Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Asalam allayikum. Welcome to another uh human rights rever human rights commission meeting. It's glad to see everyone here today. Um I would like to call a meeting to order starting with the roll call of commissioners. Um I uh
chair Sham Husini is present. Uh we also have uh [cough and clears throat] vice chair Gene Baptist >> present. >> Commissioner Karu Pitch >> present. >> Commissioner Dr. Garcia
>> here. >> Commissioner Shayla Johnson >> here. >> Commissioner Albert Teti >> present. >> Chief Levita >> here. and Chief Cullen >> here. >> All right, we have everyone uh for
today. We are missing Victor Pelleter for the record of the meeting. Um before we get started on our meeting, I would like for everyone to pull out the mission statement so that we can read in conjunction. All right. On my account, the mission of
the Rever Human Rights Commission is to promote human and civil rights and empower all people of Rever by ensuring that everyone, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized, have equitable opportunities, equal access,
and are treated with dignity, respect, fairness, and justice. Thank you everyone. I would like to move on to our Atlanta acknowledgement. As uh as we have said before in our meetings that we are in the land of the Pucket and we encourage and invite any indigenous
peoples and native peoples to our meetings to reach out to us and for any resources if we um that we have available for them as well. I would like for someone to um approve uh the minutes from the November 6 meeting and someone
to second Second. >> Who put the motion to approve? >> Mo motion to approve. >> All right. >> Second. >> And then a second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Thank you. All right. Moving on to our monthly uh
monthly acknowledgements and uh upcoming events. No, December is the universal human uh rights month. December 1st was World AIDS Day. December 3rd was international day for people with disabilities. December 7th will be Pearl
Harbor Remembers Day. Inter uh December 10th will be international human rights day. Uh December 20th will be international human solidarity day. The winter solstice will start on December 21st. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are December 24th and 25th,
respectively. Quanza starts from December 26th to January 1st. And Hanukkah is from December 14th to the 22nd. Um, that's all that I have that I've seen for the month of December. Is there anyone in the commission that
would like to add events or holidays that we should keep um add to our calendar for the following year? Awesome. So, I would like um as we all know, we would like to keep this meeting a little bit short, but I think I made it a little bit of a hefty meeting. So, I
apologize for in adv in advance for that. Um I do want to give updates in terms of the grant. So on uh I believe the second week of November, the uh River Cultural Council did meet up and
they did um unfortunately did reject our our proposal for the community uh circles and communications um project. Uh in response to that um uh me, Dr. Garcia and Karu did um work
together to uh work on some sort of appeal to the council to see if there's um any way that they could reconsider our proposal. And despite um all that, we were still rejected at the end of the day. So, we I do want to take time
uh take some time today or just some time over the next couple months since we're not meeting in January to see how we can move on with that project, especially with our limited budget of um of a grand from the from the uh from city hall. So, I would like to
take just a little bit of time to work on that. It's either that or we can move on to the um or we could leave it to when we talk about working groups and how everyone can split projects. So, it's really all up to what the commission would like to do.
All right. Yep. Go ahead. So, can you just go in details? Why did they reject? Is something that they just feel it wasn't necessary or more details that they want to know what was the outcome? So they mentioned that our
project is not going to provide enough public benefit. That's what they said. Uh verb yes uh they said that yeah that our project didn't seem like it would have a
lot of public benefit to the city. Um but they didn't provide any more details than that. So based off based off their responses, I basically worked up an app an appeal letter that basically breaks
down how exactly our project I mean our project spans all six wards of river. So if if anything it's going to provide one of the biggest um bene public benefits in my opinion but um yeah that's all they mentioned. They didn't mention
anything. Um I also requested in the letter to provide more details of why the project was uh rejected only because if we are thinking about uh resubmitting the project next year, we know exactly how to go about it. So, and even then I
still did not hear response, but my I am in the middle of following up and making sure I get that information so that we are able to submit it with everything that they need in order to get it uh accepted for next year. >> Thank you. >> Of course. Thank you.
