recording in progress. the internet, I guess. Good evening and welcome to the Taska Human Rights Commission meeting for Thursday, May 22nd, 2025. Um, first up on our agenda is the
roll call. Will you please call the role? Commissioner Hubard, Commissioner Han here. Commissioner Walbert here. Commissioner Gotti here. Commissioner Sanderson, Commissioner Me here, Commissioner Duffy, Commissioner Lassour, Chair Carlson
here. Great. We don't have an open forum this e or excuse me any guest presentation this evening. Um we had u I had previously scheduled an individual to be here but due to their conflict um it looks like and their potential
vacation schedule we might not see them until July. So, um, sorry, but we've got a lot to cover, I think, tonight with our upcoming Pride celebration and talking about River City Days,
maybe. So, let's move forward. Um, you were all sent the minutes from our meeting in March 27th. We were unable to have a meeting in April because there was a lack of quorum. Um, So, are there any questions,
comments, corrections um that you may have about the March 27th meeting? If not, may I have a motion to approve? So moved. Thank you, Kevin. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Brit. Yeah.
Um, all in fa uh if there's no other questions, all in favor of approving the minutes of March 27th, signify by saying yes. Yes. Yes. It's something new. Yeah, I'm mixing it up. Make sure we're listening. Yeah. Thank you so much. Ely,
would you be so kind to share the treasures report with us? Uh, sure. This evening, uh, really not a lot has changed. uh at the March meeting, you approved the Pride Celebration Committee's budget of $2,000. So that's
reflected um in your balance at the bottom. However, I will note that as expenses are incurred and um we come up with final totals at the end of the event. Anything that's not spent will be put back into the balance.
Are there any questions about our treasury amount? Having heard none, may I have a motion to approve? So moved. Motion made by Hana, excuse me, Jui, seconded by Kevin. If there's
no further discussion or questions, um, please signify by your approval by saying yes. Yes. Yes. Excellent. Eyes or nos? The yeses have it. Okay, into our regular business
activities for the month. Um, I don't think we have anything going in our human rights celebration or women's appreciation. However, I'll turn to Jennifer, Kevin, and Juhi to talk about
pride. Pride and our wonderful postcards. Thank you IL for these postcards. Um who will give the report? I'll give the report but feel free to jump in if you guys want to. Um things
are really coming together and um we just have some loose ends that we're finishing up. We're about a little less than a month away from the event which will be on Saturday, June 21st from 3 to
6:00 p.m. at Mcnite Park. Um so so far we have um some committed partners with with us. Uh we have the Chesca Parks and Wreck, Carver County Public Health, um Carver County
Behavioral Health and Housing, Sweet Salon, and Latino Voices. Um Latino Voices is thrilled to help out with us this year, but they're trying something new. They're not going to have a table. they're gonna kind of mingle throughout
um our event and just talk to people, hand out their information and just connect with people that way. But they're also willing to help us out with, you know, setup cleanup. They've always been great about helping with that.
Um, also, uh, Zenda and yoga. I talked with Christa and right, she answered right away and said yes to a yoga class and yes to a table. So, she will have both of those.
Um, I've also contacted Shepherd of the Hill, Crown of Glory, and Chaza Maribian Church who have all said they will send a couple people um to have, you know, a faith community table. They're going to get together and
figure out what they're going to do with their table, but they're really happy to be back at at the event. Um I don't Elise, you might want to talk a little more about this. On my notes, it says the library is not participating
this year. That is correct. Um conversations I've had with them, they were um they're unable to participate this year for various reasons. So I have reached out and asked them for a list of books that you know maybe we can give
give the list out to folks so that they can um people can check out books or do whatever. Have you um talked to them about maybe borrowing their button maker? I need to follow up on that.
Okay. Because I know that that's something people love to do. So, we might need a little lesson on how to do it. If we were wanting to do a story time like we did last year, I'd be willing to
like read the book and do the story time. Great. Okay. We could probably, you know, find out a couple of books that they have from their list and check them out of the library and then just have Kevin story time. That would be great.
got some practice over the last nine months. [Laughter] [Music] Um the DJ um Zach Sarasig has confirmed that he will be there and so we're
really happy to have him back. And the food truck Coffee on Wheels will be there. Um, Nautical Bowls isn't available, but um, we're talking with Pizza Karma to see if they could maybe
join us for that, which is also a a great choice, I think, you know. I mean, pizza is always a great choice, but theirs is really great. Um, then we'll have ice cream. Now, we were
talking about the flavors. Are we going to do two this year? Is that what we So, I think the biggest challenge we have at Mcnite is that there's there's freezer space, but not a lot of it. And so, um maybe pairing down the typically
offer vanilla, chocolate, and superman. Um, and we won't be able to store enough in there or keep it cold because we've kind of rotated it because it gets warm. Um, so we're still trying to figure that out, but we thought if we went down to
two two kinds, that would make it a little bit easier. And what two kinds have you selected? Well, we were talking about that it would be vanilla and Superman because that is dairyf free and is rainbow colored and so
Um, if people got vanilla, we could also get colored sprinkles to jazz it up a little bit. And if we wanted, we could get chocolate syrup, you know, for those people who need to have their chocolate.
And does that sound reasonable? I think so. Um, I had a question about that, too. Have you checked on the bowls, spoons, and napkins supplies? Uh, we have some down there, but we'll probably have to pick up a few more before the event.
