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2020-10-07 Diversity Commission AgendaAGENDA Edmonds DiversityCommission Zoom Virtual Meeting (Access info below) Wednesday, October 7, 2020 6:OOPM — 8:OOPM Zoom Meeting https://zoom. us/*/99521146647?pwd=c2O5SFQ5 N DVtdC9Xc3J IaTBOM E16UTO9 Meeting ID: 995 2114 6647 Passcode:176439 One tap mobile: 12532158782 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 2. Approval of Agenda 3. Approval of September 2, 2020 Summary 4. Public Comment via Zoom (3 minutes per speaker) (10 minutes total) 5. Welcoming Mayor Nelson (20 minutes) 5. Update from the city: Patrick Doherty, Adrienne Fraley-Monillas (10 minutes) 6. Old Business (10 minutes) a. Decals, received and ready to distribute. b. Diversity Commission 2021 Grants, applications due by 10/21/20 need review team of 3 commissioners. 7. Subgroups, questions/comments (15 minutes) a. Policy b. Partnerships & Outreach c. Events d. Place -making Highway 99 8. New Business (25 minutes) a. Beacon Guest View discussion (see attached copy) b. Indigenous Peoples' Day recognition 9. Commissioner's Corner (5 minutes) Adjourn — 8:OOPM Next meeting: Wednesday, November 4, 2020 at 6 p.m., via Zoom Guiding Principles To ensure we meet our responsibilities as a Commission, we agree to • start and end our meetings on time • demonstrate our respect for our fellow Commissioners, the City of Edmonds, and the citizens we represent by: being present, being prepared, actively listening, participating in meetings, completing our individual assignments, and holding ourselves accountable • "step up and step back" • establish goals and action plans that are results oriented • establish subcommittees as needed • engage in courageous, honest, and open dialogue when faced with difficult issues or questions • utilize the "Ouch Rule" (assume positive intent; resist the temptation to be offended) • embrace the education opportunities presented through the Commission meetings • strive to make decisions by consensus. In a case where consensus cannot be reached after a reasonable attempt has been made, the Chairperson may call for a majority vote. CITY OF EDMONDS DIVERSITY COMMISSION September 2, 2020 Meeting conducted via Zoom COMMISSIONERS PRESENT Pat Valle, Chair Anabel Hovig, Vice -Chair Dean Olson Nikki Okimoto Glaros Donnie Griffin Mindy Woods Brian Potter Sarah Mixson Council member Adrienne Fraley-Monillas, ex officio Council member Vivian Olsen COMMISSIONERS ABSENT Sekou Kon6 GUESTS PRESENT: Detective Julie Govantes K-9 Officer Josh Hwang Officer Brittany Johnsen Eileen Horst, Captioner STAFF PRESENT Patrick Doherty, Director Cindi Cruz, Program Coordinator Economic Development & Community Services Arwen Marohn, Diversity Commission 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: Pat Valle called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. and Dean Olson read the land acknowledgement. 2. Approval of Agenda: Pat made an addition to the agenda to review the Diversity Commission mission statement. Patrick suggested adding 2021 grants to item 7 in old business. Agenda approved by consensus. 3. Approval of Aug 5, 2020 Summary: Corrections from Donnie: Reference to "Chief of Police" should be "Acting Chief of Police". Donnie's term expires 2021, not 2020. Brian will be stepping down after his term ends in December. Summary approved by consensus 4. Public Comment: Patrick read comment from Emily Bergan (email). "I'm unable to attend the Diversity Commission meeting today, but I wanted to write in a comment of support for the work you are doing. As Edmonds continues to grow, it's pivotal that our city becomes a welcome location for all races & religions. In that, we need to recognize the strong hold that white supremacy has in this area and the need for a city law, code, or ordinance for handling hate crimes in Edmonds. I look forward to working towards a better, more inclusive, future." DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission September 2, 2020 Page 1 Martha Karl, an Edmonds resident, echoed Emily's message in regard to creating an ordinance on handling of hate crimes. The political climate has allowed more people to be vocal on their hate. As resident wants to see more done and to prosecute. She recounted how her daughter doesn't want to come home because of racism here in Edmonds and that she feels like nothing has changed after graduating 10 years ago. What is Edmonds doing to stop racism? Katie Mahoney, a resident of South Edmonds, supports the priority mentioned in the last meeting regarding establishing an ordinance regarding handling of hate crimes. She would love to see the establishment of clear entrance and processing of reports on all acts of bias. She wants to see the city establish a transparent and safe city level body for residents to report to if they are targets or witnesses. Now there is no information on how deal with these incidents. 5. Update from the City: Patrick announced that Tomas will be stepping down on October lst as our student representative. We would like to seek another student representative. He also mentioned the hate incident that Council President responded to this past week on behalf of Mayor Nelson. There was an inappropriate message etched in sand by ferry dock. Adrienne and Patrick put out a statement and decided not to air the wording or symbols in actual message. Donnie shared his concern about us (Diversity Commission) responding to these in a timely matter. Value of the Diversity Commission is to be included and respond as well and we need to show it, the offensive language, and not hide it. Being silent is complicit. Patrick — Since the Mayor was not available, Adrienne and he decided to act quickly. Anabel is in 100% support of Donnie in that we should not hide ugliness we see and stated it is harmful to people of color. Anabel learned about the event later in the day when Mindy reached out her. She requested the staff keep her and Pat in the loop in the future. Adrienne indicated that the Diversity Commission should have done a second statement. She agreed there is opportunity to improve. Adrienne mentioned that Council is still seeking a student representative and they had only received one application so far. Cindi gave a budget update. The Commission has $2053 to spend. Decal prices are up $100, but she found another quote that is a little better and is waiting for one more quote. Patrick said they are working on giving out grants to households for rent, expenses and will put out more aggressive advertising on this soon. Patrick asked the Commissioners to let him know if they have contacts they can send this information out to. He also learned today that the city will be getting more money from the federal government. 