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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTRC Transcript - September 5, 2024[00:00:00] [00:00:06] Stefanie, it is now 7:03. Could we do a roll call? [00:00:10] Uh, Commissioner Merritt. [00:00:14] Yes, here. [00:00:15] Uh, Commissioner Muhamed. [00:00:19] Yes, here. [00:00:20] Commissioner Dillard. [00:00:21] Here. [00:00:22] Commissioner Johnson. [00:00:24] Here. [00:00:25] And Commissioner Kiche. [00:00:26] Yes, please. [00:00:28] Thank you, Stefanie. Um, I'm gonna go ahead and read the land, Native American land acknowledgment, and it reads. We meet today in the community of Iowa City, which now occupies the homelands of the Native American nations to whom we owe our commitment and dedication. The area of Iowa City was within the homelands of the Iowa, Meskwaki, and Sauk. And because history is complex, and time goes far back beyond memory, we also acknowledge the ancient connections of many other indigenous peoples here. The history of broken treaties and forced removal that dispossess indigenous [00:01:00] peoples of their homelands was and is an act of colonization and genocide that we cannot erase. We implore the Iowa City Community to commit to understanding and addressing these injustices as we work toward equity, restoration, and reparations. Next, I'll move on to agenda item Number 3, if there's anyone online that would like to make a public comment, not on the agenda. Please go ahead and raise your hand. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to approval of the meeting minutes from August 15. Stefanie. [00:01:36] I need a second. [00:01:38] Yeah. I- motion to approve, Is there a-. [00:01:41] I move. [00:01:41] Seconded. [00:01:43] Okay. [00:01:43] It's been- [00:01:43] I second. [00:01:44] Moved and second to approve the meeting minutes from August 15th. All those in favor say aye. [00:01:50] Aye. [00:01:50] Aye. [00:01:52] Anyone opposed? [00:01:53] Aye. [00:01:54] Aye. [00:01:55] Anyone abstaining? Okay. Motion carries 5/0. [00:01:59] Thank [00:02:00] you. Next, we are gonna move into our agenda item Number 5. Next steps for Phase 3 and 4, including upcoming events and engagement. We can use this time, um, to give some updates from the last few events or, um, things that have happened since we last came together. Anyone wanna give an update? [00:02:22] I first would like to, uh, apologize to everybody for the Latino Festival. I was not able to make that because I had a bit of a, um, emergency, if you will, that, uh, kind of occupied my exact time, and there was a lot going on. So I just wanna apologize for that. Just came up, wasn't expected. [00:02:44] Thank you for that. [00:02:45] Me too. You know, I couldn't make it. Sorry for that. You know, just- I get very busy. [00:02:52] Um, Amos, were you- were you able to go to it? [00:02:55] Yes. I was- [00:02:56] I heard that you were there. Tell us about it. [00:02:58] I was able to- to attend that one. [00:03:00] First, I want to talk about the Willow Creek one by the Johnson County neighborhood centers. Uh, that went well. It was me and Commissioner Lou. We were there for much of the event from around 12 to almost four or five. And it went very well. There were a lot of people there. Mainly the community, immigrant community from Sudan, that seemed to be living in the neighborhood area. But there were also other people. And we had volunteers. Usually, we evaluate our progress based on the volunteers. I think Commissioner, uh, Cliff talked about that in the first event we had of the importance of having volunteers as a sign of interest and contacts with people. So I was looking for that, too, and I remember, the first one we did, we had eight volunteers. [00:04:00] I looked at the records. And the Willow Creek event, we had- that was on August 18. We had 10 volunteers. We had contacts with about three males and 24 females of people who were of BIPOC. And there were two females who were white that we had discussions with. We had to explain a few things to them, and they had interest. On the Latino Festival, we also had 10 volunteers, who were willing to work with us. Two of them at the University of Iowa graduate students, one in psychology, one in social work, and they were very much interested in the things we were working on, and they wanted to be involved. I was just not able to- to offer them, eh, anything that could probably put them into action because we don't have a plan, a proper plan for that yet. We have not discussed how well to accommodate them. [00:05:00] And- and in this event, too, we had 15 females, BIPOC, 11 females, a total of like 26 contact people we talked to. And the non-Bipoc persons were one male and two females. So that is all that happened there. And I would also want to say that, I really thank Stefanie for having beefed up our staff. We had pens, we had T-shirts, TRC booklets and- and more volunteer sign-up sheets. So I was stoked and I was able to be there. I was there 12:00 to 7:00. It was interesting. I didn't have to be there all that time, but it was good. A lot of food and people were interacting and there was also Latino music. I had to go there a little bit later at night or listen to that. So I wasn't bored that day. It was a very good day for me. And so [00:06:00] I think that- that does for the events. [00:06:06] Well, thank you so much for being able to be there. I appreciate it. [00:06:10] Welcome. [00:06:12] Does anyone have anything to add about those tailing events that we had? It sounds like we got a good list of people. I might- would, uh, love to suggest that, um, maybe Stefanie, you could help us if we give you all the names, we could send down an e-mail and maybe a poll asking when people might want to- to meet in the next couple of weeks, either Zoom or in person, just to see- hear people's hearts, hear what we're hoping to accomplish before the end of our mandates, if that would be okay. [00:06:44] Yeah, that's fine. [00:06:45] Great. Does everyone else- does anyone have any thoughts about that, um, for a next step option? [00:06:52] I think that's a good idea. [00:06:53] Great. So I think it would be best to, um, send an e-mail out to those people like I just said and ask them when they're [00:07:00] most available and try to accommodate around those schedules versus us setting some dates. Unless anyone has any specific things against that, we might have to do more than one to accommodate, but, um, just kind of a meet and greet, like, um, thanks for stopping by. We'd love to talk more with you. Okay. [00:07:18] I think it would be helpful to at least have, like parameters, like, so are you looking at like Saturday, Sundays, or are you looking at weekdays, but just to give- cause otherwise, I'm afraid you're gonna get responses that are gonna be hard to, you know, come up with any direct date that would help everybody. And I realize you're not always gonna be able to accommodate everyone, but are you thinking like weekends or evenings or- 'cause I mean, we can do, like Monday through Friday, like, I don't know, five to eight or something or- and then, like Saturday, like how many- how long are you wanting this to last? [00:07:57] Forty-five minutes to an hour. [00:07:59] Okay. [00:08:00] Maybe. We could also in that same e-mail, invite people to come talk with us at our next meeting. Um, so that would already be like a Thursday night. People who can't make that, maybe they- we can do something else. Love to do in public. People want to hear us talk in public, but also offline to let people, you know, have their own talks as well. I see, Lubna, you have thoughts, questions, please, feel free to jump in. [00:08:25] Do we have option like Sunday? [00:08:28] Yeah. I mean, we can have whatever, um, that everyone thinks is best. I'm just throwing out this idea in- in open to thoughts, what works best for everyone. And if we all can't- I mean, if it's outside of our Thursday meeting, we don't want to meet in a quorum anyways. So we need to split that up, so we can have at least two different times that could work for half of us. So you suggest Sunday, Lubna? Is there a certain time you think is