Any other questions? All right. Well, I'll leave two um just working uh leave just ideas about how to go about that project to when we're talking about the newly formed groups. Um the next the agenda meeting um is meeting with elder affairs. I do want to
preface that um due to mistakes on my part um um it was supposed to be me and Commissioner Johnson but due to um misunderstanding on my part which I completely apologize for that um Commissioner Johnson that uh we we both
weren't able to speak with um Deb Pesca. [clears throat] Um, I do want to say um, condolences to Miss uh, to Miss Deb Pesca for her father passing away. So, I do want to bring that up to the commission as well. But she is the person who heads elderly
affairs and um, based off the meeting that um, I had with her um, she suggested that she like some some ideas that we came up with is definitely doing questionnaires with the seniors. Uh um
they're they've done questionnaires before so it wouldn't be a novel thing that we would introduce the seniors to. Um they do um occasionally have something called lunch and learn sessions where they would um have lunch and then for like right after they eat
lunch would have discussions about whatever is going to like whatever um they choose to discuss about. Um and um she also did mention that we can um if like if we're not able to physically be there like all of us together um we can
leave a suggestion box in business cards at the different senior centers um or to like to hand out just so they could have that information just in case they want to reach out to us. Uh just to let people know the five different senior centers that she mentioned in the um in
the meeting is Hyman Towers which is 50 Walnut A 45 Dolphin A. Um the adult day health center which has Spanish speakers uh friendly gardens that's right next to St. Anony's church if I'm if I'm not
mistaken. And then the Jacks House that's down in River Beach. So, those are the five different um centers that we could utilize in order to [clears throat] in order to really create those conversations. I think one thing about
uh the location of the different centers, it's I I believe covers three or four wards out of the six. I could be I could definitely be wrong, but um definitely if we are able to utilize our centers to potentially even have circle
practice without um without uh the uh potential worry of spending money to rent out a space, we could definitely use their spaces to hold those conversations. Um yeah and uh we we could definitely uh moving forward
because I am going to talk about this when we are talking about the newly formed groups like the working groups. Uh she mentioned that then um that we could potentially start in February. We just need to get everything settled
before um halfway through January to get an event potentially started in February. So um I am planning on whoever wants to take part in speaking in the senior work in the senior's working group. Uh I am planning to have more and
more meetings with Deb just so we could have more of those conversations. So the the meeting that um that was just had was not a oneanddone deal. I've uh this is something that I've also mentioned in the meeting to Deb that I she should um anticipate more and more meetings to
plan these things out. So does anyone have any questions in terms of the information I just provided? >> If you need help, I can kind of you can ask me. So if you need help like to reach out to them and then to be part to me part of this conversation, I'll be happy to do that.
>> Awesome. I will definitely consider you for consider you uh consider you for the the newly advised working groups which is going to be the next um next agenda item. But does anyone have any questions of just the information I provided for
based off the meeting that I had with Deb? Awesome. So the uh next agenda item is the um working group. So uh these working groups were established a couple
of years ago um with the previous uh chair of the human rights commission and and basically what we the way how we distributed it was they were very very broad groups meaning that they could
cover more than one project even if they if if they wanted to and essentially the new I'll I'm pulling up the previous groups right Now, with the current groups that I think we should just really focus on are uh senior
connections, student involvement, and community outreach. I think just to start off very small and specific rather than making it more more broad allows us to really focus on projects that are within our bandwidth. And I know that uh
I will be on a senior connections. Um uh Commissioner Johnson, can I assume you could be on the senior connections working group as well? And um Vice Chair Baptist, you want me to put you as Okay. So,
and essentially everything um the work the senior connections working group will just focus on establishing connections with the seniors um planning out events to do with the seniors and um taking anything that we gather from the seniors and really bringing it to the
group um rather than the entire commission being a part of it. So how it works is um the members from different groups can overlap if it's needed to reach a quorum. The quorum for the working groups is at least is at mo um
at least two people. Um, so for example, if uh if there is a meeting that you know or me and I cannot make and Shayla's the only one who's able to make that meeting, someone from another group can also join in and provide um provide
uh information and opinions in terms of that. Um the uh HRC can evaluate the working groups over time and change them as they um as they deem necessary um in terms of [snorts] best utilizing the
time and space for everyone. and any changes that are done to the working groups have to be done in public during our main meeting which is exactly what's happening right now for so I have uh me
and uh Shayla and I in the senior connections uh uh support working group does anyone want to be a part of that group before I move on to the next on. Uh >> oh, let's go ahead
>> just to clarify that. Um, so the working groups must meet in public, but it doesn't have to be televised as long as there's a disclosure of like where you're meeting or what you're doing and it's given it's posted somewhere.
>> Cool. Um so essentially um one thing that we can do is can we provide some sort of u not calendar invite but like a calendar reminder that could be seen in public like how would I be able to do that?
