Minutes_Safe Community Advisory Committee 6 8 11MINUTES
SAFE COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Asbury Plaza Hy -Vee, Community Room — 2395 NW Arterial
Meeting was called to order by Chair Doug Stillings @ 6:08p.m.
DRAFT
Committee members present: Doug Stillings, Anthony Allen, Mary Rae Bragg, Dinae Callahan, Ann Ernst,
Susan Stork, Amanda Elkins
Staff present: Michael Van Milligen, Terry Tobin, Jerelyn O'Connor, Kelly Larson, Phyllis Russell
Committee members absent: Rachel Daack, Jonathan Cheatham
Approval of minutes of May 11, 2011. Prior to approval Stillings asked Russell to explain the procedure
by which the committee's minutes would be submitted to City Council in the future. Russell explained
that according to the ordinance that established the Safe Community Advisory Committee (SCAC)
meeting minutes have to be submitted to the City Council within 10 days ofthe meeting. Therefore the
minutes that are submitted to the Council will be marked as DRAFT. Since the SCAC is subject to the
Iowa open meetings law and discussion on the contents of the minutes has to be conducted during a
meeting and not offline between members. Motion by Stork, second by Allen to approve minutes as
submitted. All approved.
Action Items
• Progress Reports from City Departments
o Terry Tobin, Acting Police Chief— Since 12/2009 the department is averaging 42 -46
letters per week to the landlords regarding calls for service. The curfew ordinance
changed to a Parental Responsibility ordinance, and one parent has received a letter
and the case has not proceeded beyond the initial notification. The Noise ordinance
enforcement has really ,picked up with the warmer weather. Hearing from cycle shops
that requests for work on the exhausts has picked up. Neighborhood Watch is still in
the beginning stages. Residents seem interested but no one will step up to become
captain of the program. Kick -off to summer will begin in three weeks with heavy focus
on the eastside of the city. Players Bar continues to receive numerous calls for service
(noise, fights, disorderly conduct, etc.) There has been an uptick in the last month with
business burglary. A group has been identified as possibly being responsible for the
break -ins and the investigation is continuing. Ernst requested an explanation on how
domestic violence tails are handled. Bragg asked if police tracked how many of the calls
are repeats. Tobin answered both inquiries and further discussion followed.
o Kelly Larson, Director of Human Rights Department — Submitted report Attached.
Larson noted that the biggest change to the department is enforcement arm is now
being handled by the City Attorney's Office. Human Rights still do the intake of
complaints. They continue to focus on work on intercultural competency (ICC) and what
happens when people from different cultures interact. They now have one business and
three non - profits signed on to begin the ICC training in the fall. The Speaker's Bureau,
which consists of members of the community from different cultures and backgrounds,
go around in the community speaking to different groups. Larson solicited help from
the SCAC in encouraging their involvement in the various activities centered on culture
interaction.
Callahan motion. Elkins second to receive both staff reports. All approved.
There were no items from the public
Van Milligan reported on the Realtor luncheon that was held earlier in the day at the Colts
recreation center. The luncheon focused on exposing the realtors of the city to all the
improvements being done in the Washington Neighborhood. A trolley tour of the neighborhood
followed. O'Connor reported that the event was well received.
Items from the Committee. Ernst wanted to discuss the original plan in regards to the
frequency of meetings. The ordinance states that they are to meet at least once quarterly and
have been meeting monthly so far. She suggests that they go back to the quarterly schedule
since they are not a pro- active group but a monitoring group. Van Milligen reminded them that
on July 1 st the mandatory tenant screening ordinance goes into effect. Allen and Callahan prefer
monthly meetings. It was mutually agreed upon that the monthly schedule would continue and
July 13` would be the next scheduled one. Russell will notify the committee of the location as
soon as one is reserved. Allen noted that the group needs to invite all the neighborhood
associations.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:44 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Phyllis E. Russell
ICMA Management Fellow
DRAFT
These minutes were passed and approved on
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
June 8, 2011
TO: Safe Community Advisory Committee
FROM: Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director
SUBJECT: Update on Implementation of Recommendations Related to Human
Relations
Dubuque
kettal
AI-America City
1
2007
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide an implementation update on Safe
Community Task Force recommendations specifically related to human relations and
intercultural competence, and to request your assistance.
