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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRC 6 18 19AGENDA Human Rights Commission (HRC) Tuesday, June 18, 2019 5:30 P.M. City Hall, Helling Conference Room 410 E. Washington Street, Iowa City 1.Call Meeting to Order and Roll Call. 2.Approval of the May 15 and May 21 meeting minutes. 3.Public Comment of Items not on the Agenda. (Commentators shall address the Commission for no more than 5 minutes. Commissioners shall not engage in discussion with the public concerning said items). 4.Items to be discussed: a.Juneteenth Vendor (June 22). b.Breakfast Speaker Nominations (October 23). c.Committees: Public Safety; Education; Community Outreach; Housing. d.Inclusive High School Teacher Award (June 28). e.ADA Anniversary Proclamation (July 16). f.Correspondence. 5.Updates/Reports: a.Iowa City Pride Proclamation. b.Iowa City Pride Event (June 15). c.Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant. 6.Staff/Commission Announcements. (Commissioners shall not engage in discussion with one another concerning said announcements). 7.Comments of Staff. 8.Adjournment. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate in this meeting please contact the Equity Director, Stefanie Bowers, at 319-356-5022 or at stefanie-bowers@iowa-city.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs. May 15, 2019 Minutes Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 15, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 1 Members Present: Jeff Falk, Cathy McGinnis, Bijou Maliabo, Jessica Ferdig, Barbara Kutzko, Adil Adams, Noemi Ford, Jonathon Muñoz. Members Absent: Tahuanty Peña. Staff Present: Stefanie Bowers. Others Present: Andre’ Wright, Wangui Gathua, RaQuishia Harrington, Charlie Eastham, Royceann Porter, Angelica Vannatta. Recommendation to Council: No. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 5:42 PM. Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant: Chair Peña could not make the meeting due to a work conflict. Falk began the meeting with a reading of an email sent by Peña. 1) Our goal is to continuously improve a process which is fair and inclusive. 2) The current process reflects a ranking based on aggregate information from all commissioners. 3) We would greatly appreciate that if you think a part of the process didn't work well, please tell us about different approaches that would improve it. Falk then opened the floor to any comments from the public. Andre’ Wright asked for the Commission to clearly state what the process is for the grants. Falk provided an overview of the process that including, how each Commissioner reads through the grants individually and does their own scoring and then at the end all rankings are put together and averaged. That ranking is provisional and then Commissioners are asked if anyone wants to make any comments on the rankings so the rankings at that meeting are not written in stone the meeting is the purpose to discuss as a group the applicants. Falk noted that usually the rankings are accepted, and no one has any comment that changes any one’s consideration of the rankings except for this year there was a change. Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 15, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 2 Muñoz added that the process is at some level like a communal process, City Council gives guidelines and a matrix to score, the Commission just recommends, the Council ultimately makes the final decision. Organizations that are not recommended by the Commission to be funded can always go to Council to voice their concern. Kutzko mentioned the first year was really trial and error but this evening she wants to hear from those in attendance to hear their comments and suggestions. Commissioners want to do the right thing in their decisions and reach out to those in most need. Wangui Gathua asked: How much is the grant? What is the turn around? Muñoz mentioned that in the last funding year the Commission did allow for organizations to receive consecutive funding which concerned him. Staff mentioned that the Commission should distinguish between consecutive funding for the same organization in the same project versus consecutive funding of an organization with a new project and that the total amount of the grant is $75,000. Ferdig noted that an organization can ask for the full amount. There are no rules and regulations on how much an organization can ask for. RaQuishia Harrington representing Sankofa Outreach Connection mentioned that they were one of the first grant recipients. Sankofa has since applied in the last two grant cycles but through the process they have thought about what they were doing and how to make improvements. Unlike a lot of other applicants, they did not have established funds and it did help them to receive the grant. She then inquired as to whether there are guidelines that all Commissioners follow. And asked why Commissioners chose to continue to give funding to the same organizations because it discourages other organizations from applying. Her suggestion is to look at those new up and coming organization that don’t have a lot of funds to begin with. She would like to see more consistency in the scoring process. Muñoz asked her if she believes Sankofa should get funded over an organization that has not received funding, should the Commission take that into consideration? Harrington said the Commission should take that into account. But added that organizations should be looking for additional funding too. Ferdig would like to see improvements to the rubric. There is a lot in there that would allow a Commissioner to apply their own criteria and not create consistency amongst them. Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 15, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 3 Falk believes the rubric plays off the application. Each Commissioner has their own set of values that they bring to scoring an application. Falk mentioned in the last funding period the rubric had three additional boxes after each section for other items Commissioners might have considered in evaluating an application. Falk said the budget is taken as legitimate. The Commission in the past has not questioned a budget and so amounts that are funded are not halved or split. Charlie Eastham serves on the Housing and Community Development Commission (HCDC). He noted that some organizations that are applying for the social justice and racial equity grant are new. HCDC makes the recommendations to Council on who should be funded through aid to agencies which has significantly larger funds than the social justice and racial equity funding. He would like to see a process where just starting out agencies could receive funding through the social justice and racial equity grant and then, if they become established, could then go apply for funding through aid to agencies for more long-term funding support. Staff asked for clarification. Eastham reported that ideally there would be a process set up whereby the Commission would allocate their funding for new organizations but not exclusively with the goal being they would have some path to the aid to agency funding. Royceann Porter serves as a Supervisor but is here today in her capacity as a member of Black Voices Project. She started by asking the Commission to individually tell her what social justice and racial equity means to them. She added when we talk about the grass roots organization in the community, they are all doing great work. Johnson County through JJYD gives out $200,000 and every year it is the same agencies and organizations. Because of this new organizations do not even stand a chance. She is aware of organizations doing great work that have not received the social justice and racial equity grant. For example, The Dream Center, Jones Academy of Performing Arts. Humanize my Hoodie, and the Fifth Ward Saints. If you would ask these organizations why they do not apply for grants they will tell you there is no point. It is always the same people who receive all the money, even though they are the organizations doing the work. She would suggest when the Commission receives these applications they should go out and into the community to see what work they do. We all know what Crisis Center does, what DVIP does, Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County, Shelter House. Johnson County just gave Shelter House $630,000. She added we have to do better. The people doing the work are the people getting screwed. They are the ones who aren’t eligible for the funding. Did anyone consider the Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 15, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 4 question that is asked on your application, have you received grants before and if so, how long and for how much. She further noted that the budget is the most important thing for Commissioners to look at. Just because they ask for X amount doesn’t mean they need X amount to do it. When you look at these bigger organizations, for example Big Brother Big Sister, Johnson County Neighborhood Centers they close at 5. Who are the people out doing the work after these places close There has got to be a way for the Commission to come together and figure this out. The pot should be set for everybody. It would be good if the Commission, after you give the money, to go out and do site visits with the organizations you funded. Look at what you are doing because you are hurting the people that are doing the work. Maliabo replied that she did reach out to Jones Academy of Performing Arts and asked them to apply and she does not know why they did not apply. Porter responded that organizations are tired of the system and how it is set up. Why apply if we know we are not going to get the funding. She furthered encouraged Commissioners to go out and see what the Center for Worker Justice does, G World, and The Dream Center. Muñoz added that he does pay attention to the budget. For his own rankings he does look at who has received funding in the past and that he did oppose funding Shelter House because they had received funding in the last grant cycle. Social Justice for him is correcting the natural distributions and inequities. Porter then invited Andre’ Wright back up to the podium. She then spoke on how Humanize My Hoodie, which had applied for grant funding in the last grant cycle meets the criteria of the grant, for example, builds community, education, and criminal justice. She could not understand not giving them the money but giving another organization money to take people to the movies. When Wright is out there educating on implicit bias. Angelica Vannatta served on the Marion Human Rights Commission and works at the Shelter House. The Marion Human Rights Commission has a similar grant that uses motel tax revenue to support the fund. She feels that the current application used by the Commission is very straight forward. It appears the biggest learning curve for the Commission has been the scoring process. So, what Marion did was use a scoring rubric that had weighted questions. They also had a smaller group of commissioners evaluate all the applications and give a recommendation to the entire commission. After which they all discuss the recommendation at a regular commission meeting. Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 15, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 5 Vannatta believes that the Commission should continue the informational sessions but should add a part that provides some perspective for organizations who have not applied for grant funding in the past. Because she works for Shelter House, she did point out that the funding they have received from the Commission for two different projects were not funded by any other grants the Shelter House has received. She also reported that it may appear that Shelter House gets everything, but they do not. She ended her comments by asking Commissioners to consider whether for profit organization should be allowed to apply and to think about how the Commission can encourage collaborations between organizations. For example, Shelter House can do a joint application with The Dream Center. Eastman spoke again to support the comments made by Porter. He agrees that there are a number of predominantly Black and Hispanic organizations that are doing great work and at a level and effectiveness of other organizations. He hopes that this Commission and HCDC can work with the Council to establish a system of priorities and preferences so that those groups can, if not recruited, at least apply and receive support from this City in an easier and more effective manner. Falk touched on his experience of serving on three rounds of the social justice and racial equity grant process and how he still struggles with the difference between social justice and social service. He was hoping that eventually the Commission would have a discussion with each other and with the persons in attendance on trying to get a better handle on what that is supposed to mean. He looks upon social justice as not being about whether an organization is for profit or not but as fighting against the injustices that exist. Social service is supposed to ameliorate those injustices by finding somebody who is somehow not being treated the way they should and trying to figure out a way to fit them in the system so that they can get more advantages from the system. In his mind that is not combating a system that is trying to fit somebody into it. But he thinks there is a lot of injustice inherent in the system and that those things have to be combated but he does not see any of the organizations who applied for the grant as fitting that definition of social justice I see them as trying to ameliorate things. And he doesn’t know if an organization that is militant would be the kind to get a grant or think of applying for a grant from the City because the City is something that keeps the process going, keeps the system going. There are inequities in and throughout the City and so he was hoping the Commission would have some kind of discussion about that. Falk noted that staff prepared a memorandum which recommended for the Commission to define social justice and racial equity and gave some examples and he cannot think of any application that would fit into that definition because it was really changing Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 15, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 6 policies, institutions, and structures and not really fitting people into existing institutions and structures. Falk responded to Porter’s comments about knowing what groups are doing and how do you get to know what groups are doing. Well you go out and find out, that is one way. You also have a space on the application where the group fills out what they are doing, and you can try to get information that way. Being on the Commission doesn’t give insight into hardly anything because in order to get the insight you have to be out in the community seeing, feeling and hearing what is being done. Porter then commented on a dance troupe she had in the past and that she had applied for a $7500 grant from the AM Rotary and they (AM Rotary) asked her to bring the kids to their 7AM meeting. So, she took 64 kids and their parents to the meeting. So it is not just a matter of going to them but asking for groups to come to you. Falk taking off on that said that a question could be added to the application for organizations to provide a time or place where a few Commissioners can go and get a sense of what work they do. Kutzko mentioned it is disheartening that there are things being done, very important things, in this community and that people are afraid to apply or reluctant to apply because they have not been funded and that they really need the funding to be successful. Is there someway to encourage persons from those organizations to come to a Commission meeting at some point or can the Commission send someone there to talk to or encourage them to apply. She thinks it is important for those organizations to get involved and apply and for the Commission to reconsider its selection criteria because she thinks there are a lot of wonderful organizations that are being overlooked. There are a lot of things being done that are not being properly funded and therefore cannot move forward. Adams noted that at past meetings he has mentioned more funding from the Council so the Commission can support more organizations. Because all these organizations are doing good work and if there is more money, he thinks the Commission can distribute it to a lot of organizations and right now the Commission only has $75,000 and had 28 applications if the Commission had $150,000 maybe they could give to more organizations. Vannatta then asked the Commission to consider a grant limit so that if you have $75,000 you say up to $5000 that way you could award more organizations. Gathua then responded with the definition of social justice. Those of us in that field have played around with many words to address it even social justice is blanket it is not Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 15, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 7 addressing it and so I will go with racism and discrimination. But she will leave it there and not go into that. She thanked Kutzko for the opening. Gathua wonders if the application can allow for an additional question to set a date to come visit to see what groups are doing. Muñoz believes that as a practical matter he feels the problem is it will be hard to coordinate because of quorums but every Commissioner in their individual capacity or in a subcommittee could go visit. Gathua