testing. Is that right? I'm ready when you are. Good evening. Can you hear me? Great. Um, good evening everyone. It is um Wednesday, October 15, 2025, a little
after 5:00 pm, and we will commence the Morehead Human Rights Commission meeting. I am Sihon. I am filling in for our chair and vice chair who are not here today. Um we welcome input from community members, community
organizations. You have the opportunity here to speak to us and we are here to listen. With that, I could we get a call to order, please. >> Eva Ellis, >> present. >> Anna Reesh,
>> present. >> Samedi here. >> Jennifer Cannon, Jennifer Randa, >> present. >> Titan Garretts, and Sebastian McDougall. >> Thank you, Tanya, for that. And we will
move on to our land acknowledgement. We the Morhead Human Rights Commission collectively and with gratitude acknowledge the sacred land the city of Morhead is built upon. We acknowledge the people who have resided here for generations and recognize the spirit of the Dakota, Ojiway, Mateies and all
indigenous communates communities permeates this land. The contribution of the indigenous people shall not be forgotten nor will the success that is achieved by the people of the land. We will continue to educate, advocate, honor and unite for the indigenous people of the land. Right. Moving on uh
to our next agenda item which is the approval of minutes from September 17, 2025 uh meeting minutes. Um if there isn't any discussion, can I get a motion and a second for the approval
of the m uh of the minutes? >> You motions? >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Okay. And any further discussion on the minutes? I would like further discussion on the minutes. >> Okay, we can discuss the minutes.
>> Thank you. I would like to make a motion to begin discussing attendance. I have not always been able to attend because of work commitments that are usually made like a year in advance.
But I also don't want folks who may look at our meeting minutes to think that I'm not committed or, you know, ready to to work on the commission. I also know that there are folks who are not here
steadily. So my motion is to start discussion on whether Wednesday evenings are appropriate and working for schedules anymore. Thank you. We can definitely uh you know tie that into the minutes and discuss
that um going forward. So that's been noted. Um and then I guess if all everyone's in favor of adding that attendance amendment to the minutes so we can continue that discussion,
you know, u say I otherwise. Oh, I just had an additional question to ask regarding that piece. Um, so I'm not sure what the history has been as far as uh the HRC's uh allocated time commitment for that.
Is it something set by the council or is it something that's been set by the HRC? I believe it's the how commissions are set up through the city. It's done through the charter in
agreement on there. Correct. >> Yeah. I'm not quite sure. I'd have to look to see the history of how that has been done. I I'm not sure. I know the human rights commission meeting years past has been at different times and dates than Wednesday at 5, but how that
came about, I can look into it and and bring that back to the committee um next month if that would be okay. Good. Yeah. And I know um you know things come up, folks aren't able to come and there are other meetings that happen with other commissions um that
are scheduled regularly and so but it's good that we'll have that discussion just to make sure that we have regular attendance if we want to get some things done, get some um you know get going on any grievances in our community and
really make sure we are supporting anything that happens that violates people's rights and we um hold systems accountable for it. So, thank you. Anything further with that? Um and then
I guess all in favor I. Any oppose? Same sign. >> I >> Okay. And then I guess um we'll have to um approve the agenda for tonight. If there are any agenda amendments for
tonight, October 15th, please let us know. Otherwise, a motion and a second for the agenda for tonight. >> I'll motion. >> I'll second. >> We We do have two speakers that weren't
included on the original agenda. Um speaking on Pangia and um speaking um >> the research and action. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for that reminder. Yes, I see it now. All right. So, those are the amendments to the agenda, our two guest
speakers tonight. Um, now, could I get a motion with those two in those speakers included in a second? >> I'll motion. >> Any further discussion? All in favor? I. Otherwise, any oppose?
Same sign. >> I thank you. Now we will move on to our guest speakers which we have uh Marcus Krueger from the historical society and cultural society of Klay County. Please thank you for being here tonight.
>> Well, thank you so much for inviting me to speak about Pangia. It's uh the funnest day of the year. It's uh one of the most important things in my life um being a part of it. Uh so uh it was over 30 years ago that Yokim Gunaratney uh
from cultural diversity resources started p a thing that she called cultivate our cultures where it was designed to introduce I mean in the in this in this town of this community of immigrants from old and new introduce
the old cultures to the new cultures uh and of course indigenous uh uh uh cultures as well. they're not immigrants. Um but uh you know it's it it was a way to share each other's cultures and learn about each other. Um
and be a place where um where where Nigerians can watch bagpipe music and where uh Norwegians can eat Kurdish and dolmas. Um and so it ever since the 1990s it has been I think it's the 1990s
it moved to this building. uh uh to the MCOM Center. It's a free festival. We call it Pangia, Cultivate Our Cultures. Um and 1,4 over 1,400 people came to it last year. Um this room that we're in is
the food court. Uh so Sei was sitting right where you are right now, serving Kurdish food, uh food from all around the world, made by your neighbor, made by people who live right here. Uh there's uh 10 performers uh from uh c
representing cultural traditions from all around the world but everybody lives here. Um there's booths all around uh for learning about different uh services or buying stuff or or things like that.
