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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/14/2024 - HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION - AGENDA - Regular MeetingHUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING City Contact Person: Liz Messenger, Office of Equity & Inclusion – lmessenger@fcgov.com or hrc@fcgov.com March 14, 2024, 5:30 – 7:30 pm In-Person Location: VIRTUAL ONLY Remote Meeting Participation: To join the Zoom meeting online (through web browser or Zoom app): Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://fcgov.zoom.us/j/96972419805 Or One tap mobile : +17209289299,,96972419805# US (Denver) +13462487799,,96972419805# US (Houston) Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): +1 720 928 9299 US (Denver) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) Webinar ID: 969 7241 9805 This information is available in Spanish or other language at no cost to a person who would like this information translated to or communicated in Spanish or other language. Please call 416-4254 or titlesix@fcgov.com to make a request for information in other languages. Esta información está disponible en español u otro idioma, sin costo para la persona que le gustaría esta información traducida o comunicada en español u otro idioma. Favor llame al 416-4254 o a titlesix@fcgov.com para solicitar información en otros idiomas. Auxiliary aids and services are available for persons with disabilities. TTY: please use 711 to call 970.416.4254.; other 1.CALL TO ORDER 2.ROLL CALL 3.AGENDA REVIEW 4.APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES – JANUARY 11, 2024 AND FEBRUARY 8, 2024 5.PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 6.BUDGET REVIEW 7. NEW BUSINESS O FOLLOW-UP: FEBRUARY 4TH DEIJ NETWORKING EVENT; DISCUSSION OF DEIJ “DIRECTORY” 8. OLD BUSINESS • COMMITTEE REPORTS: O EDUCATION OUTREACH – UPDATE RE: “CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION” AND “HUMAN LIBRARY” PROGRAMS O MEDIA/COMMUNITY RECOGNITION COMMITTEE – FOLLOW-UP: PLANNING FOR 2024 HUMAN RELATIONS AWARDS O GOVERNMENT RELATIONS – UPDATE RE: LOCAL GOVERNMENT WEAPON ORDINANCES O EXECUTIVE – INFORMATION RE: MARCH 25TH SUPER ISSUES MEETING; CONFIRMATION RE: MARCH 27TH MEETING WITH THE LARIMER COUNTY EDI ADVISORY BOARD 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS – AUTISM AWARENESS DAY UPDATE 10. NEXT STEPS O MEETING ACTION ITEMS O NEXT MEETING – APRIL 11TH – AGENDA ITEMS? ELECTION OF OFFICERS; POSSIBLE GUEST SPEAKERS O ADJOURNMENT HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING Thursday, January 11, 2024 – 5:30 PM City Hall; 300 Laporte Ave, CIC Conference Room Zoom: https://fcgov.zoom.us/j/99439209110 Webinar ID: 994 3920 9110 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:32 pm 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – Beth Jaeger, Barb Kistler, Phil Walker, Kevin Goff, Masood Ahmad, Coronda Ziegler, Teresa Cribelli, Miho Yoshioka b. Board Members Absent – Kyle Teramoto c. Staff Members Present – Jan Reece, Lead Equal Opportunity Compliance Specialist, Melanie Clark, Staff Liaison d. Guest(s) – Cheryl Distaso, NoCo Liberation Corporation, Madeline Greg 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. November 9, 2023 Masood motioned to approve the minutes from November 9, 2023. Teresa Cribelli seconded the motion. Motion passed 6-0 b. Review November 30, 2023 Special Meeting Notes 5. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION a. Cheryl Distaso, of NoCo Liberation Coalition, will be asking City Council to join 15 other cities and pass the cease fire resolution and are seeking the support of the Human Relations Commission for the resolution. Cheryl stated that they are hearing that local governments only hear local issues. She explained that City of Fort Collins has passed several resolutions in 1985, 2003 and in 2013 that were related to global issues. Beth asked if they have written a draft resolution. Cheryl stated that they are in the process and will send the draft to this Commission. Beth stated that it would be helpful if Cheryl could forward a draft of the resolution to review so that the HRC would be able to discuss. Madeline an organizer for NoCo Liberation and works in K12 education. Shared how the news coming out Gaza has impacted her, the waste of federal tax dollars and her desire for an immediate cease fire. The HRC will discuss the Resolution in February after reviewing the draft language. 6. BUDGET REVIEW Beth shared that the budget as of December broke even for 2023. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Update February 4th DEIJ Networking Event; discussion of DEIJ “directory” The planning committee has finalized everything except for the structure of the event but are working on finalizing the details. So far, they believe they will have three different phases. The Larimer County Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board has agreed to cohost the event. El Diablo will be catering the food. The hope is to build a directory for those who are working in the community on DEIJ issues. This idea came about as it was realized there were a lot of people doing this work but may be siloed. $1,000 has been allocated to the cost of the food. Other than that, the cost of the room reservation are the only other costs. Beth asked how other members of the HRC would be participating. Barb explained that it is a networking event so it would be great if folks would like to come and help facilitate folks meeting each other. She stated that the Larimer County EDI Advisory Board has also been invited. Beth encouraged all Commission members to attend as it is an opportunity to build their own network. The Commission will need to discuss how to build and maintain the directory. b. Review: HRC Annual Report Beth asked for feedback on the 2023 annual report, which is due to the City by January 31st. She congratulated Commission members for all the accomplishments in the last year. Barb motioned to approve the 2023 annual report. Masood seconded the motion. Motion passed 7-0 8. OLD BUSINESS a. Committee Reports: • Education Outreach Coronda stated that based on previous conversations and feedback from the community they are considering a training around cross cultural communication. The goal would be to talk about how people might communicate across different cultures. Barb and Alma have volunteered their time to facilitate the program. Coronda asked Commission members to think about timing and location for the event. Barb shared that the commission considered the topic of white supremacy in November of last year but couldn’t come up with who would be willing to volunteer to facilitate. Phil stated that he would be in favor of having this training every year. Teresa shared that she used to teach race issues and has a lot of material she could share and would be willing to facilitate in the future. She really likes what is currently planned. Coronda asked if the topic is good for everyone or should they consider something different. Commission members agreed on the topic and hosting at Senior Center again. Barb shared that because the Human Library will take place in August, she suggests hosting the event in October. Coronda agreed stating that it offers opportunity to also share information about the Human Relations awards. Melanie will look at room reservations for a Wednesday in October at the Senior Center. Beth shared an update regarding the Human Library program. She stated she and Barb met with collaborators with the Museum in November. The Museum received a grant to host this program. The money has to be expended by September of 2024. The museum will be having two exhibits in the fall about skin and bias. They just received agreement to move forward with the Human Library. Last year, they didn’t have strong administrative support to build a guide for others to be able to host an event in their own communities. Solara Clark has agreed to fill this role and support the whole project. Beth stated this event is becoming part of the fabric of the City, which is really exciting. Coronda,Teresa, and Miho would like to be part of the planning committee. Barb will share this with Laura Valdez who is coordinating the invitations for the meetings. • Media/Community Recognition Committee – December 5th Human Relations Awards: Plus/Delta Beth asked Commission members to share what went well and what they would like to do different in relation to the call for nominations and selection process, award program, date, location, refreshments and the overall event. Call for nominations and the selection process: What went well: Melanie’s work with the City to make sure everything was updated and out on time. We were able to have a full 5 weeks to receive nominations. Went a lot better than in the past. Much better to have categories and combining organization/team. What should we change: Include on nomination form, language that communicates to be full in the nomination. Be more explicit about asking for stories and encouraging nominators to be more detailed and specific. How does the Commission get a fuller sense of the nominees. Ask more detailed/specific questions in the nomination form. Nominations seem to be based on who you know, but what about the others that are doing work, but are not as well known? Is there a way to bring them forward? Have an avenue to create a way for organizations to showcase what they are doing all year. Create a vehicle where businesses and organizations can be involved. We can think about how we communicate and promote the award. Give more time to market and promote. Start the nomination period earlier. Be clearer in the criteria and questions asked. Also create a rubric for how the Commission determines the award recipients. Marketing – at Feb 4th event have information ready. Every time we meet is an opportunity to remind folks. Possibility to do a follow up email to those who nominated and those who were nominated. This already happens. Everyone who is nominated and nominates, receives an email and invitation to the ceremony. Use the follow up email to remind folks that the awards ceremony takes place every year. Create a list serve to be able to send reminders to folks. Beth stated that they will use the March meeting to do a 2024 program mock up and look at how they would like to implement for December. Award Program Date, Venue, and Refreshments: What went well: Beth’s organization was really appreciated. Like the idea of