best? [00:08:58] Uh, after [00:09:00] 4:00, is that okay? [00:09:01] After four. So like at 4:00, or do you think like, uh, 5:00 or something? [00:09:06] Yeah, 4:00. [00:09:07] Okay. Maybe- so Sunday, 4:00 option. Um, Saturday option, we'll invite people to come to us next- next Thursday meeting, have an agenda item to have an open dialogue. If that's okay with everyone. And is there another weekday that people would be interested in? I personally don't wanna do it during my workday, which is 9:00 to 5:00, but other people are welcome to do that. [00:09:38] I- I can't do it. Friday is the only day that I'll be available. [00:09:43] So Friday, maybe? What time, Cliff? [00:09:46] It would have to be Friday in the afternoon/evening. [00:09:50] Like 3:00 or like 5:00? [00:09:52] 4:00 to 5:00ish. [00:09:54] 4:00 to 5:00? [00:09:54] Those lines. [00:09:55] Okay. Uh, so we're- I'm hearing a Sunday at [00:10:00] 4:00, um, a Friday at, like, 4:00 to 5:00 option. We'll do our 7:00 P.M. Thursday. And these- these don't have to be in the same week. They can be different weeks. Um, and maybe- [00:10:17] I could do, like, a between 6:00 and 8:00 on Wednesdays. [00:10:21] Okay. Maybe that's another option. [00:10:23] I can be- I can be available. [00:10:25] Okay. So maybe we can put those. Is anyone interested in doing a Saturday? Maybe a Saturday, um, just to throw it, make it different like 11:00 or noon? [00:10:36] I'm fine with Saturday. That's still look good with me. [00:10:39] So, Stefanie, would it be possible to use those times and see what happens? [00:10:42] Sure. [00:10:43] Um, and then it would be nice for- to have at least two of us at all those sessions or, um, maybe try to corral, see if people give us a couple of different options that work for them and then see how many people can fit at one time. Um, [00:11:00] this is kind of uncharted territory. We can either do a Zoom or try to do something in person. Just wanna give people who said their interests more option to learn and see what maybe the will of the people would be to move forward. Um, so thanks for engaging in that, off the top of my head idea. [00:11:23] And what when I send out the- [00:11:24] I could also- I could do the 4:00 at Sunday, too. [00:11:27] Okay. So we'll just put all those different times and see what happens, and then, um, we'll probably have to make it- maybe we can get this e-mail out in the next week or so. Is that possible, Stefanie? [00:11:39] That's definitely. So the- kind of the- to summarize what the e-mail would say, it would have these options for different days and times, and then it would be an opportunity to have an open dialogue with members of the TRC and also an opportunity to learn more about the work of the TRC. [00:11:55] The work of the TRC and how they can also, um, engage or get involved. [00:12:00] Okay. [00:12:03] I believe I have one of those, um, notebooks from earlier this summer, so I'll make sure to send a copy over to you, Stefanie. I don't know what other- uh, you have the e-mails. [00:12:13] The other ones. [00:12:13] And then- okay. And if there's anyone that's not on those lists that we think should be on those list, maybe also, Stefanie, could you include anyone that's ever- that's on our current, like, e-mail list? [00:12:25] Yes. [00:12:25] Thank you. So, uh, that's great. That's exciting. That's some moving forward steps. Are there any other things we wanna talk about that's been going on in the last month? I know there was another gathering that a couple of people went to? [00:12:41] Yes. I want to report on a community meeting we had with the- [00:12:49] You might wanna put the mic just a little bit closer. [00:12:51] Yeah. I just wanted to report on a community we were meeting me and Commissioner Lubna had with some fellows [00:13:00] from Africa Immigrants mainly. And this was at the Java House as we had planned. Uh, it occurred around 6:00 P.M. on August 20. The Java House is the one in Mormon Trek, and I think Commissioner Lubna negotiated the place and the time, and that is what was convenient for them in terms of safety trans- and transportation. So we believe we didn't put undue pressure to them, and they were willing to come and there were five or six of them. And one male, the rest were females. They tend to be- [00:13:44] How many people, I'm sorry? [00:13:45] About six. [00:13:46] Six. Okay. [00:13:47] Yeah. But Commissioner Lubna can correct me if I'm wrong, She was there all the time. So this- this event mainly [00:14:00] centered on workplace discrimination. The members really wanted us to hear from them, even though we have been having other things given priority, but we felt that we have to listen to the community. We cannot tell them the topics to work on. So since the request [BACKGROUND] to talk to us, we were willing to accommodate them on that topic, and truly, truly, that was their major concern, workplace. I took some notes, not very detailed, but as was required by- I think by regulations that these things are made public. They are available with me. And I just wanna report if the Commission wants me to report on these persons, I will not use the names on the complaints they had. And I think I will request that from the Commission if that is okay to [00:15:00] report on some of the complaints they had. [00:15:02] Of course. I mean, I think that's okay. Does anyone have any objections to that? [00:15:07] I do not. [00:15:10] No- [00:15:10] Just to clarify. [00:15:11] No objections. [00:15:12] These are, um, from your- from your notes? [00:15:15] You are- [00:15:15] Yes. [00:15:15] Just repeating what people have told you? [00:15:17] Yes. [00:15:18] The notes I took. I did not record anything. I was just writing notes. And in any event that I make an error, Commissioner Lubna is free to correct me at any time she- she wants. And- so I'll- I'll talk about the first person, and she's female. Has worked at Oral B for two years. And the complaint was with a white supervisor at work. [00:15:54] This person has been very mean to her, yelling at her, [00:16:00] asking her to go home early while others continue to work. That means she's always been getting less hours compared to other people. And another complaint from the first person, also from the supervisor, was about being abled- like, she feels like she's being discriminated because while she's being told or forced to go back home when others continue with the shift, immediately, three other persons are told to replace her. And that makes her really really angry with what is going on. The workers-she's working with are other Africans, but from other regions, Africa, who are probably Christians and not Muslims. So she's seeing that other workers, who are African tend to get more hours [00:17:00] than what she's usually getting. She's not talking about any other Muslims or other females, but herself. You know, this is on herself. I asked whether these events were occurring due to what she's doing, her behavior at work, ethics, work ethics, and performance. She said, she's always on time, very flexible and always going to work whenever she is called to go to work. And she believes she's doing a very good work. Her performance is- is okay. We did not hear- I think the person has also talked with Lubna for a number of hours, and she's been interrogated by her and Lubna who happens to be an advocate for the community, also has interacted with the supervisors at Oral-B. They have not indicated to Lubna that these workers [00:18:00] are having issues to do with the work performance or anything that could be creating this. So the person believes that she's being picked on due to language, Arabic, and also being Muslim. And she is- also believes that they are favored people who are given more hours and also even given over time, yet she is always given less hours and told to go back home. This is what she wants us to do or want somebody to do something about. She wants us stop to discrimination. She a single mom with a lot of responsibility and bills to pay and can't keep up with the bills. And I think, given that she occupies the public housing, where rents are usually prorated within three months, four months