Anna Rees here seama Medi here Jennifer Cannon here Trenton Garretts Sebastian McDougall here EV Ellis here Jennifer Aranda here I'll Now read the land
acknowledgement we the Morehead 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 that the spirit of the Dakota ajibu mateti and all indigenous 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 indigenous people of this land and any agenda am
amendments okay um it does look like the speaker guest speaker we going to have Glory Ames the diversity support coordinator at Concordia will not be presenting tonight that is the only amendment that I had okay moving on to agenda item number
four uh approval can I get a motion to approve minutes from last month so moved second I'll second all in favor say I I I all oppose same sign okay moving on to our guest
speakers first up we have Mason Kimble from ageef friendly Morehead hello um my name is Mason Kimble I go to msum and I'm currently getting my masters in social work which has led me to interning with dancing Sky specifically on age friendly Morehead
efforts so it's pretty as simple as it sounds we're just trying to make more head more age friendly so we say mostly we focus on the 65 plus population but really if you're thinking about a sidewalk and accessibility if there's a curb and someone can't get up that
accounts for strollers Walkers and just the general family so we're just trying to make Morhead more age friendly so our committee meets monthly via Zoom or in in person at the Morehead Library the committee consists of agencies within
the area such as Rebuilding Together caplp Morehead Fire Department Care Resource connections and then we have a couple community members who are just excited about the fact that we're doing something so we in our last January 2025
meeting we focused on our goals for a committee moving forward we focused mainly on smart goals Based on data from listening sessions and ideas from Members our first goal was a logo creation that you'll see on the screen over here and we used msum to create one
we have three up there because we're currently deciding on one that we all agree on and that we think represents age friendly Morehead the best we also have listening sessions our goal is to have two listening sessions a month and I'll talk about that in a
little bit and then Community connections we are hoping to work with various publication groups within the Morehead area spread the word of age friendly and find ways to share events with community members and then a city official buyin is our biggest one that we need to get a
part of is we want to get city officials on board of our efforts and we hope to present our data regarding what the community needs and eventually hopefully get their buying to do something about it and if we eventually want to make a long-term goal we can join arp's age-friendly Community which then we
could do events get grant funding and do some events and stuff like that so to talk about our listening sessions it's one of the ways we gather information about the community our goal is to host at least two every every month in various locations around the Morad area
and at these sessions we hold open conversations that we ask participants various questions about the community so some of these questions are what is something that you really love about your community and something that you need more of and some of the ideas that I talked about are Transportation a lot
of people have the access to public transportation but are either scared they don't have the accessibility to go to it or if they're unable to drive they have to schedule it 2 hours in a advance and that takes a long time to do if you don't know you have something next week how are you going to schedule it a week
in advance and then have 2hour gaps between everything another one is accessibility so sidewalks curbs and parking mostly to do with the snow how there's all the snow pile up and sometimes it's just in front of the curb that they need to get up so there's been
an example of someone who drove all the way to their book club but had to leave because they simply could not get inside because of the snow another one is affordable housing this goes for independent and assisted housing for those who are 65 plus and just housing
in general we talk about how 65 plus is one of the grow biggest growing populations but they're also a growing population for homelessness that's a big topic of I want to downsize but it's too expensive for me to downsize but it's also hard for me to upkeep with my
home another one is social socialization and we always talk about how can we make it easier for people to find out about events going on at the local level sure there's Facebook but most don't have access to Facebook or don't know how to use it there's
newspapers but some don't get it so it's a lot of factors going into I want to meet more friends and have more of a community but I don't know how to find it so in our last listening sessions we had them at St Joseph Church Nativity Catholic Church good sheeper church and
Morehead public library and then we have two coming up one here at theom Center on the 24th from 1:00 to 300 p.m. and one at Crossings at Waters Edge which is an independent living facility on March 27th and we are hoping to have one I even tied in
April yeah that is a little recap of what we all are and I have some contact information too of my two supervisors and myself if you have any questions or if you want to be a part of the committee as well so yes any
questions um I have a question so how are you uh advertising for these listening sessions we usually try to post them with Flyers around the area and we have an emailing list of people who came to lisening sessions in the past that we send it out to okay and do
you have a website we do not okay so yes we are hoping to post on Dancing Sky Facebook page but that's about it okay yeah other questions so I just want to thank you for coming this is a very important project as we
know our population is aging and accessibility they go hand in hand so thank you this is really um well thought out um my question is knowing that you know affordable housing is one of the main concerns is there anything being
done at the affordable housing sites for a listening session knowing that Transportation so those affordable housing we have quite a bit um the one on Fourth Avenue by msum and the one the high-rise too especially so is there any plans to have listening sessions there
do you know and you might not know we hope so we are open to having them anywhere and anywhere we can our only limitations is funding so we really just have to go with people who are willing to just bring us in and let us have a couple hours of their time yeah um so
how many people normally show up to like these um meetings that you have and like what would their age range be so for our listening sessions usually it's been about 10 to 15 people we hope to have more but there are some where we only
