2021-04-07 Diversity Commission PacketAGENDA
of EDAf Edmonds Diversity Commission
Zoom Virtual Meeting (access info below) OP
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
6:OOPM-8:OOPM
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https://zoom.us/j/95073349360?pwd=ZmZYclnpNVnJJT3ZXRnRoZlp6dlNIUT09
Meeting ID: 950 7334 9360 1 Passcode: 189565 1 One tap mobile: 12532158782
4:00 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 March 3, 2021 Retreat Summary (5 minutes)
4. Public Comment via Zoom (3 minutes per speaker)
5. Update from the City: Patrick Doherty (10 minutes)
6. Budget Update (5 minutes)
7. Old Business:
a. Incident response by Chair and Vice -Chair (15 minutes)
b. City Council annual report presentation review (15 minutes)
c. Subgroup assignment discussion (30 minutes)
i. Civil Rights Office
ii. Equity Toolkit & Highway 99 business education series
iii. Highway 99 Community Building
iv. District based Council positions
v. Based Council positions
vi. Accessibility — ADA
vii. Accessibility — Languages
viii. Listening sessions with community leaders and engagement with Mountlake Terrace,
Shoreline & Lynnwood Diversity Commissions, Youth Commission & C3
ix. Future staffing support needs
8. Subgroup Reports: (20 minutes)
a. Policy
b. Partnerships & Outreach
c. Events
d. Place -making Highway 99
9. New Business:
a. Support the Rotary's effort in securing funds for accessible playground equipment in the new Civic
Park playground (10 minutes)
10. Commissioner's Corner (10 minutes)
Adjourn — 8:OOPM
Next meeting: Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 6:OOPM, 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
March 3, 2021
Meeting conducted via Zoom
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT
Ardeth Weed, Chair
Dean Olson, Vice -Chair
Donnie Griffin
Nikki Okimoto Glaros
Mindy Woods
Alison Alfonzo Pence
Alberto Orej el Malfavon
Sarah Mixson
Caitlin Chung Student Rep
Councilmember Luke Distelhorst, ex officio
Laura Johnson -Council
Vivian Olson - Council
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT
Sekou Kon6 -excused
GUESTS PRESENT:
Jennifer McLaughlin - Facilitator
Youth Commission Diversity Commission —
Owen Lee (Chair), Finn Paynich, Sydney
Pearson, Aaron Nateephaisan, Grace Kamila,
Brooke Roberts, Casey Colley (Youth
Commission Coordinator)
STAFF PRESENT
Patrick Doherty, Director
Megan Luttrell, 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: Ardeth called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m. Alberto read the land
acknowledgement.
2. Approval of Agenda: Agenda approved by consensus.
3. Approval of February 3, 2021 Summary: Approved by consensus.
4. Public Comment: No comments at this time
5. Presentation from the Youth Commission: Owen Lee (he/him) presented a slideshow on the
importance of using pronouns and will present this Implementation Plan to City Council next
week. Using pronouns in all communications such as in Biographies, Zoom, and email
signatures. They will provide more information on the Edmonds City Website. The
Diversity Commission can add information in our Equity Toolkit regarding the pronouns and
background information. The Diversity Commission is in full support for this request from the
Youth Commission's newly formed Diversity Committee.
6. Diversity Commission retreat:
DRAFT Meeting Summary
Diversity Commission
March 3, 2021
Page 1
Ice -breaker introductions and shared stories on why the commissioners and staff are
involved in this work.
Indigenous Peoples Day Discussion: Agreements included creating some sort of event that
may be live and also virtual to account for equity access issues and unknown COVID status in
October. The recommendation is to reach out to our Indigenous community to help curate an
event. Suggestions also included highlighting new Indigenous artwork downtown, the mural,
and new Waterfront Community Center, as well as dancing with food, reaching out to prior
ECA performers from Kid Stock (violinist and storyteller). Perhaps this could take place at the
Francis Anderson Field.
Protocol Response: Luke mentioned that the Commission could request more money for the
expenses of translation services for all communications. There will be a vote at the next meeting
on the use of the original template response as backup or empowering the Chair and Vice -Chair
to respond on behalf of the Commission.
There was a reference to the Shoreline Against Racism — SOAR reporting system on racial or
other hateful incidents. Currently the City of Edmonds does not have an anonymous reporting
system.
Creating a space in the community to story and experience. The Events Committee will
look into doing another "I am Edmonds" event and it was suggested that we reach out to the
community sooner than during the summer to get more involvement. There was also a
suggestion for more of an online presence for the Diversity Commission and more engagement
from youth on other programs — Instagram, TIK TOK, and beyond. Caitlin will be a good
resource for this.
