HomeMy WebLinkAboutBHRCMinutes_2012_10_22Brookings Human Rights Committee
Monday, October 22, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.
City & County Government Center – 520 3rd Street
City Administration, Suite 230, Room 241
1. Call to Order: 5:10 pm Attendance: Chandradhar Dwivedi Rebecca Deinert, George
Hamer, Lawrence Novotny, Penny Hauffe, Patty Bacon
2. Adoption of the Agenda - Chandradhar moved, Rebecca seconded, motion carried
3. Approval of minutes- Lawrence moved, Rebecca seconded, motion carried
4. Schedule future meetings:
a. Thursday, November 15th @ noon (confirmed)
b. Monday, December 17th from 11 am to 1 pm (confirmed)
c. Next Quarterly Meeting – postpone decision on date until November meeting
5. Evaluation of 2012 Butler Awards Event – Chandradhar commented he would rather not
have the band, except for during the opening social part of the evening, and give the
awardees more time to speak. Lawrence said Ann Marie did not get properly recognized.
Her bio did not get read, but the other two did get more recognition. Rebecca said the
bulletin board about each awardee was nice. Lawrence liked the concept of the combined
event to broaden the audience. We just need to work out the recognition piece. The group
felt we should write Ann Marie a letter of gratitude and possibly take her out to dinner
before she leaves town. Lawrence will get the evening scheduled with Ann Marie.
6. Diversity Potluck – another wonderful turnout, over 120! The program about India was
very well received. Chandradhar volunteered to reach out to another international group
to do the next program. He suggested the Chinese students. The venue is still great. A lot of
families and the kids could play out in the gardens. Conversation cards went over well. We
talked about asking everyone to email us their recipe and we’ll post them on our link of the
website. We’re going to reach out and call the City Council and County Commission
members to come to the April potluck.
7. Review and update goals/objectives and discuss draft 2013 work plan
a. George said we need to be more pro-active to do some of the things we have counted
on City Staff to do for us. We committed to do that. As each event comes along, we
need to take responsibility. We’ll step up when we review the checklist and have the
committee members perform as many tasks as possible.
The Committee’s overall goal is to improve human relations in Brookings. The BHRC seeks to
generate ideas, discussions and programs that may help prevent human rights problems before
they start. The Committee’s overall goal is directly linked to the City’s mission to provide a
high quality of life for all its citizens in a proactive manner.
Continuation of annual public education projects:
∗ Annual Human Rights Award - continue
∗ Dr. Martin Luther King Awards - continue
∗ Spring & Fall Diversity Potlucks – continue
b. Public Education Workshops and/or forum on human rights – Lawrence proposed we
do it on an as needed basis rather than tying ourselves to a certain number of education
events per year. The group talked about being more creative rather than our traditional
methodology. Some ideas that were discussed were: co-sponsor a film with Humanities
with a discussion, partnering with Pow Wow activities on campus, with Children’s
Museum, with Boys and Girls Club, with United Living Center. The January quarterly
planning meeting will focus on Public Education. We have not spent any of our public
education funds yet. It was suggested that we purchase resource materials. We must
each come to the November meeting with suggestions of at least 3 books to Shari by
November 5. We decided to do the Brookings Public Library this year. Rebecca
volunteered to call the outlying community’s school libraries so that we could consider
buying materials for them in coming years.
Seek to establish and continue a relationship with the Brookings School District/South
Dakota State University/Chamber of Commerce and the International Community:
o Seek to establish and continue a relationship with the Brookings School District –
we’re doing it with MLK activities; SDSU – through the Common Read and some
education programs in the past; Chamber of Commerce – we need to promote our
activities and our purpose to the Chamber, we could this with a Power Point on
what we do. Rebecca offered to be our liaison to the Chamber and ask if we could
get on their agenda in February or March; International community – we do this
through Chandradhar and Jaime.
Continue to develop multicultural resources to provide to schools and the public
More personal committee involvement and participation at events
Continue and expand increased committee visibility and community awareness through the
implementation of the BHRC Awareness Plan: posters, website, presentations. The
committee discussed doing more promotion of the services available through BHRC as well
as our activities. We committed to going on the radio a couple times a year to talk about
other things in addition to promoting the Diversity Potluck.
Recommend sponsorship of an event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Year of
Reconciliation
Facilitate Mayor’s initiatives to include a community-wide read program possibly in
conjunction with the campus one-book read program. We want to be more active in
community read. The Committee felt that we were not included in this program this year. We
were not informed of the scheduled activities or included in the planning process.
OBJECTIVES FOR 2012
To advise and provide a forum for those subjected to unfair and discriminatory practices in
the city and county of Brookings – we’ve made ourselves available, but no one has filed a
complaint
To hear and investigate complaints alleging discrimination and where probable cause for
discrimination is found to exist by the committee, to refer the complaint to the appropriate
governmental agency - continue
Attend local and regional training opportunities pertaining to human rights issues –
continue and increase
To advise city officials concerning matters consistent with the purpose and powers of the
committee – The mayor reached out to us about the Brown Hall incident and Chick Filet.
We’re developing a plan to provide more public education about issues such as these.
To conduct educational programs and disseminate information to further the committee’s
policy to eliminate discrimination in the City of Brookings – continue and increase. We’re
working on a plan. It will be the focus of our January work meeting.
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, to receive and investigate
complaints regarding discrimination on the basis of disability - continue
UNMET NEEDS
Participation in annual human rights regional and national conferences. – no longer unmet
need. We initiated state level meetings and are attending regional. Move up to objectives.
New unmet need – we need to promote that we exist and get the word out. It was suggested
that we appear on the radio to promote why we exist and how to do it. We need to advocate
for something on the home page of the City website with a link to our section. We need to be
found more easily and to promote ourselves in the community. To get our photos uploaded and
get the Facebook up to date and post photos.
8. BHRC Newspaper Column Proposal – table until November
a. International Recipes (Submission Process, Contributors, Schedule)
b. Student Byline / English Department Coordination
c. Promotion ( Website, Government Channel, Social Media, Other)
9. Proposed Joint Statewide Human Rights Committee Meeting – Lawrence received a note
from David Volk. Lawrence will continue to follow up with him.
10. Membership Update – Steve is resigning as chair, George is resigning as vice chair, Ann
Marie resigned from committee. Anna Leisa is leaving town. We need a nominating slate
for January. Rebecca and Penny are up for renewal. Ann Marie’s county rep position is
open. Student rep position is open. Nominating committee will meet in November. George
will chair nominating committee.
11. Mayor has asked us to address Brown Hall slur. And should we take a stand on Chick Filet.
SDSU said it’s going forward. We will put this on as an on-going agenda item so we can plan
a public education opportunity. We are setting a goal to have a program ready by early
April.
12. Announcements/Correspondence/Calendar
• Budget Report (Enclosed)
• Oct 7th Fall Diversity Potluck, McCrory Gardens Visitor Center, 5-7 pm
• Oct 8th Native American Day
• Nov. 14th “Leading with an Inclusive Lens,” 2012 Sioux Falls Diversity Conference, 8:30
am-4:15 pm, Holiday Inn City Center
• Dec 6th Mayor’s Holiday Party, McCrory Gardens Visitor Center, 5-7 pm
• April 14th Spring Diversity Potluck
Lawrence is attending state Diversity Conference as our representative.
13. Adjournment – Rebecca, Penny at adjourned at 7:07
Respectfully submitted, Patty Bacon