Racial Equity Commission

Racial Equity Commission March Meeting Minutes Attendance The following members of the Durham Racial Equity Commission met via Zoom on March 15, 2023, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.  Ernest Smith  Sheila Mullen  Lea Efird  Ramya Krishna  Ted Rueter  Jadda Richardson  Jordan Vereen  Delvin Davis  Krista Kenney  Nisha Williams  Tiffany Foster  Jillian Johnson (City Council Liaison)  DeWarren Langley (Guest) The following city and county staff were in attendance:  Sharon Williams (City of Durham)  Kirsty Fontaine (Durham County) Ramya Krishna called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. 1. Approval of Minutes and Excused Absences Ramya Krishna opened the floor for any questions and to approve the minutes from February Meeting. Nisha Williams made the motion to approve the minutes and Lea Efird seconded. Minutes were approved unanimously. Ramya also requested excused absences for Del Ruff. Nisha made a motion to grant the excused absences. Tiffany Foster seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 2. In-Person Meeting Discussion Ernest Smith introduced the idea of moving from fully virtual meetings to in-person meeting moving forward. Ernest remarked that the in-person January retreat created a space for authentic connection, group cohesion, and deeper engagement across members. He also shared that his impression was that we are moving towards a point of greater safety with navigating the COVID-19 pandemic given higher vaccination rates and masking. Ramya remarked that in moving in-person meetings removing the cost burden of parking would be a priority item. Members shared concerns about moving to in-person meetings including childcare, current issues with attendance that may be exacerbated by needing to meet in person, meeting a quorum, the accessibility and ease of virtual meetings, and other evening commitments that allow for joining virtually but may allow for travel time to a meeting location. It was also mentioned that if the commission aims to address focus and productivity, that shifting to in-person meetings may not fully address the heart of the actual issue at hand. Concerns were also raised around subcommittees being unable to find time to meet outside of monthly meetings due to lack of responsiveness from members. Ernest proposed a new format of alternating virtual and in-person meetings and made a motion as such. Tiffany seconded the motion. Because the verbal count was unclear, we decided to poll the room. The result of the poll was as follows: Yes (7)  Ernest Smith  Ted Rueter  Sheila Mullen  Delvin Davis  Tiffany Foster  Krista Kenney  Jordan Vereen No (4)  Lea Efird  Nisha Williams  Jadda Richardson  Ramya Krishna As such, the motion carried. Before moving into subcommittee worktime, Kirsty proposed a future discussion on capacity and accountability as a group. She affirmed the validity of the concerns raised and suggested that work should be done to more clearly define expectations moving forward. The group then took a 5 minute break prior to dividing up into subcommittees. 3. Subcommittee Work Time Subcommittees (Housing, Education, Criminal/Legal) met in their respective groups for 40 minutes. 4. Subcommittee Report Out and Action Items Kirsty opened the floor for any questions or action items that came out of the subcommittee discussions. Sheila posed a question about whether all data requests would need to be done through the City and/or County. Sharon responded that it would depend on the data each group was seeking. Sharon suggested that the Education subcommittee connect with DPS, as they conduct extensive research on potentially relevant education metrics and indicators. Del clarified that subcommittee did have a point of contact at DPS and that they would be moving forward with initiating contact. Nisha shared the desire of the Criminal/Legal group to move forward with bringing an intern on board to support their efforts. There was a question as to next steps and whether commission members would be responsible for identifying potential applicants or if that would be filtered through the City and/or County. Sharon shared that it was a priority that all interns are paid and that the City and/or County would take the lead on finding interns. Members are welcome to provide the information of any potential applicants to the City and County as well. Sharon mentioned that in the short-term, the City and County would take a look at their respective budgets to cover costs and that longer term or more expensive projects would require a funding request from City Council. Sharon also clarified that an internship that would satisfy any credit for courses would be allowed in lieu of monetary payment. After questions were posed, the subcommittees moved into updates and report outs: A. Education a. Identified a time to meet outside of monthly meetings b. Identified two areas of focus from the Task Force Report i. Increasing actions to address discipline disparities within the classrooms 1. Dealing with mental health 2. Understanding cultural differences 3. Developing plan for communication and coordination across parents, teachers, administrators and relevant stakeholders ii. Training youth in careers for economic sustainability c. Working to set up a working project plan to track progress B. Housing a. Tiffany has been investigating a racial equity home ownership program through Bank of America and while it is not available in Durham, the hope is to help the City and County identify partners and programs to accompany existing public homeownership programming. b. As multifamily zoning is of interest to the group, Jadda will be attending an upcoming City Council meeting that will consider multifamily zoning to get a sense of where the City lands on the topic before the subcommittee decides to move ahead with concrete efforts. C. Criminal/Legal a. The subcommittee is preparing to launch community conversations in Durham around criminal justice reform. b. Plans to conduct research and identify relevant stakeholders and partners already tackling the issues of traffic stops, drug enforcement, mental health resources, and access to diversion programs. c. Prioritizing engaging with the community with the perspective of those closest to the issue are those who are also closest to the solution and should be given a voice. Prior to closing, Kirsty reminded all groups to send over any written record of their topics, goals, and plans to herself and Sharon. 5. Adjournment Ernest made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Sheila Mullen seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:33 p.m.