period. Whenever she's told to go back home any time, she finds it very difficult [00:19:00] to pay the rent because she can't go tell public housing authority that this month I was given only a few hours. So this has given her a lot of trouble. And that's what she wanted to- to put across to the commission so that the commission can- can help or find a solution. I'll go to person Number 2. She's also a single person who's female with one son, who goes to school. And whenever the son goes to goose- after the son that has gone to school is when she goes to work. She also works at Oral-B. She's facing the same problem, being denied hours. And she believes this is due to retaliation by a line or group leader who is denying her hours. There seemed to be some- something fishy going [00:20:00] on between the supervisor, the group leader, and this worker. And, the group leader who happens probably to come from the community seem to be working very well with the supervisor and can easily implement a retaliation policy on her. She also- she's always sent back home. And two other females who seem to be a favorites of the group leader gets those hours. She keeps wondering, why is that happening, why is she getting replaced with other females? This is the effects this has had on her. She's been forced to borrow money to pay rent. Given that she also probably lives in the public housing where things are prorated, and she can't just pay based on a- a two-week pay slip. Now she can't afford to help a seven years old son get the basic school [00:21:00] needs. So that's her frustration. She believes there's something that needs to- she wants something done so that she doesn't face these frustrations at workplace. And she's been missing a lot- a lot of hours, unlike others who always get good hours at the workplace. Person Number 3, female also works at Walmart. She's worked at Walmart for two years. But at some time, her supervisor was changed. She got a new white supervisor. She never had any problems those two years, was working very well. That's why she has been able to work there for two years without any problem being sent home or told to quit, or getting fired. But when this new supervisor came, she started giving her color [00:22:00] warnings. So looks like there's something in Walmart where if you do certain things at workplace, they give you color warnings, red, blue, yellow, something like that. [00:22:11] Can I just interrupt real quick? I'm a little worried about us naming actual, like, employers and how that could affect lawsuits. So maybe moving forward, we should say local businesses or- and use other language just in case. Um, I just want to point that out. [00:22:30] Can we confirm, we don't. Can we confirm what Stefanie- is it okay? [00:22:39] I'm just going up basically past things [00:22:40] I would have to ask the city attorney. As long as you're saying this is what you were told and that these were the- what was reported to you. [00:22:49] Okay. [00:22:50] Um, but- but to get a- a solid answer, I would have to follow up with Eric in the morning. [00:22:57] As long as it's us not accusing anything, we're just saying [00:23:00] this is what he was told. That seems good enough to me. I just wanted to double check. [00:23:07] Okay. [00:23:10] I raised my hand for a question. Can- can you say question again, Stefanie, uh- uh, just a bit? [00:23:17] Um, I was just a little concerned because in the past, um, our city attorney has, um, asked us to be a little bit more cautious when it comes to naming specific entities or businesses in the community because it can lead to lawsuits and listing employers out loud could be a problem. I don't want us to, you know, get bogged down like we have in the past with any of those issues. It's just precautionary. Not sure at all. Um, I thank you both for, you know, going talking to these people. [00:23:51] Okay. Thank you. [00:23:58] Sorry to interrupt you? [00:23:59] Yes, I'm trying [00:24:00] to find where I was. [00:24:01] You were at number 3? [00:24:04] So the supervisor at this workplace started giving her problems, immediately, she was employed as a new person. I've- I mentioned about giving her color warnings, which often lead to suspension from work, and can even give problems finding place- another job place, similar to this- similar business somewhere else because they will track that. So she's really worried about those color warnings getting on her records, and she thinks they're not really justified. She's not been doing anything different from the way she used to work before. I never had problems before. The supervisor, she claims, stocks her, even if she's going to the bathroom, either suspecting of doing something fishy. [00:25:00] Even when she's going for a break, the supervisor seems to be stocking her, giving her a really hard time. She's not comfortable there. And she also female. And, due to this, she has recently developed diabetes. She's often frustrated, stressed he because she can't cope up with the thing going on at the workplace. She wants some help. Person Number 4 is a male. Has worked at the business, that particular- one of those businesses for 12 months. [00:26:00] At this workplace, there are other Africans who also work there. But he claims he is always being picked on. He does not understand why. This is a person who doesn't have issues to do with language, which seems to be a factor in some of these areas when it comes to communications. This is somebody who's US born. A young- still a very young guy, very energ- energetic guy, very humble guy. I don't even know how he can cause a problem to anybody. Whenever he request hours from the supervisor, he's always denied. And he's a young guy. He wants to buy his own staff. He told me he wants to buy a car. He wants to do other things that young people also have, and he does not want to do it in any other way. All he [00:27:00] needs is to be able to work five days in a week. He thinks that there's some somebody being unfair to him in terms of the treatment at the workplace. He even thinks that- not that he thinks when I talked to him a little bit further. I gave him time. I was asking how he's treated by fellow workers. He thinks he's getting picked on and even bullied. He does not like that and has really affected him. So he believes if there is anything that the commission can do or somebody else to address these issues, That would be something really preferred. I asked him again, just like I do- as I asked the other individuals on their work ethics and performance, because I was looking for, is there something- [00:28:00] businesses are concerned about profit and productivity. That's what they care about. I have a business. I know that's what I would care much. But sometimes they also care about workers' treatment and rights too. We know they do that too. So- but I was concentrating on whether the person goes to work on time. He says he's always on time, he's flexible. If he's call- if he's called, he goes to work. And he believes he works to best- to the best of his abilities. He's a humble guy, as I told you earlier. He always try to do the best he can do. So he just wants to be treated fairly so that he can work five days, just like others are given equal number of hours. Okay. So, the last one is a female who has worked in one of [00:29:00] the businesses for- for some time. The problem she has now is that she's been laid off for almost three months. And this is due to those issues I've just mentioned, being not in good terms with the supervisors. She believes the businesses-not the business, the persons she's interacting with, most of the time the supervisors or line leader or group leader on the line in the factory are not being fair to her. And she's had- she's gone through two supervisors. One left the business, maybe due to some complaints or problems. But even the new supervisor that came in not too long ago has not been able to help her. So she's complaining about [00:30:00] poor communication with the supervisor. She's being accused by somebody there with a res- responsibility position in the factory, always being picked on and being put in trouble. She