2022-09-07 Diversity Commission Packet° EDo� AGENDA
Edmonds Diversity Commission
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
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REMOTE MEETING/ZOOM INFORMATION:
https:Hedmondswa-gov.zoom.us/i/98071999699?pwd=YS9GTVdW M2VPTUt*ROVXVm56NG la UTO9
Meeting ID: 980 7199 9699
Passcode: 963195
PHYSICAL LOCATION
The Diversity Commission members will be meeting remotely for this meeting and the public may as well at the
zoom information above. However, given the expiration of Gov. Inslee's proclamation on open public meetings, a
physical location to participate in the meeting must be provided. For this meeting the physical location provide is
Edmonds Waterfront Center Community Room B located at 220 Railroad Avenue. Comments may be emailed to
megan.luttrell(kedmondswa.gov prior to the meeting.
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 August 3, 2022, Summary (5 minutes)
4. Introduction of Todd Tatum, Community Services & Economic Development Director (5 minutes)
5. Public Comment (3 minutes per speaker)
6. Presentation from Susan McLaughlin, Development Services Director on Equitable Engagement
Framework (30 minutes)
7. Interviews: (50 minutes)
a. Anil DeCosta
b. Jeanett Quintanilla
8. New Business:
a. Hispanic Heritage Month September 15t1i-October 151}i (10 minutes)
9. Committee Reports:
a. Policy— Dean (10 minutes)
b. Partnerships & Outreach — Alison (5 minutes)
c. Events — (5 minutes)
Adjourn — 8:OOPM
Next meeting: Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at 6:OOPM
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
August 3, 2022
Meeting conducted via Zoom
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT
Dean Olson, Chair
Nikki Okimoto Glaros, Vice -Chair
Ardeth Weed
Alison Pence
Gracelynn Shibayama
Elaine Helm
Robert White
Councilmember Will Chen, ex officio
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT
Sekou Kone, excused
GUESTS PRESENT
Jeanett Quintanilla
Daphne Xia
Chris Collier
STAFF PRESENT
Megan Luttrell, Program Coordinator
Economic Development & Community
Services
Molly Jay, 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 sairitual connection with the land and water." - City Council
Land Acknowledgment
1. Roll Call and Absences
2. Approval of Agenda
Dean had one amendment to agenda item 4.5 Commission Update. Ardeth moved
to approve agenda; Alison seconded.
3. Approval of July 6, 2022, Summary (5 minutes)
Elaine had amendment to Commissioner's Corner, she was inquiring as to overall
recruitment of commissioners, not just for Dean's position. Molly to amend July's
meeting notes. Ardeth moved that we approve July's minutes with that change;
Nikki seconded, Alison abstained, minutes were approved by consensus with
Alison abstaining.
DRAFT Meeting Summary
Diversity Commission
August 3, 2022
Page 1
4. Public Comment (3 minutes per speaker)
Jeanett Quintanilla introduced herself and was interested in learning more about
what the commission does.
4.5. Dean announced that Alberto has resigned from the commission and that we
have a vacant seat.
5. Presentation from Chris Collier from Housing Authority of Snohomish
County (20 minutes)
Chris is the program manager for the Alliance of Housing Affordability. He gave
data from county assessor's office on Edmonds real estate prices, property taxes,
and rental prices. As far as diversity and equity are concerned, single mothers and
fathers, households with disabilities, immigrant households and retirees are greatly
impacted by current housing costs. He answered several questions around the
difficulty and nuances of establishing more affordable housing in the area. His
possible solution: local and national, land use reform to create a foundation to
equalize housing and remedy affordable housing imbalance, creating opportunity
for people to afford rent and to purchase homes.
6. Update from the City: Megan, Molly & Councilmember Chen (5 minutes)
Councilmember Chen gave update on the last three uptown markets of the year,
Octoberfest, and an upcoming outdoor movie. He touched on the sad passing of
councilmember Kristiana Johnson and her memorial fund through the city, along
with the process for filling the now vacant seat on Council. Will asked the
Commission if we'd heard anything about forming a sister city with a Chinese city
but no one had.
Megan updated us that the uptown market was poorly attended and encouraged us
all to attend the market next week. She shared that the new Director will start this
month.
7. Old Business:
a. Film Series Update (10 minutes)
Gracelynn and Molly shared the six secured movies to be shown during the 2023
free film series. The next step will be producing a poster to be distributed.
b. Diversity Commission Grant Recommendation (10 minutes)
Alison gave update on two selected grant winners, Sugar Skulls and Did You Know
series, each for $500. Alison and Ardeth also explained their reasoning for the
grantee selections. Alison would like a note in the letter that goes out to the
applicant for La Cima explaining their application was fantastic but their dates
didn't align with 2022 grant cycle, but they could apply to 2023. Dean and
Gracelynn would like to have the submissions emailed to them. Gracelynn moved
DRAFT Meeting Summary
Diversity Commission
August 3, 2022
Page 2
to fund the two programs; Elaine seconded. Nikki abstained. The
recommendations of Sugar Skulls and Did You Know series were approved by
consensus with Nikki abstaining. Dean asked for a more transparent process going
forward.
8. New Business:
a. Swedish Edmonds Remote Interpreting Lawsuit (10 minutes)
Elaine explained a current class action lawsuit regarding deaf patients and
Swedish Edmonds' lack of accommodations for them. She wanted to put it on our
radar as an ADA issue and lack of accommodations from one of the region's
biggest healthcare providers. Dean added that he'll reach out to some members of
the deaf community for more thoughts and comments from the community being
impacted. Elaine recommended working with local businesses about ADA
requirements around interpreters.
