Check. Check. I can hear the handheld. Yeah. Are we wait are we good to go? Can I start? >> Okay. Awesome. Awesome. From the top. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to uh the Human
Rights Commission meeting on April Oh my gosh. on April 2nd, 2026. Welcome everyone. Um I would like to call um the meeting to order. We are going to be starting with the roll call of commissioners. Um Chair Sheam Husseini
present. Uh Vice Chair Herby Gene Jean Baptiste >> present. >> Chief Edward Cullen. >> Yeah. Commissioner Sheila Johnson, >> present. >> Commissioner Albert Teti, >> present.
>> Um, I would like to put on Chief uh Dr. Garcia. >> Um, I would like to put on record that Commissioner Ku Pitch and Victor Maria, sorry, and uh Chief Maria Levita are not currently present. And I would like to
uh introduce our newest commen uh commission member, Victor Pelletire. I want to give this chance for you to introduce uh introduce yourself. What would you like to it is your goal it is while being a part of the human rights commission. What would you like to see from the human rights commission before we start our meeting? So I will give the
mic off to you. >> Uh it's such a pleasure to meet everyone here. I apologize for how long it took for me to finally arrive. But I'm so happy and excited and honored to be here to speak, to discuss, and to talk about the city of River, what we can do do to advance our goals of being more equitable, more equal, and more involved
within the community in any way, space, or shape that we can. Um, just for some reference, I was born and raised in the city right off of Wonderland. I currently attend Boston University as a senior graduating this May. I work up at the state house with our state senator Lydia Edwards. But I'm here in my own personal capacity to uh help and aid in
any way giving you know point of views, perspectives, thoughts within conversations, but I'm here to as well learn to listen and to provide any perspective and help that I can in my capacity. It's such a pleasure to be here with you guys. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Uh Commissioner Peliter, welcome to the Human Rights Commission. We are all equally as excited to for you to join us in this journey to creating a more beautiful and better revere. Um so before we start off
um uh as just walking uh Commissioner Pellet through our through our the way how we do things our standard procedure um right after we do roll call we read the the mission statement of the human rights commission which is the piece paper that's in front of you. Um, whenever everyone is ready on my
account, we'll start reading together. >> The mission of the rever human rights commission is to promote human and civil rights and empower all people of River by ensuring that everyone, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized,
have equitable opportunities, equal access, and are treated with dignity, respect, fairness, and justice. Move on to the land acknowledgement. One thing that we do in every meeting is that we acknowledge the fact that we are on native land. We are in the native, we
belong to the native land of the Pucket and we invite all indigenous peoples and native peoples are in the city of River to join us in our meetings to express thoughts and opinions of the things and goings that are in the city of River um
for now present present past and all future human rights commission meetings. I would like someone to approve the minutes from the March 5th monthly meeting and someone to second. >> Anyone to second?
>> Second. >> All members say I I Okay. So going through the monthly acknowledgements and upcoming upcoming meetings uh April 1 um began the
national volunteer month, Earth Month, autism awareness month, Arab uh ArabAmerican Heritage Month, Tartan or the Scottish American Heritage Month, and the Celebrate Diversity Month. April 2nd, which today is World Autism Day. um as celebrated by the city of River
actually today. Uh April 7th is international day of a reflection of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. April sec 22nd is Earth Day. These are some of the things that we've already established on the calendar for the Human Rights Commission. You can find it on the river
website for some of the holidays that Warren mentioned that we will um we will add to the calendar is that um April 1st was Passover which is a Jewish holiday. Uh April 3rd is Good Friday and April
5th is Easter. Um does anyone have any other holidays or events that they would like to u mention right now that we could add on to the calendar um before I move on to the next? Yes, go ahead. This month is also ArabAmerican Heritage Month.