Um and uh it's uh great. It's a free festival. It always has been, always will be. Um although I should say that you know nothing's free. It takes a lot of work and effort and money that to put on this festival. We lose money on it every
year. But it's something that we you know we harvest the tourist dollars in in in summer so that we can spend it on a throw a free festival in the in the in November. It's November 15. Um it's Saturday. It's 10 to 4 10 a.m. to 4 pm.
Um and uh it as the the the human rights commission uh as is tradition uh for uh for many many years you're hosting the hospitality suite. Uh so what that is it's providing uh treats and uh
refreshments for the volunteers who put on this festival. It is uh um and and so we we're all this is a volunteer-run festival. Some of us uh are able to do it for our day for our
jobs, but um uh they we need volunteers if there's people sitting out here watching this on TV. Uh we need volunteers to help uh clean tidy up the the dining room. We uh food tickets uh selling food tickets uh it is something
that we need help with. We need help at the end of the day after a lot of us have been here for 12 hours. We need fresh people to help take down tables and help take down the take down the festival too. Uh so it it's a lot of work. It is I if you come I mean well if
you come here to volunteer I promise you you're going to have a fantastic time. Uh you're going to come home with a full heart. Um uh oh well I guess I didn't prepare any anything formal to say but is there any questions I guess you have from me or
>> yeah I have a question so if those people that are watching us virtually or that are here in the room how can they get in contact with you so that way they can um sign up or is there online way or >> Thank you that for that obvious question
that I did not that I did I should have mentioned. in that. So, thank you for letting for for that. Yeah, you can just email me. I'm the volunteer coordinator this year. Um, I will spell it out. Spell out my email. It's m a r kuk ger
at hcs museum.org. So, hcs is in historical and cultural society. Um, and yeah, I should also mention that there's a lot of partner organizations that help us with this. Cultural diversity resources, of course,
the founding uh the founding partner, uh, historical and cultural society of Klay County here at the YCOM Center. Um, uh, the Lutheran Social Services, uh, many have have helped in the past. Um um
oh and and uh uh Indo-American Association of the Great Plains is has helps and um oh I'm I'm sure I'm forgetting some of our some of our helpers but some of our our founders oh Morehead Parks Department is a huge help this year uh has is is really stepping
up uh to be a very active uh part of this. Morehead parks department deserves some recognition for that. >> Awesome. Um, also you can go on the website, correct, and get all this information. >> Yes, you can get on the website, go on the historical and cultural societies,
hcsccconline.org. Uh, there's a pangia page. Uh, and usually volunteer shifts, they're just two hours. They're either 10 uh 10 to noon, noon to 2 or 2 to 4. Um, and uh,
make sure to come. You want to come early because we kind of there's a lot of people who all want to eat food and we kind of run. If you come at 3:00, I can't guarantee that there's going to be anything left. >> Yes. Excellent. Thank you so much,
Marcus, for all the information. And I just want to say, you know, having you all here and having Pangia and having that partnership and all that a historical society does really is opening up systems to people especially that are new to the area. They're like, "Well, what is there to do in Morhead?"
Well, actually, there is a great deal of many resources and ways to get involved. And it gives people that want to open up a restaurant an opportunity to test it out because the historical society provides a licensed kitchen for the cooks. and then they are able to learn
some business and how it works. So, you know, truly it works within that angle too. And then everybody that comes and it's completely free, it is an opportunity to build community and have conversation and break those barriers. So, I really truly appreciate it for all
the years that it's been ongoing and all the work you and everybody else that the historical society does. >> Well, thank you so much. It it's it's also you know you mentioned that and it it makes me it's un motan to brag. So we we but but we have we have a fantastic
classical like Indian classical dance scene here thanks to Margaret Sam. Uh we have uh I mean uh I love listening to Shakat Rajab play oud you know Kurdish music. Uh uh we the the the center in the world in America right now for
traditional Norwegian hardonger fiddling is Fargo Morehead. So we have a lot to be proud of here. We have a lot to share with each other. Uh and we and this is a way that you can we're we're not it not everybody's in going to everything but this is everybody comes to Pangia and
you can come see everybody do their thing. >> Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you. >> I would like to say as someone who is descended from slaves uh who also were not immigrants when I first came here as
a single mom uh very limited income to come to Pangia especially for the kids to see themselves reflected was strength amazing uh power and so thank you for the historical society for all of the
sponsor answers. It's It really is just a wonderful festival. >> Thank you so much. And be on the lookout. Come to Pangia November 15th. Volunteer if you can. Thank you. Um next we will have a guest speaker from
research and action. We will have Emily um here online speaking to us about their project. So >> yes, awesome. Hopefully everyone can hear me. Um, I am going to actually share my screen so that
um, folks can have a little bit of a visual aid when they watch this back. All right. Awesome. I can see it as well. Um, so I'm here today to briefly just um describe
uh a five-year project that is has begun this year um that is really important and impacts the entire state of Minnesota. Um so I will describe it a little bit more, but first I'll get into who I am
and who my organization is or where I work. Um, so Research and Action is a black queer femaleled organization and we lead projects that center community expertise to create stronger organizations and actionable solutions
for racial justice. So, we're really particular about the contracts that we take as a research firm um and the projects to ensure that they all um have the opportunity for us to um speak to
actionable solutions that will actually be enacted um with the partners that we decide to partner with. And we also prioritize projects that um center racial justice All right. So, um just a little
background about this project and hopefully you can see the whole screen. Um so, can you see the whole screen? >> Yes, we are able to see the whole screen, Emily. Thank you. >> Okay, awesome. Um so, just a little bit
of a background of like why we got to this project. So, back in 2022, um the organization that I work at, Research and Action, um was contracted to create a task force report um that was published and it was talking about
the epidemic of missing and murdered black women and girls um across the state. And because of this task force report um there was the creation of the nation's first office of missing and murdered black women and girls. Um and
this introduced federal legislation to prioritize this topic. Um and this office really um conducts search parties and supports families of victims of folks who are murdered or missing who
are black women and girls. Um and so it was really important legislation that was passed to create this um office that is the first in the nation like I said and it's here in the state of Minnesota and it impacts the entire state.