6. Edmonds Police Department Engagement Team: Detective Govantes, K-9 Officer Hwang, and Officer Johnsen gave an introduction on the Community Engagement Team newly created in June. Acting Chief Lawless created this group of diverse officers to DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission September 2, 2020 Page 2 address concerns within the community. They are going out into the community to listen to community members in order to improve relations and services. Officer Johnsen shared that there were 20 people at first event at Mathay Park. Community concerns included: 1. Residents worried they are bothering the police if they report anything 2. Dogs off leash 3. Unsolved cases Parks throughout the city were chosen for these events in order to allow in -person meetings in various areas of the city and to address different concerns within the communities. The team comprises of multiple members, variety of backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities. They plan on more community outreach and transparency. The team joined our meeting to see how the Diversity Commission works, to connect and learn of community concerns that we may be aware of and to get more involved with our diverse communities. They are planning on other engagement events to see what they do to create spaces to make the community comfortable in asking questions. Questions from the Diversity Commission: Sarah attended the first park event and was happy to have the team come out and speak with residents. She had an issue with one officer, brought up Jacob Blake, and his response was that he was waiting to hear all facts before having an opinion on it. She struggled with that response because no one should be shot in the back seven times. She felt the message was that the shooting could be a reasonable response. Overall, she is glad they are coming out to the community. Brian asked if this was being publicized beyond social media for people with less access. Detective Govantes was not sure, but the local paper did a story on park tour and they also reached out through Nextdoor. Dean shared he had heard that in the last two years two people did not come forward with complaints; that people not reporting because they don't feel safe. One was a Black student jogging and the cops stopped him to ask him what he was doing. Complaints are out there and how do we get them to the proper people in the police department. Donnie thanked Detective Govantes on her finding the Harvey's incident case of probable cause of hate crime, whereas the prosecuting attorney claimed that there was not enough evidence. He hopes there is a formal connection made with these teams, so we can share information on issues of diversity and equity training in the department. What is happening internally? What is the department doing to increase their education in diversity and equity in relation to assault. Officer Hwang said they generally don't do outside agency training and that all training is internal and city-wide. He shared their latest training was from a webinar to educate, inform them on racial bias and how it affects police work. The department puts antibias training out once a year. This new Engagement committee is still figuring out their purpose and where they fit into racial bias in City of Edmonds and would like to create a formalized way of connecting with city departments. Detective Govantes said the bias training is specific in regard to African Americans and use of force. Pat says one of the Diversity team's goals is to establish two-way communication. There are several commissions in Edmonds where people are starting to move in same direction and there is an interest in DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission September 2, 2020 Page 3 reaching out to each other making things better. There are folks not interested in coming to Police for help and perhaps that the Diversity Commission could get community concerns out to Police. She said that prior to policy recommendations, the training was every 2-3 years. Donnie also indicated that HR said the training was more about compliance than bias training and very different than the training the Diversity Commission was pushing for. Nikki asked what best way was to contact the team? Detective Govantes is in the office Monday - Thursday and Sargent McClure is as well. Call main PD number and they will transfer. 7. Old Business: 7a. Demographic Report on Highway 99 Update Arwen gave an update to her work on the statistics report. The report is much larger and now includes more information from Policymap.com, students on free and reduced lunch in the areas along Highway 99, as well as crime statistics from Communitycrimemap.com. Arwen will send this out to the Commissioners for review. Mindy brought up that 1/3 students within the Edmonds School District are on free & reduced lunch. There is a lot of equity work being done within K-12 to connect with the family services network to get computers and internet access. A community needs assessment is needed to address these issues and find the gaps. Brian was unsure of the statistics included for internet access and will be helping with research on valid data regarding this. Arwen will continue to update this document as we receive more information. 