claims the supervisor always very loud to her whenever she's asking a question related to work. So the three months lay off started when she was now being forced to quit or work- go to work very early in the morning at 4:00 AM. And that's something- a shift that she cannot handle given that she has children and the workplace is very far from Iowa City here, slightly far from Iowa City here. I don't wanna mention those things now [00:31:00] that we have to be careful. Believes that one of the somebody responsible is probably colluding with another person to frustrate her. And this touches on a very sensitive aspect that I also don't want mentioned, trying to be very careful until we are authorized to. But, uh, she expressed that problem to me and Commissioner Lubna was there too. She's been frustrated and been laid off for three months. She does not understand the reason why that is happening, why she's not being offered the hours. She was told to leave while two other ladies were being put to replace her. And these are things she's seeing [00:32:00] on her face. Just because sometimes she asks questions. Of course, the language is not very good, sometimes not very fluent, but that can create a problem, but I don't think- I don't want to make a judgment. But she says that she believes maybe could be a language problem, or it could be just somebody does not want to listen to her. She works very hard, very flexible also, and is always on time. This is what those ev- events or things have done to her. She's very frustrated and she's crying a lot. It becomes very difficult for her because she's not able to send money back home to her relatives in Africa. [00:32:57] Due to her limited English, [00:33:00] she gets upset very quickly, when somebody else, the person she's interacting with are not able to give time to explain and rush to judgment and putting her in trouble. So she wants help. And I believe these are the things why the Commission was set up because these are work place issues. This is why we are here. We are here to hear the truth, the voices from the people. And, uh, we are not here to take somebody to court. But our job is to listen to the community and do something about it. We have so many areas we were given a chart to work on housing, which we are going to work on very soon here. So this is what I got from the community, and, uh, that's what I can report to the Commission. [00:34:00] And I'm able to give these notes, these are public notes to anybody who's interested. Uh, I believe we were doing what we were supposed to do so. That's all I can say. Unless Commissioner Lubna has something to add. Just a moment. One thing I'm forgetting. This was relayed to me by Commissioner Lubna, who happens to interact with them more than me. 17 other persons. I don't know the mix whether female or male of same community, same workplaces, have complained, sent complaints to her. She interacts with them very well. She's an advocate for them. She even goes to those places, and even talks to those people to help, please help these people. Don't do this. This is what's happening. So I believe her when she told me that 17 other persons have launched complaints to [00:35:00] her regarding similar issues. That is frustrating the community. So they just want help. They really want work. So there are issues of ours being unfair, being discriminated against, and some other malpractices that are unlawful that are violating their work safety, violating the law, and also violating their rights. Thank you. [00:35:28] Thank you, Commissioner Kiche- Kiche, Lubna. Commissioner Muhamed. [00:35:32] I got that day at the meeting, we have like two males and one female. Uh, they should come, but there is stuff going on. They couldn't make it. Also, we have more people complaining, but they scared to come to the meeting because they said maybe there going to be retaliation from the management. [00:36:00] [00:36:02] Uh-huh. [00:36:04] Thank you for that information. Does anyone else have any other thoughts or things you would like to add? [00:36:10] I-I was just going to comment that if Commissioner Muhamed or Kiche, do you guys have contact information for any of these folks? Like e-mail phone numbers. [00:36:21] For the persons? [00:36:22] Yes. [00:36:24] At the moment, we did not collect that information, but I believe Commissioner Lubna can- can get those. [00:36:29] I'll reach out- [00:36:30] [OVERLAPPING] Yeah I have all the information. [00:36:32] Okay. I'll reach out to you tomorrow then. [00:36:35] Okay. Thank you. [00:36:36] Are you suggesting through your Office of Human Rights, um? [00:36:40] Yeah, I mean, we can- we can call. [00:36:42] That's what I was going to ask if that could be an option. Thank you. Did anyone else have any other questions or thoughts? [00:36:51] I just would like to say thank you. You guys. Uh, I think that's fantastic that you guys were able to actually hear their voices and be there loud speaker. I think that's great. And [00:37:00] it's one step when people actually feel like they're being heard, thats- that means a lot. Thank you. [00:37:08] Okay. [00:37:09] Commissioner Gathua you have your had raised? [00:37:12] Yeah. Thank you, Commissioner Kiche and Lubna for what you did. [00:37:20] Thank you. [00:37:21] Yeah, and thank you, Stefanie, for promising to follow up. I also wanted to add for Commissioner Kiche Lubna. Some time back, a case like this came from one of the- of the businesses in Iowa City. And by the end of presenting, uh, they ended up at the center for worker justice. And, uh, [00:38:00] she got help. They- they did follow up. And I was curious whether Lubna whether any of them has gone to that center. [00:38:13] You mean like they reported to the worker justice? [00:38:16] They- because the center for worker justice. I don't know whether I'm saying it right or justice for. Yeah- yeah. So sometimes workers go there and the- the- such issues are resolved. This particular one who had come to the TRC sometime she did get her case resolved. [00:38:41] But I- I remember before I contacted them a long time ago. Uh, what I guess is they just deal with the people that they did not get paid. But they did not deal with discrimination. [00:38:58] Okay. Yeah- yeah, I remember [00:39:00] actually that, too, because really, yeah, they actually said it's the width theft part that they dealt with. Yeah. Thank you for that reminder. [00:39:11] You're welcome. [00:39:12] Yeah I yield. [00:39:14] Thank you, Commissioner Gathua. I also was wondering, um- uh if there's other, um, places that we can, you know, recommend and- and make sure that, um, resources are given to, um, the individuals that you all have talked to and the ones that are, you know, afraid of retaliation, um, that could be more immediate since, um, what we've heard today are- like are horrible things that people shouldn't have to go through. Um, but I don't know exactly how we as a commission can move forward, since our charges are more systemic, um, in- to look for those patterns and how we can bring those to light. Um, if anyone has suggestions on how we could maybe work [00:40:00] with any of these individuals if that's what they would choose to really follow our charges. I'm definitely open to hearing that, um, but definitely want to make sure that people get the resources they need. So I'm glad that Commissioner Gathua brought up Center for Worker Justice. Um, I heard that one individual or a couple might be worried about language barriers. There are a number of, um, English language learner classes out there that might be helpful if people don't have access to that. Um, Just trying to make sure that people have all the resources they need to be, you know, most successful, um, so that we can help advocate for them, but, you know, it's going to be easiest if they can advocate for themselves as well. Um, so this is my thoughts go ahead, Commissioner Muhamed. And you are muted. [00:40:56] Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Also, there is [00:41:00] another issue, the English barrier, like we speak Arabic. And, uh, this is very, you know, like miscommunicate between the employers and- and