>> So technically the um open meeting law works as the whole it it's guided it's basically the guidance is toward the whole commission. So the whole
commission cannot meet more than five members of the commission cannot meet in >> out in public to discuss business. >> Um say for instance if you're going out for a holiday dinner or a year-end dinner um >> you no business could you could the
whole commission could go but you could not speak about business. Um or if you're sending an email to all the members, you would just write do not like you say if you were sending them anformational email like just to be like
the next meeting is this date and you could write no reply. Okay. >> Um >> but at the end of the day, the working groups technically they can do the work on their own as long as it doesn't >> push the quorum mark of more than five
people. Um so when I mentioned um that there's a quorum these are just uh amount of people that we just collectively decided that if there isn't at least two people in that meeting meeting up for a particular
um project someone else from a another group can join. So, it's not something that is um actually established. It's something that we establish on our own just in case someone can't make it to subsequent meetings. Um for our next working group, we have the student
involvement working group. Um I can I assume uh Commissioner Touchy that I could put you on there? >> Definitely. >> All right. Um anyone else would like to join the student involvement crew pitch? Dr. Go see as well. Awesome.
All right. Anyone else would like to join the student involvement group? Awesome. And then lastly, the community outreach group. Uh basically it's bas it's essentially just focusing on the
proposal that we wanted to do based off the like if we were to get funded by the the local cultural council but just to go about how to move on with just the money that we currently have and potentially just continuing creating
connections with the community. Um, this is more of like a broad outreach, but it's like, uh, how else can we target other communities that aren't the seniors and the students in the community, which is why I created, which is why I thought of the third group. So, if does anyone want to be a part of
that, I'll put myself down. Okay. All right. We have Shayla, Jonathan, and Crew Pitch. All right. Um, as for um, the chiefs, I know I would love to get you folks involved. Um, something that we've done
with the previous fire and police chief is that we use them kind of like they're I wouldn't call them floaters, for example, but each group can use you folks as a resource. in that um in that you don't necessarily have to be bound by one particular group. But if anyone
has a question regarding, you know, community safety or community guidelines or just legal things or um things that we that things that we would need to use both of your expertise on with regarding any of the groups um we will contact you
guys. Is that something that is um that works with you folks? >> Yes. Yes, that'll be fine. >> Thank you. >> Yes, go ahead, Dr. Garcia. >> Yeah, you could add me to the community as well. I can help out.
>> All right, thank you everyone. Okay. So, um I just want everyone to know who's with who I will provide this document with everyone after the meeting, not after the meeting has concluded, but um after the meeting in general. So, for
senior connections, I have uh vice chair Gene Baptist, uh me and uh Commissioner Johnson. For student involvement, I have Commissioner Pitch, Commissioner Tedi, and Dr. Garcia. And for community outreach, I have uh
Commissioner Johnson, Commissioner Pitch, Dr. Garcia, and myself. Does anyone want to make any changes, want to move groups? Um, obviously, this is not a solidified list. It's just that if we are going to make changes, we're just going to have to do it in public. Yes.
>> And just I just want to echo the same comments I had last meeting. If anyone needs to tag me in, I'll be more than willing to help every group. So, thank you very much for everything, Mr. Morito. Um, okay. So, I would like So,
since we talked about this, made a draft about it, I would like, um, to put out a motion to create to revise the old groups. The old groups, I will also provide a document for everyone to to look at, just so you know. I don't have the document with me currently but I
will also provide that along with the meeting minutes meeting minutes in the new group but uh since we are basically kind of downsizing since we don't have a lot of money to work with um I would like to set a motion to create to revise
the old groups into the groups that we talked about today um and I would like for someone to second Second. >> You all in favor say I. >> Awesome. All right. So, um now actually we got
through very quickly. Um we do have now an open forum. I do want to take this opportunity to bring about a submission from the a submission from someone from the public to the human rights
commission. Um I will bring it up. Yes. So, uh the it was a new HRC submission on November 21st, 2025. Um the uh this is from a civil rights
violation complaint and the [clears throat] from an individual from the community. I don't know. I'm not going to say their name only because I don't know what the um confidential confidentiality standards are when it comes to the public meetings and for public submissions. But this individual
stated um verbatim, I am reporting coercive and deceptive conduct by this facility. And uh although we were told that this individual another individual could have a support person with her at all times,
staff separated the person who submitted the submission and their partner um and refused to let the person who submitted to stay with his partner while alone. The patient advocate uh name redacted ignored the partner's stated views and
used fear-based ideological pressure instead of providing neutral medical information. The um the person who's being accused told her that in a and this is just I do want to preface this
with a trigger warning. Um this the person who is uh who the the the person is reporting on told the partner that an abortion pill would ruin her life and that she could bleed out and die and
that she might see an arm or a leg in the fetus in the toilet after you take it. These statements cause severe distress and were presented as medical fact despite being tied to political and religious agendas, never discussed on their website or during intake. We
