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Human
Relations Commission
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HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION
JULY 20, 2006
ATTENDANCE: Rahoul Dupervil, Vice Chair; Gerald Ross; Carol Frank;
Dr. Charles Stabinsky; Sara Sikes; Dr. Sally Grose (7:50 p.m.);
Vicki Su (7:55 p.m.)
STAFF: Elisabeth Youngerman
OTHER:
CALL TO ORDER
Vice Chair Dupervil said they would start the meeting and have an open discussion, as they didn’t have a quorum. He said they will discuss agenda items while waiting for a quorum, and then vote on them.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE MEETING
In addition to the changes that Ms. Youngerman made, the changes to the minutes of June 15, 2006 are as follows:
On page 1, under ATTENDANCE, Mr. Dupervil’s name should be changed to Rahoul.
On page 1, under ATTENDANCE, Ms. Youngerman’s name should be changed to Elisabeth.
On page 3, 6th paragraph, 1st sentence, change “Dr. Stabinsky” to “Ms. Sikes”; and change the word “he” to “she”.
CHAIRLADY’S REPORT
There was no report.
Vice Chair Dupervil said that the Colombian festivities were held at Veteran’s Park last Sunday.
Dr. Grose arrived at 7:50 p.m.
Vice Chair Dupervil then called the meeting to order at 7:50 p.m., and they voted on the minutes.
** DR. STABINSKY MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF JUNE 16, 2006 AS AMENDED.
** MS. FRANK SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
Vice Chair Dupervil continued his discussion about the Colombian festivities, saying that there were about 3,000 people in attendance. He encouraged everyone to attend next year if possible, as it was an enjoyable event. He said that the Haitian festivities will be held on Saturday, July 22 at Veteran’s Park starting at 1:30 p.m.
Ms. Su arrived at 7:55 p.m.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Ms. Youngerman said the statistics are about the same as usual, with mostly housing issues and not many human relations intakes. They received their first intake on-line. Dr. Grose expressed her concern about the number of intakes, 74 in total with three Human Relations intakes, listed on the report. She felt that 3 intakes was low, and the other Commission members offered their input as to why the number was low. The numbers have been historically low. Ms. Youngerman has been conducting a good amount of outreach on a monthly basis.
Ms. Youngerman said the Commission recently participated in the Volunteer Recruitment evening where they explained the role of the Commission. At that meeting, Dr. Amodio spoke to the public and said that during the 20 years she has been on the Commission, there were three hearings. Ms. Youngerman said she reviewed the past intake cases, and they didn’t necessarily become a complaint. She mentioned that for housing, there is no legal services office in Norwalk. Therefore, the office receives a lot of Landlord tenant law questions. Dr. Grose added that the Commission should be made more known to the community. Ms. Youngerman said that of the 14 or 15 Human Relations Commissions throughout the State, 12 or 13 of them are all doing education and community work. She said that Norwalk is one of the most active Human Relations Commissions, and Waterbury and New Haven are the only two Commissions that conduct hearings.
Ms. Youngerman mentioned that they have a new Stamford UCONN intern, Stella Jacarusso, who has been working out very well, and she hopes that she will be able to remain with them in the fall.
She said she asked CHRO if cases could be delegated to Norwalk, and there doesn’t appear to be a mechanism in place to do that. She said that they will take the first step in attending a 3-day Investigators Training Session in August, and they have adapted all the CHRO forms to use. She said that both she and Mr. Patterson will be attending. It was mentioned that there would be no cost for this training.
Ms. Youngerman said that they were invited to the Senior Center for two days in August and the YMCA in September.
The new website is ready and looks great. She thanked Ms. Sikes for her efforts, and she encouraged everyone to offer their comments and suggestions. The directory has been translated into Haitian Creole. Ms. Monique Cipriano, the former intern, did a good job with researching the directory.
She said Human Relations still has $2,000 in the 2005-06 budget remaining from the last year’s budget.
** MS. SIKES MOVED TO USE THE $2,000 SURPLUS TO FUND THE PRINTING OF AS MANY COPIES AS POSSIBLE OF THE DIRECTORY IN SPANISH AND CREOLE; AND IF THERE ARE SURPLUS FUNDS LEFT, USE THEM TO PRINT THE “SAVE THE DATE” FLYERS.
** DR. GROSE SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
Ms. Youngerman said that they distributed the 8-page ADA evaluation questionnaires
to all the departments. They will be compiling the responses during the next
few weeks. She said that her office is working with Mr. Lo’s list, and they
now have a chart showing the areas that need to be reviewed again since 1992.
STATISTICS
OLD BUSINESS
Diversity Program
Ms. Youngerman said that the Community Diversity Education Day, scheduled for December 2, 2006 at Norwalk Community College, is outlined in a flyer that was provided to everyone. She and Vice Chair Dupervil met with Mr. Curtis Law of the Norwalk Housing Authority, who had the suggestion of bringing the program to organizations and the community centers to work with the children and the families. She said that NEON and the NAACP have expressed interest in being partners in this effort. They would like to be involved in the September training and ensure the turnout is good. Some discussion followed regarding the planning and concepts of the Community Diversity Education Day. The flyer will be sent out now, and the agenda will be formulated later. During a training session to be held at the Commission’s September 21, 2006 meeting, the consultants will work together with the Human Relation Commission members to learn about the program and be trained in order to assist others on December 2, 2006. That will allow sufficient time before the December 2 date to build on the program. It was suggested that Ms. Youngerman talk to the consultants about the discussions of tonight’s meeting to get their ideas on how to best conduct the September 21st meeting.
Dr. Stabinsky mentioned that the elections have to take place in September, and a suggestion was made to form a nominating committee. It was decided that the September 21, 2006 meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. for the elections, followed by the regular meeting at 7:30 p.m.
CHRO Trainings and Other Staff Training
Report about Norwalk Cases at CHRO
NEW BUSINESS
Case Law for Sample Case on Age Discrimination and or the differences Between Race, Color, Ethnicity Discrimination arising in a Fair Housing case.
The information was provided to everyone for them to review and bring back their ideas and comments to the next meeting.
FIELD REPRESENTATIVE REPORT OR STATUS
Vice Chairman Dupervil asked if this report could be combined with the Director’s Report. There will be a new Chairman in October, and the Chairman will decide then.
ADJOURNMENT
** MS. FRANK MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MR. ROSS SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Marr
Telesco Secretarial Services
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