1) The Task Force recommended a major citywide human relations effort with
these objectives as a Task Force priority:
• Increase tolerance and mutual understanding amongst diverse
segments of the population, including educational initiatives that
foster community solidarity and global citizenship.
• Our efforts to increase mutual understanding are based in
intercultural competence. This particular approach focuses on what
happens when two cultures interact, helps us build skills that allow
us to better predict misunderstanding and miscommunication, and
teaches us how to mutually adapt to one another so that people
can reach their human potential and contribute to the community as
a whole — with these skills, we can value diversity and create unity,
which is necessary for an increasingly diverse community to grow
and thrive. Since July 1, we have conducted 21 introductory training
sessions for various organizations in Dubuque including
businesses, non - profit organizations, and colleges.
• Like any skill, developing the ability to work effectively across
cultural differences is learned over time and with experience.
Consequently, we are encouraging organizations to make a longer
term commitment to developing competence, creating steering
teams within their own organizations to continue skill development
efforts. Currently, we are very close to finalizing agreements to
work with one private business and three non - profit organizations
over the coming year to develop their own internal steering
committees.
• Implement appropriate measures to safeguard rights and
opportunities of all.
• We have taken measures to safeguard rights by enlisting the aid of
the City Attorney's office with case investigations. This permits us
to take on additional work in the area of prevention without
sacrificing the need to insure that legal protections continue to be
enforced. Human Rights staff continues to handle phone calls and
visits from the public and provide counseling and training regarding
the law so that people are aware of their legal rights and
responsibilities. We've handled approximately 500 inquiries this
year, conducted a public hearing, drafted 3 findings of probable
cause, drafted 11 findings of no probable cause, drafted 7
administrative closures, and conducted several mediations. We
also conducted 5 trainings related to fair housing and 2 general
legal overviews.
• Another part of our work to safeguard rights and opportunities
relates to creating environments where people feel welcome and
included. We are encouraging affinity groups that provide social
support and networking /mentoring for gay and lesbian youth and for
African - American middle school students. We also are in the
process of developing a group with Latino residents.
• A final part of our work to safeguard rights and opportunities relates
to addressing systemic barriers. Our partnerships with Project
H.O.P.E., the Bridges Initiative, and other programs designed to
remove barriers to self - sufficiency are examples.
2) The Task Force recommended that intercultural competence training be
offered periodically to businesses and the community at large, including
City staff and City Board and Commission members.
• City staff have participated in three mandatory 3.5 hour training sessions
(a total of 10.5 hours) around intercultural competence and intercultural
conflict styles since we first began our intercultural work in 2006. We also
offer "mini- tips," which are hour long optional training sessions, throughout
the year. This year, we offered optional sessions on race, disabilities, and
generations in the workplace. Since July, we have offered two
foundational sessions for City staff who have joined the organization in the
past year. In October and again in April, we offered five hours of training
for Board and Commission members and we will offer sessions again in
September. We have opened those sessions to the general public as
well. Since July 1, we have conducted 21 training sessions for various
additional organizations in Dubuque including businesses, non - profit
organizations, and colleges.
• Within the City organization, we also offer ongoing intercultural tips in our
newsletter and at management team meetings, and the members of our
intercultural steering, training, tips and media teams do additional skill
development. We are currently working on a five year report that will
highlight work we have done to implement the 2006 recommendations of
One Ummah Consulting around creating an inclusive work environment
for City staff and supporting an inclusive community.
3) Raising awareness amongst the general public and developing individual
ambassadors through intercultural competence training who can then talk
with others about what they have learned.
• Most of our work with the general public occurs when we are invited into a
business, organization, or classroom to do intercultural competence
training. When we do these trainings, we also look for opportunities to
work to build steering teams who continue to develop intercultural skills
and who then, in effect, become the ambassadors for taking an
intercultural approach to conflicts and issues that arise around cultural
differences. Anyone who attends a training may choose to take on the
role of becoming an ambassador informally. Formally, we would like to
see people come together within or across organizations to form their own
groups that are committed to continuing to develop intercultural skills.