So we recently um got a Bush grant um to continue some kind of parallel work. So, we are not um in partnership with the office necessarily, like uh we're not um contracted by them at this time for this
5-year project, but we we still discuss um our work with them and we're in contact with the director of the office. Um so, we ensure that we are supporting their policy initiatives, but we are doing kind of parallel work. Um,
so the focus of our five-year project that is grant-f funded um will assess the impact of institutions on structural violence towards black women and girls uh and measure progress um to eradicate structural violence towards black women
and girls. Um and of course supporting the office in our kind of parallel lane where we're working. Um and so this five-year project, the first year is um a statewide survey. So, it's really kicking off the work and we really want
to use it as a baseline um to hear from from black women, girls, and fems to assess um their experiences with institutions such as healthcare, housing, education, and criminal justice and the staff who work there. So, we're
in year one currently and so we're focusing on the survey. The goal of the survey, like I stated, is to understand how institutions impact black women, girls, and fems. Um, and how kind of upstream uh the way that institutions serve black
women, girls, and fems impacts structural violence in the future um impacts um acute violence in the future. Um, and so we're really using our first year, like I stated, to gather the first ever statewide data to improve services.
So although research and action, we are centered in the metro area, uh, we want to hear from black women, girls, and fems across the state for this statewide survey. Um and a little bit about the survey
content is um it's asking about black women, girls and fem confidence in institutions. Um their confidence that institutions that I mentioned uh will be able to support them will be able to support them in a timely manner. Um it
asks about stress levels experienced at all of these different institutions when accessing resources. And then finally, it asks about willingness to seek support or resources in the future based on past experiences. Um, just a brief glance at our timeline
of how we got here. So, we at Research and Action, all of our projects incorporate community feedback every step of the way and community input. Um, so back in June, um, May and June, we had some feedback sessions, um, to
actually co-create the survey questions with community members. Um, and then we actually shared the survey a little bit before it opened, um, with what we called our black women leader coalition, uh, which is a coal coalition of black women leaders, uh, from across the
state. Um so they were actually able to pilot the survey first and kind of do a uh a first reactions and give us feedback on it um in July. And then finally the survey o opened in August and it is currently open. So we are currently seeking responses to the
survey from across the state. Um I will share my email a little bit later if you're interested in um you know reaching out about the survey. Um, but just a glance at year two, uh, we're going to convene a community action council, which, um, I'll touch on a
little bit later, but we want to keep having community input in our future work in years 2 through five as well. Uh, we'll do some analysis on our first year survey results. Uh, we'll have a data walk so that we can share out our initial findings and we'll publish our
report um, next year in February. And I just wanted to share a little bit about our method methodology. So uh we have created quotas for each region of the state based on ACS data. So based on census data where black women, girls and
fems um are living across the state so that we could have a good idea of how many folks we wanted to hear from from each region. Um and also we are primarily using in-person um kind of partnerships uh in the different regions to actually share
links to the survey as well as we are attending events across the state and tableabling and handing out individual one-time use codes for the survey because the survey is compensated. Uh everyone who participates receives a $20 gift card. Um and because of the rise of
AI and um other software, uh people have been able to people outside of the communities that we create surveys for have in the past kind of taken the survey over and over multiple times uh when we just put out a general link. Um and so we want to make sure that we're
maintaining our data quality. So, we are kind of going back to an old school way of sharing our survey with in-person events and partnerships um who are trusted partners to actually share the survey with folks that they serve. Currently, we're at about 74% towards
our survey goal of 600 responses. As you can see, a huge amount of folks are respondents from uh the Twin Cities, but it's kind of aligned with our quota of where black women, girls, and fems live across the state as well. Um, so we are
continuing to do outreach to greater Minnesota as well. Um, and just for a preview of how our survey results will be used in year two, we're going to co-create um, an evaluation scorecard for different county funded programs. So,
we're actually partnering with counties. Um, we're piloting it with two counties first and we want to expand it across the state by year five. Um but we will co-create an evaluation scorecard um alongside 16 to 18 community members um
