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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005 - Human Relations Commission - Annual ReportHUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION 2005 ANNUAL REPORT EXECUTIVE DELEGATION SUMMARY Chair — Parker Preble Vice Chair — Caroline To Farley Your Human Relations Commission (HRC) continues in its quest to be more useful and visible to City Council and the citizens of Fort Collins. For the first time in many years the Commission has a full complement of enthusiastic and dedicated members. During the past year, the Commission conducted three significant events in addition to monthly meeting of the full Commission; the Government Relations Committee, the Education and Community Outreach Committee, and the Media & Community Recognition Committee. . The first event held in the City Council Chambers, 300 Laporte Avenue, was the NIOT (Not In Our Town) Alliance kickoff coordinated by Vice Chair Caroline Tu Farley with the following organizations: NIOTA, LAMBDA, Northern Colorado Multicultural Corporation (NCMC), A Place for Peace, CSU Office of Student Conflict and Resolution, Hate Incident Response Team and the Women's Resource Center. Chair, Parker Preble was the emcee for the program that was televised on Channel 27 and paid for by NCMC. Forum fliers were compliments of the LAMBDA Association and refreshments were supplied by A Place for Peace. Several HRC members (Caroline, Lester, Moin) participated in media publicity for this event appearing as guests on local radio stations. The HRC also wrote a Not In Our Town resolution and presented it to City Council on April 19. 2005. The second event was our annual awards Breakfast held at the Lincoln Center on May 9, 2005. The third event was the presentation of a Human Rights Protection Ordinance to Council on October 4, 2005. Although the ordinance was defeated, the Commission regarded its work as a learning experience. In my observation as Chair, three Council members voted against it for the wrong reasons. I attribute that to my inept presentation. The defeat was justified due its lack of scope which Council recognized. Thus it was a leaming experience. Other events that the Executive Delegations participated in were handing out HRC pamphlets at two CSU fairs on September 14 and 22 as well as participating in the City's Diversity Meeting. HRC members also attended the annual Martin Luther King march on January 17, 2005 as well as participated in the Estes Park Diversity Retreat on February 24-25, 2005. On November 29, 2005, several HRC members (Parker, Caroline, Elaine, Paige) were there to participate with the Mayor for the Human Rights Day Proclamation. Another topic that the HRC participated in was in trying to save the Human Rights Office. Parker did speak before City Council about the closing of the Human Rights Office. Caroline was interviewed on the Bullhorn radio show and the Bullhorn newspaper on the city budget in regards to the Human Rights Office. Letters to the editors were also sent to local newspapers and city council members (Caroline and Elaine). HRC members also represented the Commission as liaisons in various community organizations such as the ERACISM Film Series (Caroline and Lester), Face to Face (Elaine), Northern Colorado Multicultural Corporation (Maryanne), Latino Action Council (Paige) and Interfaith Council (Moin). Human Relations Commission 2005 Annual Report Page 1 of 4 Since education is a primary function, the Commission feels constrained in fostering public events due to financial limitations. We are asking our Council Liaison David Roy if we can solicit grants from various foundations. As Chair person my leadership style is toward urging each member to be audible as opposed to the Chairman acting as a Commissioner of Human Relations. As a result, the various committees have been much more active. Attached are the Committees' reports. We thank the Mayor and Council for their continued support. EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH The Education and Community Outreach Sub -Committee is made up of the following members: Joann Gina], Chair; Maryanne Ingrata, Paige Backlund, and Moin Siddiqui. Any HRC member is welcome to be a part of this sub -committee. The meetings are the first Monday of every month at 6:30pm. The locations of the monthly meetings are at the Bean Cycle, 144N. College Avenue, Fort Collins. One of the main goals of the sub -committee is to become highly visible to the community and to the mayor and city council. HRC has been represented by at least one (if not more) at city related functions, holiday events and a variety of events involving human rights. The visibility and importance of this commission has significantly increased in 2005 and will continue to do so each year. The sub -committee decided to work on several main topics each year with current and urgent human rights issues in the City of Fort Collins at the forefront of our agenda and the community knowing that the subject at hand has the support (or not) of the HRC. This was seen, with the presence and backing of the HRC, in 2005 involving the Immigration issue. Other areas of emergence in 2005 were the menorah and homeless shelter The Education and Community Relations Sub -Committee completed a new and updated HRC brochure. We have copied and distributed this information piece as needed. The new brochure was designed by HRC member Maryanne Ingrata. In June, a presentation on the history and the mission of the Fort Collins HRC was completed. This was compiled to help any HRC member in speaking to various organizations who wish to know our purpose within the community. The presentation was designed to be utilized in a number of different mediums: PowerPoint, overheads and handouts to make it user friendly for all. The sub -committee has made presentations at the Latimer County Federal Heritage Program, Poudre School District, and will be making presentations to the Council on Aging and the