MILLENNIAL TASK FORCE

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes MILLENNIAL TASK FORCE CHAIR: MARQUAYLA ELLISON Nick Carnahan, Nicole Behnke, Jordan Donald, Tenia Fisher, Jeremy Fojut, Adam Gabornitz, Michael Hostad, Amelia Kegel, Noel Kegel, Kacee Ochalek, Jason Rae, Ger Thao, Tiffany Henry and Sam Woods. Staff Assistant: Chris Lee, 414-286-2232 Legislative Liaison: Alex Highley, 414-286-8661 Wednesday, February 10, 2021 10:00 AM Virtual Meeting Call in Number:+1 (224) 501-3412 Access Code: 522-973-221 This will be a virtual meeting conducted via GoToMeeting. Should you wish to join this meeting from your phone, tablet, or computer you may go to https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/522973221. You can also dial in using your phone United States: +1 (224) 501-3412 and Access Code: 522-973-221. 1. Call to Order The meeting convened at 10:05 a.m. 2. Roll Call Individual also present: Alex Highley - LRB Present 10 - Fojut, Carnahan, Donald, Ellison, Kegel, Ochalek, Thao, Henry, Woods and Behnke Excused 6 - Rae, Arroyo-Vega, Fisher, Gabornitz, Hostead and Kegel 3. Review and Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes Member Fojut moved approval of the minutes from December 14, 2020, seconded by Member Noel Kegel. There were no objections. 4. Presentations of Outstanding Recommendations From Task Force Members This item was not discussed. 5. Review of Task Force Final Recommendations Report Mr. Highley said that the task force deadline was extended to March 31, 2021 and June City of Milwaukee Page 1 MILLENNIAL TASK FORCE Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 30, 2021 (if needed); however, the task force had wanted to finalize recommendations by March 31st. Member Fojut said he planned to forward some of his policy recommendations. Mr. Highley gave a summary of the MTF Draft Recommendations. Four categories of recommendation were racial and criminal justice, health and wellness, education and employment, and economic development. Each category contained generalized recommendations or points that were discussed at meetings. The draft document was a summary document. The actual final report would be more detailed and expansive with respect to each point. He would author the final report in totality or in parts. Members were encouraged to also author the final report as necessary should they be interested. Members reviewed and discussed the MTF Draft Recommendations as follows: Members may make recommendations to support existing initiatives as well as formulate new initiatives or ideas. Recommendations should be further specified as necessary. For racial and criminal justice, there was a review body that was currently assessing Milwaukee police training, tactics, strategies, and barriers. Once finished with that assessment (April/May), the task force should implement or adopt accordingly the strategies/recommendations from that review body. The Blueprint for Peace was one part of it. Support to the Office of African American Affairs would include financial support. There should be more collaboration between the County and City for the Office of African American Affairs, such as with the City's Office of Equity and Inclusion. For health and wellness, there should be the equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and resources by all those parties involved including health departments. There should be City budget funding for the Office of Violence Prevention at its current operational levels or more so that the office can continue its efforts to combat violence, which was still prevalent, in all forms. OVP's funding grant was expiring. Focus should be first for pedestrian experience improvement (as opposed to automobile experience) followed by built environment and infrastructure. There should be a central person or entity responsible to look and help acquire all possible federal and state grant funding opportunities (pertaining to things such as the potential decommission of highways or co-housing and affordable housing dollars). Infrastructure should perhaps be its own category. Specific points for health and wellness (outside of infrastructure) were few. Health and wellness could also connect with racial and criminal justice. There needs to be a department of people with the sole task of exploring innovative strategies to move the city forward. City capacity needs to be increased to allow for more or better innovative thinking. Perhaps a department should be created to examine strategies and the effectiveness of all programs. Perhaps President Cavalier Johnson's office should come before the task force to check the task force's recommendations and to provide his input on them, especially concerning on whether or not the recommendations were in line with the City. There needs to be more revenue sharing from the State. There needs to be an overall ad hoc committee to hold parties accountable and to advocate the implementation of various recommendations, including those from the task force. City of Milwaukee Page 2 MILLENNIAL TASK FORCE Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 6. Next Steps Members discussed next steps as follows: Work groups be formed to have in depth conversations and formulate further recommendations for each category. Work groups are to meet offline as often as possible and then report back to the full task force at the next full task force meeting(s) with their progress or recommendations. Lead persons under each work group would coordinate meetings. Work groups could request further research or findings for Mr. Highley to acquire for the work groups. Mr. Highley should expand upon initial findings/data to frame Milwaukee's problems compared with other cities (in terms of talent attraction/retention) so members can find solutions. Mr. Highley and member Fojut would connect offline further on data gathering. The full report narrative should be reader friendly and easy to understand, include the work that the task force has been doing, and include the task force's goals. The task force needs to discuss further on how to best present the recommendations once finished. Initial work groups are as follows (based on members present): Infrastructure - Jeremy Fojut (lead), Nick Carnahan, Noel Kegel, Jordan Donald Economic Development - Jeremy Fojut (lead), Ger Thao, Kacee Ochalek Racial Equity & Criminal Justice - Tiffany Henry (lead), Marqualya Ellison Health & Wellness - Kacee Ochalek (lead), Tiffany Henry, Nicole Behnke Education - Marquayla Ellison (lead), Sam Wood, Tenia Fisher Ms. Kuether-Steele said that the work groups would not be subject to open meetings laws if they did not violate quorum and were discussion-based only with no formal action taking place. 7. Agenda Items for Next Meeting(s) This item was not discussed. 8. Next Task Force Meetings and Structure This item was discussed along with item 6, Next Steps. Work groups to meet followed by full task force meeting(s) to wrap up ideally by March 31st or June 30th, if needed. 9. Adjournment Chair Ellison announced her involvement with the Milwaukee Health Department in organizing a virtual town hall event (for tonight) discussing the COVID-19 vaccine. Access to the event included Zoom, City Channel, Facebook, and the Milwaukee Health Department website. The meeting adjourned at 11:10 am. Molly Kuether-Steele, Staff Assistant Chris Lee, Staff Assistant City of Milwaukee Page 3 MILLENNIAL TASK FORCE Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 Council Records Section City Clerk's Office Meeting materials from past and present meetings can be found within the following file: 191649 Communication relating to findings, recommendations and activities of the Millennial Task Force. Sponsors: THE CHAIR City of Milwaukee Page 4