Um, our activities are the tie-dye t-shirts. Um, we're purchasing a hundred t-shirts um that have a Chesca Pride logo on the front, but it's the same logo as last year, but we will not have
the sponsors on the back and we will not say the year printed on the t-shirt. Um, so we can carry them from year to year. And if we want in the future to have a special Chesa Pride logo, we can think
about that for future years. Um, we'll have the selfie station, bubbles and chalk, um, beads for bracelets, the block party wagon, which has a lot of yard games, and hopefully it's going to be sunny and
really great to be in the lawn this year. Um, face painting. I talked to Sophia and she is really excited to join us again. Um, she'll see if she has a couple friends to help out. So, um, we have to check on how much
face paint we have left and then just get enough that we can have some on hand. Um, also, side note, Sophia just graduated with her AA degree this week
and, um, her high school graduation is coming up next week, but she's already gotten her degree, so she's very excited about that. That's great. Um, we'll have a sensory friendly area.
So, if people want a break, then there's a place to go. Um, I still am working on connecting about this community art project, but I think we landed on that we are going to do this underwater
scene. Um Cassie Burnernhard had told me that she could do like an underwater mural like on a fabric um that's just like the sea and then people could either create
their own um sea creatures or underwater plants or whatever. Um or she could even make some pre-made ones and they could decorate them and stuff. And so we just have all these unique and creative things that make up the community. Um,
and they could put them on the mural. Does that sound like a a good plan for this year? Okay. I will continue to reach out to her so we can get that going.
Um, advertising for this year is going to be um, we're in the parks and wreck brochure. and we'll we're on the city website. Social media posts are coming.
We figure when it's closer to the date, it sticks in the mind a little bit better. So, um let's see. Oh, and we put in a request to be included on Lavender's website for their list of events.
Um, and then also the lovely postcards that Sarah had mentioned that Elise brought tonight. And we can when you're out and about in town, just kind of ask if you can leave one on the table or, you know, if they're willing to post it in their window or give them to your
friends. Um, I just had a couple other questions for Elise. Um, can you put on your shopping list to have bottled water for the commissioners and to make sure that the water is
turned on at the park? Yes. Thank you. And then also a question about did they have the same kind of picnic tables with the webbing kind? Remember last year we had trouble with coloring and stuff
because there wasn't a flat surface. I'm sure Um, I'll have to look and see what's there. If they're kind of the the metal or plastic tables versus wood tables. I don't know which one because I think we should maybe put like even like
cardboard down or something on the tables. We're doing art projects, so it makes it a little easier to do. That's all I have unless there's questions. Thanks. You guys have been working hard.
Thank you so much. Um, I do have a couple questions. [Music] Um, so um in talking or in thinking through the um kind of what who's been committed to
having space. Um have we heard anything from Carver County Pride? I have not I have not reached out to them. Honestly, that was me. I dropped the ball and forgot to reach out to them. Okay. So, do you have a contact there?
Um yes. I'll have to look it up because I don't remember on top of my head. Would we want to reach out to them? If if they are available, they're welcome to be there. I mean, we would, you know, love to give a little
um promo for their event that's coming up. I think it's at a different time of year this year. So, yeah, September. So, it might be kind of nice to let people know that that's coming up in the fall. When Ren and Juhi and I were at Carver
County Pride last year, um I think I remember that a new group in Hutchinson. I don't know if you remember that, but they came over and said that they were just beginning to start a program, a a pride program in Hutch, Hutchinson. And
I'm just wondering if we want to reach that far out. um because they were they were impressed with having Chaza at a Carver County event even though we were not kind of in the main area of of that
program. But I and it could be that they are not doing anything, but I somewhere I remember in the back of my brain that Hutchinson was was trying to establish a community group. Do you know if they have like a human rights commission or
do you know what kind of group was planning it? Um Julie, if you don't remember, Ren's not here. I just remember her coming up. I I can see her face and talking about we're really we're really excited about moving into and having
programming further in the in the county. Well, we can look into it. Sure. I was just going to say I'd be I'll be happy to go back to my notes after that event and see if I actually seems to me I wrote her name down and it Yes, you're
so right. I just cannot remember now what she was. Okay. Um I'll go back and check. Okay. Let us know because we can reach out to them and we can find out when theirs is if they're having one and you know let
people know about it. Sure. Um and the other thing was is I was wondering if you had reached out to Little Ruse. I have not. Um that is someone we also could reach out to though to see right if they
have if they're interested in in participating. I mean I to show their support. I know they've been a real supporter of you know LGBTQ community in this city and you know the area. So
that's a good idea you know. So I just sent Chesa uh not Chesa or Chesca Carver County Pride an email. So great. Yeah. Uh because otherwise I would have forgotten again. Okay. Um so
if and when they respond I'll forward the email on to you. Thank you. Great. Thanks. Um uh and then the only other thing I can remember from last year is although we poured all of the tie dye stuff
together, I don't know how long tie dye lasts or the dye. Would that still be good last year? I dumped all the liquid because it would just evaporate anyway. Oh, never mind. So, we have some packets that we didn't
use. I'll probably order a another set. So, we have a full set of colors. Okay, great. Do we still have the bottles from Yes, I saved all the bottles. I just it that liquid wasn't going to last. Right.
Okay. All right. Great. Um, well, thank you committee for doing all the hard work. One thing I thought of to Elise is were were gonna be able to get some bags this year for people to bring like grocery
bags. Okay. Um I will add or whatever. We could also bring in like members of the committee because I know everyone has a bag of bags. Yeah. So maybe we could just do that. Yeah. If everybody can bring their bags
that would be great. Otherwise I'll six of us. So, if we brought 10, then that'd be like I got at least like 30. Yeah, I might have a bunch of stuff from last year. I got to I got to check at least instead of buying another box that has
more bottles since we already have the bottles. I know they just sell the packets, the dyes. So, instead of buying more plastic, just buying the packets, I think, since we don't I'll take a look and see what's available. Just a suggestion. Okay, great.