sought medical support and instead we met with manipulation and misinformation. I s I request the attorney general investigate this conduct for violating patient rights in Massachusetts. So I know that it's been because of and
I do want to give whoever needs to leave the room feel free. That is your that is your prerogative. Please take the time take the space to move remove yourself from the conversation if need be. But this came uh the week before the week
before sorry uh the week before Thanksgiving. Um the person who submitted these uh the submission did not mention the name of the institution that their them and their partner were staying in. Um,
uh, it only mentions the, uh, the name of the person who submitted it, their partner, their name, and their email. I don't, uh, honestly, my my opinion of that is like this completely unacceptable. Um,
medical professionals should not be saying this. If if I'm assuming that this person who's taking care of these two individuals is a medical professional, they should not be saying that this regardless of religious views, if you're if you're someone who's taking care of a person, your political views
and your opinions should stay to yourself and you just focus on taking care of your patient. That's what I believe in. And whatever this person has told this this this uh the this this person and their and their partner is unacceptable. It's
volatile. It's disgusting. Uh I would I I'm going to reach out. I wanted to bring this to the HRC before making a personal uh making a response personally to this individual only because I um I
don't know where this happened. Um it doesn't mention anything beyond that and um I would like to take some of the expertise from the leaders of our community. Um, if you folks know like if there's any way that we could provide
support for this individual, um, I'll definitely reach out to them to see what, where, and when this happened. Um, clearly it was very recent. I'm pretty sure it happened almost the same day that the submission was sent, but uh, I'll reach out to this person and get you all that information. Um,
yeah, sorry about that everyone. So, I wanted to take the time. you can remove yourself from the room if if if you need to, but um yes. Does does anyone have any comments? Any anything that we could move to helping these
individuals and not preventing this from happening again? Um only because this is not unfortunately this is not the first time I've heard this in healthcare as someone who works in healthcare that I hear this all the time. But to see it happen to to see it happen to this
extent is is is beyond is is is beyond me and I I don't have any further comments. So I will leave it open to the forum. >> Go ahead, Commissioner Pitch. >> I um [clears throat] Thank you. Um, Chair
Hoseni, I have a lot of questions, but I'm not sure it is appropriate to ask those questions here. Um, quite frankly, because I'm not sure the
person, the community person who send us the information gave us the permission to share with the public. So, I'm I need some guidance on that.
>> I I think what I'm going to do is and I personally don't know if I can do this. So, I would like to expertise on this, but I'll have any I'll show everyone the email. I can't I don't know how to put it on the screen. I'm not I'm not I don't want to put it on the
screen. Um I will show this um email to everyone. Are our submissions public if you don't? >> So no. So um here's the way it works. So when this commission um worked with the solicitor's office to change the
ordinance and revise it um some of the ordinance what reads so basically any complaint that comes the executive director. So what I would do >> is I would contact that person. >> That's if they had a complaint. I would
ask them I would have I would ask them I would meet them in person or wherever they felt comfortable and I would h ask them a series of questions on the intake form. based on their questions, if they
mentioned any form of discrimination or if they're a marginalized group, um what I would do based on their answers, I would recommend them to an agency because this commission doesn't have the
authority to um make any rulings. So based on their qu questions, I if it was discrimination, I would refer them to uh Massachusetts Commission against discrimination. But this body does not have the
jurisdiction to make those decisions. But on a citywide level, if there was discrimination going on, this body would act on that discrimination. But if it's an individual case, myself as the director would call that
person and I would get all their feedback and information and based on that I would recommend them to the agency. >> Thank you very much. >> Whether it's the attorney general's office or MCAD. >> All right. Thank you very much for that, Morivito. Um
considering the things that director Moravito had just mentioned um we'll oh go ahead >> and one more thing so even if so once I filled out a report so I did some research because um I had something in
the past that came to my attention so I had to um get some opinions and so my concern was should I bring this before the human rights commission But it's you can't put it on a public
agenda because you need to um keep that person's >> basically got to keep them >> from the public and kind of keep it confidential at the end of >> Yeah. Which is why I redacted all that information. Um so >> because at the end we don't want to be liable for anything especially if we
don't have the juris jurisdiction to make that decision. >> Agreed. But we we'll do everything in our power. So if there's someone out there that's looking to make a case or has some kind of complaint, we'll ask you all the questions. Um and then we'll
from there we'll guide them. >> Um yes, go ahead. Uh more uh >> I agree with Steve. I think um one of the thing you probably you know by asking meet with that individual ask question to the other thing you know
what Ku said do that person give us like kind of the right to discuss like kind of know whatever like kind of the custom cities >> but the other thing you probably want if you meet with that individual you should ask that individual if they have like kind of because that's a violation by
not like I know that if she works somewhere or he or her should report that to the HR person and then the HR person should follow should follow through. But if the HR person doesn't follow through, she doesn't get justice.