black women, girls and fems from across the state and as well as six to eight representatives from the county programs that we are directly working with and directly impacting. So we'll all convene and create an evaluation scorecard. The survey is kind of just a baseline
understanding of how black women, girls, and fems um have been experiencing programs across the state. So, we can get that feedback as a jumping off point. Um as I stated, the CAC is 16 to 18 black women, girls, and fems ages 14 and
up um from across the state regardless of culture or national origin. And um we're also going to convene with six to eight representatives from county funded programs. Um so looking a little bit ahead, we're also going to supplement this
quantitative survey with some qualitative research as well. So, we're going to be doing focus groups across the different regions to kind of add some narrative like actual more detailed stories um and experiences from black
women, girls, and fems through these focus groups. So, if you're interested in either supporting a focus group in the spring, if you're a partner or a potential partner organization that wants to kind of help us convene a focus group or if you are a potential
participant, please reach out to me. Um, here's my email, Emily Kavasos researchinaction.com. And then finally, um, we do have an extensive amount of information on our website as well. So, here are some
links. So, the top one, um, there's a QR code and it's also in pink. Um, that link is to our current special initiative 5-year project. So, all about the survey, our partners, and things like that. Um, and at the bottom there's a link to the original task force report
if you want to look back at some of that reporting that helped create um, the Office of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls. So, I will stop sharing and um let me know if anyone has questions for me. Um but I really
appreciate um giving me some time to share about this work because it is an ongoing project for 5 years. So, we definitely will be doing outreach in Northwest Minnesota. >> Okay. Um I have a question. Um, so I was just wondering, um, I I just heard what
you just shared about you'll be in the area. Do you have like set dates that you could share or locations so that way uh the community um that your target community individuals could um try to
participate in that? >> Um, so the survey uh is open until October 31st. So that's kind of our current priority, but we are doing an info session next Wednesday uh via Zoom.
So there are multiple organizations that we are working with to share about this info session. Um so that's next Wednesday at 12 to 1. Um you can email me if you're interested in participating in that. Um but we are
going to be setting the focus group timing um based on feedback from some of our trusted partners in the area um and what they feel makes sense. So those are going to be happening in the spring. So we I don't have exact dates at this time
for the focus groups. Um right now we are primarily uh pushing about the survey. Um but yeah, and then if folks fill out the survey, there's also a question to get like uh
we share the email or we share uh the G e gift card via email. So we ask folks for their email and we ask if you're interested in potentially being contacted for our year 2 community action council because that will be
convening virtually um to check a box. So, if you take the survey, you can um share that you're interested in being on the council as well. Um so, that's a good opportunity to get involved and get
connected. >> Um any other comments or questions for Emily? Uh it was last minute. Go ahead. >> Hi, Emily. Good to see you again. It's Jenna Randa. uh wondering about the focus groups. Those will be in person.
Yes. >> Yes. So that is our um idea at the time, but if uh an organization lets us know that doesn't work, uh we're down to switch to virtual, but I but we want to visit the different regions if folks
will have us. So those will be in person primarily. Well, I look forward um to seeing what what responses you have and I encourage everyone in their networks to let you know to share this because I think when
we talk about how systems are working when it comes to rights for people, these are important surveys that are intentional to see how people are feeling within our within our communities. So, thank you and we um again I encourage all of you to share
the information. We'll get email for Emily out and we really appreciate you being here tonight on short notice. So, thank you so much. >> Yes, thank you for having me. >> Have a good night. Okay, so next uh is our community
partners. Do we have any community partners that would wish to speak tonight? Any citizens to be heard? citizens to be heard. Uh, law enforcement update. I don't think our law enforcement liaison is
here tonight. Okay. And then we're on to agenda number eight, which is regular business. And I know we talked about um Commissioner Aronda brought up is the best time and date to meet for HRC to
keep um you know commissioner to for it to work for commissioners um or is that something we want to discuss as well as do we we want to continue the discussion of last month's is there any other things to vote on besides our minutes
and agenda and Again, that is up to the commissioners and you know what they want to bring up um how we want to go forward. So, we want to continue that discussion tonight.
