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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 02/14/2008 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008 7:00 PM, 125 EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Cari Maguire (Chair), Melissa Barra (Vice chair), Daniel Abraira, Larry Piumbroeck, Jeff Strate, Gerry Beckmann, and Pam Spera. STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Nelum Madanayake, Kevin Karner, and Laura Hoffman COMMISSION STAFF: Molly Koivumaki, Staff Liaison Katie Hood, Recording Secretary GUESTS: Deb Sweeney and Sandy Werts I. ROLL CALL Commissior Maguire called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.. Melissa Barra and Larry Piumbroeck were absent. Daniel Abraira arrived at 7:20 p.m.. Student Representative Nelum Madanayake arrived at 7:10 p.m.. Student Representative Kevin Karner was excused. Student Representative Laura Hoffman was absent. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Section III. was changed to "APPROVAL OF MINUTES FORM JANUARY MEETING". "A. MR. RICHARD PROOPS —IMMIGRANT VOLUNTEER PROGRAM" was removed from IV. NEW BUSINESS. "SCHEDULE FOR THE LIBRARY BULITEN BOARD" was added under VI. OLD BUSINESS. Reports from Strate and Beckman were added to VII. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION MEMBERS. The group informally approved the updated meeting agenda. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The discussion for the approval of the minutes was tabled until later in the meeting. A quorum was obtained and the November and January minutes were reviewed. A. MEETING HELD THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2007 The last page of the November minutes was passed out to the Commission. On page seven, the second paragraph was changed to "Neal said Khadra Duale would Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes February 14, 2008 Page 2 not be treated differently than other people who have been laid off before, but we don't have any history of how we'd do that. Spera asked Neal if he said there haven't been any lay offs at all, so Khadra would be the first one. Neal replied that all he could comment on was that in his time with the City, going back to 2002, he couldn't recall any." MOTION: Spera moved, seconded by Strate, to approve the minutes, as corrected, of the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting held on Thursday, November 8, 2007. Motion carried 5-0. B. MEETING HELD THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2008 In Section I., "Commission" was changed to "Commissioner". In Section V. Reports from Staff, D. Other Reports From Staff, page four, paragraph five, "Strate stated Ryback stated, when he was speaking to Minneapolis," to "Strate stated Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, when he was speaking on television about foreclosed homes in a neighborhood where he was standing, commented on foreclosures and said if the foreclosure problem isn't solved property values will decrease and homes remaining vacant will have vandalism increase and neighborhood spirit would decline". In Section VII, B. Any Commission Member May Report, page six, paragraph four"Due to the fact precedence was already set the school should follow the same action" to "The precedence was set is potentially a Human Rights issue." On page seven, paragraph two, change "Spera stated she thinks the school should..." to "Nelum said the school didn't have a choice when looking into the disk. Spera said in order to be fair, if the school were to look into...". MOTION: Maguire abstained from approving the minutes. Strate moved, seconded by Abraira, to approve the minutes of the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting held on Thursday, December 13, 2007, as corrected. Motion carried 4-0. IV. NEW BUSINESS A. MS. SANDY WERTS —INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL Werts asked the Human Rights and Diversity Commission to support the International Festival and serve on the planning committee. Spera and Abraira volunteered to serve on the planning committee. Maguire volunteered to help on a limited basis. MOTION: Abraira moved, seconded by Strate for the Human Rights and Diversity Commission to support the International Festival. Motion carried 5-0. Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes February 14, 2008 Page 3 B. MS. DEB SWEENEY— GRANT FUNDS FOR IMMIGRANT PROGRAM Sweeney said she came to the meeting to talk about potentially finding a grant which could help fund the Immigrant Program. Sweeney said, due to the budget cuts, she has been thinking how the immigrant program can function in the same capacity as it currently does. Family Service Collaborative, PROP, The Prop Shop, several Somali specific non profits in Minneapolis, or a grass roots effort could be possibilities where a grant could be applied to support the immigrant program. Maguire said the Human Rights and Diversity Commission would be interested in bringing people together, but probably wouldn't be the drivers of the grant process. PROP is probably currently the best suited non profit where the grant could be applied. Koivumaki said it is currently unknown what will happen to Kandra's position in 2009 and it won't be known until probably later this year. Strate said the idea of a grant is a good idea and the Human Rights and Diversity Commission could help with ideas. Koivumaki said her office is turning people away for help at times because a Somali interpreter isn't available. The City Council ordered a halt to City staff helping immigrants with questions about INS forms. Koivumaki said if help with the forms is not allowed by the City then maybe a grant could be written to help make that service available somewhere. Maguire said there aren't any functioning groups to help fill the need of helping fill out forms and other interpreter needs. Regarding how the Commission can help support Sweeney's grant writing effort, Maguire said the Commission can supply information but not be the best qualified to help run the application of the grant. Sweeney said the first step would be to better define the problem and approach PROP to see if the idea fits by doing a Capacity Assessment. This would be a six to nine month process. The grant enables someone to be hired to look into the process and possibly write a grant. After the planning