I think I may disagree anyway. I think the the HR commission should probably step in and then find out like kind of do some kind of investigation and then probably find out you know what really happened. I think that's probably the
last result that we probably want to do as an investigator myself as a you know vice president for a union if like kind of those thing doesn't work the kind of organization that we that person reported that to we should make an at
probably to help that person anyway that's what I would >> thank you vice chair appreciate and thank you very much for your expertise Maro as everyone can see I'll give you a chance uh commissioner Johnson As everyone see this is um even to me this
is a very novel case. Um I haven't seen uh a case come bring brought up to us individually um like this ever since I um ever since I started on the commission. So um uh I do want to
apologize for the gaps of knowledge in terms of what I cannot say which is why I made the executive decision to just let me just tell you what this person mentioned. No, no specific details, no nothing, but just bring up the fact that there are people in our community that
are being told this information and being fear-mongered um about things that not there isn't even updated and accurate information about even found on the internet. there's so
many so many different information about um this particular um this uh abortion and things of that sort and that you shouldn't be telling people things that this email had mentioned as a medical professional if this was a medical
professional. So, this is why I wanted to bring it up to if we could find ways to um I'll provide my own research, my own resources, anyone from the commission who has some sort of expertise or knows people who have expert expertise on this um on this
subject to provide those resources so that we could have them readily available on our website. Um yes, Commissioner Johnson and then Commissioner Pitch. Um, I just want to make a point personal because it's very
heart-wrenching, >> but then legally we need to be very careful >> because we could go in there as a you know what I feel for you >> or are we representing the HRC?
So I think it's a fine line that we can give the resource but >> it's hard not to keep that personal. Yeah. And but we need to do that. >> Yeah. >> Correct. >> I agree. >> No, you bring a really good point. Thank you very much for that, Johnson. Um,
Commissioner Pitch, >> um, Director Morabido and also, um, Chair Husseini, I am wondering moving forward when things like this happen, there's a group of us working like reviewing it, working together within
one or two people and then like um, director Morao said and reach out to um, the community person who made a complaint and you know get more information, clarify it and then give them some guidance and resources.
Um and I'm also wondering if it possible after we speaking with um the community person we can and also ask them can we make um kind of general um
statement that bringing people together or giving resources or something like that but not particularly for that person. um so that we can educate the community.
>> Okay. Um so yes, I believe this was something that we proposed as a working group before. Um but we could definitely add it again for our revised groups. Um uh I believe I mean
we're not like Dr. like um director Morabito mentioned that we don't things of this sort we this sort on a very personal personal level we don't have the power to do much. It's like if something was something if something
like this was happened discriminatorily like a citywide that's when you would step in have a full have more of a word or say about it. But um we can have um some sort of not mediator group because technically we don't have the power to
do much but um on a very personal level but um I believe some sort of mediator group. I don't know how to really call it without calling it a mediator group. um we could definitely add that and I'll have everyone um agree to create that
group and so that there are at least two people along with uh director morbido who are part of that conversation. So um yes, sorry, director Morito kind of cut you off. >> Oh no, I thought you were about to say something. Okay, >> thank you.