the employees for the Arabic. And most like the people from my community, you know, they did not try not to ask for interpreter. And sometimes the companies say, we don't have interpreter. And I see the other language than Arabic, uh, you know, like from English to other language, except for Arabic. I feel like this also for discrimination, you know, like the people they don't know the language and try to help. [00:41:49] Uh-huh. Yes. [00:41:55] Yeah. Thank you. Commissioner Dillard for actually [00:42:00] raising the concern of any immediate respite for some of these cases. And Commissioner Lubna, I also wanted to say that, uh, yeah, I remember the center for worker justice. Uh, I don't know whether I have initials, right, but they were also involved in the case in the dental school where dental students. It was a big case because it went all the way to state. And yeah. But the- the center was involved in their picketing for the students. And it wasn't just weight theft. So other thing come out of there is also connected to Commissioner Dillard's, [00:43:00] uh, raising of immediate help and released by to those people. They also help link people to resources. I think, Commissioner Kiche, you are even mentioning lack of rent housing. So they do help even with that. They sometimes even connect people to mortgage payments. Just some of those concerns that happen when somebody even loses their job as a result of some of those things you mentioned. And then I've also been reminded that I've remembered, uh, Nissa, our mission is eradication of violence in our communities. And, uh, some of the concerns you're mentioning, uh, the organization assesses it as violence from [00:44:00] in our communities. So, uh, if you want, you could refer some of those and we'll do further assessment and our services are confidential and private. And because we also-we also do advocate or clients or survivors of such violence with employers. And a lot of the times the outcomes are positive. Because you mentioned even language barrier, because sometimes there, uh, is miscommunication and somebody has ended up losing their job. So that's a conversation we can also have later. [00:45:00] [00:45:04] As we're talking about this, I'm just thinking about how we, as our commission, can, um, you know, our end goal is making recommendations and things that we can do to help affect the future. Um, because again, our charges are more systemic. Uh, one of the things that popped up, maybe one of our recommendations. Um, we've heard from people in the community about workplace discrimination, which can lead towards racial injustices, and maybe it's a campaign for the City of Iowa City. Um, and maybe there's already things in place. I know there's pockets of things of making- finding ways to educates, um, we've all heard of, um, implicit bias training or those type of trainings, but maybe a different education for specific businesses that, um, help engage them with the different cultural, um, competencies in this or cultural differences in the community. Um, [00:46:00] I know it's not always easy for businesses to have all the languages interpreters for the languages, but how can the city help, um, mix- meet that barrier as well, especially with growing populations of people that speak languages other than English in this community, um, which is important and we're behind in some areas of, you know, bridging that gap. So I'm just putting the ideas out there, not saying we have to adopt any of these ideas, things that as we think about recommendations based off the talks um, of what we can suggest to move forward, um, when we put our report together, which is, you know, coming up soon. Um, what could happen. So I welcome any other thoughts on my path. [00:46:51] Yeah I think I want to support your suggestion. And, uh, we have from experience that businesses are able to employ [00:47:00] and persons who speak the language, who probably their coworkers. Uh, I remember, Tyson's Chicken somewhere. [00:47:12] Yeah. [00:47:13] Yeah. A lot of their workers are Congolese. And they work very well with them in terms of language. I think they even have some of their supervisors are always made available to help the workers understand what's going on. And even though even there there are some complaints that I've had, people have told me myself as a community member, but they have made an effort in that area sometimes to- to elevate one of them to a supervisory position. These people don't have to be always pushing things, bottles, and other things. I've worked in a factory, so I know when they're talking about these things, I know from where everything they're going through, I worked in a factory, printing press everywhere, I worked in or everything. [00:48:00] The first few years I came here. So I understand what they're going through. And if you don't have the language very well, it can be very hard. So it's just working with the businesses, training, education, and creating an understanding, like you said, that the city can support. Yeah. They have more power, more authority, more resources than we individuals, the community. We can raise the concerns. We can help them highlight the major points. But as an institution or public institution, yeah, think who let's have a vision vision 30 or something like that to make everyone feel better and be productive in the community. I think these are things that can be done, and we will recommend what we have heard from people and what we believe can make a change to some of these things going on. [00:48:55] You've reminded me of the presentation from Better together 2030, [00:49:00] um, the greater Iowa City, um, which is business partnerships, and how, um, the city can work with those organizations to incentivize possibly any of these businesses that we're- that we're hearing about from the complaints or the issues of discrimination. [00:49:23] Yeah, I think it's in the interest of the community, the businesses and the persons to work together. The businesses enjoy a good workforce from the immigrant community. They never, as you can see, sometimes they have to send people back home, that which means they're always having workers available to them. They don't have to increase their wages to keep workers. Whenever business has a good supply of workers, they're in a very good position because they can replace them, and their wage [00:50:00] cost bills never go high. So it is in their interest to do that, but if they don't do that, another company can come around and if they have a bad record of not treating our workers very well, it can be to their detriment. So it is also in their interest in terms of productivity. All those things affect profits and productivity in the long run. And so working together as a community will be great important thing. They can do surveys. Sorry commissioner go ahead. [00:50:31] [inaudible 00:50:31] working on Commissioner Kiche's and, uh, Commissioner Dillard's, uh, suggestion. [00:50:43] There's something that happens in the- in Lynn County. And I want to be corrected if I'm wrong, but the Cedar Rapids businesses, the meat, and the- are usually very [00:51:00] interest, almost every year to learn about how to relate with the immigrant/refugees, their staff. And Nissa has been part of this, I have personally been involved since 2019. And since our chapter- our county chapter of Iowa workforce, they also attend and they would also invite us to Nissa to work with them on some of the cultural specific translation and- and languages. So we could even our county and our city. It can borrow that in terms of sitting together and- and [00:52:00] on how to resolve some of these concerns because some of it comes from a lot of it just from not understanding one another, especially if they are language barriers. Thank you. [00:52:19] Thank you for that comment. [00:52:24] And- and something else, I'm curious, Commissioner Muhamed and Commissioner Kiche. You said you met at the house. So I'm curious whether if people had maybe something to drink, something to eat, whether at whose expense. And either way, I just wanted to add scenes in the course of our work for the