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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRC Minutes 120919 MINUTES December 9, 2019 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Solid Waste Administrative Office 1207 Eubanks Rd., Chapel Hill, NC MEMBERS PRESENT STAFF Marc Xavier Tara May, Civil Rights Specialist Dion Graham Melvyn Blackwell, Intake Specialist Ana Garcia-Turner Annette Moore, Director Allison Mahaley Tomeka Ward-Satterfield Brenda Amezquita-Castro Francis Castillo James Spivey MEMBERS ABSENT Stephanie Harrell (excused) Samantha Beecham (unexcused) Debby Stroman (excused) Jamie Paulen (excused) GUESTS I. Call to Order A. The meeting was called to order at 6:05pm by Ms. Allison Mahaley, Vice Chair. A quorum was present at 6:11pm. II. Introductions A. Human Rights & Relations (HR&R) staff, current, and recently added Human Relations Commission (HRC) members, made introductions. III. Minutes Approval – November 11, 2019 A. HRC members reviewed the minutes from the previous HRC meeting. Ms. Mahaley suggested making edits to, Section 4: A, of the minutes. She suggested adding the HRC’s mention of coming up with a recommended timeline of how far out events need to be planned. 1 B. Mr. James Spivey made a motion to approve the minutes with suggested edits. Mr. Marc Xavier seconded the motion. All were in favor to approve the minutes with suggested additions. IV. HRC Chair’s Report A. Ms. Mahaley directed new members to the HRC’s charge in member packets. She explained how the HRC references the charge when making decisions. B. Ms. Mahaley inquired about Sherriff Blackwood’s visit at the October HRC meeting, and what he said at the meeting in comparison to recent correspondence from his office. She questioned if this should be an issue that the HRC should address by initiating a conversation with the Sherriff on immigration policies and where the county is as it relates to immigration issues. C. Ms. Annette Moore shared and discussed the correspondence between the Sherriff’s office, Siembre NC and Apoyo. She suggested that all parties may not have all the information and may still be clarifying things. D. Mr. Melvyn Blackwell re-read the section of the October 2019 minutes to clarify what was written in the minutes as it relates to what the Sherriff spoke of concerning his office intensions’ on working with federal immigration agencies in the future. E. Ms. Frances Castillo suggested that HRC members wait until more information from all parties is gathered before any HRC intervention. F. Ms. Moore offered to speak with Sherriff about this matter. G. Ms. Castillo made a motion for Ms. Moore to speak to the Sherriff about this matter and report back to the HRC. Mr. Spivey seconded the motion and all were in favor of the motion. V. County Updates A. Ms. Moore discussed the new process for boards and commissions and appointments of members to increase diversity on county advisory boards and commissions. She explained that the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) would like the HRC to assist and analyze the diversity (or lack thereof) of Orange County Boards and Commissions. HRC members will add this as a goal on the Annual Report and Work Plan. B. Ms. Moore reminded HRC members that many county departments are displaced from their buildings and to be mindful if they have meetings to double check meeting sites. C. Ms. Tara May reminded HRC members the address of HR&R staff’s current office (105 W. Corbin St., Suite 103, Hillsborough). D. Ms. Moore noted that HR&R staff is looking to secure Solid Waste (Chapel Hill) and the county Library (Hillsborough) as consistent meeting places for the HRC in 2020. VI. HRC Annual Report and Work Plan A. HRC members reviewed and discussed the Annual Report and Work Plan. Ms. Mahaley explained to new members that the Work Plan is a record of what the HRC has done in the last year and includes things they would like to do in the upcoming year. B. HRC members made several recommendations for edits and modifications while reviewing the draft of the Work Plan. After in-depth discussion, the following were voted to be removed from the Work Plan x Third bullet of #8 (under: What are your Board/Commission’s most 2 important accomplishments?). o Mr. Spivey motioned, Ms. Castillo seconded the motion and all were in favor. x Bullet #7 (under: What are your Board/Commission’s most important accomplishments?) o Ms. Castillo motioned Mr. Spivey seconded the motion and all were in favor. B.HRC members held a discussion on #5 & #6 under: What are the concerns or emerging issues your board has identified for the upcoming year that it plans to address, or wishes to bring to the Commissioners’ attention? They discussed the UNC Gilling’s Graduate student project and ways the HRC can engage institutions of higher learning on social justice issues. Ms. Tomeka Ward-Satterfield suggested that if the HRC engages UNC, then the HRC may want to consider engagement with the Durham Tech Campus in Northern Orange. Ms. Brenda Amezquita-Castro explained the UNC Gillings Graduate Students projects and some of the results to and data that analyze racial equity across systems. HRC members questioned the level of HRC involvement in this specific project, and whether it should be noted on the Work Plan as it is. Mr. Dion Graham suggested the achievement gap in both county schools be an issue that the HRC list on the Work Plan by way of a forum or conversation on the achievement gap as a social justice issue. Ms. Amezquita-Castro suggested modifying the section to encompass everyone’s suggestions. She explained this would open the possibility for HRC to engage all institutions. The following was her suggestion; engaging the community in racial issues at large and how each institution is taking action to address social justice issues. C.Mr. Spivey moved that all the agreed upon recommendations, suggestions, additions and modifications made at this meeting be accepted as a final draft of the Annual Report and Work Plan. Ms. Ana Garcia seconded the motion and all were in favor. VII. HRC Events & Committee Reports A. Pauli Murray Awards 1. Ms. Castillo announced that the committee decided that there will be three age groups for the video contest. The age groups would be 11-14, 15-18, and 19-23. 2. Ms. May reminded HRC members that the student contest topic can be about anything related to human relations. She noted that February is Human Relations month. Ms. May reported that she put out promotions of the contest and award nominations via newsletters and the county’s communication department. She noted that all the schools have received a promotion of award nominations and the student contest. 3. Ms. Moore discussed the possibility of booking Ms. Nikki Giovanna as the speaker for the event. Mr. Spivey motioned to authorize a portion of the HRC’ s 3 budget in support of acquiring Nikki Giovanni as the speaker. Mr. Xavier seconded the motion and all were in favor. B. Community Read 1. Ms. Castillo reported that the community read events will be in April 2020 on a Thursday and a Saturday. The committee will decide on a book by January 2020. Ms. Castillo inquired about Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition’s (OCCRC) community read. Ms. Moore explained that there were discussions combining the reads, but an individual with the OCCRC, wanted to read a particular book. Ms. Moore noted that there has been discussion about the OCCRC possibly narrowing their scope because they do so many things. She will be meeting with the OCCRC in January 2020, and expects to hear more about their plans for their community read. She will report out to HRC for any updates. VIII. Other Business/Announcements/Upcoming Events 1. Ms. Mahaley invited the new members to join HRC current committees and explained other committees may form as events arise. Ms. May will send new members a list of the current committees. 2. Ms. Mahaley announced the Criminal Justice reform happening Saturday (December 14, 2019) at the Library in Chapel Hill. She encouraged HRC members to come. IX. Adjourn A. NEXT MEETING: Monday, January 13, 2020 at Main Library Conference Room, located at 137 W. Margaret Ln., Hillsborough 4