have four so it really just depends and most of the time it's the older community but we do want some other factors of people like some families and other people that this stuff affects them as well I have a question um do you have
like a Max Capacity of how many people is it just based upon like the location size or is it just free for folks to uh participate it's free for people to come and come whenever and we don't have a capacity because we haven't really had that many people we haven't had to reach
that oh no we have too many people so we're just trying to find as much data as we can so as many people are usually welcome uh thank you so much Mason for sharing this and yeah I look forward to learning more about you guys on hopefully dancing Sky website perfect
thank you so much thank you next up we have Kayla waycott um who's a horizon fifth grade teacher at Morehead Public Schools uh talking about Girl Scout Troop Girl Scouts making a positive impact on the world thank you
Kayla Anna asked me to come and speak today and so thank you for having me um I actually am a teacher can teach in front of kids all day long but teach talking in front of adults makes me really nervous and so um here we are making Girl Scouts makes positive impact
on the world girl scouting can offer unique opportunities and develop leadership skills build confidence and make a positive impact on the world while fostering friendships and personal growth through various activities and programs some don't know what Girl
Scouts is or how it started it is a leadership Organization for girls it was founded in 19 182 by Juliet Gordon low it focuses on building courage confidence and character and it's open to all girls from kindergarten to 12th grade some of the core values are to be honest and fair friendly and helpful
considerate and caring courageous and strong responsible for what we say and do and to respect oursel and others there are six different levels of Grill Scouts and I currently am the leader of a Cadet troop I have been in Girl Scouts since
1990 I started as a Brownie Girl Scout in Jamestown North Dakota and I was in troop 382 and I had a wonderful leader who inspired us inspired us to be creative and helped us to make the world a better place while being a sister to Every Girl Scout thank you Laura Fischer for being a leader in my life we learned
that you go everywhere with your buddy and leave a place cleaner than when you got there it was with my troop that I met my best friend who remains just that who would have thought that sharing a bunk in fourth grade would Foster that friendship Jamie Jose has helped me to be a human for the last 30 years my favorite memory as a Girl Scout was
going to Camp whether it was in Jamestown or at Campton way and Valley City we completed our silver award project where we let a day camp for younger girls in our community this experience helped me to choose my career as a teacher I loved being in a leadership role we did many activities
that helped them these younger girls to see their Potential from there we earned our Gold Award where we took our love of the outdoors and L a camp for girls inspiring them to build friendships and confidence in areas where they weren't strong before many don't know what the Girl Scout Gold Award is however many do
know what the eagle scout award is these are the equivalent to one another only 4% of Girl Scouts earn their Gold Award receiving a Gold Award was something that I knew I wanted to obtained to help grow my resume for the future I was able to receive my silver and gold Awards due
to the guidance of Cheryl dewald in Jamestown thank you Cheryl after graduation I attended msum to become an elementary teacher there I found that there was a need for a girl Scout Troop leaders in Morehead always being forward focused I took on the challenge of being a leader for girls in Morehead I was a
co-leader with Alice a professor at Concordia here we enjoyed leading these young ladies and helped them to see the fun adventures that they could have as Girl Scouts as the years progressed I had my own daughter and again took on the role of co-leader of her troop I was helped in this journey by Amanda
folstrom and mogos Lawrence here we grew our troop to be a large troop of 12 girls they kep kept us busy and always on our toes it is been wonderful to watch these young ladies grow from itty bitty kindergarteners to beautiful eighth graders that they are today I couldn't have done it without the
amazing parents who helped me with these crazy meetings when asking the girls what were some of their favorite activities that they've done camping trips selling cookies cookie parties sale parties um crafting and community service projects
are some of their favorites we've gone on camping trips whether it's in a tent or glamping in a camper the girls love swimming learning how to shoot bow and arrows cooking over a fire creating nature journals biking learning new songs around the campfire making friends learning how to kayak or
embroid embroidering their campfire seats imagine selling Girl Scout cookies and having 6,332 boxes of cookies in one garage that was a feat that the girls enjoyed every year they didn't however love pickup day where they separated these
cookies to take home in frigid February temperatures they would make up songs signs cheers and go from Booth to Booth to meet goals that they set for themselves they were amazing and would often sell more than 500 boxes of cookies Anna we should have put the video in there of you doing your girl
scout cheer from when you sold cookies um sometimes we would have every year we would try to have a cookie sale party at the end of their season and one girl reports that a party bus to a hotel to go swimming was one of her favorite activities we won a silent auction bid at an elementary School event for a
party bus we went around to each Elementary School and picked up all 12 girls from their schools in Morehead we had fun music and dancing while we made our way to a hotel for pizza and swimming the girls love crafting we've learned how to knit sew paint carve soap
embroider and do bead projects these are just some of the ways that we start our meetings and talk about the week Girl Scouts often works with community service projects and we've tied many blankets to support the joy project made dog and cat toys to be donated to animal shelters in the FM area helped the
homeless and donated many boxes of cookies to local nursing homes in our community Girl Scouts focus a lot with leadership development Girl Scouts provides a platform for girls to discover and develop their leadership potential through various activities projects and challenges our troop has
had the opportunity to plan and Carry Out many activities where they were able to lead their peers as well as younger girls they have led day camps and volunteered at community events as helpers as young girls they were in charge of leading a meeting with the help of one of their parents they were able to see what it was like to be a
