Cultural Connections Committee

Minutes from Ethnic Awareness Committee Meeting May 20, 2014 Room 208, City Hall Members present: Tom Lopez, Jared Barbosa, Janeth Orozco, Diane Sheehan, Sharon Dalton, Andrew Smith, Claudie Mahar, and Kelsey Bronson Absent Members: Carlos Camacho, Jen Hosking, Scott Jaquith, Karen Ernis-Williams, Paul Bergeron, Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja, Jennifer Hinderer, Patricia Howson, Rhonda Karlsberry, James Lima, Ellias Muchuma Niva, and Dendrea Smith. Excused: Bernadette Melton-Plante 1. Chairman Tom Lopez opened at 3:45 and read the NEAC mission statement. 2. Approval of Minutes: A motion was made to approve the April Minutes by Claudie without objection. 3. Approval of Meeting’s Agenda: Claudie wanted to discuss recruitment which was added to the agenda by Tom. A motion to approve the agenda was made by Jared and seconded by Claudie. 4. Chair Report: (A) Intern: Tom introduced intern Kelsey Bronson who will be with NEAC for the summer term. Intern will assist with community socials, site audit, brochure, identifying past members to rejoin committee, minute taking, etc. (B) Minutes update: Minutes will be up within 5 days; Paul can update them as needed. (C) Members: A representative from Public Health is needed; Janeth to possibly recruit member. The website should be updated to add Carlos Camacho as the new designee for the PD. 11 spaces are available for new members: new members can be recruited by inviting them to attend meeting prior to nomination to ensure they would like to commit to committee. Regularly absent members should be reached out to see if they are still able to participate in the committee. Claudie also suggested recruiting Marcos Diaz, recent NCC graduate and Americorp member. Janeth has contact information for him. 4. Gate City Initiative: Janeth shared the flyer for the Interfaith Prayer Breakfast being hosted at Rivier University: $12 per person, June 13, 7:30-9:30. She reported working with Granite State Organizing Project to identify goals and projects GCI and GSOP can collaborate on. Janeth announced a forum being held on June 12 at noon to present services, location TBD. The next GCI meeting is on May 28 from 9-12 at United Way. Tom suggested announcing the date of the next COC meeting at GCI meeting. 5. Disproportionate Minority Contact: Andrew Smith reported his experiences at the DMC Law and Punishment Symposium. He touched upon issues and challenges in presenting as well as the success of his message eventually being understood. Andrew also reported receiving recognition from President Obama for his work. President Obama has implemented a program called “My Brother’s Keeper” that approached issues in a similar way as Andrew, and was impressed with the work he’s been doing. 6. Community Socials: The most recent community social resulted in a very small turnout, Tom attributed this to the time and last minute location change. Future community socials should begin at 6:30 or later. The community socials should be added to the Civic Calendar, Diane has info on how to do this. Inviting whole groups could improve turnout and increase visibility. 7. Summer Fun: Jared corrected the date that was listed on the agenda- Event is Saturday June 7. Jared reported connecting with Dicks Sporting Goods with Diane for gift cards and supplies. Janeth also helped reach out to Coca Cola for powerade and water for the event. The 3 on 3 originally planned will not happen and instead more focus will be put on the soccer clinics. NEAC will have a booth at the event and needs someone that can be a fixed figure for it. 8. Youth Ambassadors: Janeth reported arranging a free field trip to Vertical Dreams for the group in exchange for participating in a training. The Youth Ambassadors Program is currently working on a budget, Tom requested seeing it before it is sent out for review. There was also talk making shirts, possibly designed by the members of the youth program. 9. Arts Festival: The Festival will be on September 7 in French Renaissance Park. Permits can be purchased for $150 to sell items at the event. If only one permit is needed for the whole event, multicultural craft art booths could be set up. The event also needs police detail and for the parking lot to be closed. Getting people together for a mural in the area was discussed- it is a large project and would need to keep to the French theme of the park. Motion to adjourn: Jared motioned to adjourn and Claudie seconded, ending the meeting at 4:51 PM.