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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.28.23 - Minutes (FINAL) 4CHUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION Cultivating Community Through Social Justice MINUTES Tuesday, February 28, 2023 6:00 pm —7:30 pm Virtual Meeting via Zoom https://orangecountync.zoom.us/m/85782134210 MEMBERS PRESENT STAFF Allison Mahaley Melvyn Blackwell, Civil Rights Specialist Nathalie Volkheimer Courtney McLaughlin, Community Engagement& Outreach Coordinator Michael Fath Shameka Fairbanks, Chief Equity& Human Rights Officer Jenn Sykes Anjail Taylor Ruby Garcia MEMBERS ABSENT Ana Taylor-Garcia (excused) G U EST Josh Ravitch I. Call to Order I Commissioner Mahaley, Chair A. The meeting was called to order at 6:07 p.m. II. Minutes Approval I January 24, 2023 A. Commissioner Volkheimer motions. Commissioner Garcia seconds. All in favor.January 24, 2023 minutes approved. III. Executive Committee Report A. Commissioner Mahaley expressed gratitude to the Pauli Murray Award committee chair for their success with the award ceremony. B. Commissioner Sykes shared that she and Commissioner Mahaley are pulling together information for the June events and celebrations for Freedom Week. IV. County Updates A. Dr. Fairbanks has expressed her gratitude for the successful Pauli Murray Award event.The Intake Specialist position has been posted and is now closed. The Office anticipates filling the position over the next month or so. Dr. Fairbanks has been approached by the James Williams of the Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition requesting additional support and she would like to revisit the HRC conversation around partnership to identify what the contribution should look like. i. Discussion 1. Commissioner Mahaley attended the OCCRC meeting and they spent time in dialogue about the recognition of the anniversary of the Letter for a Birmingham Jail. Commissioner Mahaley will send the minutes of the meeting to the HRC. Suggest that the best way to support OCCRC may be to provide additional event promotion and potential financial support, if within the HRC budget. Commissioner Mahaley anticipates that this will be an ongoing interaction with the group because their activities and initiative have grown to include multiple action steps. Commissioner Mahaley believes that since the HRC has a signed MOU with OCCRC that was lost during Chair turnover, it may be valuable to have Office staff to be involved with OCCRC meetings. Dr. Fairbanks shared that there was a request from OCCRC for assistance to support a facilitated conversation on April 11t". She would like to identify if the HRC would be open to contributing to the cost of the facilitator. The Office will need to provide an update on the available budget for the HRC to decide as they have intended to utilize the remaining budget to cover the cost of their Freedom celebration. V. Outside Agency Applications Scoring A. There will be a single scorecard for each applicant. Each commissioner will provide a score and total scores will be averaged. Commissioners will complete scorecards separately and submit them to Mr. Blackwell by close of business Wednesday, March 1, 2023, as the scorecards are due by the end of the week. VI. HRC Events &Committee Reports A. Committee Report i. Communication I Commissioner Volkheimer 1. Commissioner Volkheimer remains interested in representing the HRC at the OCCRC meetings. 2. Northern Orange County MLK Day a. Commissioner Volkheimer would like to revisit the conversation on the next steps for connecting with the MLK day committee. Would need someone to reach out to the committee to identify a date for a follow-up discussion. Commissioner Mahaley and Volkheimer will meet with Mr. Blackwell briefly to establish direction on how to move forward. 3. Social Media a. Facebook page has been going well due to the increase in activity. Commissioner Volkheimer will be putting together some visuals for the coming months. Would like some additional support internal and external from the Orange County government to promote HRC content. Dr. Fairbanks would follow up with Community Relations to identify opportunities for them to support the content. ii. Freedom Celebration I Commissioner Sykes 1. Commissioner Sykes has pulled together a listing of events occurring between mid-June through July in the local jurisdictions and municipalities. Will meet with Commissioner Mahaley to identify any other areas of opportunity. There may be pre-pandemic events returning, so they will keep their eye out for that. iii. Community Read I Chair Needed 1. Commissioner Garcia will serve as the chair of the committee. Commissioner Mahaley will provide support to the chair in the transition. 2. Suggestion:/Saw Death Coming:A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction iv. Pauli Murray Award Reflections 1. Commissioner Garcia felt the event was well coordinated and the energy was great. Walked away feeling inspired. 2. Commissioner Volkheimer felt it was a great event. Appreciated the selected vendors and keynote speaker. Wish there was water present for the guest. The room was full and wished that it would have occurred in a larger venue. Would like to send out invites to the family members of award recipients. 3. Commissioner Sykes did not attend but reflected on the positive post that was present on social media and that community groups, stakeholders, and elected officials made it a point to show up at the event. 4. Dr. Fairbanks shared that she would like for this work to continue to grow so that lessons learned would continue to be reflected in the following ceremonies. Murray's family would like to see the inclusion of more youth in the program. 5. Commissioner Mahaley felt the keynote speaker brought great energy and perspective to the event. Would like to have seen deeper contextualization of Vivette Jefferies-Logan's offering to the space.The inclusion of music and spoken word helped break up the program well. Would like to think about how to organize the program to hold a bit more balance, such as placing music and food earlier in the ceremony. VI I. Commissioner Check-in (2 mins each) A. Commissioner Volkheimer will be sending forward a content deck for HRC to review. B. Commissioner Mahaley offers that both the Northern Orange NAACP and Chapel Hill- Carrboro NAACP will be having active years and share that this may be an opportunity for HRC to broaden their work and know about what is going on in the community. C. Commissioner Sykes shares that the County transit plan is being discussed and open for public comment. Additionally, the Orange County Health Department is recruiting community members to join in completing outreach to conduct Community Health Assessment that is done once every 4-years. VIII. Other Business/Announcement/Upcoming Event A. Ms. McLaughlin informed the Commissioners about the Climate Action Plan surveying that has opened up. Commissioners that are interested in supporting the community outreach efforts can contact her for further information. B. Dr. Fairbanks shared that the Office will be holding Women's History Month events and invites the HRC to help with promotion. IX. Adjourn A. Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Sykes. Second by Commissioner Volkheimer. All in favor. Adjourned at 7:40at p.m. NEXT MEETING: March 28, 2023, on Zoom (https://orangecountync.zoom.us/i/85782134210)