>> I did mention that. Yes, yes, yes. A no, no, no, no worries. No worries. Um, this also goes off to um everyone who is in the general public. If there are holidays or events that we haven't mentioned throughout our meeting, um past and uh past and uh future events,
let us know. We could definitely add them on to the calendar so that it's updated so that everyone is aware of such a holiday or event is happening. Um, so for I know that we haven't met in the past couple of months. Um, but I do
want to go back to the topic of of working groups. Um, just to catch uh Mr. Pelletar uh taking uh in the beginning of the year, well before we ended last year, we all created uh different subsections that each commissioner can
be a part of to really focus on certain projects or certain things that um that we find that need to have specific attention and rever. So um I could definitely um provide you the list of groups um after our meeting. You'll be
all updated in terms of that. Um we do have uh I do want to update um with the senior the senior outreach group. It's going to be that's with me and Sheila Johnson, Commissioner Johnson. And basically we are going to meet with um
Deb Pesco which is um head director of senior of senior activities. Uh we're actually going to meet with her this Friday in order to discuss a project that we are willing to um uh engage with the seniors. Um, I'll I'll let
Commissioner Johnson also chime in to um to talk a little bit further about that project. >> Thank you. The initial project, what I what we wanted to do was bring the seniors of the senior citizen and seniors of high
school and what we have in common and just more of a knowledge and for them to get to know us. Get to know I put myself in that. get to know us and for them to get to for us to get to know them. The world is changing so much and we just
want some type of unity and to help them when they need it. And we're just going to this comparison because we have a lot in common than people may think cuz they were teenagers at one time. And I think that's pretty much the gist of it. We're
we can't go on river TV or Ravier Facebook or the city hall where we're going to go on Facebook to show the two interviews. >> You can elaborate on that please. Yeah. So, um I when uh when I first reached
out to the um social media coordinators for city hall, um one the thing that they mentioned is that we can't have our own social media. Like we can't have like a human rights commission um Instagram specifically, but I think that
we could utilize the River City Hall um social media. In terms of uh uh rever TV, we could definitely use that to our it's not something that we're not allowed to use. So obviously with um permission slips. I mean, if they're of
the age of 18, it's completely different. But if they're still minors, we would um and they're seniors and they're still minors, would obviously create some sort of permission slip like um to ask for permission and do you want this interview to be advertised um into
the the um the general television for Revier. So, we could definitely use Rever TV to our advantage. It's just whether or not we actually go in or do they come to us or how we could coordinate that. Um but um do want to utilize um director Morabito's expertise
because I know he knows more about the social media stuff. I just know we can't have our like rever city like we can't have like a river human rights Instagram rever human rights you know Facebook but we could use whatever resources that's already established like the river um
Facebook page and the river um Instagram >> as far as the seniors I think Depp will be phenomenal getting five seniors to talk to us what how we're are we going to go about with the seniors in the high
school How do we approach them to see if they want to be part of this project? >> Um, I think this is where we could definitely speak with the other um because there is I believe a education
and the river high school uh subgroup um which is with commissioner Teti. I know that you've been in contact with um the the person who runs the the welcome community. Yes. at at River City at River High School. So, we could
definitely talk um to to that connection um and see if if there are any seniors within that welcome group to really um engage in conversation with the seniors and then we could, you know, that's a one way that we could put two working groups together and really work together
to create a very beautiful project. So, I think that's the best way. Um if not um I could utilize my own personal connections with with them um with uh with River High School as I have siblings that go
there and now are also part of the um of the welcome committee. So I can definitely talk to talk to them but definitely through um definitely through the the person who runs the the the welcome committee is I think this is the best way to do it.
Anyone have any questions or any clarifications or about what we're trying to do with this particular project with the seniors? Well, senior citizens and seniors of the Rivier High School. >> Any suggestions perhaps? >> Yeah. Really quick, I just wanted to
clarify. So, this is a opportunity for the senior citizens in Rivier to speak with the graduating seniors in high school, correct? >> Yes. >> Yeah. And is there is there a specific like goal in mind or is it just to engage in conversation and open up that that avenue? >> I'm looking at is just to engage in
conversation just to have that connection. Um just to see where the same thing that they're going through in high school and starting to go to college if not college, trade school, just more of someone else to talk to and say, you know what, I've been through
the same thing. some guidance. >> I think and to um further elaborate on what Commissioner uh Johnson mentioned, I think over the past couple of years, there has been and this is coming as someone and you you might even seen it
as a youth yourself. Um there was somewhat of a growing animosity between the younger generations and the much older generations. Even the vernacular that people use jokingly like oh boomers or Gen Z even even though on a surface
level that it may seem joking but there is some depth to that. So I think this is a very good way to bridge that gap to be like yes is there a generational and an age gap between the two um
populations? Yes, but there always can be some commonality and I feel like because the world has become so divisive, we always focus on what we don't have in common. Um, so this is our way of show like no there are the fact that we're all human beings is one thing
in common. So let's have that conversation to show that like hey it's not like the gener the two um groups are necessarily against each other like no this is a way to help each other move forward together. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Dr. Garcia. So I think your idea is
fascinating. It's a great idea. U but at the same time I also believe that we should come up with a focus uh for those for the meeting uh a team right it could be intergenerational gap it could be anything but I I believe that we should
come up with a um with a team for the conversation and then uh come up with maybe uh three to five questions. Um that way it's more structured, more organized. Uh you can certainly send those questions to them so that they can read it, prepare, do research and things
like that. And then um uh obviously uh you can we could select this body um or maybe four or five people or maybe even two or three whatever you think. Then you have a facilitator you have roundt
discussion at River TV. It'll be amazing for the community to see. Share your perspective about you know uh who we are you know adults what we experienced what life has was in the past 10 years ago what you know some of those
conversations but it need to be properly structured and facilitated that way it's televised it could be it does not have to be a long conversation I would say probably 25 minutes conversation no more than that because once you have an hour
45 minutes based on my experience people tend to lose lose interest. But it it could be you could do it via a storytelling activity uh where people come. How many immigrant children we have in this city that can come and talk about the experience? How many of those
kids were born here in River that are from mainstream you know so there it can be done. would be a fascinating activity experience but it needs to be properly structured with a some guiding questions and also some uh with a facilitator you know identified to do it
>> that that is the plan we talked about that my initial thought and I don't know if we have the time to do this but to have the five generations to have the Gen Z the millennials the boomers
>> but that would be an hour and have a structure question to talk to one another. I did this at work and it was fascinating that we have so much in common and for us to understand what they're going through. We can talk about that tomorrow during
our meeting. >> Yeah. >> I like that one. Obviously the um whatever uh for each one of the working groups, whatever meetings that
you have within each working group um definitely take the minutes of that because we will come um we will reflect on it in the following months and be like this is where we are. This is how we're going to move forward just so everyone is aware of it. Um so that's
that's how it is for specifically the senior outreach group. Um I know like I mentioned we haven't been meeting in the past couple of months. So the the start or the brainstorming of certain projects and the other groups haven't really um the genesis of that hasn't happened yet.
