2024-04-03 DEIA Commission MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS
EDMONDS DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION &
ACCESSIBILITY COMMISSION
April 3, 2024
Meeting conducted via Zoom and in -person at the Brackett Meeting Room
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT
Jessie Owen, Co -Chair
Pam Iverson
Dipti Chrastka
Rebecca Perrault
Kim Gunning via Zoom
Umrah Thomas
Rowan Soiset
Patty Narvaez-Wheeler via Zoom
Councilmember Chris Eck, ex-officio
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT
Elaine Helm, Co -Chair - unexcused
GUESTS PRESENT
Desta Getachew
STAFF PRESENT
Todd Tatum, Director
Megan Luttrell, Program Coordinator
6:00 P.M. — Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement: "We acknowledge the original
inhabitants of this place, the Sdohobsh (Snohomish) people and their successors the Tulalip
Tribes, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands.
We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred
spiritual connection with the land and water." - City Council Land Acknowledgment
1. Roll Call and Absences: Dipti read the land acknowledgment. Elaine is an unexcused
absence.
2. Approval of Agenda: Rowan moved to approve the agenda; Pam seconded; approved by
consensus.
3. Approval of March 6, 2024 Summary: Rebecca moved to approve the summary; Pam
seconded; approved by consensus.
4. Public Comment (3 minutes per speaker):
5. Youth Commission Update: Not in attendance.
6. Update from the City: Todd, Megan, Councilmember Eck: Todd shares an update on
the Comprehensive Plan Update. There is an upcoming update to Council regarding the
growth alternatives. The Economic Development Commission (EDC) is collaborating and
recommending updates to the Economic Development Element goals. They would like to
get input from this Commission on the updates. Director McLaughlin would like to present
the documents for input and EDC would like to visit and get input also.
We've been working on grant applications to fund future Lunar New Year & Pride events.
Councilmember Eck was so impressed by the retreat and the commitment of this group.
She's asked Council President to review the land acknowledgment updates and it's now on
the Extend Agenda. Next Tuesday will be a special Council meeting to discuss only the
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DEIA Commission
April 3, 2024
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comp plan growth alternatives. Mike Bailey gave a presentation last night following the
Mayor's State of the City regarding the budget. The Mayor is creating a task force of
representatives from the Commissions to review the budgeting by priorities. Judge Whitney
Rivera was appointed by Gov. Inslee to Snohomish County Superior Court. Judge Rivera
gave a presentation last night regarding Community Court. EDC gave an update last night
as well. She feels there is an opportunity for the EDC and DEIA Commission to
collaborate.
7. Old Business:
a. Retreat debrief, takeaways, next steps: Jessie spent a few minutes going through
some notes from the retreat.
The mission statement in the Commission code is missing some key
language and it's worth reviewing and possibly updating.
Patty explains that her group came up with a three prong approach.
o Review a priority and find the bucket it lands in, D, E, I or A
o Equitable Engagement Framework and the Pros Plan are two
documents that have data and could guide priorities.
o What community does this target? And how does it loop with
DEIorA.
■ What priorities emerge organically? Sustain, expand
& grow, impact. Being open to letting something in
and/or let something go.
o Todd adds that we need to discuss how we start tackling
priorities at this meeting. How do we approach priorities?
o Identify resources that we have available. We have
qualitative data to analyze. Washington Kids in Transition
and Edmonds Food Bank could be good resources to come
share what they know about our community.
Rowan shares that their group talked about 4 things, 3 to act on.
o Where are the relationships we have in the City? Blue Ribbon
group, who do we know that could share info with us.
Relationship mapping.
o An event tracker/calendar — this would make it much easier to
track the happenings in the city.
■ Megan reached out to IT and there is SharePoint for
the Comission setup, Megan just needs direction on
how to share it with the group. IT is working on
putting together a shared calendar for the
Commission, the full Commission can add to it and
view It.
o Information access. A "how to" for Civic Engagement. Give
people a door into how to get involved. A nice overlap with
the Community Engagement goals. Have informational
handouts translated for how to participate in meetings, etc.
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DEIA Commission
April 3, 2024
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Make sure meetings are closed caption, ASL or physically
accessible.
Umrah shares that her group discussed community engagement,
visibility.
o Cross pollination with other organizations that are doing this
work.
o How do we capture and leverage knowledge from the
Commissioners.
o Reviewing the past recipients of the grants, specifically the
School District and reach out to see how they learned of the
grant program.
o Improve social media presence.
o Applying a DEIA lens internally, reviewing how we're
communicating, tone, etc. Make sure we follow our own
recommendations in how we're sharing information.
o DEIA training for electees and staff.
b. Commission structure:
i. Committees: Jessie shares the history of the committee structure.
1. Executive: Elaine, Jessie
The leadership team would partner together to identify priorities.
Rebecca suggests an Ad -Hoc data group to analyze the documents
that we have now, prior to diving into the committee work. She and
Dipti offer to dive into this.
Todd suggests having the Committee meet and review the data. It's
unlikely to be the last data review.
*Review data to set prioritization.
2. City Engagement & Policy: Rowan & Kim
3. Community Engagement & Visibility: Umrah, Pam & Sofia -
Marie
ii. Ad -Hoc Committees:
1. Film Series: Elaine, Umrah, Patty would like to join once the data
group finishes their big lift.
2. Grant Program: Pam, Dipti, Umrah
a. Pam moves that we move forward with grant $1000 for
the first part of the year; Rebecca seconded, motion
passes.
3. It's recommended that we add an ad -hoc Committee: "Data":
Rebecca, Dipti & Patty
iii. Committee Assignments:
1. Calendar — Rebecca will take a first look at this. What for the
Commission to participate in; heritage months; partner with
neighboring communities; proclamations.
2. Book Distribution Plan — Pam, Patty, Rowan would like to work on
this project in June as an ad -hoc.
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DEIA Commission
April 3, 2024
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3. Onboarding for new Commissioners — Will be addressed later.
c. Annual Report Update: Jessie shares that it's being actively worked on. Todd
suggests late June.
d. April 20' Film — The Farewell — Host: Rebecca can do the intro. Umrah can back-
up.
8. Commissioner's Corner (10 minutes): Patty asks how the Committee reports back, Jessie
explains how the Committee work has been presented in the past, it's flexible. Rebecca
explains that the EDC would like to get the Commission feedback for the Economic
Development Element goals. Kim mentions some new unhoused neighbors moved in to her
neighborhood this week and we need to think about how to engage this demographic.
Adjourn 8:03PM
Next meeting: May 1, 2024, at 6:OOPM
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DEIA Commission
April 3, 2024
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