leader of others in their troop while building their relationship with their parents Girl Scouts is very famous for their cookie program the cookie program helps to teach them business skills helps them set and Achieve goals develop money management skills improves their
communication builds confidence and also allows us to have group activities these girls have developed many skills that they have used um and can use throughout their whole life they have gone through first a training babysitting CER certification public
speaking problem solving team collaboration and creative thinking making friends is a big part of our troop and girl scouting provides supportive and an inclusive environment where girls can form lasting friendships and build a sense of belonging these girls have created friendships that have
lasted over time they have become friends and continue to stay friends outside of Girl Scouts community service Girl Scouts are encouraged to make a difference in their communities and the world through service projects fundraising and advocacy fostering a sense of responsibility and compassion we have
worked hard with the joy project Marissa aurelle and warm blanket hugs to create blankets to be given out on Christmas Eve to those living in hotels and homeless shelters we have collected donations of Girl Scout cookies to go to nursing homes while we played bingo with their residents we have also made dog toys to be given to For the Love of dog
rescue and we've enjoyed helping our community there's also a lot of academic benefits to Girl Scouts and these girls develop important skills such as resourceful problem solving and challenge seeking which which contribute to academic success these skills that
they have learned in Girl Scouts have helped them to be Rockstar students who maintain advanced classes and great grades through their personal growth opportunities they gain valuable life skills including problem solving communication teamwork and resilience
which are essential for success in all areas of life the Girl Scout experience builds confidence it empowers girls to step outside of their comfort zones try new things and overcome challenges ultimately boosting their self-esteem and confidence the girls have
experienced many activities that they have never tried before they may not have been able to have these experiences if it weren't for Girl Scouts the amount of confidence that these girls have now is remarkable some have gone on to become remarkable confident athletes and theater
performers in Girl Scouts we strive to make a difference Girl Scouts are encouraged to make a difference in their communities and the world through service projects fundraising and advocacy fostering a sense of responsibility and compassion we are making differences in the and we continue to do this throughout our Girl
Scout journey and Beyond some of the skills that we've worked on are money management goal setting decision- making project planning time management and Leadership these Val are valuable skills that they've gained confidence in expressing themselves we've made many videos that they've that
we've shared with the community these girls have taken the babysitter course and earned badges in first aid and Engineering girl scouting offers a wide range of activities from Outdoor Adventures to arts and crafts providing opportunities for fun exploration and learning we have done so many activities
that it's hard to mention just a few we have had great times we've laughed we've explored and most importantly we have had fun we have completed many badges and learned so many new things in the last eight years together the silver award is the second highest award That Girl Scouts can
receive it focuses on community service requires leadership and dedication takes significant planning makes lasting Community impacts and shows the commitment to helping others as seventh graders these girls have earned their silver award we began discussing the needs of in our community and decided to
help the homeless we went to homelessness speakers in the community to find that this was a bigger problem than we knew we created 100 bags to distribute in our community to help the homeless in the bags they included water bottles serial bars a handmade blanket a handmade positive Zen coloring book
handmade crayons and they provided a list of Community Resources and handwritten letters of encouragement we then went to homeless shelters libraries and locations around the community and handed them out to to those in need this experience was very humbling for all of us the Gold Award is the highest
achievement in girl scouting it is equivalent to the eagle scout award like I said before only 4% of Girl Scouts earn it it requires sustainable Community impact shows outstanding leadership and looks great on college applications as eighth graders we're now
starting to um develop this and we are a group of three now and we're beginning the process of planning this Gold Award they're greatly looking forward to completing this and being a part of the 4% we are doing three different projects as each girl has to lead their own team we are helping to create fidget bags for
those newly diagnosed with autism attention deficit disorder and anxiety another project involves self-care bags for those with post-traumatic stress disorder and your very own Anna is hoping to help animals in rescues why would one want to be in Girl
Scouts to build confidence make lifelong friends learn valuable skills help the community have Amazing Adventures become a leader and create lasting memories thank you you Kayla um did you know that public speaking is one of the most
common fears I think you did great so thank you for being vulnerable and coming up here um I don't have personal experience with Girl Scouts so I'm just curious um you said the your group uh I think it was the cadetes are eighth graders and they're working towards a gold gold award what um age range is
girls SC is it all the way through 18 or graduation through through when they're seniors in high school it is through there okay okay our girls would like to be done as 10th nth and tth graders because as they get older it's just not
as cool to be in girls class and so um we're we're working to get to that final that final goal okay awesome does anyone else have any questions do anyone else here part of Girl Scouts besides you Anna oh awesome cool well thank you so
much Kayla and now we have our very own seom to talk about uh Kurdish people and women's history and she's speaking uh today as Project Lead With creating Community
Consulting hello from this side um good evening so I thought I would talk about the significance of March and the significance of British people in the community because you might say who are these people and we get the question why