So, um I really want to uh since everyone is back and everything, um really push forward for more of those projects to be done throughout the month of April so that when we come back in the month of May, we have something of substance to really talk about. Um and hopefully uh the project that we're
doing with with uh Miss Pesca is uh one that we uh we can proudly say that we've established when it comes to the month of May. So we'll definitely give you um keep you PO folks updated accordingly.
Um and uh so that's why that I know number seven says updates on the different working groups. We only talked about the senior center one um the the senior outreach one but definitely you know as we move forward um I do expect people from each individual working
group to really find time throughout the month to really meet with each other um and I'll be there to also facilitate uh for for number eight um I do want I know it says utilization of budget but I'm kind of switch the conversation around
and see if we could plan something that is com uh commissionwide. So, not just specifically with the working group, but something that we could all plan together, especially since um you know, a lot of things are coming up. You know,
June Junth is coming up in June. I think that we should definitely do something. That's something we've been talking about for the past couple years. We just never got the chance to actually do something regarding that. or um no uh
I want to open it up to the rest of the commission. Just anyone who wants to see if we could work on some sort of project from now until the end of the fis fiscal year and really focus all of our efforts and all of our meetings to that until
our last meeting for the summer in June. So I will I will open up. I personally think we should move forward with Junth really um utilize the the working groups have that we've already established work with the work with the river high school and then see if we could come up with a
project um an event to commemorate um Junth. So yes, go ahead. Also, if this body is interested in having some sort of celebration or um spotlight light the
culture um I can we can work on that as well. If anyone has any ideas, we can set up a day. Um obviously it would have to be during city hall >> hours. >> Yeah. Or uh not city hall hours. It couldn't be like on on Junth with on the
holiday itself. I'll give everyone a chance to just think um before before we move forward. We really don't have a really long uh agenda for today only because I want to give the opportunity for us to really sit down and brainstorm while um up
until the we finish our meeting. So I'll give everyone five minutes. I'll be working on the brainstormer myself and then from there we could come back and conglomerate and see what we could potentially do for the next couple of months aside from the projects that
we're doing already as uh working groups. >> Go ahead. >> What other projects are we working? I know when the last meeting we attended that everyone broke out. I do we have any updates on what everyone else is working on
>> because um because we haven't um not everyone was here in the previous in the previous meeting. So um I we haven't gotten any updates in terms of the other working groups. So that's why um
>> now that everyone is back on board I believe that I think just everyone was just relatively busy in the past uh in the past meeting. I want to uh start utilizing the month of April to really set up those meetings for the working group so that they actually have you know they actually have the opportunity
to really discuss any potential projects. Um that's why like the beginning of the year it's always like very very slow when it comes to the working group. So that's why now that we're in the the height of the school season and the height of the second semester to use that traction to really
move a lot of the projects moving forward. So, uh, in terms, yeah, in terms of the other groups, um, I haven't gotten any updates. >> Um, I mean, besides ours, but, uh, yeah, so that's that's why, um, if there's anything that we could definitely work
on is the, uh, the Junth, we've always been discussing how we're going to facilitate some sort of event regarding that. This is aside from whatever city hall has already planned. So, it's it's to either um it's to either add on to
what city hall is where we add our own element to whatever to whatever city city city hall has planned for Junth or we could have ours as a completely separate event. Um that's that's what I was thinking. That's why I want to give everyone opportunity to just like do you want to move forward with the Junth? Do
you want to collaborate with City Hall? Should we do our own thing? Um things of that sort. I think we should collaborate with city hall, we'll get more of an attendance >> and then what people coming if it's done right outside
we can have we can have that attention and the people will see and then we'll be able to explain what we do here and being part of the community. Uh, director Morabito, do we is there any talk about whatever is being planned
for Jun Juneen by city hall or has that conversation haven't happened yet? >> So, in terms of city hall, that would be the department of engagement, inclusion, and culture that I'm the director of. Um, so yeah, we're planning, we haven't
come to fruition with a fullon schedule of events. We're still brainstorming, but that's why I brought it to your attention as well, >> because I wanted to like like um Commissioner Johnson mentioned um if there's some way that we could have some
sort of collaboratory effort with um with the the Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to have somewhat of a potentially bigger event. Um, we could definitely, um, use our resources with the welcome committee with the
River High School to see if we could potentially even have some high school students showcase their talent, especially, you know, especially those who are from the African-American community, uh, black and African-American community. So that's why I was saying like if there's
anything that you folks already have that is there any way that we could add on to that just so we could have it more of a collaboratory effort. >> We might also collaborate uh from a school side. Uh I know that last year we got a major event on Junth.
