HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRC 5 15 18AGENDA
Human Rights Commission
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Helling Conference Room, City Hall
5:30 p.m.
1. Call Meeting to Order and Roll Call.
2. Public Comment of Items not on the Agenda.
3. Approval of Minutes:
a. Approve minutes from the April 17, 2018 meeting.
4. Funding Request: Refugee and Immigrant Association.
5. Strategic Planning Report 2018.
6. Collaboration/Advocacy with the Iowa City Community School
District.
7. Lending Disparities in Federal Mortgage Data Update.
8. Iowa City Pride (June 16).
9. Juneteenth (June 23).
10. Human Rights Breakfast Speaker (October 24).
11. Youth Awards Report.
12. Staff/Commission Comment.
13. Adjournment.
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate in this meeting please
contact Stefanie Bowers at 319.356.5022 or at stefanie-bowers@iowa-city.org. Early
requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.
Minutes Preliminary
Human Rights Commission
April 17, 2018
Helling Conference Room
1
Members Present: Jeff Falk, Joe Coulter, Adil Adams, Cathy McGinnis, Jonathon Muñoz,
Barbara Kutzko, Eliza Willis, Tahuanty Peña.
Staff Present: Stefanie Bowers.
Others Present: Andrea Cohen, Samantha Wiedner.
Call to Order:
Willis called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM
Approval of March 20, 2018 and March 29, 2018 Meeting Minutes:
Coulter moved to approve the minutes of March 20 with edits1; the motion was seconded by
Kutzko. A vote was taken and the motion passed 7-0. (Adams not present).
Coulter moved to approve the minutes of March 29; the motion was seconded by McGinnis. A
vote was taken and the motion passed 7-0. (Adams not present).
Funding Request from Iowa United Nations Association:
Funding in the amount of $250 for an exhibition of posters showcasing the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights was requested. McGinnis moved to approve the funding request for $250; the
motion was seconded by Coulter. A vote was taken and the motion passed 7-0. (Adams not
present).
Adoption of Strategic Planning Report 2018:
Areas of Interest by Commissioner: Coulter (Public Safety and Housing); Kutzko (Community
Outreach/Support and Education); McGinnis (Public Safety, Housing, Education); Peña
(Education and Housing); Falk (Housing and Education); Adams (Community Outreach/Support
and Education); Jonathan (Community Outreach/Support); Willis (Education and Housing).
Commissioner Coulter moved to accept the report; the motion was seconded by Peña. A vote
was taken and the motion passed 8-0.
Collaboration/advocacy with the Iowa City Community School District:
Willis, Falk, and Coulter have attended several meetings organized by the Black Voices Project.
The meetings have evolved into discussions on the unfair treatment of Black and Latino youth in
the Iowa City schools. Things that can be to get Commissioners more involved in solutions are to
invite the school’s equity members to human rights meetings, attend school board meetings,
volunteer at the schools, or work on incorporating vocational rehabilitation into the schools.
Peña, Falk, McGinnis, and Willis will head the education group for the commission.
1 Date for the Youth Awards is May 9 not May 10. Willis will be added to the list of Commissioners that attended
The Night of 1000 Dinners.
Minutes Preliminary
Human Rights Commission
April 17, 2018
Helling Conference Room
2
Lending Disparities in Federal Mortgage Data:
In February 2018, Reveal, a program of the Center for Investigative Reporting, issued a report on
housing mortgage disparities in the US. Iowa City was listed as a location with very high rates of
denial for Hispanic applicants. Falk has recreated the study done by Reveal. Hills Bank appears
to have a high number of denials for Latinos. Falk would like to provide Hills Bank with a copy
of his report and ask representatives from the bank to attend a future meeting to ask them
questions relating to the study. Falk moved to invite a representative from Hills Bank to a
Commission meeting to ask them about the large disparities in loan approval for Hispanics; the
motion was seconded by Peña. No Vote Taken.