here and why why Morehead good question because it is far away from where we um originate from which I will go into the picture you see on the screen is uh this at the one of the international days at the school which uh have started
where kids can um now second and third generation can dress up and dance and really Express themselves culturally there's a significant number of students at the school at the Morhead schools um that are of Kurdish descent not necessarily immigrants but children of
the immigrants of the refugees that have resettled here so um wanted to talk about the area so we we are talking about somewhere in the Middle East uh it's not an official country so we like to say we're the largest one of the largest people in the
world without a country um and so as you can see on the map it's the corner of Syria uh Iraq which I'm part of that area turkey and Iran and for decades and
centuries we have been persecuted um ran out of our own homes and treated as second class citizens but we have alwaysed our ground and survived and been resilient so we're really unique
and the language is unique it's comparable to Arabic but not really and it's just been our nature one of the oldest civilizations it goes back to you know Marans and all all that significant
so actually right now this map is at the Historical Society exhibit downstairs where you could read some stories about different community members um and the map is right there it's the home of the memories uh exhibit and it's really
insightful to learn more about you know people in our area what they do how long they've been here so the gentleman I have there plays the zaz and is a a musician his name is shaat rajab and um he has performed at various events in
our community um and his stories there as well as other individuals that have been here for 40 years like Mr Hamid alamad who is a longstanding community leader who's been in this area since 1970s so long history there I'm always
kind of integrated uh I encourage you all to look at the exhibit it's free on Tuesdays um it's it's a wonderful exhibit you'll learn a little bit about your neighbors I have a video picking grape leaves wild Vine leaves that use in our cooking stuffed grap
leaves I wanted to just the significance again the largest ethnic group in Morehead and that's significant because a lot of people are like who are you what are your practices what do you do so in the US uh we
there's a significant population in Nashville why Nashville there was work there in the 1990s when people resettled in the 1970s San Diego go because it looks like Kurdistan of the mountains right and we're from the mountainous areas and
Texas and then Morhead and other various communities ill in Illinois Small Pockets but it's it's it's significant um and people started arriving like I said in the 1970s uh early 1990s uh was
when the the Gulf War was happening and Saddam Hussein was really um persecuted the Kurdish people and really killing them off of killing whole Villages and so my story starts there as how I ended up in Morhead was in the
1990s my uh a lot of families fled because they feared what was coming so we we fled and we went back and that was just kind of known um you some some families were in refugee camps and ended up um going through the process of
resettlement which was how they ended up in Fargo Moree head was that resettlement another wave happened in 1996 which was with my family we ended up going to Guam and then we ended up in the Fargo Morhead area so that's kind of
the history there's always been prosecution of Kurdish people right now in Iran it can be illegal to wear Kurdish clothes to celebrate and it was in Turkey up until 5 years ago and maybe still is um to really speak the language
even the language is somehow getting lost too because of what the governments are imposing needless to say we like Community we like generosity we like to dance we like music and we're uh we
celebrate so I'll talk about that so this is the struggle we we've had in the in the area to defend the democracy and human rights particularly in 2014 when Isis came um the pish Marga or the Kurdish forces were the first ones on
the front line fighting them off we had another wave of individuals that were translators with the Army and they got special visas they risked their lives to help the US forces and then they got special visas to relocate um the most
significant one of the most significant Global things that happened was the murder of uh Gina m is her Iranian name because she can't use Gina because it's a Kurdish name she was murdered by the Iran Iranian regime and the cry for xan
aadi or women life Freedom which stems from the Kurdish language and the struggle really went Global it really was a women's right movement but it the the source of it the origin of that cry
wasn't given the true um the true honor deserved which was within the Kurdish community and the fight for the democracy and the rights where it happens in turkey and Iraq and Iran and in Syria especially now with the volatile Syria government and that ties
into resettlement here and I'll explain that as well so really trying to be the Forefront of Human Rights Women rights and democracy in that region which is can be very volatile and um there have been a number of leaders that have had
been exiled a lot of our musicians that would sing about the struggle were killed by regimes so music was kind of a resistance I was in Turkey a couple years ago and some musicians were sitting there and started to sing um a
Kurdish song and the guy people around them were like stop singing because the police will come and arrest you if you sing this song in Kurdish so that's the reality um and it's it's just because it's language is sung it's resistance it's we we are a people we still hold on
to our identity so March is very significant one thing that happened is called halap chap which happened on March 16 1988 where a gas was spread by the Saddam Hussein regime and whole Villages were
just slaughtered and we all feared that would happen again I was in 1990 and I was six months old and my parents fled to the mountains for a week took what they could came back so this really significant March 10th is also Kurdish
Clos day and then I'll talk about the other significance of March and so this is a March 16th is remembered throughout the world as halupa the day that thousands of people died because the smell that smelled like apples was
spread and it was gas it was the government gassing people and March is also significant because of narus which is celebrated worldwide as a form of the spring okno uh celebrations I have the pictures
up there are of Nashville they get to celebrate outside unfortunately we're not fortunate in most years because we can't go outside and have the celebration because it's a bitter cold but it's uh it it starts March 20th with