9. Committee Reports:
a. Policy —no updates
b. Partnerships & Outreach — Alison (10 minutes)
Alison met with Tabitha Shoemake and Police Chief Bennett has approved
SafePlace. A press release will be going out, Alison will provide ETA on that soon.
Elaine is going to begin putting together some content for a Diversity Commission
newsletter. Molly gave update on DEI consortium.
b. Events —(10 minutes)
We talked about where we can all meet comfortably in person for upcoming hybrid
meetings. It's unclear where we'll physically be next month, more to come soon on
physical meeting spaces.
10. Commissioner's Corner (15 minutes) No shares this evening.
Adjourn — 7:49PM Next meeting: Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 6:00PM
DRAFT Meeting Summary
Diversity Commission
August 3, 2022
Page 3
• •
• IT •
September 2022 Diversity Commission Applications
Anil DeCosta
Jeanett Quintanilla
City of Edmonds
Citizen Board and Commission Application
(PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE) NOTE: This form is a public record and maybe subject to disclosure upon request
Diversity Commission
(Board or Commission)
Name:Anil DeCosta Date:8/22/2022
Address: Day Phone:
Edmonds Evening Phone:
WA 98020 Cell:
E-mail:
Occupational status and background: Manage end user services for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Born and raised in India, came to the US for a graduate degree and have lived in NY, TX, OK before
moving to Seattle.
Organizational affiliations: South Snohomish Cold Weather Shelter (provides lodging/meals during the winter in the county)
Northwest Neighbors Network (providing local seniors with social visits, errands, transportations needs, chores).
GSA-ILR (President of the International Students at ILR at Cornell). Developed the International festival to drive better understanding of cultures and better integrating US and International students.
Why are you seeking this appointment? I have used a separate sheet to answer this question given the
limited space in this form.
What skills and knowledge do you have to meet the selection criteria?
Please list any other Board, Commission, Committee, or official positions you currently hold with the City of Edmonds:
None at this time.
Additional comments:
Please return this completed form to:
Edmonds City Hall
121 5th Avenue North
Edmonds, WA 98020
carolvn.lafave(@edmondswa.eov
Anil DeCosta
Signature
Phone:425.771.0247 1 Fax:425.771.0252 Revised4/30/14
Why am I seeking an appointment to the Diversity Commission?
Diversity and inclusion was not something that came naturally to me. Even though I grew up in a country
with people from different economic, social and religious backgrounds, we were all tied into a larger
culture of the country. We celebrated differences but never took that step of using those differences to
become a better society — in hindsight we always stopped at the celebration but not the integration.
My life as an international graduate student first and later, my experiences living and working in
different parts of the US have significantly shaped my views on this topic.
Starting off as President of the International Students association at Cornell, I saw the power of being
able to harness the collective experiences of international students by giving them the skills and training
to better communicate and engage their domestic counterparts. Similarly, it gave the domestic US
students, the opportunity to understand different communication styles and how they could also better
engage with these students and develop better relationships. We developed forums and events that
were informal, fun and were always geared towards building those bridges and leveraging our
differences as a source of strength.
Fast forward to the working as a manager at Dell with domestic and international teams spread across
the globe, I learned the hard way of the consequences of making unilateral decisions without
considering factors that would be important segments of my team. These experiences taught me the
skills of actively engaging, listening and most importantly either updating, changing work processes,
policies or outcomes in ways that helped my overall team. With time, I have also seen the impact of
those decisions, the investments in our programs (hiring more women) and positive impact to our
teams.
Its these lessons that I would like to bring to this role. Edmonds as a community is also changing rapidly.
I have seen this in just over 3 years, and I feel like this is the right time to focus on integrate all these
new residents that continue to choose Edmonds as a place to live and make them feel welcome and
valued. I want to learn from what other cities have done before us and learn from their mistakes as well.
I might not be the ideal candidate with my core background. But I know the importance of diversity, I
have seen it work and I want to be able to give back to this lovely city that I know call home! I am happy
to even volunteer as a stand in until the committee might want to choose a better candidate. For me,
it's the ability to help out and do something that will impact this city.
Thank You for considering my application.
Anil DeCosta
Edmonds
Citizen Board and Commission Application
(PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE) NOTE: This form is a public record and maybe subject to disclosure upon request
Diversity Commission
(Board or Commission)
Name: Jeanett Quintanilla
Address: -
Edmonds, WA 98026
Date: 08/232022
Day Phone: -
Evening Phone:
Cell:-
E-mail
Occupational status and background: I am a licensed lawyer from Peru, and I am fascinated with the law and my
Latino community in WA State. My passion for serving others continued once I moved to the US and volunteered
at the Latino/a Bar Association of Washington legal clinic then I become a certificate bilingual Paralegal.
Member of the Latino/a
Member of the Northwest Translators &
Bar Association - Judicial Evaluation Committee
Edmonds College -Paralegal -Alumni & Snohomish County Legal Services - Volunteer Family law clinic
Why are you seeking this appointment? I am a first generation law school gratuate in my family, Latina,
Immigrant from Pew, and moved to Edmonds, WA. My legal work experience in WA tells me that I should serve this
commission and help my Latino community in Edmonds. I am a passionate with social justice and the law.
What skills and knowledge do you have to meet the selection criteria? My international and local legal knowledge
made me a great candidate. In addition, using my bilingual skills Spanish - English in my legal career.
Please list any other Board, Commission, Committee, or official positions you currently hold with the City of Edmonds:,
None
Additional comments:
Please return this completed form to:
Edmonds City Hall /�
121 5v' Avenue North -pa<�
Edmonds, WA 98020 V
carolvn.lafave(a)edmondswa.eov Signature
Phone: 425.771.0247 1 Fax: 425.771.0252 aeefiud4~14