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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDEI AB 040224 City of Lansing DEI Advisory Board Meeting Minutes Tuesday, April 2, 2024 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm 7th Floor, City Hall Lansing, MI Attendance: Muhammad Qawwee, Raquel Sparkman, Florensio Hernandez, Randy Watkins, Amber Denney, Emily Sorroche Others: Kim Coleman, Michael Hopson, Willard Walker (HRCS), Amany Williams (OCA), Lori Simons Public: None The meeting was called to order at 5:36 pm by the Board Secretary, Emily Sorroche. Muhammad Qawwee, followed by a roll call. Approval of Agenda Amber moved to approve, Florensio 2nd; motion passed. Approval of Minutes Randy Watkins motioned to approve. It was moved by Amber Denney and seconded by Florensio Hernandez to accept the agenda with corrections. • Discussion: Raquel asked if Muhammad will be joining the Community sustainability committee, this needs to be reflected in the minutes. • There is a misspelling Amber Denney in all of the minutes and mentioned this in the last meeting. This note of misspelling was not noted in the March minutes. • The minutes were not sent to the president, vice president, and secretary for approval. • Discussion: Muhammad thought the board was invited to also meet with the police chief, not just the Justice and Safety Committee • Florensio mentioned if we want to invite guests to speak about things concerning Lansing, that it be open to all board members vs just the subcommittee. There may be questions and learnings to benefit all members. • Randy made Motion to approve the minutes and save the discussion for the Justice and Safety Committee, motion approved – 1 opposed (Randy). Public Comment Lori Simons from LCC, guest of one of the board members • Offering her support, shared her experiences and her work in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She is also running for Lansing City Charter. Directors Report • Discussion on letter from Price’s letter sent on Friday, March 29th. He is stepping down from his position on the DEI board. Amber moves to make the motion to approve the letter, 2nd by Raquel. Motion approved. • Introduced Michael as our liaison moving forward with the DEI board. 2 DEI Officers Report • Introduced himself and shared his experiences, excited to work with the board members. • Michel Hopson plans to meet with each of the board members to learn about their experiences and how he can support. • He sent out the ethics form in email, it’s due May 2nd. It does require a notary; Renee is a notary and can help with this. Randy is also a notary and can assist. • Mr. Hopson shared updated contact information grid, there were incorrect information. He is collecting the corrections and will share this again at the next meeting. Committee Reports • There were questions on reporting details for subcommittee and how the notes are written within the minutes. In the Justice and Safety committee had more details shared than the other committees. In the other committee reports there isn’t as much detail provided. • Tina Alonzo provided the matrix with details, and this was referenced in the minutes. Justice and Safety Committee o The committee met and came up with 4 motions for the committee. o Refer to the Committee Report March 20th, 2024, given at the beginning of the meeting. o Ordnance policy – Amany William shared what this is with the board. o Randy made the motion, Amber 2nd. ▪ Discussion – we may need to provide parameters or definitions. ▪ Kim – they will take the recommendation back and have the city attorney’s office and make sure we can uphold the recommendations. o Second item regarding fines and fees ▪ The request is asking the questions to the city attorney’s office. ▪ Discussion from Amany Williams – shared how the court system works as she mentioned this kind of fines falls under the courts not city. ▪ Questions were raised by Michael - How does this affect City of Lansing Residents? How does this impact DEI? Is it disproportionate? o It was noted by Kim to have Michael at the subcommittee meetings to help with clarity and to help be the middle person. Randy requested answers for basic information listed within the subcommittee report. o Motion: Amber tabled discussion for the remaining subcommittee report, Florensio 2nd; Motion passed. Economic Empowerment Committee o Florensio shared the report in the packet distributed at the beginning of the meeting. o Muhammad mentioned there is a job fair in June, youth will be invited. There is a company in Detroit, director is from Lansing and hoping to expand this here. o Florensio also asked what can we bring to the partnerships the subcommittee is creating, can the board pay for requests and/or sponsor? o The subcommittee requested advertisement materials for table representation, it was denied by the city attorney and cited it’s because we are an advisory board. Including the DEI Advisory board is not to have table representation at events. 3 o The committee is also inclusive to community college and skilled trades. o Next meeting will be April 12th virtually. o Michael shared the event is June 27th, Annual Celebration of Diversity 4:30pm – 6pm. Community Sustainability o Raquel shared her ideas are reaching out to the refugee center in quarter 3 to their employees and community to have a town hall, having advance notice on who will be involved in the town hall. o Muhammad will be joining this committee as well. Old Business • Florensio asked if we had any time to think about the other DEI committee. Kim discussed the idea of inviting the DEI board members to our next meeting. They would share with this DEI Advisory board, possibly within the 2nd quarter. Kim will reach out to see if they can meet with us in May. • Muhammad asked if we could put an ad in the upcoming fundraising effort with LCLAA Lansing Chapter. The money would be put toward scholarships for students in the Lansing community. Muhammad will send this to Kim and Michael will review the information about putting an ad in their scholarship effort. • Request was made by Amber the need for what the process is for supporting organizations or efforts monetarily. New Business • Lugnuts game DEI Night on June 29th at 7pm. • Celebration of Diversity June 27th at 4:30-6:30pm pm at City Hall - Lobby. Motion to adjourn (Florensio), motion passed 7:00pm