Um, anything else that we can do to help create this wonderful event that we're doing? Um, going back to the bags quickly? Sure. Elise, do you want to send an email out to us to let us know
if we have some or if we should be bringing them in? Yeah. What I'll do is we don't have another meeting before the actual event and so probably that week I'll send something out to the whole committee just reminding here's the times going to set up and if you have
any bags that sort of thing that'd be good. Um I can look into this Hutchinson group. I'll keep in contact with you and then I can also reach out to Little Ruse um to see if they have interest in
joining us too. Melissa has um she was one of the uh gift certificate individuals that helped support the art contest for the Dr. King celebration. And so I know that
she still has passion for what it is that we're doing, particularly at this event. Um and um so yeah, I would I would I would feel remiss if we did not reach out. Definitely. Yeah. Um the other question,
what was my other question they had? I'll think of it later. Okay. You'll let us know about Carver or you'll let Alise know about Carver County Pride. I just feel like um this is a an arena that as many folks
as we can help be allies to we need to we need to do that. So thank you again for doing that. Ran and Kichchi, are there any other questions about Pride? Elise, were you able to get in touch with Rachel? Yes, you did. Okay. Yep. She's committed. Okay, we'll be there.
Perfect. Um, River City Days. Uh, Ren and Ki are not here, so I don't have any updates from them. Do you by chance? Um, neither do we have anything on
cultural heritage. Um, indigenous peoples I'm looking to you Hana although I know your Ki is not here. Okay. Yes, we do not have enough. Okay. So,
basically community outreach. There's the three of you are here so I can call on you. I started an email to Kevin to set up a meeting. Excellent. Yes. Good job. Great. Yeah. Um well, we'll
look forward to seeing um the response. Okay, great. Terrific. Um are there any other questions that we need to cover about our our planned activities before we get into our
funding request policy? Okay. So, uh, way back in February. Yeah, February, I think, because we were going to talk about this at our That's not true. In March, I guess, is when you first put it together, because we couldn't meet in
April. Um and so this has been just kind of sitting there waiting for comments and um ideas about how this policy um or a policy could help the guy to
help future human rights commission. So, a little background. Um, when Jennifer was uh chair, do you want to talk about uh financial commitments at that time when you were chair? Um, I'm not sure what capacity you're
talking right now. So, I don't know. I'll just wing it. You jump in. I'll jump in if I can. Yeah. Okay. So in the past when organizations approach the human rights commission, they would um in all probability approach either
the chairperson or somebody that was on the commission and at that time um and even when I first joined the commission uh financial requests would come in and the commission would discuss the event
um and uh take appropriate action. The kinds of action or the kinds of commission um uh community members that approached us were uh the Southwest Chamber
uh Launch Ministry um um I can't you help me with the first name of the drums organization or the Tao Drums. Tao Drums. Thank you. Um, Carver County Pride,
uh, Mikasa, Hooked on Books, um, I think is kind of just the the general list that that of organizations that have come to us and said, are you willing to partner with us on X, Y, or Z
event or be present with us at our activities? And so at that time it was a pretty much early on it was a pretty informal process in terms of organizations would approach us they would be discussed and dollar amounts
would be um authorized from the commission. In recent years we've had specific requests and they've come to us in the form of either mostly in in writing um prompted by a commission
member saying, "Well, could you put that in writing to us?" And so from the basis of having a guideline um for those individuals that would like
to partner with the Human Rights Commission, I think these this does the fits the bill for us. Um, I'm hoping that uh we can be
uh thoughtful as we look to um move forward on this. I I think that there is um on the pluses and minuses of the policy that's been drafted for us. Elise
was kind enough to put thoughts on paper. Many of it is is u is is are great ideas. I think that where we might have some flexibility or where you might want to consider talking about
is the sustainability and feasibility of the proposals that get submitted to us. Um what must be submitted to us in writing. Um
the the ability for partner organizations to say Uh can we deliver this uh proposal? Um how do we address interim
requests because that too has been an issue for us. Um the request will come in midmon or right after one meeting. We can't we don't meet until very and the event is upcoming. It's like right on
their calendar. So yes, that could be a planning issue on their part, but how how and can we accommodate those kinds of lastm minute requests to us? And then I guess one of the final issues is is
that what do we see ourselves as? Are we a funding mechanism for other programming in the community? um wearing our human rights hat knowing that our human rights hat is funded by the city of Chaza. So in an example,
I'll just pull um hooked on books. They came to us um they wanted uh a large commit financial commitment from us in order for us to be placed in their publicity.
um how did that impact what would that partnership have brought us? What would be the return I guess on our if we talk about business our return on investment? We put in $1,000 for an event, what how
will that positively impact our operations, our programming for the human rights commission? Um, so as it turned out, we gave them a hundred dollars this last year. But but that's beside the point. I think it's
it's the philosophical question of how do we look at ourselves going forward as we try to put a more formal guideline in um in place?
