Ad Hoc Cultivating Belonging Committee

h 101 Alpine Parkway Oregon, WI 53575 | Phone: (608) 835-3118 | Fax: (608) 835-6503 vil.oregon.wi.us | Find us on Facebook! Pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.84, notice is hereby given to the public that the following meeting will be held: Meeting: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Committee Date: Thursday, June 6, 2024 Location: Fireside Room, People’s United Methodist Church Time: 6:30 PM f Note: Any person who has a qualifying disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act that requires the meeting or materials at the meeting to be in an accessible location or format must contact the Village Clerk at (608) 835-3118, 101 Alpine Parkway, Oregon, Wisconsin, at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the commencement of the meeting so that any necessary arrangements can be made to accommodate each request. MEETING MINUTES 1) Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. 2) Roll Call. Present: Sedona Afeworki, Carlene Bechen (Village Board member), Dan Dick, Deseré Mayo, and Liina-Ly Roos Absent: Lori Anderson and Karen Ramirez 3) Approval of May 2, 2024 Committee meeting minutes. The meeting minutes approved with no changes. 4) Business (items are for discussion and / or potential action). a) Reading to focus Committee’s attention on work. Sedona shared a YouthTedEx video by Emilia Espinosa: https://youtu.be/gBs4iJFzj9I?si=kp20PCmedYPrus5B. Committee members discussed our experiences with the persistence of racial stereotyping. b) Begin planning community conversation on question, “What does it mean to maintain a “small town” feel? How do we create community gathering opportunities and discussions for individuals to share diverse perspectives? Carlene shared that she presented the idea of this to the Village Board at their May 19, 2024 meeting and Trustees were interested. She asked them to share ideas they might have but hasn’t heard from anyone. The Oregon School District (OSD) and Oregon Public Library staff are not ready to host a discussion about banned books, but they are happy to support other topics for community conversations. Page 1 of 2 Approved 07/11/2024  The Committee discussed the following questions: How do we want to frame this conversation? What would be our ultimate goals? i. Dan mentioned a helpful resource, a book called They Came for our Schools. ii. The consensus was that we want to be careful about how to have a community conversation without it getting out of hand. Dan emphasized that we should make sure that we are talking about hosting and preparing facilitators well. iii. The goal for this event is to be participatory and use the “controlled” format that we had talked about; making sure that the facilitators have the preparation to moderate, especially if people get hostile etc. Important to have a pilot meeting for this with a group of people invited from the Village Board, staff, police, and school. iv. Action items for members: Think of statements (each member coming up with 3) around the questions “What does it mean to maintain a small-town feel?” c) Training opportunities for Village staff for how to interact with people with disabilities. Dan shared some ideas: Bob Golden from UW has been a good resource. There are different kinds of disability and mental health issues that should be dealt with. Carlene shared Amanda Peterson’s great experience with NAMI and their training on dealing with people with mental illness and disabilities. Action items: Liina-Ly and Dan will work on this – getting information on education opportunities for village staff from NAMI and then sharing that information with Carlene and the Village Board. d) Discuss potential “Community Climate Survey” as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the community. 5) Future agenda items. a. Developing the plan for community conversation. b. Following up on what we find out about NAMI and what Carlene finds out from UW School of Human Ecology. c. Start planning for recognitions and celebrations (like, Juneteenth, Pride, mental health awareness, etc.), and what’s possible to do in the community. 6) Adjournment. The committee adjourned at approximately 7:50 p.m. Members: Sedona Afeworki (Student member), Lori Anderson, Carlene Bechen (Village Board representative), Dan Dick, Deseré Mayo, Karen Ramirez (Student member), and Liina-Ly Roos.