Commissioner Coulter moved to table the vote until the next meeting to allow time to seek the
legal advice of the City Attorney on whether inviting a representative from Hills Bank would
create any legal liability for the Commission; the motion was seconded by Kutzko. A vote was
taken and the motion passed 7-1 (Falk in the negative).
Know Your Rights:
On April 2, Willis, Peña, and Muñoz went to the Broadway Neighborhood Center to provide
outreach on fair housing. It was a small turnout, but a productive discussion. On April 4, Willis,
Peña, and Adams went to the Pheasant Ridge Center and also provided a fair housing outreach
session. Things to consider for future sessions are child care and inviting landlords.
Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant:
A news release will be going out the following week to notify the public on the newest grantees.
Youth Awards:
Kutzko and Willis will review the Youth Ally submissions and select a recipient on behalf of the
Commission. Willis will introduce the honorees at the ceremony, Peña will do the introduction,
and Muñoz will close. Kutzko will hand out the certificates.
Fair Housing Proclamation:
Falk accepted the proclamation at the Council’s April 2 meeting date.
Fair Housing Trainings:
Two complimentary fair housing trainings were held on April 17 to celebrate the 50TH
Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Both sessions were well attended and spent a considerable
amount of time on emotional support and companion animals.
Iowa City Pride 2018:
Willis, Coulter, McGinnis, and Peña will alternate times to staff a table at this community event
being held on June 16.
Minutes Preliminary
Human Rights Commission
April 17, 2018
Helling Conference Room
3
Juneteenth:
The event this year will continue with the annual Trailblazers Awards on June 22, followed by
the community celebration on June 23.
Reports of Commissioners:
McGinnis provided the link to a course being taught over the summer on Teaching and Learning
Iowa’s History.
Coulter reported on the Fair Housing training he had participated in earlier in the day.
Kutzko will be attending the FasTrac fundraiser and recently was appointed to the Board of
Directors for the Jones Academy of Performing Arts.
Adams recently attended a program on politics in the Sudan.
Commissioner Falk encouraged other Commissioners to listen to This American Life, the Three
Miles episode.
Commissioner Muñoz mentioned that this summer the days of the week will match up with the
dates of the original Constitutional Convention.
Willis noted a recent program on Hate Crimes was informative and well planned.
Adjournment: Motion to adjourn at 7:45 PM.
The next Commission meeting will be on Tuesday, May 15, 2018.
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Member Attendance Sheet
Member Term
Exp.
1/9 1/23 2/28 3/20 3/29 4/17 5/15 6/19 7/17 8/21 9/18 10/16
Aron 1/2021 Present Excused Present Excused Resigned Resigned
McGinnis 1/2021 Present Present Present Present Present Present
Muñoz 1/2021 Present Present Present Present Present Present
Kutzko 1/2020 Excused Present Excused Present Present Present
Falk 1/2020 Present Present Present Present Present Present
Peña 1/2020 Present Present Present Excused Present Present
Coulter 1/2019 Present Present Present Present Present Present
Adams 1/2019 Present Present Present Present Present Present
Willis 1/2019 Present Present Present Excused Present Present
City of Iowa City: Human Rights Commission
Grant: Social Justice Racial Equity
Reporting Date: April 1, 2018
Sisters @ the Center Grant Report
Recap:
Sisters at the Center’s goal is to address barriers to health and wellness for women
of color, in Iowa City and the surrounding community. By design, it consists of a
series of programs intended to educate, while simultaneously creating a sense of
connectedness for women of color. The main objective of the Sisters at the Center
program is to address disparate access to affordable recreational facilities and
health-related information. Lack of access to this information often serves as a
barrier to general health and wellness for women of color in Iowa City and in the
surrounding community. Since July 1st, 2017, we have been using grant funding
to address this objective through a variety of programming.
