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HomeMy WebLinkAbout9 23 2025 HRCIf you will need disability-related accommodations to participate in this program or event, please contact the Human Rights Office at humanrights@iowa-city.org or call 319-356- 5022. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs. Human Rights Commission September 23, 2025 Emma J. Harvat Hall at 5:30PM 410 E. Washington Street (City Hall) AGENDA: 1. Call to Order 2. Reading of the Native American Land Acknowledgment. 3. Presentation on Local Option Sales Tax. 4. Report from the Police Department’s Community Outreach. 5. Approval of Meeting Minutes of August 26, 2025. 6. Public Comment of Items not on the Agenda. Commentators shall address the commission for no more than five minutes. Commissioners shall not engage in discussion with the public concerning said items. 7. Correspondence. 8. Consider Approval of a Welcome Letter/Op-Ed to the Daily Iowan for Students. 9. Consider Approval of a Statement on Homelessness in the Community. 10. Formation of Commission Work Groups. 11. 2025 Human Rights Awards Update. 12. Community Dialogue Conversations Update. 13. Grant Net Update. 14. Explore Professional Development Opportunities for Commission and Community Members. 15. Upcoming Tabling Opportunities: a. African Festival (Saturday, October 4, 12-9). b. Corridor Community Action Network Connect 2025 (Saturday, October 11, 11-5). c. Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Sunday, October 12, 2-5:30). 16. Staff & Commission Member Updates. This item includes an opportunity for brief updates from staff and Commissioners. Commissioners shall not engage in discussion on updates. 1 Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission August 26, 2025 Emma J. Harvat Hall Commissioners Present: Doug Kollasch, Elizabeth Mendez-Shannon, Kelsey Paul Shantz, Emily Harkin, Mark Pries, Viana Qadoura. Commissioners on Zoom: Lubna Mohamed. Commissioners Absent: Roger Lusala, Talya Miller. Staff Present: Stefanie Bowers, Tre Hall. Meeting Called to Order: 5:33 PM. Native American Land Acknowledgement: The Land Acknowledgement was read by Pries. Approval of Meeting Minutes of June 24, 2025: Pries moved; Mendez-Shannon seconded. Motion passed 6-0. Public Comments of Items Not on the Agenda: None. Recommendations to City Council: None. Update from the Police Department’s Community Outreach: Tre Hall, Community Outreach Assistant, spoke on the following activities of the department. • 7/1/25 Visited to The Arc of Southeast Iowa with Iowa City Fire Department and Johnson County Ambulance Services. • 7/28/25 Held EMS Camp at Terry Trueblood. • 7/30/25 Assisted in the Healthy Kids Iowa free food distribution event that was held at Pepperwood Plaza. • 8/5/25 Held National Night Out at Wetherby Park. Where over 140 youth backpacks were distributed. • 8/15/25 Participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters Back to School Bash. Currently the group is working to set up a workshop with Mariam’s Girl Club and preparing for their annual winter clothes drive. Transit and Development Presentation: Jeremy Endsley presented on research done by Yiru Wang over the summer. The key takeaways from the research that looked at housing, employment, and access to public transportation. Downtown Iowa City scored the highest, followed in order by 2 southeast Iowa City, Iowa City Riverfront area, and western Iowa City. North Liberty did not score very high. The recommendations from the research are: 1) prioritize tier 1 & 2 areas, increase zoning flexibility, leverage public land and under-utilized lands, and ensure equitable and inclusive transit-oriented development. (Slide deck located in commission packet). African Festival: Commissioners will consider serving as a vendor at this event when more information is available. CCAN-CON: Paul Shantz might be able to staff this event. The commissioners will firm up availability at its September meeting date. Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Qadoura is available to staff at this event and Harkin is too. Open Records Open Meetings: Five out of nine commissioners are signed up for the courses being taught on September 10 & 24 by the Iowa Public Information Board. Staff will forward the next dates for the training as soon as they are posted. 