mentioned when you talk about people being discouraged from applying how do you ensure that the historic social justice is not routine. Maliabo said to invite us to your events so we know about events and organizations. Muñoz said organizations can also arrange to come and speak with the Commission at their monthly meetings by contacting staff, but this shouldn’t dissuade Commissioners from going out to visit groups still. Ferdig on a personal level wants a process that is unbiased and fair and a systematic process for evaluation. She does not want the Commission to spend time at an organization and give it money and then hear the “oh you favored them for X, Y, and Z”. She feels the commission needs to come up with a system, a process that captures what things are occurring and what is being done in all organizations but that can also be evaluated fairly and justified by this Commission. She believes that is the most difficult thing. How to create a perfect process. She does not have an answer for how to create a perfect process. Ford mentioned that she is in her first year on the Commission and did not participate in the process this funding cycle (due to a conflict). One thought that has been emerging in her brain is that it is an extremely painful place to be to be exercising justice and our community needs a lot of it. She also knows that $75,000 per year will not solve all the pain the City is suffering from but that it shouldn’t mean we don’t try. But she also thinks there is not a perfect system, we are fighting national, international, systemic, structural injustices. She agrees with Ferdig that the Commission does need to figure out on their meaning of what this grant is and how to define fairness and justice both are culturally bound. We need to look at our own local culture to see what is fair in our community and that is not an easy task, but she appreciated, I appreciate all the points that is what we are here for to hear what it is like for those applying. I think more of these community exchanges will help us find maybe not the perfect way but the best we can. Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 15, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 8 Falk, I want to thank all of you for participating this evening. I appreciate and I regret that it doesn’t often happen. In terms of people who are working for your community and many of you are and that is what prompted you to say something it gives me a lot more things to think about and how to do things. Kutzko I want to say thank you too because your input here tonight has given us a lot. Thank you for taking the time. Maliabo don’t be discouraged from applying again. Commissioners will make suggestions for change in the rubric, the mission statement, and the application, item by item. Adjournment: Motion to adjourn at 7:13 PM. 9 Member Attendance Sheet KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM = No meeting --- = Not a Member Member Term Exp. 1/8 1/24 2/19 3/19 4/16 5/15 5/21 6/18 7/16 8/20 9/17 10/15 11/19 12/10 Maliabo 1/2021 Present Present Present Present Present Present McGinnis 1/2021 Present Present Present Present Present Present Muñoz 1/2021 Excused Present Present Present Present Present Kutzko 1/2020 Present Present Present Present Present Present Falk 1/2020 Present Present Present Present Present Present Peña 1/2020 Present Present Excused Present Present Excused Adams 1/2022 Excused Present Present Present Present Present Ferdig 1/2022 Present Present Present Present Present Present Ford 1/2022 Present Excused Present Excused Present Present M a y 2 1 , 2 0 1 9 M i n u t e s Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 21, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 1 Members Present: Jeff Falk, Cathy McGinnis, Bijou Maliabo, Jessica Ferdig, Tahuanty Peña, Jonathon Muñoz, Noemi Ford. Members Absent: Adil Adams, Barbara Kutzko. Staff Present: Stefanie Bowers. Recommendation to Council: No. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 5:34 PM. Approval of April 16, 2019 Meeting Minutes: Muñoz moved to approve the minutes; the motion was seconded by Falk. A vote was taken, and the motion passed 7-0. Funding Request for Immigrant and Refugee Association: This is a funding request to offset the cost of World Refugee Day. The Commission decided not to provide funding for this organization because it has received funding within this same fiscal cycle and also was awarded $12,000 as part of the social justice and racial equity grant. McGinnis moved to not fund, and the motion was seconded by Ferdig. A vote was taken, and the motion passed 5-0. (Falk abstained, Ford not present). Proclamations: Falk will accept the proclamation on June 4 for National Pride Month. Peña will be the back up to accept if Falk cannot. Staff will ask Kutzko if she would be interested in accepting the Juneteenth proclamation on June 18 as Kutzko serves on the Juneteenth committee. Iowa City Pride 2019: Iowa City Pride will be held on Saturday, June 15 in downtown Iowa City. Ferdig and McGinnis will do a shift at the annual celebration. Peña, if available, will serve a shift. Speakers for Human Rights Breakfast 2019: Commissioners will think about who they would like to see serve as Keynote for the Awards this year. Names on the list include Charles Eastham and Melissa Shivers. Staff will send out a list of past speakers to Commission members. Strategic Plan and Committee Updates: There are four committees that assist in advancing the strategic plan. The four committees are Housing (*Falk, Adams, Peña); Public Safety (*McGinnis, Maliabo); Education (Falk, Kutzko); and Community Outreach (*Adams, Falk, Muñoz). Asterisks designates chairs of the committees. Housing Committee: No report. Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission May 21, 2019 Helling Conference Room, City Hall 2 Public Safety: Still working on finalizing a brochure on biased based incidents. They are also looking at the possibility of creating a website to offer resources and a discussion forum on biased based incidents. Education Committee: Has been attending meetings on restorative justice and trying to learn more about what training in terms of diversity and inclusivity is required by the School District for staff. The committee will also be selecting the winners of the inclusive high school teacher award. Community/Outreach Committee: No report. Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant: On May 15 the Commission held a work session that allowed feedback from the public on the grant process. The Commission will hold another work session on Thursday, June 20 at 5:30pm. At this work session, it was decided not to take public comment. Commissioners will send any changes they would like to see to staff no later than Sunday, June 9. Reports of Commissioners: Maliabo spoke on a recent incident involving a teenage girl with whom she is trying to help. Ford mentioned that the panel she would be speaking at on child separation from parents at the border has been canceled. Adjournment: Motion to adjourn at 6:44 PM. 3 Member Attendance Sheet KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM = No meeting --- = Not a Member Member Term Exp. 1/8 1/24 2/19 3/19 4/16 5/21 6/18 7/16 8/20 9/17 10/15 11/19 12/10 Maliabo 1/2021 Present Present Present Present Present Present McGinnis 1/2021 Present Present Present Present Present Present Muñoz 1/2021 Excused Present Present Present Present Present Kutzko 1/2020 Present Present Present Present Present Excused Falk 1/2020 Present Present Present Present Present Present Peña 1/2020 Present Present Excused Present Present Present Adams 1/2022 Excused Present Present Present Present Absent Ferdig 1/2022 Present Present Present Present Present Present Ford 1/2022 Present Excused Present Excused Present Present J u n e C o r r e s p o n d e n c e Mercer Park and Aquatic Center 2701 Bradford Dr. Iowa City, IA Thank you to our sponsors: City of Iowa City, Community Partnerships for Protecting Children, and Johnson County. Free food (while supplies last) Vendors Live Entertainment Prizes Health Fair Children’s book for first 200 kids Face painting Games Bookmobile Kids crafts Saturday June 22, 2019 12-4pm Main Stage: Hosts: Ieisha Riley & local youth Talent: Bayo, Blake Shaw, Charism, Dr Dawson, Dream Divas, MC Animosity, STRIKE Martial Arts, & DJ Kylie Buddin!! Blood Drive From 12-4pm Did you know that there are more than 30 different types of blood? People from the same ethnic background are more likely to have the same blood group. But only 1% of donors are from black ethnic backgrounds. This is a community event for all to enjoy ! Rain Location: Inside in the Mercer Gym Youth Art Contest Winner: James Frantz Hello! On Saturday, June 22, as part of the Johnson County Juneteenth Celebration, our community is coming together to help save lives! See below for details on our upcoming blood drive, and please consider scheduling an appointment. To see the time slots available for appointments, just click on the blood drive name, below. You can also contact Laurie Nash at lnash@co.johnson.ia.us to schedule. Johnson County Juneteenth Celebration Saturday, 6/22/2019 (12:00 pm - 3:00 pm) Mercer Park 2701 Bradford Dr. Procter & Gamble Room - Inside the Mercer Park Aquatic Center All presenting donors will receive a $10 gift card to use towards Dairy Queen, Domino's, Amazon or Casey's. Our blood drive will provide a critical resource that helps save lives at hospitals in our community and across our region. Thank you for your support, and I hope to see you at the blood drive! © 2017 - - 5500 Lakeview Parkway, Davenport, IA 52807, 800-747-5401 - - If you have been told previously by Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center or another blood center that you should never donate blood, please disregard this message. If you recently made a blood donation, or if you have already scheduled an appointment to donate blood, please accept our thanks on behalf of the patients whose lives you may have touched. You may not give blood if you have received a notification from Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center asking you not to do so. Those who are in generally good health and meet the age and weight requirements may be eligible to donate blood. Please bring a photo ID when you come to donate.  Free Food while supplies last  Vendors  Live Entertainment  Prizes  Health Fair  Each young child receives a book while supplies last  Kids Games & Face Painting Procter and Gamble room: Blood Drive—please give now! 12:00 - 4:00 pm: Health Fair *Free t-shirt per person with 4 stickers on passport from the health fair and name entered into drawing for prize.* *t-shirts while supplies last* IOWA CITY AREA JUNETEENTH! 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM Mercer Park & Aquatic Center 2701 Bradford Dr. Rain Location: Inside Gym June 22, 2019 All Day: D.J. Kylie Buddin Hosts - Ieisha Riley & local youth 12:00 - Welcome 12:05 - Proclamation 12:10 - History of Juneteenth 12:15 - Logo Winner Presentation 12:30 - Charism & Food 1:00 - Dr Dawson 1:30 - Dream Divas 1:45 - MC Animosity 2:15 - STRIKE Martial Arts 2:30 - Blake Shaw 3:00 - Bayo 3:50 - Closing Remarks Thank you for your support! *Door prizes awarded 1-3 pm* Must be present to win Events Schedule Youth Art Contest Winner: James Frantz Procter & Gamble Room Large Parking Lot Small Parking Lot B u i l d i n g Tennis Courts Baseball Fields GY M Mercer Park Aquatic Center Vendors Stage: DJ Kylie Hosts Ieisha Riley & Youth Logo Winner James Frantz Performances by Bayo, Blake Shaw, Charism, Dr Dawson, Dream Divas, MC Animosity, STRIKE Martial Arts Bradford Drive Bl o o d D r i v e Info Table Fire Dept Children’s Activities Pavilion F o o d A n d D r i n k s ! T -Sh i r t i n f o . Police Dept Bookmobile