uh this year unfortunately because of the budget and things uh there's a lot of um talks about um decreasing the scale of that because certainly money is an issue but I think that if we do uh some kind of collaboration it may turn
out to be a solid event. Uh there are many organizations out there that we can tap into. For example, the Junth Association, we can bring guest speakers, people that can come, Nicole, people like Nicole that can come and talk. We can also invite people from
Chelsea. They have a major celebration there every year. So, with proper planning ahead of the game, ahead of you know, of the of the of the schedule, I think we can certainly engage them. the problem they already have their own events.
>> Um you know we might not be able to do I from a school side I will not be able to do it on the 18th 19th because basically by then everyone is gone. >> Yeah >> I think we need to do it probably a week earlier. >> The issue with that is that we have graduation on the 10th the high school graduation on the 10th. So it will have
to happen before that or maybe maybe maybe a few days after that to pull it off so that you can have more people attending and things like that. So but that's a discussion we can have. I'm willing to have that discussion. >> Maybe we don't have to call it a Junth
event. Maybe we can just call it um a gathering. I'm trying to find a a name that would coincide with Junth because of graduation and vacations and you know we may get a larger people that would
come over to speak with us >> like in May something in May instead of June. >> When is graduation again? >> 10th of May. >> June 10th. >> June 10th. Okay. I would probably try to do it in June because that's a survey in June rather
than May. Okay. >> But we can pick a date that works for us in June. >> I would discourage the idea of not celebrating Junth and renaming it. Okay. In in general, I think we should focus on having that event. It's a very
important day and I think regardless if we celebrate it that day two weeks before or two weeks after the it's the importance of acknowledging it and us showcasing it. >> And the other thing also thank you for
that. The other thing also we could do is do the celebration before and then have someone record it and release it on the day before the Junth or even on the Junth day. That's where we did the high school. So we we did a um we recorded
everything and then on the day that actual day of Junth we release it that way you know um it also has an impact on yeah >> I was not acknowledging Junth but it was just more of trying to accommodate
>> our time and schedule that's all >> completely understood wasn't making any direction toward you I just want to clarify that >> great intentions in general. Um, but one thing we do have to uh maybe Dr. Garcia
and I can speak offline, but um we do have to come up with a direction whether we want an educational piece, whether we want an entertainment piece to showcase culture, whether we want I don't know, there's so many different
ways we can celebrate and showcase. It's a matter of which direction you guys want or do you want us just to come up with something and talk to the chair? If you have full faith in us, it's up to you because sometime we only meet once a
month. Um >> let us continue. Okay. Yeah, I I agree with what director um director Morabito mentioned like what is exactly our focus is going to be because it's going to make things a lot more easier when it comes to the planning process. I think
definitely a educational piece is very um important. I would like to go the educational route. So um yeah. Yes. Uh vice chair Jean Baptist. >> Yeah. I like the idea like kind of do a educational piece um because it's it was
a struggle to get June 8 like kind of to be a holiday. uh it's a latty organizing drive like kind of make this day happen. I think you know educational piece is good
but I'm I'm concerned like kind of if we probably wants to do this on the day of the event on the day instead of like kind of do it two weeks prior one week prior uh the day probably some people probably felt uh we need to have the
larger group but I think uh it would be good to have it on the day it doesn't matter how like kind of how many people turn out like kind But as long we do some organiz some organizing you know like kind of drive uh talk to
people how we going to get reach out to people and then make sure like you know we have if we have 100 people we have 50 people but as long we celebrate on the day I think it will make sense that's my opinion >> I think the I think the concern that comes to celebrating on the day that Dr.
Dr. Garcia mentioned is if we are going to do some sort of collaboration with potentially other organizations, they all other organizations probably already have their own events on whether that be the 18th or the 19th, which is why it's going to be hard that if we are going to
try to organize for a larger event that those collaborations may be hard to get because they probably have their own thing on that day. So, uh, we could definitely I think the the general consensus that we could definitely have something, but if we're trying to have something big with other groups and outside groups, it would be hard because
they already have their own thing. Um, which is why Dr. uh Dr. Garcia mentioned if if in order to have a very similar large impact on something that we release on that day is to have something that's already pre-recorded whether it be from all the commissioners whether it
be us speaking to um people of the black and African-American community and really talking about the importance importance on this day to have that pre-recorded so that the day of there is something that we could provide to the community. Um so I think if if correct
me if I'm wrong when I said that but um >> I think that's right. Last year I tried actually to bring people on actual on the actual day. They all had previous commitments and said we cannot do this. You know people in lean people in Chelsea they all have their own agendas
already prepared. They already have their own commitments. It's hard to bring them here uh on that day. That's the reason why we tend to do things in a different way. Yeah. Uh I think symbolically and probably
historically and probably would make more sense to do it on the day. But the issue here is gathering the speakers here. They it's very hard. I I went through it last year and that's the reason why I did it on that you know way before then. It's very hard.