what is it that the Human Rights Commission uh will derive? How will we benefit? Um and how do we evaluate that benefit when we're taking a look at the programming that that may come to us? Um
and then I guess the the final piece in all of that is that we want to be responsible to our source of funding and that source is the city of Chaza. And so,
um, we want to be able to show, demonstrate, um, that if we partner with, if we host an event with that that relationship, that financial commitment
um, has a benefit for the human rights commission, for the city of Chaza, and then ultimately the city of Chaza. So, those are kind of all of my thoughts. I know that Elise, like I said, she put this program or this policy draft
together for us to consider. Um, I'm hoping that you've had a chance to take a look at it and have some thoughts about it. Um, so kind of just throw that. Oh, so have I touched on the issues that perhaps you faced when you were chair
and people came to you for donations? Yes, there wasn't a very scientific method of how we went about it. Um, and I think I have seen definitely an increase in um requests
that have come in and almost all of them have been very worthy causes. But I think it's important to have this written document that gives us real
guidelines to guide us guidelines to guide us to our decisions of, you know, if we're going to help um financially with that or if we're better supporting it through like inind
donations. I know years ago we um supported the pow-wow. Um, no commissioners could be there. We did not have the funds for it, but we could
donate snacks and water and um that would and they they considered us supporting them as one of their people in their um literature and stuff that you know they were partners with us. And it also showed
that here's another thing that the Human Rights Commission, you know, believes in and really wants the community to be a part of even though that weekend no commissioners could actually be there. Um, so I think by having a written
document that it's going to, you know, have us look at what kind of like do we want to do financial, do we want to do in kind, do we want to do volunteering at something? Um, do we want to pass out flyers if they need us
to? Or, you know, even help set up and clean up or something if that would be helpful. But I think having some specifics to look at and go back to would help us decide what we're going to
do with the budget we've been given and what we're able to do with it. Thoughts? I think this is a really good thing considering how many within the past two years how many requests we've gotten for funding. Um, the way we do it
at my school, if we're going to request from student government or the booster club for funding, there's a formal application process that we have to follow. So, there's a form and a spreadsheet in which we have to detail what we're going to do with the money, how much we want, and it all goes into a database on their end, so they're able
to track it. And then afterwards, we actually have to go in front of them and present what our cause is, what exactly we're doing again with the money. And then at the end they decide whether or not we're going to get that funding or how much they're going to grant. So if we requested $300, we might not get
$300. We could get $100. So I think that's something that we could adopt for commission purposes just because we have a limited budget. We don't get any budget renewals throughout the year. We're at a fixed amount and we already
have so many events that we do. And I in past years it's not been a lot of money left over at the end of the year. So I would hate for us to have an event like cultural heritage month which is closer to the end of the year and realize that we don't have enough funds left to do
everything we want to do because we've financially supported other organizations. So I guess what I'm trying to say is I think there should be a application process which if you use Google form it can be fed into a spreadsheet and I
think that's one way we can look at it just to document how many requests a particular organization has made if it's a recurring thing and decide whether or not we want to make that a recurring partnership or not. But for our purposes and tracking, I think that's important. And also just it makes it seem more
official and so parties are less likely to come to us last minute asking for funding because if it's last minute, then we as a commission really can't discuss it and analyze whether or not it's going to benefit us directly. I think also to your point is that over
the past few years we have really um committed to a few larger events each year. They're annual events and we have some history so we have an idea of what the budget is.
If we could at the beginning of the year set aside x amount because we guess that's approximately how much we'll spend on the large events, then we have kind of a separate budget that's like our wiggle room money. And that's where
we can, you know, evaluate how much we can um donate to other events or groups and then how much we might need for some of our smaller um things throughout the year. In your
work, Kevin Hana Brit, have you found that you've seen an increase in other organizations coming to your entity asking for funds because
their funding has been cut? I'm just curious. I don't know if and I don't even know if your your businesses your work time if that is even an appropriate thing that somebody would come or contact your organization that you work for and say, "Hey, I'd like to
have some money to do X or um not directly to us since we're a nonprofit and we ask for funds, right?" But um but I we have heard from funders that there's been an increase in requests to the funders. Yeah, I would
say something very similar that like when for nonprofit when we've gone to like other funders, they're like, yeah, like this money's kind of been tapped out or is being tapped out for very similar reasons because the calls and
the asks for funding has increased. Um there's been definitely I mean in ter not in terms of funding but in terms of resources these last few months I've seen quite a bit of residents asking in
terms of you know rental assistance or food assistance or so I've seen those types of asks go up but for nonprofit we don't get a lot of funding asks. Um, and I don't know if you're it's a
law firm. I don't know. Yeah. No, I mean our firm we, you know, primarily interact with and work for like entrepreneurs and startups and so they're not necessarily coming to us for funding
requests. Um, we assist with fundraising for some of them, but more like a a business fundraising standpoint with like investors and equity involved. Sure. Um
as opposed to donations, right? Yeah. Um but I I mean I do get the sense that because you know they're startups and entrepreneurs and money is usually tight. It's like even tighter than
usual. So, well, I think the timing is right for us and that's the whole reason why I wanted to ask you. I think the timing is right that we try to put something
um more uh specific than oh sure just contact the city and maybe they'll support us. I think that this it's I think it's the right time um to try to
formulate some sort of guidelines. Um, if you recall last year, the um, Mikasa came to us, no, excuse me, Latino Voices came to us and asked for assistance in their
um, Day of the Dead celebration. And we had um a formal request uh their executive director put together a formal request uh initially asking
for please don't hold me to this number but probably one let's say $1,000. After we reviewed that and with Alisa's guidance and the accounting department's guidance, we realized that there were some things that we could not help financially with them. and and I
think it was mostly around prizes and so that their a dollar amount although originally requested at X we funded at a different level a lower level um so that we could meet all of the appropriate guidelines that we are limited to and so
I think having that process and they put together a great proposal detailing all that they wanted to do how they felt it would benefit the community and their expenses Um what we're suggesting with this uh
guideline um is that a proposal would need to include background organization background on the organization, a description of the project or the partnership. What are we going to do together? Um what are the goals? That
makes sense. Um what is the request? You know, are they asking, like Jen alluded to, are they asking for bodies? Are they asking for our smiling faces? Are they asking for us to be physically present? Or are
they asking for actual financial donation? Um, what's the timeline? Hopefully, it's not next week when they submit this proposal. And um and then I guess the biggest one is
is how does their request align with the things our goals, our strategies, our our um the bones of what it is that the human rights commission does. Does that all make sense? So we're basically
asking them to put in writing document what it is that they want to do. what are what do they think the results will be? What are they asking for? And the that kind of
formal maybe not necessarily formal, but I guess it could be a a handwritten document um would come to the commission and we would take a look at it and we'd say we'd discuss it, we'd review it, we'd
say yes, this meets our guidelines. Yes. Um, no, we don't think that we can do that. That really isn't our avenue for promoting and encouraging a community of belonging here in
Chaska. So, um, I've done a lot of talking. Any any thoughts? Any Thank you, Judy, for sharing what your school does. I like that. Yeah, I like that. We're gonna
make or create sort of some consistency between the requests and that um you know the information ask for people coming to us is clear and would result
in a presentation of data that we would find helpful for evaluating you know whether it's a good fit for the committee. Um, I did notice so on the back here the proposal process that we just walked
through the there isn't really a bullet point specifying what is the request. It just so it goes from three which is goals and expected outcomes to four which is the funding amount requested if applicable. So I would say maybe we want to put in
like if this is the form that we're sending out um an additional bullet point that says you know what is the request and if it is financial then move to this next bullet just as a sort of nitpicky item.
