Cultural Connections Committee

Minutes from Nashua Ethnic Awareness Committee May 21st 2013. Members Present: Thomas Lopez ( Chair ), Scott Jaquith, Janeth Orozco Sanchez, Christine Villeneuve, Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja, Muchuma Niva ( Vice Chair), Sharon Dalton, Bernadette Melton- Plante. Guests: Kagomya Rabelea, Ivy Miechum, Jared Barbosa (Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua), Amy Marchildor (Lutheran Social Services), Susanne Curry (International Institute Manchester), Kerstin Ahlgren (Lutheran Social Services). Absent: Ann Ackerman, Ronni Karlsberg, Kathy Vitale, Paul Bergeron, Carmen Nunez, Carlos Camache, Rabbi Jon Spira- Savant, Dendrea Smith, Jennifer Hinderer, Johnny Perez, Patricia Howson, Bruce and Mary Bradshaw, Claudia Mahr and Andrew Smith. 1. Thomas Lopez opened the meeting at 3-35PM, welcomed guests to the meeting and read the mission statement for all present, explaining the mission of the Ethnic Awareness Committee is to encourage understanding and appreciation of Ethnic Diversity in the City of Nashua and to facilitate communication between the ethnic community and city government (NRO 2-94). 2. March minutes were approved unanimously. Tom stated that in accordance with the Ethnic awareness bylaws article 2 it is important to record members who attend the meeting and who are absent. The by laws state if a member is absent from the regular meetings for four (4 ) or more consecutive months, without apparent good cause, the Chair may request a vote of the Committee, under “ New Business” at a regular meeting, to declare that Committee membership seat vacant. Upon an affirmative vote of the committee, the Chair shall notify the Mayor, in writing, that the Committee deems the appointment to have been vacated and requests the Mayor appoint a successor. Tom shared with the committee of two new appointments Bernadette Melton- Plante and Dendrea Smith to the EAC. Tom reported to the committee that the Ethnic Awareness Committee is almost at full membership. 3. Bernadette provided a verbal report of the Gate City Immigrant Integration group meeting that was held on April 24th 2013.From October 2012 to todays current date the number of refugees that have settled in New Hampshire are 95, currently 25 Congolese in Concord, 11 Burmese in Nashua, 51 Bhutanese in Concord, 2 Sudanese in Concord, 16 Somalis in Concord and 1 Rwandan in Concord. On June 20th a Refugee Day is planned this will be held in Manchester at the Senior Center on the Westside of Manchester from 5-00PM to 7-00PM. Large numbers of the refugees are employed in Nashua by either Morin’s landscaping or local hotels. Concerns for the refugees when the seasonal work is reduced in October. At the meeting in April Barbara Castle from Bridges spoke about the extensive work they are doing with the refugees and the focus is on providing parenting classes, child abuse prevention, and having speakers from the community coming to speak to the refugees. Both men’s and women’s groups are available to the refugees. Barbara also reported that a trauma specialist is available from the NH Coalition if needed. 4. Additionally at the Gate City Immigrant Integration meeting Nashir Arush from the International Institute spoke about a training program that focus’s on child care. This program is designed to provide training in assisting the refugees in getting their homes licensed for child care where  they can accommodate 2-3 children. The training runs for 8 weeks the last group had 22 people in the training. This program is made available through a 2 year grant both Easter Seals and Southern New Hampshire Services are assisting with this program; this allows the women who are the secondary wage earners in the family to open small businesses. Bob Mack the City of Nashua Welfare Officer reported Nashua has only seen a small amount refugees looking for assistance, Bob reported the City of Nashua is working with other resettlement agencies and the biggest challenge is learning how to navigate the different requirements for each agency for eligibility. Bob also commented on concerns for health care coverage as some of the refugees have significant health issues and the need for a prescription program is needed for refugees who have chronic illnesses. 5. Bernadette also reported that Brandon Anderson and Barbara Seebart from OMHRA are working on a project that involves mapping for the refugees. The group that met in April also suggested to include yard sales and coupon cutting to assist with expenses.Shayna Own also reported that effective April 24th 2013 Lamprey Health care will be the full medical providers for the refugees. 6. Bernadette reported the main focus for the rest of the meeting was to discuss a fall 2013 symposium for the refugees. The objective would be to ensure full participation, to provide information about the importance of civic involvement, knowing your rights in your neighborhood, health care, immigrants and the economy, early childhood education, how health care will effect immigrants, running for school council, youth civic academy and to also target mental health professionals on how to work with refugees. Suggestions were made to try and involve local entrepreneurs to see if they would be willing to help provide lunch, willingness to speak at the event and to target Inner faith groups, leaders from the churches, to possibly have an activity “Walk in the shoes of an Immigrant” (New American), and to additionally show the movie “the Detained “and possibly show the movie “Uprooted”. A discussion was also held on having local State representatives telling their own stories. 7. Bernadette reported she shared with the Gate City Immigrant Integration group she would bring all information back to the EAC and that a discussion could be held on how the EAC could support this Symposium. 8. A discussion was held at the EAC meeting and Muchuma Niva suggested that he felt that mentoring should also be considered as a topic. Muchuma reported that statistical information shows that mentoring is so beneficial. Muchuma shared with the group the success that Scott Jaquith from the Nashua School District has had over the years with the mentoring he has provided for refugees. Amy Marchildor and Kerstin Ahlgren from Lutheran Social Services also mentioned that Lutheran provides mentoring as well. 9. A discussion was held in having the events workgroup have discussions with staff at Rivier University whose work is connected to the Global Engagement Program, to see if they would be interested in becoming involved in this event as a stake holder. Tom reported that possibly a non traditional College student or an AmeriCorps person would be appropriate who is involved in the Global Engagement Program. The EAC determined the importance of identifying who that  would be. Additionally a discussion was held about Rivier’s Pot Luck suppers and the need for an Event Coordinator to be identified. Janeth Orozco discussed with the group how the emphasis would be on focusing on different countries possibly having the refugees brining their favorite foods the focus would be a multi cultural pot luck.Muchuma Niva suggested that this should include every one so all groups of people could be represented. It was reported that on June 14th 2013 there would be a new USA Citizen ceremony in Nashua and the possibility of providing a supper or food at this event would be a good idea if it could be planned. It was suggested that a list of recent people who have received Citizenship could be invited. The suggestion was that Paul Bergeron from the City may be able to generate that list of people. Scott and Janeth stated they would follow up with Paul. 10. This month no report was received on the DMC (Disproportionate Minority Contact) as Andrew was unable to attend the EAC meeting. 