Um so yeah >> another aspect we have through you chair can I speak sorry >> go ahead also another thing we want to look at facilities are closed so paying say for instance that's why I said we
have to focus on which way we want to navigate because you have to pay overtime for DPW overtime for custodians over or double time I'm not even sure what the union contract is so there's a a lot of there's more costs involved as well to
do it and it's inconvenience in workers to have them come in on the holiday that they should rightfully that so many people push to have off too. Uh, thank you very much, Director Morio. Go ahead. Uh, Commissioner Piliter, >> I just wanted to ask for a bit of
clarification. When we say we want to host an event and we want to have the opportunity to have speakers, what is that what does that mean exactly? Is that where is that in a sort of people can come, there's going to be food, we're going to have speakers, we're going to have a moment to like celebrate, or is it more so just what
what kind of event is it that I might have missed the context for this? So it that's the direction I wanted I was looking >> or aiming for >> whether it was going to be an educational resource like uh filmed with by river TV with the students uh whether
we were going to have an event and have uh in inspirational speakers, singers that uh reflect the culture of Junth. um whether we have a poet who um
basically says their spoken word. Um there's just so many avenues we could have >> everything, right? There's just so much performers. There's just so many directions we can go with this. And that's why with all of us working on
this, we all have our own mind and there's so many different expectations. So I think to clear that narrow that expectation I think that's the best opportunity to come up with an event because we're
going to we can all have a million ideas but we bouncing those ideas we're never going to get anywhere. I think we need to just narrow down what we want to do for that specific event. So event can be anything whether we want to do an have
students speak anything like for instance for pride we have um we have we have some face painters to make it kid friendly um we have a DJ for music. We have a little rainbow arch and then
we support local businesses by a lot of having a lot of attendees and they actually support the business by having food and so we could do something like at Waterfront Square as well and have a have a band play and have speakers. We
can do so much. We can even have a high school student or show a video over there if we can see if uh like Fine Line or Drift can show a video there. There's so many opportunities, but I think if we have it on Junth, it narrows our opport
windows of opportunity because facilities are closed as well. >> Which is why I was thinking about going the educational route where we do things where we record things prior to the actual event so that the day of the event we could release it to to Rever TV
only because like Dr. Dr. Garcia medicine. And by the time it's Junth, not only have the entire senior graduating class has graduated, um, but people are already prepared, are already zoned out. They're not in school. Basically, the last couple of days of
school, they're most of them are not even showing up. Um, that's speaking from personal experience. um for um so like trying to get people especially if we're trying to really showcase students um on a time that is towards the end of
the year is going to be hard because they just I think personally I wouldn't do anything towards the end of the year. So, if we could start doing things and planning things May into the beginning of June and really spending the last couple of weeks up until
uh Jun to really make sure everything's good, edited. Um, everything comes into one total package of a video. Then boom, on June 18th, we're like, "Hello everyone." as a rever humanities commission collaborating uh with River
High School, we present to you this collection of talent and and spoken word for us to commemorate and celebrate Junth. Um something along those lines. I think not only is it uh somewhat doable
where it's we're not all we're able to do things now and not make and not being limited to just Junth. um but also respecting the students times and the fact that they have their own lives as well. So um that's that's my opinion on it
>> through you chair hosani. Yes. >> Um if it's the will of the commission I have a suggestion. What if Dr. Garcia and I discuss this offline and since you're the chair we can come up with a few ideas. we can present it
to you and then the next meeting um whether it's a series of zer a series of celebrations whether it's a one-day celebration um or a one day recognition of Junth um you'll have that at your next meeting
and you guys can decide how does that sound but you will you will be privy to that information as the chair because we can't violate the open meeting law but I can discuss it with Um Dr. Garcia >> um uh I will I will allow it as long as
we have it's not come down to one decision but we actually have different things only because I do want the opinions of the commission to be a part of our final decision. >> Um and I understand that it's really hard to do that especially with open meeting laws like we can't >> yeah because time is of the essence like
like Dr. Garcia Sid like for instance Junth Association they're booked through June like when I call them in June you have to if you want them uh like they'll they'll organize the event they'll have a poet they'll have a uh someone sing the
national anthem the Junth anthem they'll have everyone and but you have to revolve it around their date and >> they've become become so popular that cities pop uh book them because they do all the coordin ation too. So I think
honestly unless you guys have the time to book and plan um I think the best idea would be for us to come up with not just one idea like option A B C D and then say hey you either like it or you don't.