7b. Patrick discussed Diversity Commission grants for 2021. $2000 has historically used for grants, with up to $500 for four allocated grants. Does the Commission want to fund grants in 2021, and if yes, we need to give notice in October for round of funding. This year the Commission gave out the first grants at beginning of the year. After some discussion from the Commission on the changing needs of the community due to COVID, it was decided that wording on the grant applications can be adjusted to have a broader reach for community needs at this time. Perhaps reaching out to community partners will help our grants have more impact. Patrick suggested retooling the description of the grants to include programs, activities and events. Patrick, Arwen and Cindi to work on rewording of the grant application and then will send to Pat and Anabel for review. Approved by consensus. Pat proposed to extend the meeting to 8:15. Approved by consensus. 8. Subgroup Reports: Policy: Dean — This group met on 8/26 general discussion of equity and task force. Proposed a "see something, say something" policy. There was more discussion on hate crime incidents in Edmonds regarding our response time and more definition to what that includes. There was an DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission September 2, 2020 Page 4 agreement that the city needs to add more charging codes. Dean wrote a letter about the vehicle lanes at Dayton and Hwy 104, where the intersection is often blocked by vehicles at busy times. There are accessibility issues with cars sitting in the crosswalk. He mentioned providing clear masks and accessibility help in organizations that support community needs. Partnership & Outreach: Pat — This group met on the 26' with members throughout the community to discuss goals. The group is interested in finding gaps, training employees, providing decals, antibias training for management, "take a pledge campaign" in which businesses would be recognized for taking the pledge, charter with anti -racism, sharing resources and interest in developing a toolkit of resources for businesses to use. Next meeting is Sept 16'. Brian asked about including bystander intervention training. Events: Patrick mentioned that we already paid for 3 films we haven't shown yet. Cindi contacted the producers on these and they are amenable for us showing them in a format that allows for Q&A afterward. One producer was so excited at this idea and offered to be included on the Q&A as well as some of the actors. Proposal is to restart this film series virtually, but changing the time to after dinner in the evening - Thursday Oct. 15 or 22. Nov. 12t1i. We will continue to work ahead on films for next year. 2' event goal is on Sept. 29t1i a virtual online discussion/webinar on what we are experiencing as a community right now with COVID and collective trauma. The idea is having two speakers — one to present on where we are today in our community and the second speaker to discuss how we deal with collective trauma on individual level and on a community level. Hopefully this will give the community tools to walk away with sense of hope and tools for selfcare. The events group already have some candidates to put this team together. $500 top end to pay each presenter and ideally one would be a therapist. People are seeking guidance and may not recognize this type of stress in themselves and many have compassion fatigue. Recognize the signs of stress and anguish. Questions for thought: Are we missing the people on the edge? Is there the ability to be anonymously attending this? Arwen mentioned we could video record this for the community to access anytime if the presenters are on board. Donnie — Is $500 low on this? Make this an hour long event and add in $100 for advertising. September 29`h coincides with suicide prevention month and this is ideal. Black in Edmonds is having successful webinars. Can the Commission to something similar about COVID and racial tensions? Thirdly, the group wants to reopen "I am Edmonds" stories this Fall, to open dialogue and share experiences through these times. Cost free for us. Placemaking Highway 99: Nicole Hughes is very interested in working with us with the idea of finding a place where we might house a community center, meeting room or police substation... etc. She likes to the idea of a "campus" and discussion about services to 99. DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission September 2, 2020 Page 5 Donnie, Brian, Mindy, Arwen, Tomas, Patrick, Adrienne, Sekou met to discuss this What does this committee do? What is end product. We can only make recommendation to City Council. We need to ask the community, what do they want? What's important to them. How do we survey the community? Focus groups? Pat asked if this committee should check in with Economic Development on this? Donnie says group wants to solidify a plan first and then share with others. Patrick agreed. New Business: 8a. Budget Update- Cindi covered this in the City Update 8b. Discussion and potential questions for the Mayor's visit on October 7th - Dean- has a letter drafted regarding the accessibility crosswalk issues and Cindi will email to the Diversity Commission to review and then send to the Mayor. 9. Commissioner's Corner: Pat — The Equity and Justice task force have met four times. They will be meeting every two weeks to put a plan forward. Discussion include viewing everything from an equity lens and what is equity vs. equality. Their goal is to create checklist/toolbox of priorities, policy priorities, training, and communications. She said this is very interesting work and is excited about it Donnie — shared the news that former Commissioner, Ed Dorame and his husband have bought a home in Bellingham and will be moving out of Edmonds. They will be missed. Retirement of Cindi and doing something special Adrienne said that there will be implicit bias training in September for Council Brian publicly thanked Anabel for having her pronouns on her profile. Mindy printed off 500 of the 2-1-1 fliers and has distributed these to libraries and Edmonds food bank. People very excited and love the different languages. She wanted to congratulate Misha for being newly hired for My Edmonds News. Housing commission is still looking for our input on policies. Mindy will be backing off of subcommittee for Highway 99. Pat — retired! 40 years in education! Anabel — is working her way back into teaching, accepted to SPU Masters program for literacy language and equity! Adjourn: Pat adjourned the meeting at 8:34 PM — Next meeting Wednesday, October 7, 2020. DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission September 2, 2020 Page 6