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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 06/13/2019 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY,JUNE 13, 2019 7:00 P.M., Eden Prairie Center Office of Housing and Community Services COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper, (Chair), Shahram Missaghi, (Vice Chair), Sana Elassar, Katherine Lucht, Leslie Philmon, Rehmatbai Sumra, Philip Skeie, Asad Aliweyd, Tyler Aman COMMISSION STAFF: Megan Yerks, Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Vice Chair Missaghi called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. Elassar participated via phone. Leeper was absent. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS The guest speaker for the evening was Steve Durham, Planner II of the Planning Department at the City of Eden Prairie. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Lucht moved, seconded by Aman, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 7-0. IV. APPROVAL OF THE FEBRUARY 12, 2019 MEETING MINUTES MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Aman, to approve the February 12th, 2019 minutes. Motion carried 7-0. V. LOCAL NON-PROFIT PRESENTATION—STEVE DURHAM, CITY OF EDEN PRAIRIE—CENSUS 2020 Mr. Durham started his presentation by stating he has worked as a Planner in the Eden Prairie Planning Commission for the past 38 years. He stated he is here this evening to discuss the 2020 Census. This will be his fourth census he has participated in. Some facts he gave about the census were as follows: - The regional office is located in Chicago, Illinois. - The census is taken every 10 years. - This year the census has been re-designed to minimize the field work. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2019 Page 2 - The count will be taken by phone, mail or internet. - The census will be taken on April 1, 2020 and then will be given to the President on December 31, 2020. On April 1, 2021 the results will be given to the public. - The Complete Count Committee is organized at the county and municipal levels. Members of the state and local governments, faith based organizations, schools, media and businesses,just to name a few, can be included in this committee. - The hard to count areas are the homeless, snow birds, veterans,people with disabilities, farm workers, renters, college students and seniors. The City has been promoting the Census of 2020 by providing flyers at the Open House in 2018 and posting information on the City website. Mr. Durham stated it is important to get every person to participate because Minnesota's Congressional seats are based on this count. Aliweyd asked how they partner with local communities. Mr. Durham said a representative can come out to any special group and talk with them. Mr. Durham also stated if a resident does not partake in the census via internet or filling out the paper form and mailing it in, a representative will come to their door. VI. STAFF REPORT—MEGAN YERKS A. COMMUNITY UPDATES 1. Yerks said in the Commission packet is a flyer for the Metro HRA Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher. She said the Metro HRA, Minneapolis PHA and St Paul PHA has opened up their Section 8 housing from June 12th through June 18th. This is when applications will be accepted. Once an individual submits their application it will go into a lottery system and if their name is drawn they will then get put on a wait list until a voucher becomes available. VII. OLD BUSINESS A. COMMUNITY CONVERSATION EVENT AT EPHS Vice Chair Missaghi gave an update on this event. He stated it was a success and was great to have the student commissioners presenting this program. The main focus was on race. There was a forum and discussion afterwards. Yerks commented it was a great student driven event. B. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS Lucht said this went well. She said she liked the fact this was further down on the agenda so it gave people a chance to get there after work. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2019 Page 3 VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. WORK PLAN REVIEW/COMMITMENT FORM Yerks went over the first 6 months of the plan for the new members and stated almost all of the events on the calendar have taken place and she said she was pleased as it was an ambitious calendar. She pointed out the Community Conversation event with Pax Christi will most likely not happen because of conflicts on their side. The Shoe Day with NAMI and EPHS HEART also did not happen as it was too close to the end of the school year for the student commissioners to have organized it. The other events on the calendar that Yerks pointed out were Kickin' it with the Cops on July loth, PeopleFest! /Human Library in August and in September the Commission will be welcoming the new student representatives; there will be five starting. In October there will be a Community Conversation event with the Eden Prairie Community Foundation. It is a cultural mixer. November is Native American Heritage Month. Yerks said the Heritage Preservation Commission will not be partnering with the HRDC but Hennepin Technical College expressed an interest in this event. Lucht and Elassar said they will be organizing events for this. Yerks discussed a Commitment Form that Chair Leeper asked her to bring up at the meeting. This form would lay out expectations of the Commissioners, such as how many hours each month is expected from each Commissioner. Yerks said this form would also include some orientation. B. BIAS INCIDENT PROCEDURES Yerks started