city ATLC. Sometimes we meet in spaces where [00:53:00] some eating may go on and food has always been a center of people working on things. I just wanted to say, again, just like Commissioner Cliff always says, his place is always open for people to meet. I just want to remind people that the Nissa office, it can fit up to 12 people easily. So it's a place that you don't have to- to rent since we get funded by federally and by the state. So it's always been a space that can be used by the community. And then the other thing, and I'll talk about that later. There is an organization that does give you up to $500 for food. It's getting together neighbors. So I want to put that out there as part [00:54:00] of the solutions as something sustainable solutions to some of these things that we have in our- concerns we have in our community. Thank you. [00:54:19] Anyone else have any other thoughts on the current topic or wanna talk about more steps for our face or past events that we've engaged with or any other things? [00:54:34] Okay. I'll go. I- I think, I'm not sure whether it's end of July or beginning of August, Commissioner Kiche and I attended one of the housing presentations by the Iowa City Catholic Walker House. And some of you may have attended some [00:55:00] of their presentations, and it's really our TRC alley because what they're sensitizing and educating people on is some pushing for some federal funding for the Catholic Walker House and educating people on what they would do with such funding. The scenes, their inception, the house immigrants until they get settled in and especially undocumented people. And I'm not the best to talk for them, but I was and we did work with them as we supported when they were working on the funding fund the essential worker fund. [00:56:00] So you're familiar with them. So I'm just thinking it would be a good idea if- because I think the funding will come in at the beginning of next year. So they're going around to different community settings and educating people on this. So I'm thinking it's a good idea, Eve, and we had discussed this with Commissioner Kiche because we think it would be good and since it's part of the work that we are doing on improving and bringing equity into our communities if they came and presented to the Commissioner, and I did go ahead and talk to one of the coordinators of these events. And she said if the commissioners [00:57:00] would agree to them presenting and, uh, we could work at time when they could present to us. Then other activities have been involved in- in the community. There is, uh, there is an organization. I think it's called resilience- resilient sustainable futures in Iowa City. It's a nonprofit, and their offices are on 1927K Cook. And what- they- they have a gathering space for community members. And what excites me about this is they offer one of the- the things that excited me is that they offer $500 for food for neighbors who gather for [00:58:00] various reasons, for building and positive things- activities in our community. And I- I was discussing with Commissioner Dillard on whether one of the directors of this non-profit. And am also, one thing I'm excited about this is the gatherings they have and the offering of the money its people in our community. Johnson County, Iowa City and working together. And it resonates with our work of reconciliation and people working together in our communities. And since I'm not the best to speak for them, I discussed with Commissioner Dillard whether we would give one of the- we would give them a chance to come and we listen to them. [00:59:00] And this also as with either us going to the communities, the members of the community or groups of the community or them coming to us in our work for the remaining time. And thank you. I yield. [00:59:19] Thank you. [00:59:21] Thank you for the-. [00:59:27] I just wanted to add on the housing a little bit. And me, Commissioner and Commissioner Wang attended that event, and I think they are interested. I think I believe the Commissioner will really be like a situation where they can hear from them. I've also talked with the persons at the homeless shelter. [01:00:00] They told me whenever we are ready, we can set up a date. I was thinking of sometime early October, maybe the third or something like that think falls on a Thursday. When these issues of housing can be brought on a panel of people, the Hispanic group, the homeless shelter people, and other entities who have been working hard on issues of housing, choice, and affordability in our community. It's a big thing, and the city just got a grant, and the- they already had a survey. Having conducting a survey, and that was one of the events that was marked to collect information from people on how best to use that money to help the community alleviate issues of affordability and choice. So this is not only to immigrant community. This is a grant from the federal grant for all persons who live in the community, who [01:01:00] have problems with housing could be starting from building new structures and subsidizing some people in the housing and all other issues that relate to choice of housing, discrimination, mortgages. Yeah. So I think it- it is something that would really be great as one of probably our- I won't say our final things, but final one of those big topics that it was in our priority list to work on. And so I think we will inform the commission, the chair. How- when these people are ready, but I think they're willing. They want to come talk to us and be part of the conversation going on in the community. Yeah. It looks not very nice if other entities, the housing commission that belongs to the other city talks about it, other private organizations, landlords, and other things talking, and we are silent [01:02:00] yet that is one of the major major things. If you ask Commissioner Lubna. She deals with these problems every day. She's being called in the middle of the night. Sometimes she has to send me a WhatsApp, see how these our fellows are having trouble getting a house. She has- I can't read the Arabic, but I'm in part of that WhatsApp group and I see the activity of issues problems. And so people are suffering in the area of housing, especially when it comes to vouchers. So we- we need to talk as a commission, hear this, and put it in a good report to the city. Yeah. [01:02:43] Okay. I wanna add something. And Stefanie, I should follow up with you, but I'm so busy. I talked to Jim, again, the lawyer with legal aid, and I said we [01:03:00] need to do something about the law for Section 8. And he talked to the other lawyer from legal aid, and he said he called me back and email me like, 10 days ago. He said he talked to the lawyers and they said each family, they have to complain with a legal aid about discrimination. And he sent to me a paralegal, his name is Sam. His last name is a B-U-H-L-I-G. And Sam, he's gonna- we have his direct number. He's gonna start, you know, like, communicate with this family and take their application so they can get them to the lawyers. And I connected him with one [01:04:00] of the family. But yesterday they missed his call, but he said to me, you know, I have to email him all the information for these families so they can start communicating with them and fill the applications with them. So far, with the legal aid, we have three families about the housing. Two of them is like more than a month and one of them like three weeks ago. [01:04:45] Thank you. [01:04:47] Stefanie with us. [01:04:49] Say it one more time. [01:04:51] Stefanie. [01:04:52] Oh Stefanie. Okay. [01:04:54] Yeah. I heard you. I'm not sure what your question. [01:05:00] I'm not sure what you're asking me, but I did hear what you said. [01:05:02] Oh, I- I follow up with you [OVERLAPPING] [01:05:05] Got you- got you. [01:05:07] Yeah. [01:05:07] Thank you. [01:05:08] Yeah, I will follow up with you tomorrow. [01:05:10] Okay. [01:05:15] Thank you. [01:05:17] Thank you for this awesome dialogue. There's so much that we can talk about. It seems like if we were to explore a true telling session, again. It could be Section 8 housing, it could be work force