>> Yeah. Okay. >> Because if we start running into we're already in April. If we run into May >> Yeah. >> You need a deadline. We can't drag our feet unless each and every one of you are willing to work
uh put and put the time into it to call and make phone calls and then you have to bounce it off me and be like how's this date work Dr. Garcia does this date work for you? There's so many different variables in when I say event healing
planning or just any kind of recognition of an event there's so much planning that goes involved like ABC you have to connect the dots so if you guys are more than willing to do that that's great but if you where we are pulling our funds
together we we can come up with ABC D and as the chair >> if you want to give us some guidance you can as well. >> Yeah, >> because >> I don't know. That's just a thought. >> Yeah, most definitely. >> I certainly value everyone's contribution. Yeah.
>> I mean, if you have ideas or if you have a group that you want to invite >> um >> who knows, maybe we can create a Google sheet, but and put all the things there. I I just you know, here we are bas basically in the month of April. Uh May
comes and then June. So it takes a lot of planning but you know I want everyone's provide their own you know contribution. I don't want to be responsible for or he >> to say what we're doing this you know I think this is a democratic process. >> I want you guys to send us your ideas.
If you have a particular speaker you would like to invite or a particular group that want to come and perform. It's all on the table. Then certainly we can put it together. We'll present it to you and see what makes sense and then moving forward. I think that way everyone feels
um their views and contributions matter >> feels good actually is indeed contributing >> not feels bad but it's actually contributing um just to clarify that I think I um I agree with this approach um
I think uh if you don't have any whatever ideas that we discussed I already took down everyone's um opinions on that so you will see it in the minutes um I'll upload the minutes tonight or tomorrow so that you folks have that available. But I do want to um
make it clear that throughout the month of April while uh director Morao and Dr. Garcia are having the conversation of what what are the different things I do encourage everyone to reach out to me privately so I could conglomerate all those ideas and send them off to them um
just so they have a direction of what we want to go. I think like like I mentioned before, it looks like everyone really enjoyed the idea of creating um recording videos and then up until the day of uh of you know the the day of
Junth that's when we would release it. I feel like it I feel like it works with everyone. Um especially since Rever TV is a resource that is readily available. Um, so yeah, uh, I'm I'm gonna set a
motion to, um, have Dr. Garcia and, uh, Director Morabido to come up with, uh, solid ideas based off our discussion today so that on the, uh, our monthly meeting in May, we actually could make a
decision and move on from there. I just need someone to approve and someone to second. approve. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. All righty. So, that's that's um
that's what we're going to move on for um for today. Um does anyone else have anything um worth discussing about what we were just talking about? anything that we should add on to our notes so that it's um everyone is on p same page as
everyone else? >> Yes, director Morgita. >> At the request of the human rights commission, um guidance was sought from the city solicitor uh regarding the commission's role and jurisdiction under the city ordinance that established this
body. Um, did you want me to ref the statement or would you like me to save it for next meeting and put it should Well, well, it's the ordinance is
lengthy. So, so I'm just gonna So, I created a statement that reflects that guidance from the solicitor. So the ordinance does not specifically define the term jurisdiction. As a result, the commission must use its best judgment in
determining what matters fall within its purview. Under the ordinance, the human rights commission serves primarily in an advisory and educational capacity. Its purpose is to promote goodwill, awareness, and understanding within the
community and to serve as a resource to residents by listening to concerns and offering guide guidance. If a resident believes they have experienced discrimination, or have been denied equal access in areas such as
housing, employment, education, public services, or public accommodations based on protected characteristics, they may bring that concern to the commission. In this context, a submission refers to a
complaint, request for assistance, or other concern brought forward by a resident. In response, the commission may invite an individ individual to share information, offer guidance on possible next steps, attempt formal mediation
when appropriate, or refer the matter to the attorney general, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, or another appropriate agency. The commission may also make recommendations to the mayor, or other relevant
governmentmental entities. It is important to note that the commission does not have enforcement authority and does not possess adjudicatory powers. It does not function as a court, cannot determine whether a law has been violated and
cannot impose penalties. The commission also cannot compel any individual or entity to take action. The commission retains discretion to determine whether and how to review submissions. Matters may be considered on a
case-bycase basis and some instances may be referred to another board, department, or agency without further review. The handling and processing of submissions is an administrative responsibility that may be carried out
by the commission and the executive director. Ultimately, a key part of the commission's role is to is education and advocacy, helping residents understand their rights and bringing forward issues that may require attention or change.