>> Got it. Um so we'll keep the um I'll still I'll keep on drafting some sort of a name of what we would call this group. Um, right now I'm just going to call it quote unquote mediator group where we
submissions of any sort from the HRC. Um, it's going to be two pe two or three people from the commission along with director Morabito to really sit down and talk to the person. Um, so um I'm going to push a motion um to create this
mediator group. I just would like someone to second. >> A second. >> All right. All in favor say I. >> All right. Who would like to be part of this mediator group? Um, I'll definitely
be part of it since I get the emails directly. Anyone else? Commissioner Tachi, vice chair team Baptist and then anyone else before we move on to >> Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.
>> Just wanted to add one more thing. So, say for instance, if I did an intake um a question intake form with someone who was making filing a complaint, um I would if they the complaint was finalized, they went through all the
questions. A lot of times people who have reached out to me, they get frustrated or they find out um I I have to stay completely neutral, you know, and I they get frustrated and I understand their frustration, but I got to get through all 21 questions. So, a
lot of times um there there weren't thank God hope there weren't that many complaints, but one if there was a complaint that was that I referred someone to the attorney general's office or a completed complaint, I would do a
director's report to the um HRC and let them know this month there was but there was a complaint filed and they were referred to the attorney general's office or MCAD. But I wouldn't state the specifics.
>> Okay. Is there any way that if if given you have the time, can you provide some sort of document that really shows an outline of how that process would go just so everyone would know? >> Absolutely. I can also um have the solicitor come up if if it's helpful to
this body come up with um the roles and responsibilities and the jurisdiction responsibilities of this commission as well. >> Yes, that would be great. Thank you very just so we know exactly what can we do, what can we not do, what can we provide, what we cannot provide. Um just so we
utilize our time of moving forward of exactly what we need to do >> because all human right commissions are bound by their the local ordinance and all what their authority is is based on that ordinance. Like so for instance when you compare us to Cambridge,
Cambridge has its own human rights commission um department. they have full-timers working there whereas this commission is basically all volunteer. >> So there's a big difference in comparing the two. So I think if the solicitor
gave us um broke down the ordinance for us I think it would help all of us understand our role especially all of the newer commissioners as well. >> Thank you very much Dr. Morito vice chair. Go ahead.
I think we probably have to be careful in a way when we meet as a mediator probably to say to that person up front like kind of the intent the why we meeting it's not like kind of we want to have probably to
come with a solution is to probably do some kind of conversation we don't want that person probably to say oh I expect you know that committee going to be taking charge like to give me like kind know whatever happened. So they're going to be they're going to be like kind of
say, "Oh, I'm the ones going to make we're going to make a decision how like kind of know this investigation will will will uh will will will end." >> But I think um the other thing I don't know I did not receive um the complaint.
I would like to know like kind of know why this individual send this complaint to the HR to the to the human right commission. does like kind of the he or her believe the this HR commission like kind of can help her like really really
help her like kind of through this process. >> So that's all I what I mean. So >> um thank you very much um vice chair JT you did bring up a good point I following up with a question. Is there
any way that because any HRC submission I think evidently seems like it only comes to me. Is there any way that we could have that email be sent to HRC commissioners? >> So, recently I I linked the um hrc
river.org to all of our email addresses. So, what I can do is I can see if they can link that email address. Oh, ESMA can probably add that to the website. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. because the I believe the HRC
email that you linked all of us um all of our emails with is not the same one as the one that the submissions >> so we can change >> okay that >> we definitely can change that >> yes thank you very much director morbido commissioner >> we used to receive
as long as I remember as one of the commissioners we used to receive the complaint there were a couple in the past and I receive it Everybody receive it as well. I don't know how it was
linked, but I I remember receiving it. Well, I think what happened was there were so many new members. So, on the old HRC or human rights commission at rever.org, it had a bunch of outdated commissioners
on it, so they just took it off. >> Oh, I see. So, so what I did was I rel to that, but now we we still have to make sure um everyone on the list is there and I think it included the
mayor's office. Um the old list included the mayor's office. So, I think we need to um decide whether it goes to a couple people because you got to keep in mind now this is all business being introduced to the whole commission. Mhm. >> So, so when everyone's linked to it, you
you could forward it along, but at the same time, >> we the main priority is to take if there's someone making a complaint, >> I have to do I have to do the intake >> and decide where to refer them to, what
agency. Because say for instance if someone's making a complaint for let's use an example the police department and they say you know they're not allowing me to come to the police station they barred me from them. The human rights
commission has no jurisdiction over something that could be behavioral and they may not be allowed in a city building because it's a behavioral matter. And based on those questions that I ask, we and if they don't mention
discrimination or they're targeting me or if they do, then I follow up with that line of question. But at the end of the questionnaire, you kind of get a feel for whether it's behavioral. And for my personal record, I have to keep
that file by law. and then I make the referral. I don't add any input unless they ask for my notes. But my notes are purely on what the person making the filing the claim says.