discrimination. It seems like exactly what we wanted to do, which is go into the community and hear from people and get information is exactly what we've done. I mean, I know it's a little bit slower than maybe we want to, but these things take time. Um, so I'm excited about what has been done so far. Thinking about the next tabling event that I know of, [01:06:00] I believe, it's the African Festival on the 28th. Um, I'm not sure if that's something that we wanna join in on. I haven't even looked into what it means to be a part of that. [01:06:14] Based upon past meetings, I had already reached out to them. And so there's a table already for the tea. Well, let me- let me rephrase that. There's a spot where you can bring a table and chairs and participate. [01:06:28] Thank you for that anticipation. I- I don't know what the time is offhand. Do you know, Stefanie? [01:06:36] Yeah, I do. They want, um- [01:06:38] Do you have it? [01:06:39] I have it here. [01:06:40] They would like contractually for people to be there from 12:00-9:00, but, you know. [01:06:46] 12:00-9:00 P. M. [01:06:47] Yeah, you know, I, you know, I think that would be difficult for a lot of organizations and groups, so. [01:06:55] Yeah. I know, in my own [01:07:00] professional world, if we can't be there, we try to have a table and just have information there for people to, you know, sign up or in some way, so that's a possibility. Is that something we still want to try to figure out if we can make happen on that day? [01:07:21] Yes, I think we had already put in our names for all these events, everyone even including the African Festival. Okay. [01:07:29] Yeah. I remember putting my name there. I got something from Stefanie like that on ours. [01:07:36] Thank you very much. [01:07:36] But I will be there. Yeah. As a participant, and also as a commissioner, I'll be wearing my tears shirt. I won't wear the African attire stuff, but I think I want to be there like somebody working, not just enjoying the African festival. So I'll be there. [01:07:54] Maybe you should do both. [01:07:55] Yeah. Well, the event goes up to 9:00. After some stage, I'll get tired [01:08:00] of the TSC stuff and get into eating and dancing. So that's a lot of time. Yeah, so. [01:08:07] I'll plan on just having the stuff ready for the next meeting. [01:08:11] Thank you. [01:08:14] And I still have some stuff from leftovers from the other events. [01:08:17] Okay. [01:08:18] Yeah. [01:08:20] Was there any other events that I'm forgetting about besides that one? I don't remember. [01:08:28] That was on that survey. think that- [01:08:31] I think that university event might have been, but, I mean, that was, you know, it's passed. [01:08:36] Right. Awesome. Well, if there were any other opportunities in the community... [01:08:40] You- you mean the Duke Survey, University of Duke Survey? [01:08:44] Mh? [01:08:44] The survey that- [01:08:46] University student or fair? [01:08:47] Yeah, I think like at I don't remember if it was July meeting or probably your July meeting you kind of have a list of events, but the one university event has- was this week, wasn't it? [01:08:57] It was on like, I think. [01:08:58] Yeah, that's [01:09:00] good. [01:09:01] Well, I mean, if there are any other ones coming up, I appreciate everyone, you know, communicating with each other and letting us know what- what we can do and how we can move forward offline. Any other things that we want to talk about moving forward? [01:09:20] I wanted to add that I will be with Commissioner Kiche at the African festival. Again, both as a participant and also depending on how many hours we decide on. Also to table for TRC. But at the same time, I'll also table for Nissa at the [inaudible 01:09:46]. Yeah. [01:09:50] We can talk about some strategies offline, depending on who's available to be there. [01:09:55] Yeah, and then there's also, I don't know whether [01:10:00] anybody but I- again, I'm thinking of Commissioner Kiche. He's been following, I think he's attended some of the meetings for the welcome week, uh, welcome welcoming immigrants to our communities, and that's also an opportunity for TRC to mingle, meet and- meet and greet. Yeah. [01:10:27] Thank you for bringing that up. I just saw the email today. That is a great idea. [01:10:34] Yeah. And then the other opportunity, there are some coalitions in our communities that meet monthly. To mind comes the refugee alliance of Johnson County. Uh, I think it would be good in one or two, or however many commissioners, so long as we [01:11:00] don't end up breaking protocol for public meetings, to- to present to some of our- to one of our organizations about what we are about. and if that's something we would be interested in, uh, we could have people's emails added to their email list so that we'll be knowing when they meet. [01:11:36] I think- [01:11:36] They meet the last Monday of the month at 10:00 A.M. [01:11:40] Um, unless someone disagrees with me, I think we want to be able to go wherever we can, as long as someone's available. Commissioner Gathua, are you able to get us on an agenda, or do we just show up? [01:11:56] Uh, the- usually, if you just [01:12:00] show up, you'd have an opportunity to introduce yourself and greet the people and briefly say what you're about. But if you want something bigger like presenting on TRC work, it would be good to be put on the agenda to do a presentation on the TRC. So, it depends on what one wants. [01:12:21] Uh, I mean, it's easy for us to just show up, but maybe we would love to do a presentation if- or if something that would just showcase a little bit more if that's possible. I don't know. [01:12:36] Yeah, that one- that one would have to be put on the agenda and it's not difficult because they're- that's the point of the mission of the alliance to just know what everybody is doing in the community. Those who are working with refugees [01:13:00] and migrants and TRC work does fall in that realm. So, I'm using so many words. Yeah, it's just a matter of letting the board know that we would be interested. I think to answer your questions faster, I- if we agree that that's something we would want to do, I can let the person in charge know that we would be interested in presenting. [01:13:32] Anyone against presenting? I think it sounds like we would like to do that, if possible. But if you can find out what the meeting is this month, if we can't present this month, maybe at least a handful of us can go just to introduce ourselves. This month. [01:13:49] Yeah, I'll definitely forward the date for the next month, and I'll also ask, and then [01:14:00] I'll- I'll send the feedback back to you, Commissioner Dillard. [01:14:06] Thank you. And if you are able to, you can send it to Stefanie and she can forward it to all of us. So we all know. Thank you. [01:14:20] Yeah, and thank you for that. So, even on the information on the other- the other presentations to us. I guess that's also a good way of communicating back to all of us at the same time versus, you, me, and then communicator. I- yeah. [01:14:41] At least for me, I think that's easier. Um, if you don't hear back from me via email, please send me a text or call me because I missed it. [01:14:51] Welcome. [01:14:52] Anything else that we want to discuss right now? It sounds like Stefanie is going to help us [01:15:00] sending out emails to people who have expressed interest, and hopefully we can set up some meetings that way. Um, Commissioner Gathua is going to reach out to the Refugee Alliance. Um, I'm not sure if Commissioner Kiche Muhammad, are you planning on following up with the people you've talked to, um, or if there's anything moving forward with that, please let us know how we can help with that. [01:15:28] Yes, we will work with her and to see how we can make that move on smoothly, see. For commissioners too, also, since we are always probably in closer touch with them than other commissioners. I will know what to do. So, Commissioner Chair, before you call for adjournment, I just have a question. And we have some little money in our past. [01:16:00] That can be good for water. I tell you on that day, me and of Commissioner