Although two of our commissioners are in here, our chair and vice chair. Um, I just wanted to just uh maybe throw out there if we could have uh possibly like some some kind of communication like whether it be like email format or
um something where we could start looking at like maybe the future as far as uh future events or future things. uh see what we're see what we're looking at to facilitate or to have as far as the
human rights commission or the community connections for like just something for this year if we could uh have a discussion on uh I know we brainstormed a little bit about what some of that could look like um but if we could maybe
discuss a little further as far as like next steps steps as far as like what can what we can do or what other commissioners are looking at as far as like futuristically. Um
we know that we can't email everyone. If anyone has anything to send out to the entire commission, whether it's an event, a grievance that comes up, you send it to Tanya and then Tanya sends it out to the entire commission because we don't want to violate open meeting laws. So whenever there's a majority of us, we
need to make the public aware that we are meeting. So that might be challenging. And then um you know it, you know, we talked about being out in the community and that's great whether it's on your personal time, you know, being a
being a representative of the Human Rights Commission or whether it's an organized tableling event that we've had in the past to make sure people know that this is available to them if they run across anything if they need any clarification. So those those kind of
have been in practice but not really formalized. Um so those are what you know what we have we talked about being in community. Um, I don't know there are any ideas ways to
do that. >> I'm sorry. I'll just uh clarify what I was saying. um just for like future events. Not necessarily taking in any particular grievances for anyone, but just like an opportunity for community
to come and be able to like be in a space where they can either learn more about the human rights commission, what our particular roles are. So that way if there are specific hot topics like I know in the beginning of the year there was a few and we seemed like we were
really prepared and having individuals to come and like talk about how we can like work with community work with you know local law enforcement work with different folks. Um those are some of the things that I'm actually looking forward to um having um if there are
particular issues because yes we do volunteer our time um doing different things with community but if the human rights commission actually had something like slated for maybe I I know next month might be quick to try to do
something but I would say like within the next um within the next two month at least. uh look at as a collective just hosting an opportunity where maybe not all uh HRC members will be in attendance
but at least two that could um you know state like oh I'll be here we could meet at the um we could be meet somewhere and invite community to be there or be in a space where individuals can like just
stop through maybe for just a couple hours. I'm not thinking of like a whole day thing or anything like that, but just to provide a consistent opportunity for community to um talk to us, not in at another event, but something specific
to HRC. >> Yeah, I really like that idea. Um I'm just going to jump back to attendance. I think maybe a signup genius or a doodle poll, something where we can gauge what days
times would work best for the majority of the commission is easy to be able to start holding folks accountable for our attendance. Um, then as we look at our accountability to
the community, which is who we work for, I am 100% behind you. Thinking about what you said to have a time where people can come, city council members do that. There is no as far as I know there
is no reason we could not also have the time and the space to be able to hold what like an hour I don't know what they say snacks with city council I don't know >> that's a great idea to do discussions
with human rights commission members whoever is available and whoever wants to organize and do community outreach engagement. It doesn't necessarily have to be at the Yum Center. We can look for if it's not available, we could look at other spaces
like you mentioned, city council is couple of city council members are meeting at the career academy tonight to have discussions with um you know any anybody that has questions. So there are other spaces um but we can certainly
look into here having it at the historical uh or excuse me the outcome center too. Um is that something you would like to um the subcommittee for education and outreach to kind of take on or all of
us? I I feel like I feel like education and outreach might might be like the right commission or comm subcommittee to look at that cuz it's kind of like the whole like outreach and whatnot. But I feel like anyone who's interested in
like doing that should be also be able to do it regardless of their subcommittee. >> Okay. So, is there a reason that we're not just putting it on the >> we we can >> calendar immediately? >> Yeah, we it's if you identify a date, a good time, throw it out there. I mean,
it's certainly knowing that we only have a couple of months left of the year, which it gets a little hectic with events here. If there is something you want to do in December or January or February, if you want to you think it's appropriate to do it during a weekday or
a weekend or, you know, whatever you think is best, you know, I think we're open to it. I I'm I'm open to it. So, uh yeah, I would think it would be good to do something where a lot of our
community usually goes like where we see people just kind of just gathering. that would be great. And then winter is here. It's coming. Fall is almost gone, right? Um so we really need to think about a space that could be indoors. Um and also
we want to make sure that it works with everybody's schedules cuz I know I you know I work during the daytime and a lot of other community members work during the daytime. Not to say that everybody works in the day, but I would like to
make sure that we are being accommodating to our entire community and hosting something where it could be something that could start at 5:30, you know, to give people a a quick breath and be able to get here and host
something for like an hour. Um, and you know, if it drags on a little bit, that will be fine. But I'm thinking along the lines of that on the weekends, a lot of people do devote their time to their families. Um, not to say that people
wouldn't be willing to do something on the weekend, but it seems like there's a lot of community events happening during the weekend. So maybe a weekday, maybe not on a Wednesday because a lot of people do go to, you know, services and
stuff. So, um I'm not sure if other folks have thoughts on what that could look like. We could see how it goes and then maybe um you know try to get get it out there as best as possible and see
what happens with it. Do we want to storm on some ideas of where and also I'm fine looking at dates uh we can always send out to the other commissioners. >> Yeah, absolutely. I that's what would
have been my question as individuals. I have you know lived in Warhead for quite a while. As someone who is newer, Evette, what are you thinking in terms of what to you looks the most accessible and where people are meeting in our community? And