a bonfire and community and picnics and um just dancing and togetherness and celebration and those celebrations are held all over the world because diaspora is everywhere from Australia to Europe to the States to Canada it's just di
it's Kurdish diaspora has been spread around the world just because of the reality of being persecuted heavily by the countries they live in and not having a country called Kurdistan so I wanted to bring it back
to our community here an article was released this morning from the Star Tribune and another one was done a couple years ago about the significance of URS in this area and what it means so Mr Zach aine who won a human rights
award for his work with youth teaches a class and again the second generation the third generation just having that kind of identity crisis and not knowing where they fit in not knowing what box to check get to really build their Community ask questions learn about
their history just like you would have a German class or a Spanish class or a French class this has been implemented by the school to have this class and to build this community for students when I was going to school and my my peers we were in the ESL classrooms but clearly
we speak English well enough I would argue most youth now speak English fluently where they don't need to be in ESL classroom but they still want to learn and other students are open to taking the class so to just to learn about their neighbors I think it's really significant that we're closing in
on 8% of morehead's population that's you know that's a large port and there are businesses maybe they might not look like Kurdish businesses but there are there are significant number of five or six businesses plus plus a restaurant open like I've said
when we moved here we really integrated we got jobs we went to school we were part of the labor force a huge labor force because it's International women's um month and March 8th was the celebration and it's really befitting that we had Girl Scouts here so thank
you I also want to acknowledge the number of of Kurdish women working at the school as support staff working with uh disable you know the special needs students filling that Gap filling that need because they're natural nurturers and they really are filling that need
that is strongly needed in our schools and so I would project that's about 20 to 30 if not more in those roles and again also teachers that are contributing to that uh like Mr Emy and a couple of other teachers
at the high school and it's really one of the most you know we've always integrated we've gotten the jobs we we want to be a part of community we want to make the community better uh and we people say why Morehead well people are looking for a place to raise their
families good schools and so you end up here which is amazing but then you also need to um be aware of that if any issues were to arise in terms of language on ing culture and making sure people feel
connected um and then we did a proclamation this year so that was exciting um city council member MC mcdouall read it at the uh March 10th city council meeting and we have couple of Mr Zach amine with me again Mr hji um
aladi again who's been here for 40 years and my father so it was really significant the only other city that's done that with a large population is Nashville Tennessee and they have I think probably 40,000 British people living there so
pretty significant and really a milestone for us for our community in terms of just recognizing uh Heritage and the contribution of kurtish people in this area so that is my presentation any
questions you had mention the exhibit downstairs um I wasn't aware of that what um first does it cost anything to go how long is it going to be there for and do you know the hours that people can go down there that is a great question so it is it has been open since
this fall okay it it on Tuesday's evening it's free to go and look at all the exhibits from the historical society and Museum and they have another one called land to table which talks about food and the significance there and uh
but on Tuesdays you can go look at it I know in the coming months we're going to have some students from the school some fourth graders come and look at the exhibit so it's it's a wonder they how the Historical Society has a wonderful relevant um relevant exhibits and
stories and so it does normally cost um to come to it on the weekends say there are special occasions where it's free like frostival and some events that happen but on Tuesday evenings or Tuesdays it's
free to to go view this Museum uh it's open until I want to say like end of March if not the end of June that home of memories exhibit and there's a poster right out there with the gentleman playing the oud um and it's uh Kurdish
and Iraqi stories but when I when we were contacted like how should we name this exhibit we said yes although majority of us are from Iraq are identity as Kurdish people because the Kurdistan region of Iraq is autonomous they have their own government they have
their own they cooperate but they have their own systems as well it's an autonomous region so that answer it yeah open absolutely uh it will be open on the global Markin on April 8th which is on a Tuesday as well any other
questions I just had a quick comment I don't know if anyone else has a question um you were talking about how you know Kurdish people are resilient and I know you're too modest to bring this up but I want to say that I can absolutely speak um to your resiliency and for those of
you that aren't aware seam did uh was awarded the YWCA award last year um and I just want to say congratulations and I admire your resilience thank you thank you so much someday I'll there we go someday
I'll figure this thing out um Sam just a just a couple questions as we talk about or as you mentioned 8% of our population is made up of Kurdish families correct is that correct yeah estimated estimated okay so just a quick question is that do
we see is our community still experiencing first generation Kur Kurdish families moving into our area or is that population because of past generations and kids and now we have third and fourth generation Kurdish families that's a very good question so
the resettlement like I said that happened in waves there was some in the late um uh like 2014 2015 um that happened and now what I've seen resettlement and following the resettlement agencies are Syrian Kurds
so different from Iraqi Kurds because of the tensions in Syria because of the persecution of Kurds there and minorities um they're the ones who are being resettled this first generation now there are secondary migration of Kurdish people from a bigger city
smaller towns like Morehead that is happening so you still have a lot of the older population that is first generation but then the second generation you know it's the the the data is very nuanced because moving to the states you're considered Caucasian