Lubna were there with those fellows. We were thirsty like hell. We didn't have time to even look for anything, but if there was just something water could have really been, I felt so bad for those persons. Yeah, maybe I could not afford water for them, but I think I was my mind. I could afford to afford the water, but my mind was on the real task. But I'm just thinking in the future. You know, we don't have anybody to help us in the commission anymore. Yet the money is there. So this is just a problem. Yeah, I don't know how we're going to resolve this. [01:16:38] So you're saying that you wanted to provide water? [01:16:41] Yeah, something like water. Yeah. You didn't have to ask. [01:16:46] I think- [01:16:46] You have to ask. Nobody said anything to me. Okay. [01:16:50] So we have that budget that we had approved a couple weeks ago. So if I encourage any of the events that we have, we budgeted for food [01:17:00] and water for any of those gatherings within reason. I mean, I think- I don't think we have to come back and approve it because we've already approved it. So if you let Stefanie know, maybe CC me on it. So, um, that we're just making sure we're not going over budget too much, I think it's fine. We definitely want to make sure people feel welcomed and be aware of cultural differences. [01:17:23] There was just not a way I could put that on Stefanie's shoulder. [01:17:27] Well, the- the- actually, I mean, Annie's here, but I mean the city always handled the bill for the food that you were provided or the public. So that was always out of the city well or the TRC budget. However you want to state that. [01:17:44] Yeah. [01:17:45] Yeah. [01:17:46] So, everyone's understands that. So moving forward, we have some dollars we can use. Was it divided, um, but the amount was 20 grand. Is that what we, yes. [01:17:59] Yeah, that's fine. [01:18:00] I think that's what it was. I'd have to go back. [01:18:03] That's what it was. [01:18:04] Okay. [01:18:04] Yeah. [01:18:06] So yes. The next few meetings, let's figure that out. I mean, I also think, Stefanie if, correct me if I'm wrong, if like, any of us incur some dollars, we can give, um, give you a receipt and get reimbursed. [01:18:21] You can. The quickest way is, you know, is if it's like a transaction, if you can just let me know and I can call and just pay over the phone or contact them. Is, you know, because in terms of the turnaround on you getting reimbursed, that's going to be different, you know. It- depending on when it's submitted, you could only wait maybe four days, but you also could wait until the next, you know, Friday cycle of checks. [01:18:50] Okay. Thank you for that information. Was there anything else? Um, we've been having a great discussion. I do know I haven't [01:19:00] checked in or heard about the documentary. I'm going to work on that. Unless someone else has an update about that. Lou agreed to the last time I was here to help lead us on the, you know, documentation part of our charges. So we definitely need to start talking about that and what that looks like as time ticks away. But if there's nothing else, I'm going to move on to the next agenda item. [01:19:31] Sorry, to take you back for a moment. [01:19:33] Yeah. [01:19:34] Unfortunately, I'm going to have to step out, I'm sorry, I gotta get out of here, so. [01:19:38] Thank you, Commissioner Johnson. Go ahead. Commissioner Gathua. [01:19:44] Yeah. As we are talking about TRC meeting and greeting our communities, I would welcome you. Anybody who would be able to, uh, meet and breed the Bigger Nissa, [01:20:00] uh, our organization and talk about the TRC, I- we could organize a meeting over Zoom. [01:20:09] Yes. [01:20:09] With a number of commissioners. Okay. I'll talk to our director tomorrow and see. The best time that works for us is usually 9:30 A.M. That's when we usually have our staff meeting. So if you're having guests, we usually can do that on a Friday, 9:30 A.M. So whomever would be available. [01:20:35] As long as it's four of us or less. That is totally fine. [01:20:41] Yeah. [01:20:41] If you can send an email out and figure out what day works best for you. Dos whoever response? [01:20:49] In a Friday. So this is more from it looks like, uh, okay not tomorrow. Too soon. [01:20:55] Yeah. [01:20:55] I mean. [01:20:56] Maybe next Friday. [01:20:57] But yeah, I'll ask [01:21:00] our director for Friday. [01:21:03] I can do next Friday. [01:21:04] 9:30. [01:21:05] If you do it. [01:21:06] What did you say? [01:21:06] I am available next Friday, if you're able- if that's when you decide to do it, just putting it out there. [01:21:14] Yeah. And it would be good if you're available. I'm already available, and I can switch to the TRC side if we want be two commissioners on the meeting in the meeting. But yeah. Yeah, so thank you. The other thing, I just and this is more of a repetition. Uh, Eve just confirming that we- if we could have the resi- resiliency in Iowa City on our- on our agenda for next week. [01:21:50] You're talking about RSFIC with Sarah Her. [01:21:53] Yeah resent sustainable future for Iowa City RSFIC. [01:21:57] Yes, we- I [01:22:00] made sure to talk to Stefanie about that. I'm sorry about, um, not having her tonight, but she is on the agenda for next Thursday the 19th. [01:22:09] Yeah. [01:22:10] Officially. [01:22:12] Yeah, I'll send that to Stefanie for the agenda so that we can sort of let her know officially that she's on. Once I confirm with Catholic Walker? Once they confirm on their calendar or each of our meetings, I will communicate that too with Stefanie. Thank you. I'm done for the night. [01:22:39] Okay. Thank you so much. [01:22:42] Well, if there's no one else, I'm going to go to, um, or I'm going to open it up for public comments, um, in the room. Would you like to comment on this, Annie? This discussion? [01:22:59] I've been gone [01:23:00] and family sick, but it's great to hear what you're doing. You're reaching out to people, you're bringing back their voices, you're thinking of the systems, you're thinking of all kinds of I just It's so great to be here and see what you're doing. So thank you. [01:23:18] Thank you so much. [01:23:20] Yes. [01:23:21] Is there anyone online, Stefanie, that would like to, uh, make a comment on this agenda item? Okay. Thank you so much. I'm going to move on to agenda item Number 6, which is announcements of Commissioners. Is there any announcements? Just remember we cannot engage with each other? Well, I have an announcement. As always, my organization has an exciting event, Rock the Block and Raise the roof. We are expanding into a third location in Town Chris, and I'd love to invite everyone here to this awesome event, [01:24:00] where we're going to celebrate our kickoff and groundbreaking ceremony in that area. Saturday, September 21st, um, 1041 Arthur Street in front of the new site location of our soon to be early childhood location. Um, from 2:00 to 5:00 P.M. It's going to be a lot of fun. The FunkDaddies are going to be performing, and just hope that everyone can come out and celebrate. [01:24:24] [inaudible 01:24:24] [01:24:32] The neighborhood centers. The neighborhood Centers. [01:24:37] Okay. Can we get that through email please? [01:24:42] Yes. Stefanie will forward it to everyone. Anyone else have anything, otherwise, I'm going to ask if Stefanie has any announcements? [01:24:56] Um, just kind of thinking back on the conversation about inviting [01:25:00] folks to your next meeting for kind of a meet and greet. I'll talk to Eric about that tomorrow. I don't know if that's specific enough for an agenda item. [01:25:08] Okay. [01:25:08] Since you kind of don't know what the conversation may look like, so I'll talk to him and then just send a group email out to everyone, because it may be that he prefers for you to kind of stick with the non quorum non meeting so that you don't have kind of the structure that agenda would require for folks. [01:25:28] Thank you for that. Okay. Well, I motion to adjourn. Is there a second? [01:25:36] Second. [01:25:37] Thank you. Thank you very much. Have a good night, everyone. [01:25:41] Bye bye everyone. [01:25:41] Thanks.