Our role is to ensure people are heard, supported, and guided to the appropriate resources. And that is that is something this commission will continue to do. Uh just to give context because commissioner Pelletary wasn't here. Um
this is only because as we experienced I believe two months ago and something that we experienced way in the past before newer members came is that we've had submissions and um to the human
rights commission uh email um asking us uh about how to move forward with some uh with uh a basically you know a civil rights violation. Um and essentially
what the person was trying to push for for us to do is um basically bring the person who's accused of doing um such a thing and basically provide some sort of punishment or just like how to move about it. But all that we can provide
for the person who said the send the complaint is just steps of how to move forward with moving uh to pushing for um a a complaint with the attorney general since we technically don't like uh Morito mentioned um we technically don't
have any judiciary power whatsoever. We could just push like these are the steps that you should be taking or just advice to people who are sending said complaints. So this is just to make it clear for all future like whatever um inquiries that we get through the email
if it's something of that sort. It's not that we could you know have some sort of you know executoy action towards the individual. All we can do is provide advice for how to move forward to um establish some sort of solution to the
problem. So that's yes go ahead Dr. And just to add to that, chair um so if someone does come with a complaint and it's up to this body the there is an administrative process that we should document it
>> the people not the person itself but the incident >> and usually as the executive director that they will handle that like I would handle that and I would bring it to your the chair's attention and you would determine whether where
you would refer it to say the police department, the fire department or whatever department or civil whether it's uh civil rights or uh Massachusetts against uh disc uh commission against discrimination. Um but and the at the
end of the day we do not the the notes that we're taking administratively is just to keep a file that we referred it to someone >> and that should always stay like >> you can decide whether you want the
executive director to do it but if you do it >> um you have to assign it to one person and usually the executive director does the administrative part of So that's up to this commission. You have the right to vote to have someone one of you do
it, but you have you're responsible for keeping that record in. >> It's that record will not be used um for legal proceedings at all. It's just for this commission to have >> to have. Okay. Does anyone have any questions moving forward about the
ordinance only just in case something like the incident that happened two months ago happens again so we can know how to move forward in terms of that? >> Awesome. Oh, >> and one more thing. You do not want to invite um the if someone files a
complaint with this local body, you do not you don't want to make it public and invite them here >> because you want to respect their privacy as well in their uh situation. >> Yes, this is something that we also discussed in that last meeting. So, thank you very much for making that
clear again as well. Um yeah, so any questions this you could either ask now or ask um after the meeting. Um we do we are all set with today's agenda. So I do have it open for an open forum um which is uh
uh anyone who's in the crowd can come up and and anyone who's in the audience can come up and speak up or anyone from the commission if there's anything else that you would like to add. Um, this is the time to do it before we adjourn for the meeting. >> Go ahead, Commissioner Piller. >> Yeah, I just had a general question.
From what uh Director Morbiito was telling was saying, it really seems that we are more so an educational and advocacy board. We bring up ideas, we discuss things, we uh we open conversations. Do we have any connections with the high school with um
uh the middle schools? Just do they know that we exist? Like just more so how do we do outreach with them? How do we connect with them? How do we allow them the opportunity to speak here if they want to? And I know that a lot of what Morbidito was saying was really administratively and citywide, but it
seems like this body is really a a fruitful opportunity for high school students, for elementary school students to really um participate in local governance to learn more. So, I was just wondering what do our avenues of connection with them look like?
So um like we've mentioned earlier in the in the meeting um we have the our connection with the welcome committee at the senior um at the at the river high school. Um it's a group of students who essentially help facilitate
um newer students coming to River High and really getting used to the good getting used to the school. Um we have our own Dr. Garcia who who works for fear publish so he's honestly our other direct connection um
to um I mean aside from our own personal connections like siblings and things of that of that sort earlier in the fiscal year so September October we did have someone from River High School a student reach out to us to see how they would
get involved with um with the river human rights commission um and and I think the discussion was that we would love to have someone from a student be part of the commission, but I think it's the the legality of in terms of they
have to be um in order to join the commission, they do need to be 18 um to join. So, I mean, definitely we could utilize one of the seniors um to see if they could join us. Um, but I know that in the past rever city hall has had um I
wouldn't say projects but groups that are basically facilitated by students. I um I just know that it's no longer active. Um that definitely this is the I could definitely ask director since he knows a lot more about that but I know it has happened before only because I
wanted to be a part of it back in like when I was when I was in middle school. I just don't know if they're still active now. So, I could definitely talk to see if there's any way that we could reactivate that so that we have our own kind of like a uh student human rights
commission type thing and that's our connection to the different schools. Um, in terms of the elementary schools, uh, I mean, we could defin I feel like it's it's easier to do that with high school students only because they're a lot more older. Um but in terms of how
we could connect with the middle school and the elementary school students um I think that is a conversation we have yet to have. So we could definitely have that now like how is that going to look like? Um I think definitely um I know
that the schools have like world civics day or something of that sort that happens every year only because you know um my own my own sibling has told me about it. So like they have like civics day where they learn about American civics and learn how American politics
force and things of that sort. So we could utilize days of that sort to be like, you know, have the human rights commission or at least a couple of us go into the schools and really introduce ourselves um and without, you know,