4) Encouraging community wide support of the intercultural competence
initiative by engaging colleges, churches, and businesses.
• As we have begun shifting our focus to include additional prevention
efforts, we have been reaching out to the groups identified. We have
offered 21 training sessions to various organizations as mentioned above.
Another piece of building intercultural skills involves providing the
opportunity for dialogue and interaction across cultural differences. We do
this through our volunteer speakers' bureau, and we have had over forty
engagements in the past year encouraging dialogue around issues related
to sexual orientation, race, disabilities, and national origin.
5) A human relations initiative that could include programs in the arts,
cultural programs, and other strategies that promote respect and
understanding amongst residents.
• The Human Rights Department staff works with two other community
organizations — faces & voices and the Multicultural Family Center - on
arts and cultural programs designed to raise awareness of the cultures in
our community. Since last fall, the Multicultural Family Center has
sponsored a Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service, Dr.
Carver's Workshop, Dia de la Raza, Native American Heritage Dancers
and Storytellers, Multicultural Holiday Celebration, a public reading of
"Crowns" for Black History Month, Taste of the World, Cesar Chavez
Day, Cinco de Mayo, the Marshallese Constitutional Day Celebration, and
monthly visits by the African American Museum of Iowa from September
through February. In addition, Juneteenth is scheduled for June 19.
Faces & voices sponsored the Dr. King Tribute Days in January and also
supported the Marshallese Constitutional Celebration.
• Currently, we are struggling to find sufficient numbers of community
volunteers who can assist with fundraising, planning, and implementing
these programs. We also are aware that there are other organizations in
the community, particularly in the education field, who offer cultural events
throughout the year that are open to the general public. On June 9, we
will be having a joint meeting amongst various partners to discuss
improved collaboration and how we might better maximize our resources,
support each others' events, and avoid duplication. Following this
meeting, we hope to begin soliciting additional volunteers.
• These cultural awareness programs are important to raising awareness of
the various cultures residing in Dubuque and sending a message of
inclusion. The goal of promoting respect and understanding, however,
requires intentional effort and interaction across cultural differences, which
we is why we also do the intercultural work discussed above.
6) Encouraging the Dubuque Community School District to develop a
meaningful intercultural competence program for students at all levels.
• Human Rights Department staff have had initial conversations with the
DCSD staff, though we have not yet determined the modifications that
would be needed in our program in order to make it appropriate for a K -12
education setting.
7) Engaging community volunteers of various races and income levels in a
monthly "Days of Caring" initiative by encouraging businesses to allow
volunteers to participate on work time.
• There is an annual community -wide Days of Caring that involves
numerous volunteers and non - profit organizations throughout Dubuque.
This April, City staff and local residents formed a team of nearly fifty
volunteers who performed work for the Washington Neighborhood
Development Corporation. Nearly every employee from the Human
Rights and Housing Departments, along with various staff from other
departments, served on the team, as did a number of community
members. The volunteers assisted homeowners in the Washington
Neighborhood and small business owners along Central Avenue in doing
painting and other cosmetic work. Many of the homeowners who received
assistance were identified through the Housing Department exterior home
inspection program.
Finally, we would like to request your assistance. We understand that we play a
leadership role in our office related to these efforts — we can provide opportunities to
learn and interact across cultures, mediate disputes, and handle legal matters.
However, the ultimate success of our efforts will depend on the extent to which each of
us, as individual community members, commits to our own development. There are
many ways you can contribute. You can volunteer to assist with fundraising and
planning cultural events with faces & voices and the Multicultural Family Center. You
can invite us into your organization to do some training. You can encourage your
employer, church group, community organization, or group of friends to sit down with us
and explore ways you might create your own group committed to learning more about
intercultural competence. You can be part of our Speakers' Bureau and share your
stories of what you have learned about interacting effectively across cultural differences.
You can also call us with feedback so that we continue to learn and improve.