2025 Human Rights Awards: Kollasch and Harkin will review and select the honorees for 2025. Kollasch will read the awards, Pries will do the introduction, and the commission will revisit other roles for the ceremony at its next meeting date. Paul Shantz will be unable to attend this year’s event due to a work conflict. Community Dialogue Conversations Update: The first dialogue will be invite-only, and more of a focused conversation. The tentative timeframe to hold the conversations is late September or early October. Grant Net Update: The event was well attended. The goal was to have organizations work between themselves to create the network and it looks like that is occurring and so commission members will support that process. Professional Development for Commission and Community Members: Staff forwarded an email from Qadoura which went over the Human Rights certification options along with cost. Staff noted that it would be more reasonable to offer trainings to the community here either in person or on Zoom. The cost of the certification courses is higher than what can probably be expected for the budget to carry. Staff & Commission Updates: Staff spoke on the upcoming Lens series that will include the author of There Is No Place For US: Working and Homeless in America. Mohamed: Spoke on the needs of the Shelter House and the current limitations it has due to the high number of persons needing shelter. Mohamed also spoke of the recent accident where 3 someone intentionally drove their car into individuals who were camped out at the Shelter House. Mohamed has spoken to the mayor on her concerns of the persons who are forced to live outside and asked what can be done to help them. Harkin: Noted that her sister, a freshman at the University, recently moved into a dorm here. Reflecting on this made Harkin realize the importance of the commission being supportive to incoming students and students here because these students will in turn come to support the community and the city as like Harkin did when she was a student. The students may choose to stay living in Iowa City. Harkin suggested that the commission create work groups to look at and discuss concerns and how the commission can support different community groups. Qadoura: Just finished orientation for the Mariam’s Girls Club, which is in its seventh year. Qadoura also mentioned that she has been speaking with her children on homelessness having recently visited California and then driving by the Shelter House encampment here in town. She ended with the tragedies happening in Palestine with the death toll being reported as 80,000 but more likely closer to 400,000. Mendez-Shannon: Will be at the Ice Office in Cedar Rapids this coming Tuesday to support persons who have appointments. Mendez-Shannon also serves on the NAMI board of directors helping to expand the mental health services in the community. Paul Shantz: Mentioned that she participated in Party in the Parks in July on behalf of the commission. Paul Shantz also spoke on the launch of the Bike Library’s Capital Campaign being held on September 4. Paul Shantz echoed Qadoura on the encampment at the Shelter House and that it will be important for the commission to look at the structural issues that are happening right now that many people who are living in that encampment are facing and that the commission should prepare a statement that they can consider at their next meeting date on the Shelter House and the encampment. Kollasch: Will be attending the One Iowa Wellness Conference being held in University Heights and encouraged other commissioners to also attend. Kollasch also noted the incoming students being back on campus and the recent legislative changes coupled with the changes done by the Board of Regents. Kollasch believes there is a gap that the commission may be able to fill. Kollasch mentioned the City Council reaffirming the Gender Identity protection under local law anti-discrimination title of the City Code. Kollasch ended with the possibility that National Guard could be brought to Iowa City because Iowa is on the list of states. 4 Pries: Spoke on a recent video he viewed by Brian McLaren on polycrisis. Polycrisis is a word used to describe when there are so many things going on all at the same time that you can’t pull apart to resolve. Pries also noted that his granddaughter recently took her Pharmacist Oath which states “respect all difference in all individuals and address health disparities to advance health equity for all people.” Pries ended with his recent visit to the ICE Office in Cedar Rapids to give support to those who have appointments and that he will be there again on September 2. Adjourned: 6:54 PM. The meeting can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/@citychannel4/videos. Human Rights Commission ATTENDANCE RECORD YEAR 2025 (Meeting Date) NAME TERM EXP. 4/23 5/28 7/23 8/27 9/24 11/26 12/12 1/28 2/25 4/1 4/22 5/13 5/27 6/24 8/26 Lubna Mohamed 2027 - - - - - - - Z A Z Z A A A Z Doug Kollasch 2027 X X Z X X X - X X X X Z P P P Viana Qadoura 2025 X X X X X X - X A X X X P P P Idriss Abdullahi 2025 X Z X Z A X - X A A Z - R R R Mark Pries 2025 X X X X X X - X X X X X P P P Roger Lusala 2026 X X X X X X - X X A A A P P A Kelsey Paul Shantz 2026 Z X X A X X - X A X X X P Z P Emily Harkin 2027 - - - - - - - X X X X Z A P P Liz Mendez-Shannon 2026 Z X X A X A - X X X A A P P P Talya Miller 2025 - - - - - - - -------A KEY: X = Present A = Absent Z = Present via Zoom