>> well, I mean, we have a lot of people. They meet in a bunch of different places and spaces. But I'm thinking about areas that are haven't quite been tapped in, but we do know that there's a large population of folks. Um, you know, like we have public we have the public library that is an indoor space. a lot
of people can go as it's open to the community. Um that could be uh that could be a space, you know. Um and I think if we start there and then I think maybe look into spring, we can look at some of the different newer local local
parks that we have. Um doing something outdoors, maybe, you know, uh bring some water and I don't know. Um but just have something where people can just know like, oh, that's the Human Rights Commission. maybe they have something or maybe they have, you know, things that
they want to bring to HRC and we can connect in those spaces. Um, but I would not um overwhelm the commission with a lot of stuff, but I do I would like for us to maybe look at possibly looking at
the library and maybe once the new uh buildings are up that could be a space too because it seems centrally located. I'm not sure if there's other areas that folks would like to um make suggestions on, but that is an area that I'm
thinking. >> Yeah, that's a great, you know, when you were talking about spaces and sometimes spaces are not well known and you know, we tend to have a lot of events on this side, which is great. it's accessible, but there's also opportunities to
partner um with like housing, you know, um housing has some community rooms or our our HASS have community rooms and through partnerships, we can leverage that to have something closer to where
um there's a mixed uh population of housing and uh families. So, there's that opportunity, too. Um the other the other thing that we know you said part you know it's great to do this and I think I don't know if anyone on our
commission went to the community huddle in June and that was led by legal services of Northwest Minnesota and that was really well attended and I you know we can definitely do that in another setting and ask for
partnerships just to provide those resources and have that listening session and I Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota is a great partner. They've been here to speak to and it was really well attended. >> My question, not playing devil's
advocate, but of of the those folks that did attend those events, is that ref a reflection of all of our community or is it a lot of folks that are just kind of that kind of knows and knows
somebody? My goal is to try to get to individuals who are not familiar with um a lot of the resources and services. There are different areas where there's like public housing. Um not saying that they're the ones with human rights
issues, but there are areas where folks are not informed about just resources or things. So I'm trying to think of spaces where we could be present and basically provide just that little bit of
educational piece of who we are. Invite them to come to HRC and or share concerns or even you know positive things that have happened. It doesn't always have to be negative stuff, but um I think it's a really important for us
to try to hit all of the different areas of of our community. >> Um so to go on the topic of like where we could have like these meetings, I was thinking uh maybe I had like like maybe
two different ideas. Maybe either like the career academy or the high school. I feel like the career academy would be a better option cuz there is like a place in the high school like like in the middle of it that uh the school board uses for meetings and stuff but that
might be hard to like navigate. So maybe Career Academy, but I was also thinking maybe we could do it in like small local businesses that don't get a bunch of like recognition. So we could like host it there and then people can also discover more places in Morehead
and support local businesses while we're doing that too because I feel like that would kind of tie into human rights and like advocacy and stuff or particular space you're thinking of besides the career academy in terms of there um are for there was a time where
there was like coffee with the mayor at one of the coffee shops here we could do coffee with the commissioner you know um if you identify a place have that discussion you know it you know what whatever ideas I think so we
heard the library career academy morehead high school Um there's an opportunity part to partner probably with the family resource center and doing it somewhere at the community room around um where the where the um one of
the Morehead police picnics was this summer and we tabled there. There's a community room there that's very nice as well. So those are the options. Whatever we think is best and then we'll identify a date.
>> Yeah, I like those ideas. That is really good. Um, and I don't think we're lumping folks together. The research is pretty clear with the intersectionality. So, you're right on. I think um, if we
look at the populations that are pretty silenced in Morehead, where are we? Uh, I was thinking maybe the mosque. Um,
I like the career academy, especially with the alternative learning center and um treatmentbased would be good. Yeah. Uh, um, you know, great options. So, I don't know if you want to think about it or just someone wants to say, I want to
have it here. I'm going to take the lead and secure that space. any any of them. They're all great options. I just think we just got to get something started. That's it. >> So, in terms of you want to start something that's available, accessible,
people go to we know, you know, central. >> Yeah. Like it's a bus route. It's available that, you know, those who don't have transportation can get there and are able to get there. We want to look at, you know, some disparities, you know, make sure that it's accessible for
individuals to come. >> Yes. And and my experience working with the library with other events, they were even to willing to open up on Sundays. And Sundays are not great because we don't have the public transportation available for individuals, but they're willing to work with organizations and
they're very gracious about it. Um, so >> typic Sundays are typically a day of rest. >> Yes. No, I'm not suggest I'm just saying that they are so flexible and so gracious that they open on Sundays too if someone >> uh in the past for other things. Um not
that they do it all the time, but you know if if you need something but so we're thinking maybe the library to be accessible bus route inside >> just to get started you know and then from there. >> Okay. Uh
>> what are the uh what's the budget for this Tanya or I don't know who knows do we have a budget I guess I know that we do have some funds that we have utilized for purchasing our human rights awards
and for events such as you know purchasing candy for the parade And um I can look into that. I don't know what the exact number is or what we're looking at for budget-wise. If you're thinking of just to be able to have snacks available, water, or if you were
looking at cost of renting a place, I um I can look into that and send out an email to everybody about what um what would be available. and then also um you know try and connect more especially
since there's two commissioners that are not here this evening to you know communicate that information to everybody. So do you want to wait on a date or do we want to say we want to do it this state this time?
