Cultural Connections Committee

Minutes from Ethnic Awareness Committee Meeting March 18th 2014. Members present: Tom Lopez, Jared Barbosa, Carlos Camacho, Janeth Orozco, Diane Sheehan, Bernadette Melton- Plante, Jen Hosking, and Scott Jaquith. Excused Members: Paul Bergeron, Andrew Smith, Mary Ann Melizzi- Golja and Sharon Dalton. Absent Members: Karen Emis- Williams, Jennifer Hinderer, Patrica Howson, Rhonda Karlsberry, James Lima, Claudie Mahar, Ellias Muchuma Niva and Dendrea Smith. 1. Chairman Tom Lopez opened the meeting at 3-39PM and Jared Barbosa read the mission statement of the Ethnic Awareness Committee. 2. Tom reported to the committee that the EAC is in need of a secretary to take minutes for the monthly EAC meetings and asked members if they knew of anyone who would be willing to volunteer for this position. Tom pointed out the impossible task of chairing a meeting and taking minutes. There were no February minutes from the EAC meeting because of the snow storm and very limited attendance 3. The members discussed the January minutes from the EAC meeting and are in the process of trying to locate them so they can be posted at the request of Alderman Melizzi - Golja. Maryann had shared with Tom that although she cannot attend each meeting due to conflicts she follows the activities of the committee through the minutes. 4. A discussion and update on the Gate City Initiative was provided by Janeth Orozco Sanchez, who will provide the minutes from that meeting to Chairman Lopez on March 19th 2014. Janeth is the co-chair of this committee and reported on the last meeting at United Way and the need to get approval from the EAC committee on their Mission statement. Janeth provided the mission statement which is “The Mission of the Gate City Immigrant Initiative is to provide support to orient and empower new comers and broaden community to fully integrate as citizens of Greater Nashua in good health and wellbeing”. The committee unanimously approved the mission statement and a motion was made by Diane Sheehan seconded by Carlos Camacho to accept and approve the mission statement for the Gate City Initiative. Janeth reported to the committee the next meeting will be held on March 26th in the conference room at 9-00AM at United Way at 20 Broad Street in Nashua. 5. Jared Barbosa provided a update on the Immigrant grant proposal from United Way which is for $10,000, United Way will know if they have been successful with their application on April 1st 2014.Jared also reported on the Multi-Cultural Fair that is been held on April 5th at the Adult  Learning Center, and the Multi-Cultural Symposium on April 5th at Rivier College. A discussion was held about the $15.00 fee and several members indicated they would be more than willing to assist in contributing to the fee so the EAC could have exposure at the fair. 6. Janeth provided a report on the success of the First Youth Ambassador Program and thanked Scott and other members for their support. Janeth reported how committed the parents have been of the youth who are participating in this program and the great community support she has seen. The weekly assignments have been extremely successful and the group has been to the Boys and Girls Club, Nashua Soup Kitchen and this week will be visiting with the assistance of Officer Carlos Camacho the Nashua Police Station for a tour. The Youth have been made aware of the resources available in their community that they live in. Janeth and Scott discussed the need to be able to sustain this program and they will be looking into Sponsorships and funds so that transportation and meals plus costs incurred will be provided for in the future. Tom suggested that the possibility may well exist for the DMC to be able to provide funding for this program. 7. A discussion was held about the Youth Ambassador program and the Mayor’s office has been very supportive of this program. The Mayor has been informed about the transformation of the Youth in this program. On March 25th the group will be provided with an award and a resolution will be read at the beginning of the Aldermanic meeting. All EAC members are encouraged to attend. Janeth reported that this group of Youth’s has learnt how to interact with different groups. 8. A discussion was held about the Monthly social visibility gatherings .This month’s was held at Café India, Tom Lopez, Bernadette Melton- Plante, Jared Barbosa, Carlos Camacho, Andrew Smith, Sharon Dalton, and Tom from the EAC were all in attendance, it was very successful with 9 people attending and a very good selection of food provided by Café India. These gatherings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of the month and it gives people the opportunity to make deeper connections within the community and allows for our local aldermen to stop in before their meeting. The group discussed the need for organic growth within these social gatherings. The committee members unanimously agreed that the next social gathering should be held at the Esta Brook Grill on Palm Street in Nashua and this would allow for the Palm Square residents to attend and hopefully help increase our visibility in the community. 9. Diane Sheehan suggested that the dates be posted on the civic calendar so the Aldermen are aware of these social gatherings. Jared Barbosa has agreed to follow up with the local access TV station in Nashua to see if we can get additional exposure. Diane also suggested that if the EAC wanted too they could look into appearing on the local access TV station and present what the EAC is working on in Nashua .A discussion was held on the importance of member visibility in our local community and when members of the EAC are out in the community to be sure to let people  know we are members of the EAC. 10. The committee members discussed the need to update the EAC brochures and to make them more current, Jared and Bernadette both stated they would be happy to assist with this task, and Jared agreed to update Facebook on the committee’s activities. 11. A report on the DMC symposium was provided that was held at the Boys and Girls Club in Nashua on February 26th. The County Attorney was in attendance along with Chief Seusing, Chief Marra, and Chief Edwards. The symposium had representation from Nashua, Manchester and Rochester and was extremely successful. 12. It was brought to the attention of the committee that there are concerns in Nashua with some Landlords who do not want to rent to Immigrants because of concerns with broken leases. A discussion was held about how to deal with these situation and if there can be any recommendations made when people run into this sitation.Suggestions were made to refer people to NH Legal Assistance and that some of the Landlords do require W2’s and prove of income stability . A discussion was also held about a family who was residing in a residence owned by Nashua Housing Authority .The family was notified they were to be evicted by a Court letter. This ended up been an error but the concern was no apology from the Nashua Housing Authority was ever provided to this family. A discussion was held about Case Mangers trying to work more closely with both Refugees and Immigrants to provide stronger guidance on housing challenges. 13. Carlos Camacho shared with the EAC effective April 1st 2014 a new system within the Nashua Police Department is going to be implemented in high crime area’s in Nashua. This Program is called DDACTS (data driven approaches to crime and traffic safety).This new initiative is backed by the Mayor’s Office .The goal is to establish effective and efficient methods to reduce incidents of crime in high risk area’s deploying law enforcement and other resources to reduce the incidents of crime. This program will target hot spot areas and the model focuses on collaboration with law enforcement and community members. 14. The March Meeting was adjourned at 5-01PM Scott Jaquith made the motion and it was seconded by Diane Sheehan. Respectfully Submitted Bernadette Melton- Plante.