So if they get I rate like once again I have to keep them on track to answer the questions and be like I understand you're frustrated. I just have a few more questions to ask you. But um because it's understandable, right, that people if they feel targeted or upset,
you know, you're asking them their name. I just told you my name. I need your because we're referring them to an agency. So, we need to make sure the simplest um contact information is accurate. Do you want to be contact by
email, address, what's your preferred contact? So like the sometimes you're just trying to get through those little questions and people will get upset but at the end of the day we want to do the questionnaire because we want it it will guide us to where to refer the case
at the end of the day and my responsibility is to make sure I keep a record of it and to make sure I keep personal notes of what they said. >> Thank you very much Marbito.
Um, we could definitely uh talk about this when it comes to um our individual groups if it seems like uh like I mentioned more the director Morito was going to um I requested of
him to send us a document of how that workflow process really works like oh it starts with him and then it goes down all these different channels just so everyone is aware of how that process works and know so that we know exactly where we fit in into the conversation,
especially um making it known that um we we aren't going to provide a set solution. We're just going to provide of options of where to go from where your current situation is and provide resources of how to move forward with um addressing um the situation that you're
currently in. Um so I do want to make that clear. Um yes, Dr. you >> just listen to all of you. Um I would probably suggest that um because one do people when people
send these notifications to us, they just want to be heard. >> Mhm. Um, so I wonder if if it's probably wise to develop, you know, what
this commission can do and what it cannot do on the website. It's clear there. That way you don't have this barrage of emails to you. >> Um, that way ro clarity is important because that way you will probably diminish a lot of uh a lot of things.
People know what we can do. This is not the decision-m body. Our job is to sit down with people. If we go there and have if you know if we don't create that uh mediator or that subcommittee that really meet with people and you know find out what's
going on is basically to get more information so that you can aformed decision in terms of where you can knock to send people. In other words, what type of resources out there that you can
tell people, look, we heard you. Um, and here are the resources that we think would help you with your situation. So, that's what we need to do. So, because a lot of people out there when they hear, okay, human rights commission, they
simply assuming they're under the impression that we're going to hear them out and we go after the person that's inflicting the pain to the other person or vice versa. That's not the case here. We don't have first of all, we don't have the expertise and that's not our job. Our job is to listen and then look
for resources to empower people and to help people out. >> That's why when if you know I think role clarity in terms of our role responsibility should be clearly stated on the website. When people go there, they read it, they know where to what to
send to us, what not to send. That way you will probably avoid a lot of misunderstanding and issues that may may come up. And there's privacy issues too. Sometimes people report things and in the heat of the moment they report
things and then you decide to suddenly be it's our job to be show solidarity with people and stand with people who have been affected. But five minute 5 minutes later or 10 minutes later or maybe a special between husband and
wives, they're all the issue is over and then you got to be careful how you act, how you put information out there because you're going to be looking as a fool. It's our job certainly to do it. But I'm just saying that those things happen all the time.
>> So just my two cents, >> right? >> Thank you very much for that, Dr. Garcia. Also, another thing that I didn't I didn't think about as well. So, thank you very much for bringing that up. Uh before we
um open it up to the rest of the commission, um yes, Commissioner Ti, >> is is that something that we could change the website? I'm not sure how much permission we have on the back end of of the website to be able to put like some
type of disclosure of our scope of practice and like what we can do and >> put that out there. Is that an option? >> Do you mean in legal scope or do you mean just in scope if we have the capability of doing it quickly like
without it? I no I mean like on the website where somebody could go and submit >> information where we have the ability to change it on there right but I'm I'm saying a scope as far as >> the HRC is not able to do this this or
this but these are the services that we can provide >> absolutely without a doubt yeah we we have access to changing that and I also have a on our EIC page on our department page we actually have a uh link link
where you can file a discrimination um with the state as well. >> Do you mind if you could also put that on our website? >> Absolutely. >> All right. Well, Dabby said I'll work on
or anyone from the the mediator group um mediator group uh can work on um listen out the things that we can and cannot do. Um I'll definitely be the s I'll create a document for everyone in that group so that we could you know do our
research and really make sure that we have all the accurate information so that if we are going to update the website it has everything um you know we c cross our eyes and dot our tees no cross our tees and dot our eyes um so
that you know we we know exactly what we're doing and talking about so we could definitely get that started um uh you'll see a document shared with everyone in that group over the next couple of days so that we could get that process started in terms of adding that
to the website. Anyone else would like to add is it's an open form. I know I just brought that up, but um I'll leave it up to anyone in the commission to add anything.
