Minutes_Human Rights Commisison 11 18 13CITY OF DUBUQUE
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES OF
November 18, 2013
Commissioner Allen called the meeting of the Dubuque Human Rights Commission to order at
4:31 p.m. on Monday, November 18, 2013, at the City Hall Annex, 1300 Main Street, Conference
Room II, Dubuque, Iowa.
Roll Call:
Present: Anthony Allen, Chair Howard Lee
Andrea Beacham Jeff Lenhart
Andrea Helgager Tom LoGuidice
Miguel Jackson RRS Stewart
Absent: Mike Elliott
Staff:
Carol Spinoso Kelly Larson
Manisha Paudel
Reflections
Commissioner Lenhart distributed copies of the debut issue of the Resources Unite magazine. Kelly
stated that Resources Unite is working on obtaining their nonprofit status, and that staff has been
working with them as they are interested in becoming a volunteer center.
Approval of Minutes
Commissioner LoGuidice moved to approve the meeting minutes of October 14,2013.
Commissioner Lenhart seconded. All in favor.
Reports
Caseload Report
The written report for October 2013 was received and filed. Carol will redistribute the entire
October report.
Chairperson's Report
Tabled until Goal # 1.
Director's Report:
Kelly reported that they are working on strategic planning with the Multicultural Family Center
and their board. She stated that since there is not an actual volunteer center, there is a group
of agencies that are working together collaboratively to determine how they can support each
other in volunteer efforts. The pilot program that they are working on involves the Circles
Initiative, Project Concern and Operation New View around economic opportunity. This
month they will doing some joint recruitment and volunteer recognition in January. They will
then work on creating and developing a marketing tool to be used by other agencies that
come together around a common goal and collaborative work with nonprofits so that there is
less duplication and smarter sharing about the use of resources.
Manisha has been working with the Cultural Voices group. They will be meeting with the city
departments talking about issues that community members face when accessing services.
Their goal is to increase communication and understanding and look for things to improve in
terms of services offered.
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Old Business
Review and Discuss Goals
Goal #1: Increase opportunities for citizen dialogue and education on human and civil rights:
Howard, Miguel, Anthony, Jeff, RRS, Andrea H.
Commissioners Stewart reported that she and Commissioner Allen attended the League of
Iowa Civil Rights Agencies quarterly meeting on Thursday, October 31, prior to the November
1st Iowa Civil Rights Commission Symposium. She distributed a copy of a letter from the
Council Bluffs Civil Rights Commission to the City of Omaha asking to not eliminate the
Omaha Civil Rights Commission, and an article from the Des Moines Register about the
possibility of outsourcing cases received at the Des Moines Commission to the ICRC. Other
topics included discussions about the process differences between local and state
commissions.
Goal #2: Commission business /improve HRC quality: Miguel, Howard, Anthony, Andrea B.,
Mike, Jeff
Commissioners reviewed Title 8 Chapter 5 Fair Housing. For next month's meeting
Commissioners will report on the following: Stewart 8- 5- 7(B &C); Allen 8- 5- 7(D -F); Beacham
8 -5 -8; Elliott 8- 5- 9(A &B); Helgager 8 -5 -9 (C &D); Jackson 8 -5 -9 (E &F); Lee 8 -5 -10; Lenhart 8-
5 -11 (A &B); and LoGuidice 8- 5- 11(C -F).
Goal #3: Community dialogue and education on bullying and violence:
Miguel, Howard, Andrea B., Jeff, RRS
Dubuque Community BBQ
Commissioner Jackson compiled data, based on the surveys submitted determining the
various ethnicities`in attendance, rating how comfortable they feel in Dubuque, their
neighborhood as a place to live, the job the Police are doing in addressing crime, public
transportation needs, and how well needs are being met. The data will be forwarded to Erica
in Housing, Jerelyn, Kevin Klein and Gail at Transit.
Texas Roadhouse and HyVee have not submitted invoices. It was decided that since they've
already been notified by letter to submit an invoice, they will no longer pursue and consider it
a BBQ donation.
Goal #4: Increase collaborations /partnerships to further the mission of the DHRC:
Howard, Miguel, Andrea H., RRS, Mike
Commissioner Beacham announced that Parents Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
(PFLAG) will be meeting the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. at St. Luke's United
Methodist Church. Molly Menster, Tina Sio and Cora, their daughter, will be talking about
adoption and parenting as a same sex couple.
There will be a screening of the movie Trans on Wednesday, November 20th at 6:00 p.m. at
the Mindframe Theater as part of the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
The NAACP will be meeting Tuesday, November 19th at 6:30 p.m. at the MFC.
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New Business
Confirm quorum at December 7th Goal Setting
There will be a quorum present at the December 7th goal setting session. Commissioners
Stewart and Lee are unable to attend. Commissioner Stewart requests to be conferenced in
via telephone for the December 9th regular meeting.
ACLU Report: The War on Marijuana in Black and White
Commissioner Stewart distributed copies related to racial arrest disparities in Iowa. The Iowa
profile showed that in Iowa, blacks are 8.3 times more likely than whites to be arrested for
marijuana possession. In Dubuque, blacks are 10 times more likely to be arrested for
marijuana possession. It's not clear what the ACLU will do with this data going forward.
Commissioners found this data disturbing and asked what they could do to address this. Kelly
suggested looking at what other cities have done around examining the data, looking at both
the system and individual levels. And look at what sort of measures they put into place usually
with software that can run numbers so they can look at where they are getting disparities. She
stated that they would be more effective if they focus on systems level issues. It was
suggested to have Mark Dalsing speak to them. Commissioner Stewart moved to ask Mark
Dalsing come to the December 9 commission meeting. Seconded by Commissioner
Beacham. All in favor. Commissioner Stewart moved to ask staff to gather information from
other communities and report back at the December or January meeting. Commissioner
LoGuidice seconded. All in favor.
It was suggested that the agenda be minimal so they can spend as much time as possible
focusing on the conversations with Mark Dalsing. Commissioner Stewart moved to suspend
the rule of the month and voting on the goals until the January meeting.
Commissioner Lee moved to invite the City Manager to attend a commission meeting.
Commissioner seconded. All in favor asking
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Beacham, second by Commissioner Helgager. All in favor. The
meeting of the Human Rights Commission adjourned at 5:40 p.m.
The next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 9, 2013.
Minutes approved as submitted:
Minutes approved as corrected:
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