Citizens' Unity Commission

Citizens’ UNITY COMMISSION Meeting Minutes Thursday, August 11, 2016 – 6:00pm Community Development Conference Room, 5th Floor- City Hall, Hampton, VA Attendance: Ray Smith, Carter Phillips, Luretta Ray, Sharmane Baynard, Mei Stukes, Milton McDonald, Kayla Hicks, Burley Gardner (Ft. Eustis Liaison), Alice Capehart, Jodie James, Andrea Bynum Staff: Synetheia Newby – Executive Director, Wanda Ferrell – Program Coordinator Call to Order – Mary Wallace, Co-Chair 6:10 Action Items Item 1: Review and Approval of Meeting Minutes  Minutes approved stand approved as reed Item 2: Welcome New Executive Director Introductions by Current CUC Members o Went around the table and gave name and years involved with CUC Membership Changes and Updates o Joshua Head was recently appointed to CEAC o 4 vacancies on the CUC to be filled o Milton McDonald needs to reappointed, Milton agreed to be reappointed to CUC  Proposed retreat date is September 24, 2016 9am – 2pm., Ft. Monroe Community Center – Staff will send out the date and see how many can attend on that day! Item 3: Committee Reports  Creative Arts – Jodie o Joshua will volunteer his time and continue to work with Jodie on the Arts Committee. The feedback from people in the arts community is that they want to work with an arts program that is community based but not necessarily connected to government. He will come next month with his full agenda for the arts committee  Youth Outreach – Sharmane o Sharmane Baynard suggested: Since Hampton already has a youth commission we consider pooling the youth and pulling talents for diversity and inclusion whenever we need them instead of having a separate youth group 1  o Synetheia Newby suggested: Pulling students from Project Inclusion and giving the commission time to pull together a group of kids that maybe could volunteer for the YAG. Synetheia asked for the opportunity to email Dr. Woods to recruit from Project Inclusion and rebuild YAG look at putting together the expo and building upon it. o We will discuss this further at the annual retreat o Big idea: having a youth expo kind of event that engages the youth of the city. Youth do not have an outlet in Hampton. The expo would have to happen before the end of the school year and see if its possible to have employers attend to hire teens for summer employment.  Unity Awards o Nice turnout o Everyone was pleased with their awards o The issue was the other activities at the center were not respectful of our event and the dance groups were not very cooperative o The mic system did not work well o The commission should try to find an outlet for the youth of Hampton  Movie & Mic o Barbershop movie went very well o Don’t feel we reached enough student but the students that showed were very insightful o Next time we need preview the movies for content and language before we plan to make it a youth event  Community Partnerships – Deena o Report unavailable due to committee chairpersons absence  2016 International Children’s Festival o The bags went over well o Commissioners did not show for shifts and attending commissioners had to stay longer than scheduled o At retreat we need to discuss signing up and follow thru at events New Business Item 1: Open Discussion  CUC Accomplishments o Unity Awards o Equality Event o HU Resource Fair o SYEP Reality Store o Circles of Diversity o Arts Program o Movie & Mic o International Children’s Festival o Hampton Diversity College o Iftar Dinner – Ramadan Dinner  CUC Areas for Enhancement 2  o How to ensure the balance of duties at events and everyone attends their shifts o Add cell numbers to sign up sheet for events o Plan a closing and the end of year event to say thank you and put a close on the years events o Focus on needs of this city, reducing the violence. We need to talk about topics that are affecting this city. What else can we do besides Unity Awards to help the city? Making Hampton the most livable city in VA should be a goal of the CUC  Election of New Chairpersons o Election of new chairpersons will be done at the retreat Item 2: Annual Retreat and Work Session  Proposed retreat date is September 24, 2016 9am – 2pm., Ft. Monroe Community Center – Send out the date and see how many can attend on that day!  Executive Director’s Contact information o Synetheia Newby Synetheia.newby@hampton.gov 757 728 3277 Announcements  Future Leaders Diversity and Inclusion Summit, Thursday, September 1, 2016, Performing & Creative Arts Center 10:00am – 2:30pm Adjourn. 7:36 3