>> All right. Um I just want to go back to that grant. Is that okay? >> Go ahead. Yeah. >> All right. So we know that um we are living in unusual times with
money certainly you know um hard to find. So I can talk about this because we know I work for the school department. I know that things are not are green right so
and I'm sure that every other sector also is experiencing some difficulties but I think that yes we can continue to apply for the grants um that usually you know um that um we applied this past
year for example but I think we should we need to think outside the box not just rely on this grant but also reach out to organizations, grants that are out there, organizations that whose
values align with ours and apply for those grants and see what we can get. So it's just a matter of identifying um you know uh organizations that uh provided grants and basically see what they you
know look at their values they vision and then apply for those grants and also develop partnership with uh human rights uh commission from other cities. I'm sure that they do these type of things. I think it's time for us to if we really
want to do big things in our city, for us to go beyond uh the cultural grant that we apply for every, you know, every year. It's not that, you know, maybe we're not
um being too explicit and uh articulate. Um that's another thing also we need to review. uh that we need to probably um review a little bit. Um when we do submit these grants um we need to look at it, look at the feedback they give us
and identify potential pitfalls and uh you know areas that we can improve. But I think in addition to that we should be looking elsewhere also to apply because if we have this big vision of improving
what's not working in our community and um I think you know it's worthwhile really thinking outside the box and be more creative and look for organizations out there that can support us. Just a suggestion.
>> I agree with you Dr. Garcia, which is why um and everyone can definitely everyone can definitely add or change in terms of what each working group can do. um for um the senior connections group
which is uh vice chair uh RBGMFT uh commissioner Johnson and I um to um keep on connecting with Deb and just really talking about how we can utilize a lot of the programs that they already have um in order to incorporate us as a
part of their conversation for the student involvement group which is uh Commissioner Pitch, Commissioner Teti and Dr. Garcia to um do similarly do the same things with um Mr. Cabraw with the the welcome with the welcome group at
the high school to see how um how potentially just how can the HRC be more involved whether there's already pre-planned student events that we could also have some sort of suggestion box or pass out business cards whatever the case may be um for the community
outreach group which is going to be uh me uh commissioner Johnson Commissioner Pitch Dr. Garcia and I to look for other um sources of potential funding that are outside the um mass cultural council and
the local cultural council and then for the quoteunquote mediator group which is uh which consists of uh vice chair GMT, Commissioner Johnson and I to um uh update the website to put the guidelines
of what the HRC can and cannot do um and have that updated onto the website along with the um the individual discrimination form that people can file with the state to be on the website as well. So um and does everyone agree with
that or that being our first steps for each individual group? Yes. Awesome. Um and that being said, the members can overlap like uh like we've shown before. So if not everyone
is able to meet a certain meeting if there was a meeting to be planned in each group um definitely members of other of other uh groups can also join in and provide opinions and feedback. But um other than that, uh I will, like
I mentioned, send this to everyone, um over email the next couple of days along with the meeting minutes so that everyone knows what the roles are and what we're going to be focusing on from now until uh February since we're not going to be meeting in January. Um but yes, uh does anyone else have anything
to add? Track questions, comments, concerns? Awesome. Well, thank you very much for everyone who come to tonight's event. Thank you very much everyone for watching. Um, I understand that uh towards the end of our meeting that it
did take a little bit of a dark turn, but I'm glad that people are reaching out to us um on matters like these. Even though it seems like there isn't much that we can do when it comes to decision making, the fact that people are reaching out to us is a first step that
people want us people are asking us for advice. People want to use us as some sort of resource. Um, and I do apologize to the person who um submitted that form um of the the stress and the the heartbreak that you and your partner um
had gone through and all the people who have gone through a very similar case that in our community as well that just know that we hear you as you've seen evidently in our meeting in that we encourage everyone of all races, all genders, all sexualities, all religions
to use us, to reach out to us and really use us as a way to um as a resource to help you folks out. Uh since we don't have anything else, I would like to thank everyone. Thank you very much and have a good night.