out the discussion on this by pointing out there have been quite a few incidents of bias in the last 6-8 months. She stated she had a meeting with Greg Weber and a draft bias report was designed. This form will focus on the needs of the victim. Right now when there is an incident, the police notify Yerks but as of now she cannot get their name. After this form is drafted they will be given Yerks information to decide if they want to contact her or not. Then if they do contact her, Yerks will notify Chair Leeper and the three of them will meet if that is what the victim wants. The intent of this meeting is to give the victim emotional support. After the meeting, Chair Leeper would complete an incident report and bring it to the Commission meeting. The victim would then have the opportunity to talk to the Commission if they wanted to. Yerks pointed out it is best to wait if there are criminal charges until after that is resolved. If an incident is reported by a community member outside of the law enforcement, it is not required of them to report it to the police; it is up to the victim. But such things as child abuse would be reported to the police. Vice Chair Missaghi asked for comments on the form. Aman said HRDC is sometimes spelled out and then is abbreviated and feels it should be consistent and spelled out. HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2019 Page 4 Sumra suggested the HRDC should supply a letter of support initially. She also said the word bias is a very broad term and asked what the definition of it is according to this document. Sumra pointed out the report excludes minors and feels they should be included. Yerks commented it does not address confidentially as it pertains to minors and it should. Aliweyd said this report does not say where the bias is coming from and what bias we are talking about. Yerks said the report is purposely vague to cover a wide range of bias. Skeie asked if we should be using the word "victim". Yerks said she was struggling with that. Skeie said in regards to community referrals he is a mandated reporter and so he may need to file a mandated report independently. Yerks confirmed if you are a mandated reporter you surely can do that. Lucht said it should be noted where victims can report bias if they do not want to report it to the police; make it easily known on the form. Vice Chair Missaghi said this is a great form and asked how many incident reports will we have and how many will we get and will the Commission be ready to handle the volume. Yerks said she will make the revisions and bring them back at the July meeting for review. C. STOP THE TRAFFICKING 5K PACKET PICK UP Yerks said the packet pickup will take place at Eden Prairie Center in the Office of Housing and Community Services Office on Friday, June 21St. Volunteers will be needed for two shifts; 2-5 pm and 4:30-7-30 pm. Elassar said she can work the 4:30-7:30 shift. Sumra said she can volunteer but not until 5:30 pm. Skeie, Lucht and Vice Chair Missaghi said they can work the 2-5 pm shift. Yerks said she will reach out to Chair Leeper and Aman to see if they can work a shift. (Aman left the meeting during New Business discussions). D. KICKIN' IT WITH THE COPS EVENT This event will take place on July loth. This event was established as a result of what happened at McDonald's. Some Somali moms said they would like positive interaction with the police and their children so that is why this event was established. It is from 6-8 pm at Edenvale Park, which is off of Valley View Road. There will be games, a dunk tank and snacks will be provided. Skeie, Aliweyd, Sumra, Lucht, Elassar said they will be there. Vice Chair Missaghi said he will be there but will be late. E. PEOPLEFEST! PARTY/HUMAN LIBRARY HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY MINUTES June 13, 2019 Page 5 Yerks said there will be two events scheduled. The Human Library will be on August 7th, from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Eden Prairie Community Center. PeopleFest! will be on August l lth from 3-7 pm at Staring Lake. Lucht said she will be attending both events. Skeie said he will be at the Human Library. Yerks said they will need a library of books so if all Commission Members could recruit someone by next month and come up with a name for the book (person). Yerks said she would like everyone to be a backup book so think of what you would choose for your book(story). For Peoplefest! on August llth there will be a table set up for the Commission. Lucht said she will be there. F. NEW RESIDENT PACKET REVIEW Yerks said this is ready for the Commissioners initial review and asked for thoughts. Lucht said the color scheme is very welcoming. Skeie noticed the police non-emergency number is answered 24 hours a day but he does not believe fire is. Lucht said she would like to see all the Commissions listed under City Government. Sumra asked if this packet will be available digitally. Yerks stated it would be available digitally. Vice Chair Missaghi commented it is appropriate to have the Eden Prairie manifesto in the documents. He also asked all the Commissioners to supply Yerks with any additional comments by Monday. Sumra said she would like to see a map of Eden Prairie included in the packet. Yerks shared that Fair Housing information will be added in. IX. UPCOMING MEETING A. JULY 11, 2019 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Lucht moved, seconded by Philmon, to adjourn the Human Rights & Diversity Commission meeting. Motion carried 6-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 pm