Correspondence TRAINING WORKSHOPTRAINING WORKSHOP This program is legally required for all government officials in Iowa, including board & commission members appointed after July 1, 2025. This training must be completed within 90 days of taking office. Failure to comply with this deadline may result in a fine of between $500 and $12,500. The City of Iowa City has determined that all board and commission members, even if not legally required, must take this training. Use Signup Genius to participate at https://bit.ly/IPIBtraining 319-356-5030 https://bit.ly/IPIBrequirements Training requirement details @ Questions? Call Presented by Agency Counsel for the IPIB Monday, Sept. 29, 2025 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. The Park Lodge Terry Trueblood Recreation Area 579 McCollister Blvd, Iowa City Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB) Or sign up using this QR code. Dinner will be provided ** This email originated outside of the City of Iowa City email system. Please take extra care openingany links or attachments. ** This message is from an external sender. Hello Fellow Organizers and Advocates! We're excited to share that CCAN-Con 2025 will take place on Saturday, October 11 indowntown Iowa City, once again alongside the Iowa City Book Festival — and we’d lovefor you to be part of it! CCAN-Con is a community-powered gathering that facilitates connection and action. Youand your organization are invited to participate in whatever ways work best for you. You could: Table and share your work or resourcesLead a workshop, training, teach-in, or interactive activityPerform a spoken word piece, short play, song, set, or demonstrationFacilitate a community conversationHost a kids’ activity or a wellness sessionBring something bold, joyful, or rebellious that connects to community power andbuilding a better world for all Tabling and performances will run from 11 AM to 5 PM on the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall,with two indoor rooms at the Iowa City Library reserved for presentations, workshops, andhands-on sessions. If you’re interested in joining — or even just curious — reply to this email or fill out thisquick form to let us know what you’d like to bring to the space. Please also feel free to forward this along to anyone you think might want to take part. We’reaiming for a mix of grassroots, mutual aid, direct action, civil rights, and service groups- andeverything in between*. Let’s make this the best year's CCAN-Con the best one yet, together. *While we welcome civic engagement opportunities such as voter registration, advocacy, and local government boards, we cannot provide a tabling, speaking, or other platform for a political party or candidate campaign at this event. Thank You, Mandi Remington (she/her) | Founder, Corridor Community Action Network - Sign up foremailsIowa City, Iowa, USACell | +1 (319) 677-1153 Agenda Item # 9 HONOR AND CELEBRATE THE RICH CULTURES, TRADITIONS, AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN OUR COMMUNITIES. 2 - 5:30 P.M. NO FEE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY CELEBRATION IOWA CITY’SIOWA CITY’S O CTOBE R 12, 202 5 TERRY TRUEBLOOD RECREATION CENTER FOOD BY MUSIC BY From:flahertyem@aol.com To:Evalee Mickey; Ed Chabal; Louis Licht; eric foresman; Eileen Fisher; Emily Edrington; Levin Elinor [LEGIS]; EllenM. Lauricella; Escucha Mi Voz Alejandra Escobar; Sonia Ettinger; Nan Fawcett; Roger Farmer; Fatima Saeed;Kent Ferris; Mauro Heck; firstmenno@msn.com; Janet Forrest; Susan Futrell; Gandalfiii; Marybeth Gardam; GarryKlein; garogue@gmail.com; garyiclabor@yahoo.com; gerene-denning@uiowa.edu; Georgiane Perret;george@kcck.org; Ginny Paulson; Ken Gingerich; Francoise Gourronc; Anthony Robinson; Gregory Hearns;Jonathan Green; Franklin Seiberling; Julia Wasson; Lois Hughes; HumanRights Subject:Armistice Day/Nov. 11/Mark Your Calendar Date:Tuesday, September 9, 2025 4:44:44 PM ** This email originated outside of the City of Iowa City email system. Please take extra care openingany links or attachments. ** This message is from an external sender. Veterans For Peace #161 will again be holding the only Armistice Day Observance in the State of Iowa on Tuesday, November 11. There will be an outdoor Observance at the Iowa City Ped Mall, at 11 AM, followed by socializing, free meal, and peace-making discussions at the Iowa City Public Library. The featured speaker for this year’s event will be James Zogby, who will speak at both the outdoor Observance and the library event. James Zogby co-founded the Arab American Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community, in 1985 and continues to serve as its president. He is Director of Zogby Research Services, a firm that has conducted groundbreaking surveys across the Middle East. Additional details will be forthcoming in the next couple months. Check vfp161.org. Please mark your calendar.