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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-09-27 HRC Minutes Draft HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION of the City of Palm Springs Minutes from the Sept. 27, 2014 Planning Retreat Meeting COMMISSIONERS Present at this Meeting Present FY Year-to-Date FY 2014-15 Excused Absences FY 2014-15 Unexcused Absences Dee Dee Wilson Barton David Brown Jilska Chandrasena Janel Hunt Jack Newby Wes Rankins Suzanne Reynolds Deborah Sutton-Weiss Les Zendle Maddie Barton, Student rep. Maribel Wright, Student rep. X X 0 X X X X X X X X 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 0 2 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 The above roll call record is based on all meeting Minutes from July 14, 2014 thru Sept. 27, 2014 1. Chair Wilson Barton called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. at the Police Training Center. 2. Student representative Maribel Wright led the flag salute. 3. Alternate student representative Josh Rodriquez from Palm Springs High School recited the Mission Statement. 4. Commissioners Present: Brown, Hunt (arrived at 8:45 a.m.), Newby, Rankins, Reynolds, Wilson Barton and Zendle. Student representatives Maribel Wright and Maddie Barton were also present as was alternate student representative Josh Rodriquez Commissioners Absent: Chandrasena and Sutton-Weiss, both excused. 5. POSTING OF THE AGENDA: The agenda was posted in accordance with the Brown Act on or before 4 p.m., on Sept. 17, 2014. 6. PUBLIC COMMENT: None 7. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM THE JULY 14, 2014 MEETING: The minutes from the July 14, 2014 HRC meeting were unanimously approved 7-0 following a motion by Commissioner Reynolds and second by Commissioner Rankins. (Chandrasena and Sutton-Weiss absent) 8. REVIEW OF COMMISSION’S COMMUNITY OUTREACH/HANDOUT MATERIALS : The Commission spent 10 minutes reviewing its handout materials and inventoried what Commissioners thought was relevant and wanted to keep. The handouts Commissioners agreed to keep included information on the Commission, hate crimes, victims’ rights/services, domestic violence, elder services, disability, poverty/homeless/hunger, youth and LGBT. 9. HRC BUSINESS PLAN FOR 2014/2015 – Retreat session facilitated by Chair Wilson Barton 9.A Introduction – Commissioners were asked to take two to three minutes to talk about themselves and their areas of interest. 9.B Commissioners had submitted what skills they bring to the Commission and areas of interest. Chair Wilson Barton had listed those skills and interests on a flip chart. Commissioners went around the room, highlighting their skills, what they bring to the Commission, their passions and areas of interest. Human Rights Commission Minutes Page 2 of 4 Meeting of Sept. 27, 2014 2 The Areas of Interest list included: Women’s representation in Palm Springs Educational Advocacy Bullying Human trafficking Palm Springs Public Safety Education Transgender issues Homeless outreach Access to mental health services Violence against transgender community Senior issues HIV/AIDS discrimination Welfare reform Disabled population in the Coachella Valley Religious Intolerance LGBT Rights Veterans Literacy challenges Economic disparity Hunger In addition to educating themselves (by having guest speakers), Commissioner Zendle said they need to think about how they can educate the community. Vice Chair Newby put together a review of the past year, which Chair Wilson Barton displayed on a flip chart. Commissioners Rankins and Zendle commented about educating the Commission and the community, but then asked what the Commission is doing next. Vice Chair Newby asked how the Commission could make recommendations to the City Council for action. Some Commissioners also commented on the meeting that featured religious intolerance and the intensity of that meeting. Commissioner Zendle suggested not having as many topics to focus on throughout the year, but rather use one meeting to become educated on a topic and have the next meeting be about action on that topic. The group then started to list topics to address in the coming year. They included: Homelessness Religious Intolerance Education (homelessness, bullying, prejudice, immigration) Women’s Representation Economic Disparity Commissioner Zendle suggested listing the topics by category. He said one category would be Prejudice and another would be Economic Disparity. Commissioner Zendle said on every topic the Commission selects it should think about how it will educate Commissioners and the community, how it will advocate for a certain point of view and what can be done about it – educate, advocate, action. He said the Commission is indicating it wants to focus on two main areas this year –Diversity and Economic Disparity. He suggested the Commission identify a couple of specific issues related to each of those two big topics that the group wants to focus on. The Commission listed the following issues under the two topics: Economic Disparity Diversity Seniors/ageism Women’s representation Women’s representation HIV/AIDS Homelessness Human Rights Commission Minutes Page 3 of 4 Meeting of Sept. 27, 2014 3 Mental health Human trafficking Hunger Vice Chair Newby said the Commission’s education and/or action d oesn’t always have to be directed toward the City Council. He said it can be the impetus to move organizations in the community to take a harder look at a subject or to motivate them. Commissioner Zendle said the Commission could spend the whole year wor king on the issue of homelessness in Palm Springs. Chair Wilson Barton said she would rather the Commission pick three issues, instead of one. In response to her suggestion, Commissioner Zendle listed homelessness, senior/ageism and women’s representation. Although Vice Chair Newby had advocated for HIV/AIDS to be on the list of topics the Commission would address, Chair Wilson Barton said there are other organizations in the community that focus on that topic. Even so, Vice Chair Newby said there is an opportunity to provide education on the state of HIV/AIDS in the community. Commissioner Rankins asked where that fits with the Commission’s mission statement, which he read. Commissioner Hunt asked how the Commission can address seniors’ issues/ageism, bullying, homelessness, if there isn’t something like cultural proficiency. Is our society dealing with the diverse population that we have here, she asked. She suggested education on equality, people understanding the different ethnic groups and cultures. Commissioner Zendle asked how to get people to attend an event focused on cultural competency. He suggested putting cultural proficiency on the Commission’s next meeting agenda and Commissioner Hunt could