or white because of how people in the Middle East are labeled but really Kurds are a minority in the Middle East as well so it's kind of a double kind of thing but and so it's kind of nuanced like you would say the Hispanic population ation sometimes is considered just Caucasian as
well okay so that that leads me to my second question I have with that so in the reason why I asked that is because certainly the um concerns or issues as a first generation Kurdish family are going to I would assume be different than a third or fourth generation
Kurdish Kurdish family within our community so as I think about the Human Rights Commission and I think about the things we're aiming to do what are some of the things us as a community need to be aware of um in mindful of As We are continuing to see first generation uh
families not just cish but in this example that are moving to our area that we should be thinking about and just monitoring or paying attention to yeah that's a great question so unfortunately discrimination happens or reasons why you move here you know there's a lot of
rhetoric around Refugee and immigrants in general and they have gone through a lot to to get here whether whatever it's not something that you want to do is to leave the only home you know it's terrifying I can tell you from experience um as a six year-old I was
told we're going to move to the Estates because we have no other options otherwise you know economically the government was being sanctioned that was being sent down to the people and so you have no other choice just being aware they're your neighbors um understanding that they probably have a lot of trauma
and understanding that they have a life it was established it was stable most people had jobs and you know they want also contribute Community they don't want to do any harm um and there are instances where you know things are said
um you know especially youth they don't understand so they want they say things that are stereotypical and that hurts that leads to behavior so understanding that understanding them the trauma that they have been through um and understanding that they want to
contribute to the community they want to integrate as much as possible um and be seen as community members so thank you for that question and and maybe just to followup to that uh I remember having a conversation years ago with kism when
they were uh operating and they had given me the the idea or the impression that a lot of our uh new Americans or immigrants moving over here you know some of the young people were standing on a corner with potentially um were recruited into an
army or resistance or whatever might be might have had a machine gun in their hand so to speak um and and now they're here in a in a different land a different community and to your point that trauma still follows you here and so sometimes the response may not always be the best but that's what they know
and so trying to understand um that backstory I think would be a huge starting point for a lot of us yeah and it's just just making sure that as understood well I haven't had like I know back in the early 90s when I hear from my cousins that were here and then relocated to Nashville there was that
like youth just trying to fit in but I know I think now with the ability to have programming and recruitment of the youth it's for different youth you know you're able to get them to use their time in other ways and I think that's really important too and then um making
sure that people know that there's programming and Community available for them so they don't feel isolated other questions thank you seam thank you we have any Community Partners for citizens to be
heard none okay moving on to agenda item number eight Captain swensson do you have an update I just have a couple things uh to hit on uh since last meeting uh we had a had one retirement with our department with our deputy
chief uh Tory Jacobson and then next Friday on the 28th of March I'll have the retirement of our current chief shann Monroe so I just want to take a couple minutes to recognize both of those uh men for the 30 years each that they put into our community and uh why I want to hit at it with human rights is
both of those did a lot of work to be very active in our community from uh Tori Jacobson as a young officer learning Spanish because that was a uh very dominant uh language in the areas he was working in Morehead at the time in the um late '90s mid to late 90s
to uh Shannon work are being recognized and getting a Chief's shirt and hat from the Liberian Community last week so it they've done a lot of work and we've always focused on not just policing but community policing and making sure that we're trying to bridge any gaps that we have within our community so I just want
to take a couple seconds to recognize both of those for their hard work and their dedication to our community absolutely 30 years I can't can't even wrap my head around that amazing hey moving on to regular business uh one thing I did want to
mention um for those of you that didn't notice we have a new member today um Jennifer Aranda is that how you pronounce it Aranda so welcome and if you want to introduce yourself more than welcome yep oh there you go see I will learn
this so I am Dr jannifer Ronda uh my professional life I work for University of Minnesota extension in my real life I am a mom and an advocate and co-founder of the onx collective uh which works
with rural black folks in Greater Minnesota and I'm really happy to be here and honor happy to have you any other regular business anyone else uh moving on to subcommittee reports and I did note from the meeting
last month um that we are combining what was it C we're combining the more harder board or something you said well the awards for the subcommittees so we have three right and one of them is Awards it
was it was with the awards and events but now we're separating because we have a full gotcha we have a full commission now and so that um you know if the if those individuals on the awards committee will probably want to know more about the more heart because
they're seeking other other commission and uh representatives to be on that committee and they don't meet often but it would be appropriate for it to fit into that subcommittee gotcha okay um so it's my understanding that as of today
for our subcommittees we have education and Outreach as one subcommittee events as one and then Awards as a separate one and as of right now we don't have the people assigned to each subcommittee I would assume not since we have couple education it was kind of
kind of going um commissioner rajash and I with a volunteer Marissa aling we're working on the calendar and invitations um that being said we could use another member if anyone's interested or if
anyone really wants to be a part of that subcommittee um yeah we can have you a part of that subcommittee can you repeat the three subcommittees I have education and out reach Awards and and events thank you
