 6-0. B. MOTION: Humes moved, seconded by Lucht, to approve the May Minutes. Motion carried 6-0. V. INTRODUCTION OF NEW STUDENT COMMISSIONERS VI. STAFF REPORT Koivumaki introduced Megan Yerks, who will become the Staff Liaison. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES September 14, 2017 Page 2 A. REPORT FROM CHAIR Koivumaki presented a report from Chair Elassar who was not able to attend the meeting. 1. In July, the Eden Prairie Affordable Housing Coalition addressed the City Council at a Public Hearing about the new Elevate apartment complex. Members of the coalition also participated in housing and social equity focus groups as part of the City's Comprehensive Guide Plan update. 2. Thursday September 28, 2017 —0' Annual Minneapolis Trans Equity Summit. All day event. Minneapolis Convention Center. 3. Wednesday October 4, 2017—Human Rights Commission Summit. Join officials and advocates from around Minnesota who work for equality and justice through human rights education at the 2017 Human Rights Commission Summit. The event will be held from 10:30a.m. - 2:30p.m. Oct. 4 at the U of M Continuing Education and Conference Center in St. Paul. The Summit will feature information on the latest issues, networking opportunities with other human rights commissions, education and outreach methods, state partnership opportunities and more. Cost for the Summit is $25 per ticket and includes lunch. 4. Thursday Oct 26, 2017--Chain Reaction Theatre play "Body and Sold"— http://chainreactiontp.com/body-and-sold/ a. 7pm City Center 8080 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie b. Elassar requested a number of posters about sex and labor trafficking, and other helpful information to share with those in attendance from DHS's Blue Campaign. The material is FREE and should arrive before the play. 5. Human Rights Award (HRA)—for October meeting, please consider/think of a"tipping point" criteria when awarding the award. Only ONE award in each category will be given next year. 6. Police-Community Partnerships/relations —Team JCPP did not meet over summer. B. FUTURE INITIATIVES 1. Hosting an Our Rights screening, community conversation. The "Our Rights" series is a co-production of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and Twin Cities Public Television. The three-part series details Minnesota's efforts to establish and protect human rights for everyone. Screening events provide the opportunity to start community HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES September 14, 2017 Page 3 conversations about the progress Minnesota and communities have made in furthering human rights for all, while recognizing the challenges that remain. The series can be streamed on-line or a DVD of the programs can be obtained from MDH. 2. Human Rights & Diversity focused months —every month has some HR focus. Elassar suggested every quarter or twice a year or once a year (depends on HRDC bandwidth); the Commission chooses an HR focus, partner with someone if possible and do an event/conversation around it. For instance, for 2018, she suggested to partner with the Senior Center on their annual lunch for seniors and explore the feasibility of making it an intergenerational lunch with some EHHS students/student commissioners sitting at different tables and having conversation. 3. PROP food donations —Elassar suggested Commission members bring a non-perishable food item/personal hygiene item for our"Basket of Hope" to every meeting. All donations will go to PROP. 4. HRDC Student Commissioners "Aspen Ideas Festival" discussion style assignment. Elassar suggested randomly dividing Student Commissioners into two groups. Assign the students' a question that is of importance to HRDC/EP or it could just be a question to explore/learn more about understanding how and if the issue impacts us & what we can do. Have the students' research it—one group in favor of the issue and the other group opposed. Have them eventually present to HRDC (10-15minutes each side) before their term ends and adult commissioner vote on which one is more convincing and what we can do. It would be great if all on HRDC could think of some topics/issue. Only one topic by simple majority will be selected. Yerks introduced herself and her current projects to the Commission. 5. She is the current Community Service Coordinator for the City of Eden Prairie. She started in May 2017. Prior to joining the City of Eden Prairie, she worked at agency in Bloomington that assisted young people experiencing homelessness called Oasis for Youth. She has also had previous experience with victims of crime, and working in the Phillips neighborhood with children at risk of abuse or neglect. 