>> I'm fine with whatever. Um I will >> I can send out a doodle poll too. Like whatever you guys want to do would be fine. I can assist any way. >> Yeah. Sorry. I would feel like I feel like a little more discussion would be
best. >> More discussion now here >> about the date. So like a doodle >> like So what's the best day of the week do we think? Not specific date. Best day of the week. >> Thursday.
>> Thursday. Tuesday. Just to give Tanya some direction for the doodle poll like stuff going on like is there days that are just really tough for folks. We're looking at November. Yes. >> I I mean I'm ready. So I'm fine.
>> November. A Thursday in November. >> Not Thanksgiving. Right. >> Right. Early November. >> I'll be cooking and eating. >> So let's see. Um, let's just throw out some dates potentially for a doodle poll. Yeah. On Thursday the 6th, the
13th, or the 20th, and then the next week is holiday. So, um, I'm sorry. >> Uh, why don't we do it? How about we do it prior to our HRC meeting so that way we can come back and report on what that
interaction looked like? We may have one person, one person's a win because that's more than zero. Um, but then, you know. Yeah. >> Okay. So, the 6th or the 13th would be the two choices. And we can send out a doodle poll.
>> Sorry, I am out of the country. The sixth, but I want to be there. So, I'm voting on the 13th. The 13th sounds great for me. I think the more time the better for us to be able to get some um advertising and information out to the public in order to let them know and
plan if this is something that we're going to be looking into. So um yeah, >> 13 sounds fine. >> Um I think Tanya is ask Yeah. So you're thinking November is too soon or is it okay? >> No, I'm just saying if you guys are
discussing the different dates in November that maybe the >> 13th. Yeah. >> Okay. that and then that way our November meeting is the 19th. Yes. So that way we'll have that um
you know and we could even have if folks don't want to come we can have a survey like our presenter had. Um, you know, if you can't make it, fill out the survey, you know, and just let us know what you're thinking. And that way, if people
folks can make can't make this one, we can plan for future. Would there would there be an idea about um pangia falls right in there? Like if something could be done around pangia,
like with that day being um I don't know. I know you guys were saying about doing it not on a specific other event. >> There is that is really close to Pang. Yeah, you're absolutely right. >> I just was trying to think there'd be a lot of people here for that. That might be something to advertise it for.
>> And also our human rights awards um to get nominations. It would be a good platform to be able to get you know that as well. >> That is really good. That's a good point. Um we have historically not had a booth at Aangia um because the commission has
volunteered and it's been a very busy time. I am very invol but that's not to say that we can I know booths are closed but there is something you know as part of the hospitality and walking around
you can also talk to folks but it's up to the commission on >> what they think. What I was just suggesting is because it's just a first. All it is is just an introduction to, you know, maybe it's one commissioner there and it doesn't work for everybody else schedule, but it's just to get
something started, you know, and most things that start isn't always the cutest, but we we learn from it and then the next one it just we get more gain more traction. Um, so it doesn't have to be perfect, but it does it should just
be an opportunity for community to engage with the HRC. It does not have to be um, you know, a whole banquet, you know, masquerade thing or nothing like that, but just an opportunity for folks to just say, "Hey, um, I've been trying to figure out how to make a connection."
And they do, they get an opportunity to make that connection with HRC. and we don't have to feel uh kind of stagnant and we can connect with community and so um the 13th I think would be a good
opportunity for whomever is able to come and it gives us some time to see what type of audience can we get at this space and what are some of those things that are going to be brought to us so that way we can um I would recommend at
our next HRC um whoever's in attendance we can kind draft something or just have a couple of words about what that looked like and what are some what were some of the hot topics and it could also support us in having uh specific speakers um to
touch on different uh points. >> So again, not the whole commission has to be present. Great uh point, Commissioner Ellis. Um whoever's available and who wants to be there. So, November 13th, we'll work to see if the
library is available kind of that open space upstairs where they typically have book talks. Are you thinking like I mean they have meeting rooms downstairs, but it's up to where do you >> I would I was just thinking like an open
space where like we're not tucked away somewhere that just a place where maybe some people don't even know that it's going on. and they just kind of, you know, you're just at Walmart and you have not advertising for Walmart, but you know, you just walk up and they're like, "Oh, we're selling Girl Scout
cookies." And, "Oh, wow. What are you, you know, just an opportunity where there's going to be some traction." That's that's it. Perfect. >> So, I think that upstairs in the library, it's right behind the checkout desk,
>> magazine area. Yes. >> Yeah. There it's upstairs. So there there's an elevator to go downstairs if you need if you book the rooms downstairs, but upstairs. >> But is it an a elevator to go upstairs? >> It's on the main level. >> It's on the main level. >> It's the main level. It's not
downstairs. >> Yeah, there's a main level or downstairs. >> Okay. Okay. I was like, what? >> Thank you for clarifying that. Yes, it's on the main level or the meeting rooms are downstairs. Uh which has an elevator, but yes. Okay, perfect. And
time. Do we say 5:30, 6, 7? 5:30. Okay. >> I think snacks are important. >> Snacks are important. Um, yeah, cookies. I can see if I can we can I can we can talk about maybe
even solicitating some um we have some great um businesses here that are willing to sponsor events like this. So we can talk about it if it doesn't follow within the HRC budget. >> What are we calling this? Like a meet
and greet or a >> commissioner. >> Sure. That works >> with the commission. >> Like it. Okay. Perfect. Well, we uh again we hope we'll get that word out. Um, we'll create an event
maybe if we can through the um through this, you know, city of Morehead if we're able to. So if not, we can share with our networks, get get folks out to talk about and any community, disability, LGBTQ plus community,
refugee community, indigenous community, elder community, you know, a disability, anybody uh really just can come your families, uh students, students are part of our community. We have college, we're
a college town, so inviting those students to come as well. Um, great. I think that feels good. Anything else to discuss for regular business? Okay, moving on to subcommittee reports. I think with the regular business, I
think the education and outreach just planned itself out to get some more ideas for education and outreach. So, that's good. Um, events and I don't know has any subcommittee met.