Status of Women Commission in early 2006. The Community Coffee Talks were planned out in 2005 with the first of its kind to begin on February 27, 2006 at the Bean Cycle. These will take place on an every other month basis unless needed more often. Members of the education committee will be present to listen to comments and concerned citizens. Often these will have themes; the first one will be open discussion. A list of questions will be generated prior to the meetings so these may be used by the HRC facilitator to generate dialogue. GOVERNMENT RELATIONS Human Relations Commission 2005 Annual Report Page 2 of 4 The Government Relations Sub -Committee is made up of the following members: Elaine Boni, Chair; Joann Ginal, Maryanne Ingratta, and Paige Backlund. In June, all members of the HRC received training on the Police Complaint Process conducted by Sergeant David Pearson, Fort Collins Police Department. This training is necessary in order for HRC members to become part of the Citizen Liaison program. Thus far, 3 HRC members, Parker Preble, Caroline Tu Farley and Elaine Boni are part of the Citizen Liaison Program. After several meetings with Sergeant David Pearson of the Fort Collins Police Department, the location of availability of Police Complaint Packets has increased to add the Northside Aztlan Center to the already approved sites of the City Manager's Office, the downtown Public Library and the Fort Collins Police Department. This and the following two items were completed at the suggestion of a community task force conducted by the HRC in 2004. A proposal was made to the Police Department to offer the Police Complaint Process to be downloaded electronically from the city's website. This is currently under consideration by the department. The Police Complaint Packet was translated into Spanish by a volunteer of the HRC. This is currently under consideration of being used by the department. The list of interpreters to assist with translation in filing complaints was updated and distributed to HRC members. All City Council meetings and Citizen Review Board meetings were attended and monitored. The boards and commissions diversity data has been computed and analyzed and will be presented to City Council in early 2006. MEDIA AND COMMUNITY RECOGNITION The Media and Community Recognition Sub -Committee is made up of the following members: Lester Washington, Chair; Dr. Jack Coleman, Dr. Parker Preble, and Caroline Tu Farley, the past Media Chair, rejoined the Media Committee in December, 2005 and she assisted throughout the year in planning and directing the new media chair's activities. Dr Moen Siddiqui, Dr Jack Coleman, and Lester Washington were facilitators the Latimer Federal Heritage Program in May 2005 on behalf of the HRC's Education Committee. The Media Committee successfully planned and hosted the Fort Collins Human Relations Awards Ceremony in May of 2005 with the assistance of all of the HRC Committees and our indispensable HRC liaisons from the City: Kelly DiMartino and Brenda Speake. The HRC Awards program was taped by and shown on Channel 27. The HRC also planned, hosted, and had the NIOT Alliance Kickoff Forum taped and shown on Channel 27 several times this past year. This was paid for by the Northern Colorado Multicultural Commission (NCMC) of Fort Collins. Human Relations Commission 2005 Annual Report Page 3 of 4 Lester Washington met with Michael Limon and later Pat Ferrier of the Coloradoan to revamp the column submission criteria for the HRC and submitted several articles to the Coloradoan for publication. The HRC submits articles to the Coloradoan every other month. Several members of the HRC wrote Soap Box articles and submitted them to the Coloradoan and to the Bullhorn regarding the Human Right Protection Ordinance (HRPO), discrimination, and immigration issues. We also participated in the community forum at Front Range Community College (FRCC) to discuss the pros and cons of the HRPO with concerned citizens. Lester Washington was interviewed on KRFC on one occasion and by the Bullhorn on another regarding the Human Rights Protection Ordinance, human relations and discrimination in Fort Collins per Parker Premble. Lester Washington, Media Chair and CSU doctoral student, contacted Colorado State University (CSU) regarding inclusion of the Fort Collins HRC on their mailing list for diversity and multicultural forums and conferences. The goal was to get the CSU diversity and multicultural program administrators to invite the HRC leaders to present at forums and conferences at the university. CSU is already on the HRC's mailing list and receives all of the public advertisements from the HRC. The City's HRC and CSU need to collaborate more since they address discrimination, diversity, immigration, and multicultural issues which affect the reputation of the City of Fort Collins. Lester Washington and CSU administrators agreed to meet to further discuss this collaborative effort for the benefit of the city and citizens of Fort Collins and CSU. The Media Committee wrote a response to an anonymous letter written by a parent regarding discrimination against Latinos at the CSU Hip Hop Explosion Greek show. That responsive letter was revised and is slated to be sent out in late January or early February, 2006 to address the parents concerns and discrimination against Latinos in Fort Collins. The HRC does not have investigative powers in such matters. Lester Washington contacted the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Boulder) to offer assistance in addressing the racial issues and discrimination against African American students in the city of Boulder. They responded and outlined their strategies for reducing discrimination, newly implemented class requirements related to diversity and multiculturalism, and acceptance of people from other cultures at the university. The media committee established, and is presently working on its goals for 2006. Human Relations Commission 2005 Annual Report Page 4 of 4