So there's very specific. So we So we know Yeah. Is it Are you asking for volunteers? Are you asking for a financial commitment? Are you asking for resources? You know where we maybe supply water, books, pamphlets, I don't
whatever. Yeah. Anything like that. I would think that from this written document, we would create, and please tell me if I'm wrong, but we would create a a form that when organizations
come to us, we can we can say this is the information that you need to submit to us. Um and um I guess I'm a little bit hesitant about
um for me um the initial request. If I read this, I understand this. I I know all the the reasons why this is good. But if I was an
organization that was just beginning, I I might feel a little intimidated by this official language. And so I'm thinking a form um might be a less
um less intimidation, I guess, a form that says who are you? Kind of the who, what, where, when, why. What is it that you're seeking from the ask a human rights commission. Um, but I don't know if that would meet
our meet all of these things that we've detailed. I'm just thinking about an organization that may be beginning maybe um um uh who's beginning the process and uh may have language
um that is not English. um just being able to ensure um adaptability I guess. Does that am I am I trying to No. And I
think that makes sense. This would be more of an internal policy document that we're aware of. Um on the form, what we could do is like this the guiding principles. We could put something like we could just take these guiding principles and put it at the top and
then some of the questions we ask could you know refer back to that like how does your request align with our mission? Um what is the community benefit that you know
this event you're putting on or the project that you're completing like how would it benefit the community? um and tie it back to those sort of guiding principles. And then I don't know if we'd want to put in
the exclusions. Well, let's talk about the exclusions. Can we go back to what we were talking about? Yeah, sure. Of course. Because I had a thought too that um you know, some people are better at communicating through writing and some are better in
person when you're face to face or something. Um, what if we recommended if someone came and said, "I have an idea for a project. I need some funding." And you say, "Well, we have this form. Please fill this out,
but could you please come to our guest presentation at our next scheduled meeting?" They could talk a little bit about it. We could ask specific questions that maybe we didn't get out of the form. answers that they gave. Um,
so they had a chance to explain it a little bit better before we started discussing, you know, whether we could support this project or not. I like that idea. And I think that could also be a spot on the form in which you fill out
the form and if you'd like to come in and talk about it, you check the box and there's this feature where you can do conditional. based on the answer that they choose, it could take them to another spot that shows our next meetings, which will check whichever ones work for you. And then obviously that would go to the back end, whoever's
managing and looking at all of the results and things that are coming through the requests. So then we could manage based off of that and then we get a heads up from the back end and then we also see all the answers that they provided in the beginning and then if we
determine just based off of the responses that it's something we don't want to support then it just stops there and we just send them an email with whatever contact information that they've provided saying that unfortunately we can't support this. If it's something we want to see and they want to come in then wonderful and that's then we'll be in contact with
them to set it up. Exactly. I think about I mean if I send you a text it may come across very differently than if I'm talking to you in person, you know. So I think some people would really appreciate getting to explain it
um you know in verbally rather than than writing it down present something. We have many people come in with presentations which can be very helpful. also shows commitment to actually going through with it which is
important and questions will come up and instead of just saying oh we need to email them to clarify this we can ask right then I there was another thing mentioned I'm not sure who brought it up but just the turnaround time in terms of last minute
requests which could happen I think there needs to be a minimum amount of time in between your event and the time you submit your request because We meet monthly and that can kind of hinder some things in terms of event planning for an
external party. So they should be aware of how long the turnaround time is going to take. And if they're expecting an actual whatever it is, financial, monetary, I think if it's not financial, it's easier for us to do because we don't have to approve a budget. We just show up and we're volunteering whatever
it is there. But if it's financial, there needs to be a minimum amount of time in between when that request is put in and when the actual So that'd be a caveat I'd say we put at the top before they go and fill out the whole form. Almost like a policy this
get in place that says we can only do this if we have enough time. Yes. Yes. Because too often in the past I would say that we get the request and it's just like well we can't do anything with it.