obviously um infringing on some of their rights as well. So like we could definitely talk about that now. That's how I would that's how I would do it. like if there's like a day where we're talking about like American civics and American politics and things of that sort that it's a perfect opportunity for
be like introduce ourselves as people who are very much involved in municipal government. Um but um I'll open that up to all the rest of commissioners. So, I just brought this up because I think that there's such a rare
opportunity here to have students from all ages involved not only in the discussions we're having, but also the intention that we're having. We are here to facilitate from what I've understood from the first meeting and from all beyond that is that we our big power is
to have conversations to open up opportunities for students to speak and especially in the uh circumstances that we live in now in the intersectionality of everything of how everything from racism, sexism, all of these things
become political. they become things that these students are going through that I I mean I I was in middle school during the first presidency that Trump had and that was a wild conversation because we didn't know how to facilitate those conversations and I feel that especially
now maybe students don't really know what's going on or they want a place to speak but they can't they don't know about it my I just bring this up all to say that my the biggest priority would be how can we evolve student voices, student action, make sure that this is
within revier, from reve by reve. >> Thank you guys. >> Well, thanks so much for bringing that up. This is something that is uh I I I I really appreciate it. Seriously. Um we
have been invited to civic um day at the middle school and the entire board has gone there and participating in the discussion. Kids want to know everything. Um what you just said maybe kids don't know. Kids know everything. They just need provided with an
opportunity to express themselves. Uh sometimes we make a lot of assumptions as adults. Um we just need to offer them a space where we can elevate their voice where they can express their concerns. Sometimes I the reason I say that is because
many times um I can tell you a story but that will be probably not here because it will take a long time but with the newcomer students at high school. Um so uh they know how to advocate they just need a space where they can do it but I think we have a group at their high
school called the model UN. Uh we can certainly invite them to come here and talk about their experiences for example. So we have other keys also that can be provided with an opportunity to come here or even us visiting schools with proper planning. Um it can be done.
So or even invite kids to go to the museum here in River have an open space and have a conversation with them. There are many ways we can do it. I'm all for that. Student voice is important and I think here you know you were talking about
intergenerational conversation. This is what is supposed to take place. Give them a voice. Um to express their perspectives. Rivera public schools is a rainbow of colors, cultures, experiences and
imagine the contribution that those kids would bring into a discussion or even teach us. Uh so we just need to open ourselves up, provide a space and encourage them to participate. For example, another group I think you've
been in contact with which is the the welcome club uh lenu for example lenu cabal it's somebody that can connect us with benny that organization that he put together is catching like fire in riier all schools want to do it so it's something that we can reach out and see
if they is they're willing to come here we can have a group of them one day sitting there and watching us um this is all experience so uh I think I value your your perspective and thank you for bringing that up because that's
something that I am I completely concur with. Yeah. Um, I think the perfect way to segue from uh going from where we are right now into further engagement with
the middle school, high school, elementary school um populations is if we are going to continue on with the educational route for Junth, I think that's our way to really start that conversation be like, hey, uh, our
project with Junth was amazing. successful, whatever it was, how would you like to move forward and continuing to having those conversations and um creating projects moving forward? I think um doing it doing it that way is the best way to ease into it, right? and
then have spend the summer really um focusing on the rising juniors who are eventually going to be seniors and then when the school year starts that's when we start um planning things with um the seniors especially since they're a lot more older so you know they could
actually come up here and talk when um when when they get to that age um actually question for director Morabito um in nor when we have our open forum Um, can students speak if they are under the
age of 18? >> Any p anyone can speak at a public forum. Yep. Um, if we were looking for them to provide testimony or if we were looking at looking for them to advocate
something, then yes. But um any any resident can come to the podium. Think about when we uh before the city council when the high school was before them, how many high schoolers went and spoke their mind. So yeah. >> Yeah. >> We just can't if we're doing something
with them, there obviously has to like if we were doing a retreat, there would have to be some kind of permission slip or >> Dr. Garcia could probably tell you more than I can. I think the starting off with in actively having those conversations, going to the schools be
like you are welcome to come to our meetings and actually explicitly saying that. I mean us saying that I mean I can say that right now in Rever TV and everyone can be like okay I could come but face to face and saying welcome come to our meetings listen to our meetings
critique us on our meetings give us constructive criticism about our meetings. It's the only way that I see the commissioner to grow commission to grow. So um I mean it's one thing to tell people you know you're feel free to come to our meetings to review TV but when you really sit down and actually
sit down and talk to them face to face it's a completely different vibe. So I think you know whatever we decide to come up with for Junth inshallah is um is that's I feel like it's going to be our perfect segway to you know really
have more uh middle school just more student engagement overall. Um anything else anything that we should add to that? All right everyone okay with the journey? All right well thank you everyone for coming to our
meeting. I would say this meeting is adjourned. Um, actually that's not how you do it. Bring this meeting to a close. I would have one person to uh uh push for a motion to adjourn the meeting. A second to
um a a second person to second. Someone to motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Anyone second? >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Thank you very much everyone. Have Thank
you very much for taking the time. Everyone at home, thank you very much for joining our meetings. I hope everyone has a great and amazing evening. Thank you and have a great rest of your day.