yep so if we could get um so ideally uh maybe if we could get one more person in the education Outreach and then align people for the events and awards committees um I don't mind being on the education and Outreach okay helping out
with that that sound good see that's sounds great yes okay any interest in the events committee sub commmittee basion I have a question so how many committees is like are we just so
looking at one committee or multiple committees you can definitely do multiple I know that we did that before we just can't have Quorum which is four people on One committee because you're meeting outside of um Regular meeting times and that's okay
meeting open meeting laws and such good point Sebastian you're on events I will join you all right Lees come on that leaves Awards to
I guess that means I'll do Awards all right if the chair if you I mean want to be on Awards they know you were previously but you can switch there and if anybody else wants to be on Awards you totally I mean there's no Quorum
except for the education Outreach now we have three so okay um how about you an are you interested in in participating in a subcommittee I'm already part of the education Comm oh yeah sorry I
didn't write that one down okay got it so education Outreach um from from this group we have Anna and IET and then from for events we have Sebastian and Dr Jennifer and for awards we have Trent and myself oh and seam in
the education Outreach yes okay did you get all that Tanya okay awesome and there weren't any updates I would assume since the last meeting or were there uh no we haven't met but I just want to say um you know commissioner Raj just really hit the
ground running with that inviting speakers um tonight so thank you for doing that that was uh very very good to hear from the Girl Scout so thank you um but we haven't met yet so hopefully the next couple of
weeks we will meet and talk awesome thank you okay moving on to reports announcements or upcoming events I did bring a couple events that I wanted to let everyone be aware of um
the first one uh would have come from that um guest speaker that we were going to have glor Ames the diversity support coordinator at Concordia on Saturday April 5th um from 12: to 10 p.m. will be the 34th annual paow um which is put on
between the woodlands and High Plains um students grades K through 12 are free um and elders and veterans are also free um and adults are $5 and this will be held on April
5th from 12: to 10: p.m. and then I also I know we just had um I don't know if it was last week the global market but the global market um is here at the umcom center and it's set um for the next Global Market Day for
Tuesday April 8th uh at 5:00 p.m. M and it looks like we're expecting te's tacos Maria's Homestyle Mexican um lots more jayen suets uh they do have an event on Facebook so if you want more details you're more than welcome to go
um look up the global market on Facebook and again that'll be on Tuesday April 8th here at the mcom center and one more event I wanted to mention is that the National Alliance on Mental Health or Nami or Nami n Ami
Morehead advocates for better better me mental health support in Morehead and they are putting on an event um it's called mental health day in the park and it's going to be Saturday April 26 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and the location is
the Viking ship Park and they also have a Facebook event page where you can get um get more information this free event will bring together over 12 local Mental Health organizations um really offering a chance to connect learn and grow
together and then seam did you have an event you wanted to mention um so there are a few there's lots happening but uh this Saturday the Attorney General Minnesota is going to be at msum at 10: a.m. and if anybody wants to go that's Town Hall um there is
a speaker at Concordia again um who's a holocaust uh historian and lecturer re uh Dr Rez uh who will be there talking about the tensions currently I know we had discussion of this last year with the uh global conflict now I would say
um just discussing that um the Israeli and Palestinian um conflict that has been going on for over a year U longer than that years but really the the nuances and the delicacy of that matter and he's going to be at Concordia on
Saturday to speak as well there's an ifar for Ramadan that's happening on and Morehead at the Armory Event Center also on Facebook Sunday the 23rd if you want to go and learn more about people that are practicing Ramadan and have a
community meal that's at the Morhead arm Mar and on April 9th and 10th msum is having a restorative justice conference um from 8:00 a.m to 3 p.m. on April 9th and 10th also on Facebook um with uh the
MS MSU events yeah that's there's a lot going on yeah busy month okay any new business just want to talk about I know every year we talk about juneth and it was set to be here um I think it's being
move this year um due to scheduling conflicts um but I know we'll probably hear from the group that puts juneth on and kind of thinking about our summer events to be aware of Pride and stuff that they HRC is typically involved in
so to plan for that and get speakers here for those maybe not necessarily new business not sure if this is where it belongs but just a couple thoughts as I um was listening to Mason uh speak earlier and
maybe this is something more for the education uh team but I'd be really interested in learning um more so but what H how our city approaches uh planning um when we're talking about uh putting in a new development somewhere
what all goes into their thought process um you know are they thinking about the elderly gener um people are they thinking about people that with vision disabilities like myself uh those kinds of things and and then also I I'd like to know kind of what that cost is because there there is certainly an
additional cost to accommodate certainly people with uh disabilities um as well and in in that same uh vein as I think about the older population uh I also think about accessibility to
markets and Grocery and that stuff and and as so as we are planning you know what other kind of thoughts go into that um the nearest Hornbachers store to my house is a mile I'm pretty fortunate for that uh but for others if especially if you can't drive or a senior that's you
have to go a long way and it's really hard to schedule trips and that kind of stuff so just kind of an idea of maybe an educational piece uh down the road one other thing um I I don't know um I happen to run into a couple people and I don't know if they know I'm on the Human
Rights Commission I didn't ask uh but they expressed um concern uh about the idea of the deportations that are happening in those and I think we're all well aware of it and and officer Monroe thank you for your comments last week
but or last month there's still a fear though that people that are here legally are carrying their birth certificates are carrying their you know everything they can to prove that they are a citizen um out of fear and I don't