Um and so that's not I mean so yes and what is a reasonable time is it 90 days if the time let's just let's take this month the request comes in
tomorrow all right the next time we meet will be after pride and they they want to do a program August 1. Well is that does that give us a enough time. I think so. I think we just should say like, you know, we meet
monthly. We would, you know, we have to be able to discuss this before. Yeah. And we have to vote on things at meetings. I mean, so I I think if that's clearly just stated in the request form,
then I mean, yeah, you could you could say it takes four to five weeks to process each request. Yeah. It's not a judgment call on that specific um organization or anything. It's just that's how we have to do things because we need to be at a meeting to vote on
things. It's not COVID anymore. So, we can't do, you know, email voting. Well, Elise, you've heard our ideas. What What do you think? I mean, it's easy enough to put together an application form. We can make an online
version if people want to do that or we can make like a fillable PDF that they can just type in or print out and write out. That's totally fine. Uh we do have built into the policy asking them to attend a meeting and we'll just make sure that that's clear on the application form. Is the form something
we could link to our page on the city's website? Okay. All right. So like if they go to the human rights commission Yep. I would just have um um our uh communications staff just add a a page underneath the human rights
commission page that if you're interested I was about to say that exact thing because you mentioned adaptability and accessibility to the forum. I think the more places we put it and the more we talk about it, the more we'll seem approachable because we're actually
promoting it versus just we have this but we don't actively promote it because we don't really want to do it. So I think that would make the difference in terms of how visible we make the funding request. In terms of the language that's on it, I think to an extent it does need to be formal to ensure that they
understand that this is serious and it's coming out of a budget that is not renewed except for once annually. So I think that's important for accessibility. I think it's important to put somewhere on there that
um that maybe the form like someone someone can meet with the person if they can't fill out the form or you know if they need it in a different language or something because that I've heard from many immigrants is one of the hardest things is filling out forms for them
when they first come to this country because we are used to that speaking English everything we get is in English if that's not your first language and it's not the way that they did it where you were
before then it's very confusing if you use I mean I think it depends on what form we use but if you use Google that usually you can use all the languages that Google translate okay yeah we would have to get the the whatever they type in we would have to translate it sure but we could use
Google translate too and then invite them here and say now we need to sit and figure out what we're both trying to say I think it might I mean I I wonder what you all think, but I think it might be helpful to give like an upper limit to
how much money I was wondering if we wanted to put something in there about, you know, our typical Yeah. funding because it's not Yeah. like a lot of my job is going around and asking for money. And it's not insignificant to like fill out a
form and then plan my evening around coming to a meeting and then if it's $50 I'm going be like was that Yeah. It's a lot of work. And so I think for people to know kind of what the Yeah. What what kind of the Yeah. What
the limit might be. Right. Right. Would that language um be something like um funding to a maximum of or we could say in the past, you know, our commitments have
ranged between these amounts. Yeah. The city has a limited budget or the commission has a limited budget. Yeah. So, you know, we could say if it's ranged between, you know, one and $500 and they were looking for eight grand, they know that's very unlikely. This is
not this is not the funding source. Um, I'm trying to think. I was on the I was on Carver Countyy's website this afternoon and it said I was looking at a particular page and it said grants are available up to and they I think they put a maximum
dollar amount. So, let's I I think it was $2,500, but with an asterisk that said um each request is evaluated on a one by one basis or something like that. I mean, they put in
a a caveat that said kind of just said, "Okay, well, you're not going to get 2500 bucks." Yeah. Right. Right. I think that in the past language is helpful just because we don't we're not promising anything about what the amount is going to be this time, but it gives
you a general idea of like what the range is. Okay. So, what would that range be? What has it been? I don't I'm not sure what we Gosh, we had 25, I think. Maybe I don't
know how much were the Tao drums. I I had no idea because I joined after they had been so maybe I would say anywhere from if we just gave water one year and snacks that must have been like $50 if
that was the day of the dead donation that was $850 $850 probably because it was towards the end of the year and we knew we had was that one of the larger yes I think the largest probably I think That's also probably contingent on how much our
average spending per event as a commission is. So I don't know if that's something we can calculate right now or if we have to wait for that number, but I think based on how much we spend, the average amount of our budget, I think we need to take that into consideration before we can put an upper limit because
depending on how many requests we want to approve per year. We have this limited amount, first come, first serve. The earlier you apply, the greater chance you're going to get your full amount. This is our upper limit. Having that listed on the form I think is important, but just we have to assess
how much we spend primarily. I think I think too I mean I don't know like when I see those the language of like this is our range I have I'm a I have a fairly good idea I'm not getting the upper range pretty like when I'm applying you know I kind of assume I'm landing in the middle. So I think you
know as long as you kind of but it is helpful to know like is my range 10 grand or is it 75 like what are we you know what are we kind of talking what scale are we talking well our our big our larger dollar
amount events are the Dr. King celebration, um the pride celebration, the cultural heritage month. River City Days at um it's usually not too
500. No more than 500. I I like the suggestion if I can just make a recommendation or just kind of um having that range of kind of between $50 and $500 I think provides but it doesn't
exclude you from going over $500 if you want depending upon the time of year and what remaining budget you have. Um so asking for a range or stating a range that you typically on that I think would
be the best and um making sure the application form is commiserate with the amount of work they have to put in because that's been as I've worked on enough grant requests making sure we're not asking too much or too little for
the size of requests that they're asking for. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I think you know just saying this is what we have done in the past. It's been between 50 and 500. It doesn't exclude us from going up to 800 if the situation in
general we don't usually go 800 right bless you. So and I mean they can always ask for more than 500 and then we can make that decision but I yeah I would say that you know the majority of funding requests
that we've approved in the past have fallen within this range. Yeah. For both inind and financial Yes. contributions. Y that's great. Let's take a look at the other area that I think we should probably just think
about and that's the limitations and exclusions and just so that we're all clear on that. Um if any of you have any thoughts. So, we're we're talking about if you've already had the event, we will not consider your
request. Now, that makes I mean that makes perfectly good sense. Um, requests from political or religious organizations must be for nonpartisan and non sectarian purposes. I think that's pretty clear. That
doesn't preclude a group that's associated with a religious organization who's doing work within our community, but they have to tell us that they're not going to be partisan
or sectarian. Okay. And we do not provide general operating support. Yeah. So if they're asking us to pay their um CHAS utility bill, We're not going to be able to do that.
