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Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes
Monday, March 29, 2021
Community Room 300, Brookings City/County Government Building and Go To Meeting App
Attendance: Matt Rhodes (county representative & chair – in person); Jason Meusburger (vice-chair – online);
Lawrence Novotny, (recorder – in person); Dan Berg (online); Marilyn Hildreth (in person); Meagan Irvine-
Miller (online); Zahra Najl (online); Nieema Thasing (online); Erinn Thomas (online); Marci Gebers (police
liaison – online); Casey Bell (city human resources & staff liaison – in person)
Absent: Shedrick Flournoy (student representative); Keith Theroux (police liaison) Michele Vande Weerd
(school liaison); Kas Williams (SDSU liaison
Guest: Isstina – only first name provided
Chair Rhodes called the meeting to order at 5:05 pm.
Berg moved, Meusburger seconded, to adopt the agenda. Motion passed.
Irvin-Miller moved, Berg seconded, to approve the minutes of the February 24 and the March 08 meetings.
Motion passed.
Bystander Intervention Training
Only 20 individuals have registered. We need to promote the training to ensure that all of the 40 slots will be
filled. Members are asked to send the training registration info to their social media networks. A press release
will be done.
Magnets:
Berg represents the BHRC on the Brookings International Healthcare Committee (BIHC). Hildreth is also a
member. BIHC has concerns that people, especially those that are not proficient in English, are not knowing
where to go to obtain health information. BIHC came up with the concept of a magnet that will contain contact
info in Spanish for the hospital, medical, eye & dental clinics. The information will also be provided on a card
that can be carried in a pocket or purse. Magnets can also be designed to have this info in other languages also.
The dental & eye clinics are supportive of this idea. The magnets will be distributed at the local dairies, through
SDSU dairy extension conferences and through healthcare facilities.
It was suggested to include contact info for BHRC on the magnets. Berg is seeking funding support for the
magnets. One cost estimate is $450 for 500 magnets. It was suggested that BIHC also seek funding from some
of the healthcare groups. Berg will obtain more info and come back next month with a formal proposal.
Resilient Community
There will be a launch event on April 14 to announce that Brookings County will be the first community in the
state to become a Resilient Community for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment. The Resilient Community
network is seeking local groups to join them. Some other local groups that are part of the network are:
Mickelson Middle School Counselor, Brookings County Youth Mentoring Program, Brookings Area United Way,
Avera Behavioral Health, Brookings School District, CLEAR, Brookings Sustainability Council. Joining the
network would require that a representative from BHRC attend the quarterly meetings and participate in a trauma-
informed training program. Thomas expressed interest in representing BHRC since this would fit in with her job
at the Brookings Boys & Girls Club. Hildreth moved, Irvin-Miller seconded, that BRHC join the Brookings
County Resilient Community. Motion passed.
Common Read:
The book selected for this year is What the Eyes Don’t See. It deals with the Flint MI water system being
poisoned by lead pipes and the resulting crises.
The BHRC has been involved with the SDSU Common Read since its inception. Each year BHRC contributes
$2500 towards the Griffith lecture speaker who is the author of the selected book. SDSU wants to have a
community component to its common read program. The Griffith lecture is open to the public. BHRC has
hosted a community program of some type each year that coincided with the topic of the book. The last 2 years
the program consisted of film screenings. Previous programs mainly were community forums.
The main question is what is the goal and mission of having BHRC being part of the SDSU Common Read?
More discussion on this at a future meeting. Irvin-Miller has represented BHRC on the SDSU Common Read
committee for the past several years. Since she works at SDSU, she would like to have someone else represent
BHRC on that committee.
BHRC working groups and future ideas
A listing of BHRC current working groups was in the agenda. Rhodes also distributed a proposed ideas list. The
consensus was to hold a special working session meeting that just focused on these two topics.
Liaison Reports:
Gebers had nothing to report from the police department.
Roger DeGroot is not renewing his term on the school board. Michele Vande Weerd, the school district’s
curriculum coordinator has been appointed to be the school liaison. The BHRC inclusivity group worked with
Vande Weerd in getting a diversity committee established in the school system.
Novotny took the questions that came out of the March 08 BHRC meeting back to CLEAR Partners. A closed
forum will be held in the future that will include representatives of the various mental health organizations and
law enforcement. The purpose of the forum is to learn what the various entities are doing and to have a better
understanding of the working relationships with each other.
Staff Reports
Bell stated that the MLK essay award checks were for $100, $75 & $50 instead of what was stated in the minutes.
Bell based the checks on what was given in previous years.
Hildreth asked to have staff provide a summary of our budget.
Other:
A conversation was held with the guest. Isstina moved to Brookings recently. She has expertise in the
area of psychological safety. She came across BHRC through a random search. She views the issue of
mask mandates and vaccinations as a human rights issue. She encouraged BHRC to hold a discussion
around COVID.
The SDSU Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program held its award program on March 30.
BHRC was given the organizational award for our work promoting LGBTQ issues. The MEI scorecare,
the non-discrimination ordinance, and the rainbow crosswalk were examples that were cited. Irvin-
Miller, Rhodes and Novotny attended the awards event.
Next meeting will be determined by Doodle poll.
Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 6:15 pm.
Submitted by Lawrence Novotny, recorder