know what role we should play or if we need to play a role there but am asking the question of what kind of education can we work with the more city of Morehead police department and others to hopefully alleviate some of that fear
I I don't think we'll everybody be able to get rid of it all but but at least alleviate it um if that's somewhat our role or if that's a possibility those are great questions and Captain Swenson talked about how they're not really they're just making
sure people are protected which is great that is why we you know we brought in the immigration lawyer here to kind of tell people their rights and that's a real fear like people have stopped going to school work because they think you know they might be arrested um and been
told you know carry your green card have it on you which most people do and passports even but no that's a real fear and all we can really do is educate I mean um and like I said the Attorney General is coming to Morehead for that listening session and I'm sure that's
going to be a topic that is brought up and to really uh if there's fear to to to connect people with resources so um the ACLU um to be able to give them the resources they need we don't have a lot of
immigration lawyers in our area um we have a few um but that topic has certainly been bought up and the one thing we can do is educate I know adult basic education has been getting some resources out there because they have a lot of um individuals learning English
that are very new to the area um and they've had resources we have the Immigrant Law Center in town that gives resources is we have the legal services of Northwest Minnesota but they don't have a whole lot of capacity but they can
give those resources and connect folks so all all agreed and appreciate that but the education certainly I I feel from this group can't just stop at a at a once a month meeting I mean I I I just although all those things are out there
we still have a a group within our population that either isn't paying attention to this meeting or others or doesn't know and so I'm not looking for us to do necessarily more work but I am asking how can we help facilitate if that's even our role but how to help
facilitate those uh education pieces uh so that way people aren't making decisions based out of that fear that may not even be needed or necessary I think um you know promote the events that are happening there was
a lot of uh town halls and information about immigration and like it's unfortunately kept up under um it's not necessarily made public sometimes because of fear of you know disruption or something happening it is a very good question I
know the immigration lawyer that was here is working with a foundation to start something for people to have a resource um and I haven't heard much from it but there are things in the works uh and as they develop it's
certainly something that can be brought to our attention so then we are able to give that to people and then teaming up with the organizations that work with immigrant and refugees there's the Immigrant Development Center there's KO the Kurdish American development um the
resettlement agencies caplp resettles families here too but again there are undocumented individuals that are part of our community and there are documented individuals that fear having their rights taken away at
their human rights so yes um if if there are any ideas I'd love I I would love to hear them because I've tried to bring the discussion up and to talk and to bring people who are experts in this topic but it's ever changing every
day so uh it's it's it's difficult for sure I uh I love that you brought that up um I think that at heart yeah we are part of the Human Rights Commission and I
think that we do the onus is on each individual we're here because we care about human rights um this is larger than us and so when I work with folks trying to keep their
sanity sometimes it's the small things do you carry your own red cards okay so the immigration lawyer who spoke last month alluded to Red curds unless you're
part of the conversations you don't know what those are and so we don't know what we don't know so the first thing I will ask um if I send the red card link to the chair would you be able to distribute to the
Commissioners yeah absolutely um I'm not sure uh if it has to go to Tanya though or I can send it to Tanya whomever is supposed to but it's the small things that you can do and you know leaving these in bathrooms putting them on the
shelves when you're at the grocery store um leaving them on the bus seat these are ways to to quietly hopefully Empower and support folks where they're at CU you can't go
up to somebody and say hey here take this um I know and I will bring out at our next meeting um the tri colge Alliance of Latinos is having the tall conference and a very difficult time getting
Community to come because people people are scared people are scared to show up so I hear you I understand that and I'm hoping that we can each individually take some small
steps love that love that and see ham you said that um I don't I don't remember exactly what you said but there were some uh things in the works um is that something that we can you know follow up on and then maybe when there are updates we could invite those people
back in to share what they have going on and put together yeah so there are conversations that are had just within organizations individuals trying to get some resources for people that don't have them um and what happens when
you're taken away for 4 days and your family doesn't know where you are that's a real thing so just being able to act quickly um that is in the works it's developing um it again it it had to happen very
fast so once that information is you know bought to us or we're aware of we'll bring those individuals to give that information to us in the city and whoever else is interested in that start anyway um I'll look forward
to the red card information I'm definitely very interested in that um any other new business I just wanted to put a place plug in for April April is sexual salt awareness month and so I think it's
really important to highlight that you may have different um organization nonprofits that may be hosting different virtual events um there may be some on campus different events that folks can go to so just look at your different
resources but you can go to uh manasa's website which is um uh www. manasa it's MNC aa.org and they usually that's the Coalition that they will have like all the different organizations throughout
the state of Minnesota and they typically host virtual events um that people can register for and or get more information about uh prevent prevention and also just what's going on in the local areas so just wanted to put that
plug out there all right it is 6:19 and we will adjourn thank you