process, then it would be known if the full grant could be written from the information gathered during the planning stage. Maguire said Sweeney and Koivumaki will meet to discuss the next steps and determine if there will potentially be a future meeting with PROP. V. REPORTS OF STAFF A. HUMAN SERVICES REVIEW COMMITTEE (HSRC) Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes February 14, 2008 Page 4 Koivumaki reported the following. The Human Services Review Committee did not meet in February. The funding recommendations made by the committee will go before the City Council for approval at the March 4, 2008 meeting. B. BIAS CRIME ACTIVITY STATUS No Update C. OTHER REPORTS FROM STAFF As directed by the HRDC at the January 10, 2008 meeting, Koivumaki contacted the Eden Prairie School District to inquire whether they would be interested in co- sponsoring another"Gathering" event. The District responded they are interested and Koivumaki will be back in touch with District officials for additional discussion on this topic. Maguire asked if the "Gathering" would occur once the new members are on the Commission. Koivumaki said a"Gathering" probably would be in fall 2008. Foreclosure Prevention Pro• a Koivumaki reported the Star Tribune did an article on the mortgage foreclosure prevention program and the problems she's experiencing with Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Koivumaki received a call from Twin Cities Public Television producer who is doing a program on policies keeping people in poverty and would like to further discuss this situation as part of the program. Koivumaki is also in touch with representatives from Senator Coleman's office and Representative Jim Ramstad's office. 2008 Board & Commission Application Process Applications are now being accepted for positions on all City boards and commissions. Applications will be accepted until February 15, 2008. As of February 14, three applications have been received. The candidate interviews will take place February 25, 2008. Meeting with Bloomington Human Rights Commission There are two projects we have been asked to work on with the Bloomington Human Rights Commission (HRC): 1. A joint visit to the Science Museum to tour the Deadly Medicine display. Ten people from Eden Prairie and ten people from Bloomington would be invited by each Commission to tour the display. A facilitated discussion would take place following the tour. (These 20 people will then be asked to serve as "ambassadors" to an upcoming event in May, 2008, see details in #2) The dates, and times for the tour are still being decided, however it is likely to take place on a Saturday morning in March or April. Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes February 14, 2008 Page 5 2. A movie called "The Devil Came on Horseback" depicts genocide in the Darfur region of Africa. The Eden Prairie and Bloomington Human Rights Commissions will sponsor a showing of the movie at the Bloomington Civic Plaza in early May, to commemorate Human Rights Day. The ambassadors described above would help promote the showing and try to get people interested in attending the event. The City of Edina had a showing of the movie and a panel discussion which included Representative Jim Ramstad, the Edina Mayor, and others. Our purpose would be for educational and public awareness only, and not for political action. Koivumaki said the HRDC wants to make sure the City is advised on topics such as Darfur. St. Paul and Edina have passed resolutions to not make money off of this. Maguire asked what the resolutions consist of. Koivumaki said the resolutions are to limit the corporations, etc. the City invests in. The corporations, etc. would not profit from Darfur. St. Paul was the 13"'city in the Country to pass such a resolution. Koivumaki said the Human Rights Awards are due on February 29 2008. They are available on line and at the front desk at City Hall. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. SCHEDULE FOR THE LIBRARY BULITEN BOARD Maguire said March is Women's History Month and inquired who would be working on the display. Maguire said she would like for the Commission to share the responsibility of working on the library bulletin board. Spera asked where the Commission member's obtained their pictures from. Maguire said Google Images. Strate said public domain photos. Strate said he recommends printing picture at Glen Prairie Press. It is a small store in north central Eden Prairie, and is $1.15 for a poster. Maguire prints the pictures using card stock. For Hispanic Heritage Month, Maguire ordered pictures form www.art.com. Maguire said a volunteer is needed for May. If there are not enough volunteers needed, the program will be discontinued next year. VII. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION MEMBERS A. SOUTH HENNEPIN IMMIGRANT SERVICES GROUP (SHISG) B. GERRY BECKMANN REPORT Human Rights and Diversity Commission Minutes February 14, 2008 Page 6 Beckmann said Jasmine Shrestha, from Family & Children's Services gave a very interesting presentation on Vietnamese Culture. Shrestha spoke of the New Year Celebrations and the customs surrounding the important date. She also spoke about religious customs and the New Year. Beckman said Shrestha said the elderly are respected and cared for in the Vietnamese Culture. It is the children's duty to send money on a regular basis to help with their care. Education is valued in the Vietnamese Culture. Teachers must be given the highest respect. Beckman said Shrestha said often Kindergarten children may be and are punished in school. Beating a child is OK and it is believed it will help them to be a better person and student. Disabilities are thought to be a problem the parents caused. With a disabled child, the parent always asked what I did to cause this. Parents and grandparents do not ask for help because they must work the problem out themselves. C. JEFF STRATE Strate passed along various human rights and educational display materials to Koivumaki for future use as needed. VIII. FUTURE MEETINGS/EVENTS The next HRDC Meeting will be on Thursday, March 13, 2007 at the Eden Prairie Center room 125. IX. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Abraira moved to adjourn the February 14, 2008 meeting of the HRDC, seconded by Spera. Motion carried 4-0. Strate adjourned the meeting at 9:08 p.m.