research it and the HRC could then discuss how best to address it. Seniors/ageism could be on the Commission’s November meeting agenda with a community event held in December on that topic, Vice Chair Newby said. A discussion on how the Commission wants to address the topic of women’s representation will be on the November agenda, with a women’s event scheduled for March. The topic of homelessness will be on the Commission’s December agenda with Commissioners Brown and Rankins taking on the issue, then at the February meeting the Commission will delve into specifics. Chair Wilson Barton said they are elevating the level of commitment of the Commission this year. She said she wanted Commissioners to think about engaging, involving and training the student representatives to be part of the process. She also told the student representatives to think about how they can be part of the process. Vice Chair Newby said he would like to hear more about the issue of sexually transmitted diseases in the high school and what is being done from their perspective to address it. Commissioner Hunt said rather than have the students address a topic they don’t want to do, she said the students need to identify what issues are important to them. Two of the student representatives talked about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. Commissioner Zendle said it’s not that those topics need to be addressed at Commission meetings, but that the Commission would facilitate having those topics addressed at the schools. He said it is a topic that can be discussed at several HRC meetings, f irst to educate the Commission and then to decide how to advocate and then what action items to take. Topics identified by the Commission and Commissioners assigned to them include:  Cultural Proficiency – Commissioners Hunt and Chandrasena (disabled population)  Seniors/Ageism – Vice Chair Newby  Women’s Issues – Chair Wilson Barton, Commissioners Reynolds and Hunt  Homelessness – Commissioners Brown, Rankins and Sutton-Weiss (human trafficking)  AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Diseases – Vice Chair Newby, Commissioner Zendle and the student reps  Mediation Services – Commissioner Reynolds and Sutton-Weiss Commissioners outlined the following calendar:  October – Cultural Proficiency, Pride, Annual Report, Fair Housing, City’s Human Resources Director  November – Seniors/Ageism, Women’s Representation  December – Homelessness, Seniors/Ageism public forum; Community Service Awards recipients chosen  January – Community Service Awards presented  February – Homelessness, Black History Month Parade  March – Women’s events, PSNIC Picnic & Community Expo, mid-year review 10. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION / AND OR VOTE Human Rights Commission Minutes Page 4 of 4 Meeting of Sept. 27, 2014 4 10.A Participation in Palm Springs Pride, Saturday and Sunday Nov. 8-9, 2014 – Instead of staffing a booth at the Pride Festival, the consensus was to participate in the Pride Parade on Sunday, Nov. 9. Commissioners who said they would participate include Chair Wilson Barton, Commissioners Reynolds, Hunt, Zendle and Brown and possibly student representative Maribel Wright. Commissioner Reynolds volunteered to head this up and will report at the Oct. 13 meeting with the logistics. 10.B Community Service Awards to be presented Jan. 12, 2015 – Commissioner Zendle went through the general criteria for individual awardees and organizations, explained the process and stated the deadline for nominations to be submitted is Nov. 15. Commissioner Brown said there should be a backup person listed on the nomination form to accept the award in case the primary person is unable to attend. Commissioner Zendle will chair this project and will be helped by Commissioners Sutton-Weiss and Rankins. Chair Wilson Barton has collected information on organizations and individuals that could be possible nominees. She also encouraged the student representatives to think of people to nominate. 10.C Approve the expenditure for mediation training – This item was tabled. 10.D Processes for offering/providing mediation services to the community – Chair Wilson Barton said mediation is one of the things the Commission provides to the community. Right no w it is offered if someone files a complaint of discrimination. Staff will meet with Commissioner Reynolds to discuss if and how it would be possible to broaden the scope of providing mediation – possibly making it available to more people than just those who have felt they’ve been discriminated against. Commissioner Sutton-Weiss will also be involved in this project. 10.E Discuss preparing an annual report –Chair Wilson Barton said she wanted to address the City Council, highlighting a written annual re port. Commissioner Rankins said it would be nice if all the Commissioners attended. Commissioners talked about when to put it on the Council agenda. The next step is for Chair Wilson Barton to write the report and submit it to the Commission for approval. She said she’ll try to have it done for the Oct. 13 Commission meeting. 10.F Discuss starting the monthly Commission meetings at 4 p.m. instead of 3 p.m. – Chair Wilson Barton said she wanted to revisit this issue of having the monthly meetings start later to make it more convenient for people who work to attend. Commissioner Rankins said when he applied to be on the Commission, he knew the meetings started at 3 p.m., so he adjusted his life around that time. Other Commissioners also expressed a difficulty with moving the meeting to 4 p.m. Starting the meetings at 3:15 or 3:30 p.m. was offered as a compromise. With two Commissioners absent, it was decided to put this on the Oct. 13 meeting agenda. 10.G The public comment period of each meeting – Instead of having public speakers write their names and addresses after they are seated at the table to speak, it was decided to put the sign-in sheet on a side table where the audience sits and it will announced beforehand that they can sign-in before they come to the table to speak. Chair Wilson Barton said when a Commissioner arranges to have a guest speaker at a Commission meeting, that Commissioner is responsible for writing a news release two weeks in advance and subm itting it to staff, let the speaker know when the meeting starts, where it will be held and that they have a certain amount of time 10 - 15 minutes and then follow up with a thank you note. Commissioners finished the meeting by stating what they liked best about the morning’s planning session and what they came away with. 11. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 11:46 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Lee A. Bonno Staff Human Rights Commission Liaison Director of Neighborhood & Community Relations