Are there any other exclusions that you or limitations that you can think of that we need to kind of detail? I think we need to have a better understanding about what prize limitations are. That got very confusing
earlier this year when we were doing some things that had to do with prizes and we weren't quite sure what was allowed and what wasn't. Basically, no money for prizes or gift cards is what we've been told. Okay. No
money for prizes or gift cards or are you saying that gift cards are allowed? No, gift cards are not allowed. We cannot purchase use city funds to purchase gift cards. Okay. But if some outside organization donated to us a
gift card, then we can use that. Yes. But you cannot spend city funds to buy a gift card to hand out. Okay. That's what my understanding was was. Yeah. If it was given to the human rights commission for a specific purpose. That's different. Okay. But do you think we should have a line
in here about prizes like that we shall not be giving are we your um funding cannot be used towards cash prizes or we can add that um I did ask for or in the proposal submission I've asked for an
overall budget and line item uses so that we could talk about that but I think we could definitely add that here so that there isn't confusion because that was part of what we took out of the funding for Dave the dead, right? You know, so I think if it's one in our
policy, we can just say, you know, it doesn't have to be on the form, but at least if they ask for it for their prizes, we can say our policy states that, you know. Yeah. Yes. Because we had to take it out of Dr. King's celebration for the art contest. Yeah.
So, I think that um we Yes. I like it. I like the idea. only because it was an issue. What are prizes? Like is it River City Days? Like if you spin the wheel, you can get
a thing like is that? Yeah. Yeah. I'll have to seek clarification on that. If not, we'll have to go to sources within our community for financial support or prizes if they want to donate like, you know, a gift
card to their restaurant or something like that. It puts more responsibility on us as members of the commission who are kind of heading up that that that work group. But um
we want to follow the rules though too. Yeah. And I think there's a difference between giveaways and I mean to have to like do something to earn versus just doing a giveaway at a booth is different, but we probably just need to seek clarification on what is Yes. Because
Ren and Kichchi need to know. Ren and Ki need to know. They need to know that soon. July is coming up. July is coming. They have to know that stuff. Okay. So, overall, we've t we've spent and I
appreciate your thoughtful comments. I appreciate you walking through this. What What do you think? Do you feel like you can uh move forward with this? Do you want to see another draft of this with
with uh the form? Um what's your pleasure? I think it's great. I mean, there's a couple, you know, a couple tweaks we walked through for the policy itself. [Music]
Um, but overall it it was really thorough and well done. Thank you, Elise. And I feel like, you know, Elise has been taking notes as we've talked about the changes we were thinking about.
Um, I have faith in you that you know you you always put together such great documents and everything that um I think it might be helpful to see it along with the form. If we could just do that through email and not have like a
actual vote on it, but just like say, "Oh yeah, this is what it," you know, and if there was something glaring that someone had an issue with, then I, you know, we'd bring it up. But I think it would just be nice to see it. But I trust that you will do a good job.
I kind of have the same view of like I would like to see it, but also like this looked good and I like the minor tweaks. So and I would also say as you get requests, it doesn't mean we can't change something. Right. Right. This
isn't working. We'd like to see this. That sort of thing. So just consider it. It's going to be fluid till we feel real good. Yeah. I like the idea though of having something in writing so we can look back
to it. Okay. So if I'm hearing correctly, then the commission would like to move forward in approving this policy. this evening and looking to the future
for a form that would accompany this that we would hand to organizations when they requested funding from us. Yes, please. You know, make everyone stay a little bit longer. Um, I wonder if it this might be if we just added like one or two more questions people
could it could be like a funding slashpresentation request where people if they don't know you would still be able to ask to like come talk to the commission even if they don't want anything they just want to let us know what they're doing. Um, it could be the way that generally that they can kind of
get things in front of us. I feel like that would maybe be a separate a separate form. Yeah, maybe let me just throw out an idea. Let me check. Like my guess is they're going to look for information through the website
because that's how it typically comes and it comes to an an HRC email, but perhaps they can create a form they can put on the website that has like here if you want to request a presentation, fill
out this form and we'll be in contact with you. something to that effect. Yeah, because there aren't many groups that don't have a connection to Sarah in this, but there are probably some that would, you know, they don't know how to
with us. That was a compliment. We love having you in all these things in the community. Yes. So, let me go back to one sentence before. Are we comfortable in adopting
this policy this evening? And if so, is there a motion to adopt this policy? I will make a motion to adopt the funding
policy with Oh, Chesa Human Rights Commission partnerships and funding requests. policy um as we have discussed tonight with the changes we discussed and then um also
creating a form for people to fill out if they want to request funds. Does that cover it? Second. Say it again. Well, I can sum it by saying Jennifer has made a motion for the Commissioner
Chesca Human Rights Commission partnerships and funding request policy. That's been seconded by Hana. Is there any further discussion? Having heard none, all in favor signify by saying yes. Yes.
Opposed? No. There are no nos. The policy is carried forward. Thank you again for the thoughtful, if not lengthy discussion this evening. This is this is a big step for us. I'm really pleased to
see this. Um I have one question. Yes. Uh old business. Yes. Did we order banners? No, we have not ordered banners. Okay. What what's the next step on that?
Uh, we should create what those banners look like and I'll work with our communication staff as to what. Okay. Because I know we walked through we had a packet where there were options and I we selected the ones we liked, right? Yeah. The one thing is we didn't have
the design, the wording, that sort of thing. That still needs to be worked out. We did order the tablecloth though. So you have a formal tablecloth at least that has the logo on it. Okay. So that was something that we brought
forward I think in earlier this year as something that hadn't been taken care of in 2024. And if if I can just gently remind the commission that we talked about having words, so not a word cloud necessarily,
but Chaza Human Rights Commission and then words that talked about what it is that we want that we think we're doing. What do you remember that that those general we were going to come up with three or four powerful words? I don't think we came up with the words. That's
right. We didn't. Right. Well, we we had the idea of specifically because last year at River City Days, a lot of people walked up to our booth and asked what we did and so we thought it would be useful if we had these banners at, you know,
highlighted at a very high level, you know, what our purpose is. Um, you're absolutely right and I'm thumbming through my package because I thought I had all of that information with me. Not to worry, Elise has it all.