We have been making progress on our primary goals:
1) to increase the overall wellness of women of color in our community,
2) to decrease social isolation of women of color, and
3) to connect women of color to existing spaces such as recreation centers,
walking/biking trails, and free to low cost amenities that increase wellness
in our community.
Since November 1st, we have been offering programming in various local
facilities, to help accommodate those that want to participate in health and
wellness options. We have, and continue to offer food and nutrition classes at
different local facilities to provide information and healthy alternative options for
traditional meals. We plan to assist in bringing more women to our local farmer’s
markets this winter for community social engagement, as well as exploration of
more fruit and vegetable options. This Spring, our goal is to create and care for a
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community plot to grow vegetables that women in our program can share free of
charge.
We are making progress on our outcomes to:
1) Increase of facility utilization numbers; program participation numbers;
This fall we partnered with the City of Iowa City Recreation Department to enroll
women into a work out class called Fit Club at the Robert A. Lee Recreation
Center which was taught by a member of our online S.I.P.sters group. We also
conducted along with our Fall Power In Wellness Health Fair women a Hip Hop
Aerobics class and some local vendors participated including the local police
representative and a member of the fire department. The women really enjoyed
the class and we look foward to finding other ways to engage more women in this
class this summer. We also have a day at the Farmer’s Market that is coming up
this summer in June.
2) An increased connection to the community and an overall increase in the
knowledge of City resources; More women have attended community events
including resturant meet ups, movies during Women’s History Month, we saw
increase attendance of UI lecture series. Many women believed that they would
not have known about many of the opportunities if they were not members of the
organization. We presented to the community our Power In Wellness Health Fair
where we were able to get many organizations together and we gave able few
health and wellness doorprizes such as a starter juicer, a free massage, a free
facial. We also had a Stepping and LIne Dancing Class fro six weeks which
reached and was enjoyed by our more middle aged members. For an organization
that is intergenerational in its reach we feel we are reaching the women set out to
serve.
3) Healthier lifestyle choices by our members; We love our partnership with
Hy-Vee! Our recent Cooking Class in February included learning delicious
substitutes like mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes and other vegetarian and
vegan options for meatless meals. We were also able to have a free yoga session
where women were able to participate and some women brought their children.
We also had one additional Juicing Class which many of the elders women from
our respective communities where very engaged and appreciative as they found it
very beneficial.
4) 15% increase S.O.C. membership numbers; We have gone above and
beyond our 15% increase. When we first submitted this grant we had about 300
women and now we have increase to well over 400 women by November 2017
and now we have almost 600 women who are connecting with other women and
learning about resources, employment opportunities, social opportunities with
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other women as well as health and wellness options for not only themselves but
for their families.
We currently have engaged in, or have planned the following activities:
●Kickboxing - We are having a Mother and Daughter Kickboxing class
coming up this Spring
●Sankofa Outreach Connection is sponsoring the 8th Annual Juneteenth
Commemoration’s Health Fair section where we will pay for all vendors
table fees.
●We also have a Healthy Grilling Class happening in May 2018 where we are
partnered with Hy-Vee again.
●We are partnering with the Iowa City Farmer’s Market to hold an event or
gathering at the Farmer’s Market in June as one of our final uses of grant
dollars to connect women with the local resources at the Farmer’s Market.
●We just completed our connections conference/summit called Brighter
Future Focused (See results below: Summit Results)
Summit Results
Quantitative Findings. The respondents rated their satisfaction on five different
items. For the first item, the location of the event, respondents predominantly
were Very Satisfied or Satisfied, with 69% Very Satisfied (n=27) and 28% Satisfied
(n=11). For Date/Time, respondents were more diverse in their responses, with
56.4% Very Satisfied (n=22), 23.1% Satisfied (n=9), 15.4% Neutral (n=6), and 5.1%
Unsatisfied (n=2). For Presentations, the majority of respondents were either Very
Satisfied (75.6%, n=28), or Satisfied (21.6%, n=8). For the Round Table
Discussions, the majority of respondents again rated they were either Very
Satisfied (60.5%, n=23), or Satisfied (34.2%, n=13). The respondents rated the
time allowed for discussions less favorably with the following responses Satisfied
(44.7%, n=17, Very Satisfied (39.5%, n=15), and Neutral (15.8%, n=6).
