HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-09-15 Human Relations Advisory Committee Minutes RECEivED
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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
It Human Relations Advisory Committee
Date: 2020-09-15 Time: 7pm
Building: Town Hall Location: Town Zoom Call
Address: Remote Session:
Purpose: Monthly Meeting Version: Final
Attendees: Members - Present:
Kyung Yu, Kern Perry, Josh Goldlust, David Clark
Members - Not Present: Jordan Serpone
Others Present: John Fevir, Ma Kenzie Briere, Mario (no last name listed)
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Josh Goldlust
Josh calls meeting to order at 7:03 pm
1. Sharing Experiences
a. Open introductions to anyone on the call. MaKenzie and HRAC member
b. Kern- Incident/ assault in Reading. Concerning and what information can be
share. Chief will address in this readout section of the agenda
c. Josh shared positive feedback about kids heading back to school
2. Police Readout:
a. Information he can share about recent assault. Yes it is moving through the
court system. Yes one of the charges was a hate crime. NIBRA information
bureau for hate crimes. Yes it was reported in that system. Yes it is with our
civil rights detective. She went through system training and can now input
into the system. Thoroughly investigated and proper charges were filed.
i. Discussion about the term 'simple assault' and the legal term
ii. Statute determines if something is arrest-able or not.
iii. No other incidents to discuss. They are taken seriously and moved
appropriately
iv. Spoke about it being good there is discussion on these topics; healthy
b. Police activity postings
i. National recovery month- 9/18 Kern reposted for HRAC
ii. Police article for breast cancer awareness in Oct- Pink shirts, pink
badges. Selling patches and donating funds Check out FB or Office O'
Shaughnessy, community service officer
iii. Purple ribbon for domestic violence awareness- Selling patches-
RESPOND non-profit for domestic violence - Check out FB or Office
O'Shaughnessy, community service officer
3. Sen/ Rep Listening Event
a. Josh gave readout on event communications with Rep Haggerty's staff. There
were delays with messages being received by Josh from Rep's staff so didn't
get confirmation on the event date until a few days ago. Too soon to promote
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the event with a Sept date. Agreed to alternative date of Oct Th which was
suggested by Rep' Haggerty's staff and confirmed to work for Rep Jones and
Sen Lewis
b. Josh presented first draft of event logistics and opened for questions/
modifications. Kyung suggested Josh should moderate the event with the
questions the group had discussed and approved. Josh accepted.
c. Kerri volunteered to help with managing questions that came in via chat
d. Discussion about event awareness and distribution.
i. Kerri to post on HRAC's Facebook page
ii. Josh to email Sen/ Rep with details
iii. Kyung to connect with Clergy Council
iv. Chief to share via HRAC's Facebook page
v. Josh to reach out to RED and other groups as well as get posted on
Reading's community calendar
4. Pre-Planning MLK Ir '21 event- Discussion on how to engage with the community in
what we will assume will be 100% remote
a. Engage Grant Hightower from METCO for pre-recorded engagements with
students
b. Kyung- pre-recorded does seem like a good option. Recording shouldn't be
long, easy to lose interest if too many speakers. Focus on 1 theme for
maximum impact.
c. Kerri- themes of peaceful protest. It worked well last year. Rally did a
countdown leading up to the event. Also helps with letting people know it's
coming up. Maybe 5 days prior? Josh likes the concept of multiple messaging
points.
d. Kyung- summarize how HRAC coming to Reading Alliance & Social Justice &
HRAC history- share video
e. Josh - reaching out to kids/ students/ poetry events
5. HRAC community calendar- Kerri updates on what's happened for the rest of Sept
and coming in October
a. Hispanic heritage month
b. Religious holidays- thoughts? Dave- have to be very careful so you don't
unintentionally miss something. Or not highlight something that is important.
Kern- there are just so many that speak to major and less large religions.
Kyung- need to be consistent. Kerri- worried we would favor 1 more than
another unintentionally.
c. Start of Oct-
i. National Disability Awareness month
ii. LBGT History Month
iii. National Coming Out Day 10/11
iv. National Indigenous Peoples Day 10/12
6. August Minutes- Dave Clark- Correction on Sept doesn't have 33 days. Should be 3'd
not 33'd for next meeting
a. Kyung makes motion to approve minutes, Kerri 2nds. Approved 3-0 [Chief
abstained as he wasn't at the meeting]
7. Additional Items
a. Kyung positive progress for Adhoc meeting at library. Chief seconds that
thought. Seems like it is picking up steam. Kern- Library trustees seemed a
bit hesitant, but good dialog. Hoping it stays on track. Josh- Will take a
community awareness push between now and April
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8. Establish date for next meeting
a. Stay with 1"Thursday of the month. 10/1 at 7 PM
b. Motion to adjourn: Kern makes motion to adjourn, Josh 2nds. Motion passes
4-0. Meeting adjourns at 8:06 PM
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