11. A discussion was held on the Ethnic Awareness Committee’s webpage and online resource list on the City website. Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golia suggested that the group send out weekly information to Susan Lovering who is the Legislative assistant via e mail so that current events can be made available to people who read the webpage. Mary Ann stated if the EAC had a calendar of events it would be very helpful.Tom reminded members of the EAC the importance of attending Cultural events in the City. Bernadette reported on May 18th 2013 she attended the India Association of New Hampshire’s ( IANH) spring festival at Nashua High School North that included the distribution of educational Bee plaque’s, semi classical song recitals, Bollywood group dances, a view of IANH art exhibition and Indian food provided by Café India. 12. Janeth Orozco from Welcoming New Hampshire updated the committee on the Library movie series and the neighborhood block party plans. Four neighborhood block parties are planned for this summer around the City. Subcommittees have been formed for each block party. The Latino festival is planned for July 28th, Nashua Night Out (usually middle of august) Ash street block party September 14th 2013, and Nashua goes back to school for August 23rd 2013. It was suggested that all of these dates be submitted to Susan Lovering the Legislative Assistant .Janeth reported that the movie “God grew tired of us” was shown and stated she would have liked to see more people attend although it was a successful evening. A discussion was held in regards to how we can make more people awareof the film series and it was suggested that it would be helpful to try and partner with PTO’S and the head start programs. It was suggested that the end of October would be a good date to target for another movie series. The suggestion was made this would then have given enough time for the children to have returned to school and contact with the PTO’S. Suggestions were also made that then flyers could be given out at child parent conferences. 13. Jared Barbosa from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua gave a comprehrensive presentation on the soccer program .Jared is the Clubhouse Director at the Boys and Girls club of Greater Nashua and head coach of the soccer team. Jared gave an over view for EAC members and guests of the program, focusing on the importance of what a student athlete means, Jared shared with the group that if you are a refugee generally speaking you either go to school or play soccer. Jared discussed how all players are held accountable for their behavior inside and outside of training sessions. Jared discussed that in order to participate and to  continue to play in the soccer program the players must be well behaved in games room, education room, art room, pool, dance , studio and gymn.Jared shared how his soccer team is part of the LHIFA league and that they also belong to the Granite State Youth Soccer league. Each player is expected to perform 1 hour of BGCN outreach a week inside the boys and girls club of Nashua. Jared shared how the players have an opportunity to win a $1,000 scholarship to college. Jared discussed how before each game the team meets 3 hours before the game and the team will have a meal together. Communication is a very important part of the program and families of the players are encouraged to have lines of communication with the coaching staff. The cost for the program is $35.00 a year .The players have to be involved in power hour which assists with homework, and then a bus will take all the players to their games. Muchuma Niva shared he is a referee and was wondering about the students behavior as he has seen behaviors on the field that are not appropriate. Jared stated he has never had a problem and that good behavior is required to play. The EAC committee asked Jared if they have a need for volunteers to help out with this program, Jared reported they did and Sharon stated she knew they would have volunteers at the Adult Learning Center. Jared shared with the group that all volunteers would be subjected to Criminal back ground checks. 14. Jared also reported that the coaches work with every aspect of the players lives from school, home, to speaking with guidance counselors and that the program deals with gang prevention and they also have a robust mentoring program and provide assistance in every day issues and guide the students through social and educational problems and in many ways become their advocates. 15. EAC was informed that ESL summer school in Nashua will be for the month of July. 16. A discussion was held in regards to the Gate City Immigrant Integration group that meets on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at Bonheoffer’s Café on Franklin Street. Currently these meetings are coordinated by Lutheran Social Services as. The funding ran out for this group and Lutheran volunteered to keep helping out with these meetings. A discussion was held in regards as to whether the EAC should be more involved and more importantly what our role should be. The committees voted to have Tom Lopez the Chair speak with the Mayor to determine what her thoughts are on this matter. Tom Lopez asked the group if their were members who would like to attend the Gate City meetings, Sharon Dalton from the Adult Learning Center stated she would, Janeth Orozco stated she would be happy to report back , Muchuma Niva stated he would attend , and Bernadette also volunteered. A brief discussion was held in regards to having a specific EAC member attend these meeting and the possibility of it maybe getting confusing if people who are already attending specifically for the agencies they represent , and are also a EAC member. The general consensus at this point was it is certainly workable. Bernadette asked how the EAC would be supporting the proposed fall 2013 Symposium for Refugees in the fall, and it was determined this would be discussed at our next meeting but it was certainly something Tom Lopez stated we would verbally support. 17. Janeth Orozco gave a report on Immigration Reform and shared with the group that a listening opportunity would be available on Saturday May 25th at St. Louis De Gonzaga Church at 7-00PM. Susan Curry and Janeth also reported on the Refugee Resettlement presentation at the Nashua Public Library that took place on May 13th. 18. Meeting was adjourned at 5-20PM. Respectfully Submitted Bernadette Melton- Plante