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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12.23.25 HRC Minutes (Final) t 40 HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION Cultivating Community Through Social Justice Meeting Minutes Tuesday, December 23, 2025 6:00pm— 7:30 pm via Microsoft Teams Member lRole #ttendance Commissioners Rhian Carreker-Ford (RCF) Commissioner, Chair Present Tonya Jones, (TJ) Commissioner, Vice Chair Present Vacant Commissioner, Secretary en Sykes (JS) Commissioner Present Josh Ravitch (JR) Commissioner Present Cory Hogans(CH) Commissioner Present Shane Lukas (SL) Commissioner Present Wendy Calvin (WC) Commissioner Present Krista Caraway(KC) Commissioner Present Vacant Seat Commissioner acant Seat Commissioner Vacant Seat Commissioner Orange County Staff Paul Slack(PS) Chief Civil Rights Officer Present Courtney McLaughlin (CM) Community Engagement & Outreach Coordinator Absent Shanelle Harvey(SH) Fair Housing Investigator Present Heather Bolduc(HB) Intake Specialist Present I. Call to Order — Commissioner Carreker-Ford called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. II. Agenda Approval—Motion to approve Minutes from November 12, 2025, meeting by Commissioner Sykes, and Second by Commissioner, Unanimous Approval. Minutes approved. III. County Updates -OCCRCL Staff Paul Slack: No updates- We will have new updates at the January meeting. IV. Commissioner Sykes to begin drafting Proclamation for Human Rights Month, draft will be needed by second week of January 2026. Commissioners Sykes, Caraway, and Ravitch will assist in drafting and give to BOCC. V. Commissioner Caraway discussed possibilities of how the HRC can assist victims and survivors of Domestic Violence. And, how best to support people without a voice (such as disabled non-speaking individuals) when they have been failed or harmed by County agencies. Commissioners agreed to work on language in upcoming Proclamations for Disability Advocacy and Resilience. The HRC programming will focus on these, as a planned community conversation of Resiliency is in the works. VIII. Other Business/Announcements - Rhian Carreker-Ford A. Executive Committee Report Out- Rhian Carreker-Ford i. We are in the process of looking for someone to take the role of Secretary for the leadership team. Anyone interested, please reach out to Commissioner Jones. ii. Paul- I will check for pending applications. Heather will be taking the minutes for all HRC meetings in the future. All other secretarial tasks will need to be completed by someone on the Commission. iii. Currently, there are four vacancies on the Human Relations Commission. B. Disability Awareness Month in July 2026, and Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October 2026, and having programming and a Proclamation in support of that. C. Retreat #2, we came up with core themes for 2026, Visibility, Advocacy, and Resilience. Which is the guiding principle for the HRC this upcoming year. We are in the process of planning a community event based on Resiliency. D. Sub-Committee Report: Commissioners Carreker-Ford, Calvin, and Lukas have met and discussed a youth engagement project that they hope to conduct in the next year. For youth to come to the table to engage them in a way they can help improve the community as a community action event. To identify a need, a path, and partners in the community that would help fulfill the pathway to community transformation. It is intended to be a project that is being displayed at the Pauli Murray Awards, and/or other events. This will be our test year on youth engagement and see what other relationships are fostered with local organizations. This year's concept is immigration and recognizing our neighbors and people in our community. First meeting for the youth engagement is expected to be February 2026. E. Commissioner Lukas, Calvin, and Caraway to engage with local organizations, and speak with them at potential meetings. Our goal is to table 4 events this year. We would like to engage organizations that we have not previously engaged with. F. Commissioners Hogan and Jones; Community Conversations schedule is on February 21, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., location is Southern Human Services if location still available. We will have state and local officials in attendance. Fliers are in production now. The Pauli Murray Awards are on May 17, 2026, at the Whitted Building. Due date for submissions for consideration for the awards is April 1, 2026. G. New Business: January to March; MLK day in January, and Black History Month in February, and Women's History Month in March. If we want to make any Proclamations for the future, we need to be forward-thinking and get it submitted on time. Paul- OCRCL is working on a proclamation for Black History Month. Needed- Welcome Binder to bring binders to upcoming meetings. Social Justice Vision Binder, to use to update our vision. H. Meeting Date for planning the Fiscal Year 2027, the HRC All Day Retreat is tentatively set for June 27, 2026, Commissioner Hogan puts the motion for a vote, Commissioner Calvin Seconds the motion. Motion carries unanimously. Paul to check for any conflicts with OCRCL and confirm at January meeting. I. Emerging Issues: we want everyone to voice what you are hearing in the community and what actions we can take to address those issues. i. Commissioner Hogans has learned that community members are feeling economic and political pressure, hopelessness, and sadness for the erasure of black history, and immigration enforcement. ii. Commissioner Carreker-Ford wants to address affordability in the county and how to deal with escalating home prices. Commissioner Sykes said that there is a new tax working group for the County. And, that we should stay abreast of happenings with UNC, the administration is making choices that certain groups of students are disagreeing with. Even though they are their own entity, they are in our County and we should stay alert. IX. Adjourn: Commissioner Ravitch moved to adjourn the meeting, Commissioner Calvin seconds, unanimous approval to adjourn at 7:32 p.m. Next Meeting: January 27, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. at 306 Revere Rd. Suite B, Hillsborough, NC 27278