it happening in City Hall, Council Chambers. Gotten better every year. Good process. Really liked the food tables being along the back of the room and the flow. It was a stellar event and everyone did a great job. What should we change: Would like for the event to happen on a night other than a Council meeting night. It felt really tight at the beginning and end of the event with the Council activities. Length of the reception felt a little too long. Felt like folks really just wanted to get into the ceremony. Commission members liked the idea of shortening the length of the reception, possibly to 45 minutes. Should we create the space during the event for networking between organizations and specifically say that this is an opportunity. Name tag and ribbon to recognize nominees. Consider reaching out to Art in Public Places to have local artists submit artwork for a new award every year. Beth proposed that a few Commission members get together with the recommendations and move forward. Coronda, Masood, Kyle and Beth will be the subcommittee. • Government Relations – Meeting with Jenny Lopez Filkins re: local government weapon ordinances Barb shared that City Council has started their 2024 session. There is only one turnover with Melanie Potyondy replacing Shirley Peel in District 4. The petition against Land Development Code was successful. Council will be going back to the drawing board to address this issue. Beth and Barb met with Jenny Lopez Filkins to consider gun control in the City. They did significant research on what has been done and found that local entities can now introduce local laws. Boulder has implemented more localized gun restrictions in particular in City owned facilities and spaces that are at risk such as childcare centers. They inquired if the scope of HRC would include pursuing gun control; after review, Jenny will respond to the HRC with a decision. Commission members were asked if they would be in favor of proposing restrictions of carrying weapons in high-risk areas. Masood motioned to approve looking at proposing restrictions. Coronda second the motion. Motion passed 7-0. The HRC will discuss this issue further after receiving additional guidance from Jenny. Teresa shared that she attended a lecture where they talked about expensive housing and how it is the biggest economic impact to Colorado. As well, there is a major demographic shift of older folks. There are only 2 counties in Colorado that have an abundance of young people (Weld and Pueblo Counties). This will impact all other counties later as there will be less people to do the jobs as people retire. Teresa stated that she also heard that affordable housing is top on the list for Colorado Legislature and it would be good to pay attention to what’s happening in Denver too. Barb stated that this would be a good opportunity to continue to network with other Boards regarding housing. Affordable housing continues to be the most critical issue. • Executive – Final 2024 HRC Workplan; follow up re: March meeting with the Larimer County EDI Advisory Board Beth shared an invitation to attend a joint meeting with Larimer County EDI Board. This builds on the idea the Commission have been talking about to build a connection with the Board, get to know them and seek opportunities for collaboration. The meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 27th. More details will be discussed in February. Coronda motioned to support the meeting. Teresa second. The motion passed 7-0 Melanie will look into whether this needs to be posted as a public meeting. 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS Teresa stated that April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month and last year President Biden designated April 2nd as Autism Awareness Day. This year, she would like to have a proclamation reading and reception and has been working on making this happen. It would be great for Commission members to attend and support the event. Teresa will attend the next Disability Advisory Board meeting to invite them and offer the opportunity to collaborate on the proclamation and event. Beth noted that in April the Commission will elect officers and asked all members to be thinking about leadership roles. 10. NEXT STEPS a. Meeting action items b. Next Meeting – February 8, 2024 – Agenda items? 11. ADJOURNMENT a. 7:26 pm Minutes approved by the Chair and a vote of the Board/Commission on xx/xx/xxxx xx/xx/xxxx – MINUTES Page 1 HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING Thursday, February 8, 2024 – 5:30 PM City Hall; 300 Laporte Ave, CIC Conference Room Zoom: https://fcgov.zoom.us/j/99439209110 Webinar ID: 994 3920 9110 12. CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 pm 13. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – Beth Jaeger, Barb Kistler, Phil Walker, Kevin Goff, Masood Ahmad, Teresa Cribelli b. Board Members Absent – Kyle Teramoto, Miho Yoshioka, Coronda Ziegler c. Staff Members Present – Claudia Menendez, Equity Officer, Melanie Clark, Staff Liaison 14. AGENDA REVIEW – Chair Beth Jaeger noted that, due to the requests from City Council and City Manager Kelly DiMartino for the HRC’s recommendation regarding any future Council action related to a proposed ceasefire resolution in the Israel-Hamas war, the HRC will restructure its agenda to focus on this issue. Those discussion items noted in the HRC’s February 8th meeting agenda will be moved forward to its March 14th meeting agenda. 15. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – Moved to March 14th HRC meeting agenda. 16. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – The HRC listened to comments from 25 public participants related to a proposed ceasefire resolution. 17. BUDGET REVIEW - Moved to March 14th HRC meeting agenda. 18. NEW BUSINESS – The DEIJ Networking Event discussion noted on the February 8th agenda was moved to the March 14th HRC meeting agenda. a. Discussion re: Proposed Ceasefire Resolution • In order to respond to the request from the City Council and City Manager for a recommendation related to a proposed ceasefire resolution, the HRC discussed the matter and considered community input from this evening’s HRC meeting, emails received by the HRC prior to this evening’s meeting, and public comments from the February 6th City Council meeting. • The HRC recommended that a memo be sent to the City Council and City Manager outlining a set of considerations that might be included in a newly worded resolution. The HRC approved this action by a 5-0 vote with one member abstaining. The final memo is attached to these minutes for review. 19. OLD BUSINESS - Moved to March 14th HRC meeting agenda. 20. ANNOUNCEMENTS a. The “Cross Cultural Communication” educational program will be held at the Senior Center on Wednesday, October 9th. b. The “Human Library” program, planned in conjunction with the City, Museum of Discovery, and the Poudre River Library District, will be held Sunday afternoon, August 4th, at the Museum. c. The HRC and the Larimer County EDI Advisory Board will hold a joint meeting on Wednesday, March 27th at 5:30pm at the County Administrative Services Building at 200 West Oak. d. Autism Awareness Day proclamation and reception will be held on April 2nd at City Hall. 21. NEXT STEPS a. Next Meeting – March 14, 2024 22. ADJOURNMENT a. 7:26 pm Minutes approved by the Chair and a vote of the Board/Commission on xx/xx/xxxx xx/xx/xxxx – MINUTES Page 1 DATE: February 10, 2024 TO: Mayor Jeni Arndt City Councilmembers City Manager Kelly DiMartino CC: Jenny Lopez Filkins Claudia Menendez Sarah Kane Melanie Clark FROM: The Human Relations Commission RE: HRC Recommendations re: Proposed Resolution Related to a Ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War Pursuant to the request from City Manager Kelly DiMartino to consider the above referenced resolution, the Human Relations Commission (HRC) deliberated on the matter in its meeting on February 8, 2024. Our discussion took into consideration community input from the February 6, 2024 City Council meeting (members heard approximately 100 people speak to the proposed resolution), input from an additional 25 community members that was shared during “public participation” at our February 8, 2024 meeting, review by HRC members of approximately 40 letters/emails received by City staff as of February 8, 2024 at 4:00pm, and review by HRC members of a number of resolutions passed throughout the United States in recent weeks. Commissioners also discussed at length our desire to stay true to our team’s and City’s values and vision: To advance the City of Fort Collins' vision to be a safe and welcoming community for all – a community where all belong. After these deliberations, the HRC passed a motion by five to zero, with one member abstaining, to recommend to City Council to consider a newly worded resolution related to a Ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War, with the following considerations: • acknowledges the immense human suffering and loss of life on all sides as a result of war • does not assign blame, and/or use adversarial language • condemns violence - without condemnation of any group or community - or taking of sides; promotes peace for all • condemns Anti-Semitism, Anti-Palestinian rhetoric and Islamophobia in Fort Collins • states unwavering commitment to all Fort Collins residents to promote peace, unity and respect for all; represents voices and concerns of all • acknowledges commitment to stand in solidarity with our Palestinian and Jewish communities, and to reaffirm commitment to their safety, security and well-being • calls for an immediate ceasefire on all sides of the conflict • calls for immediate release of hostages on all sides of the conflict • calls for immediate sharing of humanitarian aid to all who are impacted by the conflict • expresses hope for swift, peaceful resolution of current conflict, leading to a just and lasting peace for all involved Additionally, the HRC resolved to work towards bringing together members of the Fort Collins community on different sides of this conflict. The HRC resolved to hold a meeting or a program where members of the Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, Christian and other interested communities will be invited to explore ways to continue working towards a peaceful coexistence in our beautiful and inclusive city. We appreciate City Council's consideration of the HRC's request. Please let us know if more information is required.