6. Yerks is currently reviewing grant proposals for the 2018-2019 City of Eden Prairie Human Services Grant. She stated that current grantees include Meals on Wheels, Eden Prairie Schools Early Childhood Programs, Homeline, MoveFWD (previously Teens Alone), PROP, Senior Community Services and Southdale YMCA. New applicants include; SEWA-AIFW, Tree House and NAMI. Applications have been submitted HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES September 14, 2017 Page 4 and awaiting decisions. Sumra asked what criteria is used for giving out grants. Yerks said they must serve Eden Prairie residents and the organization has to be 501C3. Howe-Pullis asked how much money is in the fund. Yerks said about$300,000 for 2 years. Howe-Pullis said it is important to hear the groups that are asking for grants so the Commission knows the needs of the City. Howe-Pullis asked if the Commission could ask what each group is asking for. Koivumaki said she would bring that information to the next meeting. Chimata asked when this program started. Koivumaki said it started approximately in the late 1970's. 7. Yerks said that she is working on launching a Community Connections program for residents of Prairie Meadows (a Project Based Section 8 property). The program had previously been held for residents of Briairhill Apartments (another Project Based Section 8 property). This will be four-week series of workshops held on Thursday nights beginning October 19tn 8. The City of Eden Prairie will host a training for social service providers called "Navigating the Waters," to discuss complex social services systems on November 2nd at St Andrew Lutheran Church. 9. Yerks stated she has also been collaborating with Live Smoke Free, a program that assists landlords who want to convert their property to be smoke-free. 10. Yerks will attend the Equity & Diversity Certificate Program at the University of MN. The program is a series of 10 workshops and is free. 11. HRDC will host the Body and Sold performance which is a documentary play about sex trafficking. It will be on October 26 at the City Center. VII. OLD BUSINESS A. HUMANS OF EP PROJECT Martinka said there were a couple of meetings over the summer to discuss Humans of EP. Koivumaki advised the HRDC was not given permission to purchase a domain name and so the posts will be on the Facebook page. Martinka inquired whether Commissioners could be issued a credential or business card to use when approaching residents for this project. Koivumaki said she would take that request to the City Manager and report back next month. B. POLICE— COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP JCCP— COMMITTEE MEMBER HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES September 14, 2017 Page 5 Joint Community Police Partnerships (JCPP) is a program in the metro area aimed at engaging police and community members in a variety of initiatives. The Eden Prairie Police Department currently does this type of programming. Captain Greg Weber is the contact within the Police Department for Commissioners to speak with to get more information. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. CALENDAR UPDATES 1. September 28th—Trans Equity Summit at the Minneapolis Convention Center from 9-4pm. The focus is on health and history and is free and open to the public. 2. October 4th—Human Rights Summit at the University of MN from 10:30 to 2:30. Cost$25. 3. October 28th— Chain Reaction play, "Body & Sold" at the Eden Prairie Community Center at 7pm. B. PROGRAMS FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION Koivumaki inquired whether Commissioners had new ideas they would like to work on in the upcoming year. Howe-Pullis said she would like to build on events from last year regarding racial equity. She would like to create programming to talk about difficult conversations and work with the people that do Our Rights series. Howe-Pullis pointed out DACA is another issue the Commission should explore. Sumra suggested help to educate and support people that have suffered natural disasters and also to raise support for people fleeing their countries. Chimata said it would be good to have a group that deals with stigma regarding mental illness. Yerks suggested doing more work with sex trafficking. C. 2018 WORK PLAN Koivumaki said all Commissions need to prepare a work plan and present it to the City Council in January at a Council workshop. Planning for the work plan typically starts in October and finishes in December. Missaghi distributed a flyer for Baha'u'llah on October 21st at 6:30 pm at the Eden Prairie Community Center. IX. UPCOMING MEETING A. October 12, 2017 HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES September 14, 2017 Page 6 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Martinka moved, seconded by Sumra, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 6-0.