When asked to rate how likely the respondents would be to attend an event like
this again, 100% of respondents (n=38), responded that there were Very Likely.
Another positive response came from the question, has this event increased your
connection to the community; all of the respondents rated either Very Connected
(48.5%, n=16), or Somewhat Connected (51.5%, n=17).
Qualitative Findings. Qualitative items were analyzed through thematic coding.
What did you like most about the event? For this item, four themes were
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identified. The most frequently used theme was “Discussions”, with 18
respondents, responding what they liked most about the event was the
discussions. The other three themes identified for this question included the
“Data/Report Card” with 7 responses, the “Food,” with 7 responses and the
“Keynote/Speakers” with 6 responses. One quote from this item is: “Wow - music,
location, food, REAL conversations. Totally worth my time. I will be photocopying
the "report card" and putting in each of my coworkers’ mailboxes.”
Did you learn helpful information regarding the topics? For this item, four themes
were identified. The most frequently mentioned theme was the “statistics and
data” provided at the event, with 19 responses. The other three themes identified
for this question included “Action Steps” with 4 responses,
“Collaboration/Networking” with four responses, and “Resources” with 2
responses. One quote from this item is: “Yes; the statistics presentation was so
helpful, but using it to frame our roundtable conversations was even more useful -
felt actionable!”
How have you been impacted by this conference? For this item, there were not
enough similarities for coding except for three responses about “empowerment
and connection.” One example of this is: “Empowered and more connected.” Even
though there were not identifiable themes from this item, there was still a lot of
great responses such as “Great deal - knowing other black women are making
moves,” and “This was the first time I have ever been a minority in the room. My
work is not over.”
What topic(s) would you like to see discussed next time? For this item, there were
three themes that were identified more than once. The most identified theme was
“Health,” with five respondents stating they would like to see it discussed more
next time. Two other themes were identified including “Hearing from a panel of
youth,” with three respondents, and “Coalition Building,” with two respondents
stating they would like to see it discussed next time.
Do you have any other suggestions or Comments? For this item there was only
one theme that emerged from analysis and that was “Food.” Eleven respondents
commented that they enjoyed the food at the event. Even though only one theme
was identified, there was helpful suggestions including the difficulty of parking,
one wished there was more time for discussion, and another mentioned time
management could be improved.
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Discussion
The results of this survey support that the Brighter Future Focused Summit was
successful in delivering on its mission. With 100% of respondents stating they
would be very likely to attend a similar event in the future, the organization hopes
to turn the summit into a yearly event. The majority of attendees indicated they
were either very satisfied or satisfied with the various aspects of the events. The
event was successful because it brought together a diverse group of individuals,
and a large number of respondents found the data provided helpful. An aspect of
the mission of the event was to bring individuals together, and 18 respondents
stated what they liked most about the event was the discussions, which means we
were successful, at least partially in fulfilling our mission of the event.
As we continue to develop new ways to uphold our mission, we will seek
additional partnerships with other entities in our community to provide additional
access to wellness opportunities.
Budget Update:
Classes – Trainers,
Educations, health
awareness, demos,
participant supplies,
registrations, etc.
$3,094 $1,720.86
Health Fair Cost $1,587 $1,413
Connections Summit-
Speakers/ Musicians and
travel cost
$2,949 $0
Summit supplies, food,
etc
$2,736.14 $0
Total $10,366.14 $3,133.86
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Submitted by:
Sankofa Outreach Connection,
LaTasha DeLoach, President
PO BOX 2664
Iowa City, IA 52240
319.541.0669 I www.sankofaoutreach.com I sankofaoutreach@gmail.com