So, we're not lost with with with the lack of information. Aha, I have found it. Um, but if you'd be willing to work with communications and see what we need to do next, I don't know how quickly we can
get a banner for um, River City days, but um, yes. I think we talked about this kind of a banner, a retractable standup one. We talked about a tabletop
banner. We I think we we actually approved the banners, didn't we? I I think Yeah, you gave from which out of there which ones you wanted. I think the question is what wording and graphics or other things you would like
on it and that's where I'm looking for some guidance because we could I mean do we have we have the actual policy anywhere or if that's something we want to talk about next time.
Um, but I know in the past we've referenced, you know, one of our like primary purposes is to educate the community. So, we could say educate could be one of the words. Um, and now we're sort of pushing
forward maybe a little bit more on partnerships. So, say we could educate, partner, support. I just throwing out words. educate partner partners.
I think we want to make them action words I think was the one thing we had discussed. So what are we doing as a group? Right. Yeah. I welcome your ideas. of four things that we do.
I mean, we could talk maybe more broadly about something about something we like we're I know you know we're in the business of inclusion. So, is there a term that we could use that would sort of relay to people that one of our
purposes is to foster, you know, a sense of inclusion within the community? But diversity, inclusivity, community, and equality are like four things that come to mind when I think of this. Diversity, community, inclusivity, and
equality. Inclusivity. I have inclusiveness, but I'll write inclusivity. I think we talked about belonging, too. Yeah. Belonging. What was your last one? Equality. I think what I like about action words is it's easy then to talk about what
we're doing. So, you know, we could We're all about inclusiveness, but what does that mean? Like, what are we doing that fosters this inclusiveness? Um, they need a dictionary for this. [Laughter]
What are like how do we convey? Like I think there's things that we like believe in or promote, but they're not things that we I mean we belong, I suppose, but like how do you kind of convey in an action word?
And yeah. Well, the other thing is the banner like it could have these big words but then have additional verbiage underneath sort of expanding on what that means. So like we could write support and what does support mean? You know, we support the community by
attending multicultural events or partnering with organizations or I like celebrate. Yeah. Or it could be two words, foster community, create belonging, instill
equality, like do things to go with it. Very short phrases. Yeah. My plan is to give this piece of paper to Elise so she can pass this on or I can call Kevin and or Kristen. No, you can
you can give it to me. I'm just looking at kind of some of the stuff that came out of the council strategic planning and they haven't adopted the strategic plan yet but just you know one of their visions is in 2030 chess as a hometown for all and that's kind of where some of
this falls under and so how how we incorporate that. So, I'm just kind of thinking in my head right now. Yeah. But having all this and we can create a mockup with our communication staff as to what might be best.
Okay. All right. I think that was a lot of good quick brainstorming. Yeah. Excellent. Thank you. Any other old business? Not top of mind. Okay. What about new business? Any other new business? I
didn't ask that question. Okay. So, um next meeting will be in June after after after our pride event. So, I thought this month's uh belonging moment
should talk a little bit about the pride event that we we have sponsored for year number five or six. Fifth year. Fifth year. And I will tell you that this came directly from the Pride Corner. And the reason
why I liked this so much and I merely put it on this piece of paper for us is is because of the sentence that is at the very bottom and that is participating in pride offers a sense of
belonging, an opportunity to connect with community and a powerful affirmation that joy is not just something to hope for. It is something to claim. And so that's my belonging moment for our upcoming
event. Pride events are important and are visible in our community. And I'm proud of the work that we do. And so don't forget to post our postcards or put them on vehicles that you may know in the parking
lot. Um, so Thank you so much for being here tonight. Appreciate the length of time you've had tonight. We'll see you in June. If we if the committee pride
committee needs any help, please let us know. You'll be getting an email. Yes, they will be getting an email from Elise reminding us for bags. Um, be prepared to have your fingers turn different colors.
I will not be there. Oh, for our next meeting. Um, it's okay, but we'll miss you. I I want to be there. I'd rather be there than I'm going to be in Alabama. Okay. So,
for whatever reason, it's okay. I can elaborate a little bit. Um, my dad accidentally signed me up for a pageant because he just saw the word scholarship opportunity. Um, and now I cannot sign any other contracts with any modeling
agencies or anything. I am a current title holder. I have to do all of these events. I'm going to be in Alabama for two weeks. It's taking up a lot of my time. I'm very unhappy with him. And every single time he gets a little bit on my nerves, I bring that up and then
he gets quiet. So, yes. So, I hope you win. I hope so too because it's taking up way too much time. But that's that's what I'll be doing. Should should we write to Alabama and say a good word?
So it's we're graded on five different things. So it's self-expression, an interview, talent, um fitness, and oh my gosh, academics. So it's those five things that you're graded on and the total score breakdown. They're all weighted differently
percentage- wise, but there's so many things I have to learn. There's a talent component, and it all just seems a little bit frivolous to me because they say that it's scholarship, leadership, talent, and yet there's all of these appearances, and it's, oh, you can buy flowers from your state and they will be
sent to your participant in Alabama. There's so many money-making opportunities that I'm looking at and thinking, okay, so this is just a giant cash grab under the ruse of like helping young women. Okay, so There's I'm a little bit salty if you can't tell. It's not. But that's what
I'll be doing instead of being here, which I'd much rather be here, but Oh, you Well, make sure you think of us at least one brief moment. Oh, I'll be thinking of you as I'm begrudgingly in like 90 degree Alabama weather cutting
ribbons, etc., etc. So, we'll be proud of you. I appreciate it. Okay. So, I think that's it for this evening. Again, thank you very much. Do do we have a motion to adjourn?
Some move. Excellent. Our meeting is adjourned.