Okay. We can discuss awards. Um, if >> I'm sorry, can we go back to events? >> Yes. Yes. with pangia. Is there a sensory room? >> There is the hospitality room which is
kept quiet. Um and so if there is so when you first walk in the the the room that is designated as hospitality doesn't have all that noise. It's a place where people can you know just
take a break if they need to. Um but so that has been designated as kind of the but there's no sensory room if per se designated. So, as a community focused um and
accountable commission, I would rather that we actually sponsor a room that is sensory friendly versus hospitality. We can take that to the Pangia planning
committee and say we would rather than you know do that that is something if we want to change it to uh we can look into what that would look like if that is able to be done. I don't know like Pangia has a planning committee as well
so we bring that to them. Um, but I don't see why if that is >> Yeah. And we have a a person who's on the planning committee in in the audience, so I'm pretty sure she can bring it up to them as well.
Great. Um, yeah, we can talk about that. Uh everything is held at the Yum Center. So there are spaces um that could possibly be a sensory room where the lights can be turned off where uh the
door can be closed. So if someone is having um any sort of panic or just needs to over stimulation, I think we could possibly have both a hospitality room and a sensory room. The issue would
be then finding volunteers to staff. One or the other or both? You >> I volunteer. >> Okay. We'll take that back to the Pangia planning committee. Okay. Anything else for education outreach
events before we move into awards? Okay. Uh I guess the awards discussion uh HRC human rights award I don't know if any any call for nominations have been sent
out yet? >> No, that will be happening this next week. >> Okay. So then we have all of like November and then the awards are presented in December at the >> December 8th. >> December 8th at the city. >> And I have the awards. I have everything good to go and that'll be going um I can
send out to commissioners um the call for um um >> nominations >> nominations so that you guys can share that with your networks as well and then um yeah then in November is when we
discuss I don't have the date with me today but um then we discuss like those that were submitted and vote on at our November meeting. Okay, >> Tanya, what is the budget allocated for
that? >> Are you talking about the awards? We um we purchase the awards every two years. So we get them an eight from um
Brad I his name is um uh from MSUM. So we our budget is like we spent um money two years ago and purchased eight and gave four out last year and there's four for this year. Um, so are you
looking for specific amount of what we spend per award that we hand out? >> Whatever is allocated for these awards, whatever that means. If it's gas money to get the awards, if it's the awards itself, if it's
>> Well, we have like an art plaque that we um What? And please, if somebody can help me with his name, it's Brad Bachmire, I think, or um the artist um professor at MSUM. in pottery. I >> I do not remember his name. I apologize.
>> I do too. And I literally just um spoke with um >> um Bachmeire. I am pronouncing it correctly. Brad Bachmire. So he um hand creates the awards and um that's who we've had um utilized the past I believe
four years because we buy them eight at a time and four give it out each year. Um, so if you want I can um uh send out information if you're looking for more specific numbers of the budget. I know
um I was looking into that for the amount for um um snacks and stuff. So I can I will send out that information to you guys if that sounds okay with you. >> Thanks Tanya. >> Yep.
Okay. So, we'll have a call for nominations out next week. Again, share with your networks, nominate, have them nominate um because we decide I don't know if it would be appropriate for commissioners to nominate. So, um yeah, any network within education,
civic engagement, youth, I don't remember the last category, but I know there are four categories. Um okay, perfect. So any other reports, announcements, upcoming events
besides the events we talked about November 13th and Pangia. Otherwise on October 18th, uh the recovery community, engaged community used to be held housed over at First Presbyterian
Church in Morehead. Um behind that Walgreens. Now they have moved to the Methodist church by Romy Park and they are having like an open house with a free meal and resources because they are serving a lot
of people that are in transitional housing that are trying to get stable housing jobs and really help and ways of integrating people back into the community. the Lotus Recovery Recovery
Engaged Communities is having that October 18th around it starts at I want to say noon for lunch and then opening up that space for you know the community. So
that is what I have. Anybody else? And we talked about Pangia which is our new business and Tanya will send out a signup sheet and then we'll discuss a sensory room.
Anything else tonight? That's some great conversation, great ideas shared. We will adjourn at 6:11. Thank you all. Have a great night.