Disability Accessibility & Inclusion — Dean would like to see a group dedicated to these issues
in Edmonds this year. Alison is working with the Edmonds Rotary raising funds for Civic Park
playground for special needs/families. She proposes the Diversity Commission write to
lawmakers for needed funding to support this. *Generate a letter.
Commission meetings & use of time. The Commission wants to invite community leaders in
so we learn from them and we influence their thinking on these issues. Who are the most
significant people in community who we would like to learn from and influence? This
encourages building of community. Also, the goal is to connect with other Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion Commissions and organizations by sharing ideas and collectively working on
change.
Importance of Visibility of the DC. The Commission needs to come up with a plan for
submissions for My Edmonds News and to come up with an overall outreach plan. Work
closely with the Youth Commission. Put a bio and picture on website for people to connect and
know who is on the Diversity Commission. Maybe include video snippets questions for social
media. Approved majority. Donnie would like to see our time/efforts directed to our projects
and social justice actions.
City Council Annual Report:
The Commission should represent at the Council meeting. We need volunteers to cover each
month of the year to attend. A brief Power Point and back up detailed document will be
DRAFT Meeting Summary
Diversity Commission
March 3, 2021
Page 2
delivered by Chair & Vice Chair to Council in the next few weeks. Donnie suggested adding in
the following points to the report:
1. Highlight work the Commission has accomplished
2. Share the key pieces of current work and future work that we will need the support of the
Council on. For example: we need their support in promoting our recently published Equity
Toolkit for businesses.
3. Share our vision for visibility and community building on Highway 99 and the importance of
having representation from the Commission in the planning of the Highway 99 Renewal
project.
40 minutes brainstorming over the next few months. Categories:
• Accessibility/ADA
• Multi-cultural/language
• Review of City's Hate Crime Ordinances
• Exploring a city office for civil rights
• Doing diversity, inclusion and equity work outside the bowl as well
• Engage with Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline, Lynnwood Diversity Commission, Youth
Commission, Communities of Color
• Review work that has been done by the Commission and decide what items need to go
to the next implementation level
Each Commissioner identified one area of interest for this year:
Then vote on the top 2-3 - Note the different between mitigated action and transforming action
• Alberto: Alison's creating a city office for civil rights, encourage youth
participation
• Alison: Why the city of Edmonds doesn't have office for civil rights, there needs to
be some place for people to go to if there is a complaint with housing or
employment. For example - Shoreline and SOAR.
• Ardeth — Reach out to other cities to see how we can work with them — feedback
from citizens and discussions.
• Caitlyn — Acknowledge Pride Month and LGTBQ+ members, API rise of hate
crimes and talking about in the community, including youth.
• Donnie — City of civil rights issues, working with other diversity and inclusion
groups, Suni internal group, N. King County and S. Snohomish Coalition.
• Mindy — Stop having silos in any area of work. Social worker and expansion,
looking at the most vulnerable and who is not at the table? How do people engage
with us and how do we get out to them. What's our outreach? Equity Toolkit —
translations.
• Dean - Do more listening sessions, push toolkit and highway 99 community
building by working with other commissions, Office of civil rights, and create an
accessible Edmonds subcommittee.
• Nikki — Civil Rights Commission, Diversity Commissions integration, other groups
in the city, ECA accessibility group, and respond to upcoming elections and
possible issues surrounding responses to that.
DRAFT Meeting Summary
Diversity Commission
March 3, 2021
Page 3
• Sarah — Civil rights, we need a clearing house to know where to go. Bring light to
race problems in Edmonds and would like to see support for "how to be an anti -
racist'' training in the city. Create an active series.
• Patrick — Highway 99 Committee to plan next year by engaging in real community
building and community organizing. Look at supporting District based Council in
lieu of the City based Council we currently have.
• Luke — Council project with diversity, equity, and inclusion work and would like
input from the Diversity Commission.
• Arwen — Look at the projects we are pursuing and express the needs for support.
Council has indicated they will be reevaluating the need for a coordinator for the
Diversity Commission at the end of this year.
Agreed Top Items for 2021-2022 Focus for the Edmonds Diversity Commission:
1. Civil Rights Office (Policy & Partnerships Subcommittees)
2. Equity Toolkit and Highway 99 business education series
3. Highway 99 Community Building
4. District based Council positions
5. Accessibility - ADA
6. Accessibility — Languages
7. Listening Sessions with community leaders
8. Future staffing support needs — Luke suggested we put together a budget project for
these projects and staffing needs to submit to Council before the May/June funding
priorities meeting.
Adjourn: Ardeth adjourned the meeting at 8:09 PM — Next meeting Wednesday, April 7, 2021,
6:00 pm.
DRAFT Meeting Summary
Diversity Commission
March 3, 2021
Page 4